Divergence Phenomenon
The concert had concluded a dramatic success, doing far better than they could have ever hoped to imagine. Events had still left them more than a bit shaken, but this was a marvellous leap in the right direction.
“I figured you would show up here again, right as expected.” “Axln, hells, you surprised me. Well, this is quite the reversal.. as now you’re suddenly predicting what I’m doing. How exactly did you pull everything off, if you don’t mind me asking.” “Well, some of it is thanks to your own ideas. I mean, here we are again, at the academy, and you’re here sneaking in by phase craft.. like no one ever notices one passing through. I mean, after testing it for myself, I can see why.” “You used a phasecraft?” “Well, mostly for the supplies, it was the best way to get Ezhyrae to the site. She needed transport either way, phasecraft seemed the most interesting idea. It was extra helpful that there was a transit center right beside the mall.. one that was extra quiet while everyone should have been sleeping.” “But.. that was you two at the foundry, right? How did…” “Okay, I admit, that was my favourite part. From what I had learned, I had fully expected you weren’t aware of our most recent accomplishments on the other side, so it was a sure win to make use of it. I expect you had heard tales of the three musical events held.. times which seemed to have been a sizable trigger in a chain reaction to each other. Apparently, in your timeline.. things hadn’t gone so well. Well, I’m proud to let you know that we didn’t just end with one shining victory, we had an unbroken chain. Our encounter with Velvet left her pretty much as powerless as yourself. Thanks to that, we could freely wander around that side, even had our own shuttle booked for the occasion.” Axln was pretty much just basking while Mheridz stared at her. Mheridz was convinced, something had just sundered the entire timeline.
“So.. that was more than just a simple feint or bait, you were completely testing your predictions that I would be there, freely capable of moving at will.” “Well, more than that, the whole foundry was such a pristine idea, it was actually the whole original plan.. but things had gone so well in the commercial district on the other side that we decided to try our luck there again here. It seems there really is quite a lot of value in committing the attention of the masses over just a couple of distinct people. I heard the social standing we forged has left quite the impact on the foundry.” “It might have gotten their attention, but Lyun literally creating money still left the greatest impact on them. I had really thought that those were exaggerations, that she hadn’t actually filled the citadel with kyumu dust, just left a lot of if in there.” “Oh, yeah no.. Luna had to pretty much evacuate because there wasn’t room to stash an ersatz anymore. We’ve removed most of it already though, the foundry willing to provide an actual vault for such property.. at our cost, of course. Paid for using ersatz dust too, I should add.” Mheridz felt that even Axln’s clarification of true facts showed just how much this timeline had actually lost it.
“Oh, actually, you want to actually go upstairs? I hear your aunt is actually trying to catch up with her studies, but your father should be free today.” “You know I don’t see the people who would one day be family to me in my timeline as family in your’s, I don’t even see you as my real mother.” “Ah, well, up to you.” “If it was up to me, you would have already…” “.. already given up and let you take over, huh? Maybe you’ve missed it, but things are changing already. It might not be enough to fix the future, but it’s something.. something big.” “I would give you that you’ve defied my expectations, certainly. Your songs were almost thunder.. and you didn’t even seem to notice. The stuff you used to play was a lot more timid. What ever happened to being afraid of loud noises? Lyun too, I had a really nice illusion of lizards handy.. it was supposed to be great.. she totally didn’t even notice.” “I guess we might have just gotten caught up in our own momentum to realize there might be things to be afraid of.” Axln contemplated Mheridz’s message, realizing that the booms they had played.. especially at the start of both concerts.. would have typically put her in shock. Especially all the bass boosting they had done on the other side, the holo was positively vibrating through so much of it. There, she was more distracted by concerns about being introduced as a conduit.. but she was also having a lot of fun through the process. Especially after the whole conduit thing had gone so well, her momentum had become more of an unstoppable avalanche.
