Reina emerged from a gargantuan pile of stuffed animals. They were countless in number, in all kinds of different shapes, colors, and sizes. She stood effortlessly in a sizeable medieval tower. A storm raged outside. The interior exuded a warm and cozy atmosphere, punctuated by a steady fireplace. She stretched as she approached a rounded wall that had a gigantic board attached stretching from floor to ceiling. Pictures with accompanying notes were spread throughout, often connected to one another via various colored strings. Reina levitated to a section labeled Odin. It had a hierarchal tree with Freya at the top, alongside Odin. They both had a skull icon in their respective corners and were in gray-scale, whereas Tyr’s photo below had color.

  “I don’t know if this will end up being something, but may as well.” Reina gestured in the air a few times, then tapped the board. A note appeared above the tree ‘Freya killed Odin. Source: Hidden Journal’, along with an alphanumeric ID. She tapped Freya, then Tyr’s portraits. A red string adorned with a heart and arrow connected one-way from Freya to Tyr. She shook her head in exhaustion. “What should I do?” She stared at Tyr.

  Reina lingered, still levitating, for a time until moving to face the board as a whole. Similar to the Odin section, it had countless mappings of events, people, and the organizations they belonged to. Such as the council members, Abyss, Vyxora, the Libertas Carnis cult, ‘Diana’, and more.

  “Had to get that one outta the way, but there’s so much to update. It’s only been a week, yet so much happened. Crazy. Just crazy. Hmm.” Reina glanced around. “May as well start at the beginning.” She started adding notes, pictures and playable video relevant to what she said aloud. “First up is Yuna winning. Mm. Yep, I’m still mad at her for how she did it. Why must she be so reckless? Should I try to make her understand? How could I?” She lingered on a glance toward a room off to the side of the stuffed animal pile. “I’ll try to think of something. I don’t have Papa to keep her in check.” She stared at a picture of Leon for a time. “Please wake up.” She shook her head again. “Stop dwelling, Reina. Focus.”

  “Then, this ‘Dr. Ichizaki’ and his daughter Io are brought here by Aelfric. Oh, wait. Technically, Uncle Griff crashing should’ve been first.” Reina continued. “Okay, there. And after watching Lord Robin with Yuna, the Aegis Slayer struck. It must’ve been on purpose, being the same night as the Odin match. Why, though? Maybe to send a message? Oh, right, I did mention that to Dante.” She added some notes until she started reading prior notes, then turned away. “Stooop. Don’t fall down the rabbit hole again, Reina. Focus. Chronologically, this is skipping ahead a little, but I’m going to scramble my brain if I try to stick to that. Let’s just go with context.”

  Reina recalled a memory of Diana arriving at The Cafe’s Meow on time, per their weekly meeting. She grimaced at remembering how awkward she behaved at first, with robotic movements and abnormal small talk. In my defense, I’ve never had to play it cool before. Diana, though, was seamless. I’m still shocked she came. To think I wasn’t even going to open. Reina stared at Diana’s portrait. She’d clearly taken it at the cafe while Diana pet a cat.

  “At least I passed. I think. I hope. It must’ve been a test. She said ‘Next week’, like usual. So I passed?” Reina nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. How was she so effortlessly cool about it, though? Her and Aelfric created so much chaos again. You’ve got talking heads spinning so many different stories. Meanwhile, the public ranges from apathetic to apocalyptic. The mogul had a deal with the President of Aegis, Viktor, for that city he’s building. Some are using that as proof it couldn’t be Aegis behind the assassinations. Then others are saying the mogul was trying to back out because of a separate failed venture.” Reina continued to fill out the board with relevant data. “Protesters even clashed some with defenders of Viktor in front of Aegis HQ. He sure has some serious fans…”

  Reina stared at the Aegis HQ. “In my eyes, I never gave Aegis being behind it much credence. But what if…?” She paused in thought. “No, just doesn’t feel right. Too much damage to the brand. I can’t think of a plan that could be so convoluted. They’d have all kinds of other routes to anything I can think of. I always figured, but with the mogul dead, Diana and Aelfric must be after Aegis in some way. Right? Just absolutely no idea why. Why don’t they announce their intentions? It’s basically terrorism, isn’t it? Could they want to stop the city being built for some reason? Maybe?” She again paused in thought until lingering on Aelfric’s photo.

  “Gah. Rabbit hole. Quit it. Not now. Too much else needs updating still. Focus. Next, Aelfric notified me about the council request slash demand. It’s still hard to believe Sparta of all the syndicates… I’m not even sure what word to use yet. Disbanded? Merged? How in the world did Siegfried’s cyborg cult accomplish it? And could he really…?”

