FV – Chapter 37

Dramatic Problems

With a proper amount of sleep behind them once again, the two girls were ready to face the dawn of another day.  With as much preparation behind them as possible, Lyun and Axln made their way to Mheridz’s outpost to await the coming battle.

Lyun obviously didn’t feel at all ready for this.  Her stress and worry had actually woken her up repeatedly enough that she had slept in longer than Axln for once.  Axln had simply let Lyun get the extra sleep, going over mental exercises in her head about what sort of actions she should be taking in combat.  Axln was even so occupied at trying to improve after her considered failures in their last battle that she hadn’t even been properly aware of Lyun’s concerns.  It was in this state that the two of them returned to Mheridz to get an update of the situation.  However, as the battle was known to happen that dawn, and dawn was a hundred moments long, there was still an unspecified amount of wait time before anything would actually happen.  Mheridz was not spending this time fruitlessly though, it remained an excellent opportunity to plan and prepare her troops.  Even if their foe did arrive, they would have some time where the thing would just wander around, waiting for their ambush.

“So, where is your standing tower of death?”  “I’m guessing you’re comparing your experiences of your last battle to what you’re seeing here.  Unfortunately, the foundry did not think highly of the idea of unmovable weaponry when trying to defend so much area.  My heaviest hitters are all mobile, we have no sentry weapon on site.  The variety of siege weapons however are significant, some with some rather impressive firepower, all of them with some substantial range.  I made it clear that things needed range at least, we can’t afford to let anything get close to our enemy.  If you’re going to make use of citadel weapons, destroyers might be your best bet for the same reason.  The citadel itself might have some kind of suitable long range attack, but not any suitable to people actually working in the area.  If you want to have the citadel back us up, please keep that in mind.”  “Makes sense.  Coordinating efforts would be difficult in the middle of battle too.”  Axln nodded at Mheridz’s suggestion, keenly aware of how the citadel’s core weapon was not only too prone to wide area damage, it was also generally ineffective against things made from the void.  They needed strikes that were as elemental as possible, or such a strike simply wouldn’t do anything.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be coordinating things with Luna from a distance, we’ll be fine.  Someone is going to have to keep an eye out for when the thing decides to call its friends, too.”  “Oh, so Vael had to deal with something that could call for backup.  Do keep in mind, void spawn, as well as its counterpart, are all generally very distinct.  Given time, people are going to start classifying these things by how much intensity of the void it starts bringing with it.  As for what each one does, there are no set patterns at all.  We can not be certain what our target will be capable of until it is demonstrated.  In that consideration, you may want to watch out for any strange behaviours, so that you are not surprised.”  “I’ll do that then too.  Don’t worry, I’m an elf, we’re sort of physically made for this sort of work.”  “Hmm.. do as you wish.”  Lyun could tell her optimism felt a little artificial, Mheridz might have even picked up on that too.  If Mheridz knew the Lyun from the future, it might be a little rough to cloud such stuff over.  Axln however didn’t look into it, she instead simply considered what she herself would need to be doing.  At the very least, someone had to commit the thing’s attention, that might have become her job.  She was however eager to make up for her past failures, so that wouldn’t be a problem.

Eventually during preparation, word came in about their target being sighted in the ashen dunes.  Lyun was the first of the three to get to spot it, her elven vision standing as dependable as she had claimed it would.  Axln however was able to see it even clearer once her circlet was calibrated to do so.  Mheridz didn’t even bother getting a visual impression, turning to her forces to organize them for battle.  The outpost was very empty soon after.  Luna had arrived at least to their request for support, ensuring that they would have a stock of her destroyers on site in support of Mheridz’s forces.  In another moment, their foe was surrounded with substantial numbers that still kept their distance.  Windcrafts scoured the skies in a flurry that unleashed a barrage of explosions from above in a bombing run.  The fiend was enraged, but the windcrafts rapidly flew away in all directions.  While the fiend remained confused, all of the ground forces opened fire, the ground shuddering in the high impact onslaught.  Axln was on route, but she wasn’t even certain what to do given everything going on.  It was as if everything was already under control.  Lyun meanwhile was all too happy to discover that things were generally going smoothly.  She was still diligently keeping to her assigned duty, keeping watch from a distance.  Such was why, even obscured by a cloud of explosions, herself doing nothing but watching, she was the first to notice their enemy’s change of approach.

The fiend completely stopped lashing out, its foes being far too distant for such a tactic.  Instead, several white lamps lit over the fiend, the lamps not actually providing any source of light.  These small stars however glimmered with a subtle ashen dust.  While explosions raged around it, and the windcrafts came around for yet another bombing run, a series of ashen flickers resounded in the air in a stream from the strange stars.  These sparks surged into the air and struck several of the windcrafts passing by, the affected crafts going down instantly.  A few more spark streams surged out from it, striking a destroyer and a couple additional siege weapons.  Lyun pooled her observations for Axln before rushing to confront Mheridz about the news.

“So, the stupid thing desided to give itself some kind of ranged attack.  Our forces are going down easy now, do you have anything that could deal with the thing’s weapon?”  “Casualties are acceptable, in fact I generally expected a few.  The thing would be bleeding it’s own void aspect simply to keep attacking, so we just need to keep hitting it until it finally goes down.  The faster it dies, the less we lose in the process.”  “If it’s just killing itself then, wouldn’t it be easier to just defend until it died?”  “Too slow, would give it far too many opportunities to attack.  You may not have noticed, but defending is actually rather futile.  There is nothing that can just weather such purity of void.”  Lyun was aghast at Mheridz’s decision to just push with everything they had.  Mheridz did at least pass instructions to have her forces more mobile, to at least attempt to dodge.  Such was especially good because their enemy had grown more comfortable with it’s new weapon, unleashing strikes in a growing frequency.  Such was simply another reason why Mheridz knew they needed the thing to die sooner rather than later.

Mheridz honestly did know of a possible defensive solution, but she didn’t like it.  Instead, she removed the armband from her arm and set it on the table, replacing the thing with a new variant.  With the new armband set and activated, she turned to another instrument on the table.. which then began displaying an active top-down map of the battlefield.  She then drew a couple of her strange orbs and focused upon the armband.  For a brief instant, a tiny rift gate opened above the armband, and in that brief window she threw the orbs in her hand through it.  Off in the distance, Lyun could see surging bolts of lighting scouring the field around the fiend.  So, even from out here Mheridz was still perfectly capable of keeping to an offensive.  Lyun felt such a revelation had started to sting, considering she herself was nothing more than just a watcher.

Axln quickly found herself on the front lines, trying to hide behind the wreckage of broken, ashen allies.  She had already clued in that the plan was to hit hard and then to hit harder.  She peeked around the corner and held up her weapon, taking aim before firing.  A wave of darkness surged forward, but after a set distance the wave instead folded into itself.  A sphere of darkness was left in its wake, a gravitation sphere that started to pull everything inside.  However, as a result of taking the shot, Axln spun backwards, slamming into her cover and causing it to disintegrate into dust.  The fiend turned on her in surprise and fired.. but the stream of void was simply pulled into the gravitation sphere.  The fiend itself was not denied this experience either, the great thing being slowly pulled in the direction of the sphere.  Axln had inspired the idea upon a black hole itself, which seemed to have a lot of good potential.  The sphere however quickly failed, causing the sphere to detonate in a burst of dark waves.  The fiend flipped upside down as a result of this impact, even if that didn’t impair its blob-like form for very long.  Axln meanwhile didn’t budge at all, her forcefield sustaining the entire thing.

It was at this juncture that Axln realized she was the pinnacle of their defense.  Not only could she create shots that could effectively block the thing’s attacks, she did have her forcefield that blocked much of anything else.  As the thing turned to attack her again, she shot defensively to block the oncoming volley.  In the meanwhile, a surge of lighting burst around it.. which was also pulled into the black hole.  Right, because such gravitational forces were dark elemental, not an actual matter vacuum.  Actually, that was probably a good thing, otherwise such would have had no effect on void at all.  It did mean that throwing dark vacuums around was having the impact of making every nearby attack fail, even from allies.  However, some of the lightning still struck true.. the ones opposite the thing.  Right, because pulling attacks through their enemy would still have an impressive effect.  With the next sphere detonated, she shot another before setting her gear to rapidly float around the thing within the span of an instant.  She was still not affected by her own dark vacuum because of her forcefield, giving her plenty of opportunity to move around.  On the other side of the thing, she fired another shot.. which then started to pull upon the original sphere.  The combined path of spheres pulled right through the fiend standing between them, ripping a giant hole through the thing.

However, in the midst of all of her movement, she forgot the thing might have also had a much closer-ranged attack.  Taking advantage of the opening provided where no sphere was active, the fiend lunged straight at Axln and smashed downwards upon her.  Axln’s forcefield weathered the blow, but was not doing very well.  She tried to stand up and escape, only to get a second strike crashing upon her after the first.  The thing really obviously did not like her right now, and a few more strikes like this would rip right through her defenses.  Mheridz meanwhile put a stop to their offense, not wanting to fire while Axln was in such a horrible state.  This is exactly why Mheridz didn’t want to depend upon just one person to provide their entire defense.  Now things had simply gotten even more complicated.  Lyun herself was devastated.  Axln was down.. and the fact that they weren’t going back in time implied Axln might also be unconscious.  If things stayed like this, Axln would die.  If she wasted too much time worrying about it, Axln would also die.  So, instead of wasting effort planning her next move, Lyun reacted.  She grabbed the armband still upon the table, the one she had seen Mheridz pull out in their short rift through the citadel as she turned to Luna.

“Rift please, you and I need to go and recover Axln, bring her back here.  Do it, now.”  “Yes, inheritor.”  Lyun walked through the rift Luna provided and rushed over to the rift of the follow up destination.  Passing through before Luna, Lyun found herself very close to Axln.. and as a result pretty much under her enemy.  Yes, this was bad, she was in combat, and she sucked at it.  But then again.. Axln’s situation was worse, and she wasn’t about to just let Axln fall on her account without actually giving things a try.  She turned her weapon on the thing, her close proximity being the only reason she wasn’t able to miss.  Of course, she didn’t exactly seem scary, not compared to Axln.  Luna however was remarkably efficient, getting Axln gone before the thing’s initial surprise had worn off.  The fiend’s next blow thus landed on empty ground.  It was at this point that she noticed a call coming in from.. her armband?

“I’m busy.”  “No, you’re crazy.  Axln is at least back here safe.  Do you want Luna here to come pick you up too?”  “The first trip might have been crazy, but the next would be suicidal.  It was obvious that we only pulled that off because the thing was confused, it will probably smack first and ask questions later next time.”  “Hells, why do you also end up so stupid when things go wrong?  I really didn’t like it when Axln threw herself into the front as she did, but you really aren’t much better.  We can’t have you dying here like this.”  “So leave me alone, I’m busy.”  Lyun threw herself away from another crush down from her enemy, finally pulling herself out of it’s range in the process as she ended the call with Mheridz.  With all allies cleared out of the way, their forces resumed the initial bombardment, encouraging the thing to once again open fire upon all the surrounding forces.  Even standing just out of reach, the thing didn’t care about Lyun at all anymore, there were more annoying threats nearby, numbers it was back to diminishing.  This in turn really bothered Lyun, that even this ball of chaos thought that she was completely nothing.  She resumed firing towards the thing, her shots occasionally striking their mark.

Instrumentation had been everything to Lyun.. but this was the first time one had ever let her down.  The stupid arbalestae was almost useless, just peppering her enemy with light.  Quite honestly, it was reminding her of her opportunity to strike a different chaos with a different light, the holo energy used having also been pretty useless.  At least.. offensively.  They already had the thing heavily being bombarded, they just needed a good distraction.  Setting her chaos active, she felt the familiar distortion around her, her power gear going instantly offline.  Then she activated the armband, and through it projected a simple holo platform.  Of course, she still didn’t have the thing’s attention, but everything was coming together.

“Did you just use a chaotic ability around a void spawn.  You do know that they aren’t affected by such at all, right?”  “Yes, Velvet was very kind in telling Kori.. Axln all about it.  I’m actually hoping that this thing does manage to adjust properly enough, it would be perfect.”  “What are you..”  Mheridz’s voice vanished once Lyun hung up on her again, the distraction not being appreciated.  Lyun could tell Mheridz was getting more and more worried, but Lyun’s panic had evolved to the point where it just didn’t matter anymore, not trying was still worse than trying.  First, Lyun let her distortion fade, her test concluded.  Lyun then turned to her gift, reversing the flow of frost in the air to build up a growing presence of heat.  Doing so, her power gear reacted, augmenting the effect until the whole area was a desert haze.  Her power gear also automatically activated it’s forcefield system, protecting her from the heat.  She then ran straight up to the fiend and reactivated her distortion.  The fiend, being of chaos, shifted along with the world’s principles, going from void to absolute zero.  However, even with her direct focus lost, the incredible heat of the area remained, taking immediate effect on the creature now more made of frost.  Frost was her gift, the thing was in her domain now.  As the heat dissipated, she switched back to set off another heat burst, followed by more distortion and melting.

The fiend at this point had discovered just why this individual scrambling around it.. was actually incredibly annoying.  It slammed down in her direction, only for her to call upon a holo and dance away from the thing with all of the skilled training she had applied to such as Rosa.  As she dodged out of the way, it sent projectiles towards her, the void shots not converting to ice along the way.. and the vacuum force having no impact at all upon a kinetic holo barrier.  She was almost completely untouchable, and doing some serious damage.  However, her armband was rapidly running out of power, not having been properly designed for such intensity.  She did happen to have a replacement on hand, one which would thus be very dangerous to use.  There wasn’t the time to think about that either, as she wired the armband to her knees within a brief window behind a holo barrier.  The thing decided to however charge at her during her moment of immobility, the absolute zero frost shattering the holo barrier.  She used a quick series of additional holos to attempt an escape, each in turn being obliterated.  With the overuse of such energies, her knee was starting to run especially hot.

Of course, her knee contained that tempered magma core, a thermal power source for her current operations.  However, this was notably the first actual field test for just how much her original design could take.  She hadn’t actually accounted for the design to need to endure much stress, knowing that there wouldn’t be much demand to push such to its limits.  Such.. may have been a mistake, but it was one in her favour.  She called upon another holo, as dense as possible, with the maximum kinetic factor.  The fiend broke right through it.. and the one that generated right after it.. and the one after that.  At this point, the heat of the air was persisting especially long, her knee venting excessive heat from all of the heavy usage.  With enough energy buildup venting, she reverted her distortion.

Her power gear was still down, and she herself felt especially dizzy.  Her knees were staggering, the influx of elements making regular operation impossible.  Of course, presenting heat to her frosty enemy was one advantage she held, but her tempered magma core was also effectively the planet’s lifeblood, an immense concentration of all elements that was now venting in an augmented form.  It in turn reacted with the shard also in her knee, drawing massive elemental qualities through an augmentation shard.  Her instruments went wild, the massive energy spike being too much for all of it.  Her forcefield glared in a staggering intensity, as the gift booster in her gear augmented all of these elements further and further, until the shield was a staggering sphere of intense elements.  The fiend smashed down upon this sphere.. and any traces of it vapourized on contact.

So she was currently overwhelming it with the elements?  Then maybe it was time to give that one instrument yet another chance.  Of all things, she drew her arbalestae again, pointing in the fiend’s general direction, and fired.  The shot, of course, was aimed poorly.  Once the shot connected with her shield, all of the mass elemental energy swirled to gather around this new host of elements, unfurling a spiral force around it as the shot flew.  The beam struck the ground a good 30 uyn away from the thing.. with the ensuing flare of elements covering far more than that.  Several destroyers and siege weapons over 200 uyn away simply shut down, the elemental energy having completely overloaded them.  A few instants later, all of the affected instruments simply exploded.  Lyun’s had however compensated for this reaction, having reacted to the shutdown of her gear by activating one more distortion.  However, the presence of all the active elements were thus represented in their most scientific form.  Optical light of high intensity, the flare being blinding.  An electrical surge with significant current.  A blazing heat, far more than the heat she had already tried to generate.  All of this was layered upon principles of matter, the stone and gravitational forces being as crushing as the aquatic pressure.  Matter and energy in an uncontrolled reaction.  Such presence was only there for a fragment of an instant before all of such rushed outwards towards areas not appreciating such concentration.

The barrier of her distortion thus proved to be ground zero for the biggest magnitude of a reaction between worlds in the entire process, the elements shifting to molecular processes and back again in a mass spiral of change.  All of such would be things Lyun would only learn about later, as the entire process had completely knocked her out.  She would not recover for quite some time either, the saturation of conditions having made her significantly ill once again, much like when she had exposed herself to an atomic reaction.  Even while unconscious, her distortion remained.  As such, it was impossible for anyone to recover her until dawn was almost over.  Axln herself had been the one to awaken late that dawn to herself handle the rescue efforts, though Mheridz had already provided healing support for their return.  Instruments would have been useless within Lyun’s distortion, so they only had rudimentary methods and a few of Mheridz’s cross-world tricks.  It didn’t help that such had involved leaving Lyun in such a condition for so long either, even if being left in the void had played absolutely no part in the problems.  Even well past Lyun’s rescue, the edge of her distortion was still radiating raw elements.  It was far more impairing in that trying to be safely close enough to Lyun to administer any support without the caregiver themself getting sick, that was itself proving challenging.  This hadn’t stopped Mheridz from recovering her own arm guard at least, even if the whole thing was also completely overloaded and in need of decontamination of elements.

