NOVEL WEB Chapter 65: Dystopia
She had done a lot more dressing up than him, with make-up, and even some golden glitter on her cheeks. Some of the radiance in their hair carried over to this side, glinting gold whenever it caught the light correctly, or when their eyes sparkled in it.
Reya wore a cardigan that left her tummy exposed, though she had a thin, partially see-through undershirt under it, probably to keep warm in the weather outside. It also covered her shoulders. She wore a skirt, too, a slightly darker creme-colour than the white of her tops, as well as leggings underneath.
In short, Reya looked gorgeous. Eric, on the other hand, looked just fine. He wore a simple shirt, grey, slightly patterned with darker and lighter tiny flakes. It was somewhat tight, showing that he was decently sporty, without being too-tight. His hair looked a little messy, but well combed, and he wore a pair of jeans with a hole that was too small to be intentional and likely came from wearing them frequently.
The two gave us bright smiles as they approached the table. Eric said a “Hello” loud enough for us to hear, while Reya gave an excited wave, which we returned, mostly with a bit less energy. Despite being new to the group, both of them still got hugs all around, though they were a bit shorter than with the rest of us.
Reya quickly stole a spot next to Liam, followed by Eric, and then Emilia sitting on the outside of the bench, rounding the table. Everyone was here, now, except for Ann, of course, who wasn’t coming. I checked my phone for that, just in case.
There was a message from her, in private, to me. “Hey Fio, sosososososo sorry I can’t make it. I’ll be there as soon as I can, promise! Love you.”
I smiled. There was another ding, another message. “Actually. Gonna arrive tomorrow. Can I have your address? Can’t wait to see you, so I was thinking maybe I could come visit your place! <3”
That got a wider smile out of me. The others were talking, already. Reya beamed at Liam after he introduced himself, wildly signing at him, but he quickly got overwhelmed and shook his head embarrassedly, explaining he was still learning. It didn’t make her grin any less bright.
Eric was trying his hardest to keep a respectful distance from Emilia, but his sister was bubbly and moving, and our tanker had broad shoulders, so he often ended up squished between the two quite a bit. Emilia was also, by quite a bit, the tallest of us.
Marie listened to everyone with a smile as Matt and Emilia were locked in conversation. Eric also participated in that, occasionally. He wasn’t translating for Reya, who was typing out anything Liam didn’t understand her signing.
I smiled at them, then turned my attention back to my phone. “Omg, I’d love that! Gonna send you a screenshot of the gps, oen sec kay?”
And then I made good on that promise, sending her a picture of where I lived, pinned on a satellite image. “Thanks love! Be there tomorrow. Hope you have an amazing time with everyone else, yeah? Go, shoo, focus on them! We’ll talk tomorrow!”
I quickly sent a big heart as a reply, followed by “you’re the best!!!” and then put my phone away again, focussing on the conversation. Eric drank a tall glass of coke, while Reya had a cocktail in front of her, some kind of pinkish-yellow fruity mix, I would wager. No idea about its name though, cocktail names were kinda silly.
I sighed contently, leaning back on the couch, happily listening to the others. Marie, though, noticed immediately.
“Ohhhh, that’s the smile you only get when there’s good news. Will Ann be making it?” she teased.
I shook my head at her. “No, no, she won’t. But she’ll come to my place tomorrow, which has me really excited.”
“That’s amazing, Fio!” Marie instantly picked up my excitement. “I hope it goes super well. Planning on asking her to move in?”
“No, no,” I blushed a little. “Feels… too early for that. I don’t even know what she used to do this side. Or what her parents are like. Doesn’t quite sit right with me to ask that yet, you know?”
Marie nodded along. “Of course, yeah, I know how private she is. Sometimes a little too much, hehe. But you’re gonna figure it out, alright? If you need a recommendation on where to find rings, let me know!” She gave a wink at the end there, and my cheeks reddened another shade.
“Marieee!! You can’t say that!” I giggled though, somewhat giddy at the thought.
The older woman replied with grace, though, at least deciding not to tease anymore. “Alright, alright, girl. I just want you two to be happy, you know? You deserve it.”
“I know,” I said, smiling. “You’re the best.”
