"What is your purpose in doing this?"
The Abductor did not respond.
"Are you working for Gris Astara as well? How did you get past my barrier and detection?"
The Abductor merely shook his head and pre-redacted himself partially.
"Even __________ is subject to Decay."
She took a moment before connecting the dots, to fully gleam the implications of her thoughts.
"Decay… you couldn't be the-."
The Abductor considered his words carefully. The Space Between Archives had some very eccentric rules due to their bondages in-and-of Pataphysics.
"I'm He who Blindly Believed, and found ruination; degeneration, rot, a fetid return to Dirt and Ash."
For the briefest of moments, Analia Sirius could have sworn that she could see some echo of empathy and genuine sapience behind the Abductor's empty, pitch eyes. Then she began to address the sentiment.
"So then, you're what would otherwise be-." But the Abductor's field cut her off, forcibly decaying the vibrational wavelengths of sound before they could be transmitted.
'Unbelievable,' The Administrator. 'So this is what decay has the potential of producing.'
"{Who, what, why I found it, that putridly beautiful cancer The Eldest extricated from himself; the Same forgot that Cancer can live outside of a Petri Dish, so long as the tumor is sated.Even The Author and his Cadaver
'But it seems, it is not omnipresent when he needs to divide his attention;' Analia continued thinking to herself, 'Even so, I should not make any sudden moves. He's been wary of something this entire time, as if we're both being watched. Best thing I can do is buy time.'
"You can't answer me directly, can you? Not in regards to your purpose or commissioners."
"Those are odd words to use for those who makes slavers of men look like saints."
'Slavers? Is Gris Astara planning to-?"
"...Then why-."
"But no," A withered husk of a finger was brought to bare, as the Abductor pondered his choice of words carefully. Knowing that due to his pre-scripted actions he was a focal point in the Narrative, ----- --- --- had its eyes on him, and ----- couldn't do without knowing. "My… 'Benefactor'," he wheezed half in injury, half in amazement and jubilation that such a mockery had managed to get through in spite of the metaphorical eye staring bloody daggers through his existence, and lowered his finger for a moment. "Has beckoned me to do this, in order for youto bear witness and warning, in honor of our previous engagements and prior working relationships. Something is coming, Gris Astara is planning to implant something inside the local noosphere."
"What… is coming, Agent of Decay?"
He considered his words carefully as he once more lifted his withered finger, this time to point above them, and encapsulated them in a field of manifested obfuscative senescence to hide the two of them from Arius' gaze;
"Can you understand my tone now, Analia?"
"Just give me a straight answer for one fucking thing, please; before you drop anything else on me."
"Is your current state the result of something I have done, whether by direct interference or tangential entanglement?"
<"Only in that you have slightly sped up the process in your actions that would have inevitably played out in a later time without you doing as you had. But I need you to understand that's not what's important right now. If you can see it, you must know what I've done. What you need to comprehend is that I did so unwittingly. I can't exposit too much further just yet, but if you can see what I think you can...">
"Just what in the hell did you-."
We took a deep breath in.
<"Analia, not right now-." Shit, the link is undergoing decoherence, I can't maintain this any longer. "Maybe Later… but not… right now…" I feel my consciousness slip from the Agent of Decay.>
"He's a tricky little fuck, but I will give him due credence for the sheer dumb luck of his actions. For the time being, we need you alive and out of His and their sights. You asked what is coming, Administrator?"
Analia Sirius looked up at the The Nameless Agent of Decay, laying her fear bare: Her fear of what she had unleashed, of what she may or may not have set in motion, and this shifting aberration of an Exception.
"Beneath the horrors embedded in his head, under all the agony of his tortured psyche, inside of all the Anguish… is something ***** lost ages ago; That kid is an anchor to something that once was, which is no more… That child is a bridge between what cannot be and what is possible. Even my True Master cannot Dream what yet lies ahead. So yes."
[Render at 3.14% completion]
____________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
It has been one Sybelian week since Lee handed the Bone to Ordanu and since Analia went missing. Surprisingly, most who were aware of her absence kept it on the down low; whether the purpose was to keep everyone calm, or in the dark, both or even something else, no one could say. Maybe they were waiting, biding their time to see if she would return. Lee had spent most of his free time trying to wrap his mind around the way this facility and its inhabitants operated while he waited for Ordanu and Lexo to send word that his weapon was ready. Meanwhile, he spent six hours each day in the Library, taking in lore and magick, trying to make sense of his predicament; being stuck in someone else's story. Daritz took up four hours of every other day, showing him how to tend the Aviary. He'd seen Vivye in passing once or twice but she primarily kept to herself, seemed most of her work when not out in the field could be accomplished from her dwelling.
"But I can't keep this up much longer; I only have but a fraction of what's necessary and not her authority."
