System Change

Derek opted to stay at the entrance and to not say anything as Alanah took in the cave where she spent much of her childhood and early adult life. As far as he could tell, with the cave being only dimly lit by Alanah’s light orb, there certainly wasn’t very much scattered around the area. But Derek was able to make out a few shapes lying around—he was unsure what they were, but they were definitely different from the rocks and dust that occupied most of the cave.

The siren slowly moved around the cavern from one side to the other. Occasionally, she would crouch down and pick something up before tossing it toward the middle of the room. Eventually, the woman made her way all the way around the cave and came to be standing beside Derek. After a short moment to breathe deeply, she turned to Derek and smiled lightly—in the dim light, he saw a tear roll down the siren’s cheek.

“Come here,” Alanah said. She waited for Derek to nod, then led him to the back side of the room. Finally, she kneeled down, sat the light orb off to the side, and began rubbing dust off of a certain area. “Even after all these years, some of the stuff here is still intact. And if some of the things laying out in the open are still whole, then what about something I took great care with?” she asked rhetorically.

Again, Derek knew she wasn’t waiting for an actual answer from him, so he stood silently behind her and watched. Eventually, a great deal of dust and dirt was removed from the ground, and Derek saw that there were actually some breaks in the rock beneath them. As it turned out, the cracks weren’t natural at all—they made a rough rectangle in the ground and were obviously man made.

Once the entire area was revealed, Alanah took a deep breath and tried to fit her fingers in the small cracks, but could not. “My fingers aren’t as small as they were when I made it, and I never increased the size of the cracks to accommodate my adult hands. I used to use a rock to pry it up when I needed to get to it,” Alanah explained, after which she summoned a very normal-looking dagger from her storage ring. “Now… just have to be very, very careful,” she muttered to herself.

Very carefully, Alanah wedged her blade into the crack. With a slow and steady motion, she pushed down on the dagger and used it to slowly pry the stone up—being careful not to let her current strength damage anything in the process. Derek guessed that this was why she used such a weapon to do the job instead of her rapier or another, sharper weapon—most of the stuff that they would use at their levels would absolutely devastate any normal ground or stone they even lightly touched. This could be seen in the way Harbinger was able to slice through the walls of the abyss.

As soon as the dagger brought the side of the stone up, Alanah quickly grabbed the raised edge with her fingertips. Once she had a good hold on the stone, she took a deep breath and raised it up and out of the ground. It took a lot for Derek not to lean over the siren and get a peek at what was inside the storage hole that she’d made when she was younger, but he was able to control himself and wait.

Alanah sat the stone gently on the ground beside her, then she leaned forward on her knees and reached slowly into the hole. Being more careful and gentler than Derek had ever seen her be before, Alanah slowly raised something up out of the ground. Whatever it was, was wrapped up in an extremely tattered and dirty cloth.

With a flick of her wrist, a stunningly regal and clean white sheet appeared on the ground in front of her, just on the other side of the hole. For the first time, Derek saw that Alanah’s hands were slightly trembling while clutching the object. Lightly, the siren laid the object on the sheet—after which, she picked up and placed the stone back in the hole.

“My mother was a seamstress for our small village,” Alanah said, breaking the silence. She bent forward and took one edge of the cloth off of the object. “Well… she was until she became pregnant with me. After I was born, she was shunned, and it was hard for her to find any real work to do there. Even though she was far more talented than any of the other seamstresses, she only received work than none of them wanted to do.”

Alanah continued to remove the tattered cloth from the item. “Before our village was raided, and I lost her, I think she was planning on bringing me out of Linderis and to one of the other kingdoms. But I don’t think she meant to stay with me—but I’m not sure about that. It’s just a feeling I get. I believe she planned on finding a way to give me a good life away from Linderis, even if it meant giving me up.”

Finally, Alanah removed the last bit of tattered cloth away. Delicately, she reached down with both hands and picked up the now unwrapped object. Derek saw a doll in her hands that was almost as tattered as the cloth it was wrapped in was. With a flash of light, all the dirt and grime were removed with the use of Alanah’s cleaning skill.

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What was revealed was the figure of an elf with emerald-green hair. The doll was wearing a very ordinary white apron over what looked like commoner clothing. There was some stuffing sticking out where the years hadn’t been kind to the doll, and a quick Cleaning couldn’t fix. However, even with the damage, Derek could see the striking resemblance between the doll and Alanah.

The siren held the doll with one hand and picked the light orb up with her other before standing up. Then she turned and looked Derek in the eyes. In the dim light, Derek saw both joy and sadness in the woman’s eyes. Dust had also accumulated onto her face, and there were multiple tear streaks running down her cheeks.

