Revisiting Origins
Still with plenty on her mind, Axln returned to find Jhez so that the two of them could discuss the previous matter. For a historian, it would be no small feat having suddenly uncovered an undisclosed portion of world history.
“After all that work, was it really that easy?” “I wouldn’t call it easy. Such a member of the foundry would have only been compelled to come clean with such facts because of our new influence within their own core structure. The concert was a big hit, and that’s what brought us to this. We got exactly what we had set out to achieve.” “Well, it was quite surprising when you suddenly walked in with someone from the foundry and had them suddenly present me with such a lesson. I expect it had taken a bunch of diplomacy that I had not been privy to.. stuff that you then had to further negotiate after leaving?” “Well, yes, that’s very true. This information came at a price, so we should spend it wisely. I’m still going to need to update Lyun on everything too, but I expect she’s still occupied with Creative regarding her own creative pursuits.” “I heard she’s in a drawing class right now, already expanding her skills, so she’s going to be occupied until classes end. You won’t be so free for long either, I heard someone is going to be showing up soon enough to escort you to administration for an official review of your teaching compatibility. Quite honestly, it’s more of a formality, you’re a sure set for the role at this point. I’m still not sure where they will place you, it would depend on what they felt suited your skills enough that was considered in need of another instructor. Before then, we should look into this matter of.. using our new information wisely.” Jhez was scattered across his desk, his attention matching the disorganized sprawl in kind, though Axln really wasn’t fairing much better.
In a matching sprawl, Axln’s eyes found an opportunity to glance over an ultimately familiar book, the same one which had begun everything.. according to a couple of daughters. Sitting directly beside it was another book, this one visibly written in a sensible script.. but having quite a number of similar designs.. and looking almost as old. What drew her attention was how the title of the book held a word she had never seen before.. but one she could easily understand. Above the emblem of a blossom appearing to be made of glass was the title.. ‘Unrestrained destiny, chains unbound’.. for a place that knew nothing of destiny, seeing the word written out in local script really caught her attention. Jhez paused, seeing the book Axln was going for. He had actually uncovered that book from their previous discussion over the word, finding it more than just a slight coincidence. The similarities between the books invested a curiosity too, as if one book had inspired the other somehow. What was strange however was that Jhez had no hopes in reading any of this book either, the entire contents being completely unintelligible. He had set it aside as a dead end ever since, moving to more important matters instead.
Axln however opened the same book and was absolutely stunned at what she found. This book wasn’t at all impossible to read for her.. Lyun wouldn’t have found it hard either. The book was distinguishably written in terran script, original.. authentic.. english. It was undeniable that this author was integral to the Terran Mythos, themselves though self identifying with their role as an arch magus. However, the book even made mention of memories of earth.. this was decidedly going somewhere. The book establishes that the author’s life had been written by the blood of their forebears, their life an unbreakable chain that bound them to a single unwavering path. Meanwhile, it was those same chains that bound all life as a whole, chains that were strangling everyone dry. The only way to free everything from such chains was to unmake the meaning behind destiny, to allow everyone the opportunity to uncover whatever road might truly fit them. The only way to achieve this was to confront the will of the world itself once entitled to rewrite the laws of the world.. and then to erase the chains of fate. The author however expressed that they felt that this was a monumental decision for just one person to make, and that they could only hope that their decision had panned out for the best. They knew though that, assuredly, the will of the veil would be invoked if things grew too stagnant, opening the door to another offworld visitor.. one who could then read a book such as this. Such a person would then be left with the responsibility of making a decision as well, and so would have to work with the will of the world in order to establish their resolution. In light of that, the book was to work as a bit of a log for the decision that had come before. A majority of the pages afterwards were blank, as if they awaited further contribution.
“That book did look like it might have held some potential, but as you can see it’s impossible to read. However, I found a book that might be much more related to our foundry’s tale. It spoke of the astral plane and the foundation of essences. However, I’m not certain where that one had gone. It spoke of how essences are the foundations for all life. As we know though, the foundations of all life is in fact the proper balance of the elements. Neither are wrong, both are related. An essence holds the proper balance of the elements, and there are so many essences. People have an essence, even the world has an essence. A powerful enough essence could potentially snuff out an essence that was much weaker. In that light, it drew a comparison between void and death, as if the purest elemental pair was truly life and death. A balance of essences could not exist unless those two themselves were in balance, life and death equally. Ruixsi solar phases make clear this distinction, where a decline and an abundance of elements prove both dangerous. In that light, even considering the essence capacity of the world, I suspect the promise of this world was not in how it could capture elements, but in how it could balance essence. Discovering a system that actually induced a cycle of balance was little short of a stroke of pure fortune, but it was said that the first ersatz was the luckiest person of their time, that luck would walk in their favour until they could command probability itself.” Jhez continued to scour his collection in hopes of locating such a book, the search proving quickly futile. He picked up another book that looked similar, setting it down upon realizing it was another false promise.