For the whole time, it'd been the primary source of occupation within Lee's mind; what exactly would the tool he'd receive take the shape of? How would it function? What kind of weight would be tacked on? Was it a weapon or a tool of utility? This entire week, in the smith, Ordanu beyed Lexo but once.
"Lexo, bring me the fifth article, for him to find his way when every other door has been closed."
In the midnight hours, he'd spend his waking moments pondering why his Sponsor had lied to him, what 'falling short' would look like, as well as what the penalty would be. What would the correct choice have been? Would anyone have managed to pull it off correctly the first time? Each night, he'd eventually come to recognize that it was futile to worry about what could not be known, and Jan'Ros would explain in great detail any number of ways trying to force the answer could go wrong. Attempting to unravel the mind of a god is a maddening prospect, moreso when said god is bound to an aspect of reality.
"An Exception you may be, but I would have had you as My Hand. You could not have been so audacious to ask it of me, though; as you were already more so than most would have dared…
… And you knew you were."
Twice in that time, Lee had gone to witness the interrogation techniques of Damocles Division, in the lower sub-level holding cells. For a third time, today, he came down to sub-level 3 to watch. Each Sublevel of the facility had four times the surface area of the one above it. He was too fed up with the lack of answers their methods were getting to appreciate the sheer immensity of the facility, however. It's not as though the methods implemented were not effective, just… not for the three Lee handed over to Lexo. Lee watched with growing agitation as the leader of the group, 109 laughed off a fresh session of waterboarding with a shocking twist. Maybe it showed on his face because the attendants beside him in the observation chamber for Cell Block C-12 consciously took three steps away from him.
"And every day I ask myself, why are you so intent on seeing this through to the end; I cannot answer. Not because I have none, but because to give one would mean to give it away."
_______________________
"Sir, is something wrong?"
I groaned in dismay at the question posed.
"I'm sorry if it's not up to your-."
"No," I denounced the statement before it was finished. "I'm just… really itching to introduce that smug face to an actual storm." I turned to the attendant on my left, "Does that sound weird?"
This attendant was a humanoid Avian. The form of a human with the head of a horned owl and wings tucked neatly in pockets in the backside of her uniform. A contemplative pause preceded her answer.
"Considering their origins, I wouldn't think so. That said, maybe don't let that become your norm for dealing with people in general," She said as her left wing came out of its pocket and fluttered slightly at the tip before returning. A curious expression of body language, if I had to guess. I nodded curtly.
"True, and fair point." I looked through the one-way perception block keeping 109 from seeing us; he had the most punchable shit-eating grin on his face as he twitched from the convulsion.
"Miss, I-."
"I'm known by Heizol; if you don't mind, Lee," She cut me off.
"Nice name. Heizol, would it be a problem if I stepped in?"
Heizol looked past me and at the other attendant who returned the look. The one on my right was a Lizardman, resembling a Komodo Dragon to a certain degree but he walked upright.
"Arza, is that permissible?"
"Heizol, it'sss not impermissible, but it would be wissse to confirm with Oversight before letting him have hisss way."
… Was that a snake's lisp? And selective at that! Forget it, not important right now.
"So then," I turned to face the one on my right, "if I had permission from Oversight, you'd allow me to take a crack at it?"
"That'sss correct. But they are notoriousss for dragging their feet." He responded with spiteful reprehension. "There's a backlog of work spanning a full nautical league they're behind on because of how slothful they are."
"When did this begin?"
"It was about six months before you showed up," Heizol replied stoutly. "Analia has been at odds with them ever since and kept hounding their asses to keep them in line, but in the past week alone they've gone completely slack!"
I exhaled sharply and lifted my head.
"How about we keep it off the books, then?"
Heizol shuddered and Arza felt his blood run slightly colder than normal.
"Lee, what do you have in mind?"
"I have a few things I wanted to try." I gripped Time's Keeper tightly. There's something on the horizon, and I want to know what. We aren't getting anywhere with the conventional interrogation techniques… we need to be a bit more… imaginative. "I can almost guarantee answers, if I am permitted. Rest assured, you won't need to worry about losing your assets, since you both know what I am."
Though if they are uncooperative, they may end up wishing for death. Ah well, they wouldn't get it if I had my way.
"This isn't advisable, Lee. We can't in good conscious let you step in without knowing that you can remain impartial."
I inhaled deeply and exhaled just as thoroughly as I slowly raised my hands vertically.
"You know I wanted to talk them down at first right? You also understand I froze them in chronostasis instead of killing them, and delivered them to you still breathing and able to talk."
"Yesss, though definitely not unssscathed…"
"Oh please, I could have unmade that imprint as well, and its effects. Look, you want information, this guy doesn't want to give, and his very face makes me want to traumatize him. Our interests align and you haven't been getting anywhere."
