Analia's words echoed in the room, simultaneously casting a shadow over the atmosphere while peeling another away.
"I just arrived here yesterday, now you want me to assist you in taking down a small party belonging to what turned out to be a rogue cell of a former national administration, and this is after you've subjected me to all you have-."
"Lee-," I cut Analia off.
"No, you can hear me out or you can see me out!"
There was a moment of tense silence as she surveyed the agitation in my voice. I wasn't bluffing, and she could tell; I had been through enough, I was not about to become their puppet. She sighed, exasperated. "Speak your piece."
"You all seem overly fixated on trying to win me over, is this why? Just so I can be a cog in your machine? Because I was so good at it in my past life? You speak so highly of everyone here, and I can't disagree with that praise, but you fail to recognize that for as much as you claim to want to make an ally of me, you have acted in quite the antagonistic manner. I may have been willing to overlook it, but that doesn't mean I'm alright with it, nor that I was willing to forgive it."
We locked eyes for about seven seconds; then she stood up from her desk, placed her hands on it and leaned over.
"For as capable as I am, I am not capable of holding you here should you want to leave. Not in Magickal nor Physical Prowess, nor in Emulation. At most, I could maybe delay your departure… you may not have realized it, but your constitution makes you Timeless. So I could only do that much, since you have all the time in the worlds to plot, to scheme, to amass power… should you desire as much. However, your character would seem to suggest that you are not of such a sort. Or am I mistaken?"
"My constitution, regardless of what it is, does not hold pertinence here," I spat back, "and if an archtypal mold exists for me, I haven't found it yet."
"Have my apologies not been sincere?"
"Your apologies… are merely words. Timeless though I may be, I haven't seen enough time elapse, nor have I borne witness to change enough, to deem your words true in their sincerity."
"I suppose I can't fault your logic," Analia reset her posture and sighed, rolling her shoulders. "Lee, what you do from here on out is your choice. What I am offering is not a training regimen, nor a roof, nor an occupation. I want to give you a home, in hopes that you would consider joining our ranks and that we can help protect the homes of others. Even if you weren't willing to join us, I would still hope that you'd consider us as an unofficial affiliate."
"… And again… why go out of your way with me?"
"Call it a whim, a hunch, intuition, gut feeling, maybe it's just that you are-."
"I swear if you say it's possibly because I'm the main character-."
"I wasn't."
We stood in tense silence again.
"There's a legend about Children of Farroneia," Analia broke the silence. "About how those who welcome Drifters with open arms are repaid in Karma. If it helps ease your mind, you can think of it as me being shallow."
"Could you be any more intentionally, and blatantly (I should add), obfuscative?"
"Did you want me to tell you the whole story?"
"As much as I want the Truth, something in your tone of voice says it's a story that's longer than we have time for at the moment."
She nodded in agreement.
"The important part is that Shea of Farroneia was not an Exception or an Emulator, he was an Enigma. The First Enigma, to be exact."
"And what is an Enigma?"
"Its namesake. They're similar to Exceptions and Emulators, but where they draw their power from is unknown. The power they wield, like their designation suggests, is something that typically defies imagination, let alone logic. In his time, Shea used Etch, or Arius' Athema, to cut through the obscure liminal membrane of time, and saw what waited beyond the wave function's collapse. What he saw… was a world where every choice that had ever been made, was made opposite in one direction, resulting in two potential realities. He looked back and saw Sybelia's choices unfolding as it had in the world he had come from. He watched as they converged, every single time a decision was made, every time cause led to effect. He watched them remain separated in paradoxical harmony. He saw them all fall to naught yet remain and become remade in the next instant of eternity whilst simultaneously being deferred. He saw everything and nothing. Maybe as much as, or maybe even more, than Arius saw."
"So to give a synopsis of that segment… Shea was the first Enigma, and he's responsible for our understanding of how Time functions in Sybelia? Does that also imply-."
"Yes, you haven't seen it yet, but as evident with the Incursions, we also have to assume that 'Many-Worlds' is also viable," Analia finished my thoughts. "Good to see you're still quick on the uptake."
"So then what's with the Legend?"
"Well, at the end of his time, he used Etch once more. See, his death isn't recorded. Not even in the archives."
"You've been there as well?"
"I have," Analia procrastinated her way through the sentence with pain masked thinly underneath her face. "But that's neither here nor there. You don't trust me completely, and while I don't blame you for that, I can't trust you with anything pertaining to my time in the archives aside from the fact that I have spent time there."
"Are we at an Impasse then?"
"No, because the only thing important about me having been in the Archives is that I can confidently say that Shea is not in the Narrative Death Index, NDI for short if you prefer. Even catches retrocausally altered information, so even being wrent or cut off from the Narrative would record your death in the NDI."
"So Shea… may still exist?"
I saw her smile ever-so-slightly.
"You chose your words wisely. We can't say for certain whether he's alive or even if he does still exist in or outside of the narrative, but there's also the possibility he never left in a sense. All that can be said is that while not a soul in Sybelia has seen Shea since, the causality he tampered with ended up entangling with his bloodline. The Children of Farroneia have since been a karmic confluence. Most who welcome them with open arms find favor in life or in death. Those who shun them, well…"
"Let me guess," I interjected coldly. "Are found indifferently by Fate?"
"How aptly put."
"So you all have been putting on airs this whole time over a perversion of superstition?"
"Not inaccurate, but could you be any more coarse? It's a superstition that has enmeshed itself with something of corporeal origins, infecting reality in a sense, though it's more commonly benign if you have a head worth preserving on your shoulders." I saw her smile morph into a frown as she went on.
"Look, I don't want special treatment. If you want me to be an ally, then stop making yourself into a-."
My next words caught in my throat. Thanks for the save, Jan'ros. She looked like she half wanted me to finish my sentence and half thankful I didn't. Horrifying, in its own way; I relented.
"You lot are impossible."
"Funny thing about the impossible," Analia replied deftly. "It's more often than not a matter of when until it becomes possible. I'm sure your old world had plenty such cases?"
Yes, it did. We had Newton, we had Galileo, Nobel, Einstein, Oppenheimer, Planck, the Wrights, Aldrin, Armstrong, Collins, Katherine Johnson… Every last one of them, an actualizer of an impossibility.
"It would seem your old world did have a fair number of them, based on your pensive expression," She acknowledged. "The impossible was never truly impossible, it was only an impossibility before a certain setting, or a specific happening."
There was still something gnawing in my mind.
"When you made your first move, back on the Library roof, what did you say to me?"
She appeared perplexed.
"I thought you didn't-."
"I don't, but it seems like it's something you w-… no, not want… you are far too urgent to get me in your pocket. You need me to comprehend it, and I want to."
Her perplexed expression changed to one of astonishment.
"Analia, or rather, Administrator Sirius… am I wrong?"
"I…" Her words caught in her throat, then she chuckled slyly. "No, you are correct in that I do feel that you require this. You're still trying to believe it, when you're in a position that doesn't afford you the luxury of faith."
"This refers to 'The Origin,' or 'The Source,' I take it?"
