The Epilogue isn't the End [BL]

4. Never Trust the GPS

"Master?" Pluma asks, titling his little head up at him cutely, "Who hasn't noticed what?"

Oh, he should not have asked that question to System out loud. He fake coughs once, buying himself an extra few seconds as he tries to rack his brain for an answer that doesn't exist (or rather one he can't give).

'System?' he thinks, reaching out for help.

The window blinks next to him in bold, [Don't Ask System!]

So he's on his own then, "I was just....," he stalls looking down at the seraphim and its big shining blue eyes, cursing the original in his thoughts for creating such an innocent face that's impossible to lie to, "my fall," he explains, "I was hoping Cadeyrn wouldn't notice, but...," he sighs trying to act annoyed and put upon like a rich young master as the slightest inconvenience, "that plan as obviously failed."

The seraphim's little feathered ears drop, William is pretty sure feathers aren't supposed to fold like a dog's ears, but this a fantasy story, who is he to make the rules? "I'm sorry master," he hiccups, nuzzling further into his robes, "I shouldn't have told him you fell, but I was so worried!-,"

"I'm not blaming you!" he rushes out, remembering a second too late he's supposed to be aloof, "I mean," he quickly corrects, "I'm not blaming you Pluma," he repeats in a gentler tone, easing his own surprise at the emotional outburst, "you did good fetching him, had I really been in trouble, you might have saved me."

"Really?" The angel asks, tail swooshing and ear feathers poofing back up, "Don't worry master, I will always be here to help!"

[System too!] the window chimes in, [😊].

'Did you just use an emoji?' he thinks both confused and mildly impressed, 'this system really doesn't take itself very seriously.'

[System takes itself very seriously!] it defends, pointedly turning its screen away so he can't read it anymore.

'And with the tantrum of a 5-year-old,' he thinks, before the screen erupts into static, blinking out of existence.

'Are you okay?' he asks in his head, glancing around nervously to spot the window, 'Hello?'

[System is fine.] A small window appears right under his nose, [Host is being mean to System. So System is on strike until Host apologizes]

'I'm sorry okay,' he thinks, wondering how in the world he's going to be able to live with a system that's always in his head, 'and I need you right now!'

[What does Host need?] The System asks back to its regular cheer.

William glances at the two tunnels in front of him, 'Which way?' he asks, trying not to make it seem like he's loitering, by brushing out an invisible stain on his robes.

[System will map us there!] and a new window, stylized like an 8-bit version of a treasure map appears, [Querying route!] it reads before with a burst of holographic confetti it writes [Route programmed! Now leading Host to target destination [Asterius's Home]!]

And in front of his eyes, the confetti morphs into golden sparkles and races off ahead of him, highlighting the left pathway.

'Nifty,' he thinks, confidently striding down the left passageway, Pluma makes no move to show his confusion, so it must truly be the right way!

..

William never should have trusted that damn System. Apparently much like real GPS, fictional all-knowing ones also lead you the wrong way.

'Where the hell are we System?!' he thinks angrily, staring up at the third cliff face the useless floating text box has led him into.

[Uh, System... System...]