Chosen By The Lover's Constellation-Chapter 24: The Birth of Darkness, Part Four

{Enverna}

Enverna’s eyes remained fixed on the forest the entire drive back to Telvan.

She couldn’t get that image out of her head. Vara being taken and... absorbed? One of the most powerful Players in Telvan, a top 20 Player in the Watchful, had presumably died right in front of them.

And, Enverna had been powerless to do anything about it.

Lianna also kept gazing out in that direction. In the clouds above, electricity swirled around the Haunted Forest, resembling what Enverna imagined a "mana storm" looked like when Lianna first told her that she’d been born during such an event.

"Uh... You ladies wanna tell me what happened back there?" The driver loudly called out to them.

Enverna was about to answer, eager to get some of what she’d seen off her chest. Lianna beat her to it, though.

"We ran into a player killer," she said. "He was fast. Instructor Vara told us to leave ahead of her. I... I’m guessing she meant to use her sear to make it back or something, but... She didn’t make it."

"I see..." The driver responded. "Do you know the killer’s name? I could call the authorities."

"Jack Caldwell," Lianna answered. "I’m pretty sure that’s it."

Again, Enverna was taken back to that moment when Vara lost a limb protecting her.

[... Could she have beaten him if that hadn’t happened? Did I doom her?]

Lianna placed a hand over one of Enverna’s, leaning closer to whisper:

"There’s not a whole lot we could have done." It was like she heard her thoughts. "That whole situation was completely out of our hands."

"I... But, what if I’d reacted sooner?" Enverna wondered quietly, her eyes fixed on the metal floor where her feet bounced almost as much as the truck itself did. "What if I had not been so terrified? Maybe-"

"Then, I’d probably be explaining why two Players didn’t come back, instead of just one."

It saddened Enverna greatly to hear that, because, in her heart of hearts, she knew Lianna was probably right.

"I wish I was just a little bit stronger." Sighing so heavily that she felt like five kilograms of air had just left her lips, Enverna sunk into her seat. "I must have said those exact words in that exact order hundreds of times in my life, but I’ve never wished that more than I do now."

Memories floated in front of Enverna like falling leaves. Showcases where she’d failed to impress, the day her evaluator told her about her lack of potential, rejected applications to some of the guilds in Garriden. It felt like consistently, all throughout her life, Enverna had been told about how talented she was, but when the time came for that talent to be put to use, it just wasn’t quite enough.

The hand that was on top of Enverna’s then gently pulled it up, holding her softly.

"You’ll get stronger," Lianna promised her. "We only just got started with the Watchful. Some day, we’ll be strong enough to stop this sort of thing from happening. For now, though... I think getting out with our lives is the best we could have hoped for."

"I know," Enverna responded. "I... I know."

Later, as the truck arrived back at the same gates that had opened to let them out of the city, the girls found a row of police officers waiting for them.

[What?]

Enverna and Lianna both jumped off the back of the truck.

Instantly, the cops walked up to them, carrying handcuffs.

"What are you-"

Enverna was cut off.

"We’re taking you into custody to ask you both a few questions regarding a possible murder. Please, do not resist."

---

Enverna was taken into a cold, empty room with just a brown table and two chairs. There was a machine on top that resembled the tool the evaluator had used to check Enverna and Lianna’s statuses.

She’d been sitting here for a couple of hours. Finally, a man dressed eerily similar to that evaluator, wearing a white tux with black gloves, entered the room, sitting opposite Enverna.

"Greetings. Before we get started, I’m going to need you to place your hand on that machine. You can do that for me, right?"

It almost sounded like he was expecting her to protest.

"Certainly."

As nervous as she was, Enverna figured that the best thing to do was to cooperate and relax.

Verana had hammered the lesson so many times over the course of her life. She wasn’t allowed to be vulnerable. She wasn’t allowed to be nervous. The mask of confidence she’d crafted for herself over the years needed to remain on, at all times.

With that in mind, she placed her hand on the machine.

And, it beeped twice, which produced a confused reaction from the man.

"... Do you not have access to your Inventory yet?"

"No," Enverna replied. "Instructor Vara had taken us to the Haunted Forest to assess our skills. But, we were attacked by the player killer before we got the chance to actually do anything. So, no. I do not have an Inventory yet."

Hearing that, the man raised a brow.

"A player killer? Are you sure that’s what happened?"

"I’ve said it over twenty times already. Yes, I am sure."

"You know we have your partner in the room right next to this one, right? What kind of story do you think she’s going to tell us?"

[Is he trying to make me distrust Lianna? You poor fool,] Enverna held back a smile. [There literally is not a single person in this city I trust besides her.]

"By all means, go ahead. Ask her and find out."