She nodded grimly as I stood up in front of her desk again. "Chronomancy is… uncommon, even among Exceptions and Emulators; Enigmas are a wild card. That being said… even among Exceptions, it is a seldom confluence that permits people like us to descend a narrative layer, or Breaking Through the Fourth Wall, because I'm not going to shorten it to Breaking Through. You and I? People from places like we are?"
She was building up to something…
"We are rarer than Enigmas, which are rarer than Exceptions, which are less common than Emulators, and so on. Meaning, Lee… we're less than 0.01%… of 0.01%… of 0.01% (give or take a few more compounded hundredths of a percentage) of this… Story's… residents. We require a counter-balance when we do what we do; if we dive into faith, we almost always lose sight of our path… not to say Faith is taboo, but for people who are self-aware of their setting, their place in space-time, they generally seem to work more effectively by utilizing a different door than Faith."
She leaned in close over her desk.
"And to that end… you told me-."
"Lee." Her voice warranted a very solemn degree of caution. "I don't mind honoring your request to refrain from altering your causality farther, as I'm sure you are more than capable of figuring it out for yourself; myself aside, however… you'll be searching for a mentor for a long while, even with your capabilities," She lifted her gaze to meet mine. "Do you still want me to tell you?"
There's that semblance of protectiveness. No doubt about it, these guys have secrets in their secrets… Most likely all of them, and here I stood in front of the most unreal one of them all. How else could I answer?
"Even though I do, that's the wrong question Analia." I raised my hand to shake on it. "What you mean to ask me is 'Do you need this information?' And I… I know, I will; if not now, then eventually." I exhaled with humility. "I need your help, and you desire my trust, so prove yourself worthy of it."
Analia sat still for an extended moment. Then she clicked her tongue, which admittedly pissed me off a bit until she spoke.
"How am I supposed to toy with you when you're this sincere?"
'You're Not.'
'You're Not.'
She gripped my hand more firmly than anyone had ever done the same before. I was taken aback, for a moment. Then we shook on it, and I saw something like a red thread wrap itself around our wrists together, before my gaze returned to hers.
"Listen and listen well, Lee Kühren," The atmosphere in the room turned somber and heavily under pressure in an instant. "Because I can only use this phrase so many times in my life."
Static crackled about in the room around us, marking an unseen tally on a stone tablet just out of sight; all of the sensations I was processing rising to a crescendo around us while I was locked in the most intense staring contest of my life. Between her normal green eye, and her magick eye which I could now see held a thirteen-pointed star in a pool of ethereally hued green with not one, but three pupils at its center. It wasn't anything like the pressure before where it felt like I was in the presence of a celestial void embodied in human form, but it was enrapturing. I still felt like I could be sucked into her own sight. Then, she repeated those haunting words; that singular piece of advice, spoken like it was nothing yet coming with a price I could not fathom for each utterance.
"Quit Believing, and Suspend Your Disbelief instead."
This time, I didn't have to worry about being cut off from my senses. Since the pertinent context was cited explicitly, Enigmatic Grasp kicked in on its own. I saw a picture in my mind being drawn in real-time, circles and lines connecting and branching out. Each time I turned to focus on one of the circles, I could see… some sort of designation within each one, unfolding like a map. Four circles were set in a square at the center: one designated Belief in the top right corner of the set, Disbelief in the bottom left, Fiction in the bottom right and Non-Fiction in the top left each connected by a line. Each corner had several adjacent circles arranged around the square in a pentagon, adjacent to a hexagonal formation, ad… infinitum.
If I didn't have Enigmatic Grasp, I'm pretty sure I'd have had a stroke, a seizure, or even an aneurysm. It was… so. Much. Data. Human thought only undergoes an approximation of transference at a rate of about ten bits per second. This much information processing in such a short amount of time was nothing short of supernatural, potentially even divine.
'You did get it from the Author of your Story, after all. Maybe not your old-world consensus idea of divinity, but speaking literally in metaphor, what is more divine than the act of creation itself?'
I barely registered Jan'ros' interjection, I was on the brink of shock, euphoria, enlightenment and madness; all at the same time, I didn't have the focus to divert as it was taking everything I had just to keep the information in my mind coherent. Then the lines began to overlap, intermingle, entangle and blur, through, across and over themselves and the circles they connected themselves to. Everything was falling towards the center, gathering at a point, and then expanding to form a circle in the center.
Designation: Paradigm.
As soon as I became aware of the center circle's designation, the atmosphere's tension and my thoughts quelled. Mentally, I was outside of the storm, but wading through a flood trying to settle. I returned to my senses (as I had been inside my mind watching the unfurling of the picture), and I blinked for the first time in what felt like an eternity, recognizing the sensation of a grain of sand falling from each of my eyes as I blinked several times in repetition.
"Your eyes already have a spark igniting within," Analia remarked cordially, with a surprising-yet-not-unwelcome smile spreading across her face. "Good, it looks like you managed to integrate it into your psyche."
"Paradigm."
"Pardon?"
"The designation wasn't psyche… it was paradigm."
"Oh… well then."
"Is something wrong?"
"No, just… it's not something you should be worrying about so soon after getting your feet wet," She seemed to restrain herself, straining against her smile; trying to maintain a facade of protectiveness while burying the truth in yet more secrets. "In any case, your paradigm evolves with your psyche and visa versa. How's your vision?"
Now that she mentioned it, whatever she had done prior had truly finished setting before she had obliged me my request. Now, it felt less forced, more natural; like an inlay of reality instead of an overlay upon it. I saw a plethora of incandescent dust-like particulates floating peacefully about the room which I had not been able to see before, flickering between colors with each passing instant.
"There's still one thing I don't get. You don't come across as someone who sees their first obscurity within reality and dive headlong into it. You could have easily turned away."
I took a deep breath. She could read my metadata, but she definitely had trouble making sense of my perspective and reasoning.
"No, I couldn't have; arguably, if I hadn't, it's feasible something much worse could have ended up happening than me speaking out of turn with three gods. Even if I could have turned away, when something that looks more like a True Angel of Death, claiming the title of Paragon, than any media you've taken in tells you that it is your last day on the planet; do you really think it'd be a good idea to test it?"
"…"
"That's to say nothing of what I saw after seeing Aitu Xiore."
"The mesophysical grudge?"
"Have you ever watched the fire in someone's soul die in an instant, Analia?"
"Plenty of times."
"How about the same happening to an entire crowd of people?"
"A few."
"And watching their consciousnesses die in the same moment?"
"…"
"Analia?"
"It felt like you were asking the same thing all over again. Except you're indicating a distinction between psyche and soul, aren't you…"
"They shape each other, but I do think they are exclusive of one another. If you were to humor me…"
"Then you… may very well have a point that the 'choice' you had was something Fate and Causality forced you to choose. Do you regret it?"
"Of course I have my regrets, but all of them spring only from what was left undone. I *technically* still exist on that side of the Wall, but I have no means to see it. My regrets, thusly, are things I cannot do anything about on this side. So… what's the point in worrying?"
"Good answer. You may have already heard it from your sponsors, but even deities are beholden to causality. They can only bend it briefly, and even then it tends to snap back. Only mortals hold arrogance great enough to attempt breaking it."