“Thank you for coming with me,” she said. “Allowing me to retrieve this.”

“You’re welcome,” Derek said. “You only had to ask.”

“This…” She held the doll closer to Derek, but kept it very close to herself, like she didn’t want to lose it. “This is the only thing left of my mother’s. It was the only thing I had with me when the village was raided. I cherished it the entire time I was stuck down here in the abyss. I never left the cave without hiding it. Escaping the Echoing Abyss was unplanned, so it was still in here when I left.”

“I’m glad you were able to find it,” Derek said.

“I had almost forgotten what she looked like,” Alanah said as she held the doll out and looked it up and down—another tear streaking down her face. “She made it for me, so I’d always have her by my side.”

“She was very good at her craft,” Derek said. “I can easily see the resemblance between the doll and you, even in its current state. The fact that she could portray that in a doll is amazing.” He tilted his head and got a slightly better view of the doll. “Your mother was beautiful.”

“Mhm.” Alanah nodded. “She was,” she said. “But it was her downfall,” Alanah continued. “If not for her beauty, I would have never been born, and she would have never been treated so poorly. Maybe she would have even moved from the village to one of the big cities and she wouldn’t have been there when they raided it. She was that good—she would have been appreciated anywhere she went if she wouldn’t have had me… or if she hadn’t cared for me like she did.”

“She was a good person,” Derek said. “That’s obvious.” He didn’t say anything about the circumstances that led to Alanah being born. Instead, he said, “It’s also obvious that she loved and cared for you deeply. She would be very proud of you—of what you have become. Of the person you have become.”

“I hope,” Alanah said. “I wasn’t always the person I am now. There were times that I feel she would have been disappointed in me.”

“Look what you survived, though,” Derek said, motioning to the cavern surrounding them, then to his ears where a light vibration coming from the willow tree so far away from them still tried to seize control of his thoughts and actions—tried and failed miserably. “I’m sure she would have understood anything that you had to do after what you went through. She would have still loved and understood you, even if you wouldn’t have turned everything around and become the person you are today.”

“Mhm…” Alanah lowered her head, then brought it up and flashed Derek a genuine smile. “Thank you.”

“Just telling you what I guarantee is true,” Derek said.

“I need to get this to Cydaria’s best seamstress. I won’t let them out of my sight until it’s repaired.” Alanah said, turning the doll over and frowning at some of the damage to it. “I’m surprised it’s still in as good of a condition as it is.”

“Like you said,” Derek replied. “Your mother was great at her craft. Obviously, items she crafted—especially ones that she put her all into—would have great durability. I don’t know what her level was, but even a lower-level crafter would have that increased durability.”

“I don’t know what level she was either,” Alanah said. “She never talked about levels or the Great System or anything. I think she planned to leave with me soon—before I unlocked the system—and didn’t want to sway me toward any one class or another, so she never talked about any of it. I feel like her plan was to find a place for me and let me unlock the system there—with help from people who knew more than she did.

“I don’t know how much copper, silver, and gold she had saved for me,” Alanah continued. “We lived very frugally my whole life, and even though it was hard for her to find work, I know that she never spent everything she made. I also saw her putting some copper away once. For decades, I have been thinking about these things,” Alanah explained. “If we would have left sooner, if my birthday had been earlier, if she would have gotten a few more jobs… all the ‘ifs’ that I’ll never know. It’s useless thinking about them, but I can’t help myself.”

“It’s only natural,” Derek said. “We all have those ‘ifs.’ And even though there’s nothing we can change, we can’t help but think about it… over and over.”

“Oh… right,” Alanah said as she looked at Derek. “I’m sorry… I wasn’t thinking…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Derek said. “It’s all those experiences that made us who we are today, and I have to say, we’re pretty badass.”

“We are, aren’t we,” Alanah chuckled.

“Yes, yes we are,” Derek said. “I mean… you’re a living legend in this kingdom. A very horrifying, bogeyman, but a legend, nonetheless. I’m pretty sure this entire continent is terrified of you. And then, if you go back to the other one, you are one of the most well-known and respected people of all the kingdoms—especially Cydaria. Like I said, pretty badass.”

“Mhm.” Alanah nodded. “And you… well… you are you.”

“Exactly!” Derek said, and at the same time, he felt the vibration pick up in his ear. He furrowed his brow and frowned. “What’s going on?”

Alanah looked at the doll of her mother and hugged it tightly before storing it in her ring. Then she stored the tattered cloth that had protected it all those years and the sheet she’d spread out on the ground. After that, she cast Cleaning on herself, then looked at Derek. “That is our chance to take care of the willow.”