  Several days earlier, Griff had awoken. His health was in a poor state, but even as he battled withdrawal, he demanded Reina’s presence to Celeste. He argued with Dr. Ichizaki about putting any further stress on his system. Once Griff started swearing, Celeste gave his arm a slap and notified him of Io. Meanwhile, Yuna sat at a table in front of a couch. She stared intensely at a checkers-like board game upon it. She moved a piece and chuckled. Holographic figures appeared above two pieces, then battled in fantastic fashion until Yuna’s triumphed.

  “How’s that?” Yuna shot an arrogant glance toward the edge of the couch.

  Io, wrapped in a heavy blanket, peaked out over the armrest. She then scurried out from the blanket, clutching her tiger to her chest. She moved a piece several times, then hurried back behind the couch. Her eyes again peered out, conveying a peculiar sharpness. The hologram of her piece transformed into a giant biped robot and obliterated three of Yuna’s holograms with lasers.

  “What the hell? You can do that? I lost again? To a fudging—. Wait, how old are you?” Yuna looked at Io, who showed four fingers from each hand while still clutching her tiger. “Eight? Seriously?” She stood up, clearly contemplating flipping the board.

  “Settle down,” Ichizaki said, walking over to them, after the arguing with Griff had ceased. “Have some composure. How old are you?”

  “Screw you, old goat.” Yuna gestured her middle finger.

  A slight grin formed on Ichizaki’s face. “You’re just playing a fancy checkers.” He glanced at Io, bundled in her blanket. “Don’t take it too personally. I taught Io chess. And have never won since.”

  “No shit?” Yuna’s agitation faded with a slight chuckle as she stared into Io’s eyes, which were just barely visible and watching her.

  Meanwhile, Celeste retrieved a glass of water from Griff.

  “I’ve calmed down, okay?” Griff said. “Now get Reina here. Trust me, please.”

  A short time later, Celeste, Reina-bird and Yuna gathered around Griff. Dr. Ichizaki and Io stepped out. Griff explained what he’d been doing since the fight with Siegfried, albeit downplaying his drug use and obsession. Reina already knew of his activities researching the cult, but not to the extent Griff had gone. He made sure to interrupt Celeste every time she was about to chastise him, to delay the eventual downpour.

  “I’ve been letting my inner devil keep my hopes down that the one I followed was Tau,” Griff said. “He kept coming back, though. Same thing each time. He led me to a few hideouts over time. I gleaned what I could. Even managed to stop myself from outright confronting them. But I fucked up. Thought I was so fucking clever. Don’t even want to think about how long I was being played.” He had a pained expression. “I’ve been rambling long enough. Time to finally get to the fucking point. The ‘Undying’. I learned that was a moniker for Siegfried some time ago. And the zealots kept talking as if he was going to resurrect from the grave any day. I’m the one who dealt the final blow. I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Yet they seemed to have no fucking doubt.”

  “Then, I finally overheard something I wasn’t supposed to. The ‘Undying’ was back. In fact, Siegfried had already resurrected for some time. It was clear to me all this time the cult had been working toward something, but I still don’t know what, exactly. Now, it could be they just had someone take on the mantle. Inherit it, take the name, whatever. Maybe they believe in some ridiculous reincarnation, I don’t know. But the cultists never talked as if it was someone inheriting it. Not the wording they used. Almost right after, I got snatched up. My mind’s still a mess. I’ve probably missed saying so much shit. The one that talked to me was a real arrogant fucker. Boasted how they’d known about me for a long time. They were investigating me while I was them. They knew about my drug use. And boom, shot me up with an ungodly amount. Set me free to die to the overdose. I’m amazed I even remember up to that point, because it’s zip afterwards until waking up here. Don’t even remember the brief episode Celeste described. Those cocksuckers had a good plan, I’ll give them that. Me overdosing would’ve been an open and shut case in a few days at most. Disappearing me could lead to an investigation on the other hand. Still breathing, though.” Griff laughed himself to sleep, overcome with exhaustion. That is, until he woke again a minute later, giving the others a jump-scare. “Reina, listen. My eyes are too heavy to even open again. I don’t know if they’re gonna come after you all. They never mentioned any one of you Vyx, not even once. I trust you know what to do.” He passed out.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Back in Reina’s ALTR room, she continued to speak aloud.

  “I went on high alert,” Reina said. “I’d already barely slept. How many hours did I stay awake? It’s all a blur, even though it’s so recent. Mama and Val had to keep a tight leash on Yuna to prevent her patrolling. But long after Griff woke again, absolutely nothing. No sign of the cult or Siegfried coming for us. Not even a false alarm.” She had continued to add relevant notes to the board, mapping out and summarizing Griff’s retelling. “Wow.” She marveled at how much she had added. “Still so much more to go…it was the right call coming. Probably should’ve come sooner, even.” She nodded.