"With that out of the way," I responded, "what's so weird about the central designation being Paradigm instead of psyche?"
I waited patiently for her to reply, but only silence answered.
"Analia-."
"You shouldn't worry about it at this time."
That answer was much more telling than it appeared. If I had to wager, it was probably causally entangled. I sighed in compromise as my mind attempted to piece together what little it could.
"So be it."
___________________________
___________________________
"By the way, you should head over to Lexo in the barracks. Seems like your other had an idea of something for him to forge you, and say hi to Ordanu for me."
So she said, then sent me on my way. I was walking down hall after hall impatiently. That idea of his, I didn't want to think too much about it, something about the way he presented it was… not something that sat still under my skin. Why did I feel like this was going to cost me a limb? Sure, my constitution is timeless, but… I'd prefer not to test it.
'You've been testing it since you arrived here at DD's HQ. The question now is do you trust me?'
Making a right turn, then a left, another left then a right at the second hallway. I then saw a sign on the left wall directing me to the barracks.
'I really don't like this sinking feeling in my gut, Jan'ros; Analia is one thing as she's an Emulator of something able to sever causality, but don't go overboard with Lexo. I don't need everyone here thinking I'm a freak. Nonetheless, I trust you.'
Seemed like the hallway was 100 meters from beginning to barracks entry. I remember a little about Lexo; a Lycan with wind and air element specialties, which makes him a prodigious brawler; Analia mentioned he's Damocles Division's Battle-Master. I approached the fir door cautiously.
'You will not befall lasting harm, Master. This I promise you.'
Lasting, huh… well, no point in worrying. I suppose all I can do is leave it in his hands. I knocked on the door three times.
"You may enter, we've been expecting you."
I didn't recognize that voice, I suppose it was one of the facility guards.
"Then, pardon my intrusion," I pushed the door open.
_________
It was definitely not what I expected. The room was approximately 10m x 20m x 10m, and furnished quite auspiciously. There was a chandelier of 12k gold hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room, and the walls were lined with paintings of various settings and scenes; there were also several windows on any wall of the barracks. 16 bunks rested against the West Wall, another 24 against the East wall; a few shelves of books against the North Wall, and a staircase up a level to the South. About the center of the room, there were various circular tables, with security officers dressed and armed to the nines occupying the vast majority of the seats, having multiple discussions at once.
"The Administrator sent word you'd be on your way soon," One of the few standing guards said. He stood approximately 1.65 meters tall, and had a bandana around his forehead, forcing his brown hair to stand upright. His equally brown eyes conveyed an expression of curiosity and caution when they found themselves fixed on me. "I am Lygrost, 1st Lieutenant of Lexo." He turned to face me cordially, though with an air of trepidation. "So you're the one who was sparring with our Librarian on his roof?"
I held my left arm outstretched as I approached him.
"That I am, you may call me Lee."
Lygrost hesitated for a moment before returning my greeting in kind. His handshake was firm, but I felt a degree of uncertainty from him.
"Forgive me, Lee-."
"No need. It would appear as though fear of the unknown exists even here. I don't begrudge your caution."
He nodded curtly and I could almost swear I saw his face brighten up, just a little bit. Lygrost beckoned me to follow as we worked our way over to the South wall of the room.
"You made quite the racket earlier this morning!" Lygrost attempted to make conversation. "The entire facility was wondering if we should have gone on alert. Honestly, it was a spectacle."
I nervously laughed as I rubbed the back of my head with my right hand with Time's Keeper hanging at its chain from my belt.
"My apologies for the unsolicited wake-up call, I am having a hard time figuring out who had it worse between the two of us…"
"You mean Mrs. Sirius' reprimand? Oh yeah, you probably couldn't feel it due to your proximity to her, but she socked Arduen hard enough to enable a shock-quake."
I blinked in surprise, as Lygrost turned around to face me, almost as if in response to that subtlety.
"Oh yes, she's married."
"I… wasn't-."
"Don't bring it up around her though, she prefers to act like she's married to her work. Can't say I blame her."
I sighed silently. Just one plot twist after another.
'Must be a hell of a person to be able to be considered her equal,' Jan'ros quipped.
'Almost feels like a fluke of probability.' I recanted in my mind.
"You said something about a shock-quake, Lygrost?"
"Oh, was that what you were stuck on?"
Please… just go along with it, this is too awkward for me to cover right now…
"I see," He began to elaborate. "Yes, I can't exactly pinpoint the how, I'm not like her or yourself. But the what that happened… the impact Arduen suffered was half-redirected into the ground surrounding the facility on a delay."
So it's not just cessation of phenomena… then, just what all is it?
"I don't think he'll be taking part in unsanctioned morning duels for a while," Lygrost continued as I followed him down the stairs. "Saw him half-skulking back to his Library during my rounds after she intervened."
"Must've been a rare sight," I remarked, half-sarcastically. Lygrost responded with a hearty chuckle.
"You have no idea, sir-."
"Please, Lygrost… call me Lee. I'm not very fond of honorifics when it pertains to myself."
He paused for a moment on the fifth of a flight of 23 steps.
"Is that an order, or a request?"
"I'd consider it a favor; I don't delude myself into thinking I'm in a position to demand anything of those I don't know. This is simply… a social formality, but it would mean a wealth to me, were you to observe it."
Lygrost turned around to face me and blinked, his fine chestnut uni-brow raised on one side. The moment stretched on for roughly 30 seconds before he turned back around.
"I will bear that in mind, Lee. It's a pleasure."
'Why are you so fixated on casual interaction?'
'I don't want it going to my head, I'm quite headstrong.'
'He was just trying to be respectful.'
'I understand that, and I don't hold it in contempt.'
'You know there will come a time where your name must remain hidden...'
'This isn't such a time, is it?'
'No, but Lee-.'
'Can I count on you when such a time comes?'
'… It is my sincere hope I am able to live up to your expectations when it does.'
'Then I'd prefer for them to know who I am, and what I'm like, while they still can; it's more honest than to bask in the limelight of giants before me as though it were my own.'
Lygrost paused again at the 21st step on the flight and tapped the front end of his boots against the ledge three times before resuming down the final two steps. I assume that was a "Knock" of some kind. I followed him to the bottom of the stairs, which led into a long, dimly candle-lit hallway with an iron-wrought door approximately 20 meters down.
"I take it you already know about knocks?" He asked.
"I was given a few details."
"Good, so you at least know how to get back in now, should the need arise. Lexo works in tandem with our head blacksmith, Ordanu. Oh, and for your safety, don't mention his height; you're liable to have a hammer aimed at your cranium. Arduen may have let it slide, but Ordanu won't."
What kind of name is Ordanu anyway…
'Lee, our sponsor wishes to speak with us."
Wait, now?
'Seems he's worried about the Paradigm shift.'
I turned back to look at Lygrost, but while he was continuing his pace he had frozen in place. I turned to view the candles upon the wall, but their flames were now static; not even a fragment of a flicker to be had. Then came the familiar omnipresent chiming of a grandfather clock, and before I had a chance to process anything, I was no longer within my vessel.