Axln however found herself wondering at that point if everything had worked out.  Of course everything had.. way earlier that dawn.  Oh, that wasn’t her thought, was it?  Axln took the opportunity to consider that Lyun would need to get some rest, to recover after everything she had just done to commit to their victory.  Axln also took the opportunity to consider that, between atomic fallout and elemental saturation, Lyun would really need to find less dangerous ways to deal with scary situations.  As Axln already felt the growing impression of a counter argument, she cut the link between herself and Lyun and simply looked into Lyun’s physical needs.  She had more than enough to deal with as things stood than to find her thoughts in conflict due to Lyun’s added perspective.  This was something they could simply discuss more after Lyun was feeling better.  Mheridz meanwhile didn’t even need access to such an inner voice to grasp contexts of mental conflict.  Lyun had, has, and will always be like this, even in her future.  She had hoped that Lyun’s compulsion for sacrifice would have yielded an easy surrender, but it was always sacrifices such as this which had always propelled them into more dramatic circumstances.  No matter what, she had to ensure that such recklessness did not rub Axln the wrong way, leading from dramatic circumstances causing dramatic problems requiring exceptional solutions.

It wasn’t until Mheridz had found both Axln and Lyun gone suddenly that she had thus discovered.. she may have been too late in preventing such unwanted outcomes.  Rather than having compelled the two into a quick surrender, Mheridz had found salvation had become even more fleeting.

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FV – Chapter 36

Combat Training

Lyun and Axln quickly found themselves pushed to absolute exhaustion under the strict pressure of Mheridz’s regime.  Even within the first official moments of the evening according to the clock, the girls struggled to keep up the intensity of their training, to push forward despite the odds.

At least, to Lyun, that’s what it looked like Axln was doing.  Sure, they were both mutually exhausted, but Axln had actually been doing surprisingly well.  Training had included a lot of mobility exercises in the ashen waste, several sudden obstacle courses along with outright stamina laps.  It was plenty of endurance work, but it was all stuff Axln could at least handling better than Lyun was.  Sure, for much of such, she had simply started to blame her elven traits and the stamina that is lacking in the process, though she was starting to worry if some of the blame might have been that she had grown used to having more stamina instead.  Maybe some of that was also Axln’s advantage, Conduits ran out of breath far easier than humans did too, this would be more than Kori could have achieved before lightheadedness would have taken over.  From there, Mheridz exercised their ability to execute their gift too though, turning the whole thing into reflex training specific to their abilities, tossing a sequence of small spheres that would sparkle with a random color.  Powder the red ones with dust and the green ones with frost.  Very quickly the red ones were stopped in their passage with a pile of dust, some of them were also coated in frost.  A bunch of the green ones didn’t get frosted over until much later in their passage.  This was like something elves were supposed to be good at, an idea that frustrated her even more.

She had quickly learned though that Axln was also making use of that circlet she wore, the same one which gave her amazing vision.  Cheater.  However, even after stopping such and starting to make some mistakes of her own.. Axln was still doing better than Lyun.  At a point, she could just feel the ideas in her head, red-red-green-red.. long before the orbs had lit up at all.  Axln was pooling suggestions again, which only made Lyun feel even more uncomfortable.  She didn’t want help like that, she wanted to be able to do things for herself.  At the very least, it did hint that some of Axln’s advantage was that she was somehow deducing which colors the orbs would have before they lit up at all.  Axln was a genius, and this just wasn’t fair.  When would any of this be designed for her, stuff she could take advantage of.  Cybernetics made things unfair too, all she had was her version of the same power gear and.. her legs.  Wait, how exactly did Axln out endure her cybernetic running ability again?  In this case, it wouldn’t be until much later before Lyun would figure out that Axln had simply been drifting along using some of the functions of the same mentioned power gear that Lyun still didn’t understand.  Running was a lot easier when you’re mostly just sliding around.

Target practice would come next, their first opportunity to learn how to actually use an Arbalestae.  This would at least be something Lyun was really good with, actually making use of proper instruments.  Her choice was a very small and simple version that committed to the light elemental.  Even better, being basically light emission, it was practically a beam weapon like the other world, just with a more continuous effect.  She drew her weapon and took to a stable posture, taking aim with the best of her ability way faster than Axln.  Taking the first moving target for herself, she lanced a beam through the air around her small moving target.. never hitting it once.  By the fourth try, they found she had managed to barely graze the small moving target, a slight improvement at least.  Axln then took her turn, drawing her much heftier weapon and bracing it to her cybernetic shoulder.  Axln’s would be a dark elemental which would then have a similar style of impact if not for its different style of projection.  Taking aim, she unleashed a wave of shadow that surged forward, totally missed the target, and threw her in a spiral upon her back.

“Okay, not at all what I would have thought a dark weapon to feel like.”  “Dark elements aren’t as immaterial as light, you need to account for the substance of shadow.”  “Sometimes, all of this elemental stuff just makes no sense at all.”  “Okay, look at it this way, the shadows contain substances that pull with unseen forces, which was giving you most of the kick there.  You might find it easier to compensate when you consider that dark elements also account for a variety of physical forces, such as gravity.”  “Gravity huh?  That sounds pretty cool.  Can I try that one more time?”  Axln prepared her weapon again while Mheridz prepared another target.  Taking aim once again, Axln took a deep breath as Mheridz let the target fly.  Yet another shadow burst forwards from the shot.. a shot that detonated in mid air, rapidly pulling the target right through it.  In the process, Axln still managed to spin to the ground again, but this time she wasn’t alone.  Lyun had seen Axln pull this trick enough to know exactly what had occurred, Axln had revised the function of the instrument so that it would detonate with a gravity bomb, vacuuming everything near it in a substantial implosion.  This.. this was not fair, not at all.

They had continued with a few extra shots, Axln’s implosions bursting even closer to the target each time while Lyun managed to eventually graze two more targets.  Axln’s accuracy was amazing.. and it seems she wasn’t even using her vision to compensate.  The whole thing was almost just reflex alone, something she had grown used to with her naturally poor vision.  Her weapon was visibly a lot more to handle than the one Lyun was using, but Axln was still far better at it.  When accounting for her capacity for influencing the function of instruments too, she seemed outright a natural with any of this stuff.  At a point, Mheridz started giving them multiple targets to deal with at once, a trial that had left Lyun lucky to nick one of them while Axln had taken out over half.  She didn’t even do that with one shot, she had actually grown used to readjusting after the kick, swirling around in a mobile reload, and firing once again.  She was an absolute demon with the thing.

Then everything culminated in a mass training session.  Spanning over a wide area, they would have to shoot multiple moving targets.  However, mixed in the bunch were several non-targets, and they would have to isolate which is which before all of the targets hit the ground.  Lyun dashed through the foray, combining desperate attempts to connect while trying to keep up a decent speed.  When all of the targets reached the ground, she found she had hit three times.  All three hits were on non-targets.  Axln was up next, a gust of dust surging forth from her as she prepared her weapon.  All of the targets flew, and she was off.  A blast of sand erupted from the ground lifting all of the targets slightly up in the process as she started her twirl.  On the first explosion, two targets faded, and several near it bounced upwards.  A second shot, a second area.  The targets stayed floating for half a moment before the last non-target hit the ground.

“Hey!! That’s cheating!  You.. you made them float more.”  “Mheridz wanted us to put all of those lessons into practice, including the one where we used our gift.  Making a sandstorm that kept things going would then only work in my favour, right?  I guess I might have been a bit slow, but I don’t think I missed any of them.”  Lyun was even more miffed when she learned that Axln had actually achieved perfect accuracy with her spiral.  Every last target was gone, every non-target was left untouched except for a coat of dust.  Lyun had rightfully gotten a second chance to try her own hand at the same process, but all she achieved was making a few icy spikes around the ground while hitting absolutely nothing.  Frustration setting in, Lyun caught Mheridz smiling at her growing despair.  Oh, of course the woman just wanted her to give up, she would get the opposite of sympathy there.  It would be easier to scoff such disrespect if it weren’t for the fact that Lyun truly believed she should have been capable of so much more.  It wasn’t fair that Axln was so much better at all of this than Lyun, but it didn’t make sense to Lyun that she herself was this bad at everything either.  Why in all the hells was she always this useless?

“So, random exercises are fine, but why are we not doing any mock battles?”  “Easy, two good reasons.  First off, it wouldn’t exactly be in my best interests if you two got better at attacking people, so let’s not start encouraging that one.  Secondly, if I actually did anything that might look potentially threatening, Luna would be all over me for it.  I know very well how that thing responds to threats to her chosen recipients, I’m not supid.”  “Wait, but didn’t you send a large force to attack the academy that one time, which got Luna angry.”  “Actually no, that was all the rest of the foundry getting uptight about the academy.  I was there trying to tell them that the whole idea was really, really stupid.  None of them listened, of course, they couldn’t see any reason to fear things beneath the foundry.  I was there waiting for them when you sent them packing back home, absolutely not surprised.  Honestly, it’s almost a shame that moment wasn’t recorded in history, but the foundry was probably in a hurry to have it forgotten.”  Axln nodded in reflection, seeing how that might have played out for Mheridz.  However, at that time, Mheridz would have been the only one with such knowledge of what would happen if Luna was pushed into taking action.  Of course, Mheridz would have felt desperate back then, with the book so close to being read, but no one would have understood such desperation.  To them, there were direct solutions that would deal with such problems, solutions that would have prevented her from taking any sensible actions instead.  She had still remained calm enough to not do anything stupid herself too, but she hadn’t had the opportunity to make a smart move either.

“Okay, so time to move on to our next exercise.  Maybe we should practice dragging heavy cargo across the dunes.”  “Clearly this is revenge for exposing your timely secrets.”  “What?  Are you complaining then or something?  If you want to give up, just let me know, we can start going over the details of the citadel or something.  Easy way out, right?”  “Just shut up and show me what I’m going to be carrying.”  Mheridz’s dreadful training continued in much of the same light straight into the shadows of night, Axln staying strong through the entire ordeal.  Lyun however stayed quiet, her own thoughts experiencing much more conflict.  Lyun would have been on the verge of just giving into Mheridz right then and there.. if not for Axln’s composure.  If Axln was going to keep going, how could Lyun stop there?  However, Axln could keep going because she really was this remarkable.  In considering such, it dawned on Lyun that she simply could not compare her own lesser accomplishments to someone as skilled as Axln.  At that discovery, she stopped paying attention to exactly how much Axln achieved, and simply focused on what she herself could do.

On a more challenging obstacle course, she managed to reach the end slightly faster than previously while also making two fewer mistakes in the process.  In reflex training, she managed to get three fewer false targets and hit two additional targets almost a full uyn sooner than normal.  In target practice, she managed to grace four extra targets, two of them being actually targets.  All through, she found herself slightly less stressed out.  Of course, much like anyone else, she knew her stress levels were a problem, she was always quick to panic when things were going especially bad.  That always led to her making mistakes, and was itself probably her biggest problem through all this.  Conflict though was all about stress, panicking would always be easy for her.  This had haunted her for her whole life, was why she generally avoided people, and possibly was even her biggest hurdle in instrumentation.

Thinking back upon that idea though, she had suddenly accomplished so much with instrumentation of late, things absolutely remarkable for most people.  However, much of it she couldn’t take credit for, Axln had always been there to help.  Axln though.. didn’t actually make anything.  Her’s was the plan that Lyun simply followed, the problem solving process addressed for her so that she could simply work far more relaxed.  Axln’s greatest ability was her potential to simply solve problems, a task which ritualistically broke Lyun.  Axln was the great thinker, Lyun was far more skilled with the doing instead.  That however didn’t help her here, she was here to learn, to face stress directly.  This was simply more than she could handle, which was why she was performing so poorly.  She simply had no potential in combat as a result of this flaw, that was all there was to it.  This was why everyone had always needed to come to her aid when she was in trouble, it was simply inevitable.

At this point, she lost complete interest in the capacity of her own performance.  Technically, this was all a waste of time for her, she was only here to support Axln’s training.  Only faintly paying attention to her own actions, she turned her thoughts towards what she would need to do come dawn.  She would just get in the way if she took to the field for that venture, so maybe her time would be better spent in the outpost?  Luna was still a very important asset in combat and defense, but completely not viable for the front lines.  Maybe she should direct her attention at that point to working directly with Luna, the two of them could work things out.  That did put her into the planning table instead of the action, but there wasn’t any help for that.  Certainly, this would at least put her in a position to work directly with some of the major weapons in the upcoming battle.  She could then make sure everything was working properly so that Axln could get everything done in the field.  Maybe.. that would be the best use of her potential after all.

“Okay, I admit that even I’m getting tired out here, and I’ve hardly done much more than setup and instruction.  You two should have a basic idea on where you stand with your current abilities, enough to at least have a slight advantage come dawn.  Feel free to practice on your own though before dawn, especially if you decide to stay up all night.  Try to be early at least, I don’t know the exact time our enemy is going to decide to show up, I just know this fight goes down in history as being the first encounter of something greater.  The wardens will also be there, under my command, as we put this whole thing behind us.  While fighting, please keep in mind that this is still only the beginning, this will constantly get worse until we’re overwhelmed.  I’ll be available to take your surrenders after we deal with this next threat.”  Mheridz unexpectedly brought their training to a close, even though it really was getting quite late.  With exception to a couple of very short breaks, they had been doing training for a complete one hundred moment block.  Axln and Lyun were pretty wiped out, so they took their relief getting a moment to just sit around.  Mheridz didn’t feel the need to stick around, she had other things to deal with in preparation for dawn, so Mheridz promptly returned to look into how the wardens were doing.

On her way back, Mheridz took account of the performance of her two students.  Axln, of course, had been a quick study, having done remarkably well after some initial hiccups.  Lyun however was a completely different case.  The girl had started off a complete disaster, without much signs of improvement either.  At a point though, the girl seemed to relax slightly, doing a bit better.  However, there came a point when it honestly seemed as if Lyun had completely stopped paying attention.  Her obstacle course runs had suffered slowdowns as a result.. but were as flawless as a spectacular dance.  Four times during reflex training, she had tried testing Axln with options that didn’t even light up colors, just to see if Axln could tell what color they were going to be if they did light up.  Axln had gotten those mostly right, but at one point Mheridz had used the same settings with Lyun.. who had also gotten it absolutely right, just a lot slower.  During target practice, Lyun had frozen the targets so completely that Mheridz had wondered if Axln had been suspending time.  Sure, hitting targets had still taken a while, but she managed to get every single target before disinterest had her frost completely crush every last remaining non-target.  It was obvious that disinterest had suddenly impaired much of her accomplishments, just as it was obvious that letting herself go had yielded quite the demonstration of potential.  Mheridz always knew that Lyun was absolutely horrible with stress, but not just because of the mistakes she made while stressed, there was also just how much Lyun could accomplish while unfettered by stress.

After a long break, Axln was still compelled to do a bit of private practice, even though Lyun just opted to watch.  Watch, not even paying attention, Lyun was more accurately staring in Axln’s generic direction while paying attention to nothing at all.  Maybe she could help by doing some fine touches to their weapons overnight, she was much better with such instrumentation work.  If she had enough time, maybe Axln would be fine with swapping over and letting her make some adjustments to their weapons there too.  Well, mostly Axln’s weapons, those were a bit more important than her own.  Axln’s choices had some of the worst kick back ever, making them pretty hard to handle.  They were also really slow, even if powerful.  Thinking about such problems though, she wasn’t certain about the most functional ways to adjust such things.  Axln had quite seriously appeared very used to being thrown back during every shot, and was making the most of it in the process.  The thing was slow, but fixing that would cost it some of the power that Axln was making such great use from.  Lyun’s choices weren’t anything the same, being considerably stable and very fast.  Her problem in turn was how absolutely horrible her accuracy was.  However, if she wasn’t about to participate on the front lines, that wasn’t a concern either.  Overall, it simply left Lyun uncertain how she would be capable of being much help at all.

As night took its claim over the world, the two of them decided that it might at least be better to practice in a place where people would be capable of sleeping.  Foremost though, they would themselves call it a night first on the other side, both of them extraordinarily tired.  Rosa had grown used to the patterns of suspended slumber, so she was well prepared to be the first one awake once again.  This time though, they were practically camping outdoors, giving her plenty of space to wander around while the rest of the world was left frozen.  Wandering out into the snowy fields, around the same location they had been training, Rosa took into consideration all of the stuff they had done.  She could still imagine the obstacle course, how it was all laid out, visually picturing every last detail.  She took up some of the course for herself, gauging the difference in how it felt to run the same gauntlet as a human.  Of course, even a short excursion was far less exhausting for her as Rosa than as Lyun, one of the things that had main training all the more complicated.  Every quarter day almost, they were switching between worlds, which thus left her switching between two bodies, each being slightly different.  Grasping her limits was then even harder, because of that shift in perspective.

She ran her glove through the suspended snow waiting to fall, realizing that even this was a difference.  Lyun had a great affinity for the cold, but Rosa had no way to actually manipulate the frost.  Even if she exchanged the world’s laws, Rosa did not have the same gifted blood either, leaving her still with different circumstances.  As Lyun, though, she had never put much value into her gift, instrumentation had always been superior.  That was however never more true than in this world, a world without the gift at all, where technology was everything.  Adjusting to this world thus only made impressions of the gift feel even more distant, there really wasn’t any comparison.  Stuff like this made everything so much harder, adjusting to dramatic facets of herself in two parallels.  Such thoughts were her considerations as she waited there, playing with the suspended snow that still waited to fall.

Eventually though, after enough waiting, Rosa discovered the snow had resumed its natural falling rate.  After pooling the idea that she would be heading right back, she returned to where Kori was waiting.  The plan however quickly became some more considerations for training, just this time on this side.  Kori quickly however discovered the complications Rosa had just gone over.  Running a course as a conduit wasn’t the same as doing it as a human, let alone doing it without the power gear they had.  Reflex training wasn’t the same when you weren’t exactly using the gift and when the sort of information to be reflexive about was not only different, but the ways it was recognized was also different.  Target practice didn’t exactly work the same way either, not just because of their subtle abuse of the gift, but also because their weapons were dramatically different.