  “As more info trickled in, we found out that somehow Sparta had given up its territory to ‘Cyberlight’. Which we now know is what Siegfried’s cult is calling themselves. Furthermore, rumor has it that Siegfried, or at least someone calling themselves that, persuaded Thanasius into ‘merging’. Of course, the council is still in freak out mode. I’ve been so busy working with Tyr on stabilizing our territories I haven’t been able to do my usual digging. The Shinobi must be working overtime to steer the conversation. I wonder if the council’s even been able to talk with Cyberlight? So much still unknown…”

  Reina continued to add information, carefully organizing and labeling. It grew so much in area that, fortunately, being in ALTR, she could collapse the information into even more organized sections. After some time, she recalled she hadn’t added Dr. Ichizaki and Io to an area chronicling Griff and Yuna’s recovery.

  “Hmm. He told us he’s on the run from gambling debts, but I really don’t think that’s true. I’ve got to carve out some time to dig into him. He hasn’t given reason to doubt him or his abilities, but it feels off.”

  Reina pondered for a moment before moving back to where she had started, Odin. Around the same time, Yuna emerged from the pile of stuffed animals.

  “What, oh what, should I do about this? Especially after Tyr’s been so pleasant to work with.”

  “Rei-ei-eina,” Yuna said, startling Reina so much that jumped, even while levitating. She looked down to see a disgruntled Yuna.

  “You missed Lord Robin.”

  “Oh!” Reina checked the time in a quick interface that popped up. I’ve been in here that long? She descended to Yuna. “Sorry, I completely lost track of time.”

  “Mhm. Typical.” Yuna dramatized her speech along with feigning actions. She noticed Reina’s discomfort and shed the act. “What’re you worried about doing?”

  “You heard that? Well…I was thinking I should talk to you since you’re the only one that really interacted with her…kinda. I mean, you’ve told me before how things are said without actually being said when clashing.”

  “I said what now?”

  “You know how sometimes you speak, while fighting, with uhm, your fists, or axes? Like, you can grasp the other person’s nature? Something like that.”

  Yuna raised a brow, then glanced where Reina had floated down from. “You said ‘her’, so this something about Freya?” Reina nodded in acknowledgment. “Okay, what about her?”

  “What did you think of her? I mean, like, based off your fight.”

  “Ah, I getcha. Hmm.” Yuna paused. “Felt like she didn’t really wanna be there. Lot of hesitation. Pretty sure she was high as fuck, but her movements were still decent. Probably that shit Griff was on. Her strikes were all over the place in strength. Some felt desperate, some almost perfect and others a weird mix in-between. That what you wanted to know? You know I’m not great at this kinda thing. It’s tricky to really describe that ‘conversation’ you can have while fighting. I dunno if someone out there can artic…artickk?”

  “Articulate?”

  “Yeah, that’s the word. Did that help at all? Don’t really get why you’d care at this point? She’s, you know.” Yuna made a face which went unnoticed.

  “Mm. It did. Thanks, Yuna. The truth is, I found a hidden file while going through Odin’s servers after I got full access from Tyr. It reads like a journal.”

  “Of Freya’s?”

  “Yes. And… it paints a picture of a completely different person than what we vaguely knew of her, or even what I know of her now. And from what I’ve gleaned while working with Tyr, Odin’s people really didn’t care for her. So much so, some seem glad that Abyss is taking over. She seemed to have left a bad impression on a lot of people. Only Tyr hasn’t said anything bad about her.”

  “And? What’s got you so twisted in knots?”

  “It sounds like she did some terrible things and abused her power regularly. But…I think she was in pain. For a long time.”

  “‘Pain’? What’re you on about?”

  “What you said. It fits the journal, more than how others saw her. Would you read it?”

  “No? Why would I?”

  “Please, I need someone else’s perspective.”

  “Ehh.” Yuna observed Reina’s expression. “Fine, but you’ll have to just give me the footnotes instead.”

  Reina explained how Freya had been bought by the actual Odin. Freya didn’t mention her life before that. She loosely chronicled her life with Tyr as she trained, with very few mentions of Odin. She alluded to the incident where Tyr took her away for a time, but they eventually came back. After that, Tyr changed a lot. He hadn’t been a warm person prior, but he’d become much colder toward Freya. Stricter. The entries became less frequent, albeit still generally about Tyr. There was a single entry where she wrote ‘I am Freya’. After this, the tone changed. The entries increased in frequency by a great deal, detailing her newfound freedom as Odin’s wife. These were short-lived, however. She would still mention Tyr, relatively trivial things, amongst complaining of Odin’s temperament and controlling nature. Her entries grew in vitriol toward Odin. She came to realize the man literally thought himself a reincarnation of the mythological god. The syndicate’s members were either sycophants or terrified of his wrath. Tyr was a dutiful right hand. She sometimes wrote of how she would try to put herself in positions where Tyr would have to help her. He would procure anything she asked. So, she started testing various recreational drugs.