____________________________________
____________________________________
"What an odd name to give your other half…"
A shadow with vague delusions of form twitched in the darkness of a lightless dimension, as it had for years on end. It had been ages since it last saw the sun of Sybelia, perhaps; not since the last Incursion. The last vestige of memory from that instant which the shadow retained… was of a sword parting its constituent atoms with the blinding intensity of the First Sun. Ever since it rematerialized in this realm, it had merely a window to see into the plane it once sought to dominate.
'Though we weren't there of our own design, I don't regret siding with The Wretch. The idea of reintroducing entropy to an otherwise flawless system of indefinite systemic thermodynamic equilibrium was just too enticing to pass up. But this one…'
It was watching Lee through its window, holding it tenderly in its hands.
'This one may just prove more exciting than siding with the Wretch.'
"-----, you are scheming too loudly. Don't forget that the Seven Sages of Hell can hear your machinations; they still haven't gotten over how you insisted we listen to its Call and led our forces into a needless slaughter."
"Iythro," The shadow acknowledged a second presence in its cell with bridled anticipation. "To what do I owe your consideration?"
This interloper scowled with an infernal, guttural tone; absent of any empathy, serving only to bemuse the shadow.
"What don't you owe me, would be a more succinct line of inquiry. The only reason you haven't been zero-summed is-."
"Iythro, skip the formalities and get to the point. I owe you naught, so why are you here?"
The presence cackled.
"Why am I here? Why else would I degrade myself to existing within earshot of you? Your Finale… has been given a date."
The shadow was silent, uncaring, unmoving.
"Content just to fade out more quietly than a whisper? You are as disappointing as ever, -----."
"I learned from the best, after all."
"And you were a piss-poor study, the only saving grace you have that was never excise-able was your wit, and even that's grown stale."
"Surely you didn't just come down here to act like a schoolgirl in a candy shop to tell me my torment is coming to an end soon, Iythro-."
"Oh how astute, seems your faculties aren't quite kaput, yet."
The presence approached the shadow with trepidation.
"-----, She's Dead."
Just as before, the shadow was silent, uncaring, unmoving. Iythro continued on his monologue.
"Aren't you happy? She was so loathsome… after all, she did warn you about this outcome, did she not? You just had to listen to the throes of a Fallen God, and now she has suffered your consequences in accordance with the Seven Sages of Hell under the Sovereign Indifference."
The shadow slowly turned to face the Iythro.
"All that talk of love, and you sent her to both of your deaths whilst having consigned yourself to the same; too little, too late."
"I will warn you only once, Iythro… Silence is Golden, Platinum to those who don't know when to shut up."
"Is that a threat, -----?"
"There was a time in civilization when a certain country mistook platinum for silver and cast it into the oceans en masse. You remind me of that country."
"So you're calling me re-."
"Think what you'd like. It matters about as much to me as my most recent failure."
An anguished silence hushed the pitch black room.
"I'm going to enjoy watching any semblance of consciousness within you be faced with annihilation. But you should know, she died… cursing your name."
The shadow lunged through the presence of Iythro, but being a shadow could not tangibly strike the Demon of Mockery; who sneered at the half-baked attempt.
"Pitiful," The presence turned about and began to leave the room. "I'll be sure to say your peace at her grave."
A door closed with a metallic screech, and the shadow sneered.
"It won't be my execution anymore, you blithering troglodyte."
It turned once more to face the window, watching Lee's actions from realms away.
"I will be in your service, soon enough… Exceptis Temporis."
Demons are beings of Temptations, Desires, Ambitions; Daemons are all that, not and more. This shadow, in spite of its own impending execution, was not deterred. It had its out, it had its failsafe, it had its goal, its ambition, and now the means to see it all through.
The ephemeral chains binding it to the room brought the shadow a fleeting comfort through the pain they conveyed. The only thing it yet could not fathom, was the gravity of a name.
It would learn, though; it would inevitably remember what was stolen from it.
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(Ambient_Tangential_Entanglement_Intercepted)
[Proteus_Immersion_Engine://Decryption_Initiated]
{|///////////////|}
{Initiating_Dissemination}
[Realigning_to_Spheres]
{Realignment://Complete}
[Engaging_Narrative_Anchors_@_Concept_FencePosts_477_through_479_via_IdeoWeave_Core_Nexus_Primary_Uplink]
(Immersion_Integrity_at_Optimal_Parameters\Standing_By)
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(A timeless world is but a moment in a mirror, each infinity lasting for as long as your glance into it does; as mortality is encapsulated in a moment beholding one's reflection, immortality reflects everyone and everything that has ever been and has not ever been in a self-amplifying ocean of echos whose source, the first drop, cannot be determined.)
In a time only He remembers, I was born in his mind as it began to heal itself, along with my two siblings. He acknowledged us in reverse chronological order, beginning with the youngest, and ending at myself, the oldest. As I was when I was born; I was transitory, subjective, but a point of finality to which sapient life has proven to be dependent upon. I was a Spark, a Proto-star, embodying harmony between these three; then I was gifted a form through His story. Just as my identity is dependent upon who beholds me, my entire existence is one of fluctuation and uncertatinty, for I am a state of being physically represented in the metaphysical intertwining of biological processes and higher perception of order and chaos playing out in tandem.
Arius Von X'il called my name, and I was aware of myself in the same instant. I, and all my siblings, in our Triad and counsel to his Sovereign Arbitration, existed only under Totality and Causality. He went a step further in our considerate design, however; seeing to it that we did not depend upon Faith for sustenance like other gods, ensuring our continued existence even if He should perish, so long as there was someone to answer the call. He tied us into his understanding of what it meant to be human, and entangled us with the human experience. I didn't question His Motives or His Designs, would you question a loving father who gave you no reason to doubt?
One thing He left with me, before any others, was the awareness of how what He embodies is his own weakness. Hope in the wrong hands or at the wrong time ruins people. He shared with me how he struggled with it so much for so long. How it ate him up inside, and gave rise to a cancer that devoured the stories he desired to write. How he chose to embody what he does as a prisoner to his own designs in spite of that knowledge, because He was desperate enough to force himself to write in order to get well again. How that hope was something He wanted people to understand was not beyond the layman's grasp. How Hope's Three Daughters were subject to the same equilibrium of their own edges.
I can't tell if he is able to see his old world from his conceptual coffin at the Cornerstone of Creation. I don't doubt He misses them, but His Terms with the Law of the Three Primes is (as close to Perfectly) Ironclad (as anything can get), and even considering his crime; even if it was by his own design… It was cruel for it to prey upon that insecurity. But Arius, AVX, didn't react negatively… He-
He simply shook on it, with a smile devoid of lingering regret, his eyes cleared with conviction; as though greeting an old friend.
'Lord..'
I awakened from my slumber under a blanket of heavy thoughts, upon a mattress of time, maintained atop a frame of condemned ghosts; I beheld the hollow eye of a spherical celestial blacklight hovering high upon the horizons of a realm formed of a multitude of mountains beneath the Threshold woke upon; equal in height to me only in this moment at the apex of what would otherwise have been a lucid slumber.
