Chapter Six Hundred and Six – Keepsakes

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Save Scumming (A time-looping system apocalypse) - Ongoing

Chapter Six Hundred and Six - Keepsakes

The Black Avatars were destroying their own home.

It was a shock the first time it happened. A Black Avatar that I only recognized in passing, one with a huge sword, raised his weapon overhead, then brought it smashing down across one of the smaller stone buildings along the edge of the keep. There was an explosion, bits of rock and masonry being flung every which way.

Then the entire building and the stone outcropping below it slid off the keep and tumbled away. It gained speed, racing down to the ocean--still thankfully far below--where it crashed down with a huge splash.

"What are they doing?" I asked, aghast.

"Shedding weight," Amaryllis replied. "All that stone? It's more mass than what the Beaver could lift empty."

I watched, feeling strangely ill as the Black Avatars moved elsewhere and continued to mutilate their home, carving off masses of stone bigger than my parent's house.

It felt like something someone would only do if they were desperate.

Tristain had left to help the Avatars take care of things. He was handing out orders and suggestions, and the Black Avatars were following through with those. They were lightening the Stormpiercer by throwing unneeded stuff overboard, then piling on even more stuff that they hauled out of the Keep.

The docks had a few other little vessels and those had been powered on and were being checked over by hurried crews. It looked like a full-scale evacuation was underway.

"I'm going down there to help," I said.

"How?" Amaryllis asked. "They're moving at third-tier speeds. If we head down there, we're more liable to get in the way than anything else."

It was true, but... I looked over and watched as an Avatar carried a chest over one shoulder. It was large, and when they opened the top I saw that it was filled to the brim with books. That had to weigh a ton! Then again, better to save those now rather than let them sink.

I was still worrying about what to do when someone jumped up and landed on the railing a few paces away. Guinivere! She balanced with her four tails twitching behind her, then glanced over me and my friends. "Is everything well here?" she asked. "You weren't hurt?"

"Calamity was stuck by one of the thorns, but I think he'll be okay," I said. "Otherwise, we're fine. Ah. The ship took a little damage."

"I see that," she said.

Desiree strode over and bowed. "Your magical capabilities were a sight to behold, Lady Guinivere," she said.

"Hah! Well, thank you," the foxkin replied. "I haven't let loose in a long while. That beasty was a big one."

I nodded. "I got two levels from it. I didn't even participate much!"

"I got a level up as well," Amaryllis said. "I suspect a few of us did. But celebrations can wait. Lady Guinivere, did you come here for a reason?"

She nodded. "I did. We're moving the core from the lower levels. I think... the keep is lost." She went quiet as we all watched an Avatar shove most of a wall over the edge of the island.

"...Good riddance." Guinevere finally said. Her eyes were bright. "I feel like I just woke up. We locked ourselves up in this Keep, hid from civilization, and told ourselves it was for the best. What utter dreck."

"Isn't this your home?" I asked.

"In some sense, yes," she said. "But it's also a birdcage of our own making." She stretched out her hand; a spark of fire shining on the tip of her index finger. "None of us grew strong by cowering in a thunderstorm. We all need to fly."

She gestured like firing a gun, and the spark shot out to strike a minor tower, detonating in an incandescent fireball. Debris rained down toward the sea.

"There goes my bedroom!" she cheered with a massive grin. "Nothing left to hold me back now."

I glanced down at the other Avatars. "They seem kind of annoyed with you."

"Well, I am disrupting their work." Her voice was unconcernedly breezy. "They've got things they want to save, some of which are admittedly important... that's the reason I came up here, actually. It's about the dungeon core."

I raised both eyebrows.

"We have a few members empowering our hover spells manually. That will give us a few hours, at least, and I ought to join them soon, but we can't keep that up forever."

"What will you do with the core?" I asked.

"I was hoping to stash it in your ship for the moment," Guinevere replied. "If that's acceptable to you? Tristain mentioned that you were going to Elkensteel. We can figure out what to do then."

