Chapter 729: Heroine Chapter: Better this way [2/2]
{Portal} finally lifted this restriction but required two doorways to connect the origin and destination. {Blink} was merely the combat application of {Portal} that simplified {Portal} to a single act. While {Portal} allowed us to do great things it much like the rest of my {Fates} had limitations. Apart from the doorway closing if I passed it, its other major issue was the size of the door itself.
Even when I overdrafted, I could not get them to surpass 10,000 ft. That, while impressive was no were near enough what we needed. The body of the average Tunneling Worm was over 3 miles or over 15,000 ft. No amount of soul would allow the {Portals} to go beyond their limit. Thus, even if I managed to get them to dive into the door, they wouldn't fit.
[OneWomandOrchestra: Sigh, Lilly, there is no other way. We need to draw them in and use a {Portal} to throw them into the 32nd floor. There is simply no other option. But our {Portals} have a max circumference of 914.4 meters or 3,000 feet. Yours?]
[RealWomenLikeDolls: 10,000 ft.]
[OneWomandOrchestra: it's not enough. {Imaging} has put the Tunneling Worm's body to be even larger than that.] Jasmine stated curtly.
[RealWomenLikeDolls: I know.]
[All: …]
Naturally, I knew the reason why my sisters were silent. In order to gain the ability to do what Dearest commanded, I needed to ascend to the ranks of the Specters. Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire
I was already a High-level Phantom. Meaning I couldn't not go any higher…unless I paid the final price. But just because I had yet to leave the Phantoms did not mean I still had everything with me. After all, I already knew my memories were already slowly disappearing.
The day I learned of the cost to become a Specter; I verified it as soon as I was able to. Upon returning to Earth, I pulled out all my old school yearbooks. Looking at the people I spent years with, I tried to see if I still remembered them.
I found that I could only remember a few faces. Initially I didn't mind much. I mean who still remembered everyone they met from their long years in school? But as I began to see some notes or messages on some of the pictures, I grew fearful.
I saw some heartfelt messages from both classmates and teachers. The messages were kind and felt intimate. Some people, I could remember but some I did not. Messages such as "I love you sister!", "Friends forever!" and the like were written on a few of them.
Naturally as I moved from middle school, high school and eventually college, the messages matured as well. But despite the seeming friendship I had with them, to me they were nothing more than strangers.
Feeling there was something amiss, I searched among my belongings for some photos. Luckily, I was able to find some. Surprisingly, I looked happy in them, but my memories of both the events and the people were hazy at best.
Simply put, I had could no longer recall some...no. I could not recall most of my "friends". Frightened, I used the yearbooks to learn their names and searched the internet for each student. It was then I confirmed what I guessed. The ones I remembered were alive.
But most of the ones I had no memory of had already… Passed away.
"…"
It was a bitter pill to swallow. It seemed even before I became a Specter, I already began to pay the price. I already began to forget people. The dead to be specific. As I had no deep relationships from those in my schools, I didn't notice immediately.
Most of my time in these educational institutions were an "act". I behaved in the way a lady of my stature was expected to. I was the heir to the Browning family before I was "Lilly". As a result, all I had were friendships that were skin deep.
Learning of the fact that Phantoms at my level already began paying the price, I grew fearful. Aside from me, who was already at the peak of the Phantoms, the rest of my sisters still had one level to go. My Dearest was the same.
I shared it immediately to the Sirens. And like me, they grew anxious at what was to come. I, being at the forefront, would be the one to experience the changes first. I would be the first to lose my memories completely, possibly forgetting my past along the way.
Among my relatives that mattered more than a few were already gone. My birth mother was the main one. There were more from my days in the slums.
As a child, I remembering having friends I starved and stole with. By the time, I gained independence from the Brownings, most of them were already gone. Thus, when I returned, I couldn't find anyone from that point of my life.
Similarly, I had Reapers who served under me perish. If we were just counting how many dead people I knew, I had a lot of them. I could not forget some of the Rogues I terminated for their offenses to the battlefront. This group vividly carved themselves into my mind normally against my will.
Simply put, amongst friends, allies and enemies, many individuals shaped me to who I am today. While there were many which I cherished, there were just as many that haunted me when I slept. Ones I would much rather forget.
"Perhaps it is better this way," I remember whispering to myself.
But the thing that terrified me the most about my Ascension, was the risk of forgetting those I truly loved. Should my {Kindred} perish, I would forget him. Could I really go back to the lonely days I had prior to meeting to John Smith?
I probably couldn't. But unlike humans who would at least be able to revisit their memories I would be denied such a right. This was the unanimous fear of the Sirens. Once we step forward, we surrender ourselves to this reality.
But if I wished to go any higher, I needed to forget the past to see the future. Thus, much like the rest of my sisters, despite being afraid we were willing to continue.
[NeverEnoughCows: Sister, I…]
[RealWomenLikeDolls: Thank you, Liv. But do not worry. I will manage somehow. Just get us to the corridor. I will do the rest.]
[OneWomandOrchestra: Leave everything to us, Lilly. And I am sorry.]
[RealWomenLikeDolls: Don't be. We all will need to do this at some point. I should have some pointers for you all by then. Look forward to it. Fufu.]
After that, my sisters no longer talked to me. They focused on their assigned tasks as we made our way forward. I even felt Liv, ascend to Level 6 along the way. As I was mentally preparing myself, I didn't even know what her new {fate} was.
'Mom, you were not the best mother. But I would not have even felt happiness if you didn't allow me to be born. Goodbye, I love you…'
My mother who I both loved and hated.
'Jack, Left Ear, Fatty, thank you for keeping me company. You all filled my childhood days with smiles. We might have starved together but we had fun... Farewell…'
My friends who I laughed and cried with.
'Sergent Forest, Private Pile, Private Gump, Private Wilson, I apologize for sending you to your deaths. You deserved better and I thank you for your service…Please forgive me…'
To my subordinates who died for my orders.
As I remembered their faces, I made peace with my decision. And I then spoke to one final being.
'{Store}, I do not know if you can hear me. But as Dearest said you do, please listen. Give me the power to fulfill the wishes of my {Kindred}. For that I willingly forgo my memories. Grow with me so that I can stand with him. Please help me, grant my desire!'
I then felt like the faces I of those I truly treasured grow distant. Somehow, I knew, my memories of them were dissolving from my mind. Along with the feeling was the sound of a pair of scissors cutting something like thread.
Snip. Snip. Snip. One by one they became people I no longer knew.
When I finally came to my mother, I reached the core. This woman shaped who I am today.
But... I could not live for you any longer.
Snip.
At that point, power surged from every fiber of my being. And I felt my soulgem and my entire body burn. A new {Fate} carved itself into my mind as I joined the ranks of the Specters. I raised my hand towards our forces and chanted my new {Fate}.
{GATE}!