Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

Chapter 179: The Truth

"Jabberwock Shift…? I did it–it's done," Finn slowly breathed out.

A sound like that of stone cracking turned his attention upward at the headless body of the Jabberwock. Feeling that it might've been toppling over on top of him, he stumbled back, though found that wasn't the case.

Its body came over with cracks, shattering as it broke apart and crumbled into bits and pieces of lifeless rock and dust. The remnants of the calamity that had brought the end to Wonderland rained down gently like an ashen shower.

All of the flames that had been burning on the field were brought down, though it didn't seem to be the ashes of the Jabberwock that snuffed out the fire.

He stood there as he could make something out standing just a few meters ahead on the ash-coated field. It was difficult to see it, not so much as transparent, but more so gentle fluctuations in the wind that roughly looked like the shape of a woman.

"Huh?" Finn quietly let out, attempting to see what was there.

Squinting harder finally let him see it, or more so, it seemed that the presence had allowed him to perceive it; a feminine figure not of flesh, but of a complexion that resembled glistening stars.

"I am grateful to you, Finn Thorne. Today you have done a service to that man," the mysterious presence said.

"What? Are you talking about the Hatter? Who are you–?" Finn asked with genuine confusion.

While he was wary of the presence, he didn't raise his daggers nor did he want to do so; there was an air around the unknown figure, one that instructed him not to make any rash moves.

"A benefactor of humanity. That is all that you need to know," the presence answered. "You are correct. The Hatter was…a friend."

Receiving such an answer, Finn remembered what the Hatter had told him on a previous visit, about the only other guest he had beside himself–the "Universe."

'Is this who he was talking about? Something like this–I can see it,' he thought.

Putting what he suspected into words, he responded, "If he was your friend, why didn't you help out? It's been centuries of this, at least, hasn't it? The Hatter was living here alone with that beast all this time."

"I cannot interject myself into the qualms of humanity directly," the presence answered. "That is why I steered you here, Finn Thorne."

Hearing what was admitted filled him with a sense of frustration immediately as he stepped closer, "You–why?! I could've easily died–I almost did, multiple times!"

"But you did not and in turn, you received monumental strength from felling that beast," the presence informed him calmly.

"It could've easily gone the other way! I didn't ask to fight that thing–who the hell would?!" Finn sharply shouted.

"You would not have fallen. I was certain of that outcome. That's why I guided you here," the presence explained to him.

"How could you know that? That's not…" Finn denied, slightly shaking his head though he felt it was an impossible task to argue with the obscure being.

The enigmatic figure spoke with little emotion in a silken voice, "I just did. That's all there is to it. What matters is that you were victorious, and thus…This world shall finally be reset."

"Reset?" Finn asked.

"Yes," the presence confirmed, holding one hand out. "Once deprived of all life, it marks the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one. Those that once lived here, their souls, shall reincarnate and all shall begin anew. Perhaps this cycle, things will not end so badly."

"Hold on, but that's not–the First Order–that world, when the last fell, it was destroyed completely. There was no "cycle"--it was just a complete end," Finn recalled.

"You are correct. That is because the First Order was a world deemed to be destroyed by another," the presence answered. "This world was not put under the same scrutiny."

"Another? Aren't you the one responsible for this? For the apocalypse on my world, too? These Systems–? All of that?" Finn pressed for answers.

Before he could get the answer he wanted–

["Dreamwalking completed."]

It all began to fade like a faraway dream, unable to speak or move as his vision turned to black, only seeing that the ethereal lips of the entity moved with unheard words.

"Gah—?"

His eyes opened to the sight of the dreary, molded roof that he slept under. It took him blinking a few times as he sat up to adjust to the jarring shift, looking around.

Both of his companions were still fast asleep, finding that it was still dark past the windows.

'I guess I woke up a bit early…I can actually get some sleep then, hopefully,' he thought, laying back down.

The next day started with further investigating the remote village, and what else might be around it. He followed a dirt road alongside the others, only really finding broken down cars that had been claimed by nature.

"It doesn't look anybody has been here for, well…before the start of all of this," Charlotte observed, looking at a truck without wheels parked in the tall grass while walking by.

"I gotta agree. It just begs the question why a Tower touched down here of all places. I assumed they only targeted areas with large populations, like major cities," Finn questioned, ducking beneath a toppled over tree that leaned against a crushed shed.

With how broken down the small homes were, with vehicles rusted over and gripped by grass, it looked like somewhere nobody was meant to live.

"Russia is a huge place. I doubt this is the only village like this," Jasper guessed.

"Either way, this might be better. I think monsters mainly stick to large cities," Finn said.

"Come to think of it, I haven't been outside of a city until now—it's quiet and peaceful, actually," Charlotte remarked.

"Yeah, it is," Finn agreed, looking ahead at the quiet trail that led through the woods.

The chirping of birds in the early hours echoed through the forest just outside of the small village. Sunlight dripped through the verdant leaves, bestowing its warmth to the traveling trio who didn't have any real goals in mind.

Jasper stayed at the back, keeping his sword resting against his shoulder, "I've been wondering–it said we'd be given a "Boon" of some kind when the First Order was cleared, right? What was that about?"

"I'm not sure. I've been thinking about that as well," Charlotte added.

"Do you think we missed it when we were asleep?" Jasper wondered, tilting his head towards the sky.

"I doubt it," Finn said, leading from up front as he kept his eye out for anything lurking near the treeline. "After what it took to bring it down, it better be something huge."

"Ain't that the truth. I definitely had nightmares last night of that damn beastman," Jasper sighed. "What about you, Charlotte?"

"I slept pretty soundly, actually–I don't think I dreamed of anything," Charlotte answered with a small laugh.

"Count yourself lucky, then," Jasper said before looking ahead at the assassin, "What about you, Finn? I bet Sirius gave you some trouble sleeping."

"It wasn't quite that, but I definitely experienced something odd in my sleep," Finn answered, though didn't know exactly if he wanted to divulge all of the details.

Charlotte squinted a bit at his back before giving him a gentle poke, increasing her steps so that she could match his pace, "Hey, I've been wondering since this morning–isn't your level higher than last night?"

"Now that you mention it…It totally is," Jasper added in, staring at Finn. "Did you do some late night monster hunting? No way, right? You'd have to have beat something massive."

"Well, sorta," Finn responded, lightly scratching his own cheek.

It wasn't as though he had intended to hide anything from his friends, nor was it his goal to be secretive. All it came down to was, him not being entirely sure just what kind of phenomena it was that he experienced.

At the very least, he didn't want it to appear as though his sanity was fracturing from rather unbelievable claims.

"The thing is…It'll be a bit hard to believe," he said, preparing to relay to them what he had been experiencing.

Amidst their quiet walk down the old road, he divulged everything he had gone through in recent nights, from Dreamwalking to the peculiar world of Wonderland, tea parties with the Hatter, and even his battle with the Jabberwock.

He felt like a madman as he spoke about it, making the things he saw and experienced seem even more outlandish as he put them into words. It took at least a mile of walking before he admitted everything, finally looking back at his companions for their response after everything was laid out in the open.

"So…Yeah, that's what happened," Finn finished.

"That's definitely…a lot. I can't believe you had to go through something like that alone," Charlotte said, walking close beside him.

"I wasn't entirely alone. That Hatter was an odd guy, but he was at least nice. It was sort of refreshing to see somebody with that kind of lackadaisical personality after all of this, y'know?" Finn remarked, rubbing the back of his neck.