#why not make a clone who examines the structures that put him in place and asks lots of questions that DONT lead him to blowing up | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ofdragonsdeep · 3 years

Text

15: Thunderous

The loudest sound to a mind used to song is silence.

(spoilers up to 5.4, and for coils raids)

The whirr of the airship’s fans powering down greeted Ar’telan’s return to Azys Lla. Beyond the dock, half-crazed robots running on broken programs tottered about the rock-and-metal structures of the Alpha Quadrant, heading to do the Twelve only knew what. Ardashir’s workstation was still set up near Helix, though Gerolt had long since departed the area, machines humming and shelves piled high with notes as he continued his research on the concept of anima. He waved at Ar’telan as he passed, Ar’telan nodding back a cheerful greeting as he carefully sidestepped a spinner-rook hurtling past at a dangerous angle.

He had been back to Azys Lla more times than he might have expected, the first time he had come here. The memories of the chase Thordan and his Knights had set them on were still fresh, despite the many moons that had passed since. The buildings and ships still hummed with empty purpose, the dock where the Gration had touched down was empty, but the spaces where the garleans had spilled out of it still bore their mark. So many had died here, and not only for the Allagan’s sake.

He put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. The noise was a pathetic one, given his damaged throat and lack of voice, but it was enough to call his chocobo from the airship hangar and to his side. The aether currents were strong in Azys Lla, the artificial confluence at the Flagship forcing them to be so, and it was easy to navigate them between the floating islands, over the heads of the monstrosities and broken machines, sailing across the void to his destination.

The Delta Quadrant was an odd place. He had studied the maps of Azys Lla that G’raha had pulled from the terminals as part of his search of the archives, and the place seemed as though it was named in Dragonspeak, but something seemed off. In times past, he would have asked for Midgardsormr’s opinion, but the events with Omega left him able to do little more than pilot his tiny vessel on automatic, his great mind slumbering in the aether to recharge. Tiamat still waited in her self-imposed exile, her songless children - cloned, not born - wandering the isle in desperate sadness.

Ar’telan was here to pay a special visit.

When he and Alisaie had fought their way through the ruins of Dalamud, a mad dash to put a stop to Bahamut’s reconstitution, they had encountered any number of threats. More allagan robots, these ones still functional but with no order but ‘kill’. Biological monstrosities that were gibberingly insane. Tempered creatures - Nael’s face contorted into a wicked snarl, the hot flames of the phoenix. But more than anything, what had hurt were the dragons.

They had gone back for them, after Bahamut had been fully discorporated. One by one they had released the locks on the stasis chambers, and what had tumbled out was ooze and the stench of death. Most of the dragons were alive only by the strictest definition, and perished shortly after being freed. Some of them stabilised, then turned around in madness, Tempered and broken. Some of these they had subdued, horrified at what they had done, and returned them to the stasis chambers, disconnected now from Dalamud and its prayer-siphoning. All but one.

The wyvern that they had taken to calling Twintania was an unusual creature. Leashed by allagan technology, though it had been badly damaged in the fight, she was filled with a burning, single-minded hatred for those who had enslaved her - mortals which looked, to her, like the people who were trying to save her. Cid had jimmied together a repair mechanism after examining Tiamat’s chains, and they had made the heartbreaking decision to leash the wyvern in the Delta Quadrant, in one of the ruined buildings near the Pappus Tree.

Ar’telan walked, feet crunching through the overgrown grass, listening to the babble of water on its wending way through the quadrant. The roiling aether of the sky cast a sickly light over the area as he gave his chocobo strict instructions to wait outside, and ducked into their makeshift prison.

Twintania bellowed in anger as he approached where she was penned, though the bindings let her do little else. She watched him with the single-minded hatred of the Tempered in her eyes as he set down his supplies - a tiny magitek battery charged with aether, a key to unlock her chains - and summoned forth the anchor that Alisaie had conjured for him before he left.

He had never done this on his own before. He had watched it done more than once, by now, but he was still a little nervous. The dragons were different to the races native to Hydaelyn - who could say it would work? Would he do it right? Would it make any difference to Twintania, freed but knowing full well what he and his had done?

Still, he had come this far, so he was not going to turn back now. He channeled aether into the focus, a combination of his own and a little from Alisaie and Alphinaud, stored in the battery. G’raha had offered, but Ar’telan had been wary of taking the aether of someone connected to Allag, even by proxy, so this was all he had. The porxie snorted happily, flapping its ears to indicate that it was fully charged, and the two of them set to work.

The flash of aether was blinding to behold, the bright white of the life-energy he had poured into the casting meeting the angry blue-gold hiss of Bahamut’s Tempering. There was a crackle, a flash, and Ar’telan staggered with the wave of lethargy that washed over him as the spell finally hit home, draining him of his energy in one swift burst. He fell backwards to the floor, hands flying out to steady himself, and blinked back in the bright light show that played across his eyes, flickering afterimages of light.

There was a moment of silence.

“...The screaming doth stop, and I am alone in a Songless current. What brings thee to this place, child of man? What compels thee to save the lost?”

It had worked.

“Because you deserve the chance,” he replied, getting to his feet. He took the tomestone in his his hand and poked at it until it released the restraints - perhaps it was a feint, but he would weather the consequences of being too trusting if that were so. The wyvern watched as they fell to the floor at her feet, unholy amalgamation of magitek and allagan cruelty, and did not move to strike.

“My sire is dead, his Song forever silenced. My siblings lost in a quiet void. I am alone.” Her head swiveled to look at the sickened sky, filtering through the gaps in the ruined masonry. Beyond it, Tiamat sat in her silent vigil, and the wyvern would almost certainly know. “The world has turned as I stayed lost in my madness. Tell me why.” Ar’telan followed her gaze, wondering what he could even say, why he had thought this might even work - why she might have wanted it at all. Was it fair? Was it right?

