Milaine's POV
After we left Eleonora to have some privacy, I guided Livia to a corner a bit further away in the cave.
She didn't stop giving several occasional glances back during the entire walk.
'It's so weird to see her obsessed with someone else that it even gives me chills. This timeline really is unique.'
In all the lives I've returned to, some things have a certain tendency to repeat themselves. Obviously, if I got creative I could make some of them end another way.
However, there were things that never, ever changed, even if I deliberately tried to change them. One of those things was Olivia.
I glanced back and momentarily observed Livia's image, who was following me clumsily, almost completely ignoring me.
'I'm not complaining, actually I prefer it to be Eleonora instead of me, however, it really is weird... this is the first time I'm not the obsession.'
When we arrived I sat down and rested my body against the wall. I reduced the intensity of the flame and let the fatigue reach me again.
The smaller the flame, the less it hurts.
Meanwhile, Livia kept scratching her arms with some roughness, in what I assumed was an effort to try not to spy on the poor girl who was further away.
"Don't do that, you're going to hurt yourself," I told her.
She flinched a bit and directed her gaze at me with some nervousness.
"Sorry, it's just that I'm worried. I don't think we should leave Leo there."
'Leo... again... I wonder if Eleonora's appearance has something to do with her disappearance...'
That was another reason why this timeline was even weirder. Another thing that never changed had changed, someone was missing, my Leo was missing.
It's easy to say that most souls that fall into Vulkris are unfortunate people who are fated to die.
Even Olivia usually dies many times if she doesn't receive my help or Lysandra's group's help.
I myself died countless times in Vulkris, both the first times and even some others when I already fully understood how my flame worked.
It's not surprising, this hell is like that, a mathematical improbability where the most incapable and capable people mix with people with the worst and best luck in a place destined to end everyone.
That is the reality of Vulkris. A death sentence for every mortal who steps on it.
Well... maybe not for everyone...
There is an exception, Leo.
I have never seen my husband die here in Vulkris. Not even once. Even in the lives where I joined Lysandra's group and managed to survive the year.
I always found that man in the 'lobby' after the tutorial, no matter what, he was always there. He always survives Vulkris.
I know because that was the reason I became interested in him. He was a constant, even a stronger one than Livia.
'He must be with Lys's party… At least he won't be having as bad a time as we are… Although if that bitch touches him, I swear I'll-'
"Milaine?" Livia called me.
I blinked momentarily and redirected my gaze towards Livia. Apparently I had been rambling, and my silence had made her uncomfortable.
"Sorry, I was thinking," I said.
'It doesn't matter though, soon we'll meet anyway. We need to join Lysandra if we want to survive now that the ruler of Vulkris will wake up'
I shook my head a little and took a small breath, then, I took another brief moment to remember the last thing she had told me.
'Right, Eleonora.'
"She said she was fine and that she could do it alone," I said.
"B-but... she didn't look well..." she responded.
'Obviously not, I regenerated her body with what she had left of proteins and amino acids. She'll have to eat more worm meat if she really wants to improve.'
'Actually, I don't think any of the three of us are well, we're very weak and need to recover energy.'
Maybe I could keep moving but the reality was that I could only do it with the flame active, without it my body barely responded.
I took a small breath but didn't share that last thought. Then I decided to give her a simpler answer to avoid possible questions.
"You don't look very well either, Olivia."
Livia seemed to finally notice her own fatigue by the way she looked at her trembling legs and hands.
She relaxed her shoulders a bit and decided to sit down, like me, leaning against the wall, leaving a respectable distance between her and me.
'If you're so worried, then it's better that we start collecting on the investment.'
"Olivia, have you read your gift?" I asked her.
I already knew she had received the gift from the goddess of fate, and I also knew that the goddess had done something that got her expelled and nearly killed us.
And just by seeing that Liva could still see, I could already imagine what it was.
'A gift without flaw,'
"I-I didn't have time... everything happened so fast..." she stammered.
I nodded softly.
"Why don't you take a look now and tell me what it does?" I said, trying in a casual tone.
I already knew what her gift did. It was an advanced one with multiple uses, just like my flame. After all, our goddesses were connected and hated each other.
Livia took time to respond and when she did it caught me a bit off guard.
"W-well, actually I have three..." she said.
I frowned a bit involuntarily.
'Three? Isn't it supposed to be just one? Mhmm, maybe that goddess really fucked up this time… No, knowing her, this must be part of her plotting.'
I tried to maintain a neutral tone and recover a calm expression before speaking again.
"Really? Awesome... So, what do they do?" I asked
"Oh, give me a moment. I'll read the descriptions," she said.
I felt how she looked at me out of the corner of her eye but I consciously tried not to look at her.
I knew she would get scared if I did, that girl loved to observe people, but she got frightened when they looked back at her.
After that she was silent for a while until I heard an audible gasp coming from her.
