Chapter 100– Major Interlude – Iona – The Tunnel to Terrabethia

Iona got out of bed with all the fury and joy of an 8-year-old.

An 8-year-old on her birthday.

An 8-year-old on her Unlocking Day!!!

The rest of her family groaned in the small hut they called home as Iona blazed through, and right out the door.

“I unlocked! I unlocked!” She cried out, excitement and joy radiating from every fiber of her being.

She ran past the longhouse that dominated the center of the village, the traveling skald sleeping off a hangover on the steps, then skidded to a halt in front of another hut, made out of wood, straw thatch on the roof, dried mud covering the cracks and not letting the chill breeze in. A hut that looked like any other in the village, but was special, not for how it was made, but for who lived in it.

“Lux! Lux! Come out here!” Iona called out. A few of the neighbors, already up and working, chuckled good-naturedly at the whirlwind made flesh excitedly bouncing around, remembering fondly the day when they’d unlocked the System, when magic became real and accessible for each of them.

A very sleepy-looking girl exited the house. Delicate features, mousey brown hair, and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes – it was clear she hadn’t slept a wink last night.

“Iona? Wu?” Lux said.

“I. Unlocked!!!” Iona said, emphasizing each word as carefully as she could. Lux’s eyes widened.

“You unlocked! Hurray! I need to unlock now! Any moment now…”

Lux screwed her eyes up and concentrated, seeing if she could get the last few hours out of the way by sheer force of will.

Nothing. The System wasn’t to be defeated by the mere will of a girl.

Iona rolled her eyes at Lux’s antics. She adored Lux – they were two peas in a pod, cut from the same cloth. Sure, she was distractible, needing Iona’s constant, steady hand to focus and stay on track, and was frankly bananas for bananas, but she provided a spark of curiosity, a burning inquisitive mind, and a creativity that Iona couldn’t match.

In short, they were perfect for each other, they complemented each other, covered each other.

“Anyways, anyways, what did you get? What did you get?” Lux said, having given up on bending the System to her will.

Iona quickly checked over her notifications for the hundredth time this morning.

“[Child of Lithos]!” She happily called out. “Level 7.” She said, puffing her chest out. Bow before me, peasant! [Duchess] Iona was here to rule with an iron fist!

“Wow! Did you put points into your stats yet?” Lux asked, wide-eyed.

Iona hesitated, then relented. They had no secrets. Bending over, whispering to her, she said,

“Well, yes. Everyone keeps saying Mana Regeneration is the best stat, and to put everything there. But I put my points into Dexterity and Strength. That way I can fight the people that bully you.”

Lux gave her a hug, burying her face in Iona’s shirt.

“You didn’t have to.” She said through the cloth.

Iona patted Lux’s back.

“Of course, I did! Come on, let’s go play in Terrabethia!”

That managed to distract Lux, not that it was an accomplishment worth bragging about. A butterfly could distract Lux from… anything really.

“Yeah, let’s go!”

Holding each other’s hand, they sprinted off to Terrabethia, their magical place. Soon to be even more magical with Iona having skills! And levels!

“Are you girls heading off to the old mine again?” The guard at the village exit asked them.

“Yup.” Iona said, chin held high, defiantly.

The guard sighed, having lost this very same argument dozens of times already, not wanting to go through the wringer with the pair of scoundrels so early in the morning.

“Please be careful in there. It’s not safe.”

Lux stuck her tongue out at the guard.

“Not safe for big fat adults maybe. Safe for quick girls! Come on Iona, let’s goooo!”

As they ran through the woods, up the hill, to the entrance of the old mine, Iona looked over the skills she was offered. Mom and Dad had given her some suggestions yesterday as to what skills she should take, and Iona suspected that once they were awake, they’d dictate what skills she’d take.

However, for a few, brief, glorious hours, Iona was free from parental tyranny, able to grab skills and allocate stats as she saw fit.