The two shared a glance.
"I am willing to scapegoat myself completely on your behalf, all you have to do is grant me a blind eye. Time is no object."
Arza cocked his head upwards to the side as Heizol whispered something into it, who responded to it with a low acknowledging growl. Heizol nodded and sternly furrowed her feathered head.
"You will have to make it very convincing, you will have only three minutes relative to our time. We can't offer anything more than a blind eye and this will be the only time unless you can bring results. If you aren't back at our side by the exact second the timer runs out, you will be exposed. You understand what that means, right?"
"That 'Escape' means returning to point A before Time's up, that getting out of here is just as good as getting caged and that I need to hold true to my words to score any brownie points; that about sum it up?"
"Wait for our mark," Arza noncommittally affirmed. "We're gambling with our livelihoodsss here."
_________________________
_________________________
"Cameras are set to loop for four minutes, but you need to be back in three. If the grid his cell is in flags any anomalies persisting within it for longer than 180 seconds that aren't authorized to be within it, sentries will be unleashed and a lockdown will commence. You don't want to get caught up in the crossfire." Heizol explained as Arza configured the circuit on the main console.
I nodded. "Do I have to worry about it sending data to any eyes that would be better off not knowing about my shenanigans?"
"No, this is an isolated system in our facility. Once I input this sequence into the console, you're on the clock Lee. We're also going to have to close the door behind you."
'I'll be able to help you there. Don't worry, I already set a bookmark when you walked in the room.'
"There is one last thing you need to understand before we send you in. Arza, you're better suited to explaining this, but you're not doing our guest any favors by making him think you have a lisp while trying to explain technical context, so drop it."
Arza groaned and his tone shifted upwards, just barely enough to be noticeable.
"You're killing me, Heizol; if I can't have any fun with the rookie, what's the point? We are risking our asses on this."
"That's precisely why, Arza."
"Whatever," Arza looked directly into my eyes with reptilian intruige. "Yes, we know what you are, and it's precisely because of what you are that we were hesitant to send you in. There is one mechanism I can't disable because it runs on its own exclusive grid that encompasses the containment wing in its entirety, and it'll dampen your capabilities to 'stretch the moment', until you are inside of the cell."
I had to blink, I'm almost certain Jan'ros would have as well.
"If I may ask, to what extent are we talking?"
"You may, although you already did. If I'm remembering my math correctly and I am, you'll be limited to ten microseconds of stoppage per activation."
It took me a collective seven seconds to realize my mouth was hanging open.
"What in the {Insert Dolphin Noises here} did you construct!?"
"A Half-Planck Onto-metronomic Equalization Sink."
"A… a hwa-?"
"The fuck are you learning in Arduen's Archives, kiddo? Empty-headed academics, I swear. To spare you the jargon, every so many ticks it emits a Tachyon disruption pulse across the floor, and each tick is scaled to a half a universal minimum timespan inside of a pocket dimension; you're not going to be able to disable it and I am not capable of bypassing it, so until you are in the cell with your query, you're going to have to play by the Grid's rules," Arza concluded.
'I think you're ready to give autonomous activation a go, anyways. We still fall within acceptable parameters.'
"Why would I not be fine in the Grid when I'd be fine in a Cell?" I asked Arza.
"Because the Cells themselves don't have to be impenetrable when the setting of said cells is membraned by an Exclusionary Field which functionally separates them and their contents from baseline reality while active. The only thing you'll have going for you is that it's not currently operating at full capacity. Are you sure Arduen isn't losing his edge in mentorship?"
'I doubt it's dulled that much,' I mused to myself.
_____________________
[Three Days Ago]
[Arduen's Archives; Roof Level]
[Local Time: 1443]
_____________________
"Lee, humor me for a moment."
We were sparring but had taken a moment to catch our breath. I gave Arduen an acknowledging look.
"What do you plan to do about situations where you cannot employ your gifts to their fullest extent?"
"Compensate where I can, adapt where I can't; that's my ploy." I answered honestly.
Arduen shrugged.
"That's fair and all, but there's more that you can actively and immediately make use of that you likely haven't been giving any thought to."
I cocked my head inquisitively.
"Such as?"
Arduen groaned as he bent his knees to sit down.
"Where you come from, Magick isn't very commonplace. Even to those unable to use Magick in this world, it's a fact of life, something we can't easily imagine going without. You, on the other hand… all you have to do is look harder to find what you might consider a workaround. Magick, as versatile as it is, is neither Omnipotent nor perfect."
He took a hunk of charcoal out of his pocket and traced a basic sigil on the roof.
"Every component of a spell or a phenomena is something that can be utilized by anyone with the wits knowledge and capacity to do so. What most of us lack however, is something that is of no object to you; you can take as much time as you need to analyze the setup, the composition, of a phenomena."