“Really.. I guess everything has gone so swimmingly for you for a while now. Right from the last time we met, I could tell there was something unexpected that had stirred.. but I could never figure it out. Then.. all the silence.. the voidspawn not even making any of their historical showings. Adding this.. everything seems so wrong.. but I guess you wouldn’t see it that way.” “It was a great step in the right direction. One more fair hop and well have the discovery of a lifetime.” “Wait, you mean the foundry’s legacy? Do you honestly think you could end everything with just that? Are you so dazzled by your momentum that you’ve gone blind to reality?” “Splitting knowledge means people can’t put the pieces together to see the big picture. Just because the foundry has it all doesn’t mean it can do everything alone, nothing ever works like that.” “That’s not what I mean. Have you ever considered how I made my own wealth? It certainly wasn’t Lyun’s way, I simply don’t have that ability. My way was completely by the book, with enough direct effort to land a sizable profit before I went public with it all. But if I came to this timeline knowing everything…” “… then we already knew about it. How?” “Your second book heist in all history. After you failed to get the support of the foundry, you ended up detained on their property. This is why I tried to personally manage your arrest, putting you on the same site as the object you wanted to steal was outright foolish. The same location is just an abandoned library in the other world, your escape was outright easy.” “Oh, right, yeah.. it is, isn’t it. Dang, that would have been so much easier than all of this.” Mheridz was outright staring at Axln, the genius who had outperformed her so swimmingly hadn’t even noticed such a thing the entire time. It was absolutely unbelievable how blind the girl had grown.
“I can’t believe you, you know that, right? You run around pondering this extravagant thing, stumble through some of the worst hoops and land your way into this absurd mess after effectively making puppets out of everyone.. and you didn’t notice something so simple gleaming right before your eyes? How?” “Ah, well, actually, in that light, maybe that habit might run in the family. Did you ever hear tales about the mark of the chaos in your timeline?” “Yes, it’s the reason your arm has been saturated with the void, the reason it became so pale.. or.. wait.. it’s not pale…” “Runs in the family. Then again, I don’t think Velvet noticed either.” “This.. but.. what…?” “You’ve been nice, but I think I’ve said plenty. I don’t exactly see why I would want to…” “Do you want the complete version of Ruixse’s world history given to you right here and now, which includes the legacy of the foundry?” “I.. uh.. wow.. that’s.. some offer, not going to lie. Are you sure you would care to part with that?” “Knowing it myself, I still see the knowledge doing nothing to resolve your concerns, the whole process simply delaying any real resolution. Meaning, the sooner you stop wasting time with it, the sooner something productive could happen. Meanwhile, altering the composition of a substance from the temporal plane is all directly related to our great enemy. This is way more valuable to direct attention towards.” Mheridz clearly valued her personal mission above information that could potentially equally have globally lasting prosperity, something Axln didn’t agree with. Sure, Mheridz was pursuing a cause that would save this world.. but in all accounts this knowledge establishes why the world had any value to begin with.
That wasn’t the only thing either, there was the voice of the temporal plane, the temporal lady. Such an entity had asked them to uncover the founding loose brick in the world, something which explained it’s previous demise, so that they would have a direct counter to that single fact. Fulfilling that single goal would do more for saving the world than learning about rogue chaos. Then again, if they both believed they were profiting the most from this exchange.. there really was no reason to disregard the opportunity.
“Fine, but on one condition. I want more ears on this than mine, so you will need to also include Jhez so that the historian can account for everything too.” “So you basically want me to see him anyway. Okay then, deal. Even so, let’s not make a big deal about my presence here, I don’t want to waste the time.” Axln walked with Mheridz back up to the surface, in the direction of the archives. Of course, Mheridz didn’t need directions, she visibly knew where she was going. They found Jhez quickly enough, Axln bringing him up to speed on why Mheridz was here just to make things quicker. With that out of the way, Mheridz didn’t even wait for Jhez’s shock to resolve before beginning.
“So the root secret behind condensed kyumu is that it’s basically a condensation of cosmic essence. Taeqhyx is actually very rich in ethereal essence, which is why it’s close proximity gives us a rich reserve of it all. Celese also had a rich reserve of the same, but it had plenty enough within itself. Cosmic bodies have their own varied capability in retaining such a thing, with Ruixse having a notably poor capacity. All of this is significant because the first ersatz was an astral being, completely in tune with the qualities of essences. She would have used such an ability as a guidepost to determine a world’s viability, considering the seed itself is an embodiment of a world’s essence in form, a seed from which the ethereal essence of a world could be born. However, most worlds have a poor capacity in such things.. but there is always the consideration of surrounding conditions. Yhndaeqi’s star cluster is said to have worlds that can’t retain much essence at all, leaving them a barren void. But if Taeqhyx is the reason why we have so much essence at all, and Ruixse is actually rather poor at the whole ordeal, why is this the only world that can have such rich cycles of elements? The answer is precisely what the first ersatz would have seen in this world.” Mheridz took a moment to recalculate her thoughts before proceeding, making sure she hadn’t lost her audience yet in any round of confusion. With no interruptions, she continued.