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[Name: Iona]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 8]

[Mana: 40/40]

[Mana Regen: 825]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 20]

[Dexterity: 20]

[Vitality: 7]

[Speed: 11]

[Mana: 4]

[Mana Regeneration: 4]

[Magic Power: 4]

[Magic Control: 4]

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Mana regen per day, because that looked cooler. Big numbers were better!

Frowning over her offered skills, she started off taking [Analyze], the classic skill for seeing what level someone was. Apparently, everyone had it, and everyone said it was a good idea. Iona was a free spirit, not inclined to listen too much to other people, but when that many people said the same thing? She’d be silly not to take it. It just made sense!

[Cute] was up next, because Iona was as cute as a button. Why not!

[Alert] was good for making sure no monsters or dinosaurs were sneaking up on them in the woods, and Lux would never be [Alert]. One of them had to be on guard for danger, and if it wasn’t going to be Lux, it had to be her.

[Walking] is what Iona spent way too much time doing, and the skill was tantalizing, promising an easier life, a way to get from A to B with less effort, using magic to fuel things. [Walking] away!

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Walking] has reached level 2!]

Levels already! Happy day! Iona jumped as much as she could with Lux holding onto her other hand.

Iona was tough, and [Tough] was an option. It’d help in the inevitable brawl as one of the older kids picked on Lux, and Iona would need to swoop in to save the day.

Speaking of needing to swoop in to save the day, it was inevitable that it’d end up in a bare-knuckle brawl, a hellion fight in the mud between Iona and whoever the most recent tormentor was. The System was a generous god, and had offered her [Brawling].

Yeah! Nobody would ever win against her again!

Although, unlocking marked a rite of passage, and fights between people with their System unlocked and those that hadn’t was strongly discouraged, which would just make life harder. The older, bigger, stronger tormentors might be back to fighting, while the younger ones couldn’t be beaten up anymore.

Lux was a darling, and after each fight, after each black eye, would carefully try to patch Iona up, carefully dabbling some concoction or another on her. Lux kept insisting she wanted to be a [Mage], but Iona couldn’t see it. Lux was 100% becoming a [Healer], or she’d eat her hat.

Why oh why couldn’t Lux be more sociable? She annoyed people by just ignoring them, not really caring for them or wanting to be around them. Other people said something was “off” about Lux, and tried to shun her, cast her out of their social circle. The designated punching bag. Without her, without Iona, she’d be all alone in the world.

It made Iona worry over her, gave her a rare, well, not sleepless night, but a few minutes of worry at night. What would ever happen to Lux if something happened to Iona?

It drove Iona. It made Iona want to be stronger, be able to protect Lux. Nobody else would do it after all.

Two skill slots left. Iona hesitated a moment, then decided to listen to the wild old priestess the town had, that learning and education were the most important things. Any other adult telling her, and Iona would probably bristle, and deliberately not pick it. The old priestess, looking like she’d been alive two hundred years, who always had a kind word, an ear for Iona’s problems, and always had stories about the gods and goddesses? Iona listened to her; in a way she didn’t listen to anyone else. Stories about Lunaris and Selene were her favorites, but Iona wasn’t picky – any story was a good story.

She was starting to get a sneaking suspicion that her parents were feeding lessons into the priestess for her to tell Iona, but, well… Iona hadn’t quite fully made that connection yet.

The long and short of it was, [Education] was the 7th general skill Iona took, and then she paused, as they were nearing the entrance of the mine. This was the last skill, and suddenly the skill restriction mattered.

The entrance of the old mine had a stone monument in front of it, an ancient claim by the Empire of Remus to the mine.

Even the dust of the Empire was gone by now, only a few historical records, and the occasional monument and grave to rob left, marking the existence of humanity’s first civilization. The count ruled the lands now, and there was a dizzying array of nobility involved.

Iona didn’t bother with any of that. She longed for the days of the Remus Empire, where the stories said there were no nobles, nobody with that type of privilege, no peerage who could and did crush peasants under their boot.

“Let’s go!” Iona said, eagerly pulling Lux into the mine with her.