The choice should have been hers, not one made through Tempered necessity.

“You are not alone,” he said. “Some of your brethren yet live, sealed within the stasis prisons the Allagans locked them in. We have the means to save them now, from the madness the Ascians gifted your brood with, if you wish it.” He shook his head slowly. “I know it is a cruel and empty world that your eyes are opened to, but if you would choose to look away from it, you can do so with eyes unclouded.”

The wyvern was quiet for a long time, settling down into the sitting position that Ar’telan had seen in Vedrfolnir a handful of times before. She was smaller than him, just, but still large enough that Ar’telan thought she had been close in clutch to her Brood’s sire. She was larger than any of the other dragons they had found within Dalamud’s core, for certain.

“Once before did we make a decision drowned in sadness and despair. We shall not do so a second time,” she decided. “Though it hurts, the discordant notes of our primal Sire were no true Song. This I see now. No magic shall ever return him to us, nor those lost to the madness that followed.” She stretched out wings that had gone long unused, muscles tensing and releasing as she tested their mettle. “No longer shall we blindly trust the children of man, but nor shall I turn away from thy kindness. If but a handful of our kin live, we shall persist. In honour of our Sire, we shall carry his Song through the ages. Can thee and thine do this for us, mortal child?” Ar’telan nodded.

“It will take us time - the energy needed to charge the magic that cleanses the effect comes from our own life’s aether, and we are few who can do it. But we shall, if that is what you wish of us.” He took a cautious step towards her, and was not immediately repelled. “Allag’s sins are not ours, but the Empire is broken and lost. If we can make amends for the sins of the dead, in whatever small way we can, then we shall.” Twintania rumbled in agreement, acquiescing to his request by stepping forwards and touching her chin to the top of his head.

“Take me to thy compatriots, and to my brood-mates. I shall see what is left in the silence.”

---

Returning to the airship with a wyvern in tow raised a not-inconsiderable alarm among the Ishgardians who piloted it, but a space on the deck was cleared for her after a small amount of hemming and hawing by the pilots. She flapped her wings irritably as they flew, clearly wishing that she could fly herself rather than rely upon the contraptions of man, but she raised no verbal complaint.

Ar’telan, for his part, activated his Linkpearl and communicated through series of half-formed noises to Alisaie that he needed her help. She was already in Ishgard, waiting in case things went badly, so it was simple enough to arrange to meet her at the airship landing.

---

“It worked!” Alisaie exclaimed as Ar’telan and Twintania dismounted from the airship. “Oh, I’m so glad. Not that I doubted you for a minute, of course.”

“I am told that my kin are under thy protection,” Twintania said, having no time for pleasantries. Alisaie grimaced, but nodded in agreement.

“I suppose you could call it that. It’s not pleasant, though,” she confirmed. “We can take you there, if you’d like, but it will be a long time before we manage to cure them all.” She paused then, sighing softly, and shook her head. “We stopped releasing the locks on the stasis chambers once it became clear we couldn’t do anything for those who were still… alive. I can’t guarantee that even half of them will be saveable.” Twintania inclined her head in acknowledgement.

“I understand. The extent of the corruption hath been revealed to me by thy companion,” she assured Alisaie. “I would stand guard over their resting place. I have lived many of thy lifetimes, and will live many more yet. When the last of my brood-mates is free, whatever form that doth take, then we shall decide what we must do as one.” Alisaie looked to Ar’telan, and he inclined his head in agreement.

“...Well, alright,” she said. “I’ll need to make sure everyone we need is there, and see if we can’t find someone to assign in a more permanent capacity to trying to cure the Tempering. It’s still an inexact science, even in mortals like us. Never mind dragons.” She turned away, one hand on her ear to active her Linkpearl, and began contacting people in earnest. Twintania looked at her surroundings properly, taking in the cold stone of Ishgard and the people walking nervously past the gathering at the airship landing.

“Ishgard has a troubled history with dragons,” Ar’telan said, regret colouring his every movement. Twintania simply inclined her head.

“Thy kind and mine are too different to avoid such troubles, it seems.”

---

Ar’telan went with Twintania on their trek across Eorzea. The majority of the stasis pods that they had found initially had been in the shard of Dalamud embedded in the Broken Wall, in Thanalan, and they had repurposed the area for their desperate attempts to sustain the dying. From Ishgard, the walk took them across the Black Shroud, a journey of several days on its own. Ar’telan deflected the more human of their problems - concerned Wood Wailers, poachers who were not aware of how much they had attempted to bite, and a few Ixal angry at the encroachment on ‘their’ territory. Twintania spent her time idly snapping at the forest creatures which tried to impede their crossing, the elementals thankfully allowing them passage. She had spent many moons in her bindings, and though her reflexes were dulled, she was more than capable of snapping up an errant squirrel or a diremite or two.

The Shroud broke on a part of Thanalan close to their destination, for a mercy. The few scattered Amalj’aa that still made a scouting camp in the area were easily chased off by the sight of a dragon in the flesh, and the phurbles and snurbles - Ar’telan still could not tell the difference - were easy prey for Twintania’s jaws. Ar’telan was glad that the allagan monstrosities that had once joined them on the path had died down to near-invisibility since the primal had been quelled, for the reminder would likely not be a pleasant one.

“These places are cold and cruel,” Twintania said as they approached the door, flapping her wings in disdain for it. Ar’telan nodded in agreement, breaking the seal on the the entryway.