Something in his gaze told me he had more to say but was remiss to speak of it, and that realization was reflected in my expression.
"In contrast, you've also lost something in coming here. You can feel it, can't you? How everything here feels… off, like anything about everything is orderly in a way that should not be possible? … Don't look at me like that, I'm not reading your mind as much as I'm speaking from experience here."
"Then explain."
"I can only apologize if my explanation raises more questions, and I won't be able to say as you might anticipate.
"See, we rarely deal with chaos in Sybelia; it's exotic. As best as I can concisely surmise, this realm is not bound to Entropy. You, however, come from a world steeped in it."
"… I guess you were right about it raising more questions, but I don't know what that means."
"Your unique perspective will carry you far so long as you nourish it, kiddo. I can't say anymore without spoiling you. Sorry."
I turned my head up to the sky with a smile.
"Don't be, it's definitely something to think about."
_________________________
[Present Time]
_________________________
"I think I understand; we can start when you're ready."
I opened Time's Keeper as Arza leaned over the console and threw a number of switches up and down.
"You're on the clock, kid! Mark!"
The door opened and I pressed the knob in, rushing through as the world began to slow to a crawl; I had made it down the stairs from the observation deck when I looked at the face of Time's Keeper. The smaller hands were moving at a pace I could perceive, one microsecond had passed.
'Ok, this is apparently a bit more of a nerf than I had anticipated. I'll make do, though.'
Paced myself past three cells all lined back-to-back to one another, all appearing to almost be standing still; the slightest shifting of muscles and bone under flesh spanning across the new rate at which time played itself out.
Four microseconds had passed.
'Jan'ros, we're almost halfway to the first hurdle; tell me you're ready.'
'Let it come.'
Another two cells past where I stood, I still had another dozen or so cells to get through; the anticipation was unnerving me ever so slightly. Seven microseconds had passed. I heard a warped whirring that sounded like it should have been much higher in pitch announce itself under the floor.
'It's about to discharge, can we bypass it?'
'Not without knowing how it operates. Brace yourself, you don't want to be moving when that pulse discharges.'
'Oh crap,' I forgot about the momentum, I planted my feet down sideways at the eighth microsecond to try and hold myself back. It wasn't enough; I braced for impact at the ninth microsecond and closed my eyes as I slid into the tenth. I felt a pinch of static 'grace' my heels and rush upward through my entire body and locking it in place, simultaneously resetting my time-scale from 1,000,000:1 back to 1:1 without a means to adjust as I lost my footing.
Then for whatever reason, as time strained trying to return to its objective rate of progression, I felt a cessation of tension. I was midair when his voice echoed from the back of my head with a single moment forcibly stretched out to infinity without my input.
'Autonomous Activation Commenced, utilizing rogue Tachyon polarization to suffuse resting energy into kinetic slingshot. Amplification factor – 2.5x per exposure event. Palms to the ground.'
As was dictated to me, I began to fall back to the ground and outstretched my hands towards it, shifting my center of gravity above my head, with my palms out.
_____________
[In the Observation chamber…]
_____________
"Heizol…" Arza struggled to comprehend what he was watching, "Do you think we did the right thing?"
Heizol ruffled her head feathers groaning.
"I don't know if we can be worried about right or wrong at this point. We did it."
"He started off taking actions at a millionth of a second the moment we opened the door."
"And now?"
"He got struck by the Tachyon pulse… and…"
"And what, Arza?"
"He rebounded and accelarated to two and a half times as much speed as he started with."
Heizol's pupils dilated by 34%.
"Heizol, I can't help but be worried about whether or not we did the right thing because we did it," Arza felt a bead of cold sweat seep out from between two scales on the back of his neck's base.
"All the more reason we can't worry, Arza. For better or worse, we're bearing witness to Mortal Divinity. We could not have-."
Arza held up a reptilian claw. There were footsteps coming down the access hall towards the door to the observation chamber.
"Arza," Heizol whispered sharply. "Shutter the windows and shift the console viewport over to the second floor of C-block, the Northwest Quadrant."
"And what will you do?"
Heizol answered him by slapping an isolated panel on the wall, which responded by extending a miniaturized console out from it upon lifting.
"Lee, you better make the most of this opportunity, we're going into the deep-fryer."
She looked to the right side of the console and slammed a black button on the right side of the console, then proceeded to speak into a microphone just above it.
"All non-essential containment staff, Code Orange on level 2, block C. Please evacuate towards the decontamination chamber immediately! I need Haz-wards on the floor at vent 9-f2 ten seconds ago!"
Heizol's feathers traced across the console with an almost supernatural acuity, subtly inputting a feedback command towards C-block's ventilation shafts.
"Spoilers, Arza, and set the query's cell doors to auto-lock in five seconds!"
The footsteps were almost at the door now.