Axln however could see why this one might have drawn Jhez’s attention, it was titled ‘Elements of Life’, a very close concept to the same retelling he had just covered. The book itself had very little of the same to talk about, being almost little more than a theory behind the distinction of different elements.. clearly written before elements had become a real deal. Axln could even see it being even a potential inspiration.. but the whole thing was common news at this point. However, flipping through the pages, a loose note that was left in the book fell upon the desk. On the stray page was the emblem of a crescent moon and the phrase ‘don’t miss the forest for its trees, don’t miss the candle for its flame, don’t miss the night for its stars’. Then Jhez dropped another pile of books on his desk, a gust of wind rushing through the room as a result, and the note was gone.. fluttering along the will of the wind. So far, it was starting to seem like this room devoured written work by its sheer clutter, the place was a futile investment until it was better organized.
“This looks really good, Snowbell. Very impressive.” “Why has everyone been calling me that all day long?” “Well, you did pick the title for yourself, didn’t you? There isn’t a person at the academy at this point who hasn’t seen your performance.” “But it’s not like that’s my name or anything. I only came up with it because I was told for my first performance that it was just a thing done there. Please, I would much rather that only be a stage name.. that I was simply called Lyun otherwise.” “Alright then, Lyun. Your drawing is quite impressive. What is it, anyway? I can’t seem to figure that out.” “Oh, uh.. well.. I guess it’s a random piece too, like the scene of a community if everything was.. different.” “Oh, so these things are supposed to be buildings.. so perfectly linear? I guess you do have quite the imagination. It looks like everything is remarkably tall too, rather unnaturally so. Well, expressing imagination is always looked upon with promise. Keep up the good work.” The drawing instructor left Lyun to her own progress with that, leaving Lyun sweating under the conjecture. She had quite honestly been drawing a landscape picture.. and the whole thing came out looking like a scene from Aestus instead. Such would have been very difficult to explain, most people didn’t actually know she lived between worlds. The fact that she had to pick a diva title for her Aestean concert had also been a difficult point to properly address.
Then again, it was clear that Aestus was on her mind right now. She had been tasked with drawing an imaginary beast that exemplified elemental might.. and had drawn a dragon. To her, that fit, dragons would be mythical beasts that would certainly represent fire. They were even absolutely terrifying, a perfect thing to impress the idea of a real beast. Then again.. such a design was more a myth of Aestus, no one even knew what a dragon was. Drawing a Stormeye had gotten her quite a lot more admiration, even considering how she uniquely captured how it would express lightning. Electrode diodes forming a circuit that sparked in surges, she was honestly drawing like an Aestean. Supposedly, trying to capture reality too much had been her flaw when she had taken sculpting in the past as Rosa.. she really could see how that might have been a problem right now. She actually caught herself at one point mumbling that she just wanted to return to her homeworld. This didn’t even feel like her original world anymore, it felt like she had just adjusted to a place away from home.
Meanwhile, Axln seemed to be in no hurry to leave. Lyun was pretty certain that Axln had the same general impressions going on, it was just Axln was never expressive of her feelings like that. Lyun could tell mostly by the devotion Axln put into research. Axln’s analytical prowess devoted more intent on matters of Ruixsi design than anything Aestean. In the time since both concerts ended, Axln would devote her planning opportunities to Ruixsi matters even while on Aestus. The layers of importance the girl put on one world over the other subconsciously proved more than Axln might admit. Even in consideration of such things, she came to a realization.. that there was very little stopping her from going back home. She was the one who provided the world shift back to Aestus, it was Kori who could shift them back again. Instead of being capable of shifting away from the world they had thought of as home, things had drifted more to the reality that they were capable of opening a path to each other’s homeworld.
Of course, that was then more of a figment of imagination too. In all reality, all four bodies had their own home. Just because she felt more familiar to Aestus didn’t mean that she could just neglect her future in Ruixse. This was something Kori would have to keep in mind as well, the most popular conduit had a future that shouldn’t be neglected. The advantage in both cases was that the remnants of both such sides remained integrated into the past. Lyun still had her workshop, the foundry had even restored her access to such, she could turn the whole thing around in any way she wanted. Kori had also had her office returned to her, the place still standing ready for any related projects. In Kori’s case, Drew had actually offered the idea that Kori’s office could be integrated with Hypertech as an added office, the convenience of being closer to general society making it easier to provide business opportunities for Hypertech. Such had the added feature of having Kori their most client-facing staff, a concept which held immeasurable benefits. Of course, considering Kori had to float between two lives, she would need at least one assistant, but such things could be a work in progress.