Kids would be kids, and Iona and Lux loved to explore the nooks and crannies of the world around them, as limited as it was. There used to be a mine here, a source of precious Arcanite, ancient from the look of it, and each generation had, with slightly better skills, gotten deeper and deeper into the mine, until one day, one of the thousands of support beams had given way, and the whole thing had practically collapsed on itself.

The village was self-sustaining though, and farmers were stubborn people. Generations of farmers had come and gone, and the village had long weaned off of any reliance on the mine. It was a simple, nondescript village now, with nothing particularly special to set it apart.

They had sheep of course, Felix’s impulsive wish reverberating through the eons, his largest embarrassment potentially becoming his greatest fame.

Iona and Lux had spent time playing in the mine together, away from the other village kids that liked to bully Lux.

“It’s dangerous!” The adults kept saying. “Don’t go there!”

They also said pigs, weather, the sun, monsters, travelers, swords, fire, and dinosaurs were dangerous. Some of those were dangerous, yeah, but Iona still didn’t see how the sun was dangerous. She’d made fires, and yeah, if you were dumb they could hurt, maybe be dangerous, but apart from that, they were fine.

She figured the mine was either in the sun category, or the fire category. Probably the sun category. People kept saying it was dangerous, but it wasn’t that dangerous.

“Let’s explore!” Lux said, shooting down a side path. Iona waited, tapping her foot. They’d explored that tunnel at least twenty times, and it was a short dead end.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Lux came back out, looking sheepish.

“How about Terrabethia?” Iona asked, not waiting for an answer before grabbing Lux’s hand and moving through the tunnels.

Terrabethia was what they’d named a little valley that the mine exited to on the other side. It was their place, their special magical spot, where they could go and nobody could find them. Endless adventures lay in that tiny valley. Castles were built and raided, dinosaurs slain, Kings and Queens rescued, and, at the end of the day, good triumphed while evil was cast down.

Standard kid play.

“Yeah! Yeah! I want to be Chloe!” Lux excitedly said.

Iona got right into it.

“Alright! I’ll be Felix then!”

Felix and Chloe, two of the three names every human knew. They were each responsible for a global +1 to all humanity, the [Knight] and the [Mage], along with the [Grand Hero] Herculix.

After all this time, nobody was quite sure what they had done, just that everyone got a notification about them, and the corresponding bonus. Well, two notifications with Felix. The other one didn’t matter though. Sheep detection.

They ran through the tunnels, a path carved into their mind after so many trips down. Over rocks, sliding under fallen timber supports, a short swim, and one wriggle through a narrow crack, and they were out, into the magical valley.

“Yurok! It’s Yurok, the Guardian!” Lux claimed, climbing a tree.

“Forwards Yurok!” She cried out, pointing imperiously into the distance.

The perfectly normal oak, of course, didn’t move, but that didn’t stop their imagination.

“Hiya!” Iona grabbed a branch, fending off hordes of zombies, as Lux pelted magic missiles – acorns – from above.

By the twin goddesses of the moon, stats felt amazing. Iona could feel her arms being stronger, the stick whizzing through the air. A sharp pull back at one point even had a crack go through the stick, as it broke under the forces.

“By the way, why are you Felix today? Why not a [Knight-Errant], like the one that’s in town?”

Iona froze at that, whirling around to see Lux up there in the tree.

“What do you mean?”

“A [Knight-Errant] is visiting! Said she’d be here for a few days. She said she’s one of the va- vala – valk”

“A Valkyrie!?” Iona practically shrieked out. “Why didn’t you tell me!” She demanded.

“I thought you knew!” Lux said, cowering slightly at her friend’s anger. “She rides a tri-cer-a-tops!” Lux carefully enunciated each word of the difficult dino’s name, like she’d been scolded and made to repeat it carefully until she could do it right.

“Come on let’s go let’s go!” Iona said, dropping the broken stick, blitzing back to the entrance of the cave. She paused for a moment, waiting for Lux to catch up, before diving back into the winding maze.

Over the rock. Wriggle through the passageway. Slide under the collapsed beam, impatience written on her face at every step.