The man looked into her eyes. Enverna did not budge.

Then, he got up and stepped outside.

Enverna breathed out slowly through her nose, keeping the same position, just in case she was still being watched somehow. She was a little tense, but she had complete confidence in Lianna to not screw this up for them.

And, sure enough, the door opened and the same man said:

"You’re free to go."

Enverna walked out, finding multiple cops talking amongst each other, no doubt going over what they’d heard, and Lianna standing next to a lady in a pencil skirt and wearing glasses, at the end of this narrow, grey hall.

"What happened?" Enverna asked, walking up to them.

The lady extended a hand toward her.

"Greetings, Miss Alteri. My name is Rei Valentina. I am a public defender. I was called here by... someone." She snuck a glance at Lianna, so quickly that the redhead herself likely didn’t catch her, but Enverna did. "A person who heard about what happened and knows neither of you has a lawyer to rely on asked me to help. So," she clapped her hands, "walk with me. I’ll explain the situation as we leave."

Enverna looked back, finding those same detectives from earlier, all still whispering to each other as they passed by.

"About half an hour after your driver began taking you back to Telvan, the police got a call from a boy named Jack Caldwell who said that Vara, your instructor, had been slain. Murdered by you two, specifically."

"What!?"

[Wait, it wasn’t the driver who called them? Jack himself called?]

Enverna couldn’t help but have that outburst, though she quickly quieted down as Rei shushed her.

"You were brought here to see if the police could get anything out of you but, thankfully, your stories lined up and there was nowhere near enough evidence to charge you with anything or to keep you there for any longer. So, you’re being let go... For now," she added. "You two, and that boy Jack, are still the primary suspects, but until the police can find Vara’s body or acquire some form of evidence, at this moment, it is your word against his. Nothing can be done one way or the other."

"B-But, surely, he must have taken something from Vara. We watched him absorb her!" Enverna yelled. "Check his status. Won’t he have a fairly suspicious increase in power?"

"Well, even if he did, the crime happened in the Haunted Forest. A place filled with low-level Fiends. If he has some sort of unknown Instinct or ability that allows him to absorb power, it can be assumed he may have gotten his stats from those enemies."

"That’s..."

"The most important thing," she continued, "is that you two are temporarily free. But, make no mistake, word will spread about this. That driver who took you here? He’s likely already spreading rumors. Jack will likely not keep quiet either. And, between one random boy with bad stats, and the Rank 3 recruit for the Watchful, who do you think the public will decide committed this murder?"

Enverna stopped.

Now, she understood why Lianna was looking at her the way that she was.

[... People are going to think I killed her. Me? For what?]

"Here, this is my card." She handed it to Enverna. "If you get taken into custody again don’t hesitate to call for me. But, for now, the most important thing is that you keep out of trouble. There’s a horrible crime that now has both your names attached to it, whether you did it or not. You need to be on your best behavior."

---

It was nighttime soon.

The two of them returned home feeling so weary that as they stumbled into their dorm, Enverna outright collapsed on the bed.

All the while, what she’d seen kept playing over and over again in her mind.

And, she and Lianna were suspects?

[Outrageous. How... How could there be no evidence at all that he did it? How-]

"Things are probably gonna get kind of messy for a while," Lianna said softly.

"I just..." Enverna began to say, so frustrated she could hardly find the right words to express what she was feeling. Her lips parted and sealed tight over and over again as she tried to string together something that could convey her thoughts. Eventually, she settled for, "this is so fucked up!"

A sympathetic expression fell upon Lianna’s face as she walked over and sat down next to her, placing a gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder. The touch was not needed but Enverna didn’t have the energy to protest.

"I wish I could have done something..." Enverna murmured, feeling tears pop up.

"Some day, you’ll be able to," Lianna told her. "You’re special. All you’re going to do is get stronger, and stronger from here."

That hand on her shoulder moved slowly, rubbing Enverna lightly in soothing, steady motions. Before long, Lianna said:

"Maybe you should get some rest."

"I... Yes," Enverna agreed. "We should."

She stood up and walked over to the bedroom door.

Lianna remained on the couch, staring up at the ceiling.

Enverna stopped and turned, trying not to sound as frightened by all of this as she felt while she asked:

"Lianna... Can you come sleep with me?"

The girl’s eyes popped open.

"A-Are you sure? I don’t want to-"

"Yes," Enverna took a shaky, deep breath. "I’d rather not be alone right now."

And, that was how the day ended.

Nothing but questions filled Enverna’s head. Questions she didn’t have answers to.

Where the two of them went from here, Enverna couldn’t imagine. All she hoped was that Lianna would stay right where she was, though.

Enverna couldn’t do this on her own.