The Ultimate Regressor System

The world resolved, giving way to grass and open sky as the faction fell through the gateway and landed in front of the fortress gates.

Eleanor barely registered the fortress gates when she shot up from the grace and called, scanning the crowd of survivors that had passed through with them.

"Lucas!" His name flew out of her mouth in urgency as she forced herself up ignoring the wave of exhaustion hitting her.

Her gaze flew across every face present, searching for one that a part of her refused to believe wasn’t there.

Her eyes found Mark, and it quickly tore from him.

"Lucas!"

Nobody answered.

She counted the arrivals frantically, cross referencing faces against the memory of who’d been beside her for over four years...

Panic clawed at her. Her composure was withering as it finally dawned on her that he hadn’t made it through.

Mark stepped forward, trying to make sure she didn’t break in front of everyone. People watched with worry as they witnessed what must have been their Goddess having a breakdown.

"He’s not here." Her voice cracked on the words, disbelief laced it in. "He’s not — where is he, Mark, I thought he was right behind us... "

"Elle." Mark’s hands closed gently on her shoulders, his own face edged with worry as he ran through a lot of things that could have happened to his frii. "Elle, I don’t know. I didn’t see him cross."

"That’s not — he was right behind me, I saw him, I could have sworn I grabbed his hand. I—"

The last of the Faction came through the Gateway’s fading light. Her face shot up and disappointed quickly spread as there was no sign of him.

The crossing settled and closed entirely behind them, and Eleanor’s knees nearly buckled as the realization dawned on her.

’He didn’t make it. He’s still back there....’

The thought landed like a physical blow, all of it feeling like a dream, like if she closed her eyes and opened them, it would all be some kind of dream...

"No—" She turned back and let the desperate, irrational part of her through like she was expecting it to simply reopen. "We have to go back, we have to—"

"Elle, it’s closed." Mark’s voice stayed gentle despite the same fear that bled through it. "You and I know that there’s no going back. Not right now at least."

"Then we find another way—"

"There’s no other way, Elle" Mark said. "Let’s calm down a bit. Everyone’s exhausted, the fortress needs securing, and you need—"

"Mark."

Something in her voice threatened to break but she held herself, trying as hard as she could not to break openly in front of the people she was supposed to put a brave face for.

Mark placed a palm on her shoulder. "Look at me."

She looked.

"He’ll be fine."

"Mark—"

"He’s fine."

She shakily took a breath and nodded. "Okay. R—right. Right. He’s... he’s fine..."

Silence fell over them for a moment then she spoke, her voic steadier "He’s fine."

Mark nodded. "That’s the spirit."

He guided her gently toward the fortress gates, calling instructions over his shoulder to the rest of the returning Faction.

Simple things like getting everyone settled, tending to the wounded, securing the perimeter and whatever needed to be done.

He steered Eleanor through the crowd and toward her room. Her steps unsteady, her mind clearly still back at that collapsing bridge hoping, against all odds that Lucas was still somehow, miraculously alive.

"He’s alive," Mark said, once the door had closed behind them.

He said that but deep down, he knew that the words carried more hope than certainty. "He’s survived worse than a fall before. He’ll find a way. Come on Elle. This is the flaming princess we’re talking about. What’s a fall going to do to him that a beast hasn’t?"

He tried his best to remain light, trying all he could to somehow lighten the mood. But even he himself was hoping he wasn’t wrong.

A fall can do a lot more than beast could.

For all he knew, he could have fallen into a beast nest, fallen unconscious and devoured by a beast.

The possibility of him falling and dying on impact was there too...

Mark pushed the thought out of his head, trying not to have any negative thought.

He looked at Eleanor...

She was silence as if she didn’t hear what he said earlier. She didn’t answer him, sinking onto the edge of her bed, staring at nothing, and Mark simply sat beside her, offering the only thing he actually had left to give presence—

—Hope.

"Come on," he said, lightly rubbing her back. "We can’t be sure he’s dead."

"We can’t be sure he’s still alive either," she said.

Mark pressed his lips together. She was right. They didn’t see him when they were crossing. They didn’t know how far he fell either.

Mark’s mind raced as he thought of something to ease the moment.

He found it...

"Well, we’re not sure," he started, "but we can guess he’s still very much alive."

"And what makes you say that," she asked in a disbelieving tone.

"The system."

Her eyebrow rose. "The system?"

"Yeah, the system."

He let the words settle before he continued. "Think about it. Lucas is a Faction leader, and he has a Modifier, yeah?"

She nodded.

"So don’t you think the system would have given us something to let us know if he died?"

Mark offered half baked theory even without a tiny form of certainty. After all, they had received a notification when Lucas killed Ryker. So this one shouldn’t be so different.

He watched Eleanor’s face lighten up and felt a wave of relief wash over him.

"Okay," she said, gathering her composure. "Okay. You might be right. The system hasn’t told us anything so he should still be alive."

Mark let a smile form on his face. He might have been wrong, he could have been wrong. But that was the only thread of hope large enough for them to hold on to at the moment.

He stood up. "It’s getting late. Get some sleep and I’m hoping to see the Elle I know live tomorrow morning. Can’t have the people worrying about our Goddess can we?"

A small smile formed at her face. "Thank you, Mark. I didn’t know you knew how to comfort people."

He shrugged and grinned.."What can I say? I contain multitudes..."

He left her room and headed back to his. On his way there, his face turned serious— his expression darkening with determination.

"I know your alive, stay that way. We’ll find you..."

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