But never yelling at Lux, no. She was, in some ways, so very fragile, so reliant on Iona.

Well, it was also somewhat unfair to Lux. She’d unlock later in the day – Iona was the older one. Barely. Same birthday, different time of day, and, well, that’s why Iona was the big sister, the one who needed to protect Lux. Lux didn’t have extra skills yet, extra points in Strength and Dexterity making some of the formerly difficult twists and turns in the tunnel easy.

She tried punching the wall a few times, and got rewarded.

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Tough] has reached level 2!]

Ha! Levels! The perfect thing to get while Lux was struggling along.

Sliding to the side of a rock. Punch the walls. Wait for Lux to catch up.

Swim through a pool of water, the formerly bitingly cold sting somewhat faded – immediate benefits from [Tough]. Shake it off. Punch the walls. Wait for Lux to catch up.

Sprinting down a hallway, reveling in the feel of the air, of her legs being stronger. Punch the walls. Wait for Lux to catch up.

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Tough] has reached level 3!]

Yes! I knew this was the right thing to do!

Carefully navigate around some beams, waving her hand – hitting the wall smarted – Iona had an idea.

Why not hit the wooden beam? Softer than the rock-hard wall.

With all the might of 20 Strength, she punched the wooden beam.

Again.

And again.

And –

With a mighty crack, the beam collapsed, a portion of the ceiling falling down. Iona jumped back, the massive part of the mountain narrowly missing her.

“Oh no!” She yelled out. “Lux are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fin-“ Lux started to say, only to be interrupted by more rumbling.

More rocks falling, crashing down, dust billowing up.

“Lux!” A scream ripped from Iona’s throat, as she backed up, trying to avoid being crushed by the falling rocks.

[*Ding!* You have slain a [Human] (Classless, lv 1)]

[*Ding!* Congratulations! [Child of Lithos - Water] has leveled up to level 8! +2 Free Stats from your Class! +1 Free Stat for being Human! +1 Dexterity from your Element!]

[*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the General skill [Traps]. Would you like to take this skill? Y/N]

Iona dismissed the notifications, refusing to believe them, trying to move the massive rockslide that now blocked the path.

Nothing. The rocks barely moved.

The Valkyrie. She thought. She can fix this. She can fix anything.

Iona flew out of the mine at max speed, heedless of the scrapes and bruises, the cuts on her arm. She stumbled, falling down the hill, rolling down, more brambles stuck in her blonde hair. Running, screaming, crying, denying reality, wishing she could turn back time to the happy morning.

The Valkyrie will make it right. Was her only thought, her only way forward.

She ran into town, ignoring any other notifications that were occurring.

How had she missed the [Knight-Errant], the Valkyrie, the living embodiment of what Iona wanted to be? The Triceratops was impossible to mistake, the snuffling noise filling the village as it happily chowed down on an entire bale of hay for a meal, the Valkyrie with her winged helmet lounging nearby.

“Excuse me excuse me please help my friend is trapped in the mine.” Iona said in a single rush.

She – [Knight-Errants] of the order Valkyrie were all women – glanced at a man, who quickly nodded at her. Iona missed all of her injuries healing up, a warm glow filling her as energy filled her limbs.

“Lead the way.” She said, picking Iona up in her arms. Iona pointed, and they were off.

They moved so fast Iona could barely keep track, the Valkyrie stopping now and then for a moment for Iona to re-orient herself, and point again in the direction they needed to go next. They got to the mine, and miracle of miracles, they’d been close enough to the exit that there were no squeezes tight enough for the Valkyrie to get stuck in.

They made it to the pile of rocks, dim light filtering in through holes in the ceiling.

“See, see, she’s stuck behind this. I can’t move it, can you help? Please?” Iona said, tugging on a rock to show the futility of her action.

“You didn’t get a notification, did you?” The Valkyrie asked.

Iona hesitated, then slowly nodded. There had been something like that.

“But but you’re a Valkyrie. You can do anything! It might not even be her. Please, you gotta save her.”