  Odin condoned her activities for a time until he didn’t. He became increasingly abusive, even more than he already had been. Then he humiliated her in front of Tyr. She didn’t go into detail. There was then a sizeable gap between entries. She wrote ‘It’s done, at last. The miserable old piece of shit was so sure he wasn’t sick. Ha! Some God! It’s time to celebrate. Question is, what to do first?’

  “She then goes on about parties she threw, drugs, uhm, sexual…encounters. Still occasionally bringing up Tyr which devolved into complaining about him more and more. Then, the final entry is.” Reina had brought up a visual of the journal while telling Yuna about it. ‘WHY WONT HE LOOK AT ME.’ The last entry read.

  “So, she was in love with Tyr. Was pretty obvious early on.”

  “Yes, even I could recognize it. But, for so long…”

  “Okay, so what’s your point?”

  “I—. I want to tell Tyr. I feel like I should. It feels wrong not to.”

  “What good would that do? It’ll either make him feel like shit, or maybe even want revenge. Haven’t things been going pretty smooth because of him? You want to risk that?”

  “It wouldn’t be for him. It’d be for her.” Reina spoke with passion. “She suffered and struggled to survive for so long. Then, when she stopped having to survive, she was ruled over by a tyrant. She talked up the ‘freedom’, but didn’t it all sound so hollow? It’s like she kept trying to convince herself she was enjoying life as Odin’s ‘Freya’. But then she’d hint at Odin’s control. And Tyr’s mere existence so often. She couldn’t figure out what to do with herself. And then after Odin. She spiraled further and further. She jumped from one high to the next. Those entries… were painful to even read. Like she was being forced to write them. She forced herself.”

  “Ah. I get it. Maybe. Is this because of all that philosophy junk Diana’s been having you read? Since when do you care about others outside of Vyxora?”

  “What? No, I—.” Reina had an apprehensive expression.

  “What if you’re wrong? What if Freya was simply a miserable asshole? Period? The end.”

  “I’m not trying to justify her actions. I even discovered communications between Odin’s members of some of the horrible things she did. It’s just… this journal shows there was so much more than what was visible on the surface. It’s like with you. No, not only you, almost all of Vyxora. Mama, Papa, included. There’s always more.”

  “Hold up. We’re in ALTR, yet I feel like I’m getting a headache. You know I hate having to think this much. This’ about Diana, too, isn’t it? All along you’ve been thinking there’s ‘more’.” Reina had a look of surprise, mouth agape. “That means yes. Maybe those books are letting you put what you’ve always been into words? You saw me, after all. But, let’s be clear. There’s not ‘always more’. There’s shitty humans who are just shitty without a good reason, like that delusional asshole Odin.” Yuna walked away, then fell into the pile of stuffed animals. “I need a break.”

  Reina stood in thought. Yuna’s right, isn’t she? Is this at least partially about Diana? I need to map out my thoughts. So much to think about. Ah, wait. “Yuna, thanks. Please don’t take offense, but I’m amazed at what you said. You. Yuna. Of all people.”

  Yuna raised a dismissive hand wave from beneath the stuffed animals. “I’m surprised, too. Guess I must absorb some of your jabbering with Dante.”

  Reina giggled. “I guess.” She returned to the board for quite some time. She then turned and glanced around. Did Yuna fall asleep, or logout? I guess I was really into it. I’ll have to apologize. And she probably forced Dante to let her in here, so will have another apolo—. Reina’s gaze fell onto the still-open door to the room off to the side of the stuffed animals. That was open? She rushed to the door. No, no, no.

  Yuna stood inside, facing a wall of pictures of herself. More than a few were even videos playing. There were countless snapshots of her in all kinds of varying manners. Reina froze in abject horror. Yuna turned, expressionless, and met Reina’s gaze. Reina spun around, then rushed toward the stuffed animals. She tripped over her own feet. Yuna caught her from behind with a hug while nestling her face into Reina’s neck. They both fell sideways into the pile from their momentum. Reina made several noises during and after the fall. She struggled a little, utterly in vain against Yuna’s embrace.

  “You’ve no idea what a relief it is to know you’re as obsessed with me as I am with you. I can finally share my ‘Reina sleeping album’.”

  “Your what?”