<h4>Chapter 26: Equinox Festival - Part 1</h4>


    <i>There goes all my money,</i> n thought, watching the girl sitting by his side, gulping a New Moontain can.


    "Ahhh! That hit the spot!" the girl beamed with purple-painted lips. "Thanks for the treat, n Warden!"


    "Just call me n..." he said, peeping at her once more to study her clothes.


    Who seemed to be a girl his age, was wearing a ck oversized windbreaker jacket that allowed her to hide her face and hands. From time to time, n could have a glimpse of her pale chin and white-as-ceramic fingertips, and purple nail polish.


    <i>Although I don''t mind treating a stranger to a drink, 50 gold per can is a steal... I think... It seems that intion hit The Novus hard during my 3-year absence.</i>


    He shivered and took a modest sip from his second can of the day, as the girl was seemingly staring at him.


    <i>Although I can''t see her gaze, having a girl this close is still super awkward. Can she even see with that thing over her head?</i>


    "Um... sorry, but you haven''t introduced yourself yet, so if you don''t mind..." he said, making her giggle.


    "Does it really matter what I call myself, n? I''d probablye out with a fake name, anyway. What we''re going to discuss it''s supposed to be top secret, you know?" She got closer to him and whispered, raising her index finger: "I''m not supposed to be here, so, <i>shhhh."</i>


    "Got it. I''m d to finally talk with someone about this, regardless."


    The girl stood silent for a moment before swinging her legs up and down, showing her ck leather leggings and heeled ankle boots. "Sure. d to be of help!"


    <i>At least I THINK she''s trying to help me. When she approached me on that bridge minutes ago, telling me she knew about me logging out three years ago, my heart raced like crazy.</i>


    <i>Did an Administrator send her? Or maybe she''s one of them. So many questions!</i>


    <i>And yet... I mustn''t truly trust her.</i>


    <i>There''s also the possibility that she''s nothing more than a curious, regr civilian that, after looking at my level, put one and two together and just wants to get info out of me... Because... she''s just bored or something!</i>


    "I really loved trying this new vor," she said, crushing the can and throwing it all the way towards a garbage bin, 30 feet away from their bench. "I''m always trying new things every day. What about you, n?"


    "Yes, sure. Everything is new to me since I logged back in, after all, but there is also somethingforting about routines and the mundane."


    "How about pain and adversity, n? Do you also enjoy them as much?"


    "Enjoy it? Why would I?"


    "Pleasure doesn''t differ that much from pain." She shrugged. "They''re quite simr, although most of the people may say otherwise. What''s your honest opinion? Do you also think that they''re theplete opposite of each other?"


    <i>Why is she suddenly asking this?</i>


    n wanted nothing more than to study that person''s eyes and try to read her intentions, but only her smiling purple lips were visible.


    <i>I suppose she''s just trying to cut the ice between us, since we may talk about a serious topic in a minute... If buying her a soft drink wasn''t enough...</i>


    "Well, they''re both stimuli, yes," n replied, "but you can''tpare them at all. One is sought on a daily basis, and the other is mostly avoided."


    <i>"Yeaaah!</i> What''s up with that?" she intoned, and n pictured her doing a funny look beneath the hood. "You''d think that people would seek pain as much as pleasure since they''re part of the same bnce, but no."


    <i>Now I''m really wondering what''s this all about? Is this a test?</i>


    n left his drink aside, took a deep breath, and ced both hands on his knees. <i>This is my serious mode then. You asked for it.</i>


    n nced at the two triangles adorning her hood, before replying. "That''s true, ''Cat Ears'', but you''re omitting the most important fact: Pain is reserved to signal when something is wrong with one''s body, while pleasure can be received indefinitely."


    She tilted her head. "Isn''t having too much of a good thing considered bad?"


    "It is, but having too much pain is obviously more destructive. The mind would corrupt over time and the body would break beyond repair. There''s noparison."


    "But it''s the same with pleasure. It creates greedy, lustful, gluttonous, andzy people. Aren''t there old teachings that say that those traits are deplorable?"


    "Well... When you put it that way, I guess so..."


    "You''ve just confirmed my theory. Despite being equally simr, people avoid pain as much as possible. Bias much?" she said annoyed, deviating her gaze frontward. She then whispered: "I thought you''d be different since you''re practically an outsider, but you''re as hardwired as the rest. So disappointing..."


    The shimmering, crystalline waters of the Thermasis river in front of them made the buildings at the distance look like a mirage, and n wondered for a moment if he was really there.


    <i>I could be still sleeping outside, resting from another day of work at The Santa María. Or maybe my body was ipatible with the Novus System, and I died a long time ago inside my Cryo Chamber. This illusion may be the result of my deteriorating brain, as a way to pass time until it ultimately shuts down...</i>


    <i>That may exin why so many bad things have happened to me consecutively.</i>


    <i>Could all this be the guilt inside me?</i>


    He grabbed his drink and gulped it.