"Everything is set, Heizol. Act as naturally as possible."
The door opened.
"Why hello, we… weren't expecting you today, miss."
_____________________________________
[Returning to Block C's Grid…]
_____________________________________
'Lee, I have to surmise something's happened on the observation deck, our target's cell doors are shuttering down.'
'Well, not like it was meant to be easy. Luckily… we're about to hit another exposure event.'
I kept running with yet one microsecond to go as the whirring from below reached a slowed fever pitch in this monochromatic state. This time something felt different; the pulse had less impact than the first.
'Secondary Exposure registered – Kinetic Amplification supplanted.'
I came to a realization as soon as my foot hit the ground as I nearly tripped over myself with how much extra torque was being generated.
'Oh, this is not sustainable.'
'Just because you have a body that can handle the ravages of time does not mean you will instantly have a handle on tachyon application. You can't handle too much saturation!'
'We can do something about that when we make it there, but I don't know if we can handle another exposure event at this point.'
Actually, I knew. We couldn't. If I overshot the cell, well… I didn't want to think about it. 5 more cells to go, and the shutter was already down by 2 cm. The cells were uniform, meaning all their dimensions were the same. The door of any given cell went all the way from the ground, to 5 cm beneath the top of the cell. If the shutter went down past the 5cm gap, I was going to be locked out on the grid.
I felt the beginnings of a reverberation coming from elsewhere in the facility.
'That would appear to be a diversion. That explains the desperation of this ploy…'
'Think I would be able to short-circuit the shutter with enough juice?'
'I doubt it and I think that would work against you, seeing how the shutter being left open would leave you open to observation from the outside.'
'Are you sure we're not being double-crossed?'
'Positive, Lee. You could cast a temp-stop on its descent though, which would last until the next pulse washes the residual magicks away…'
'Well, I guess I do need to match their desperation if I'm to do this successfully.'
I raised a finger toward the shutter slowly descending and uttered a single word in my mind: 'cease.'
_________________________________
[Reverting to Observation Chamber]
_________________________________
I walked into the Observation deck to behold it shuttered with the console focused on C Block, with a chemical backflow leaking out of a vent being relayed through the cameras. I was accompanied by Lexo and the Lieutenant of the Barracks.
"It seems I've caught you at a bad time; Arza, Heizol; I was under the impression that Lee would be here."
Heizol and Arza looked at each other and blinked once.
"He was here… he's not anymore." Heizol surmised reluctantly.
Did they take me for a fool? That was the most uncommitted non-answer I'd heard all day, and I had just gotten done dealing with freaking Oversight prior to Lexo fetching me.
"So it would seem, pray tell; do you know where he might be?"
"V…" Lexo groaned behind me.
I can't blame him, he's much more straightforward than I am; loathed to deal with secrecy and double-speak… I envy how straight-laced that Lycan is, at times.
"Apologies, Lexo; not right now."
A scorned growl of restraint uttered from his throat.
"Unfortunately Misssssss, he did not sssay where he wassssssss going," Arza spoke up.
A blatant lie, but his conviction with telling it is almost commendable, almost.
"I see... and were I to wait here for a bit, is there a chance I'd see him? It is, admittedly urgent."
"Mistress Vivye, as you pointed out, this is kind of a bad time and your query isn't present. I'm currently in the middle of monitoring and directing cleanup operations."
"Then please continue on as you were, Heizol. I won't be long."
I noticed Arza shooting Heizol a glance that seemed to imply something.
I see, so that's what's going on… Normally, I'd have to be uptight about this, but seeing how Oversight just tried fucking my eardrums for the past three hours over false pretense after false pretense, I'm willing to give them some leeway, assuming they can put on a performance that entertains. So long as whatever is going on subverts Oversight's... Incessantry, I'll play along.
Something did… evade my gaze, I'd only find out about later: Arza's tail had turned a gauge on the console counter-clockwise by a mere half degree, cracking open a door.
___________________________
[Returning to Grid Perspective]
___________________________
Holy crap, the spell worked! Just a few more meters, the shutter was down 4 centimeters now, but I noticed something else; the door opened just a hair, just wide enough for me to force it open.
I thrust my hand through the gap, forcing it open and stepping inside before closing it, half a microsecond before a third pulse could be emitted. I fell to my knees and caught my breath as Time's Keeper turned off all active functions beyond those of passively being. The door was shuttered over behind me.
'You owe them a thank you, as much as they'll owe you for this Lee.'
'Is that so?'
I looked around the cell as the darkness that was cast over the interior was dispelled by an overhead red light, as I stowed Time's Keeper in my garments. It was… plain. A blanket atop a futon, with a desk in the middle sitting at a meter high, with a stool built into the floor before it. Atop that stool, my query greeted me bitterly as he walked over to the far corner of the Cell.