She grinned. “‘Course I am. It’s my job.” She pinched my cheek, even, giving me a cheeky grin, then turned back to the rest of the table.
Reya was now openly talking with the others, writing anything she wanted to say in the group chat. I’d never seen anyone type quite as fast as her. She was using the swiping-typing stuff that I could never get used to, absolutely blaring profanities into the chat.
There was the additional benefit though that it let me catch up on a conversation I’d missed most of. Seemed like people were ragging on which corporations they hated the most. Coal was a strong contender, and the company I worked with, Foundational Exchange was also brought up.
Though they were less of a contender than the companies that ruined our planet in the first place.
Some of those greedy fuckers had even gotten their claws into Eden, like F.E. Co., but there was one company which maintained the absolute biggest stranglehold on the world we worked our second jobs in, Zinnic. They regularly did new invites only to people who, before getting said invite, signed binding contracts made with materials from Eden to also work on their other bodies.
They were immense sponsors to anyone with talent, and threw dozens of bodies down in the dirt, sending out rookies on missions far too challenging for them. My teacher, Rey, had once been one of those rookies, until he showed talent good enough to make his own way in the world, and earned enough contributions to have the divines break the contract early.
He hated them. Hated Zinnic, their absolute disregard for human life in the face of profit. They had lobbied immensely against the ban of fossil power, too, but luckily were overruled. Despite that, they now had regained their presence on the stock market and soared ever higher with innovative products, using materials from Eden.
Their rates were market level. They offered better prices if you contracted with them. The amount of wealth they had made it easy for their people to raise up and crush other groups. They didn’t penalize that kinda action, either.
If one of their teams went and killed another team, selling their spoils, Zinnic would purchase, and pay, as though nothing had happened. And if one of their teams was attacked, they retaliated with an iron fist.
Even against Edians.
Those shitheads were the very fucking reason for the increase of dimensional sanctions and the hostility between Edians and us Reflectors. A team from Zinnic who’d gone around murking adventurer teams made from Edians, specifically those given Classes by the divines, and stealing their spoils.
Only to then cause havoc in the cities.
It was a horrible action that was barely tolerated once, penalized by the Edians the second time, and after five instances of blatant violence and disregard for Edians, with the members of Zinnic even calling them “NPCs”, the divines had to step in.
They were forced to expend power, in limited supply, to engage with the absolute horror of a company unable to view life as anything more than profits to be reaped. It put summoning of new Reflectors on hold for a while, imposed stricter conditions on travelling and working in Eden, a lengthened entry phase for newbies to be prepared.
But the damage was done, and the Edians didn’t trust the Reflectors. Still, to this day, there were instances of people from Zinnic lashing out, quickly growing violent. They recruited the lowest of the low, those down on their luck, giving them power. It was like a drug, and almost all Zinnic employees went through Eden Addiction at least once.
My blood boiled at the thought of that, and so did everyone else’s. Reya had put more insults than I thought existed into the chat, and it still wasn’t enough.
I thought of my master. They’d made attempts on his life in Eden, multiple times. I could not forgive them for that. Could not forgive them for harming a place they were supposed to help.
My own personal bit of hatred was added to the pile as I told the story. Marie added that her previous team was attacked by Zinnic. One of her companions died, the others never came back to Eden. Emilia had once been harassed by a group in broad daylight, though she simply walked away from that confrontation, saying it wasn’t worth it.
Reya and Eric had also dealt with the fuckers, having them come to the temple and demand beds. Once, they had threatened to simply kill other patients if it got them a healer faster, but that was stopped by Lurelia really quickly, and the offenders were banished from Eden.
Matt, too, had his fair share of run-ins with them. Especially since he liked to hone his swordsmanship in combat, he once challenged one of them and for a dozen weeks, all he did was get up, go to an arena to deal with all the challenges he got, then go to sleep. He wiped the floor with them, of course. Day after day. And eventually, they backed off a little, but he was still a thorn in their eyes.
Liam was the only one who stayed out of trouble, but he had still seen them harass vendors, Edians and Reflectors alike. Scum is what they were.
And that was when we all decided that maybe, the conversation needed a change of topic.