Chapter 29:

Chapter 29: We've Gone This Far, Together We Can Go Farther!

Manifest Merge: Fused With A Goddess

Harmony was tossing and turning in bed. Thoughts and worries about the next day racing through her mind. She finally sat up after an agonizing hour of sleepless stress and turned to Vault. She noticed he was lying down peacefully. She smiled at him for a moment then her expression shifted to a more somber one.

She carefully, and quietly, crawled out of the bed. She made her way to the cave entrance and looked up at the moon in the sky.

It looked so similar to the one from her world, she thought. Yet this world was not hers. She had to fight for her life tomorrow after all, something she hadn’t needed to do back home. Vault sat up and noticed Harmony was sitting in the cave entrance. He draped the blanket over himself like a cape, and quietly shuffled over to her. He put part of one end over her and almost startled her.

She had flinched by the sudden action, but managed to relax herself a little when she saw his face. He made two cups of water appear out of his inventory with a small wave of his hands between them. “Can't sleep?”

She took the cup and let out a sigh as she stared down at her reflection in it. “Nope…I didn't want to wake you up…Sorry…”

He looked up at the sky. “Is it because the moon is too bright?”

She let out a light chuckle. “Sounds like something I would say, but no.”

Vault sighed. “Yeah…I know…Tomorrow is show time. We have a lot of work ahead of us…There's a lot of thoughts going through my head right now…Almost feels like my brain is on fire.”

She adjusted the cover around herself. “You looked like you were sleeping peacefully.”

Vault shook his head. “Nah…Been having nightmares…Not exactly something you should share with someone who is having trouble sleeping…I didn't want to scare you more than you already felt.”

She nudged him with her elbow. “I'm here for you too, ya know. Doesn't have to be for a fight. If you talk to me, I'll listen.”

He smiled at her then his expression turned serious. “Just a lot of worries…How will we confront the golem lady…? If we're ready…What we'll do with her if we win…What will we do if we lose…? What will become of our new friends…? And…I want to protect you…”

He clenched his fist and put a hand to his chest. “No matter what happens tomorrow, I will protect you.”

She looked speechless for a moment then her lips curved into a grin. She used her thumb to point at herself. “The same goes for me. I'll give it everything I've got tomorrow.”

He offered her a fist bump and she returned it. Their animal companions crept up from around them. The wolf huddled in their blanket tent and rested on their laps.

The little bat climbed up on her shoulder furthest from Vault and got comfortable. Fireflies flew around the group, flickering lights here and there. Almost made it feel like they had a little light of hope, in this grim dark situation.

Vault petted the wolf and Harmony scratched under the chin of the bat. Vault let out a yawn. “We should try going back to sleep.”

She rested her head on his shoulder. “Let's just stay like this…It's nice…”

He blushed for a moment before noticing she had fallen asleep. She was snoring softly and he adjusted the sheet on her, so it wouldn’t fall off.

He leaned on her head “Good night Harmony…Sweet dreams…”

A small spark of light came into view. Vault slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by the blinding light of the sun shining in his face. He noticed that Harmony was gone. He dropped the blanket that was wrapped around his body. The animals were also nowhere to be seen.

He looked around frantically. Several thoughts raced through his mind. “Did she leave him behind to protect him? Was she kidnapped in the middle of the night? Did something worse happen?”

He looked ahead towards the field just outside the cave. The sun was still rising with blinding light. He was able to make out a silhouette.

He focused his eyes and saw several more. He saw Harmony standing near the wolf with the bat riding on its head. She had a hand reached out to the sun as a gentle breeze blew past her. Its round light lined up perfectly in her sight in a way that made it look like it was within her grasp.

Felicia and Eunice both took a moment switching control over Harmony as the hand closed around it. They now had a fist pointing at the sky. She took a deep breath before Eunice spoke to her in her head.

“Have you calmed down now? I could feel immense tension and stress from you for the past few days. Especially last night. I thought about contacting you, but I realized I had no words of comfort to provide…I wasn't sure what I could say that would put your worries to rest.”

Harmony placed her hand over her heart. “Talking about last night made me feel a lot better. If I'm being honest, I'm still nervous…But I feel like if all of us are working together then something good will happen. We've gone this far, we can go farther.”

She heard Vault’s voice calling her name from the cave home. She looked back and saw him waving at her. “I was looking for you! I thought you left without me!”

She smiled at him and took a few steps in his direction. “I’d never go too far away from you! I just needed some fresh air! I'm coming back now, don't worry!”

She headed back towards the cave with her animal companions and they went through their usual morning routine. It was a little bit different this time. They got a lot of equipment and food ready for the battle to come.

They were in a lot more of a rush this time, but not so much to the point where they could afford to forget something. After double and even triple checking everything they needed, they finally were ready to head out into the field. They all checked their system statuses one last time.

Vault was level 13

Crafting:

Rank D-

Cooking

Rank D-

Reinforcement Upgrade

Rank E+

As for the animals, the wolf was level 12 and the bat was level 11. Harmony on the other hand seemed to be the lowest level of them all.

“Status”

“Name: Harmony ”

Level: 10

Strength: E-