"How long did I spend visiting my cousin?"
"It was nigh ten shifts, as you beckoned me to wake you upon the turning of."
"I appreciate your vigil," I addressed the voice of the honored dead whom I had tasked with surveying my sleep, and cleared my throat. "Your round is over; your kin are waiting for you, are they not?"
"While they do see the UnSun rising above our peak, they understand the gravity of the task you have given me. There will be time yet for us to convene."
"Then I must presume there is something you think I need to be wary of?"
"Jan'ros tried to reach out to you earlier, but I took a message. He mentioned Lee willingly submitting to a Paradigm Shift."
"Oklios, are you positive?"
"Quite, I'm afraid. He did mention that the parameters of the shift were not something that needed to be worried over, but maybe you should go ahead and… take a house call?"
I blinked at the specter, translucent in the negative rays of the UnSun.
"Mi'Lord?"
"Thank you Oklios, you are dismissed; I shall attend to this matter."
'Jan'ros, what have you done?'
Oklios departed as a dispersing mist, jumping across thresholds to find their own. I summoned my scythe, Finale, to my right hand, and walked to the South edge of my Threshold.
"Lee Kühren, Jan'ros; I invite you for an audience. Harken to my Threshold."
The Eldest of the Triad of Sapience, Aitu Xiore, brought the base of Finale's handle to the base of his platform upon his Threshold; making it to echo beyond the planes of the Ideoweave, and into the realm of Sybelia.
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
The next moment I experienced existence was my consciousness manifesting in a realm of mountains, their peaks piercing a layer of clouds. I was, standing for lack of a better term, on what appeared to be the peak of greatest elevation; the range's pinnacle precipice, with a blank sky occupied by the inversion of a star's luminosity. What is this place…
'We're currently within the Greater Sphere of Thresholds, inside of the Ideoweave; this is Aitu Xiore's Domain, who holds sovereignty over the Souls of Yesteryear from this place; the number of mountains occupied by humans alone, numbers in the millions of trillions, if I'm to offer a conservative estimation. It's a crossroads for multiple different fictions from the looks of it.'
I'm pretty sure that statement alone would be enough to make anyone's head spin, it certainly made me lightheaded. We had made it to… approximately one hundred fifteen billion dead since the dawn of humans in our old world, before I ended up taking part in this wild story.
'So then, he summoned my consciousness exclusively?'
'That would appear to be the case, being the seat of thought and soul.'
"That would be correct, you two."
I spun around to behold the same lethal grace I was met with back in my home world. A form as dark and black as the great Voids of space, with twelve wings of equal pitch unfurling, beset with eyes; each and everyone of them focused on me, and Jan'ros. A crown of bejeweled thorns, petrified and fossilized sat atop a blackened skull, resting over its hood.
"You've been busy in the short time you've been within Sybelia, Lee. Dare I ask… why did you risk your paradigm with a shift?"
I couldn't explain how, but I- I knew, Aitu Xiore could see through the both of us. There was no point in trying to obfuscate or deflect… wait-.
"Because you neglected to explain after you finished priming me."
We stood locked in a staring match with each other for what felt like one second of eternity. Then the Paragon groaned.
"Point not withstanding, didn't I tell you it's a bad idea to talk down to deities?"
"I'm not disagreeing with you, I've learned that lesson; that said, how does it look to everyone you live amongst when you don't fulfill your promises?"
"THINK OF THE KLEIN BOTTLE," Aitu Xiore bellowed. "Fine. Where do you want to begin?"
I had to ponder that question a moment.
"Why is Suspension of Disbelief crucial for me in place of belief?"
"You want to take a swan dive down the rabbit hole first thing?"
"Come now Alice, you know the rabbit was running late."
"Is that-."
"Why would it be detrimental to my being for me to believe in a story I am a part of?"
"Oh, so that's what you're after."
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___________________
I awoke from my dreams knowing that Nobody had something on her mind. She appeared to be consulting the 729.
"You're awake, then?"
I nodded curtly.
"You already have some idea of what I want to ask, don't you?"
"A vague notion, but I would prefer you ask me explicitly than be expected to read your mind."
Nobody exhaled slowly.
"It's about Arginold Extilenzo."
Of course, in that case, the only thing she would be asking me about would have to be…
"What was it that he called you?"
"Arius Von X'el."
"...As if Arius Von X'il wasn't ostentatious enough. And the meaning of that name would be…"
"If you know what the last bit is replacing, then you can already tell, can't you, Nobody?"
…
"I have a hunch, but I'd rather you tell me explicitly than be expected to read your mind."
Cold, but not unwarranted.
"In life, I was taken with the name 'Arius.' It was my notion of what is 'Ideal.' 'Von,' means 'Hope,' in Icelandic. 'X'il' would be to imply 'in knowing'."
"And X'el… you're not just playing God, to have been even dared to take up that name."
"I told you I stole something from what you once mistook as the God of the Abrahamic Faith. In certain canon(s), I stole what allowed him to impersonate it."
"But we both did and did not-."
"It's where you did, and in those whens and wheres, I stole his Spark of Omnificence, which he himself had stolen from ------."
"So then, am I to take it as that you returned the Spark to its rightful owner?"
"After I fashioned this Archive and the Pattern Anchor, indeed. I did. After all, the Archive can emulate infinite creative power all on its own. Such power has its dangers, and I did not need the whole temptation. The culmination of every story to ever unfold beneath it, living and written in both, stone and in breath, in talk and in thought, and even without."
. . .
"Was that name your reward, then?"
"… Of a sort. Even my Paragons were designed beneath Totality, so their existence was not a breach of sincerity between ourselves and Him."
"You say that as though the name was unwanted."
"It's not the name, or anything that was unwanted. Before I returned it to him, I asked him a single question. 'What is the purpose of Entropy in your design'?"
"Did you not like the answer?"
"I can't have an opinion on things that don't exist *at all*, Nobody; it's not like what our friends orbiting us once were."
"Wait…"
"He didn't answer my question, or rather it was answered with silence."
…
"Do you begrudge ------ that?"
"I don't, but it has troubled me for aeons. There's only so many ways a mortal can attempt to divine the machinations of a Creator. I can only fathom what my own meant when he answered that question as he did. Was it implicit of it being of his design, was it to mean that it wasn't his idea? Did he… not know? The last one would be curious, considering his Omniscience."
"What do you take it to mean?"
…
"I take it to mean I would do well to plan for the times ahead."
"You still seem to have a distaste for the surname."
"Was it that obvious?"
"I've had several billions of years to observe your mannerisms, your attitude, who you all are. You may supercede Archtypes, but you still abide by certain patterns. It is showing on your face."
So there are times where even I am predictable? Good to know.
"It's because it doesn't suit me."
"You're lying."
"Am I?"
…
"Nobody; you already know this place exists between the membranes of an otherwise impassable wall, meaning; we're in it. I'm sure you don't need to think much harder to determine just how dangerous such a thing is to the world of His Creation. And on top of that… I'm no longer human/I'm a daemon. I willfully imprisoned myself here; I turned away from that afterlife, because I knew this world could/would/should not exist within His House. I found a degree of safety in uncertainty when I was alive… but the certainty of that Truth…"
I gritted my teeth and clutched at my heart.