Her face fell.

“Oh sweetie, I’m sorry. She’s gone.”

“No! Impossible! Fix it, please, I’ll do anything!” Iona yelled and screamed, bashing her fists against her armor, ignoring the damage and bruises to her hands, ignoring the notifications of [Tough] leveling up, cruelly mocking her.

Iona broke down in the cave, crying great big tears.

Telling her parents had been bad. Telling Lux’s parents – even worse. Rubbing salt in, they didn’t blame her, not even when she mentioned that she’d gotten credit for the kill, a triple notification that she had been to blame.

There was no body for the funeral, no need to dig a grave. Just a simple Symbol of the Five Gods on a wooden stick. If Iona was lucky, it’d last three years.

Iona spent the day, the night, and the next day, praying. Begging the gods to return her Lux to her.

“I want to be a Valkyrie. Take me with you.” Iona said.

Alruna, the [Knight-Errant], looked down with amusement at Iona. She spent a long time in thought, slowly looking between Iona and the man with her, the boy following him along.

“He has an apprentice; you can have one as well!” Iona said, working on her charm. People had always said she was charming. Drat, why hadn’t she taken [Charming]?

“He’s an Order healer, not a [Knight-Errant]. That’s his apprentice.” Alruna said, mouth twisting in a grin.

“Well, fine, you look like you need an apprentice. I can cook! Clean!”

Swallowing her fear, Iona approached Alruna and her steed. She barely came up to the triceratop’s knee. Bundling the loose end of her shirt in her hand, she started to try and polish the leathery skin of the dinosaur.

“See, see, I can be useful!”

“Please, take me with you. I want to be strong. Strong enough to protect people. Strong enough to defend them, even against falling mountains.”

Alruna looked with a serious, scary look, pressuring bearing down on Iona.

“Do your parents know about this?”

Iona wanted to say they’d blessed the idea, that they’d let Iona run after Alruna and the triceratops carrying the three of them after they’d left town.

It’d be a lie.

Iona slowly shook her head.

“You sure? This is a hard life, a one-way ticket. The class doesn’t translate well to other walks of life. It’s a lifelong commitment.”

Iona nodded furiously.

Alruna shrugged.

“Alright. Why not. You’ll want to take the [Page] class. A quick breakdown of different types of elements, and where they’ll lead you.”

“Fire is pure strength, overwhelming people with power.”

“Water is delicate, like fencing, hitting where it causes the most damage.”

“Earth is stout, all about holding the line, not falling when the time comes.”

“Wind is fast, hitting and running before they can hit you back.”

“Metal is smart, using a variety of weapons to your benefit, always having the right tool.”

“Wood is clever, using nature and beasts around you to your advantage.”

“Light is persistent, being able to heal yourself, reinvigorate yourself. Last longest in fights – if you survive.”

“Dark is penetration and destruction, going through armor – and bodies.”

Iona spent a moment thinking about it, before deciding to be smart about it. Ignoring adults had led to Lux dying, and she wasn’t going to make that particular mistake again, now.

“What do you have?”

“Me? I’m Brilliance and Void – Light and Dark evolved. My blade pierces through all, and I can spend hours – days even – fighting, healing faster, mana giving me energy to keep going.”

Iona eyed the weapons on the triceratops’s saddle. Spears, lances, crossbows, swords, dozens of bags.

But the curved, wicked axe with glowing runes called to her, and was a skill she was being offered. The idea had been woodcutting, but the skill should apply anyways.

[Axes] was Iona’s last general skill.

It only took two days of training for all of Iona’s general skills to be maxed, and for her to be ready to class up.

“Ask your guide if you have questions. Best of luck!” Alruna said, cheerfully waving Iona off.

It was amazing how easily Alruna took to having a runaway apprentice, getting barely a raised eyebrow from the healer she was partnered with, but getting grousing from the healer’s apprentice, who felt the time and attention on him was diminished, for an increase in chore load.

Iona closed her eyes, letting herself enter the world of her soul.