Even so, Rosa watched Kori set up a rudimentary course and try to run it anyway.  Kori did considerably worse in the process, not only having a fairly poor course but also by being much slower to run around and running out of breath much faster.  Reflex training wasn’t even possible.  Target practice involved her stumbling with her plasma rifle a few times, the spherical projectile not even doing a fragment of what her dark wave graviton arbalestae had done, in fact her handling had gotten even worse again.  Rosa made a try for herself at least, feeling guilty watching Kori make a fool of herself.  She projected the entire course as halos as she ran, while otherwise projecting herself along her own course with other halos.. actually fairly easily.  In consideration of that, she managed to work with Holi to get some reflex training actually in order, using holo projections of her own to stop the targets she selected.  She was really fast in doing so, but not completely accurate in the process.  Target practice though, that she found to still be reasonably difficult with a rapid fire ionic weapon, as her accuracy was still garbage.  Her weapon handling though was considerably better than what Kori was capable of.

Night time training proved far less fruitful as a result of such discoveries to Rosa.  Rosa even lost interest fairly quickly, not feeling the whole process as an accurate simulation of what they would be facing come dawn.  Kori however did not give up, taking upon the change of circumstances as an extended challenge with which to test her skills upon.  Trying to find ways to reduce the waste of unnecessary movement was easier when movement itself was more taxing.  Trying to replicate Rosa’s reflex training process also gave her some practice at staying focused, as holos had no tell-tale sign on what sort of real identity they might have.  She even took account of how her change of weapon really impacted how firing worked, the spherical blast on contact being quite different from the wave burst.. but giving her ideas on gravitation effects and letting her practice with such explosive force.  The limitations made things harder, but they would also teach her more.  However, as Rosa watched, Kori really didn’t seem to be making much of a difference, leaving her fairly worried about the coming dawn.

Within a matter of hours, it was finally time again for them to return to the battlefield.  Knowing their training time had run out, the two of them returned to the other world for a suspended time of sleep.

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FV – Chapter 35

Distant Travellers

After a quick lunch break, Kori and Rosa returned to the outpost to touch base with Velvet.  Velvet had still wanted to discuss the entire encounter as a whole, though wasn’t feeling inclined to hospitality during lunch itself.

“Why is Holi here too?”  “Because Holi is always around.  Why is Velvet having problems with Holi now?”  “Rosa, I mean no offense.  You just sort of missed what had happened back there.”  “Do you mean the part about the bike, or the part about the cross-fire barrage?”  “Nevermind.  Going back to our original discussion from before that DMA conflict, that was, again, still just a scouting party.  Things will only get worse from here, enough to make it seem like that battle was easy.”  “Holi did make it seem very easy.”  “That was only 7 of their weakest.  The worst part is that once they start coming in force, there isn’t much to actually stop the tide.  Not opening Pandora’s box in the first place, that might have prevented so much of this, Mary and I were really striving for such a perfect solution.  Now, everything has become far more complicated.”  Velvet paused for a moment to compile her thoughts, leaving Rosa to wonder upon the very subject.  How exactly does one stop all of this chaos, anyway?

“The first DMA appeared near Diamond Falls.  You may recognize the value of such a place too.  These things are not just wandering here on their own, they are following one of their own, tracking their frontrunner in this whole operation.  You two have become their beacon into our society, with Mary contending with the same base principle on her planet.  It doesn’t even matter if such was of your own will or not, you can’t even stop simply being their beacon anymore.  As long as their beacon remains, they will just keep coming.. in greater and more dangerous waves.”  “You make it sound as if this is only solved by our death.”  “Kori, if your death would have solved anything, I would have let you die when that thing tried to crush you.  Even your death does not stem the tide, because the beacon is only a part of who you are.  Having both of you around, you share the weight of the beacon.  If one of you perished, the other would be eventually consumed by it.  If you both perished, that still wouldn’t remove the beacon.  The beacon is one of their own that walks with you at all times, is basically a part of you both simultaneously.  It is linked to you both, but remains safely behind each of you.  If we could simply annihilate it, then we might find safety.”  Velvet sighed, visibly finding this very difficult, and leaving Kori to interpret what was being implied at the same time.  This beacon, that would be the being they both shared.  Did Velvet then have a plan to remove such a binding from them?

“So if you were thinking I was asking a lot before, I expect being asked to both walk together into a thermal core, to be consumed by a whole lot of energy.. that might be asking for a lot.  Alternatively, if you’re willing to save people but would rather not the quick death, we could send you two far into deep space.  Sure, you would probably still obliterate another star or two eventually as a result, but that wouldn’t leave billions of lives on your conscience.  There is a potential third solution, but that one is a lot more complicated.”  “More complex than dying?”  “Most things are more complicated than dying, that’s always the easier solution.  The hardest part about the third solution is not knowing if it will work, or even how to make it work.  When you consider how much sacrifice will be needed either way, it’s probably a good start to consider which of the first two plans are your favourite.”  So, no matter what, Velvet was expecting Kori to make significant sacrifices in order to appease the concern over such a beacon concept.  Velvet wasn’t kidding, this really was asking for a lot.

“Uh, yeah, sorry, do you even know how ridiculous you sound?  Asking for us to die, or asking for us to willingly accept exile from everything we know.  Have you ever stopped to consider how you would answer such a question?”  “Considering my mother faced the first and I had to accept the second, it has been historically a family question already.”  “Wait, aren’t you some bigshot from Aerospace’s collective?  Pretty sure that’s a quite cushy form of exile, then.”  “I did what I had to, to get the resources I needed to be here today.  Everything else was sacrificed long ago in the process.  There is no chance of getting anything done without sacrifice, that’s a lesson you’ll be learning soon enough.. one way or another.”  Rosa had no idea what Velvet was explicitly not saying, but all of this secrecy was making it really hard to trust anyone.  It certainly wasn’t enough to compel her to such extreme sacrifices, either.  Kori wasn’t exactly impressed either, but Velvet hardly seemed surprised.  In fact, it seemed as if they weren’t expected to come up with answers right away.  Regardless, this did put a damper on everyone’s mood, Kori and Rosa didn’t even want to be there anymore.  Bringing their quick meeting to a close, Kori and Rosa quickly left the outpost, with Holi silently travelling just behind them.

“Hells, that woman is impossible, I swear.”  “Well, we never came here expecting to see eye to eye, anyway.  We came for a bit more information.. and maybe to fight some chaotic freaks.  At least everyone seems to agree about that one part.”  “‘…one way or another…’  By the divine, it’s like she thinks we’ll keep going and suddenly be all like ‘oh, yes, I suddenly feel like I’m the source of all the world’s evil, please do away with me, I simply can’t take this life any longer.’”  “Well, you are getting very emotional right now.  I would have to agree, though, giving up just doesn’t sit well with me, and I really couldn’t think that the linchpin to the whole chaotic invasion would rest solely in the hands of two people.  They have a lot of information, but they clearly don’t know everything if this is what they have come up with.  I mean, even giving them the benefit of the doubt, that we’re being some kind of beacon of evil here.. getting rid of said beacon does not get rid of the temporal rips that already exist.  Thinking about it that way, the most such thinking would achieve.. would be to slow things down a little as the temporal chaos resolves its confusion.  I’m simply not compelled to share in their recklessness of a solution that honestly doesn’t even seem sound.”  Rosa was still steaming, but having Kori’s support was at least having her calm down a bit.

“The hard question though is then what we should do next.  It’s pretty close to dusk now, we had originally made plans to actually get some combat training.  It means having to deal with Mheridz next, but that’s a complicated matter too.  Supposedly, the other side is going to face off against an attack like the one we had here come dawn, and I don’t think running from that fight would be the smartest move we could make either.  However, we both saw, having no idea what we’re doing in combat is probably a problem worth solving.  Considering such, I’m of the opinion to take her up on her offer.  Rightfully, I expect she will probably have plenty of ridiculous nonsense to confuse us with too, but that’s probably unavoidable.  If the two of them really believe us to be the cornerstone that holds our enemies together, they will constantly be searching for ways to enlighten us to their insanity.  At the very least, I like this diplomatic version a lot more than their tactical aggression.  We’ve even managed to collect more information from them than we might have had otherwise, which had been the original point in all of this.  I’ve quite honestly got an idea I would like to try as well, a bit of revenge for all of this secrecy, if you will.  What do you think?”  Kori really had a point that was difficult to dispute, avoiding the offer of training really wouldn’t make sense either.  Rosa thus nodded her silent agreement.  First though, they would probably want to find a decent enough place to get some rest, after a long day it was about to become a long dusk.  It would be more time suspended sleeping hours, but Rosa knew that was just going to become a thing like all the time now.  Holi meanwhile would be returning to HT in their absence, making sure the place was safe while they were gone.  Considering the display Holi had put on before, the two were quite certain Holi had everything under control.

After their extended instant of rest, Lyun turned to face their next trial.  This was going to be a foundry outpost, not exactly the sort of place she marvelled to be a part of.  Foundry training, there really was something dirty about all of this.  Mostly though, she was worried about their host.  Velvet was a handful, but Lyun was certain that Velvet was still the easier of the two to handle.  Considering how poorly their departure had gone with Velvet, that was saying something.  This had been a concern that had troubled her while waiting for time to finally resume, after her sleep had concluded.  Actually seeing the sight of the place before her, she was absolutely positive her concerns were well founded.  Axln however looked to be of much better spirits, very visibly with a plan circling around her thoughts.  So as to not get in Axln’s way, Lyun followed just behind as the two of them made their way into this new outpost.  The place was filled with wardens, although fortunately Lyun did not see the one she recognized.  The guy had followed Mheridz here, so she had expected Zxyd would be a part of this mess too.

“So I take it you two have decided to take me up on my offer for some actual training.”  “Our day with Velvet was an absolute disaster.  We were quite fortunate that our latest retry actually panned out well enough.  Living the same disaster more than once made it especially grueling, though I wouldn’t say that my call to provide us with such an opportunity was ill founded.”  “My, sounds like Vael really did fumble that one.”  “Oh, yes, she was an absolute case through it all.  Being so emotional though did make the experience a bit more enlightening at least.  As you know, she could be so unguarded when stressed, so it was great to finally get to hear the great secret finally exposed.  You could tell she was pretty uncomfortable about it in the end, but at least that’s one subject we won’t need to dance around anymore.”  “Foolish girl, always panicking far too quickly.  I hope you would understand at least the reasons for such secrecy, now that you know about our coming from your future.  Speaking too much of the future could have…”  Mheridz stopped as she noticed the wide-eyed look Axln simply could not hide.  Lyun herself was staring in her own disbelief in just the same way, but her disbelief was compounded by just how easy Axln had made that whole thing work.  The whole secret neither had been sharing the whole time.. it was because both of them had come from the future?

“Vael hadn’t spoken about such after all, then.  There wouldn’t be any other secret the girl would have worked to cover up, so I take it your whole act was nothing but a ruse.  Well played, I admit your victory in that round, though deduction had always been one of your strong suits.  In my younger years and your wiser years, it certainly hasn’t been the first time for me.  Considering that I’m supposed to be the one with more wisdom and knowledge both right now, you being even younger than I am at this point of time, it’s still more than a bit embarrassing to have been outplayed like that.  Maybe that is simply what I get for underestimating you.  As I was saying though, I hope you still do understand the reasons for such secrecy.  Being from the future, there are a number of things which would be problematic if we were being a bit too vocal about.  Trying to change the future, the most important thing is to control information that results in possible futures.  As such, please do not ask questions about specific particulars in the future that you might wish to learn more about.  Getting such knowledge from the future would almost be cheating in that light, such would be far better for you to learn in a more natural way.”  Mheridz was the one looking pretty uncomfortable with her sudden defeat, but she was at least trying to stay rational about it.  Lyun and Axln hadn’t done very much with time themselves, but they at least had seen enough to measure that there was a principle in being slightly guarded about things that had not happened yet.  However, the benefits were undeniable, future knowledge did provide an enhanced awareness of circumstances that could in turn yield any number of distinct advantages.

“So that’s how you always seemed to know too much, for you it was just a study of history.”  “Yes, I admit that my being from the future was pretty much the entire resource that provided my fortune to get me into the foundry in the first place.  History can be vague about certain things, but I’ve tried to be a good study.”  “And the reason you knew so much about us…”  “That gets rather complicated, but yes, I’ve happened to spend a lot of time with the future version of you both.  The version of you over twenty five years wiser has a few differences, but it really isn’t that hard to recognize the similarities.  Actually, considering how often you two are going to be extending time, I suspect it may be much more than just twenty five years of experience.”  “Wait, right, going back in time with my ability wouldn’t be hard, so.. you both did it using my power?  Why?  How?  No one here is able to go back in time.. wait, Velvet was within the area I was slowing time down, and she wasn’t affected at all.”  “Vael and I got.. imbued by a small trace of the same mark you both have.  It really wasn’t much in comparison, but it was at least enough so that we could slip through time too.  For us though, the trip was decidedly one way, we didn’t come by our own power, we certainly can’t go back.  But we were still the only ones who could make the trip.”  Axln noticed Mheridz pause for a moment, clearly thinking about how to phrase things.  So there was a lot of future nonsense involved then, that was itself interesting.

“Depending on how much you’ve already tried your ability, you may have noticed some odd quirks about it.  Going back in time, you are still the future version of yourself in the past.  So, if you got injured, going back in time would not prevent the injury.  Meanwhile, if you tried going back to before the whole mark occurred in the first place, you would find you simply didn’t have access to do so because the version of you from then could not have done it.  I have no idea if you’ve tried it yet, but the friends you lost back on that first day, they would then be unreachable, as they perished before you had the authority to save them.  If you were to be so kind as to consider going back to when the book was taken, and stopping that whole incident, you would simply be bringing your state of having read the book back to that new time, yielding nothing.  To make certain things change then, there was demand for involving others.  At this time, the authentic version of me has not even been born yet, so I’m not even here replacing myself, I’m a brand new addition to a timeline I don’t even exist in, much like how Axln came to be too.  Unlike Axln though, my existence can only continue until that clause is invalidated, once the past me is born, I’ll be wiped from existence.  You have then used your ability to send each of us back in time to the earliest moment available to you, and from there we’ve worked to try and strive for a better future.”  Mheridz sounded very sullen in this reflection, the obvious weight of obligation having left a mark of its own.

“Was.. was that what Velvet was saying about sacrifice?  She, and you both.. you both have sacrificed your entire existence just to bring about a better future.”  “Yes, exactly.  It will be a future neither of us will see, but if we change the timeline, the version of us that gets to live it will actually get to have a much better future than we experienced.  Considering the state of the world when we left, I highly suspect I wouldn’t have lived this long had I remained, so all of my time is borrowed anyway.  One more solar cycle, even just one more year, it’s a blessing in itself.”  “Maybe.. I shouldn’t have thought so harshly of her in this, then.  It sounds like she’s had a lot of sacrifices to deal with, both of you.”  “I admit she probably had things a lot worse, considering she got the chance to see her mother die before we left.  It wasn’t the best of deaths, and that’s probably putting a lot of weight on her.”  “She was saying at the same time that we won’t be in the position to avoid our own sacrifices either.”  “No, I expect not, considering things in detail.”  “I don’t know though, I think you two must have been crazy, throwing everything away like this.  I don’t think I could have done it myself.”  “Ah, so she was discussing long term solutions then, stuff full of sacrifice.”  “Die, throw ourselves as far from the world as possible, or.. I forget, she said there was a third solution.. but…”  “.. but she stopped saying it considering the details it would involve.”  Lyun paused in her reflection, realizing that Mheridz was completely correct.  Velvet had avoided the third solution, which had only made Lyun.. made Rosa feel worse about everything.

“The third solution involves trying everything yet another time.  Like I said though, if you two went back, it would ruin the whole point, the book would have already been read.  If instead you sent us back, we could have another chance to stop you.  However, even a second chance alone.. we still might only fail.  Our only chance would be to make sure that we have enough preparation to ensure that your whole plan could instead fall apart.  The exact hiding place of the book would be the most useful piece of information, as that was my biggest struggle through the entire process.  Details on tracking you would make slowing you down a lot easier, and any insight on advantages against you would work even better.  I expect Vael would have a few things she would love to know too, but I don’t know what exactly she might have struggled with.  Don’t worry, much like then, I don’t have anything personally against you, just the future that results along this path.  If we can prevent it, I’ll make sure that you’re left with plenty of prosperity.  I mean, once I’m gone, either of you are welcome to everything I own anyway.”  Mheridz pulled up her sleeve, exposing that bracelet they had seen earlier during the same incident mentioned, something which was visibly exceptionally meaningful to her.

“The hand of fate, the mark the four of us shared when we started making promises about discovering a better future.  It was Axln’s idea, though Lyun had personally made our bracelets.  It was something the four of us had promised to endure to the bitter end, across two worlds.  Now, I know, the future version of you is not the same thing as the present you, you’ve promised nothing.  This is why I approach you understanding that you aren’t bound by the same oaths we are, you have your own decisions to make.  After all, I have no idea what happens to a timeline that is left behind when we change the past, you could be leaving this entire timeline to oblivion as everything is rewritten.  You could also be sending us back to change your own fate, your last ticket to happiness, and be left otherwise to continue this tragic timeline as it plays out in full.  Even if such futility isn’t enough to draw you into despair, you would have to actively help us in betraying you simply to accomplish these goals, an idea that is challenging for most to achieve with their sanity still intact.  Possibly the worst part, we’re asking you to simply give up and fix everything for you, because you can’t.  I say that too, knowing you for as long as I have, neither of you have been the best at giving up like that, which is why I know that winning you over will not be easy.  However, as tragedy continues to blossom across both worlds, as you find nothing but despair in your futures, you will come to terms with such inevitable suffering.  The pain you will face will be ongoing, and it will last until you sacrifice your will and entrust your future to us.”  Mheridz picked up a few things from a nearby shelf, dusting off her long coat and started walking out of the outpost.  Having such a shift happen unexpectedly, the two other girls were caught off guard and looked at each other in their confusion.