“They are. It was the only place we could safely keep them where they would not be prey for bandits, but I wish there were other options,” he said.

---

They walked down the smooth walkways, allagan lights glowing at their passage. Deep within the engine of the Ragnarok, the engine that had borne Dalamud to space and then served to keep it there, the cluster of the remaining stasis pods sat. Alisaie was already there, assembled with her crew of ‘people who could teleport’, a space remaining for, presumably, Ironworks engineers who had been too busy to arrive immediately.

“Glad you’ve arrived in one piece,” she said by way of greeting. “We’re going over the diagnostics at the moment. The short version is that there’s thirty-some pods which are likely to hold dragons we can save, and too many others which likely… don’t. I’ve taught the cure for Tempering to these two here.” She gestured behind her to a hyur and an elezen that Ar’telan didn’t recognise, who waved sheepishly at the greeting. “We can get one or two out each moon, maybe. But you probably don’t want to push it.” Twintania rumbled in acknowledgement.

“Greetings, children of man,” she said, inclining her head. “Time is of no issue. My vigil shall last as long as it must, and I have much to learn of this world still as I wait.” Alisaie cleared her throat, clearly still a little nervous.

“Right. And we’ve got some people from the Ironworks coming in - they’re the people who can get your brood-mates out of the pods to begin with. They might change a little bit for the first few weeks, but eventually we’d like to have a small, permanent team here until everyone’s out. Is that alright?” Twintania nodded her head again.

“It shall serve. You have my thanks, child. It is good to see that menfolk of the sort that my Sire once aided still walk the earth, despite what the Allagans desired.”

“We will do everything in our power to ensure that none like them ever rise again,” Ar’telan said. “There is never any way to guarantee such things, but we will try.” Twintania made a noise that sounded almost like a laugh.

“Our memory is eternal, child of Light. We shall not forget the betrayal, nor the love. And we shall never let rest the memory of the Ascians and their lies. We shall not be fooled a second time.” Ar’telan smiled.

“I hope so,” he said. “I will come and make sure all is well whenever I can. Good luck.” The ancient wyvern inclined her head, respect in her calm eyes.

“To you as well, child of Light.”

#revs up the crackfic because why the hell not #ffxivwrite2021 #This was actually really fun!#I might put this in Art's canon just because I mean #it's so nice #and I feel bad for riding my Twintania mount around given recent developments #ff14 #Warrior of Light (solo story)

1 note · View note

codylabs · 5 years

Text

Shifting Sands Chapter 4: Council of Nightmares

Chapters: One Two Three Four

Long ago, before they imprisoned ███████, before these creatures had ever arrived on her world, while she was still with him, something had happened. She never had a way to know before, but now she realized:

She was pregnant.

The scientists hadn’t noticed it yet, but it was only a matter of time. They’d been watching her closely ever since she’d killed Dr. &R/\BJ, and there was no chance the child could escape their scrutiny for long. She could feel the egg growing inside her, taking up space, taking up nutrients, and more of both with every passing day. Soon they would notice. And when she gave birth, then they would do something about it… Take it, kill it, clone it…

She couldn’t let that happen. She had to do something…

Perhaps if she could get out of the tube, she could pass the egg early, and somehow get it inside one of the scientists; then the child could complete the rest of its development away from their testing, then eat him from the inside, and then… No, no, that wouldn’t work. Soon as it burst out, they would just quarantine and take it…

She could begin shapeshifting so rapidly and so frequently that they couldn’t track or detect its growth… No, she’d still have to give birth eventually, and then they’d take it…

No.

No, this is no place to have a child.

So she morphed and slimmed the umbilical link she shared with the child, to limit its nutrients and oxygen. With its growth stunted, her child’s only method of survival was to instinctively form a hardened shell, and go into a state of deep dormancy.

One day, she would break down the shell and allow it to grow again. But not now. Not soon.

For now, her baby would fight for its life, just as she was.

They would survive.

“███████ wake up!” She awoke in the middle of the night to see Dr. cl;**4 rushing into the lab, his breath coming fast and ragged, and a wild smile on his young face. “It’s time, ███████! It’s really time!”

“What? What’s happening?” She sat up.

“A mutiny!” He explained. “A mutiny! It’s finally happening, we’re finally doing it!”

“Really?!?”

“Yes! The metalheads organized it; they’re going to saw through the bulkheads to the bridge, the mice are going to disable the power systems, and it looks like we’ll actually be able to get control from the Captain! ███████, you’re gonna be going home!”

“T-that’s great! What do you need me to do?”

“Uh… Okay.” Dr. cl;**4 reached into his coat and produced an ID card. “Do you think you can mimic Dr. Zlfo]n’s voice and tentacleprints well enough to fool a computer?”

She took on the head scientist’s form, and showed him the patterns on the limbs.

“Wow… Okay, great! Awesome!” Now cl;**4 fished around his lab coat for the key to her containment tube. “There’s a chance that the command crew could improvise the life support systems into a defensive weapon; increasing or decreasing the air temperature and pressure, pumping in toxic gases, forming violent vortices, that sort of thing. But Dr. Zlfo]n has authorization to access the life support controls in sector 18. So it would really help us if you went in there and locked down all the air-handling systems on the ship. Would you do that? I’ll be there to walk you through it…”

“I can do that!”

“Thanks so much, ███████!” He opened the tube.

She killed him.

Then she drug the body with her out of the lab. When she found a quiet place, she cut open his body to examine the muscles and bones and nerves, see how the tentacles were structured and how the ligaments lay with the bones. In short order, she memorized and mimicked these same designs in her own body, so that any future attempts at mimicry would have flawless accuracy. Now that cl;**4’s body had exhausted its usefulness, she sealed it in an airtight storage locker, so that nobody would ever discover what happened to him.