“As you would know, Ruixse has two moons, Izheelq and Hyxeelq. In the old tongues, it is said that both originally would mean Common Candle and Outer Candle. Thinking of such cosmic bodies as candles was no coincidence. From what I learned, the first ersatz’s particular knack for essences left her seeing essences as flames, which would go to explain why our two moons…” “Small flames.. the moons are powerful sources of essence that could keep things going even while Taeqhyx was far away.” “Quite honestly, it’s probably the richest source of kyumu in the void phase, which would be why flights there are so regulated. Bluffing my own visit was difficult enough, though I heard you bypassed all such restrictions about the same way as you made it to the citadel, an otherworldly transport followed by a world shift. Of course, between the two, Izheelq is the far more profitable course. It’s not only much closer, it’s also far better at sustaining such elements. I do hear though that Hyxeelq’s potential to pass through such stuff smoothly makes it a great repository for elements during phases when there is too much of it going around. It’s quite a comfortable place to develop ashen deposits to help with excess elements, a commodity that the foundry also protects during that phase. In my time though, we had hardly any use for the stuff, losing so much elemental essence to voidspawn. Having a couple of extra candles didn’t make any difference.” Mheridz finished her short presentation for Axln, finalizing with a reinforced belief that this knowledge didn’t change their situation at all. It was at least something for Axln to consider, but first she would deliver on her side of the agreement. For that part though, she didn’t want to include Jhez, so after excusing the two of them, Axln brought Mheridz over to her own private office.
“So, as you should know by now, all of the voidspawn stuff you keep knowing things as is generally a bit more than that. On the other side, they call it a DMA, because having no energy is represented very differently there. The truth behind either is that those things are really entities of chaos.. which effectively means they aren’t exactly in support of principled concepts like elementals and energy. Primitive chaos like that feels that principled concepts are the vice of their existence, and as what remains basically a hive mind.. they want to spread to new planes. However, as a hive mind, it means all of chaos there is mutually on the same wavelength. Consider then the terms of the mark we endure, a bond that connects us not only to each other.. but also to a given entity of chaos. I would give you that a given concern would be the perceptual influence of such chaos, having it manipulate us.. and that had certainly been a concern for our pale phase. However.. in the same way as we remain exposed to it, it remains exposed to us. It seems this particular sample of chaos has developed quite an interest in the chaos of life as we know it, a feeling coined as true chaos. The principles that bind us only serve to then provide a flexible variance of change that sends us wildly spirling in any direction. Meanwhile, the uniform unchanging chaos found in primitive chaos drives it into a uniform design that appears outright organized and simple.” Axln had to almost channel the perspective of her chaos to form the right impressions, but that hadn’t proved overly difficult.
“Consider then the outcome when the chaos bound to us starts actually liking this idea of true chaos and starts supporting the use of principles as a way to further the interest of chaos. That’s pretty much against the core values of the hive mind, resulting in it becoming outcast and rejected as a rogue chaos. Consider then that this chaos has become a part of Lyun and I.. and so how well it would have taken being rejected from its original hive mind and society with the influence of our own way of thinking. It had been quite the onset of rebellion ever since, with our chaos vowing to deliver true chaos to its kind.. even if that required it to stand in direct opposition. From there, we had what I expect was a rather rash action of defiance, where chaos willingly exposed itself to the influence of principles so that it could appeal to the opportunity of true chaos. Now, in all honesty, I know this is a distinction between my timeline and your own, every instance of true chaos has caused things to deviate. Having access to randomized elements has enabled us to be very unpredictable. However, such chaos is still waiting for the chance to shove randomized elements down the throat of its own kind, to devour the primitive and open the door for embracing true chaos. It has then pledged support of our principled efforts in order to achieve this goal, declaring an oath to devoting its eternal existence to safeguarding such principles and in turn our entire existence.. simply so that true chaos can prevail.” Axln then returned to her arm, drawing indication to its current state, before she continued.