Lyun however didn’t have anything nearly so easy. The academy didn’t need any small external workshop, it didn’t apply to anything going on. Sure, it remained a great personal retreat for herself then, a quiet place she could go to deal with her own needs.. but even those had changed. A workshop that only presented instruments for assembly.. such an idea sounded endlessly boring at this point. Instead, maybe she could convert the space into some kind of creative studio, even a music studio. People wanted her to remain Snowbell, she would need a place she could work from as Snowbell.. a place she could use as a personal recluse for quiet development. The Aestean Snowbell had no such worries, Drew certainly had the space at Hypertech to furnish her a personal studio there. Given her popularity all of a sudden, she could even finance the whole thing simply selling tickets for her own concerts. In that light, she had plans after class to go check out her workshop, to figure out what would be required for the project.
Once she was done with her drawings, she made her way over to the underground transit platform, the foundry having restored all services. Considering she had access to plenty of the wealth Ezhyrae was all too eager to share with the true benefactor, Lyun had no concerns with travelling by rift. Quite honestly, she could have gone by Luna’s rift.. but the foundry had expressed concerns with keeping such an advanced transportation system truly organized and so had expressed hope that it wouldn’t be their only selection for travel. It was quite a trip down memory lane coming back here at last anyway, finally booking a ticket away from the academy. Quite a lot had changed in that process, that was for certain. However, even that feeling paled as she finally approached her workshop once again. Sure, this is where she had left from, to originally go to the academy.. but it had also been where things had once been calm and simple. It was from here that everything had in truth really begun.. that one day so very long ago.
“Excuse me, you can’t… Oh.. nevermind. Lady Iezhysevyeihr, you are free to proceed.” “Zxyd, hey. I didn’t expect to…” “I would appreciate it if you didn’t treat one of the wardens so informally. There are a few other wardens present who have made sure the place remains locked down. If you’re here to reclaim your property, we will be out of your way promptly.” “O-oh, y-yeah, s-sure. Thanks.” Zxyd was quickly gone after that, leaving Lyun to her own property. She suspected the wardens were assigned to look after it for a while.. and that they were told to keep the place secure until she came to reclaim it for herself. They had certainly done a good job, practically nothing was touched. She found evidence that her stuff had been searched through.. But the dust that had settled since proved that such would have happened a long time ago.. possibly soon after the foundry took claims to the property. Nothing seemed to be missing, but Lyun wasn’t certain there was anything she would have especially missed if it had been gone. Having momentos of Yhzia would have been the most important part.. but Yhzia hadn’t been around here very much.. this wouldn’t be where such stuff would be found.
Lyun slumped into a corner of her workshop, finding this trip more exhausting than it should rightfully have been. She might have moved on, but confronting Zxyd like that was like opening old wounds. Things really had been quite a mess, even after patching stuff up with the foundry. The going story had been that she had indeed gone into the obsidian vaults and found the seed, but that the thing had crumbled to dust when disturbed. There had been remarks that she should pay restitution for the damages.. but no one could decide on where that money should even go, so the whole matter was dropped. The matters with the citadel were outright dropped, considering there never was any active owner and they had Luna establishing them as the actual owner.. the inheritors. Everything in between was pinned on Mheridz having overly dramatic responses to minor concerns, nothing more was their fault. However, that was only the foundry as a whole. Individuals, such as Zxyd, still had their own personal beliefs to uphold. Zxyd still saw Lyun as an outright monster, totally willing to kill anyone who got in her way without hesitation. Considering her passage through the citadel back then.. she really was much like a monster there, she really couldn’t blame him. Ripping a person apart so viciously would have been nightmarish for someone who was just watching, even if she hadn’t intended for such to happen. Much like Kori to Nick, Zxyd was no longer willing to associate with her at all, and there was no hope in that ever changing.
Everything really was so different right now. The people she hung around with had changed, the places she belonged had changed, even the things she did had changed. She could see all of the familiar instrumentation parts scattering the room, all things looking so disinteresting.. stuff she really didn’t care to work with right now. This had been her life, but it wasn’t her future. Sure, there was nothing stopping her from dabbling from time to time, especially if she ever needed a new instrument. It was work she could do, it just wasn’t a thing she wanted to devote herself to anymore. In truth, the changes weren’t nearly so dramatic, it wasn’t the people around her, the places around her, the things around her.. the only thing that had changed was herself.. but in that she had changed so considerably that she couldn’t even recognize the person she had used to be in herself anymore. Even looking around, she wasn’t certain what would be required to make this place comfortable again. Undeniably, whatever it was, it would certainly require some considerable changes to make everything happen.
Locking the place up once again, Lyun simply returned to the academy to find Axln and move on to other matters. Changes like this could wait, they didn’t need to happen quite so soon, certainly there were other matters that demanded her attention with much more urgency than this.
Luminaeris 