“Of course, this is then something you can worry about while we deal with other important matters.  You two had come to me to get some actual training, not to hear the musings of the future.  We’ve still got an unwanted guest this dawn to deal with, and I certainly can’t have you both screwing things up, right?  Until you two are ready to finally surrender to us, we’ll have to just keep fighting.  The first step is, of course, learning how to fight at all.  Training is going to begin right away, just out in the dust of the ashen void.  Make sure you’re both ready, I have no plans to make this easy for either of you.”  With that Mheridz was gone, leaving the two girls scrambling to catch up.  In all of this talk of timelines and sacrifices, they had actually forgotten this was the original reason they had shown up in the first place.  Axln was already feeling everything was a huge success, they had learned so much about what was actually going on.  Having an awareness of their circumstances really did make quite the difference.  Now, Mheridz was not wrong, she wasn’t in the least bit sold on this crazy sacrificial plan, even Lyun seemed to be feeling as dissatisfied with it as she did herself.  However, at least knowing the perspective of these two made it easier to wrap their heads around what was going on.  With that out of the way, they could face their training with fresh minds filled with their complete resolve.

The two of them would then meet up with Mheridz soon after off in the ashen dunes, where their training would begin in earnest.  The dusk had still only just begun, there would be plenty of time to fill with even more knowledge and awareness.

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Previous -|- Portal -|- Next

FV – Chapter 34

Complete Reversal

As a bright new landscape resolved around them, Kori’s mind raced with thoughts on how to face their upcoming future.  Once again, the time was 18:47, and they were standing once again before the outpost.

Rosa immediately tumbled to the ground, her prospective having been that she was in a fluid of motion before suddenly finding herself standing on normal ground.  Upon standing once again, she quickly determined exactly what had happened.  Kori had pulled them into the past, a desperate attempt at fixing the various mistakes they had made.  Rosa also had found that Kori had outright removed the holo disguise she had been using, so Rosa too followed suit.  Kori then made her way towards the outpost, knowing exactly where to find Velvet.  This time, the guards at the entrance actually stopped her, being a suspicious conduit and all.  The guard who put an arm to her shoulder was the same one who flipped over it soon after, landing squarely on his back.  Rosa rushed to follow, dodging another guard that went wailing past her into the wall.  A bit further, she found Velvet’s gathering of makeshift soldiers all over again.. the original speech having been completely interrupted.

“Kori, really, is this really necessary?”  “Your stupid plan is about to fail.  Your enemy is a swarmer, going to hit you with numbers, and has a huge distaste for high energy sources.. like your stupidly named turret.”  “Ah, so this would be a future Kori.. and things went wrong.”  “Seriously, I blame your lack of combat training right now too.”  “Oh… Shit.”  “You said that before, too.  Old speech sucks, time for something new.  Do you have anything other than this bucket tower that would be good for obliterating our enemy?  Do you have any good way to deal with seven threats at once?”  “I.. uh.. haven’t gathered enough resources yet for a threat of that scale.”  “You light this thing up, we’ll just get another ‘moth to the flame’ incident here.  Sadly, this moth doesn’t burn, the thing instead takes out the entire main barrier and starts going to town.”  “So we need a way to divide their numbers, then to drive them quite a distance away.”  “If you plan to actually use this thing, it closes the entire distance in about fifteen seconds.  You’re going to need to take the shot on the leader too, who will ravage the barrier once it finds it a threat.  That means it will have to be at least twenty kilometers away when the shot is called, even more would be ideal.  This then leaves you fighting a long range battle, about halfway between here and HT.”  Velvet considered Kori’s news, visibly considering the best approach for everything.  However, that wasn’t even the end to bad news, as a technician rushed into the scene.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry to report, but.. we’ve discovered a critical failure in the main turret.  Repairs are underway, but may take quite some time.”  “Oh hell, that’s even better.  Not only are things a lot more questionable, but our equipment is malfunctioning.  Does anyone else have good news that I would love to hear right now?  Anyone at all?  No?  Great.  This has suddenly become quite the shitshow.  Honestly, dealing with DMAs is always a shitshow, but it sucks when misfortune bears its fangs too.  I need our turret up quick, high priority.  Having seven threats.. we can’t even count on the turret to save us.  The thing will be able to deal with only one of them, the rest would need alternate solutions.  Quite honestly, that might even include small arms fire whittling the things to nothing.  Artillery fire is actually going to count, direct hits would do much more than suppressive fire.”  The technician ran off to complete their work as Velvet considered their battle ahead.  She knew it was quite the meaningful battle, but not that it would be so crazy.  Certainly this was just supposed to be a blaze of glory, right?

“Ma’am, just wondering.. but why are you treating this conduit so highly?  They are even armed, too, isn’t that.. illegal?”  “I’m sorry, good sir, for your concerns, but is this really the time?  Death is on our shared doorsteps, and it simply won’t care which species steps before it.  I must then question how me being a conduit plays any role whatsoever.  Much like yourself, I’m just another soldier on the front lines, standing in the defense of my home.”  “You’re no soldier, you’re an airhead, so you should..ahh!”  “Good sir, please do not grab my hand so carelessly.  You will find that beyond the typical dual blooded system my kind is so famous for, I’m also powered by something less natural.  Anger my mechanical arm too much, and I will be unable to guarantee your safety.”  The soldier let go of Kori’s arm, clearly flustered by the circumstances.  One of the other soldiers however perked up at this display, having recognized a very similar scene.

“Oh my!  Aren’t you that conduit from the terminal before, that enforcer?  You really do seem like such an android too, especially with all of that silicon.”  “Oh, I’m still a conduit.. in part at least.  I guess you could say I was chosen for something.. a little more.  Velvet here could probably tell you leagues about it, but probably won’t.. experimental secrets and all that.”  “Oh, and so the human with you.. is the same?”  “Generally.  We are equals in this.. project, after all.  I know, it’s mind blowing being put as an equal to a human, but if we have any plans to save civilization.. we’re going to need every hand we can get.  That may be why mine was chosen, being neither human.. nor conduit.”  The soldier turned to Kori’s mechanical arm, not realizing that Kori herself wasn’t even certain which hand she was speaking about.  One of them was mechanical yes, so neither human nor conduit.. but the other was forged in chaos.

Velvet prepared for their conflict in the meanwhile, activating the siren again while getting her troops in position.  Rosa meanwhile turned to Kori, visibly worried.  Kori could tell why, unlike everyone else, Rosa could still remember how much of this next part Kori had struggled with.  Kori wandered off, deep in thought, confronting Velvet in her selection of bikes from the outpost’s hanger.  Kori paused for only a heartbeat to reflect that maybe Sophie was having a bad influence on her.  Pulling a selection of her own choice of bike, Kori set a holo ramp to drift up and around the walls, bursting out from the outpost before anyone could even voice a complaint as she rode astride her latest vehicle.

“Holi, how are remote controls going?”  “I’m fully synchronized with the system of your choice of transportation, though it was a rather rough experience.  It might be helpful to give me more of a warning about your intentions than just real time movement.  Please be aware though that such a design was not intended for remote control, this process is quite difficult.  Please consider my support as more of a driver’s assist process than an absolute override.”  “So I should do my own steering and the like.  How is it like sitting inside a bike anyway?”  “Reasonably, I more feel this sudden impulse is quite unlike you, leaving me feeling more than a little concerned.”  “Oh, so you would rather do something proactive yourself?  Not a bad idea.  That stupid turret is such a linchpin to everything here, could I ask you to personally look into it and help figure out a solution to this mess better than the foolishness Velvet is throwing us into?”  “Research, that’s much more like you.  Don’t worry then, I’ll hold the fort for you in the meanwhile.  Speaking of, you’ve left Velvet feeling a bit miffed.  It appears that was her specific choice of bike.”  “There was more than one, we can’t all play favourites.”  Kori laughed at the silence she got from the Holi within her choice of bike.  Yes, this was crazy, but honestly it felt at least a lot more sane than Rosa’s solution.

“Hells, you even surprised me there for a moment.”  “Ah!  Rosa, where did you come from?”  “Sorry, I just dropped in.  Now you know how it feels to be so surprised, too.  So, what’s the plan?”  “We’re going to have to start off as before, letting Velvet call the first shot.  However, things can’t play out the same way, bugging it endlessly got us nowhere.  First step is to drive it far enough away from the outpost, then we need to actually hit it with stuff.  I’m.. honestly still working on that second part.”  “Okay, sure.  Just keep in touch, send me a quick linked message if you really need something.  Just make sure to preface with the idea that it’s your idea, somehow.  Actually, maybe I’ll just relax here until we get that first shot.  Saves me a lot of stamina, you know?”  Rosa started to relax on Kori’s bike, just waiting for her second turn to dance around that monstrosity once again.  Viably, the stuff that happened to them the first time still affects them for the second, meaning all that running around had left Rosa a bit exhausted with nothing left to show for it.  Meanwhile, Kori had achieved very little, something she was certain to also change this time.

A new burst of artillery marked the beginning of the second round.  Rosa was already gone as the smoke settled, but Kori would not be left behind.  Sure, she still really didn’t know how to actually drive her bike.. but why let that stop her now?  She rapidly approached, catching the thing’s fleeting attempts at swatting the bug that kept dancing around it, Rosa’s lasers being visibly annoying for it.  Several other members of Velvet’s troop happened to be raining energy upon the thing too.  Suppression fire, sensible at getting it to not move.. but unfortunately the stupid thing was far too close to the outpost, again.  Kori drove around the fiend, circling it clockwise in the same direction Rosa was spinning it around.  Feeling a bit more in position, Kori glanced behind her at HT’s base off in the distance.  Good enough, now she would need to figure out how to make her plan work.

Strapping her right arm securely around her weapon, she took her own turn aiming it at her foe.  The thing was pretty heavy and hefty, but at least it wasn’t especially bulky.  Plasma Particle Cannon.. or, well, more like the small arm blaster version of the idea at least, the wide barrel rifle supposedly was capable of projecting plasma or something.  She did know what a plasma explosion looked like, a familiarity that had been her entire confidence in the design.  What she didn’t know was how this particular thing worked.  Aim, shoot.. that would be the basics, right?  Probably don’t want to get caught in any explosion either, though.  Finding her opportunity, she centered her sights on the fiend from behind, and fired.  The massive spherical discharge propelled her bike to suddenly spiral in a circle, leaving her dramatically disoriented.  The whole firing point held two loud booms, the first on departure and the second on arrival not even a second later.  Impact with the fiend resolved in a massive spherical burst, decimating a large portion of it’s frosty composition.  It wasn’t as much as the artillery would in any of their direct hits, but much more than even armored suppression fire.  The fiend likewise seemed well aware of how one particular insect had become much more than just annoying, turning its towering form directly towards her.

Kori moved in a direct retreat, trying to put distance between her and her threat.  The fiend meanwhile lashed out in a generic side sweep as it lunged towards Kori.  While trying to get a second shot in on the thing, Kori discovered that her weapon was sort of single shot before it needed to recharge, she would need to bide her time a bit before her next shot.  Recharging wasn’t automatic either, she would have to disconnect the current charge first, an operation she wasn’t exactly in a good position to figure out.  Making a wide drift she suspected Sophie would have been proud of, she managed to avoid the fiend’s lunge while also slipping a moment beyond its awareness.  Artillery fire raged around her as her support found new opportunities.  Taking advantage of the resulting confusion, Kori managed to get her weapon reloaded, slipping behind the thing’s attention, and fired once again.  It was just unfortunate that the thing didn’t actually have eyes, the fiend lashing out at Kori even while the plasma was in flight with a quick sweep.  Repeating her initial trick from the outpost, Kori produced a quick ramp to throw her into the air with a quick spin, catching her descent in the process.  Spinning hard around, she then moved sideways as the fiend had a follow up slam towards the ground.  Suppression fire hounded the fiend, providing her an opportunity to retreat and reload once again.

The fiend however wasn’t impressed, going still for a second of contemplation.  Then, much like the two girls had seen before, it began weaving white around it again.  Kori knew what this would mean, the thing was about to produce backup again.  She extended her retreat in time for the six underlings appearing for the chaotic leader.  Kori knew, with how much such a swarm reduced the effect of Velvet’s suppression tactic, the most important goal would be to first reduce numbers.  Following one of the six that rushed towards some of the artillery, Kori found an opportune shot and blasted the thing from behind again.  In her hurry, she actually managed to wipe the entire bike, falling into the snow.. but her target wasn’t very viably doing so well either.  Plasma licked all over the thing, a direct central shot having burst across its entire form.  Pausing in confusion and.. maybe a little agony, nearby artillery took the opportunity to finish it off.  The leader meanwhile was not impressed, dashing directly towards Kori with more wisps of chaotic frost.  Kori however.. found she was suddenly no longer on the ground.

“First, you steal my bike.. then you pull a stunt like that.  Was the goal really to piss it off so much?”  “Killing it would be better, I’m still working on that.”  “Shit, it smashed my bike.  That was my favourite, you know?  This one doesn’t handle nearly as smoothly.”  “It didn’t have very good handling when firing plasma.  If you expected more, actual training might have been really nice.”  “I know, I know, hell.  At the very least, don’t go firing on this bike too, wiping out would make things pretty rough.”  Velvet steered the second bike away from the accident, Kori gradually getting back her bearings in the process.  The fiend had managed to smash the bike successfully, which had frozen solid before shattering into shrapnel.  Not seeing any more plasma threats as a result, the leader then turned to support its remaining minions in sweeping strikes towards the artillery.

“Kori, are you okay?  I noticed you switched bikes.”  “Hey Holi.  I’m alright I guess.  Possessing another bike now?”  “Maybe.  At least this one has a skilled driver, meaning I can focus on other areas.”  “About that, how are those other areas doing?”  “Repairs of the main turret are going smoothly, things should be ready soon.”  “Good, but we still can’t depend on it yet, far too many things could go wrong if we just use one big solution.”  Holi’s voice was echoing from the second bike now, at least providing Kori with some good news of their overall progress.  Kori knew Holi could be trusted to get some proper work done in situations where average people would just panic.  In light of that same thought, Velvet herself wasn’t taking kindly to the idea that her bike was suddenly possessed by stray nanites, parking to a stop in her own fit of panic.

“Holi, get out of my bike.”  “I’m sorry Velvet, but I have no reason to take any orders from you.”  “Fine, I’ll just shut it down, the two of us can go for a walk.”  “Now you’re being unreasonable.  You might be a safe distance away, but it isn’t like you could do anything useful on foot.”  “There, off, no more stupid ghost…”  “Also, it isn’t like I need your bike in order to be present either, my holo form works just as fine too.”  “Shit…”  Velvet fell backwards when Holi’s casual holo form simply appeared standing before Velvet.  Holi even had her hands on her hips, not in the slightest looking impressed by this show of attitude.  Kori couldn’t hope to stifle her own laughter at the display.  Sometimes, Holi seemed capable of some really impressive acts.  Kori felt plenty of pride in accepting that Holi was her own nanite culture, grown to such impressive ability.  Velvet however appeared far less impressed.

“Holi, why are you suddenly making everything so much harder here?  We had everything under control.”  “Really?  Where?  You have a turret here that failed due to an improper maintenance procedure, you have a bunch of forces who are currently scattering around in what looks like a bit of a panic, you were just complaining about having lost a bike while telling your best shooter to stop shooting.. a shooter you also neglected to properly train.  That same shooter couldn’t even drive properly, I had to take care of that as well.  From my perspective, the only things under control are the things you have the least impact upon.  Rosa, for example, is doing very well at providing suppression fire and has saved thirteen artillery in the time we’ve just wasted.”  “You still don’t understand, this is a complex situation, you’re hardly grasping much of what is really involved here.  Control here is a very difficult thing, that’s why we just can’t have you running around taking control over all of my stuff.”  “Oh, perfect, that gives me an idea.”  Velvet looked really frustrated at Holi blatantly ignoring everything she was trying to say.  Holi herself didn’t appear to be doing very much, but such was just her holo.  After a minute of silence, Velvet got a notification come in by holo, one which made her instantly go pale.

“A security alert.. intrusion detected in the main cannon’s interface control unit?  Holi.. what are you doing?”  “Making sure there is a central point of control over the entire situation.”  “Okay, you’re blowing this completely out of perspective.  You have your stuff, I have mine, please don’t mix them up.”  “Yes, that actually would make everything even better.  Thank you for the idea, Velvet.”  “Shit, what?  Security breach on ATA-LS’s main server?  What the hell are you doing!?”  “Sharing, obviously.”  “Thermal uplink accomplished with an undesignated region.  Wait, that’s Hypertech’s new place.  You’re filtering thermal energy from the relay?  Seriously, Holi, stop, you don’t have a clue what you’re doing.”  “Actually, you’re wrong.  I know exactly what I’m doing.  Activating combat model protocol.”  Velvet fell into the snow as Holi’s appearance shifted to the one Sophie had prepared earlier.  Kori remembered Sophie saying something about it being an alternate option.. a combat model.  Maybe.. she should have looked into exactly what that might have implied a bit more.

“Calibrating and synchronizing defense grid.  Committing newly supplied resources to weapon output.  Selecting targets from remaining enemies, isolating designated targeting points for long range barrage.  Preparing to fire all weapons.  Kori, I might recommend making an immediate retreat.  Things around here are going to get.. pretty hot.”  At Holi’s warning, a horn blared across the snowy landscape.  “Wait, no, this is what we did last time.  That monster will just rush the outpost again, even if it is much farther away.”  “Kori, don’t worry, I paid attention to your assessment of the situation.  Your enemy is drawn to areas of concentrated energy, having one such location would then be a liability.  Having two, however…”  Kori noticed Holi pointing in the area behind them, towards Hypertech itself.  Off in the distance, the base itself was lighting up like a great christmas tree, visible even this far away in the flurry of snow.  The fiend leader itself was also at attention.. but caught in a state of indecision between two threats in opposite directions.  Velvet was quick to act, activating the bike again and grabbing Kori as they drove as far away as possible.  The second horn blew.  All of the forces on the front lines began to rapidly scatter in an attempt to make as much distance as possible too, the fiends remaining at a loss for what would be a sensible course of action.  The third horn, the last ten seconds, the outpost’s main cannon was glowing brightly at this point too, ready to scorch the fields in glory.

