EC Book 4, Chapter 45 - More Time Needed

There was one hour left, and Sev didn't feel like he was any closer.

Derivan, Vex, and Misa had all left the building to try to help calm people's nerves, and to see if there was anything they could do to make this bit of reality last longer. Vex and Misa were trying to channel their Grand Anchors into something, even if they were missing the key piece of Divinity—and even though Sev knew those anchors didn't quite work like that, he couldn't bring himself to stop them.

After all, they'd pulled off the impossible before.

Just... what was he missing?

Before he could think on it further, there was a knock on the door, and Jerome strode into the room once again. He spoke before Sev could get a word in edgewise. "I'm going to leave. It might give you a bit more time."

"Wait, what?" Sev asked, alarmed. He stood from the table, nearly knocking the Grand Anchor off of it—it was Jerome that reached out to steady it, actually. The paladin caught Sev's arm a second later, his expression perfectly serious. Sev still tried to protest. "You can't just—"

"I have to do it now," Jerome said. "If I wait, it's just going to be worse, right? It'll give you even less time. I just... wanted to make sure. You know. That it would work. That's why I asked."

"Jerome," Sev said. There was a rising panic in him, and try as he might, he couldn't quite seem to stop it. "Jerome, don't—we still have time. You can't—"

"I think I gotta," Jerome said, shrugging. "Look, you guys have brought people back from the Void before, right? It doesn't have to be permanent."

"Jerome, if you get erased, we aren't even going to remember you." Sev swallowed. "Misa's been protecting us against that, but we're in the final stages of collapse. The anchors are barely working to maintain what's here, let alone keeping our memories perfectly intact."

"System," Jerome said. "If I leave, how much extra time is Sev gonna get?"

"The system doesn't just respond to people like that," Sev began, although even as he said it he realized it wasn't true. Whatever was going on with Anderstahl's Prime Anchor, it had been able to use the system to do exactly that.

As if to emphasize that point, the system window that popped up was visible to both of them.

[ Offloaded weight will allow anchor integrity to remain stable for an additional 3 hours. ]

"Three hours sounds like a lot of time," Jerome said. "Three times more than what we have right now."

"I might not even need that amount of time!" Sev said, trying not to raise his voice too much—he was clutching at the table, his fingers digging into the grain of the wood. "I might figure it out in the next hour. I don't want you to sacrifice yourself for nothing."

But there was more he had to do even if he did figure it out, a traitorous voice whispered inside of him. Jerome considered this for a moment. Then he shrugged.

"You know, before I met you guys, I didn't really care about anyone else," he said. "I mean, I wanted to be a good guy. That's why I wanted to protect Aurum and stuff. But thinking about other people wasn't really a default for me. Now it is, and I gotta say, it kinda fucking sucks.

"But I also wouldn't go back. Can't go back, but even if you gave me the choice... I'm way happier this way. Weird paradox." Jerome paused. "I guess my point is that I'm gonna do this, and if you don't remember me, that's okay. It's probably better if you don't blame yourself or anything."

"Jerome—"

"Nah, I'm doing it," Jerome said. "I've thought about it. We've got an hour left. If I'm gonna do it, it's now or never. Any later and you'll probably just get an extra minute or something. So... I'm choosing now. Alright?"

Sev closed his eyes. "...Thank you."

When he opened them again, the paladin was gone.

—

Fifty minutes left. Jerome hadn't made it to the Anderstahl border yet, evidently, and Sev was desperately trying to figure out this last piece he needed before that happened. His eyes burned. The table below him was wet.

Why was this last piece so hard to get?

Sev glanced at the timer on the system. Three hours and fifty minutes.

Time was running out.

—

Thirty minutes.

Velykos strode into the makeshift home, his steps weary and ponderous. The earth elemental observed Sev for a moment. "You have not made progress," he said.

"I don't know what I'm missing," Sev said quietly. There was an ache to his eyes, though he didn't know why. Maybe it was because he'd been staring for so long. He didn't dare to take his eyes off the Grand Anchor.

"You will," Velykos said, with a confidence Sev didn't feel. The human felt solid rock against his shoulder and glanced up, surprised, to see Velykos offering him a warm smile.

He walked back out. Sev saw the skeleton crew following after Velykos, saw the giant elemental bend down and hug each and every one of them slowly, with a care that belied his size.

It... it looked like a goodbye. Why did it look like a goodbye?

Sev's eyes burned again. He stared back down at the Grand Anchor, reached for the connection he shared with the gods to give him comfort. Thirty of them, all tied to him, all with different domains. He'd spoken to each of them and gotten to know them even in the limited time he'd had.

Belief. Divinity had something to do with belief. But that answer alone wasn't complete.

What was it he was missing?

He glanced at the timer. Two hours and thirty minutes.

Not much time left.

—

Fifteen minutes.

"Hey, Sev!"

Sev looked up tiredly, then blinked. "Max?" he asked, unsure. He didn't know how long he'd been awake, at this point. If Misa hadn't made him get some rest earlier, he would've fallen asleep already.

Max grinned at him, the receptionist her usual bright and cheery self, despite the circumstances. "Are you asking me if that's my name?" she teased. "Because you should know my name. Don't tell me you've forgotten me already."

"I haven't," Sev said. "Why are you—"

"I just wanted to drop in and give you some encouragement," Max said. She swept forward, pulled him into a hug he didn't expect, and he found himself automatically hugging back. He found himself shaking. He was... more emotional than he expected himself to be, and it wasn't just from the stress. "I think you need some. I should know."

"Because you're always in the right place?" Sev asked, smiling weakly.

"And at the right time." Max winked. "You'll do great, Sev. I trust you. And I'm counting on you, okay?"

"I know you are," Sev said. "I just..."

"Not like that," Max said. She shook her head. "Eh, don't worry about it. You'll get it. I won't keep distracting you."

She smiled at him and ran back out of the warehouse. Sev shook his head, then glanced back to the anchor and to the timer above it.

One hour and thirty minutes left.

—

Sev lost track of time. He was trying not to even look at the timer anymore. The sight of it alone made bile rise up in his chest, and he didn't know why. It wasn't purely because he was stressed—there was something else to it, an ache he didn't quite understand nor could name.

He'd felt that feeling before, though he didn't know where. It made a knot of dread tighten in his stomach.

Xothok and the Guildmaster were the next ones to arrive strode up through the door. They were holding hands. Sev blinked at the sight. When had that happened?

"Fuck you," Xothok said eloquently. The Guildmaster—Alyssa?—elbowed him, and he sighed. "And thank you. You and your friends."

"I... what?" Sev asked, perplexed—but Xothok was already walking out, hand lifted in a wave.

"Alyssa says I have to find your friends and thank them, too," Xothok called back. "Good luck with that Grand Anchor shit. Glad I ain't the one dealing with that." A little softer, but still loud enough that Sev could hear it, he added: "We're counting on ya."

"What'd I tell you?" the Guildmaster said. Her voice faded as they walked further into the distance, but Sev could still hear them—maybe because the rest of Anderstahl was... surprisingly quiet. Like a city holding its breath. "It's not that hard to say thanks."

"The fuck it isn't," Xothok grumbled. "And just because I've got [Navigator] skills doesn't mean you can use me to find whatever you want."

"You're complaining a lot for someone who does it anyway."

"Yeah, well..." Xothok grumbled under his breath even as the sound faded away from Sev's ears. His mind drifted back to how quiet the city was. Even this warehouse should have been full of adventurers, and it... wasn't. Something about that unsettled him: there were more beds here than there were people.

But he didn't remember there being more people here. Just him, Vex, Derivan, and Misa.