And then, while the mutiny filled the ship with chaos and confusion around her, she began to explore. She traveled the length, breadth, and circumference of the ship, learning the way the engines were laid out, the location of crucial components, the positions of passenger dorms, testing sectors, cargo bays, the routes through and hiding spaces within the network of life support tubes that linked everything… She learned many things.

However, after an hour or so, the sounds of fighting died down and security drones returned to their normal patrols, indicating that the mutiny had been successfully quelled. She returned to her tube as well, locked it shut and destroyed the key, so that there was no evidence that anything ever happened.

In the morning, the tired and weary scientists continued about their ordinary work in a defeated way. Nobody mentioned the mutiny, nobody brought up new plans, nobody stepped out of line once. And nobody asked where cl;**4 was. They must all think that he’d been killed in the fighting, which was just as well, really.

As for her, she’d learned everything her plans required.

Now all she had to do was wait for the prophet’s vision to come true. Once the ship crashed, her designs would come to fruition.

And until then, she and her child would survive.

The months stretched on into years.

Elsewhere in the ship, she sensed tensions rising even further. The mutiny had been broken, but its causes had not. She heard the men speak more and more often of strange nightmares and visions. She watched the scientists lose their tempers and yell at each other over small matters. And sometimes, away down the halls, she heard voices crying out in insane, mad rants. Prophecies they sounded like, prophecies of warning and doom and damnation, like they’d all become prophets themselves in these dark days.

The people around her were getting crazy. And as she paced her tube for the thousandth time, she felt herself joining them, ever so slowly. She played little games with herself now, where she fought imaginary enemies, and sought to outwit them and kill them and devour them. The enemies she imagined for herself were always terrible and deadly, yet she always found a way to win…

This madness– She was imprisoned, even within her cage, imprisoned by the walls of her own mind and sanity, the walls that kept her imagination inside her head, kept insisting on the impossibility of her thoughts and dreams and ideas, limiting her mind and stealing her hope… Late one night, her last thought before sleep was a powerful, burning desire to be free of this prison.

And then, in her dreams, something else entirely appeared.

“WELL HEY THERE, HOURGLASS! WHAT’S NEW WITH YOU? ROUGH LIFE, AM I RIGHT?”

She frowned up at her new visitor. She’d seen many strange creatures before, but nothing at all like this… This was a level beyond and contrary to anything she’d ever imagined. Something different, something illogical, something far, far worse. Something from beyond. “…Who are you?” She asked the visitor.

“WHO, ME? WHY I’M A TALENT SCOUT!”

“…For who?” She frowned.

“FOR ME!”

She thought about that for a moment. “…And what do you want?”

“AHH HAHAHAHAHA I’LL GET RIGHT TO THE POINT THEN! THING IS LADY, I’VE BEEN PUTTING TOGETHER A GANG OF FREAKS AND KILLERS, OUTCASTS FROM ALL THE LANDS OF REALITY, AND WE’RE FIXING TO SET UP A UNIVERSE OF OUR OWN! UNLIMITED POWER, GODLIKE STATUS, THE SHATTERING OF MORTAL SHACKLES, THAT SORT OF THING! IT’S A PARTY TO END ALL PARTIES, ALMOST A BILLION YEARS PROPHECIED! I SAW YOU IN HERE, AND THOUGHT I’D MOSEY ON OVER AND ASK IF YOU’D LIKE TO GET IN ON THE ACTION? YOU’D FIT RIGHT IN, I SWEAR!”

“I see.” She nodded slowly. “…Why me?”

“WHY NOT? HAVE YOU SEEN THE REST OF THE CREW? THOSE SECULAR DULLARDS COULDN’T FIND THEIR CLOACA WITH BOTH TENTILLUM! THEIR LITTLE MINDS COULDN’T HANDLE THREE MINUTES OF THE PARTY I HAVE PLANNED! BUT YOU… YOU’RE A SPECIAL CASE, AIN’T YA, HOURGLASS? IN THE TIME I’VE WATCHED YOU, YOU’VE KILLED EIGHT PEOPLE, HALF-STRANGLED YOUR OWN UNBORN BABY, AND NEVER ONCE TOLD THE TRUTH TO ANYONE! THAT’S THE KINDA BAGGAGE I’M LOOKING FOR IN A BUSINESS PARTNER!”

“Oh…?” He seemed to know quite a lot about her; more than she’d like. So she went along. “And what would a ‘partnership’ involve…?”

“OH, NOT MUCH, AT LEAST FOR NOW! THE QUESTION YOU SHOULD BE ASKING IS WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU!”

“…And what can you do for me?”

“GIVE YOU FREEDOM!”

“I’ll get out of this tube regardless. I have plans.”

“AND HOW LONG WILL YOURS TAKE? SOONER OR LATER THEY’RE GONNA NOTICE YOUR LITTLE ‘SURPRISE’, AND WHAT’S TO STOP THEM FROM EUTHANIZING ONE OR BOTH OF YOU AT THE FIRST SIGN OF TROUBLE? BUT ME? I’M THE ONE PULLING STRINGS AROUND HERE, GORGEOUS. I COULD KEEP YOU SAFE.”

“What do you want from me in return?”

“HEYHEYHEY I WASN’T THROUGH WITH MY HALF YET! FREEDOM FROM THIS TUBE IS ONLY THE FIRST STEP! THE REST INVOLVES FREEDOM FROM YOUR OWN LINEAR DESTINY! FREEDOM FROM FINITY! FREEDOM FROM SANITY AND LOGIC ITSELF! IMAGINE SINGULAR POWER TO SHAPE AND FOLD A FACTORIAL NUMBER OF DIMENSIONS! INFLUENCE OVER TIME, AND THE POWER TO MAKE ANYONE WHO EVER WRONGED YOU SUFFER FOR ETERNITY! ALL AT THE SNAP OF A FINGER!”