“So is thus and then presented our ebony shift. Originally, we had to have concerns about exposing such chaos to the elements and how the two would interfere.. there is no such concern any longer. Our ebony arm is decidedly stable and exceedingly skilled at weaving the elements. I can tell exactly how it became ebony here, the whole kyumu deal being a great comparison. Rather than being ashen, it’s a void that amplifies the elements. Sure, it’s very difficult to apply, considering how the very design is purposely spontaneous.. but when it comes to randomization, the options are limitless.” “… and you even knew gaining such a power was a timeline divergence, I’m suspecting that such a secret has become the foundation of your confidence in your own ability to address your own timeline. In all accounts though, you’ve only turned a sliver of the enemy to your cause, the additional strength shouldn’t make enough of a difference. However, I suspect saying such will do little to convince you, leaving us at an impasse. After all, your gain is small.. but it is undeniably something. Our enemy is immortal, so an eternal pledge would really extend to eternity.” Axln knew Mheridz’s had a slight point, that this was still a matter of the one against the many. She knew that anyone alone could not stand up against endless odds.. but that it would be important to find others to work with, advantages to work from. That’s how her own life had gone too. Velvet had mentioned speculation of the butterfly effect, and maybe in that light this small potential could blossom into a change that was even greater.
“Accounting for the idea that such a rebellion has caused for most of the changes does put a few key ideas together. The whole concert.. you made things work out by depending on such spontaneous shifts to regulate the variables at your disposal. You actively unmade the curse then, given how the curse itself is a randomization factor designed to make things spiral out of control. You never did like how luck worked here, always speaking of something called fate being more logical. It was a very high-risk move.. but it worked out for you. However, probability is never so simple, messing with chance is supposed to come back to get you in the end. I worry about what sort of impact you might have caused, scrambling the weave of chance so recklessly, but you would have done so knowing that the outcomes could not be predicted. Thus, the consequences of your actions are your own to face, I’m still more worried about how this might have instead impacted our enemy. I suspect our enemy has gone silent because it is speculating how it might address this betrayal. You’ve taken it out of the picture for a time because things have gotten much more complicated, it has never had to face its own before. Just the same as my small traces of such chaotics make it harder to be manipulated by it, a pure entity of the same would be effectively immune to attacks of its own nature. However, our enemy does not need to kill its betrayer, it only needs to erase everything else. Doing so, there would be nothing left but to have the betrayer return to its kind in defeat. That suggests that our enemy is working directly to that agenda, staying hidden from your true chaos in a hope to overwhelm you. Victory as a course of numbers.. and I know our enemy has numbers.” Mheridz was considering this train of thought to contemplate the potential actions taken by her enemy, realizing that the silence may have been little more than the calm before a storm.
“Vael and I have ourselves pledged to our final cause, working together to ensure everything works out across worlds. In light of this, I have a request to make of you. You had me tell Jhez about my secret in addition to yourself, I need you to do me the same kindness for Vael. She will need to know why our enemy has been silent. You’ve undermined both of our advantages in this timeline, removing most of our ability to deal with potential threats, leaving her ignorant to the details leaves that world in direct peril. Even if you do plan on personally steering the course of this timeline to a victory despite our claims that it wouldn’t be possible, you would have no chance to do so if that world falls. Vael might not be the best at keeping track of her history, but she’s the only one there for that world who could account for its future. You would do well to not disregard that advantage.” “That’s not what we had originally agreed to.. but I’ll be sure to consider the suggestion.” “Very well. Make sure to stay in touch. Our enemy will no longer react on the same schedule as I had learned growing up, meaning I won’t be able to simply predict their next attack. Our enemy will set out to directly overwhelm the betrayer, which is going to involve you at all levels. Ensure you are prepared for that confrontation.” Mheridz then unexpectedly simply stepped into the hall, her parting words being her formal farewell to Axln without early warning. Axln stepped out into the halls to find her.. but she was already gone. Stealth illusion, most likely, the girl really wanted to make up for having her arrival so easily predicted. Axln let Mheridz go, there wasn’t any point in trying to just chase the girl down. Both of them had plenty to think about, it was a prime opportunity to part ways and sort out their thoughts.
Though all of this, chaos did wait and watch, silently attentive to the promises of opportunity as it continued its own preparations. It’s chance opportunity was soon to come, in fact chance itself appeared a curious concept that seemed to reject the very logic of potentials.. that idea too was a chance opportunity.
Luminaeris 