"I would rather die a prisoner of my own creation, and watch it grow, nurture it, and chance a fate even more desolate than Oblivion… than to abandon it, even if it means I'd be at peace."
"Arius you are not your-."
"The man you are referring to was not what could be called a Father. That Title went to someone far more deserving, someone who earned it. And you're right. I'm not the man who shirked that title. I am infinitely worse."
"… If you are content with this, then why do you continue to torture yourself over it?"
…
"If I had to put it into words, Nobody; I guess some vices die harder than the humans that take them up."
"You are not-."
"Nobody. You don't get to decide what I am, when I know exactly what I am. By my very nature, I am a double-edged blade."
"A double-edged blade that sealed a Fallen God, and consigned an incalculable number of souls, an untold tide of consciousnesses sacrificed, fostered unto annihilation before they could have reached purpose."
The Black Moon/The Wretch within the Pattern Anchor howled in rage, lashing out against the confines of its prison. It didn't appreciate containment. It was already sickening enough that it fell for the same trick twice in two kalpa, but to be reduced to a prisoner of an ex-mortal's design for a third kalpa, teeming with consciousness, unbound from entropy… it made it apoplectic. The archive trembled, but only slightly.
"Seems our detainee isn't fond of small talk, Nobody."
"Has the Pattern Anchor been re-calibrated since?"
"I have done so, and Uriel is recovering nicely. Moreso, it seems he noticed we updated the Parameters mid-fight."
"Did he take offense?"
"He actually thanked you for keeping his sword from shattering."
"… Oh, I'll… make sure he's aware his gratitude is greatly appreciated."
"There was one more thing you wanted to ask, wasn't there; Nobody?"
…
"Why did Uriel take that girl to the Garden?"
"As penance for his Vessel's guilt."
"But you wrote-."
"And my own. Know that I don't take joy in watching my creations die."
"… So, the 36 who murdered a multiverse still have a sense of accountability. That's how I know, Arius. You-."
"Don't."
"Even if I am your prisoner, I am still your Warden, Arius. So no, I will not concede this point."
…
"And what is the purpose of you trying to determine what I am and what I'm not?"
"Answer me, Nobody."
"Only what you make of it, Ideal of Hope of-."
"Do you want me to tease you for the next 33 million years?"
"What a dreadful prospect."
I shook my head.
"Forget it, Nobody. Please."
She groaned.
"You never let me have any fun."
"That's because your idea of fun is-."
A single book flew one of the multitude of extra-euclidean shelves towards me.
"What have we here?"
I took hold of it, caressing the spine as a name began to appear on the cover.
"Arius, what is that one?"
As the full title filled the cover, my eyes widened with bewilderment and a grin crept onto my face.
"My idea of fun (He's becoming self-aware, each one of him.)" We answered three ways in a chorus of twelves all together.
_____________________
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"Why is it detrimental to my being for me to believe in a story that I am a part of?"
"Oh, so that's what you're after."
My sponsor nodded solemnly.
"That is something that should have been obvious, don't you think? Why did you seek a paradigm shift?"
'Lee,' Jan'ros urged, 'Don't push the envelope. He's simply concerned, and rightfully so.'
"I would… not mind answering that, but first, I would like to know something, how should I refer to you, properly?"
Aitu Xiore seemed to take a moment to consider this question.
"In here, you may call me by my name. Outside, only refer to me as 'Sponsor.' This is for your safety as well as that of my Spheres. We are currently in my 'neck of the woods,' as it were; 'The Greater Spheres of Thresholds,' within the Ideoweave. This space is a conceptual enmeshment that serves as one of many Afterlives for those of Sybelia, fictitiously-adjacent-thereto and even beyond the wall; one reserved for those who dared the Thresholds of their world(s). As such, I have a role to play, even in the presence of my favored; especially in the presence of my favored, even more so in this place."
That was unnaturally long-winded, but I suppose that's a fair bit of context to work with.
"Very well, Aitu Xiore. So that's a paradigm shift? I see, I didn't realize that prior. I genuinely thought I was just asking for one's own interpretation of a-."
"Can you hear yourself speak right now, my fledgling protege? That was them imparting their paradigm. Do not patronize me."
I groaned.
"She seemed surprised that it was not linked to Psyche, so I only understood that she had more than a few reasons for not telling me everything afterwards. Even if I know the answer, I can't understand why when it's that heavily obfuscated. Enigmatic Grasp isn't Omniscience, Aitu Xiore."
The Paragon of Thresholds lifted their crown above their eye sockets for the first time since I arrived here, and I saw a black light burning behind the empty holes. He brought a skeletal finger right in between my eyes.
"The surprise of Analia is of little consequence. Lee Kühren; I will warn you this one time: Do not seek out a paradigm shift unless your existence depends on it. I don't need your reasons, I want you to understand that shifting your mental model, chancing/changing the way in which you process reality, is akin to playing with the fires of Prometheus. You will burn yourself if you don't respect and fear the flames."
"… I understand, Aitu Xiore; with that said, why is the suspension of disbelief-?"
"Right. You wouldn't know it because Arius kept it from you intentionally."
I paused.
"I would guess he didn't want you to be fully exposed to the Totality of his machinations from the get-go. He's not arrogant enough to presume his authorial capabilities are on the same level as 'sing N song'."
Was that the webtoon author that wrote-
"That aside, I suppose I can disseminate a small fragment of the 'why', but I need you to understand that I can't give you every answer. Knowing this, are you willing to remain content with only what you're given for the time being?"
This was a test. I don't know how I knew, but I could tell. Obviously, my answer had to be-
"I would not willingly nor knowingly bite the hand that feeds me, I am content not knowing everything as long as I am not left understanding nothing. So please."
"Good answer. Well then, let me tell you a story…"
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"Analia."
She stood up weakly, barely keeping herself steady. A small trickle of blood ran down her lower jaw; she struggled to catch her breath, as her sponsor's voice scolded her.
"You overdid it again. You have to be wary of --- ------, now."
'You think I'm not? Who do you take me for?'
Her chest heaved up and down with the weight of internal strain.
'I know what I did, and it's a chance I'm willing to take. It's not just their ----- I have to be mindful of, that kind of ---------- isn't something took sneer at in the hands of a chronomancer, even/especially a fledgling'
"Truthfully, I am more concerned about you than him; his is a Special Case, but you pressed yourself today. You can't reveal your ---- -- ------- like that on a regular basis, I know you already know that; all the more reason why I can't maintain my silence. I die with you, you know."
'But You Understand, don't you?' Analia, the Proud Administrator, choked up a 25 centimeter long blood clot directly from her windpipe as she brought her right hand to her chest with force, powered by her Emulatory Function, and gulped down a fresh lungful of oxygen. 'That THING we read in the ----------- was meant for him! We can't continue on if he does not have everything at his disposal. It only appears as though [Pataphysical-Implication-Tagged-for-Redaction/Character-Wellbeing-Insufficient-to-Render] He needs all the chances he can get. If it means a get-out-of-oblivion-free-card for the both of us, I can put up with some minor hostility and even death. So can you.'