"Well, I wasn't expecting visitors, least of all you amidst the presence of all the sycophants. I suppose it's only fitting in some twisted way."
The moment those words hit my ears, I felt an urge to place my knuckles against his temple, again.
"I believe they called you… 109?"
"It is bold of you to assume you are worthy of addressing me, and so dryly by my designation. What is your pu-."
"Silence, Mutt of the Grey Star."
Oh, that felt so
"Then ask your questions," 109 sighed with a sneer from the far corner of his cell. "You're not getting anything out of me."
"Right, like I didn't turn you into contemporary art, and I didn't hand you over to these fine people."
"These fine people, as you describe them, will all be dead within a week, and you will likely be among the dead."
"Will they now?"
"Oh look at you trying to bait me into giving you context. Do you have delusions of cleverness?"
'Lee?'
'I know, I know. Let's just start with a buildup.'
'Ok, so what do we open with?'
'How about we start with the Vessel?'
"How about a game instead, 109?"
"What do you have up your ass to think I would ever-."
"It's either that, or I just skip the pleasantries. Surely you can't tell me that you aren't the slightest bit curious as to what I can do?"
"I don't know what you did the first time we encountered, but I can tell you for a fact that this exclusion field is going to make it rather difficult to do what you did before." 109 said smugly.
"Oh, I don't really like making a habit of using the same tricks on the same dumb dog twice unless I absolutely have to."
I approached the corner he was in slowly.
"You're going to wish I only did the same thing as before; you see, I don't know this world's rules of engagement, or interrogation, or acquisition. That means, I have a mind full of ideas that I can dish out upon you and I wouldn't know if it constituted a crime against existence."
109's smile turned into a scowl.
"And how, pray-tell do you-."
He stopped as he winced in pain and clutched at his knee before-.
"Your mistake was even beginning to ask," I plugged my nose and attempted to breathe out through it, adjusting the pressure in my sinuses.
109's Marrow revolted and began reforming his bones from the inside out as his right kneecap was penetrated by a mutating femur bone, shattering the cap and penetrating his skin from beneath. The scream he allowed to escape from his mouth was bliss to Lee's ears, and sent a primal shudder down the spine of anyone else unfortunate enough to make it out; the Exclusion field 109 mentioned did not filter out sound even though the shutters dampened the throughput of the sound waves. The jaggedness of his protruding skeleton slicing further into his flesh.
"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE!?!"
"It's a little trick I call mind over matter."
Well, that's a lie, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him nearly as much as this is currently hurting him.
"FUCK YOU AND YOUR ENTIRE BLOODLINE YOU WRETCH-"
Then the process repeated with his left kneecap.
"You realize that you did that one to yourself, yes? You should drop the act."
"OK, OK FINE. I GET IT. ARGH…"
The mutations of his bones began to regress slowly. Between the protrusions and the regression of the same phenomena, I couldn't imagine which was more agonizing. I didn't need to. Superfluous… thoughts… didn't need to be…
'Lee. Focus.'
Regress…
_________________________________
[Reverting to Observation Deck]
_________________________________
I think all of us felt a shiver run down our spines in the moment we heard that wretched sound. I knew where it was coming from, but… that should've been impossible. Heizol and Arza craned their necks down, a hint of a tremble in their posture; to their credits they both straightened up relatively quickly after hearing such a gut-twisting sound.
"That 'Haz-ward' Team you sent down there is properly equipped to handle this backflow, right?"
The look in their eyes did not betray my suspicions. I simply winked at them as we made eye contact, then nodded at both Lexo and the Lieutenant. Both of them returned a nod to me.
"Mistress-."
"Shush, Arza."
I held up a finger and drew a sign I had a fondness for that allowed me to communicate without speaking.
'I'll make this simple, because I am peeved with Oversight too, but I must report everything spoken to them, so let's make a literal unspoken agreement because I am onto you. You aren't very good actors.'
Arza tried to speak but was silenced, and instead his thoughts were conveyed directly to me.
'Forgive me, Mistress, I never got acquainted with this form of communication-.'
'That's what you're apologizing for?' Heizol chimed in. 'Vivye, our apologies for the deception but I can't explain what's going on, and neither can Arza, because we're both in the dark about what he is doing right now.'
I sighed wearily. 'In spite of your poor acting, I do commend your discretion. Look, I'm willing to go along with this up to a point, but I need both of you to go along with my whims until then, understand? I will cover for you as best I can assuming you do. I don't need you to answer everything, I should be able to infer enough to come to my own conclusions.'
Arza and Heizol shared a glance. Those two are most certainly audacious in letting Lee pursue that group, when he doesn't have the first inkling as to what they really are. Still, I cannot overlook the fact we've gotten nowhere ourselves in our investigations, not to mention the fact we were almost put in check by them barely a week ago. Without Analia's local Faux-Omniscience Field, we're operating in the blind. They could be operating in our periphery and we wouldn't know the first fucking thing about it-… speaking of...