Velvet had expected a blaze of glory, but this certainly wasn’t the ferocity she had in mind.

Ionic beams from the ionic laser batteries scoured the field first, lighting the air with blue sparks of ionized oxygen.  Plasma particle cannons rippled in volleys of bursts that tore through the ranks of fiends in vicious intensity, leaving only an area in the very middle untouched.  The area with the leader.  The final horn sounded off, and all hell was unleashed.  The area of the fiend leader was instantly replaced with a surging inferno, the intensity of heat obliterating everything in its wake.  When the blaze died down, a five kilometer radius around the central point of impact was left as nothing but charred dirt, the snow completely evaporated with flames licking the stones scattered around.

Suffice to say, there weren’t even traces of their enemy to be found after that, with all seven DMAs being completely obliterated.  Glancing at the time, Kori found that it was exactly 19:52, eight minutes before lunch, right on schedule.

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Previous -|- Portal -|- Next

FV – Chapter 33

Designated Leadership

Axln and Lyun found themselves safely arrived on the other side within a very lush forest cover, not unlike the coverage they had departed under either.  However, in turn, they also found the two of them weren’t actually alone at that point either.

“Finally, you two show up.  I was beginning to worry if Vael had forgotten about this step in the process.  So, much like the same routine, hello Lyun and Axln, welcome to the second part of your.. I have no idea what that girl might have called everything.  By the divine, it is far too late in the day for this sort of thing.. but the void waits for no one.”  “Oh, it’s you again, great.  Mary, right?”  “Axln, you would probably be the last person I would have expected to say my name wrong.. but yes.  Mheridz.  You would probably know my companion as well, at least Lyun would know this particular warden.  Don’t mind him, he’s being shy or something.”  Mheridz had been leaning on a tree until Axln stepped forward with discussion.  Lyun and Zxyd however were both silently staring at each other, completely uncertain what to say.  This was exactly why Lyun had wanted to confront Velvet instead of Mheridz, this was all too cruel.

“Okay, warden, if you’re not going to be sociable, at least do your job.  Stop standing there like an idiot and start looking at least professional.  Alright, so, business.  As you had probably just heard, taking that stupid book had caused problems for pretty much everyone.  Void spawn have been taking the open fields as a storm, and things would only get worse from there.  Actually, I wonder.. how many takedowns has Vael had so far?”  “Velvet had accounted for twelve DMAs.. chaos.”  “Nice, so we’ve got a lead of three on the other side.  Then again, Vael is supposed to have that incident today, I don’t expect our own sightings until next dawn.  Oh, yes, do keep in mind while you’re fighting.. just how rough it is.  Then, be certain to show up on this side for our own turn at the same scale of monstrosity of a void spawn.  After that, keep in mind.. this is only the beginning.  The trickle of a stream before the raging torrent of the flood.”  Mheridz actually gave away a few little things to Axln in her words.  Mheridz actually knew about the sighting that Velvet had only just gotten a message about.  Not only that, she actually already knew when her own turn was scheduled to occur, almost a full day later.  However, she didn’t know exactly how many chaos sightings Velvet had experienced so far.  The distinction was subtle.. but potentially meaningful.

“Okay, okay, fine, whatever.  Things are bad, bad things are being bad, weren’t we supposed to do something about it?”  “Sorry Lyun, you’re correct, I expect we really should be on our way.  There is much more we could discuss in the process, which might be far more comfortable than just standing here doing nothing.  I expect you might want to at least get in some more last minute practice in weapon handling on that side before you actually start fighting.”  “Practice…  That reminds me, we never actually looked into how Sophie’s stuff works.”  “Wait, Vael is sending you into combat.. without training?  That idiot.. picking up the worst traits from her mother, I swear.”  “I don’t know, Velvet was at least a lot nicer than you, you know.  Seriously, and that’s saying something from someone who gassed us, locked us in cages, and pretty much resorted to torture.”  “Do you then at least have arbalestae training?”  “Ah, it’s an instrument, I’ll figure out how it works later.”  “No then.  Alright, if you are up to it, I extend my invitation for a bit of combat training to prepare you for the next dawn.  Training will occur this dusk, show up or don’t, your choice.  Meanwhile, could you please finally call your guide here so we can get going?”  Mheridz really was starting to look impatient, Lyun only making that matter worse.  Axln however was surprised to realize that their host was actually waiting for them to react.

“Wait, you’re going to follow us through the rift?  Are you sure that’s safe.. for you?”  “Oh please, I’m too tired for this.  I know you would be cautious in causing trouble, considering you’ve already fought void spawn and know how rough the encounter is.  Both of us have bigger things to worry about right now.  In that consideration, I know that if we are no threat to you, you will be no threat to us.  You and the entire citadel.  So, if you please…”  “Luna, can we get a rift out here?  Have some special need for quicker transportation.”  Axln wasn’t going to dispute the matter with Mheridz, the girl even technically had a point.  Diplomacy was far more effective right now than aggression.  Once they passed through the rift, Axln started working with Luna on their next destination, leaving Lyun to the company of their two momentary guests.

Lyun however was still very uncomfortable with these arrangements, and took a move to secure her own defense while waiting.  Pulling from her own chaos, Lyun projected an area of inverse law around the three of them.. an area that thus automatically extended around Axln as well.. which interrupted the rift process.  Mheridz sighed in growing impatience, pulling back her sleeve as she adjusted an implement sitting there.  A projection of light then appeared behind Mheridz as the woman simply sat down in the illusion of a chair that appeared behind her.  Lyun meanwhile knew exactly what had happened, the gift was not at play in this situation.  Mheridz had just created a holo within an area of scientific principle, not even blinking an eye at the sudden shift.  Axln had even taken the opportunity to notice the same demonstration, clearly Mheridz was especially versed in the ways of the other world, enough to be completely prepared for Lyun’s aspect of chaos.  It wasn’t even an aggressive demonstration, but Axln wasn’t prepared to doubt that Mheridz could also weaponize her knowledge too.  Lyun meanwhile noticed that her efforts were fully being wasted and just causing problems, so she let such an inversion of law fade away.  Mheridz didn’t even stumble, getting back up as her holo vanished in the process.  Soon after that, the rift was ready for their departure, the four of them stepping back through, leaving Luna to continue looking after things in their absence.

“Ah, a fair choice of destination, though I honestly was prepared for the ashen dunes of void too.  Placing us between buildings like this at least provided some cover, and I expect you will both simply take to your exit from here.  Such is your own choice, but at least come here to see our outpost for our turn here.  You can see it further down the border, the massive signs of the foundry giving the whole thing away.  I’ll let them know to potentially expect guests come dusk, though you will certainly be expected come dawn.  Now, if you will excuse me, I have some rest to catch up on.  Best of luck with your ordeals on Vael’s side.”  Mheridz didn’t even wait around for a reply, her eagerness to catch some sleep all too obvious.  Lyun however was uncertain at being too predictable, finding yet another spot just barely on the other side of the border to switch worlds at.

As the new bright landscape resolved around them, they found that Velvet’s outpost really was in pretty much the exact same location, although slightly less obvious.  Aerospace had no reason to plaster logos of its business everywhere, instead there were plenty of warning signs about the region being highly dangerous.  Kori took account of how much time had passed, finding the time to be 18:47.  She had forgotten to check the time after they had left Velvet behind, but certainly expected that their detour might not have been quite as fast as Velvet had originally established.  Of course though, the point wasn’t how fast the route was, but that they would find Mheridz along the way.  The two of them thus made their way into the outpost with their previous holo guise still active.  Almost immediately, they found Velvet in a large gathering of makeshift soldiers.

“… and this would be our two guests of the hour.  Slightly later than expected, but I guess there might have been a few complications along the way.  The plan is going to be to draw the thing in with artillery fire before we start laying into it with more mobile weaponry.  Infantry needs to remain in transport at all times, firing from there makes you far more mobile than on foot.  There are only a few very obvious exceptions, anyone designated special forces.  Basically, myself, and our special guests.  Rosa, please stop distracting yourself with Holi speaking in your ear, if she wants to make an appearance as well, she is more than welcome to.  Obviously, Holi would count as special forces herself, too, though she might not be capable of much just being a holo.  Armored hover platforms are to keep their distance, as this thing cares little for armor.  Pound the thing with intensive suppression fire while we get some high density ignited.  As usual, our ace is ready, but will need plenty of support in order to get an opportunity to fire.  Keep things under control, we’ll have this in the bag.”  It appeared that Velvet was holding a strategic meeting to plan exactly what would be going on.  At Velvet’s prompting, Holi even made an appearance, having returned to her more casual look that Kori and Rosa had originally prepared for her.

“However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves either.  Some of you have been around since the first wave, some of you are much newer to the whole ordeal.  However, no matter how much you think you know, this next one isn’t the same, it will surprise you.  Yes, it is bigger, but it’s also smarter, faster, and has a few new tricks.  This is our first round of this one, so there is no telling exactly what sorts of tricks it’s brought either.  The most important thing is to still play it safe, to have it expose the extent of what it can do so that we can gauge an opportunity to react.  This is why suppression fire will play the biggest role at first, keeping it busy and keeping it angry.  If that thing does chase you, flee.  If someone else is being chased, amp up the suppression fire.  Don’t give the thing an angle to work from.  Alright, with that said, let’s get this show on the road then.  Activate the siren, we need this sector evacuated.  Everyone else, get into positions.  Artillery opener will fire on my command, and that’s our signal to begin.  Kori, Rosa, you two are with me.”  Velvet started leading the two girls out of the outpost, beyond the barrier, as the sirens let loose.  This presented the girls with a distant view of the white blur among shifting snow, but little more to see than that.  Quite honestly, it didn’t even look like anything was actually there.. but it did seem slightly familiar.

“So, are you two ready for this?”  “Oh, right, that reminds me.  Mheridz wanted you to know that she wasn’t very impressed that you forgot all about weapon training.”  “Oh… Shit.”  “Quite honestly, no idea what you’re expecting from us either.”  “At the very least, to spectate.  This is, again, all your responsibility.  After we’re done here, we’ll even be talking all about just how bad stuff really is.”  “Wouldn’t watching be safer behind the barrier?”  “Okay, beyond that, I expect you both to contribute to adding suppression fire.  If you really don’t know how to use a rifle, I couldn’t expect you to actually hit it, but shooting in its general direction will help.  Unlike the others, I know you both have some rather special equipment, dancing around won’t be that challenging.  Just be aware of friendly fire, don’t body block our shots.  Especially artillery fire, that stuff.. hurts.  The worst two things to get hit by though.. obviously either the DMA itself.. or taking HITS.”  “Hit-what?”  “High Impact Thermite Shells, from the Occlusion Ballistics Turret.  This thing.”  At Velvet’s prompt, Kori stumbled as the very ground shifted, the turret rising from the ground to tower over the outpost.  Kori personally knew several business towers that would be dwarfed by this thing, too, although that still said nothing about what it actually did.

“This thing takes about half a minute to charge, and then it will fire.  This can’t be delayed either, not by its own design.  The heat wave generated will incinerate everything at the point of impact within a few hundred meter radius.  Projectile speed is sonic, but silent.  A direct hit is warm enough to evaporate stone, which is also why most of the blast occurs upwards.  Heat resistant metals would be sent into space with the uplift caused by the impact.  Estimates of the propulsion caused by such an impact are around 6800 kilonewtons upwards.  The actual area of impact is only about 50 meters, but the vacuum generated covers most of the rest.  Ideally, we should be firing this thing with a range no less than 2 kilometers away from the barrier.  If you can’t run away in time, I would suggest even escaping to the other side.  You quite seriously do not want to take hits from these HITS.”  Velvet clearly had a super weapon ready to deal with these threats, and was visibly proud of it.  Kori however thought the name was especially annoying, with Rosa’s head spinning at all the strange names.

Velvet however had gone especially quiet after that presentation, her attention directed to a holo.  With a resolute press of one last button, a boom shot forth from one of the artillery, a flare bursting wide in the distance.  The blur of white was flung a distance from the blast, to only quickly stir and enrage.  Laser particles scoured the horizon from both sides as suppression fire took the thing in full force.  Meanwhile, Velvet slipped on her helmet and hopped aboard a jetstream bike that had all but appeared from nowhere, handling the thing like a pro in her rapid advance.  Kori was quickly certain this whole thing was ridiculous, that there was no way she fit into this scene.. as Rosa suddenly shot forwards like a cannonball.  While Kori sat there absolutely confounded, Rosa dashed back just as suddenly, crashing into the ground with quite a bit of impact.

“Are you coming?”  “I.. I.. I missed something, obviously.  What did you just do?”  “I used a holo board as a slingshot to throw me forward, guided my approach with a few extra holos, and then a cushion of impact.  Sophie’s stuff really does handle the rest, pretty neat.”  “You.. threw.. yourself…”  “Yeah, basically.  Come on.”  Rosa really was making it sound like the whole idea was somehow that easy, Kori having quite a lot of difficulty keeping up.  Kori’s first attempt at emulating such a process simply had her trip forward into the snow.. her second attempt having thrown her wide to land on her back a distance forward into the snow.  Rosa meanwhile landed beside Kori, perfectly on her feet, checking to make sure Kori was alright.  Yup, something about this clearly wasn’t fair.  Rosa meanwhile visibly stopped and closed her eyes, sitting down carefully in the snow.  From within, Kori found herself wondering if she was okay.  Wait, was that then Rosa?  She had opened a link then?  Well, worrying about Kori, of course she had.

Kori felt herself subtly comforting herself, a growing confidence that she could just do this, no problems.  Holos were just a sequence of routines played out, frame by frame.. and she was really good at such precise things.. with nanites at least.  Even so, it wasn’t that different, she just needed to plan.  Fortunately, for one try, she even knew of a good test plan.  A carefully designed footpad, rapidly shifting with very precise movements, and she was again thrown high into the air.  Holo padding then, she had to adjust her movement and posture to compensate so that she went where she wanted to go.  Reduced wind friction, increased wind lift, adjusting her body posture at the midway point to prepare for a touchdown.. and then set the sequence of frames that decelerate her on impact carefully.  Perfect, a perfect landing.  Still surprised by her own accomplishments, Kori looked around herself in a daze as Rosa landed not far away and grabbed her in a supportive hug.  It then dawned on her, that was not her accomplishment, Rosa had just managed to orchestrate that very personal lesson.

After a few more attempts, Kori managed to get something that at least partly worked a degree similar to what Rosa was achieving.  Kori certainly wasn’t leaping as far, or as precise, or even as quickly.. but she was making something happen.  Having breached the distance, they could see the chaos fiend.. the DMA crawling around in the distance, laser strikes scouring upon it from all sides.  It struck out in all directions in waves of frost, a weave of white that proved futile in its inability to deal with such an orchestration of force.  They could even see the blaze of fire blitzing across the snow, tormenting it even further.  Then, all of a sudden, it simply stopped lashing out.  The mesh of white instead folded in upon itself, weaving a design from it that spiralled outwards.  Both girls could feel the chaotic drain that was going on, but weren’t certain why.. not until the frost weave cleared, exposing the DMA once again.. but this time surrounded by six additional pawns.  All six of them spread out, seeking different directions and different victims.  The main one, leader of the bunch, turned to face the two girls off in the distance, watching carefully.  Then, the leader simply charged forward, the ranks of suppression shattered.

Realizing the great thing was charging directly at them, Kori defensively reacted in the one way she knew would give her an edge in speed, by slowing time itself.  The snow around her started falling at a considerably reduced speed.. and yet the DMA didn’t slow down at all.  Rather than trying to defend herself, Kori tried desperately to flee, with Rosa going in the opposite direction.  The DMA looked rather perplexed in its indecision, uncertain which direction would be better.  However, noticing that Kori’s retreat was far less dramatic, the fiend turned it’s undivided attention to her.  Kori stumbled backwards, suddenly finding herself getting picked up by a passing jetstream bike travelling at reduced speeds.

“Could you please not do this please, thanks?  DMA or otherwise, anything with even a trace of chaos is unaffected by such chaotics.  I’ve got troops that are finding dodging really hard all of a sudden, as their enemy.. enemies are suddenly blisteringly fast.”  “Right, sorry, I didn’t know that wouldn’t work.”  “Finally.  Handling this bike is especially harder when it doesn’t respond with its usual speed, too.  Seriously, maybe you are just getting in the way, even Rosa has this down a lot better.  I’ll drop you back off at the outpost, you can keep watch from out there.  Have Rosa at least tell you how it felt to fight such a thing, or something.”  Velvet dashed Kori right back to the outpost, making a quick drop off, as she turned back to the fray.  From the safety of the barrier, with time fully normal again, Kori even saw that Rosa had slipped in to cover the whole retreat, finally actually getting some use out of that rifle she had too.  Ionic lasers burst from her weapon, slicing layers from the leader in a distributed sequence that really pissed it off.  Her accuracy really was something terrible, but her handling was square on.  Kori could see just how natural all of this was for Rosa.. leaving Kori feeling very out of place.