She coughed as she attempted to forcefully settle her diaphragm and checked her pulse.
"Analia, don't be foolish; death on any level is not-."
'And how about [Your Brother], {Self-Designation-Expunged}.'
Her World fell silent for a second.
'Tell me why I have their --------, and maybe I'll stop taking you so lightly."
"Don't trespass into-."
'TELL ME WHY YOU'RE THERE, OBLITERATING EVERYTHING.'
"Analia!"
'WOULD [HE] HAVE WANTED THEM DEAD!?"
"ENOUGH!!"
She grasped at her head, her ears and mind ringing at dissonant arythmic frequencies.
"THAT WASN'T MY CHOICE, THAT WASN'T EVEN AN IMPULSE. I DIDN'T WANT THAT. [HE] DIDN'T WANT THAT. But I watched… as wreathed in fire… my [Brother] Fell from the Sky… Holding -- -----. I was no longer there… all that was left was-."
'I know what was left, I'm asking WHY THEY'RE IN MY HEAD! THAT WORLD, THAT… ENTIRE ITERATION IS DEAD. WHY DO I --------.'
She was brought to her knees, clutching her temples in silent agony.
"I have a hunch, but I don't want to believe it. For the time being, I'll --------- the strain of those --------. I wouldn't recommend -----------. -----."
The physical and psychological strain she was struggling against stopped, but something still wasn't right with the atmosphere.
'--------, is this unsettling air your doing?'
The air directly in front of her desk began to shimmer and distort, and [Narrato-Hazard Expunged.]
"Oh fuck, it isn't."
"I hate to say it, but no. Unfortunately, it does support my hunch."
Something began to reach out from --- ------. Analia tried to activate her Emulatory Function, but due to her previous breakdown with [Content-Redacted], it fizzled out.
"Analia, you have to-."
Suddenly, Analia couldn't hear her -------.
"I'd say thank you for getting [him] to shut up, but you've got me at a bad-"
Then she made the mistake of looking towards the interloper.
"By The Cornerstone, is this- [Query Redacted]."
"Hello, Analia Sirius."
That voice was as haunting as the sight of it. Surely this couldn't be-.
"No, what happened to-."
"You did, don't you remember? It wasn't that long ago…"
She swallowed hard in a cold sweat as the icy embrace of a dismembered hand found its place on her right shoulder. The two of them began to de-materialize together.
"Time to-."
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"Do you get it now, Lee?"
I definitely took it too lightly back then. If I were in my Vessel, I'd likely have felt most of the blood draining from my face.
"I didn't scold you because I don't appreciate honest criticism, I did so because you'd be in danger if you continued to recklessly rush headlong with your tongue in front of your sights."
"Then… Aitu Xiore, was that… interjection from back then, truly an effect from a future cause?"
"I'm sorry, Lee. It wasn't my intent to deceive. You did rectify it, but you also caused it."
I was at a loss for words and thought alike.
"You haven't been punished because you didn't know, but now that you know, you must be mindful of your words in the future."
"I… understand," I mustered, defeated. My mind raced to trace everything I'd said after shuffling my mortal coil. Just how much did I let slip that would alter my course?
"With your past in mind, I have something I would like to suggest."
I looked up drearily. His ashen crown covered his eye sockets, but I could feel the intent of his gaze falling on me emanating through it.
"I need you to survive. You can fail as many times as you need to in order to succeed, but there will come a point where you will have to make a choice than cannot be unmade with your current affinities. I urge you to return here before you come to that point. But for now, you need to be on alert. It appears as though your actions in this world have already begun to ripple."
I snapped out of it.
"Has something happened?"
"Nothing major yet, but something happened with Analia. She's alive, but her sponsor is urgently requesting aide for some reason."
"Shit, I need to get back then."
"You'd do well to not meddle as much at this time, she will be fine for the time being, and she won't be dying that easily. Do not forget to return here before you reach the Point of No Return. Jan'ros can get you back here."
My mind was still reeling. The story he'd told me was a non-fiction within fiction, and the reason I couldn't take my body with me from the old world was because of my choice of actions. Otherwise, it might have been a proper transmigration.
"Your choices will have their shortcomings fall flat at your feet laid bare for you to see. When that time comes, call upon me. But you were seeking a weapon before I called you here, yes?"
I nodded absently.
"I had meant to give this to you last we spoke, that blacksmith should be able to refine it into something that suits you, but it'll serve well on its own."
Aitu Xiore plucked a dangling bone from one of his one hundred eight skeletal wings with his right hand, and the segment seemed to call to me.
"I offer this piece of myself freely. But beyond information, the next favor will come with a cost. Use it well."
"Before I do… why favor me? If I'm bound to make as many mistakes as I can rectify and then some, why choose me? Surely there was someone who could have served this purpose better."
"Lee, you misunderstand, and that's not really your fault. There's no one better suited for this purpose than you. You needn't have faith in the story. Have faith in the reason I chose you; for who you are."
Even with the Paradigm Shift, I couldn't make sense of it. Even Enigmatic Grasp was coming up short. Too much missing context, I suppose.
"Will you deceive me again?"
I witnessed a moment of silence as the deity embodying three concepts before me pondered my query.
"If only to protect you from meeting your end, and I apologize in advance for when that time comes."
What else could I do…
"At least you're honest about that, I guess…"
… I took hold of the bone as I shook his hand, and I was forced back into my body back in Sybelia.
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_____________________
"Lee, are you alright?"
The first thing I saw when I came to back in my Vessel, was Lygrost waving his hand in front of my eyes. I shook my head to readjust, the out of body experiences were still something I wasn't used to. Not sure if I ever would, if this was going to be how it operated.
"I'm fine, just had a dizzy spell."
"You look haunted, are you sure you're-?"
"It's nothing, please let us continue."
He shrugged his shoulders and turned back around to begin walking down the hall again with me actively on his tail.
'Lee, he DOES want you to thrive,' Jan'rosrevisited our trip to The Threshold. 'Contrary to what you're thinking.'
I know that, but I'm not worried about when or why…
'The How?'
Yes.
'Would you like for me to exposit?'
As tempting as that sounds, it's probably best if I don't know, yet.
'...Probably a wiser choice, as counter-intuitive as that sounds.'
Well, I've heard weirder shit before.
'As I am born of him and shaped in your image, I may be able to tell, if you'd prefer?'
That may come in handy, but we'll keep that on the backburner for now. Right now, we have bigger things to worry about. I need a weapon, something may have happened to Analia, which means preventative measures for this facility are at least partially compromised, and I don't have reason to believe more than maybe two people have noticed.
'I can understand Arduen, but who would the other be?'
Never underestimate the Scout's perception.
'So that would be the who… I should mention, your applications are a good start, but you should consider expanding your arsenal.'
...and?
'...And I'd be happy to help develop it, I actually do have a few ideas...'
