"You took my brother," she says, her voice no longer that of a child, but something ancient and sharp. "So I will take your story."
She doesn't chant another spell. She reaches in.
Her hands, still only solid to Yael's memory, phase into the Minotaur's glitching chest. She doesn't grab a heart. She pulls on the threads of its myth.
[ACTION: NARRATIVE HARVESTING].
TARGET: [MINOTAUR - LABYRINTH GUARDIAN ARCHETYPE].
EXTRACTION: [CONCEPT: ETERNAL IMPRISONMENT].
IPOS (THE PRINCE OF FOOLS): The beast is gone! The path is clear! Why does she not dance? Why does she lie with the empty shell? The joke has no punchline!
CAGN (GOD-TRICKSTER OF THE SAN): A tiny light tears the tale from the beast's ribs. She does not eat. She unmakes. The First Storyteller is... amused.
EURYNOMUS (THE FLESH-EATER): NO MEAT. ONLY GHOSTS AND GLITCHES. I AM DISAPPOINTED. LET THERE BE CORPSES.
ABADDON (THE ANGEL OF THE ABYSS): ...AUDIENCE RETENTION: 100%. ENGAGEMENT: CATATONIC. MANAGEMENT DIRECTIVE: STAND BY. DO NOT INTERFERE. THIS... IS CANON NOW.
There was blackness. Yael wakes up. He doesn't see anything. Not black not anything. He doesn't see.
YOU ARE GOING BACK. (REBIRTH)__/FAILED. BUY NEW BODY?
Y/N
"Sup bitches?" A voice was heard, a familiar one. A body was seen. It was the same body, health bar on 1%. "I am back."
ABADDON (THE ANGEL OF THE ABYSS): AUDIENCE POLL: IS THIS A TRUE RESURRECTION OR A PERSISTENT GLITCH? VOTE NOW.
DANTALIAN (THE SCHOLAR DUKE): Hypothesis: He did not "return." The narrative he inhabits simply rejected his deletion. The story of "Yael and Celia" had unresolved plot threads. The system prioritized narrative continuity over user state.
GREMORY (THE COUNTESS OF LOST LOVE): The investment pays a dividend. Not in strength, but in permanence. A terrible, beautiful bond.
"You're wrong." Yael stands and spawns some potions breaking them in his left hand. He leveled up to 056. "I got a body, that's called Kenju--It was pretty cheap only like, one papp."
ABADDON: ...POLL CANCELLED. AUDIENCE MICROPHONES DISABLED. MANAGEMENT OVERRIDE.
EURYNOMUS: I NO LONGER HAVE AN APPETITE.
POS (THE PRINCE OF FOOLS): THE JOKE IS ON THE HOUSE! THE CLOWN HAS THE MASTER KEYS!
CAGN (GOD-TRICKSTER OF THE SAN): The Storyteller is no longer merely amused. He is... taking notes.
Celia hugs Yael. "Brother..You look..." Yael smirks, "I know, handsome right?" Celia shakes her head, "More uglier." She giggles. He sighs. And look around for a mirror or something. He looks at the crushed Minotaur. "What happened to him?" Celia shrugs, "He got crushed after killing you."
Yael looks at the shoulder pads of the minotaur. He crouches down and he sees himself. Still brown hair, that was a bit messy. More stronger, and a sharper jawline and nose. His eyes were still brown.
He still looked like himself, oddly just a bit different. His body was stronger than the old body.
"Brother, can we go out now?"