Utopian System

As they advanced toward the deposit, something kept nagging at Elio's mind, a subtle disquiet he couldn't quite place.

"Didn't they already check this area?" he asked, studying the terrain clean of cores. "The collection squad should have passed through here months ago."

His companion nodded, maintaining a steady pace. "I was in that squad. We checked every rock, every crevice, looking for loose cores." Her voice carried a strange undertone, almost imperceptible.

"And you never found the book?"

"Not at that time," she responded, her eyes scanning the horizon with an intensity that seemed slightly off. "But I asked them to return occasionally..."

They stopped near some rock formations. The deposit rose before them, its structure familiar yet always imposing. The afternoon light cast long shadows that seemed to dance across the crystalline surface.

"Strange," the girl murmured, frowning. "The collection squad should be waiting around here."

Elio looked at her curiously. "I thought they didn't want to move the book. That's why you brought me."

"Yes, but..." she moved between the rocks, as if searching for something. "I don't see them. I was sure it was around here... The landscape is so similar..."

There was something in her voice, a note that didn't quite fit with the situation. Elio observed her while she leisurely continued her search.

"The squad usually wastes time inside the deposit," she commented after looking at the time in her book, turning upward, looking at the mountain top entrance. "Sometimes they get distracted studying the god's statue. I know because..." an almost imperceptible pause, "I was their supervisor."

Elio remembered that. Remembered assigning her to that position, trusting in her leadership ability.

"We should check inside, maybe they're being insubordinate again and took it with them to the main chamber," she suggested, already moving toward the entrance.

"I thought you said no one should move it."

"Did I tell them that? I don't remember, I went to find you so quickly that..." The girl stopped for an instant, so brief it almost went unnoticed. "But you know soldiers, sometimes they take initiative… Anyway, let's hurry."

♢♢♢♢

The deposit chamber welcomed them with its usual magnificence. The god's statue rose in the center, its expression eternally distracted observing some point in infinity.

"How strange," she murmured, peering into the chamber. "The squad isn't here..."

Elio stayed near the entrance, an uncomfortable sensation growing in his stomach.

"Why don't we check again where..." she stopped, "isn't that?"

She turned toward him, pointing, and for a moment something crossed her face, frustration? Impatience?n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Elio turned to look.

The silence in the chamber suddenly became very heavy, almost oppressive.

The book lay beside the statue's base, its cover with his friend's name, unmistakable. Elio descended toward it.

"Slowly," his companion murmured. "A fallen one's book deserves respect."

Elio bent to pick it up, his fingers brushing the cover. But something in the voice behind him had changed, carrying a weight of finality that made his skin crawl.

"I'm sorry, Elio," the words fell like stones in stagnant water. "I really am."

Elio froze, the book still in his hands.

"I tried so hard," she continued, her voice mixing bitterness and resignation. "So much time trying to be perfect, to be what everyone needed." A humorless laugh. "Love is such a ridiculous thing, isn't it? So illogical. And yet..."

A sudden uproar invaded the chamber. Unpleasant and intense sounds, screams and explosions that shouldn't be in the first ring.

Elio's eyes shot toward the god's statue, toward the indicator that always showed the mana feeding the barrier.

The number flickered: 0.

"No..." he whispered, his book already moving to channel mana toward the statue.

"It's too late," she said softly. "It was my turn to transport the mana feeding this week..."

He turned with lightning speed, his control over metal creating a prison around her while his other hand pulled a potion from his pocket. The liquid barely passed his throat when he shouted:

"WHY?!" The prison transformed into a giant hand, a perfect alloy of metals that not even she at level 19 could break. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

Diana didn't fight against her prison. Her eyes, filled with resignation and something deeper, more painful, fixed on Elio's.

"For love, of course."

The voice didn't come from Diana.

Zahyla descended from the crater, her human form moving with that alien grace that characterized her.

"It's always for love, isn't it fascinating?" she continued, floating casually above them. "So much desire, so much selfishness, so much destruction, all for that chemical in your brains you call love."

The sounds of battle increased. Elio could feel the potion's power mixing with his own rage and horror.

"Oh, don't bother asking," Zahyla waved a hand dismissively. "She did it for her mother as always... Always her abusive mother. Always revenge. Can you believe how much she loves her despite everything? Stockholm Syndrome perhaps? Of course you don't know what I'm talking about... The question is: what will you do now that we're inside, great leader?"

"Though I didn't expect you to feed the barrier so quickly, that wasn't the deal, young lady," Zahyla continued. "Well, I'll have to make sure to eliminate my target to be able to leave, right?"

Elio's eyes widened with realization.

"With help of course," Zahyla smiled. The nearly 100 artromus entered behind her.

Diana, still trapped in the metal prison, kept her gaze fixed on the floor.

♢♢♢♢

The drinks in the tray clinked softly as Lila and Mei advanced down the hallway.

"Are you sure he'll be in his office?" Mei asked, carefully balancing her load. "Lately he spends more time at the wall with Lucien than in the building."

Lila nodded, though a hint of doubt crossed her face. "It's his usual time to review reports. Besides..." she stopped, biting her lip, "I have to confess something important."

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They found Zara in the hallway leading to Elio's office, reviewing some documents with a furrowed brow.

"Have you seen Elio?" Lila asked, trying to keep her voice casual. "We prepared some drinks and..."

"He's not here," Zara looked up from her papers, a slight smile curving her lips at seeing the tray. "He should be with Lucien, had to review those population reports he forgot yesterday."

Mei and Lila exchanged a look.

"Let's go to Lucien," Zara decided, putting down her documents. "If anyone knows where Elio is when I don't, it'll be him."