An Age of Mysterious Memories

The silence and somber air in the forgeworks sets my nerves on end as we approach the Verdimenn project space. I understand why it’s like this now, obviously, but it’s eerie after having seen the place be so full of hustle and bustle after it was initially set up. Te and I wear grim expressions while surfing through the forgeworks on our way to Verdimenn.

I’m slightly surprised, and equally dismayed, to see Ahliyuri up and about, checking on others in the infirmary, while Alanea appears to be napping on her feet, the poor dear. Teuila once again waggles her brows at me, and I virtually steam from my cheeks. Gulping, I avert my gaze and try to steer my thoughts away from certain activities I’d done with certain individuals in the nearby vicinity. Teuila scrunches her brow, squinting at me suspiciously, but shrugs, letting me off the hook relatively soon after.

Umbral Spellknight Ahliyuri marches my way, limping, and leaning on a crutch, but the stern expression on his face speaks volumes as he asserts, “I’m upset with you Schism. No, not because I went and got my fool self hurt. Because you sent that deranged sister of mine off to battle while I was stuck in bed. I swear, if one scale on her scalp is, is, is harmed, I, I don’t know what I’ll do, but I’ll do something.”

Grimacing, I nod at Yuri as Teuila hops down from our shared embrace. I float next to the Spellknight, and offer him my shoulder to lean on, and he does so with as much grace as he can muster. I soothe as best I can, “I’m sorry Yuri, you know how she is, she was itching for the first opportunity to fight that she could get. The whole war is upended right now. Terrorzin and the bulk of his forces are on the move, due here in about a week.”

My announcement gives Yuri pause, and seemingly a heart attack. I worry for the fellow, but he collects himself rapidly enough. He jokes, “I suppose it’s too late to switch sides back to the Ice of Rage’s banner, huh?”

At least I hope he’s joking. I raise one brow skeptically, and he averts his gaze. He’s still looking pretty awful, not fit for combat, but as Teuila begins fetching things out of an interdimensional pack, he perks up quickly. Sure enough, somehow Te found his gear and retrieved it. It’s on par with the best stuff of anyone I’d faced thus far, so I can see why Yui wanted to get it back for her brother. Oh hey, there’s an aura about it that I recognize now that I’ve started to study enchanting further.

Gosh, did they forge each other’s armor? Or at least parts of it? That’s ridiculously sweet. Criminy, and jumping jehoshaphats these twins love each other as much as any pair of people I’ve ever met. And I’ve met me and Teuila! Snrk. Okay, ow, that snorted laugh was a bit much. Obviously their love isn’t romantic, but it’s still deep, and strong.

At least I think it isn’t romantic, it’d be a bit weird, and awkward, even taboo based on my memories of Fakeworld human culture, but who am I to judge? None of my business, unless they want to inform me of such. Wait, siblings who—why does that sound familiar? Oh. I sigh, my gaze downcast as I recall two lost souls, two of the few casualties of the Night of All Burn. I’m pretty sure Har and Sal weren’t actually siblings, but it was good cover, since their assassin alter egos were romantic with each other, making them less likely suspects.

Anyway, I’d better clarify, and I try to sound hopeful as I do, “I’d never say you, or anyone, couldn’t desert the Onyx Dawn. I intend to evacuate everyone possible should it come down to it, but I know that the rest of the Order will be fighting to our last breaths. I don’t think it’ll actually come to our last breaths though, somehow.”

Sighing, I add, “I just wish Teuila or I could face Terrorzin personally, we’d make paste out of him. I suppose I could try to use the same attack I used to kill the rest of the Evil Claws, and nearly the Damnations, but it’d be hard to buy the eight minutes of setup on a chaotic battlefield. Plus his Dragonforce aura might sap the kinetic energy out of the Can’Z’aasian inventory Space skill attack like whatever shield the CE threw up when I used it to try to end the Damnations in one go, I’m not sure.”

Flubbing, Yuri queries, “The what you used to what now?”

Scratching my head, I can’t remember if Yuri should have heard by now, but I answer, “We were attacked last night, by all the Damnations and Evil Claws. The Evil Claws got desperate after we knocked a few of them out of the sky, and did some sort of gestalting thing with their Dragonforces via one of their Latents. Thankfully I’d already been planning to flood the sky with projectiles, so I had everyone else evac while I loosed my attack. I’d have gotten the Damnations too if it weren’t for the gorram Celestial Emperor’s interference.”

Rapidly blinking in order to keep up, I can see that Yuri is trying to parse the information. He raises a scaled brow as his face contorts in a mixture of appreciation and horror before asking, “You… almost took out the Damnations, as a whole, and did take out the Evil Claws, all at once, last night? Wait, what’s this about his imperious doucheyness?”