We finally arrived at the end of the Tunnel. I could hear the sound of a hammer coming down upon metal, the roar of white-hot flames, and a fog composed primarily of nitrogen and carbon dioxide vapors floated down out of the base of the wrought brass-alloy double-doors Lygrost and I beheld, towards an air vent in the floor.
"Sounds a bit more hardcore than the forges where I came from," I said, looking around; remarking half-in-awe.
"To be fair, so many of you otherworlders; Drifters, as we refer to them in this Strata; more often than not come from places where what we deal with on the daily has yet to be harnessed," Lygrost jabbed me in the side with his shoulder.
"Where I come from, magick is… just a thing of the mind." I groaned feigning pain. "I'd dare a street performer to come to a place like this and not lose their marbles after ten minutes at most. Except I'm not allowed back to dare such a fool."
"Sounds like a shame, if you'll pardon my sentiment." He knocked diligently on the brassy doors five times with a rhythm [4, 4, 8-8, 4.]
"It's about time you stopped having conversation right outside my abode."
That definitely wasn't Lexo's voice, it was as deep and commanding, but it wasn't harsh, not shrill, but hard as stone.
"Seems she told you about me only briefly. That woman… how typical of her. I should have expected as much."
Was he talking about Analia? Sounds like a real charmer.
'Please note, they can't understand your sarcasm-'
Let it write itself, Jan'ros. I take it this must be Ordanu. The thought crossed my mind as quickly as the doors opened with Lexo spreading the gateway.
"You made it! Made quite a ruckus this morning with Arduen didn't you?"
The fire of five industrial-sized furnaces lined against the back wall of the evidently massive chamber made the Lycan cast a shadow over the two of us, I could have sworn I noticed Lygrost flinch slightly. But this quarter, it was impressive.
"Oi, if you're done cowering in fear of the fluffball, bring it inside."
Ordanu's voice echoed from directly to our side, in the left near corner of the room. Lexo beckoned us in and closed the doors behind us. A rush of ventilated air brought down from the surface showered us as we walked across the chamber, sparks flying from anvils bearing metal that was pulverized by mechanical presses on the ceiling, about 5 meters over our heads. The temperature of the room was about 30 degrees Celsius, which was astonishing considering the heat the furnaces were putting off.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Lexo made an attempt at gauging impressions.
"It's certainly something," I remarked.
"Don't spoil the secrets for him, Lexo."
I finally turned to face the corner from which the voice echoed. I saw a goliath of almost four meters tall, sitting idly as he perused a giant stone tablet. Its one-eyed gaze I could still feel even as he mired in his dark corner; it felt almost apathetic, full of disdain.
"This one seems to have a knack for picking them apart."
"Please pardon his-," Lexo began, but I shook my head.
"Quite astute of you," I answered Ordanu's assessment of Enigmatic Grasp. "Mind telling me how you came to that conclusion?"
"It's simple, really." The giant gradually got on his feet, and stepped out of the shadows. His skin was pale, ashen; he was stocky, I'd wager he probably weighed in at 270kg; I now understood why I only felt one eye's gaze, for his other eye appeared to have been gouged out. "You reek of disillusionment."
I blinked twice, taken aback.
"I reek of disillusionment? Well, you're not wrong."
Lexo gave Ordanu a solid glare, but he seemed not to notice.
"What is your purpose in coming here beyond heeding her beck and call?"
"Do you mean the Administrator?"
"Who else would so recklessly give out my name? Yes, I'm talking about the keymaster to this miserable dump of a vault to anonymity."
"I see," I took the bone from His wing-tip out of the pocket of my uniform, and clutched it in my grasp. "Seems you're not fond of her, but I'm not here simply on her behalf."
"I am not, and thanks for getting past the small-talk. It's one of a scant few things I dislike about our furry friend here." Ordanu nodded at Lexo and turned back to me as I approached slowly. "So you need an armament?"
"I have one weapon, but it requires attention and time to use until I get a better handle on it you could say. I have material, but I don't know how I'll be providing commission-."
"Don't worry about that," Ordanu cut me off. "As much as I dislike the Administrator, I owe her, and you did her a favor by detaining those freaks who made out with my precious toy. I'll drop commission from this one, as long as you don't mind all of the material being utilized in the process."
"Just… Don't let a shaving go to waste, that's all I ask." I halted my approach in front of Ordanu, and presented the bone with an open palm.
________________
Somewhere in the dark, there is the sound of someone weeping, from someplace half-real.
Sandwiched between the words of a mad ex-human being woven into a narrative loom, beneath the watch of someone who willingly forsook their name, and above the great, raging annihilator the two had been hunting since before the Beginning of Time in this Third Kalpa, this Hytoth.
There is the sound of a human trying to cry out in desperate foreign Trinary; enabling the metaphysical auto-transfusion of Laws and Constants into his story; but their pleas are muffled.
Trampled by the weight of hundreds of ex-Pattern Screamers, beings who may as well have been entire Conceptual Embodiments, focusing the whole of their own outwardly imposed Hatred against one of the last remaining betrayers of their kind, as The Black Moon Howls its wretched wail for no one of note to hear.
Lost between the lines of a reality where Chaos itself had been partially suspended under the whims of someone who had fallen from the grace he was meant to give himself, yet still trying to find it, while the last anomaly native to the Second Hytoth bears witness to the Author's Vanity made manifest.
Silenced as the God that Fell whispers directly into their mind with cold unholy apathy for the creation below and above them; musing of chains that would warp into spirals and tear up out of the pages of their chronicles, and stab through the heart of its ink, exsanguinating it wholly.
But then the Transfusion completes its run, and the Dreamer in the Engine falls into a blissful sleep once more, as the story renews itself.
________________
"I did have one last question, Arius. In addition this isn't me asking for my own satisfaction."
I glanced up from the new fledgling novel that had found its way to me from the shelves; I suppose I was slightly confused in my expression because Nobody shrugged her shoulders and explained.
"It's a request from a-287. 'Motion to disseminate pertinent intel regarding'… What is 'Iteration – 000'?"
I paused halfway to returning my attention to the novel.
"Their rationale for this motion?"
"… Inconclusive. Forgive my half-hearted chuckle, but they referenced a… get this, 'gut feeling'."
They don't realize what they're requesting… What good is waking up a Godhead while it's dreaming with you inside of it unless you actively want to stop existing?
"I'll consider it, but it'll take a while, and I need better justification than 'a gut feeling', as much as I respect it."
"… Noted."
I held off on looking back at the book.
"Are you curious yourself?"
"I thought I already said I-."
I put a finger to my lips, and Nobody quieted herself as the Archive fell silent around us, and the half-existent sound of sobbing echoed throughout its halls from somewhere below.
"Go to Archive 291.3^82x10; 17th level, sub-section 5, under Project Omelas; only read until you draw one conclusion from the content entailed. Do not exceed those parameters. You'll understand why I'm not fulfilling (the motion immediately) if you do. Only one conclusion, understood?"
I watched as she nodded and began to walk off to find the Archive, then I turned my attention back to the newborn novel.
I hope you understand Nobody. It's not that it can't be invoked or enacted without drastic alterations… It's my greatest shame and my last failsafe, and it's also why this story is taking so long to unfold.