The fiend lashed out in a rapid series at Rosa’s fleeting presence, herself dancing around it in bolts of movement flashing in a dazzling display.  The thing was practically spinning around trying to get a precise shot, failing in all futility.  Kori however quickly noticed.. single handedly, Rosa had fully suppressed it’s movement.. it wasn’t going anywhere.  Kori heard a slight hum in the tower above her, the chamber building upon its own intensity as a horn wailed across the landscape.  Ten seconds, another wail.  This was the firing timer for the main turret!  Kori hoped Rosa would figure it out and get out of the way in time, prepared that they might shift to the other side in an escape.  However, Rosa wasn’t the only one drawn to the suspicious reaction of the firing sequence.  The fiend leader itself paused, Kori feeling a wash of intent pass over her.  Then, not even a second later, the thing made a blisteringly fast charge directly for the outpost, forgoing its entire defense or attacks in the process.  The next wailing horn was followed instantly by a crash against the barrier, the fiend lashing out in all intensity towards the tower itself.  It knew.. it knew a dangerous amount of energy was gathering there, and it was desperate to stop it.  What it might not have known.. was just how much it had already won.

As a desperate last measure, the turret turned instead away from its target and fired towards one of the peons instead.  The blast struck sound, a wave of inferno circulating around it as a pillar of fire scoured through the atmosphere.  One of the six was down.. but the leader was ravenging the main base itself.  Another sound strike, and the barrier itself started to fizzle.  Kori fled the outpost in time to witness the main barrier fail completely, a cold dust surging through civilization.  The fiend itself crashed through the barrier and started to lash out wildly at everything around, no longer sensing any great source of energy or heat.  They had failed in their defense, and millions were about to die for it.

Kori knew the situation was hopeless, but she was completely out of alternatives.  If they had completely failed this time, they would simply need to build another chance.

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Previous -|- Portal -|- Next

FV – Chapter 32

Navigating Markets

Kori and Rosa slipped back into Hypertech, eager to get together the stuff they might need to complete their latest expedition.  Having previously left the place there as a fresh new corporate office, they were quite surprised to find just how much remodelling had occurred in their absence.

“Rosa, don’t touch the walls.”  “Okay.. but why?”  “Those signs are warnings about hazardous contact, the entire wall appears to be heavily ionized.  An ionic discharge would scramble you at a molecular level, you would lose your own hand on contact.. if not worse.”  Kori pointed out the signs for Rosa as they steered clear of the main wall and instead approached the main gate.  Such a gate was also reinforced, but fortunately opened for them on arrival.  Once safely beyond the death wall, they discovered an array of turrets set up all over the place too, the same ones from before.  It was pretty clear, this was a bit less a corporate office and more a company of war.  It was equally obvious why, having used ionization on walls with a density that should have made such a thing fruitless.  When up against beings of absolute zero, physical defenses would mean little.

“Rosa, Kori, you’re both back.  Perfect.”  “Sophie.. uh.. that’s quite the look for you.”  “I know, right?  I sort of got assigned to inventory management.. which includes more than might have been expected.  Drew seemed to think that taking care of store inventory, I would have the organization skills fitting for everything.  Things.. sort of moved quickly from there, though.  I mean, seriously, Drew makes things go fast.  I’ve never worked for such an intense boss before, but he doesn’t even make it feel hard.  Even have been getting along very well with Trystine, the two of us having to coordinate.. so many things.  The wall, for one, amping up defenses has been the most important project to date.”  “You did remember to take care of Holi though, right?”  “Oh, very certainly!  She got those note things you left me.. and then some.  Holi!”  Sophie clearly had quickly adapted to her new logistics role, Kori was certainly impressed how much the tech illiterate was capable of fitting in with all the technology and weaponry while carrying little more than a holo clipboard in a HT uniform.  However, much more stunning was Holi in her brand new synthetic tights, the faint pulses of light making it harder to tell if Holi was even still just a holo or not.  Her tights held a motif of cyberscape plating, a faint light grid that pulsed around her in a blue tone as she moved.

“This.. ah.. what.. did you.. do to.. Holi?!”  “Oh, don’t look at me like that.  Her old settings are still available too, if you feel better with her looking more casual.  However, after she woke up, she sort of wanted to be a lot more proactive at keeping you two safe.  It was a marvelous idea too, focusing on safety.  A lot of staff in dangerous positions are now expected to wear synth gear at all times while at work.. and Drew let me know that neither of you are exceptions.  I get to be an exception, because I’m not good at this stuff, but even Trystine is wearing synth gear.”  “Come on, there isn’t even a point.  The things we’re against care nothing about physical protection.”  “Maybe, but it’s still a factor.  Certainly you can dodge around a lot easier if you have fewer worries that doing so could get you hurt.  Getting hit can even throw you, which good protection could deal with.  I mean, that was all my idea, but Trystine took it the distance.  She took my design and adjusted it using some kind of silicon alloy, stuff that conducts ions super easy.  We even coated the wall in the stuff, almost as a practice measure.  With such, not only would we have fewer worries about injuries in ionic discharges, but she said there was plenty of room to improve on.. and all without affecting my original aesthetic design.  That was by far the best part!”  Kori sighed, clearly believing Sophie may have gotten more than a little carried away by her new responsibilities.  The textile expert had even put a lot of focus on matters of attire, which actually might have been far too easy to expect.  Everything was ridiculous.. and predictably so.

“Oh, and Trystine said that I was to let you know we integrated Holi to the defense grid.”  “You did.. what?!”  “Well, we were doing upgrades for her anyway, it generally made sense.  Being like the master control for everything, that’s why I gave her the new look.  I call it her combat model.  Cool, right?”  “I.. should have never asked you to look after her maintenance.  Remind me to never do that again, please.”  “Oh, that reminds me.  You asked me to never look after stuff like this before when I was helping Fiona with that one dragon model.”  “Oh hell, right, you were the original… How could I have forgotten…?”  “Speechless at my creativity?  You always seem to blow a fit when I make something look fierce.”  Kori couldn’t even finish ideas in her head, Sophie having broken her with such news.  Kori really had forgotten that the first prototype model Fiona had worked with for that dragon was of her sister’s design.. one which was so graphically intense that it was like a race to see which would fail first, the nanites producing the wild patterns or the eyes of the people trying to watch it.

“Wait, what’s a dragon?”  “Rosa, believe me, you don’t want to know.  Something about being a millenia or two out of date of the mythos it’s supposed to represent.. something like that.”  Rosa simply stayed quiet, perplexed but noticing visibly how little patience Kori had left.  “Oh, right, aren’t you two supposed to be travelling to the land of dragons?  I would love up-to-date notes on what the things really look like.”  “Dragons.. do.. not.. exist!  Stop thinking of the place like it was some stupid fantasy from stupid earth fairytales, nothing about it is anything that easy.  Bloody earth was always ignorant to the cultures just next door, and those fallacies only got worse with time.  I’ve been to that side, I’ve seen an orbital cannon blast the ground with a beam of sheer energy as a gigantic bipedal megaton launched salvos of missiles into its enemies.  Let me know if that sounds so ‘fantasy’ to you.  Nothing about the place is ‘magical’, it’s just ‘different’, even in its principles of science.”  Sophie herself took her turn to go quiet, seeing Kori seriously was not in the mood.  Both sisters turned to each other, wondering what might be the best course of action at this point.

“Well, this might explain a few things, even if it might be considered to be a bit unbelievable.  More than another world, like a fiction rendered real.”  “Drew, I…”  “Yes, I expect you might have had things rather rough of late.  I expect this explains why Rosa had so unexpectedly vanished while working, with nothing but a cold blast in her wake.  You two have very obviously been in an avalanche of things going on, and I’m now certain we know much less than half of what might be involved.  What I am familiar with is balancing a lot of obligations.  Kori, you look right now like a woman who had a plan.. and suddenly found yourself overwhelmed.  Go take a moment to relax, go over what has happened at your leisure.. and consider how our efforts could be at your support.  I’ll make sure Trystine leaves you some synth gear to put on, explicitly tailored to your own cybernetics thanks to Holi’s records.”  “Thanks.. I guess.”  Drew stepped out of the way so that Kori could pass beyond to a place of recluse.  Kori had no idea what to think about everything.. but certainly getting the chance to think at all would be the best place to start.

“Thank you, Drew.”  “No problem, I know when my staff are overwhelmed, I keep an eye out for that.  You however have been quite the oddity in that measure, Rosa.  Something about you has struck me as being always overwhelmed.. but always keeping up.  By the sounds of things, I’m guessing that you yourself might not be so used to this world then.  You’re then absolutely remarkable, having caught on to everything so naturally.  For me, learning the business world of machinery was overwhelming.. to have to learn an entire second way of worlds would be beyond me.”  “Well, Kori has been quite the help there, especially as she herself learns of things much less familiar to her.  We’ve both been working on this together.”  Rosa then took some time to be a bit more open with circumstances to Drew.  Hypertech as a whole actually had no record on where the two of them had kept going off too, but they could detect their strange departures and arrivals in a small singularity burst.  Being brought up to speed with everything, Drew could tell why this might have been more than the regular person should be made aware of, he was being given a bit of privilege here.  It was knowledge he would have to be sure to carefully apply going forward.

Rosa had met up with Kori after that, having grown worried at how Kori was even doing.  Kori however was already getting into her new tights, having taken care to adjust her regular clothes over the thin silicon plating.  Her version of the tights did not include sleeves at all, her cybernetics serving that purpose on one side and her marked arm being ill fitted for it on the other.  The tights came with a full facial mask, something she could place or remove at will, something which made her feel more like a ninja when worn.  Unlike Holi though, her armor was much more nondescript, sitting quite nicely under normal clothes.. and didn’t glow with strange lights.  She did find all the silicon tracing though, if this stuff was ionized.. she would light up like a christmas tree.  Kori passed Rosa a second package of such a suit on her way out, offering Rosa some privacy while she considered the proceedings.  All of this was protection, to keep them safe.. because they weren’t safe.  As Axln, she had to worry about the security and wellbeing of the academy, a thing she had fortunately left to Luna’s care.  On this side, they didn’t have some orbital superweapon looking after everything.. so maybe it was really good that the people of Hypertech were simply looking after themselves instead.  There weren’t any superweapons on this side, so they had to take what they could get.

Rosa stepped out to find Kori, this time also wearing her own silicon alloyed synth suit.  It was generally designed to match what Kori wore, but actually had a sleeve for Rosa’s natural arm.  The sleeve proceeded down the entire length of Rosa’s arm, covering her hand as a glove.  Much like Kori, the whole thing also extended down to her feet, but had a strange cut out for Rosa’s knees, the tights only passing down the back of the knees before coming around again like strange socks.  Kori had already tested the design, she could smash into a wall with considerable force and still felt almost nothing.  She knew the material, even if she had little practice with it.. it could weather impacts of considerable momentum beyond outright crushing force.  Beyond potentially enduring a railgun velocity bullet, the design was even better at dealing with energy weapons.  Rosa thus had two layers of protection, when her DRE was also considered in the process, even if this new one was even more superior in suppressing energy discharges specifically.

Kori took account of the time, measuring how much these changes had cost.  They had both arrived here at around 16:00, which was about 10:00a in Ruixse’s midday.  Since then, the time had advanced to 17:06, leaving them with only three hours before noon.  Sophie meanwhile had promised she could bring them to the market by 17:30, a 45 minute drive.  However, by 17:28, she found herself with Rosa just outside the market, the both of them adjusting to stable ground beneath their feet once again.  Kori took an opportunity to mentally never again dare Sophie to deliver upon something Sophie claimed could be done.   The time was still halfway between the start of business hours and lunch, so they would have to work quickly.  Even more complicated, they needed to work carefully too.  Aerospace surveillance was everywhere, letting Velvet know they were here could cost them an advantage.  Kori knew she was stressed, the situation earlier established just how far her stress went, but Velvet could be more intimidating than even the chaos she fought in the other world.. even if she might be far less dangerous.  To an information expert, this level of an information battle was quite excessive.  The two of them at least wore holos that cloaked over their appearances, not even leaving a sign they were worth notice.  Kori even fell to the level of adopting a human holo, something which would draw even fewer eyes her way.  As Axln, she had grown a bit adjusted to human traits anyway, so keeping up images wouldn’t be that intensive.

The first goal would be to locate where the firearm distribution was occuring in the market.  Scanning across the general populace proved generally fruitless, as a good number of humans travelling in any direction had something handy.  In that same light, there wasn’t a single conduit at the market, probably in fear of their very lives.  Conduits would be suffering the most from all of this, especially with the fear only a layer to the tragedy.  All too certainly, these weapons were being turned on conduits.. to put conduits in their place.  It was quite honestly revolting, yet another turn of events Kori blamed Velvet for.  Wandering such intimidating crowds, Kori suddenly found a holo appearing before her as she noticed Rosa listening to a silent voice.  So, Holi at least had found their destination and in turn provided a map with directions.  The map however proved to be reasonably difficult to use in such a crowd, so Kori simply let Rosa lead the way while she took account of their surroundings.  The entire market was in a multi-level building with enough space and atmosphere to make you think they were still outdoors, the holos in use extending upon those impressions.  This effectively left them to deal with the whole place being a very big and wide open room without certainty they were even on the right floor.  Rosa even led them to a holo lift up eight levels, the place suddenly having visibly more security.

Kori pressed upon her composure, doing her best to look natural in such an atmosphere.  Rosa meanwhile was a lot more intent on following directions and not getting lost, the result making her look simply absentmindedly curious.  Kori at least could tell, they were certainly in the right place, an assortment of firearms adorning the displays around them.  However, while looking around, she had discovered that there was a very strict criteria and assessment in devising exactly which firearm would be provided to any specific individual, the signs generally guiding them towards the assessment clerks off at a corner of the allocated space.  How exactly then did Sophie get her hands on a mass collection of the stuff, bypassing the entire assessment process, walked past security while no one cared, and left the place with a full trunk.  Even though she herself appeared human, she could feel the critical eyes of every security officer present upon her if she turned slightly towards one of the displays instead of towards the assessment area.  Still trying to look normal, the two of them stepped before one of the assessment clerks, the idea being to at least get information in a more natural way.  One of the clerks turned their attention to the two girls, only for someone else to step in instead.

“Don’t worry, these two are here for me.  Hello, Kori, Rosa, having a pleasant day?”  “Hello Velvet.  As usual, being the pioneer of information, expecting us so easily.”  “Oh, you look the part rather well, don’t worry about that.  It just happens that most people don’t walk around here with OSIDFs on full tilt like this, that’s all.  Not that I blame you for it, of course, security would have stopped you long ago otherwise.”  “Going to call up security instead then?”  “Why would I do that?  You came here for a quiet chat, did you not?  Certainly, I’m far too occupied right now to make a big mess of things, either.  Instead, I would much rather have everything dealt with before lunch.  I must say though, it was still in question if you would bother showing up here or if you would take your questions to .. another.  I’m honestly quite thankful that you did indeed choose me for this one, it will make other things much easier.  So.. maybe instead of taking up the space of my clerks.. We should turn to more suitable atmospheres.  I know you would like something with a touch of privacy but not distantly enough to affect your sense of security.  I might recommend one of the assessment booths, as the goals generally fit the same in concept.”  Velvet led the way towards one of such booths, Kori still looking around attentively for traps.  Certainly.. this couldn’t be so easy?

“Why exactly this whole change of pace, anyway?  The first time we met, you were throwing everything you had to stop us.  Now…”  “Now, a lot has changed.  There is no point trying to stop something that has already happened, right?  You get away with pandora’s box, open it.. and all that is left is to face off against oblivion.  Hopefully, you’ve already seen one for yourself, a DMA.  Dark Matter Anomaly, though you would have your own name for the stuff.  You’ve fought one, we’ve already taken out twelve.  Oh, and if you’re thinking highly about yourself, this is still just the scouting party.  Face off against forces like this long enough, it will wear you thin.  The going estimate is that the longest we could endure is maybe 15 sidus, nothing more.”  “We’ll find a way to stop those things, we’ve already found they are tied to more than just this world.. They…”  “Yes, yes, my word, it’s like you think your stories are so new.  Parallel worlds, temporal chaos, blah blah blah.”  “So you do know.  You might then know that we’ve been there then too, both places.  We gathered information to lead us towards a solution that saves both worlds.”  “You gathered nothing, you hardly even have a plan, don’t you?  Worst of all, your major information source is of the very chaotic energy we’ve all got left to fight, and yet you somehow believe you can just trust it at its word.  Oh, yes, keep throwing temporal singularities all over the place, I’m certain that would help.  It just had to tell you a few nice things you wanted to hear, then you’re all best friends.”  Kori went pale at Velvet’s reprimandation, not even certain how to react.  Was that actually how everything had gone?  Was Velvet right about.. everything?  Just how much did Velvet actually even know?

“I’m quite sorry about interrupting, but seriously, did I miss something?  By the divine, we haven’t even told anyone in either world about meeting the temporal lady.  You know far more than should even be possible.. and that girl with the same bracelet.. she knew far too much too.  If you think our sources are so questionable, how could we even trust your own?  How.. could you possibly know so much?”  “Mary.. or however you say her name.. we both happen to share the same sources, ones who are actually living people too.  Such is certainly more reliable than your own sources, right?”  “Maybe, but you haven’t told us who they are yet.  Do I even know any of them?”  “I certainly expect you know.. one or two.”  “Who then?!”  “Damn it, I’m not supposed to tell you!  Why do you never take the hint, m-.. shit.”  Rosa herself was starting to look flustered talking to Velvet too, but it was surprising just how flustered Velvet got in response.  Kori was starting to figure out that, for some reason, Velvet was far more flustered facing Rosa than Kori herself.  It was an unexplained weakness, but certainly one they would need to take advantage of.  All three of them however were thrown off guard when a holo appeared before Velvet, drawing her attention away with its visible urgency and dread.