I bite back a snicker before responding, “Yeah, I fainted after the attack, it cost me a lot, and took a lot out of me. Thankfully I was able to hold off passing out until after I drove off the Damnations. Two of them, the ones I’d previously heavily injured, were found dead this morning, siphoned of their Dragonforces obviously. It feels like the Celestial Emperor is playing keepaway with powerful Dragonforces, from me specifically. It’s almost like he knows I need them. Maybe he does. Eh, nevermind about that, the point—.”

Holding up his hands, motioning repeatedly for me to stop, Yuri exclaims, “Woah woah woah, hold up. The Celestial Emperor might have it in for you personally? What does he have to do with anything? How the hell do you just nonchalantly mention, ‘oh yeah by the way I nearly took out all the Damnations in one attack last night that did happen to off all their underlings. Woulda got them too if it weren’t for some darn meddling deific interference, no biggy,’ with a straight face!? What even are you?”

Sighing, I wave it off before explaining, “I’ve got to catch a bunch of people up on a bunch of things, if you want answers to stuff like that, and you’re feeling up to it, follow me around for a while. If you think that’s wild, you’re going to love hearing about how I ran into the bulk of Terrorzin’s forces, and him, while scouting solo, and decided offhandedly to level Mount Wistenzlia to block off Vieriss Valley.”

Despite being a reptile, and scaled, the color drains from Yuri’s face. I have to bite my lips to avoid laughing or looking smug. That was totally me bragging, and I feel like a bit of a dickhead for doing it. But if it can help allay Yuri’s fears, and keep him and his sister on our side, I’ll take the smudge to my humility. I can see him processing, working out geographically where I was and what I must have done. His mouth goes from moue to wordlessly asking how, ending in an open oh.

I really don’t want to have to repeat the story over and over tonight to catch everyone up, so I swoop down and sneakily drag Alanea into my hugging embrace and flick my head towards the tinkering workshop. Te and Yuri nod and follow me, while Alanea sleepily mumbles a greeting, packed with her mousy, nervous wells.

Grinning madly, Teuila makes grabby hands, so I pass Alanea off to her, rolling my eyes slightly and chuckling. Wait. The heck? Is that Vylon in the infirmary? He’s packing several new scars, and nursing his shoulder. How the hell did anything get close enough to—oh, right, I think I noticed that earlier, a caster or something. Or I theorized it at least. I can’t recall, since the day was pretty hectic and I was pretty frantic, what with finding empty domains, and then finding Terrorzin’s whole army, more or less.

When he notices me, as I’m passing by, I give him a nod, before flicking my head questioningly. He nods assent and hops off his cot in order to follow the growing procession headed towards the tinkering space. I see Farzhis and Veril already there ahead of us. If I could just find Prinrin and Kinzul—they’re probably together—I’d have most everyone I want to apprise and catch up with besides Lil, Lucky, Yui, Shiz and Zelshiz. Those five are on their way, nearing Mah’ruke as I speak. Erm, think.

Anyway, since I want to catch them up as well, I’ll just mingle with the crowd gathered in the tinkering space. I haven’t really got a clue how we’re going to move forward with some of the things that I want to accomplish, but with this many minds gathered in one location, we’ve got the best chance of thinking of something. Speaking of, or, well, thinking of, again, I could probably use my fungoid form to decent effect. Regardless, I may as well enjoy this brief moment of respite as we coalesce to converse. Wait, coalesce? Does that work there? I guess it does mean come together, sort of.

Hey, Reggie. Yeah? Stop getting caught up in your own head about grammar and vocabulary. Right, right. Outside of my head, Littlebit’s cutely mad giggling cuts through the air, a tinkling that’s high and clear. It’s juxtaposed against Nala’s surly mutterings about conductivity, enchantment viability, and the like. Interposed between the two is an occasional comment from Veril or Farzhis, usually in response to a pause and a querying gaze from one of the two artificers. I guess the two have been asked to remain following along, or something.

Drawing a deep breath, a homey scent hits me. Hot metals, a touch of burnt oil, hints of ozone, and drying ink. The consistent lighting of the glow-lichen is complemented by the warm shine of several of Littlebit’s clankers and Nala’s automatons, as well as brief bursts, flashes of brighter light coupled with sparks, from their tools.

The stools the pair are using at the workstation they share while tinkering across from each other are adjusted to heights that make sense for each of them, what with Nala being around twice Littlebit’s height. It’s nice to see them at relatively equal footing, compared to when Littlebit is wandering around, scrounging through scrap, tools, and instruments. I’m fairly certain Nala treats Littlebit as an intellectual equal at the very least, due to her gadgetry knowledge.