    <i>Or this encounter could be another misfortune in disguise, slowly opening its jaws around me.</i>


    "Forget all about that, okay?" she continued. "Tell me, n, how are things going outside?"


    "I''m sorry, but I don''t know what you''re talking about. I don''t remember saying something about being outside."


    "Huh? What is that supposed to mean? You were offline for three years. Where else would you--?"


    "I was in aa. It''s as simple as that."


    "I thought you''d be honest with me," she said, bitterly.


    He turned his gaze to her. "Are you an Administrator?"


    "No."


    "Bummer."


    An awkward silence followed through, which was only filled by the squawking of white birds, peacefully floating on the river.


    <i>What are those? Some kind of aquatic chickens?</i>


    "Is that the game we''re going to y?" she blurted out, standing up. "Fine. Change of ns then. I want to show you something."


    n observed her stroll towards the railing in front of them. <i>Her attitude haspletely changed.</i>


    He followed her, maintaining his distance. "I''d rather you tell me who you really are."


    "I''ve already told you. I don''t have a name. I''m just the embodiment of progress."


    "Yeah, right," he replied, turning around and ready to go, but something grabbed his ankle.


    Confused, he looked down, finding a shadow that seemed to pull him down. <i>Not the strangest thing I''ve seen since I got back here, but...</i>


    It was not his shadow, for his own was in the opposite direction. Something almost tangible was grabbing him, stretching out all the way to that girl''s feet.


    "Do you consider The Novus a paradise, n?" she asked from her ce, looking at the distance.


    <i>Not this again...</i>


    "Compared to what we left behind, yes. A utopia. Although a fake one," he reluctantly replied, this time in an annoyed tone of voice.


    "Well said, n," she said, giggling. "A fake one. And yet, people don''t seem to care. As long as The Novus keeps providing them with food, sex, and entertainment, people are eager to consume them inrge quantities. You can''t get fat here unless you want to. There are no diseases, and there are plenty of activities to keep everyone busy. There''s war here too, but it''s inconsequential since death has be a joke. Your ancestors fought for liberty and independence, but those have been traded now by the seek of fame and luxury. A perfect utopia indeed."


    <i>''My'' ancestors?</i>


    "What''s with all this philosophical bullshit?! What does it have to do with me? And what did you expect?! This is a controlled, safe environment. Humanity has suffered enough. We''ve earned this peace!"


    "Wrong," she replied, raising her voice. "The previous generation and the one before it made it possible, and how did that turn out too, huh? Those two did everything in their power to correct their parent''s mistakes, and in their arrogance, doomed Earth." She paused, to smirk at him. "...Or better said, they finally advanced human civilization, after a long century of stagnation. This spaceship is proof of it..."


    <i>I... I don''t like where this is going...</i>


    "Miss... Could you please let me go?"


    "Not yet," she giggled, stretching out her hand. "I need you to stand where you are. It''s your exclusive seat for what I''m going to show you, and thezy, gluttonous, lustful, greedy people of this joke of a city... Superior Summoning..."


    The surrounding air became heavier, and the Thermasis'' waters rippled, as in preparation of somethinging.


    <i>She said ''summoning'', didn''t she?</i>


    n could only remember the guilder from the day before at the Shooting Star practice grounds, bringing a dinosaur out of thin air. <i>Is she going to do something simr? With what purpose?</i>


    As he tried in vain to free his feet, he saw it. Arge magic circle in the sky. He was sure that anyone in a one-mile radius could see it.


    "What are you going to do?" he asked, shaking, as the young woman snickered.


    "Your generation, The Tandem, have becent, n Warden... As I''ve already told you, I''m the Embodiment of Progress... So let me give you all a taste of what hardship really is."


    She grinned, as the purple aura around her got transferred towards the magic circle.


    n''s mind shed with images from the security footage Isabe had shown him.


    "Cat Ears! D-Don''t do it!"


    "Draquinox..." she intoned, overjoyed. "The Two-Headed Reeve Dragon!"


    Something gigantic fell over the river, sshing them both and the few passersby that had gathered there. It took n''s brain several seconds to register what stood in front of him. <i>Because I never thought the Developers would create something like this.</i>


    He first saw a huge white scaly wall, and beside it, something that seemed to absorb the surrounding light, obscuring the horizon. When he looked up, he found two giant snakes trying to bite each other. One was white as a pearl, and the other as ck as the night sky.


    <i>It''s like seeing a star fighting a ck hole.</i>


    "Get along, you two!" the girl said aloud, making a magic circle appear around her wrist as if it were a bracelet. At hermand, the two serpent-like creatures shook their heads and stood still, growling. The rain poured down, as n watched the young woman turn to him and smile. "There''s nothing to worry about, Little Mouse. After all, they''re all immortal, aren''t they?"


    She giggled, at the same time the monster concentrated mana inside its maw and released it as a powerful beam of light.