“Okay, yeah, more important stuff.  You two might agree, honestly.  It seems we’ve got reports of a far more impressive DMA sighting than the normal batch.  Considering the thing is floating around between society and that craig you’ve taken to call home, you might want to actually show up and get a piece of the action.  Nick, get over here, I need a rushed flight out of here.”  “I.. I’m not about to…”  “Yes, yes, of course, walking with me into a shuttle would be pretty stupid, even if the pilot is someone you know.  Technically though, you have other arrangements waiting for you, possibly even faster ones.  Leave this place by the main gates, you’ll see a park to your right.  It’s practically an artificial forest, it even has a snow theme going on right now, couldn’t be a better place to make an exit from.  After that, I hear you’ve got a friend who can practically teleport you to places, way faster than flying.  I’ll be at an outpost along the barrier in the direction of your campsite, just make your way there in whatever manner fits your choosing.  Please be prompt though, DMAs are terrifying, and if the thing gets too close, I expect someone is going to have an itchy trigger finger.  Remember, these things are here because of you two, all of this is your own fault.”  Velvet waved to Kori as she made her way to a holo lift to the roof, potentially where her ride waited.  Kori was still furious, but couldn’t dispute a feeling of growing responsibility in the matter.  Sure, it still left questions such as how Velvet knew of Luna’s rifts, but such wasn’t even surprising anymore.

The two girls followed their provided directions to the park, quickly finding a rather suitable location to swap over to the other side.  It was only after the shift had begun that Kori had started to question how sensible it might have been to pick a very distinct location for their shift process.

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FV – Chapter 31

Business Opportunity

By the time Lyun finished her work and was ready to return to the academy, a new dawn had taken the academy in full.  Student lessons were ongoing all over, with even Axln still in the depth of her own lessons.

“Axln, finally I found you.  I didn’t expect you to be so hard to find over here.”  “Finally, it took you long enough.  Also, if you couldn’t find me, why didn’t you just ask?”  “I.. guess I could have.  Anyway, stop sitting around, we’ve got work to do.  Getting these upgrades done will make things safer for the both of us.”  “You have noticed Ezhyrae, right here.. right?  It seems she’s.. volunteered to.. stuff, or something.  There’s actually some equipment in the other room over there pristinely designed for working with my arm, ask me how I know, I dare you.”  “Wait, what do you mean?”  Lyun found herself out of pace with everything she’d missed since leaving Axln to the academy.  She still really wasn’t used to the idea of just pooling consciousnesses either, and the fact that it never felt like she was actually reaching out to Axln in the process did not help that assumption.  Her biggest mistake though was not trusting Axln’s perspective and actually falling for the dare, Ezhyrae’s eyes gleaming.

In a repeat of the same experience Axln herself went through, Lyun found her knee suddenly under high scrutiny, herself being asked questions she sometimes found difficult to answer, given her inexperience with ersatz designs.  Quickly, she even found her own designs under scrutiny too, ersatz methods being put into a strong comparison to her cybernetics.  Life element filtration and balancing, blood flow shielding to reduce unconscious strain on the gift being supplemented unwillingly in bodily instrumentation, even structural and component density and composition in ways that would best match natural design.  Lyun was already worn out by the time her knee was rethreaded with more appropriate fibers that matched her crystalline density.  At least the basics of the work she had just completed weren’t so easy to dispute, Ezhyrae having no way to balance scientific principles.  Once everything was successfully completed, Lyun even found her legs capable of moving far better than they could have originally.  The instrument in her knee that induced improvements to the more organic features of her legs really helped out considerably as well, leaving her legs with a far greater physical ability than would be expected of a person of her build.  Visibly satisfied with her research, Ezhyrae having repeated the same tale of her arrival for Lyun, Axln and Lyun were found dismissed back outside.  Ezhyrae still had plenty more work to do, but the girls could occupy themselves with the gifts she had brought along as a bit of a reward for their participation.

“I know she was being helpful, but I’m not sure about this weapon idea.  Learning to use a sword would be annoying, and potentially a bit impractical when compared to some of the other stuff we’re working with.  I personally recall using this power gear to make a cutting wave already, potentially a lot more practical.”  “Swords?  Eww, how old fashioned do you think we are?  Wait, is that more of those earth fantasies again?  Come on, Axln, you should know better than to trust outdated ideas from earth.  A thousand years of Mythos tends to get really old pretty quick.”  Axln was surprised at what exactly Lyun would eventually present to her.  In much of the same light, they were yet another type of firearm.. though they weren’t the same thing either.  Apparently called an arbalestae, Axln was left with the impression that someone had made a rifle on its side.  Supposedly, the design was modelled on old implementations of crossbows, although even that was from back in the day when crossbows fired sheet metal blades instead of bolts.  As with all instrumentation, this stuff had put a lot of focus on elementals, the arbalestae Lyun chosen being a light elemental style that was supposed to be reasonably close to her choice on the other side.  Axln had nothing practical to go by, so she instead opted for a consideration of physical design similarities to her other choice, a slightly comparably heavier choice with a visible punch quality but otherwise sat well in her cybernetic arm.  It wasn’t until she got introduced to what her choice actually did that she would then discover her choice was actually dark elemental.

“So.. I wonder if there is someone here that can handle arbalestae training.”  “Wait, so you don’t know how these work either?  You seemed like quite the professional while making your choice back there.”  “I know the instrumentation involved, and I happen to know a guy who’s a warden, but I’ve never actually gotten to hold one for myself.  Typically, the foundry is all protective of such measures of enforcement.. possibly for reasons like we saw when they tried to storm the academy.  This sudden shift is unheard of.”  “Pretty much then exactly like the other side.  Weapon distribution being so open puts a lot of threat to conduits getting their hands on weapons, something humans really never wanted to have happen again.  In both cases, the fears didn’t seem to be the point.  Something bigger is going on, and I can think of only two people in established society that have both the knowledge and power to make such movements, one per each side.”  Lyun could tell which two Axln was referring to, the leaders within both the foundry and aerospace that remained impossibly aware of events far beyond them.  Axln mentioned her plan from before, to try and press for an opportunity to get information from such sources, as long as they could figure out an advantage to build opportunity from.

“Wait, so controlling time and being able to shift world laws isn’t enough of an advantage?  Just how powerful do you think those two are?”  “Knowledge itself can be power.  If they know enough to make the right moves, we could be in big trouble.  After all, neither of us want collateral damage, in such situations.. knowledge is far greater than our abilities.”  “Oh, so like they would know to expect us and position themselves so swapping between worlds wouldn’t work.. but then have an emotional moment and actually drop their guard when it would have counted.”  “True.. we can at least count on them being people.. proper diplomacy could do a lot.”  “They also seem to care about something very passionately.  They were all driven to the book, now they are giving people weapons like they are some force for the greater good.  I mean, what do you think are the chances both of them are personally at the weapon dealing front to oversee everything?”  Lyun’s idea of deducing goals was at least sound, but there was still the uncertainty of the thought process when people are driven to a goal with unknown information that made Axln rationally concerned.  There were always other considerations when someone knew too much, and both of those two had proven to be quite smart at least.  If they were at such a front, it would be for other reasons.

Axln considered the place Sophie had visited, a major outlet not far from the central core of the entire community.  It made it a fairly high-traffic place without the entire downtown feeling.  Notably though, it might not have even been the most normal place for such a thing, community security would have had to compensate for the entire process.  At a loss for things on this side, she tried to uncover details on this side, for how such a thing would have progressed.  Considering Ezhyrae’s place, the exact location was also a bit of a distance from any warden office, being a bit awkward there as well.  Comparing the two, trying to find any patterns on locations that would make sense, she quickly came to the conclusion that it was as if.. the whole thing was designed to not make sense.  However, tracing things through her thoughts, she also identified something else.  The exact location chosen was identical cross worlds, that certainly could not be a coincidence.

“The chances that they are both present?  That’s pretty high.  In all certainty, I expect they are probably waiting for us, maybe even wondering why we’re taking so long.”  “Another trap?”  “It does look like it would be inviting to simply let our guard down.  However, even in that, it would look as if they were simply trying too hard to do so.  The whole place is pretty open, and we’ve got some pretty impressive stuff on both sides.  Whoever made the first move would have collateral problems.. which could start an armed riot.  Even in that case, you personally have an extreme advantage, something that either they remain unaware of or would have had to count upon.  If a riot did break out, it would be with energy or elemental weapons.. stuff that would be useless if things switched over on them.  Quite honestly, it makes everything feel like you are the backup plan.  That also has me really reluctant in wanting to give them such an exchange, they might know something about even that which we do not.”  “Yeah, this doesn’t feel like a trap, it feels like a game that has been all set up for us.  I mean, think of things emotionally.  We got their book, we used their book, we learned a few new tricks while making some temporal dents.  They are now preparing for things to go very wrong, possibly chaos stuff, stuff they probably expected before we acted.  Considering their passion and knowledge, I’m fully expecting to be told off, to hear that perhaps now I can see that maybe I had caused a few too many problems and how everything is totally now my fault.  It’s an opportunity to emotionally vent, especially if the two of us remain the only ones otherwise aware of even a slight fraction in what is actually going on.”  Axln nodded, seeing Lyun’s point.  This would be very promising as an opportunity to stage a guilt trip, one which possibly compelled some natural surrender.

“So, if we go there looking for information, we should be prepared to hear something we might not want to hear.”  “Probably should try to pool our thoughts then, get two perspectives on the idea without having to talk about it in person.”  “Bloody hell, that always makes it so hard to think.  Your ideas just feel like they are my own, making it more challenging to wrap my head around the ideas itself beyond whose idea it might be.”  “One being, all ideas are your own, my contributions just have my own perspective to it then, right?  I mean, I’m always critical of my own ideas, and would just need to do that while we’re pooled together.  If I’m correcting you or myself.. that doesn’t even matter.  All that matters is considering as many angles as our pooled efforts are capable of.”  “Literally, two heads being better than one.  Alright then, how about we practice a bit first?  I’ve got some studies to do, let’s see how much elemental stuff I can figure out in my head with just you as my teacher.”  “Oh, actually, that’s brilliant.  Could I come with you to watch, especially if you’re going to write some notes about it in that otherworldly script?  Having the idea-to-visual comparison would make for quite the experience.”  Axln’s idea really looked compelling to Lyun, with all of her considerations in reading inability in the other world.  Even worse, she found out that her new rifle came with a handy instruction manual, full of important matters in care and safe use.  After similar problems with the generator before, it was being a constantly haunting aspect of the other world which continued to torment her.  Even helping Axln with similar concerns in this world was appearing a promising way to bring both of them up to pace.  However, such a plan wasn’t even close to being so simple.

Once Axln’s studies began in earnest, the problems started becoming more and more obvious.  Axln quickly found herself reproaching herself for forgetting that frost was considered a physical elemental and water was an immaterial one.  Lyun at the same time felt she was stupid for forgetting simple things, even though she knew that the other world considered liquid a state of matter.  At one point, Axln had to erase several notes she had made in the local script instead of the one from the otherworld.. the other side.  Lyun hadn’t even noticed, having thought her own script needed translation until she put more consideration into it.  Most of all, neither of them were willing to talk at all.. as that would get even more confusing to complete.  More than being a challenge, this approach actually proved that this process was actually harder than learning either portion of material individually, and that this process might possibly need even more work than their other studies in order to become proficient in such a process.

However, what they did learn was that it was a bit easier leaving the link open only very briefly.  Project an idea, close the link so that they could consider the idea on their own, then reopen for a reply.  Even that could get a bit messy, but it was still considerably easier to manage.  While linked, they had come up with the realization that it was their own individuality that made this difficult, and in turn was something they should not just simply sacrifice.  One being, but two people over four bodies.  More so, the being in that whole equation was then the least like the rest of the system.  Originally, they were two people, two bodies, and the chaos was temporal.. nothing more.  Adding their exposure to the temporal, their mark left them with an integration to chaos and two additional bodies.  Of everything, sure, they would one day perish, their bodies fading over time, their minds stopping, and the essence of their identity would drift along the path of the fallen.  At that point, only their aspect of chaos would remain, and that would be when such an aspect would have to build its own identity from what it had been left with.  It was like an Axln-type theory mixed with a Lyun-level stubbornness.  Either way, neither thought that sacrificing their individuality would be worth such synergy.

“Screw it, break time.”  “Maybe.  It’s technically late dawn, we could honestly consider getting some rest.. but that might depend on what we’re doing next.”  “Right, the whole idea was to prepare for that confrontation, and we simply lack the information to prepare further.  Maybe we should at least go, take a look, be ready to leave whenever, figure out what else we might need.  Overall, as long as we have ways to run or hide, it’s all a diplomatic deal.  We do need to pick where we’re going to approach from too, which side we want to try first for information.  This side we can have Luna provide us with an escape, but the other side we can have Holi watching out for us.  This side, I have this circlet to get more information with, on top of this power gear’s features, while the other side you have Rosa’s DRE’s and even that amazing skill with DNTIs to provide ways to hide.”  “Could we try our plan on the other side then?  Not that I think Velvet is a fool, even after that mistake she made.  Specifically, if we stayed on this side.. we would have to contend with the wardens.  There is still.. a warden.. I don’t think.. I would be ready to face.. right now.”  Axln had heard the story about Lyun’s confrontation at the citadel.  Something with a warden guy she had known for a long time, along with another warden that had ended up dead.  Lyun was blaming herself for the whole deal, but the guy really would have taken it the worst way possible.  Possibly not a mess which they would want to deal with in such a difficult encounter either.

On the other hand, Axln actually knew of a guy that she actually might want to meet in all of this.  Getting answers from Velvet would be nice, forcing answers out of Nick at the same time would be even better.  Sure, even in that they would need to be careful, Nick could yet again draw them into another trap in the process, even just simply report their presence and screw them over.  She knew she could not trust the guy at all, which in turn made it hard to get any useful information from him.  In all accounts, they would actually have to avoid Nick through everything, so that they did not sacrifice any advantages to Velvet.. but if she found an opportunity for silent revenge, that would be another matter.

Having agreed on their approach, it quickly dawned upon Axln the exact nature of Lyun’s concerns too.  If they were going to do this on the other side, they would need to reach the area during prime business hours.. which had already begun.  They were both tired, doing this without some good sleep would be highly disadvantageous, but if they slept now they would miss most of the opportunity.  Clearly then, the only solution would be to sleep between the clocks, to either stop time or at least dramatically slow it down so that they wouldn’t lose time to sleeping.  It would be her first time trying this, but there were plenty of good reasons for her success.  If she failed, they could still try to make up the difference, either with what time remained or simply projecting for overnight instead.  The two of them reached their sleeping area before Axln tried to stop time, so that the experience would avoid draining her without just cause.  Axln was the last to fall asleep in the process, though she noticed that her timepiece hadn’t even ticked an instant while she waited.  As a result, she had no idea when she had finally fallen asleep.  At the very least, it hadn’t felt like more than 10 or 15 moments.

Having been the first to sleep, Lyun was also the first to awaken.  In the process, she also noticed that Axln might not be getting the highest quality of sleep while also trying to keep time unmoving.  This in turn resulted in Axln sleeping for much longer than Lyun did.. even if that didn’t translate to any time at all.  The only one who got to suffer such waiting was Lyun.  Worse, she found it hard to get other things to work properly while time was so slow, including even doors.  This then left her with absolutely nothing to do but to tend to herself.  She was lucky her legs worked normally at least, even her power gear could at least move, but her legs could not commit more than normal outputs, her power gear couldn’t actually do much for instrumentation, and even her gift didn’t want to resolve for her.  What she could do though is switch over to scientific law, that happened without problems.  In that case, she also found her legs working normally.. though she had little else to test everything with.  The power gear at least didn’t respond at all, but it hadn’t been otherwise and wasn’t designed with much science in mind.  Considering things, science probably lasted on matters of base principles too in this case, things like inertia still worked, they could move, but things would not move themselves.

She hadn’t been using her chaotic ability for long, but even in such she could feel like her chaotic potential had been taxed.  Certainly, that didn’t make sense, she had endured far more use before without problem.  She didn’t think it was a strain due to being in slow time either.. even getting a break in elemental law once again, she was still feeling drained.  Wait, maybe the slow time had everything to do with it after all.  Their abilities came from their chaos.. and they each shared that chaos.  That implied, if one of them over-extended themselves, the other would suffer in kind.  It was fortunate that such exhaustion wasn’t of a nature other than chaotic, it would have no impact on their personal abilities otherwise.  Such would just mean that they would need a bit to recharge after such a long use, and that she really shouldn’t consider doing complex law shifts while some intensive time shifts were going on.  With time moving like this though, she really didn’t have much else to do.

It was much longer within that same instant before Axln herself finally awoke as well, a time when Axln would then also restore the progression of time for them.  Having grown really bored with an eternal instant of doing nothing, Lyun was all too happy to switch worlds and finally start to do something instead.

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FV – Chapter 30

Tempered History

Lyun was very surprised when everything she had been working upon had suddenly been interrupted, herself instead standing around some corner of the academy.  She knew instantly that this had been Axln’s doing.. Kori’s doing.. something had happened there unexpectedly.

Lyun’s first impulse was that Kori might have caused such a shift to escape a dangerous situation, meaning a very viable threat had appeared on the other side.  Rather than just rush back to face something she didn’t understand though, an act which could have put her in reckless danger as well, she decided to attempt to contact Axln for an update of the situation.  She pulled out her cell and set forth the call.. only to find that Axln was in an area that could not be reached.  That was itself concerning, the only thing these things couldn’t pierce was areas far from civilization.. or otherwise saturated with void.  The first was unexplainable, considering how big the academy actually was, it would have taken too much to travel away from civilization out of range of such utilities.  The range for such things used to be fairly weak, but now you would be actually hard pressed to find a location anywhere in the world considered ‘too far from civilization’.  That only left a location with a dramatic threat of the void.  Worry led to panic as Lyun rushed around, not even paying attention to where she physically was, herself totally lost to direction in the circumstances.  Upon being lost to herself, her attention drawn to distant worries, she felt herself reawakened to a familiar bond.