“That’s what you want to do for me?”

“I DON’T THINK I STUTTERED PRINCESS! I’M OFFERING YOU GODDESSHOOD ON A PLATTER, AND ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PROMISE ME ONE ITTY-BITTY FAVOR! HOW’S IT SOUND?”

The being extended his hand. It sparkled with cold flame.

“…Are you hitting on me?”

“THAT WOULD BE A HOOT, WOULDN’T IT!”

She considered this for a moment, then extended her own hand. “Very well.” She agreed. “Ensure the safety of me and my child, and then give me the power of a god. In return, I promise to be your ally for eternity, and do anything you ask.”

“IT’S A DEAL!!!”

But just before the deal was sealed, the being snatched his hand away. The cold fire extinguished, and he floated off, as his eye probed her carefully and slowly.

“YOU KNOW WHAT LADY? DEAL’S OFF! I CAN TELL WHEN I’M BEING LIED TO.”

“Hmm?”

“TIME GETS AWAY FROM YOU, HOURGLASS! ENJOY THE CRASH!”

And she woke up.

What an odd dream.

Later that day, it finally happened: they discovered her child. They didn’t kill it, or take it, or harm it, but they ran their tests, and they gave into paranoid ramblings as they spent the rest of the day yelling at each other.

And she realized that sanity wasn’t a prison. Sanity was a fortress. Sanity was the strength she needed to stand on her own, and their madness was a wallowing pit of weakness which she regarded from a higher ground. Sanity was another step on the road she took to goddesshood in her own insidious way. She didn’t need to hoodwink some eldritch horror. She was indestructible. She was strong. She was ███████. She needed no one else.

Life goes on. Survival goes on. And they would do it alone.

“███████, you asked for me?”

“Oracle, there is a being here. A being in my dreams. Do you know of what I speak?”

The oracle’s eyes darkened. “I do.”

“What do you know of it?”

The oracle hesitated. And when she spoke, it was with a haunting, slow tone of voice. “Sixty degrees that come in threes. Watches from within birch trees. Saw his own dimension burn, misses home and can’t return. Says he’s happy, he’s a liar; blame the arson for the fire. If he wants to shirk the blame, he’ll have to invoke its name. One way to absolve his crime, a different form, a different time…”

The lyric hung in the air, when for a moment it seemed as if all the crazy echoing sounds in the ship grew still and quiet to listen. ███████ considered the words, then smiled and asked rhetorically. “Is there anything more charming than an inscrutable mystery?”

To which the oracle answered with a gentle smile, her voice once again casual. “There is not.”

She chuckled, and crossed her arms. “…Will this… Being… Be the cause of the ship’s destruction?”

“Not the cause, but I do not doubt he plays a part in its instigation…” The oracle shrugged. “We have entered his territory. He has been given a certain power over us.”

“A power which can be broken by sanity.” ███████ pointed out.

“A power which feeds on insanity.” The oracle corrected her. “But may only be broken by prayer. You are more defenseless than you know…” The oracle turned to exit the lab, but turned and spoke over her shoulder before she crossed the threshold. “It is not too late for the Captain to turn back. And it is not too late for you.”

“…Why should I believe you?” She blurted. “God would surely not be stupid enough to trust me with something as dangerous as truth.”

“He loves you too much to offer you less. You have only to bow and be healed.”

“I shall never bow.”

“And I am stupid enough to hope.”

And the oracle left.

“I shall not bow.” She solemnly promised herself again, in the silence that followed her absence. “I shall survive.”

#gravity falls #shifting sands #alien #scifi #ufo #monster #bill chipher #stanford pines #shapeshifter #sam #fanart #fanfiction #eldritch #abomination #backstory

6 notes · View notes

celestial-cutie · 7 years

Text

LTHC, Ch. 2, Pt. 1: The Market Place

The waters only lightly licked the boat as it drifted towards Medusa Terrace. Rozu circled around the boat looking at all interesting bits showing up at the horizon. The shrinking silhouette of Dry Salts, the idea of Tempest’s Rest to their left and something very tall ahead of them, possibly a mountain, if a very steep one.

“Oh, right!” Bow broke the silence and startled a few. “Kiven, when we got to Dry Salts, you were telling us about that, you know, that kid in Tempest’s Rest who said her mother had gone missing? You knew what happened to her, right?”

Kiven took a moment to remember. “Oh. Yes… No, I don’t know what happened, I was going to tell you to just drop it, don’t go looking for that person. Just forget about it.”

“Why?”

“Ugh, it’s hard telling you to not press the issue without intriguing you, huh? I’m saying, don’t try to find her, don’t learn anything about her, if someone tries to tell you about her, punch them in the head until they stop trying.”

“Okay, but what would happen if we did?”

Kiven chose her answer with care. “So, seven years ago, some things happened and the woman got erased. By that I don’t mean she ceased to exist, she still does like you and I. But when someone becomes erased, it messes with everyone’s memories of them. Memories go missing or get altered or fake ones emerge.”

“Well, that sounds bad.”

“It’s much worse if you only know very little about them or have never met them. Because you’ll start remembering that you did. And memories fabricated from scratch with no established relationship between you and them can get… bizarre. Her daughter only misremembered when exactly she went missing and how and maybe other small bits but it all has to make sense with the rest of her memories...”

“Well, you scared me off.” Bow admitted.

“Good.”