I moved my gaze a bit to see if she was okay. She was looking at the air, to what I assumed it was the status window.
Her mouth trembled as she moved her finger imitating the movement of a scroll. She swallowed some saliva and then looked at me.
"T-this... it says here that I can know if something will turn out well or not," she said, stammering.
I nodded, that was expected, it should be Augury. With enough time that gift should evolve into Foresight, and she would be able to see the future.
'At least she kept the name, I guess. '
"What about the rest?" I asked.
Livia seemed to notice my indifference due to an expression she made with her eyebrows, but she didn't say anything. And she continued.
"Um, I have one that allows me to see if people are lying... and it also lets me see other people's status windows. It's called Truthsight," she said
I blinked a couple of times, it took me a bit to try to hide my astonishment.
'Well... that... could be useful… I wonder which of the two windows she'll see if she uses it on me...'
I nodded again, there was no point in thinking about that, one way or another I was sure I would find out the moment she used it on me.
After all, my status window was such a mess that even I didn't want to look at it.
'Wait, thinking about it, wouldn't it be easier if she just sees my status window?'
Usually it was complicated to deal with people you had already met hundreds of times and pretend you didn't know them. Even more annoying was having to be so ambiguous with words because people always think you're full of shit.
'Yep, that thing will come in handy. It will really help me skip some weird chatting.'
"Milaine?" she asked.
"Sorry, I was thinking. Is it passive or is it something you need to activate?"
"I'm not sure, I think it's active since I'm not seeing anything different now," she said.
"Got it. What about the last one?"
Livia put a hand on her chin and narrowed her eyes, sharpening her gaze as she looked at the air again.
'Hyperfocus...'
I felt a small chill run down my spine, for some reason I wrapped myself in my flame and recovered the strength I had turned off. Obviously the pain returned with the revitalization, but I didn't care.
It was muscle memory, I knew it well. It was something I had managed to develop from spending so much time observing and living with my husband. The ability to recognize danger.
[The Innate Ability: Jeopardy has activated]
[The effect of your flame has changed to Detonation]
Then Olivia spoke, still looking at the air.
"Golden Rule... It says that in a small range near me I can change one rule..."
"And?" I asked recklessly while I moved my gaze toward her neck.
Apparently she realized something was wrong with my tone of voice, and gave a small startle, returning her eyes to their normal state.
"Um... I'm not sure what it means by that..." she said while sketching a small smile and lightly touching her cheek.
'She's lying.'
Olivia lies like it's common currency, however, I've spent so much time with her that I know all her micro-expressions by memory. Not all her smiles are real, especially when it's not about her obsession.
'Shit, she's already hiding things. So this is how it feels to be on the other side...'
I moved my gaze to her eyes and held it there.
I wasn't stupid enough to ignore such a big warning call that activated my flame involuntarily. I needed to pressure her now while she was still very green or else she would become a variable.
I noticed how she swallowed some saliva and a bit of sweat fell from her forehead. Then she put her hands together, playing with her fingers, fleeing from my gaze.
"Well... more or less... I'm not sure what it means by a rule. But it gives some examples..." she cleared her throat before continuing
"A queen used it to affect gravity and levitate, deceiving her subjects into believing she was a goddess... Then the same queen used it to save herself from the fury of an ancient witch... And lastly... The queen used it to kill a phoenix and prevent it from returning."
'Motherfucker.'
I moved my eyes to Olivia's neck again, I was still sitting, but all my muscles were tense and ready. I could break her neck and explode her head, maybe it would take me a second or less.
'So this time she really is going to try it with everything... that fucking goddess... Did she also see this conversation? Is she testing me? Is this also fated?'
Time felt slower, my mind debated on a single thought.
'Should I kill Olivia?'
It was a simple idea that I couldn't get off of my mind. The timeline was already a mess, Leo wasn't there and Olivia already changed a lot. My original plan for this timeline was already a long distant dream.
"M-Milaine?" Livia stammered
The shy girl who did not understand the abrupt change in the atmosphere called for my name again.
'Mhmm, I have no idea. Those examples, are they mockery, prophecies, or a coded message? Shit, there's also the fact that Livia and Leo don't get well along'
I tried to calm my nerves a bit, searching for an alternative. I didn't want to kill Livia, she was my friend even if she didn't know it.
'For fuck sake, Milaine, she's Dami godmother'
I tore my gaze from Livia's neck and covered my eyes with my hands while resting again against the wall.
'This timeline is already a mess... but... it was in the most different timelines that I came closest to overcoming the deadlock…'
'If it were just knowing the future I wouldn't care, but with the other two gifts and not being the obsession, it's almost certain the goddess set everything up to screw me over...'
'...fuck…'
'...'
'Should I just reset?'
"What's going on?" a female voice asked as she approached us.
I looked up and saw the girl who had finished changing her tampons, her eyes slightly red, carrying a couple of books and on top of them a gray boxers stained with blood.
***