A grand temple met Iona’s eyes, as a priestess, dressed in a simple garb, met her.

She was cute as a button, with long, flowing, wavy blonde hair.

“Welcome Iona.”

“Thank you!”

“No desire to be a priestess?”

Iona hesitated.

“It calls to me. It speaks to me. I feel, on some level, it’s what I should be.”

“But it doesn’t let me protect. It doesn’t let me defend. It won’t let me save the Lux’s of the world, or defend the meek, or anything like that. It won’t let me travel with Alruna. I’ve started down this path. Maybe another day.”

Priestess nodded sagely.

“Then let’s find you the best class for what you want. Come on then.”

Hours of searching, of looking, of double and triple checking. Of altars to gods interspersed with altars of classing up, prompting Iona to take a break, send a prayer to the gods and goddesses, beseeching them for Lux back, for her Lux to be returned to her.

For a second chance.

After far too much time spent searching, it was the [Page] class in the end, with the only choice being the element.

It boiled down to two in the end - Earth or Light.

Both would help her defend and protect. Both gave her resilience, let her step in front of a blow and take it for another. Alruna was Brilliance, an evolution of Light, but that only factored in slightly.

In the end, the old priestess from her town was the deciding factor, one of her lectures mentioning that Mana Regeneration was the “most powerful stat”. Light was associated with, attached to, Mana Regeneration, and Iona felt it was the best choice for her.

[*Ding!* Congratulations! You’ve upgraded your first class – [Page] – Light. +2 Free Stats, +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana Regeneration per level!]

[Brawling] and [Tough] had merged into [Fighting], while [Axes] moved up into her [Page] class, giving her future a vague outline of a shape. [Charming] was picked up, the lesson in convincing other people when you lacked the power yourself engraved into Iona’s mind like a Rune, and [Monster Husbandry] picked to start working on dinosaurs, both to support Alruna’s mount, and to prepare her for one of her own someday.

Iona was determined to make a difference, to swear to protect others. Alruna agreed in principle, but thought it was too early for Iona to swear anything yet. Iona disagreed, arguing that the earlier she got the skill, the sooner, the faster, the higher she could level it. Iona’s dogged determination wore her down, and Alruna relented, helping Iona craft a vow. The healer was one of the Oathbound healers – hence Alruna for protection as they wandered around – and contributed as well, providing his knowledge on how restriction skills worked, what was useful, what wasn’t.

First, defend the weak.

Protection is my art.

I will defend those who cannot defend themselves.

I will seek out and slay those who would prey on those weaker than themselves.

I will not lie.

I will be generous when I can, share my bread with those who have none.

I will fight corruption where I find it.

I will act with honor and with integrity, with temperance and valor.

The last part was half-whispered, never mentioned, never discussed with the others. Was always going to be part of her [Vow].

I will always remember you.

[*ding!* You have made the promise [Vow of Iona to Lux]! Would you like to accept this general skill? WARNING: Vows are binding.]

Iona hit yes without any hesitation.

[Vow of Iona to Lux]: A solemn vow of protection from Iona, to Lux. +3% Strength, Speed, and Dexterity when protecting another. Breaking the Vow has severe consequences.]

A much better reminder of Lux than the [Trap] skill.

This would do.

End of book 2.

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[Name: Iona]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 8]

[Mana: 40/40]

[Mana Regen: 528]

Stats

[Free Stats: 13]

[Strength: 21]

[Dexterity: 22]

[Vitality: 8]

[Speed: 12]

[Mana: 4]

[Mana Regeneration: 6]

[Magic Power: 4]

[Magic Control: 4]

[Class 1: [Page - Light: Lv 9]]

[Light Affinity: 4]

[Fighting: 9]

[Axes: 9]

[Minor Invigorate: 4]

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[Class 2: Locked]

[Class 3: Locked]

General Skills

[Analyze: 6]

[Cute: 8]

[Alert: 9]

[Walking: 9]

[Vow of Iona to Lux: 5]

[Charming: 4]

[Education: 9]

[Monster Husbandry: 6]

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