Trixie let the ensuing silence simmer for a bit. “How- Can we know how one becomes ‘erased’?”

“There’s nothing you can do to prevent it, if that’s what you’re asking. But it’s as likely as getting struck by lightning, so you shouldn’t worry about it.”

“Would we know if it happened to us?”

“I hope so.”

The next silence lasted.

The large structure in the distance grew more defined and eventually the small boat reached the harbor of Medusa Terrace. The city floor was covered in elaborate patterned stone tiles up to the pier. According to a map the place curved around the tall structure at the other end in a crescent moon shape.

“So, will you go sight-seeing then? Seeing the waterfalls and the colossus would probably blow your minds.”

Trixie checked the points of interest on the map. “I don’t know. Will you go reunite your dads then?”

“Yeah. I know you saved him and all but I feel this should stay a family matter, so don’t be mad if I don’t invite you.”

“Nah, it’s cool.”

“Well… good luck, kids.” Kiven waved goodbye and went on with her dad who told them farewell as well. The first word he spoke to them. A shy man.

Trixie looked back at the map “So, do you wanna go anywhere?”

Rozu shoved themself in front. “I could point out some cool places, if you like?”

“Oh, please do!”

“Alright, hm.” Rozu scanned the list on the map’s right side.

Rozu pointed to a shop in the top left of the map. “Mindy’s Magazine of Miths and Myths. I got a subscription, they write interesting stuff and they must have sources far in the upper seas. That could be interesting to you.”

Next one was a large building near the center. “The Stellar Institute is the royally-approved equivalent to the Celestial Academy. I’d rather not go there though. My loyalties lie with the academy.”

Finally they pointed out the center of the map. “The Market Place. Lots of wares from the upper seas here. You can get almost anything here, if you’re looking for something. We should get lunch there too.”

“Is everything on the market for free too?” Bow asked.

“Depends. Rarities aren’t given out to whoever asks for them. If you want, say, a bottle of Oathwater, you’d be expected to do something in return.”

Trixie wondered: “Miyuki could still gain another superpower right? Or does having a super tongue already fill that slot?”

“You can be an Akaname and have an Oath Power. All three of you could.”

“What do you say Miyuki? Your tongue is cool but it’s not really unique in this world.”

“Why would I ever say no to having more superpowers?”

“Haha, yes! I wonder what you’d get!”

“As I said, Oathwater would be a rarity though. I dunno if we could get one.”

“We’ll get some eventually!”

Miyuki noticed: “Wait, Rozu, do you have any superpowers?”

“Not really.”

“Then you should get one before I do.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Really?” Trixie was perplexed.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’m not into becoming a superhero. I’m happy just being a curious little person.”

“Alright then… Uh, how about we check the market first, then go the institute, then back to the market, have lunch and then check Mindy’s place?”

“I’d suggest the same.” Bow said.

It was decided. Together they made their way into the city.

~~~

The marketplace on the map was just a big open space but in reality, it was almost completely covered in a maze of stalls and stands. Carpets, ribbons and wires with lanterns hung over the pathways snaking between. It was not overly crowded, just some people and kids standing at stalls or walking by. They were still a sight to see. Some had wings, some were purple. Trixie wished she could just stop and chat with them all. Figure out what their kind is called, what they are known for and what they value. It took her a moment to remember:

“Rozu, you’re not human, right?”

“You’re opening a can of worms there but strictly speaking, no.”

“Sorry, was that insensitive?”

“No. It’s just a controversial topic. I’m a Tamali but I also look like a regular human with some added features, don’t I?”

“Tamali is what you’re called?”

“Yes. Whenever you see an otherwise human person with features of an animal, you’re most likely looking at a Tamali.”

“I can’t turn into a Tamali like Miyuki could turn into a…”

“Akaname. No, you can’t.”

“Shame.”

They came across a fork in the maze. A thin tent over the general area tinted to light yellow. In between the two splitting paths stood a table with several decorated bottles containing odd-colored fluids.

“What are you selling?” Trixie inquired.

The stand owner, a woman with searing reptile eyes and long dreaded hair stood tall on the snake tail she had for legs. Her scales looked gorgeous, a cool teal, almost erect like spines.

“Selling? No, no, these are gifts. And I only give gifts to friends. Will you be my friend?” she leaned in close so that her forked tongue almost touched Trixie’s nose as it flicked out.

“Sure.”

“The-” she was interrupted by a robotic voice. Two Apologies pushed their way to the stand, weapon in hand.

“Phesmux Falblicht, we have proof that you are associating with Rainbow.”

“Good for you, now if you would step aside for the paying customers.”

“Actually, we should go!” Trixie explained with a careful glance to Miyuki.

Phesmux slithered her tail in their way. “No, no, these poor boys have just forgotten that Medusa Terrace still stands under royal law. Which deems none of my activities illegal.”

One of the Apologies examined the kids trying to steal themselves away. “Hold it.”

He focused on Miyuki. Trixie jumped in his line of sight but he had already pointed his gun at her.

“Miyuki Nageki, you are accused of illegally smuggling Akaname blood to Tempest’s Rest. Due to repeated resistance I am authorized to use deadly force.”

Trixie could not easily fling this guy away with all the shops unless she did so straight up. Before she could do so though, Miyuki tackled her out of the way of a gunshot that hit the ground instead. All of the silent onlookers began to panic.

Phesmux used the moment to try and wrestle the shooter down but his partner grabbed hold of her as her body shot over the table. Trying to pull herself out of his grip, her snake belly slammed down on the table and split it in two, vials and flasks scattered over the floor, many broke.

Trixie focused on the attacker just in time to see the back of his gun being smacked into her forehead. The should could’ve put her out if she still had a skull made of bone but instead it just messed with her visuals as the fine mechanics of her eyes were shaken around. Miyuki attempted to ensnare him with her tongue but he grabbed it out of the air and pulled her closer to ram his knee into her head repeatedly. Her body fell limp as all fighting spirit left her and he pulled her up to twine her tongue around her neck to then pull it up and cut off her breathing. Her weak fingers tried to push some room between her tongue and throat but she could barely lift her arms. Trixie couldn’t throw him like that. Fortunately three copies of Bow jumped the Apology and he let go of their friend. As Bow pinned him down Trixie crawled over to lay her palm on his helmet and then focusing all her power to pushing down. His helmet flattened like tin foil and he stopped struggling.

“You-!” the other Apology growled, still emotionless.

Trixie looked up and saw Phesmux coil her long tail around the armor and attempt to crush it, even if it pushed the glass in her belly even deeper.

Before the armor could bend it started to buzz and Phesmux started to shiver and her muscles relaxed. The Apology grabbed his gun from the ground and started firing in a wild rage. These futuristic guns didn’t fire bullets but solid fire. Stalls collapsed as the fireballs cracked into them. Trixie tried to crush the soldier with her will but found she used up all her psychic energy when embedding the other guys skull in the ground. Bow’s clones just ducked under the fire. Miyuki coughed and tried to attack him with her tongue but she was too slow and he stomped down on it, stopping her dead in her tracks. About then it also occurred to him to aim down at them. Trixie had the faint hope that he just ran out of bullets but again, this thing did not fire bullets. He aimed at Trixie’s face. Then it blew up. His gun did. Most of his arms with it. Trixie had no idea why. The Apology looked just as confused until he was pistol-whipped on his knees and his helmet blown off.

The gun was flicked back into its holster and a radio was informed: “Threat subdued. Looks like one of them had already been taken out by civilians. One, two, three, six injured.”

“Sending in paramedics.” a voice cracked back.

“Got it.” the radio was stuffed back into the chest pocket.

“Hello, I’m Detective Kilmary, everybody here still conscious?”

Nobody answered. Someone else strolled onto the scene and handed Kilmary a glass of lemonade.

“Thanks, Kip. Looks like I won’t need it though. Help me check on the injured.”

She put the glass on one of the still intact tables and went to help everyone up and sit them against a wall until help arrived.

