The Savage Lands' Delegation had finished their business in Death's Doorstep and were leaving Hilde's office.
At that moment, Ayaka returned with a new face following along.
"Ah, Death's little Oracle?"
Lyth'ara commented as she made eye contact with the newcomer, she then asked her, "how's work, Vivian?"
"I am being worked to the very marrow, Lyth'ara, thank you for asking."
"So like usual?" Lyth'ara asked as Vivian walked around her and entered the office they had just left.
"Like usual." Vivian spoke as she closed the door behind her.
"Well, she hasn' t changed." Lyth'ara spoke with a chuckle as she left along side her two companions.
"I will escort you, Madam." Ayaka spoke from the side with a light bow, as she lead the way.
Meanwhile, Kumi was going on another run with Vaeril while Vivian began discussing with Hilde.
...
"What do you want me to look for this time? Don't tell me there's another child soldier you're looking for." Vivian spoke as she sat down, rubbing the back of her neck.
"No. I'll need you to find out if and when Kumi gets out of that machine."
"Her again? Give me a break, that kid is unnatural in the worst way."
"Vivian..."
"I didn't say that I wouldn't do it. I just kinda don't want to." Vivian spoke with a groan.
"Just start, Vivian." Hilde said with an exhale as she leaned back in her chair.
"Fine... I'm taking a vacation after this though."
Vivian was a genius yet exceedingly lazy Oracle, one of very few who could see the untethered threads of the future and accurately discern which of those threads of time are most likely to come true. Vivian had long light brown hair, she mostly wore the colour grey and had pale yellow eyes hidden behind her dark green coloured, rounded sunglasses.
A pale silver and yellow glow began emanating from Vivian as floating threads of gold, silver and bronze all manifested around the room. Slowly, the threads were woven together into a thick rope.
The thousands of untethered tips of the rope were a dark silver, flailing and thrashing around in the air while the bottom part of the rope was a tarnished bronze and the rest, an untainted gold.
At that moment, Ayaka silently returned to the office just in time.
The golden and bronze rope enlarged fast, as if it would break out of the room at any moment. Instead, however, it ended up covering the entire room in a gilded illusion with thousands of threads now hanging from the ceiling and protruding from the floor like tall grass. The glow slowly morphed into silver as the thousands of threads were cut down one by one.
Soon enough only a single silver thread remained floating in the office.
Vivian increased her focus, locking in further on this particular future. The most likely outcome.
Vivian frowned as cold sweat ran down the back of her neck. She leaned forward, holding her head and gripping at her hair as the silver thread began violently vibrating and thrashing around before slowly decaying into dust.
Vivian started panting as she leaned back in her seat, rubbing her eyes behind her glasses.
After a short moment, Vivian asked.
"How much have you looked into that kid's elements?"
Ayaka responded from behind her.
"Not very much. The main workload has been studying her Personality Trait and Bloodline. Why?"
"... Damned Hells..." Vivian swore, covering her face with both of her hands for a moment before continuing, "she'll wake in two days. Fucking evacuate before that."
"Evacuate?" Hilde asked.
"The stimulation her body and soul will experience upon leaving that shitty machine is going to be way too much for her Element Brands. They'll go out of control for a while, or something to that effect... It'll be a lethal outbreak for the surrounding biological life and her own body too. Call doctors and researchers with a shit ton of Resistances before evacuating everyone else. That's my recommendation at least."
Vivian stood up, staggering to her feet as Ayaka walked over and helped her stand steady.
"Honestly, boss? What the fuck have you really stolen?" Vivian asked, holding her head as a migraine attacked her.
Hilde could only respond...
"I don't know..."
...
Kumi and Vaeril had gone on quite a few runs at this point. Thankfully, most of Vaeril's worries were unfounded as Kumi's ability to adapt to strategies and work together eith him have drastically improved over time. The last hurdle that existed for them was actually getting to the exit and the final stage that they had gotten a glimpse of once or twice.
Kumi and Vaeril broke through a set of doors, sharpened pipe spikes chasing after them, right on their tail.
At long last, they reached the last stage and finally laid their eyes on the Exit Door. The pale void of this final stage was wide and largely empty, with only bits and pieces of the floor, walls and office tables silently floating.
"Last push! Come on!" Vaeril yelled, almost a groan as his throat was hoarse from all the yelling it took to finally reach this place. A short dash, a few careful jumps and if no surprise traps show up then they would finally escape this place. But...
In short. They failed.
Vaeril ended up tripping and falling down into the void below, leaving Kumi by herself. Logically, Kumi couldn't escape by herself yet. She still lacked the ability to get to the end of the final stage alone and leaving Vaeril behind would be a little rude. So she cannonballed down after him. But not before noticing a certain floating window in the void.
A short minute later, they found themselves back in their cubicles as Vaeril crashed into a suddenly appearing pipe spiked floor.
"What was that, Vaeril?"
"..."
Kumi walked out of her cubicle, seeing Vaeril hide his face behind his hands, leaning against his table.
"I got too excited." Vaeril almost inaudibly mumbled.
"I could tell, yeah. Sheesh."
Kumi walked over, grabbing the ever reappearing coffee mug and sitting down on Vaeril's table.
Just as she was about to drink, she noticed Vaeril's uneven breathing.
"It was embarrassing for you, I'm sure. But I don't think you need to cry about it, Parky."
Kumi sat the coffee back on the table without drinking it.
"It's not embarrassment."
Vaeril corrected, rubbing his whole face, trying to calm himself.
"Finally, I made it there. It was right there. Fucking Freedom. And I fumbled on that last stretch. I feel pathetic and because of me, even you continue to be stuck in this hell."
Before Vaeril could say another word, or meander through his negative emotions any more, Kumi grabbed the back of his chair and turned it, now facing Vaeril directly.
Not a single bad joke to lighten the mood escaped her lips and she believed that she wasn't great at comforting people. So...
Kumi forced his hands away and held eye contact. With not a single blink, Kumi looked Vaeril in the eyes, grabbing his shoulders as if she were about to ask a child 'where it hurts', and she spoke.
"Get a Grip."
There was no discernable emotion on her face. Her eyes unapologetic.
"We made it. Proof that we can escape. Stop crying. Mistakes are commonplace. You should be ecstatic. Yearning, fighting to go on another run right fucking now. You can cry when you're free. You won't get any sympathy at this point. Wake Up. This is our Last Frantic Push."
Vaeril couldn't say anything, his eyes were slightly trembling but he didn't avoid Kumi's gaze or words.
He let out a sigh, looking up at the ceiling.
Kumi let go of him, asking, with her usual tone.
"Well? Did that get through to you?"
Before answering, Vaeril wiped his face with his sleeves and slapping his own cheeks.
"Yeah... Yeah. You're right. Thanks."
"Great. I know I'm right."
"Yes, yes. Great job, Kumi."
"Mhm. So?"
"Another run."
"Another run... Later though, I want to relax with some coffee first."
"...Fine. Since when do you swear though?"