"Lexo," I pondered aloud. "Do you smell anything… off?"
The Lycan grumbled affirmatively.
"I smell two-."
"Aside from who we've come here to see?"
Lexo raised a bushy eyebrow. Yes, my friend, that is indeed my game here. I let the left corner of my lip curl into a half-grin.
"If we put aside the chemical upset we appear to have walked into…"
He paused, and turned away from the lieutenant of the barracks. The lieutenant did not seem to take notice as he was fixated on the console screen. Then Lexo faced me again.
"I could not say."
Inconclusive, derivative, deterring… well, safe to say we have a mole and/or traitor in our midst. I looked towards the lieutenant… and realized I didn't know their name. Well, that certainly makes things easier.
________________________
[Reverting to Grid]
________________________
"Start talking, unless you want me to do the same thing I did with your kneecaps to your elbows."
I utilized my chronomancy to return 109's legs to a state which wouldn't impede his ability to speak cohesively; it seemed as though it would require a more delicate touch to ease their nerves after such an experience, however, so I pulled out my pocketwatch.
"Fine! Fine… what do you want to know?"
The first fair question I'd heard since I entered this Exclusion Cell.
"How will we end up dead?"
His teeth chattered. He was reluctant to answer. Oh, I'm certain you are.
"There's a mole with a pet who has embedded themselves into the barracks…"
It couldn't be Lygrost, could it?
"Names, 109."
"I-I… can't say."
Oh why do you have to say such things…
"Well, I suppose I could take a shine to your Ulnar nerve…"
"My wha- aaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."
"That. THAT is your Ulnar nerve, 109. Would you like me to fashion you some high heels from the soles of your feet next?"
What a feeling… This is intoxicating and almost definitively punishable by federal prosecution or potentially the Hague where I come from. He almost looks like he has wings starting to sprout from the middle of his arms.
"I LITERALLY CAN'T SAY; THEY ARE LIKE US; NAMELESS!"
Nameless… wait, didn't Vivye say something about the fair folk being a nuisance in the past?
"How did you end up being relieved of your names?"
"The Elders, they… ensnared and bound a multitude of creatures after the Grey Star incident, since… since there weren't as many prying eyes around… what with a major hub of commerce being turned into an ungodly pyre to sin…"
I'm half-tempted to press him, but I am also intruiged… do I let him continue?
'You'll be notified the moment something is amiss. You are running out of time though.'
I grabbed him by the bones protruding from his elbows and he howled in agony and anguish.
"W-why… why are they worth going t-through all this?"
"Call it a whim if you must know, but unfortunately for both of us, I am on a tight schedule. So I'm going to have to cut this short."
____________________________
'What are our options?'
'Well, you could take inspiration from an author other than Arius.'
'Phenomenal, vague potentiality-'
'If it's vague, it's because you're focused about context instead of Titles.'
'What in the-'
'My purpose is to assist, Lee. I was never meant to hand you all your answers.'
'… wait… you mean like-'
'Exactly like that.'
'Is that even feasible?'
'Here's a better question: would I pose such a notion were it not doable?'
'I learned not too long ago that I was being lied to by my Patron. Can you blame me for thinking something like that sounds outlandish?'
'I can and I do because you should know better than to be relying on your old way of thinking by now.'
'Sheesh, point taken.'
'It would sound outlandish to just anyone other than an Emulator, an Exception, or an Enigma, but here's my counterpoint: how is such a notion that much different to your current predicament? You remember what his brother said, yes?'
. . .
'I would rather be harsh on you than to lead you astray, but the road ahead is painful and unrelenting; are you ready for that?'
'I take it you mean more painful than it already has been; well, nothing ever came for free. Be as harsh as you feel is necessary, but not any more than you feel is necessary, please… The rest of the road, I'll deal with it on a case-by-case basis.'
'Then it's time for your first Trinary Logic Duel.'
_____________________________
1) A Trinary Logic Duel can happen between two entities, but there must always be an outside observer. This Observer can be an entity, an idea, a setting/scenario, a concept, even the Narrative itself; a Trinary Logic Duel with no observer cannot be concluded, nor begun.
_____________________________
"Truth be told, 109?" I sneered with contempt at this nameless excuse as I held him up by his mutated, protruding elbows. "I don't trust your word, but I need the truth; so you're going to give me your entire life story without so much as a word."
The confusion, the pain and the horror in their eyes. It was sublime, I couldn't help but relishing the sensation, though only for a moment. I blinked. An action anyone unaware of would gloss over without second thought.
"You- you're bluffing… you have to be…"
I tightened my grip on 109's bones, making him wince in pain.