"Carrying a dungeon core... I can't imagine any flight regulatory body allowing that," Amaryllis said.

"What about the Dustbunnies?" I asked.

"Well, obviously, they'll have to come too. Don't worry, they're rather--"

"We'll do it," I said.

Amaryllis was giving me a look. A suspiciously suspicious one, as if she perhaps thought that I was up to something. Which was correct, but I wasn't going to admit to it. Not in front of witnesses. So what if I wanted the Beaver filled with cute little cuddle monsters? There was no harm in that, right?

"I suppose," Amaryllis said. "I'll tell Awen to make space in the hold for it. We can open the top of the deck up, to get the core inside. Though, we might have to build brackets for it, or something."

"That can be arranged," Guinevere said. "We have a druid that can grow wood to shape. Might be able to fix that hole over there as well? I don't think we can do much for the holes in your windbag, however."

"We're patching them up," I said. The Scallywags and the harpy crew had been going over the temporary patches already, working to make them a little less temporary.

"Good! I know nothing of ships like these," Guinevere replied.

"They are rather novel, are they not?" Desiree asked.

Guinevere hummed, then gestured down. "Accompany me? We ought to hurry this along. Time is, unfortunately, not on our side."

I agreed. Calling over Bastion and Caprica, I explained the situation, then told Amaryllis to keep an eye on the Beaver while we were gone.

Guinevere leapt down, and I followed her, trailed by Desiree. Bastion and Caprica's wings hummed as the swept down beside us. Guinevere herded us along, moving to the side when Black Avatars had to pass. I was keenly aware that I was a little bit in the way but...

I still opened at Mister Menu. "Can I see my stats, please?" I asked.

I had levelled up. Twice, even! I couldn't just sit there and not look.

The first thing I noticed was a big jump in the experience of my Cleaning skill. From the low 30s, where it had been for a long while, up to the mid 40s. It wasn't an insane jump, but that was several weeks of progress in a day!

I had a pretty good number of skill points for both of my classes. I was tempted to keep the Cinnamon Bun Bun ones, to see if I couldn't bring Cleaning up to SS rank.

If Ginger Root thought that she could find a solution to my Cleaning, then I'd just have to Clean even harder!

I was interrupted as we made it to the depths of the Keep where the core was waiting. I gasped as I entered the room.

The space was a disaster. Papers strew about, items tossed around. The sea of cushions that the dust bunnies lived in was scattered across the floor, and furniture had toppled over and shattered.

There were cracked on the walls, and the air smelled like spellwork, which was a strange smell, a little like burnt plastic.

The core, however, was intact, even if all of the machines around it were bent out of shape and destroyed.

"What happened?" I asked.

I noticed a bunch of little ears perking up from behind a box, then one particularly brave dust bunny poked his little head out and blinked big eyes our way.

I think he recognized me, because he leaned down and I heard faint chirps. Then the others came out from hiding. I smiled as I saw a little dust bunny hugging onto the coin I'd given them.

"Alright, little guys," Guinevere said. "See the big bun here? Yes, the one with the ears like yours. We're moving to her ship, and we're taking the core along. Okay? Now, follow her. Indeed, like little ducklings... you don't know what ducklings are, do you?"

I giggled as a few of the more clever ones caught on, and soon the dust bunnies were rushing around and picking things up. Favourite cushions, old gifts, particularly nice rocks. I stepped over and helped them. There were some boxes nearby, so I emptied one out and then helped them sort through their stuff. My friends joined me while Guinivere lingered around the core and prodded at the spellwork.

By the time I was done packing things, including nestling the smallest dust bunnies into the boxes so that I could carry them too, Guinevere was done disconnecting the core.

It hummed as it moved through the air, pushed along by a complex magical array that made me dizzy when I looked at it. "Let's bring this up, shall we?"

***

A note from RavensDagger

Hi...

you should read Black Apron... it's funny! 

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It's also free? It'll be going up on RR in November, but you can read ahead on my Patreon <3