~~~

The paramedics arrived and tended to their wounds. The seven involved in the shooting were brought to Kilmary’s detective agency for questioning. Rozu had filmed the whole scene with their eyes and was brought interviewed while the rest were provided with bandages and painkillers in an improvised panic room within the agency. Once a more thorough check-up was done, it was decided that they had no serious physical injuries and would just need some time to heal.

“Are you okay, Bow?” Trixie asked.

She shrugged. “Considering the circumstances?”

“Okay…”

Trixie wished she could float right now, her muscles were all sore. She found Miyuki in a corner, crying.

“Do you want to be alone?”

Miyuki opened her arms for her and Trixie let her wrap them around her.

“This really sucks… but I’m glad I’m not alone… That’s the first time someone tried to kill me… It felt awful… I’m glad I didn’t die like that.”

“It’s the first time someone looked me in the eyes when they tried to kill me. I’m not sure if that’s worse.”

“I just want to go home now.”

Rozu entered the room with Kilmary. Kilmary seemed eternally calm. Like the personification of fog.

“I hope everyone’s over the shock by now. You did a good job, took those shits out without any casualties. Thanks for not making Kipper’s first case a bloody mess. Kid needs to ease into this…”

Kilmary looked into a lot of concerned faces and sat down.

“Look… I’m sorry. This was the worst attack we had yet. And I think it’ll keep getting worse. I think they’re starting to figure out they can get away with this. We pushed them into a corner and now we can’t push any further and they’re free to lash out. I downloaded your friend’s recording and will send another report to Rex Eden but I doubt they’ll do anything.”

Kilmary looked at Phesmux, coiled up by the door. “And Rainbow is just as helpless.”

“Are the royal families really just going to take this?” Rozu asked.

“What do you suggest they do? It’s not like we could attack them. Just defend ourselves.”

Rozu did not know.

“Alright… Do you live here or are you travelers?”

“Travelers.” Bow said.

“If you don’t have a place to stay, if you follow the road to your left, you’ll find a set of apartments. We keep one unoccupied for cases like this. I’d ring them up so you could go there and take it easy for a while. If this is your first fight, that can be hard on the psyche.”

“Thank you.”

“I guess I’ll go see what’s left of my shop.” Phesmux said. “But first: Sorry for getting you all roped up in this. If it weren’t for you, they might have killed me. So thank you.”

She went out the door and it took a while before the rest of her tail left the room as well.

“Will they keep attacking us?” Bow asked before they left as well.

“If you stay away from them, they won’t hunt you down… Maybe you should join a self-defense course.”

Bow rolled past Kilmary. “Thanks, detective.”

Miyuki had calmed down enough and licked the tears out of her eyes. Her, Trixie and Rozu followed Bow outside and they made their way to the hotel room.

By the time they arrived Kilmary had already called them and the receptionist showed them their apartment. It was small. If you opened the window you could hear the ocean. There was a bath and a little kitchen, a bedroom with four beds. They dumped their bags and took off their shoes and just laid down on them for a while. Trixie noticed a television and found the remote to turn it on with. In this openly magical world, it seemed odd for there to be a TV. What kind shows would they have here?

There were only three channels. News, series and movies and a kids’ channel, it seemed. Trixie was more interested in news at the moment. There was a studio with a big couch for celebrity guests, two moderators who were currently alone and a screen behind them providing pictures related to the current topic.