Of all the things that might have happened, she found herself questioning suddenly why she was so worried.  Of course such was obvious, with Axln missing and in danger, how could she not worry.  Then again, why did she have such worries, Axln was fine.. even if she had no idea where she was.  As far as she could tell, Axln was just in some strange underground cave.  There was no point in just losing her head over things, that was much more what Lyun would do.  Wait, wasn’t she Lyun?  Wasn’t she Axln?  Suddenly, everything made sense.  Four bodies, two people, one being.  She had revisited the link of her being that was shared between two people, making it very difficult to tell which was which.  The benefit though was that such did provide her with a way to reach out to both aspects, a way they could both update the other on the situation.  Such would however be a lot easier if both sides weren’t taking the situation so dramatically differently.  Lyun was panicking with worry, Axln was calm and curious.  Lyun’s panic was due to worries of the void, after a failed cell connection, and why she had reached out in other ways.  Axln meanwhile was checking out a really impressive cavern, the whole place glowing because of the magma at the other side of the chamber.

Wait, magma, otherwise known as the world’s lifeblood, an elemental fire that was so powerful it could forge void materials as dangerous as pure obsidian.  No wonder the cell didn’t work, that really was a considerably dangerous location.  Then again, Axln was fine, possibly due to the power gear’s shielding.  Wait, no, there was no person’s creation in existence as mighty as the essence of a world, such shielding was not enough.  Then again, the room Axln was in wasn’t exactly normal either, appearing to naturally filter away some of the threats of fire.  Axln was not the only thing in that chamber, much of it having endured the heat beyond reason too.  Certainly, some of such were corpses, but those were probably because there was a visible lack of nutrients in the room as well.  As long as Axln escaped before starving to death, she would be fine.  In that light, maybe it was actually a good thing that there was a connection going on, so that an escape plan was possible.  Also, maybe Axln was being an idiot.  The strange objects forged out of pure magma at least were excessively facinting.  Wait, it was also impossible to forge things out of the world’s lifeblood, how exactly did that happen?  She really was very curious to learn more.

Lyun shook her head violently, trying to draw her attention back to her personal situation.  It was neat that she could reach out like that, but drawing awareness from two people at once was proving to be quite confusing for her.  A lasting impression of doing so was still that she herself had developed a touch of curiosity for some of the stuff considered.  This added a complication, instead of adopting a rescue plan that pulled Axln from such a scene and sent her back to the other world.. Lyun wanted to find a way to see more of what Axln found for herself.  The biggest question was.. how?  Lyun had managed to pick up that Axln probably had a good measured interpretation of exactly where she would be under the academy.. but it really was pretty deep underground.  A phasecraft could possibly go that deep, but there was concern about trying to phase through the world’s lifeblood in an area before such a chamber.  Such depth was possibly too high for such heat to develop normally, it was clearly a bit of a lifeblood spring, but that left unresolved how such a spring expanded from such a site.  A rift was the other direct way there.. but there simply was no way to just rift through such a density of void.

“Lyun, it appears you have returned.  I am here to report my successful recovery, the individual assigned to the task having restored all significant functionality.”  “Luna!  You surprised me there.”  “Was I not supposed to report to you?  I am sorry, but I could not detect Axln’s location.”  “No, I mean I was worried too, I mean.. wait, so Ezhyrae is here?”  “Correct, she is presently inside the archives relaxing.  I hear she has been waiting for you two to return.  Do you have any estimates on how much longer Axln will be away for?”  “Reaching Axln will be rough, she’s right now far underground, in an area cut off by the void.  She found a strange area within a spring of the world’s lifeblood there, of all things.”  “Could you please provide specific values of trajectories?  An astral gate could be used in an area immersed within the world’s flame, as the fortress was modified to transport the world’s seed itself.  Accuracy in the astral gate is paramount though, as slight inaccuracies have been known to lead to catastrophic dangers.”  Wait, so Luna was trying to tell Lyun that she had a way to rift through the void or something?  Just how stupidly advanced was the citadel?  Carrier of the world’s seed, maybe a place so in tune with the natures of a world wouldn’t have been as scared by the immensity a world could bring.  Lyun reached back to that shared awareness, getting those numbers Luna would need in the process.  Luna then opened a rift, inviting Lyun to follow.  The rift itself only led to the citadel, but it was only a short walk from there to the strange dais Luna was already bringing online.  After passing through a wonder of instrumentation she had never heard of, Lyun found herself just a short distance away from Axln.. who had her nose in a book.

“Nice entrance.  I thought getting here was supposed to be a problem.”  “It was, but Luna here is all but divine.”  “See?  Long before I got hungry, nothing to worry about.”  “I see that being one of two perspectives of a single being would leave that being pretty messed up.  What are you reading anyway?  It never came up when I reached out to you.”  “Some notes about what was going on here, really fascinating stuff.”  “Oh, I guess it would also be pretty useful practice too, right?”  “Ah, actually no, not the way you’re thinking.  That’s actually what made it even more fascinating.  This book is not written in the languages used around here, it’s actually written in a language I only barely know.  This book here is written in the old conduit language, something no one really teaches anymore.”  “Wait, but conduits are from Aestus.. how would…?”  Axln had Lyun completely lost at that point, such details not making any sense at all.  While Lyun’s thoughts fried on the shear concept being implied, Axln took the opportunity to explain.

“That’s the whole point, I think the people who perished here somehow made it here the same way I did, through the veil.  They just didn’t know how to get back or how to otherwise escape.  They were clearly researchers though, harvesting upon the world’s blood in an effort to keep going.  It actually looked like their research provided them with enough life energy to survive for 23 sidus.. with no access to food at all in that time.  Pretty insane, I could only guess that they were then surviving on pure life elements alone.  They actually found a way to temper pure magma here into a life core, just to keep things going.  According to this thing, it’s endured for about five hundred sidus.  A sidus is the same as one of your solar cycles, by the way.”  “Wait, what?  This planet would have been a dead rock that long ago.. not even with any lifeblood.  That was long before the world seed had been brought to Ruixse, which actually gave it any of such lifeblood.. unless it still had some that long ago.”  “The history of Ruixse.. before it was cultivated.  To think at least some of my people were here, this might not have been the only site either.  When Drew asked me to get a glimpse of conduit history, I really never expected it to take me this far away.”  Axln had clearly stumbled upon quite the treasure trove this time, Lyun could understand why such would have been important.  She meanwhile went over to one of those tempered cores, picking the object up to get a good look at it.  The thing was a serious saturation of all elements rendered fully stable, something almost unheard of.  Much as how it seemed fire was great at making the most of the void, so too was it very capable of shaping life in something of the same concept.  The people at the archives would faint at this discovery, let alone the academy.. let alone the foundry!

Considering such in detail though, Lyun realized how impractical such was.  A saturation of the elements was probably the least useful thing imaginable.  Sure, it seems it was a wellpool of life, which has a use, but when it came to instrumentation…  Instrumentation was boosted by a kyuemu shard, a crystal of pure void, because the absence of elements cultivated stronger reactions.  In reverse, a saturation of elements would actually make instruments a lot harder to control.  In that light, the stuff was actually pretty dangerous.  Maybe it would be better to leave such otherworldly treasures to their original homes.  Considering the cores from in that light however started her thoughts on considerations of how all of this applied according to scientific principle.  Much as Axln had kept calling it, this was all basically tempered magma, which scientifically was a super-heated substance of immense temperatures.  Such was also exactly the same sort of principle as thermal generators, the processing of inane temperatures to yield a great source of energy.  Obviously, such was the original vision of the creators too, even if such a thing did not work on this world.. at least, not without changing the laws of the world.  This.. this was then perfect for their cybernetics, a scientific power source that would keep their stuff running strong even in an otherworldly haze.  Sure, it would need some additions to help protect it, all of that elemental mess needed containment under normal circumstances.. then the super-heat needed it’s own treatment once the heat was instead being tapped into as a power source.  There was the question of what could yield such protections.. but she actually had a very good idea where to get something like that.

“Luna, do you have any material that is really good for all-purpose elemental shielding?  I know you mostly work with strange metals, but I’m hoping for something more.. fitting in angles of the mythos for dramatic heat suppression.”  “Fortress records report upon a mythos phenomenon called magnetic polarity, an attribute which could theoretically be woven into a material to cause it to repel the case suspending it.  If the area between the object and the case were devoid of even trace elements, transfusion of such would be impossible.  Obsidian would be required in the process, as such a void substance could also dismiss occasional contacts of mass elements.”  “Magnetism.. which means we need some kind of ferrous obsidian composite.  Technically, I think obsidian scientifically contains a lot of iron, and cooled obsidian isn’t natively dangerous.  Iron though does count as stone elemental, which could weaken if left there too long.  However, the stone elemental loss would also be countered by the mass elements also available.. that wouldn’t be a concern at all.  Being devoid of all trace elements.. that would be like a pure vacuum.  Fortunately we’ll be working at a really small scale, having such perfect conditions would be difficult otherwise. Could I borrow your help later in making such a design?”  “Of course, inheritor.  I am eternally at your service.”  “Perfect.  Okay Axln, get up.  We’re leaving.  You can bring your book though if you really want to keep reading the thing.”  Lyun grabbed a stash of the tempered cores and waited for Luna’s exit.  Once the strange portal was opened, Axln came to the realization finally that she was expected to also take this chance to leave.  In no time at all though, Axln found herself somehow abandoned alone back at the academy, Lyun being busy on a new creation.  It was at that point that Axln realized that she may have gotten carried away and had missed an important opportunity to be useful.

Lyun, Rosa, they were both the same person.  Not only had she figured out a way to balance world factors in cybernetics as Rosa, but she was doing the exact same thing in reverse as Lyun.  As such, maybe standing around being useless reading a historical book that she already had the basic idea of.. may not be the most useful use of her time.  Considering what tasks might be more useful, it dawned on Axln that Luna being active would mean Ezhyrae was here.. and had just done a lot of work on getting Luna all fixed up.  Sure, Lyun had asked for such help, but Lyun was busy at this point, so Axln would have to pitch in and help out.  Finding Ezhyrae wasn’t even difficult, Axln just had to find the place with the highest density of ersatz wandering around like they owned the entire archives.  Okay, asking for occasional directions along the way handled most of the process, but such really was how the whole thing actually felt.

“Oh, finally a familiar face.  Where is Lyun though?”  “Sorry, she’s still pretty busy with some work, but she should be around soon enough.  … is it just me, or do you have a lot more of these ersatz than I thought you did?”  “Well, I might have not shown you the full capacity of the staff I work with, but this is honestly much more than that.  It seems Luna had determined that my work had been a sort of.. quality upgrade.  Something about wanting to make sure that she was running at the same version as each of her peers.  Then I found out that peers means many thousand more.  I have to be glad they let me take a break, I’m not even done with a sliver of the collection.”  “I’m.. sorry to impose on you so much.”  Ezhyrae must have then been working on that entire squall of ersatz Axln had walked by in the process.  Axln hadn’t even bothered taking count, she couldn’t even figure a proper estimate of exactly how much of a mess this was.

“Ah, don’t worry about it.  I’ve sort of learned how imposing my latest client can be, having such a favour due from such an established client would be quite handy.  I’m also possibly a bit too passionate in my work, this has honestly been more fun than I’ve seen in a while.  That’s saying something too, considering how much ‘fun’ stuff is back home.  Seriously, I heard they almost went to war with the academy here, then fled because of the academy having.. well, Luna.  Now they are instead just stocking up on weapons to help bolster the defenses of everything.  Oddly though, it doesn’t seem like the academy was the only thing they feared.  Distributing weapons everywhere and then amping up protection measures really felt like some serious paranoia.  They were eager to give a weapon to every single person that walked the street.  It.. probably didn’t help that they never checked if every person was actually not an ersatz, either.  Now it seems I sort of.. snuck a ton of weapons over to the academy without even knowing it.  Oops, my bad.”  Ezhyrae sighed in her playful giggle, clearly more troubled by such strife than even her latest responsibilities.

Axln however was considering the exact nature of such strife.  Weapon distribution, sounding exactly like what Sophie had witnessed.  This parallel reaction between worlds pointed squarely at an intervention from Velvet’s entourage.  As such applied an understanding of the ways between worlds, it presented the idea that this was a consideration of the two chaos fiends they had faced off against.  Such also reminded Axln that the two women involved knew an impossible amount of what was going on, stuff she was seriously interested in learning for herself, stuff that she knew would be very useful for Lyun as well.  The roughest part though would be trying to track down such powerful women in an environment where Axln and Lyun would have enough of an advantage.  It was something they certainly would need to be prepared for.

“So, Axln, are you still as interested in ersatz as before?  Want to see some of the process of upgrading one?”  “Oh, sure, I would love to learn more.”  Ezhyrae called an end to her break and brought Axln over to her workspace, an erzat arriving soon after they did.  Axln watched things panning out, though found some of the process a little difficult to focus upon.  The whole thing was something between a technician and a doctor, the ersatz being carefully segmented so that its blood would not rupture in the process.  Each piece was actually some very biological looking material made from some strange fibers, a fact that made it a bit difficult for Axln to watch on more than one occasion.  As the whole structure had to be kept sound in the process so that the individual would not.. die.. the whole operation felt more like a series of messy transplants.  She was surprised at just how alive such seemingly robotic folk actually were, that even their blood was as capable of manipulating the gift as a regular person could.  They felt so artificial.. and yet were technically so very alive.. almost a direct opposite to how nanites were.

“Want to give it a try?”  “Huh?  What?  No, no, no.”  “Come on, don’t be shy.  I’ve got a really simple piece here, easy to fix if you mess up, but probably a great learning experience.  Ersatz are everywhere, and I can tell you have a subtle talent in the area somewhere.  Making the most of it surely could be useful then, right?  So here, take this instrument and carefully set it in these areas.. just you’ll be doing the other side.  This will teach you what is probably the most useful skill in the whole field, the steady hand.  Again, if you do it wrong, I can fix it and we can try it over.”  Ezhyrae passed Axln the instrument mentioned, leaving Axln to position herself accordingly.  Axln pondered the idea of adjusting the functionality of the instrument simply to make this easier, but she hardly at all grasped what such an instrument was even doing.. that might honestly cause more problems than it prevented.  She had seen the fundamental aspects at least, this was simply running the instrument over a very precise line exceptionally slowly, without even twitching and without ever breaking focus.  Ezhyrae had the advantage of being an elf too, clearly not aware how difficult this degree of attention took in those without such elven benefits.  Axln tried using her circlet for the process.. but such didn’t help with the performance of her hand, the biggest struggle of the process.  Going really really slowly, that was the majority of the challenge here.  She still put in the effort, following along the line, trying to keep a grasp of the movement.  The stress of her own actions though was quickly taking its price from her, she was going from outright nausea from before to now feeling a pinch bit dizzy.  This was far more difficult than it should be, sustaining her accuracy like this.  The fault lay in her own ability to keep a slow steady pace of absolute precision, an effort she applied her very being into achieving as the stress built up.

Suddenly, Axln noticed her surroundings going slightly pale, and in the process noticed just how long it was taking her to even blink.  However, with her perspective of time itself shifted, Axln found it considerably easier to sustain the slow pace desired.  Completing the process as a result with an unnatural accuracy, Axln adjusted her perspective on time, which then caused herself to feel capable of moving in what she saw as real time.. but everything else was going slower.  Right, her form of chaos manipulated time, but it seemed that was not just restricted to something as intense as going back in time, she could also do fine touches to the time she was experiencing.  She dramatically shifted the flow of time until an instant felt like an eternity, giving her a chance to relax before facing her work once again.

Even as she started to relax, she found herself again wondering what she had done.  Ah, so they were probably connected again.. and that would imply that Lyun and Axln were both feeling the effects of Axln’s distortion of time.  Of course too, such was currently in the way of the work Lyun was actually trying to finish, nothing at all was actually working with time pretty much on break.  It couldn’t be disputed though that this sort of thing was a smart idea for the future, as this light of a usage of Axln’s abilities wouldn’t have the usual harsh effects of reversing time.  In fact, this might actually provide them with windows to get their own rest on their own schedule as they jump between two worlds on dramatically opposite sleeping schedules.  Actually, on the subject of mitigated use in chaotic abilities, Lyun too could potentially make use of her own ability without them investing in any of the opposite factors beyond having their cybernetics stay active.  Doing so, Lyun would effectively be able to shield most effects of science and technology, or elements and instrumentation.  It was certainly an idea, of course, but one to consider once they were actually back together in person.. as trying to figure out who was coming up with what like this had become rather a challenge in itself, and as such was actually making it harder to think.

As the connection ended, Axln also restored the flow of time.  That connection thing was probably the weirdest of all of their tricks.  Quite honestly, they had together devised a couple of really good ideas.. and Axln had no idea which of them had been the one to project either.  It felt like both of the ideas were her’s.. but it felt like all what had happened was her’s, that she was just thinking about things to herself.  Four bodies, two people, one being.. in that way.. she kinda was.

“Not bad for a first try, I’m not finding any mistakes.  Really, doubt I could have done better myself, you’re clearly a natural in all of this.”  “Uh.. maybe having a fake hand had something to do with everything.”  “Wait, what?”  “Oh, right, that happened after we saw you.  Here, I’ll take away the illusion and let you see what I mean for yourself.”  With the illusion removed, Ezhyrae was absolutely captivated by Axln’s arm, utterly stunned at this marvel of instrumentation.  However, Ezhyrae also noticed how certain aspects of ersatz design were being captured in the process to what was actually below an optimum level of performance.  With this marvel presented, she quickly wrapped up the work on her current ersatz and then devoted her attention to Axln instead.  However, Ezhyrae quickly identified that making any adjustments would not be possible without knowing some of what certain oddities actually did.  Axln knew that such would only get even more complicated once Lyun actually showed up with the parts she would currently be working on.  This whole situation left Axln wishing she could find a chance to invest in more research, as there were a number of things she really wanted to learn about how this world worked.. so that she wasn’t feeling so oblivious to everything.

Without having the opportunity to manipulate time to her favour, there was no escape for Axln in her current circumstances.  Without any other recourse, she sat through Ezhyrae’s verbose lecture on ersatz design instead.. an alternative which at least might possibly have its own merit.

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