Littlebit’s overalls are hanging loose, one strap free of her left shoulder, and I’m not sure if she just doesn’t mind, or if she loosened it to help keep cool in proximity to some of the soldering equipment and such. The vivacious verdant cutie smiles my way, and whispers something across the table to Nala, who doesn’t seem to hear her.

Calling out my way excitedly, Littlebit shouts, “Hey Tiger! Get your butt over here hun!”

Teuila lights up at the flirtatious friendliness of Littlebit. Simultaneously, Nala concludes her mumbling a bit more audibly, “The ethereal excitations are ephemeral at best, at least without Schism present, ah, speaking of, hail friend Reggie. This could prove fruitful now.”

Raising an eyebrow, neither deems it worthy to clarify, but based on Nala’s technobabble, it sounds like some effect they’re chasing is short-lived, that they think I could help stretch out, elongate, or maintain. Checking with Yuri, he seems steady enough on his own, so I slip out from under his shoulder, no longer propping him up, and float towards the two tinkerers.

Farzhis comments suddenly, in her soft-stop-consonants accent, “Awe, Schism, los’ the blue? Looke’ goo’ on ye,” before realizing she’s eyeing me like a predator, blushing, and averting her gaze.

Veril mumbles an agreement with Farzhis, and similarly averts his gaze. I smirk their way, not maliciously, but knowing exactly what they’re thinking. I’d like to check in with Farzhis and see how her cravings are doing. Erm, the withdrawal symptoms, not her, uh, other cravings, heh. Sheesh. Get your mind out of the gutter Te. Yes I see you waggling your brows.

I know you’re riding my thought train Teuila my dear, so feel free to flirt with Farzhis, but keep in mind her vulnerable state. I know you wouldn’t intentionally abuse someone’s vulnerability, but I wasn’t sure if you kept track of some of the goings-on. Anyway, you’ve got Alanea in your arms, whom I’m sure you’re going to be macking on as soon as she rouses—.

Interrupting my thought train, Teuila telepathically quips, “Damn right! You bring the best smokin’ hot Fae shortstack hotties to the party Airhead.”

Rolling my eyes, I try to hide the obvious agreement that bubbles up, percolating across my mind. Yes, Alanea, Tiktik, and Littlebit are incredibly attractive. Gnawing the inside of my lower lip, I shake my head incredulously. Teuila’s certainly honest about her attraction—sonnova, I walked into that one—and her fun-and-thrill-seeking side. Still, my smile is pure, and wide, as I gaze wistfully at My Wings. Would that I could, I’d share in loving on anyone and everyone with Teuila just to see the joy it brings her when she convinces someone to try snogging. On top of all of her myriad strengths and beauty, she can be so just darn cute sometimes.

Teuila’s smug grin of satisfaction quickly gives way to her mile-wide closed-eyed smile that has her bobbing her head side to side. See what I mean? The bobbing isn’t headbanging, so her undercut doesn’t flop over to the other side, but it’s still an adorable, and easily noticeable motion. Reggie, you’re getting distracted again. Right, right, of course.

Blushing, I turn my attention to the artificers in time to hear Nala finishing, “and that’s precisely why the capacitance is less important than the intricate throughput of the manifold, ergo, the bottleneck is in the shape, and, hm, let’s call it bandwidth, along your circuitry. You need more than simple magnetics to modify its manifestation properties, attracting its energies along the manifold. Evaluating its throughput at that point should see marked gains. Wouldn’t you agree Schism?”

Closing my eyes so that Nala can’t see them squinting while trying to give the side-eye to myself, I nod in a self-reproaching manner. I’m not so much agreeing with Nala, as admitting that I have no idea what the rest of her statement was, so I can only guess that she was right unless I’d like to get her to re-explain whatever she was talking about while I was spacing out gazing at Teuila. Nala is someone that you don’t really ask for second walk-throughs of explanations from. That’s putting it nicely.

Hopping off her stool, heading over to me, and lightly pounding me on the hip, Littlebit exclaims, “I’m sure Tiger here knows all about throughput! Am-I-right!? Hehe. Maybe between a couple of their raids, or after all this dragon business is done, if we haven’t finished our ‘Twixt research, I could convince them to show me the full extent of their—.”

Coughing to interrupt Littlebit’s salacious comment, I glare at her in mock frustration, but I’m mostly just embarrassed. Littlebit simply grins cheekily my way. She’s darn good at getting a rise out of me. Erm, figuratively. I don’t come equipped with the parts to—ugh, nevermind.

Anyway, where were we? Something about ephemeral ethereal excitations. Let’s start there.