"Not. A. Word."
I pulled out Time's Keeper once more, an implication of determination and action to come.
"I don't know what Gris Astara is planning, and frankly I don't care… I will have the truth. One way, or another."
I popped open Time's Keeper and set the dials to True Zero.
I looked through their Vessel and towards the Consciousness behind the Conduit as I set the function into motion.
"I see you."
He and I both heard what came next; the Toll of a Grandfather Clock emanating from everywhere and nowhere all at once, as though from outside of time. We felt gears turning against nothing behind the veil of reality, I caught a glimpse of a pale star gazing apathetically at all it beheld, wanting to bring everything to its knees with its Sick Light. Then came five words uttered at the peak of a Theocracy that laid it low in so little time. For the briefest of moments, I was able to see through the Grey Star… Within, I beheld something impossible, Indifference beyond Apathy, for anything and everything.
_________________________________
Within my mind, I behold a lucid projection of what is happening to me in real time, even though not in real space: I raise an ephemeral knife above my head, forged of my own soul and eye the nail of my right index finger. I can't complete this action whole, but should I splice myself across my Patron's medium, this will not be a challenge in the slightest. It doesn't need to be an even cut, just large enough to be able to send it through to their center of observation. I sigh in my mind and bring the knife down on my nail, fracturing it. A deafening, thunderous crack can be perceived for the briefest of moments as I sunder my soul in two. Though the pain is not physical, it is no less real as I am experiencing my very being serrated by my own hand.
In spite of the pain, I force myself to carry on with my train of thought. I refocus my vision on 109 and imagine myself placing the severed nail inside of the image of his mind. The effect sets in the moment I remove my fingers from the likeness of his head: the piece of me I left inside of him is forcibly entangled with my sight, and I behold his entire life all at once. It begins in wails and blood and in real space, 109 screams as though he's found something hiding in the crevices between his memory, something hidden just now, for his entire life.
His wail is unheard this time, like before, as his scream is spliced across time just I am. The scream becomes a facsimile of sound, half-real in an already half-real environment, then fades before it can begin. When his cry should begin, he falls silent, unconscious, and I fade from my current place in time as I am dragged back to the bookmark Jan'Ros had set.
____________________________
[P.O.V. Shift – Arius]
____________________________
I could have sworn I had…
It's not feasible that it went overlooked. The only way it could have been would be if someone else had…
Oh Nobody… you looked beyond what I beckoned you to, did you not?
It's no matter.
Agent of Decay, heeding the Call of Airo Xeros; so you ended up making contact with him. I wonder what it is you'll do with that tether. You seek to hide yourself, your passenger and Analia from my gaze but you are only buying borrowed time. What I would like to know is why-
Ohoho… I see, one of you saw beyond the veil of deceit that one had prepped for you in the future. Immaculate, using a weakness to bolster your strengths… but what of it? The one who found it cannot tell the other.
Well then, I suppose I-.
My left hand went numb for a moment, and I felt fear clawing its way up from the recesses of my mind. Not my fear, but…
No. Nobody, tell me you didn't seek out-.
"I sent her."
I should have known… Betrayed by-
___________________________
[P.O.V. Shift – Nobody]
___________________________
I know I was only supposed to read until I drew a singular conclusion, but did he really expect me to do that? He obfuscates the truth openly and blatantly in a world of information and data, existing between reality and fiction. I don't think he's hiding a horror, I think he's hiding his shame. The way that entry was written… there's a piece of him he buried between himself and The Wretch. A Dreamer in the Engine… But it can't be {Subject Redacted} Engine, that should have been stuck in a Paradox last Epoch. What Engine…
I hear the grinding of gears beneath me and the groaning of something… seemingly human, underlying the metallic cacophony; I then hear the Wretch bellow something in-exposable before being forced into silence once more by the Cage, and the seemingly human voice whimpers and falls beneath the cogs of reality.
We are supposed to be the only two in this Cornerstone… He is an amalgamation of thirty six beings, and I am my own person, so then what else…
There is the Wretch, and the Queen contained in this Cornerstone, but what humanity I hear is not in Arius' Voice. Hope maybe, but not humanity. So why… why does this sound like Arius with the humanity he was lacking, but empty of all hope?
"Because… I am all that is left."
I spin around in response to this voice interjecting from all and no directions simultaneously.
"You're… the one he chose as a Warden, are you not?"
Who are you?
"So it's true, he couldn't live with himself on his own in the end… I did warn him. So many times."
I asked who are you?
"Who I am should be obvious, but if you need to see it to believe it, then meet me in the Cold Below."
I don't understand-
"Then live with your confusion, or seek out an answer. I've no right to tell you how to live since I let Him take the reigns, but you won't get the Truth out of Him."
Fuck… when he puts it like that…