Bow rolled next to Trixie’s bed. “I don’t know if I read too many fantasy novels but a TV feels out of place in a world with elves in it.”

“There are no elves… I think.” Rozu said from their bed. “Besides, it’s not the most technologically advanced thing you’ve seen yet.”

“I suppose.”

“This morning the marketplace in Medusa Terrace has been attacked again by Apology terrorists. The fight could be resolved with only 8 people receiving minor injuries. The two attackers have been destroyed in the fight. No official statements have been made by the Royal Family or the local detective agency investigating the attack.”

After getting the facts out there the two moderators chatted about the topic. About the public dissatisfaction with the government’s inaction, about installing an Anti-Apology force, about this political group called Rainbow, chastising people for supporting them because they were the same kind of terrorists.

“Rozu, do you know about Rainbow? What kind of people are they?”

“People that are dissatisfied with the world and take action to change it.”

“Are they really evil?”

“They are against the government, so if course all royalty-controlled media is going to condemn them. They only want the best for everyone. Except for those that desire to hurt others. Seems reasonable to me.”

“Historically, siding with the government was rarely the right move.” Bow mentioned.

They faced the door as they heard it open. Phesmux slithered in with a bag emitting clanking sounds.

“Hey. Sorry, my shop got destroyed and I kinda used to live there…” Phesmux placed her bag on a table and the end of her tail pushed the door closed.

“We don’t have enough beds though.” Trixie said.

“Don’t worry, I don’t sleep in beds. I just curl up.”

“I bet that looks cute.”

“Uh… thanks… Sorry for getting you involved in the fight or something.” she put her hand on the bag, “These are all the potion that didn’t break. You can have them.”

“What will you do now?”

“Hm… seems a good time to do something new. Maybe go see the Upper Seas…”

“You could come with us!” Trixie offered.

“‘Preciate it, but I feel we don’t go the same direction.” Phesmux scanned the room for the bathroom door. “Anyway, I’ll go take a shower. You were looking for Oathwater, weren’t you? There should be at least one among the survivors.”

They waited until they heard the water flowing.

“I wonder how she fits in the shower cabin with that long tail.” Miyuki whispered.

Trixie approached Phesmux’ bag and pulled out the unlabeled bottles.

“Oathwater would look like regular water, right?”

She took the one bottle with transparent fluid. At a closer look, there was a faint rainbow swimming in it. She held it before Miyuki and Rozu.

“So which of you will take it.”

“Miyuki.” Rozu declared.

“Okay, but I’ll only have it if you explain why you don’t want it.”

“Do you need to know?”

“In order to feel well with this, yes.”

Rozu examined the three girls.

“It’s… very personal. It’s not that I wouldn’t like to, but it’d be a waste. I can’t develop a superpower.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t have a soul.”

“You- Uh…”

“How do you mean that?” Bow asked.

“Literally. I don’t have a soul like you do. I am thoroughly unmagical.”

“I… I mean, I don’t know a lot about magic, so I can’t dispute that but… magic did not exist where we are from either, so…”

“You may not be able to use magic, but that doesn’t mean there’s no magic in you. Your souls are magic, you need magic to be born, it’s how you-” Rozu stopped themself. “I’m just not born that way.”

Miyuki sat on the floor to meet their downward gaze. “Okay. As I said though, I’m good with just my tongue. I wouldn’t see it as a waste if you took it. Maybe it does work? Have you confirmed that it doesn’t yet?”

“Well… no. I… fine, okay. I’ll drink it. But you keep the other potions for yourselves then.”

“Deal.”

Rozu took the bottle, popped out the cork and drank its contents. The bottle vanished as soon as it was emptied.

“What? Was that you? Did you make it disappear?” Trixie wondered.

“I don’t think I did?” Rozu said with much confusion.

“No, sorry, that’s my power.” No one had noticed Phesmux behind them.

“Your power is making things disappear?” Trixie asked.

“No, my power is bottling things. As soon as the bottle is emptied or broken. It disappears. Here, look.”

She put a hand on her chest. All the water still on her skin and scales started to run towards her palm and collected into a floating ball of water before a glass bottle manifested around it, along with a cork plugging its top.

“It’s a fast way to get dry.” she switched the towel for a shirt, now that it won’t get soaked and went to empty the bottle in the sink.

“Okay, so that wasn’t Rozu… Hmm, try aiming your hand at something.”

Rozu aimed at the nightstand lamp.

“Now try, uh… shoot a laser at it.”

Nothing happened.

“...Well. It would have been convenient if that worked. Your power may be more complex than that.”

“Or I don’t have one.”

“At least now the next Oathwater we find can definitely go to Miyuki.” Bow said.

“I guess.” Miyuki said. “I had hoped Rozu would be able to use their power right away.”

“Hey, don’t worry.” Rozu smiled. “I’m glad you talked me into it. Either my power will show sometime in the future. Or I don’t have one. There’s nothing more for me to do regarding this than wait. Do you get what I mean?”

“The whole issue is out of your hands now, yeah.”

Phesmux entered their circle again. “How are you all feeling by the way? That was the first real fight you had been in, right?”

“...It’s the first fight where odds seemed to be stacked against me.” Trixie said.

“If you plan to explore the upper seas, you might run into fights like these. Not just Apologies.”

No one responded.

“See, you are registered criminals now to them. If they see you again, they will start another fight with you if enough witnesses are around.”

“Why witnesses?”

“There’d be no point in fighting you with no one to see. They want people to know the reason they attack you is because you broke their laws. So that people know that they’ll be unharmed as long as they follow their rules. That’s how you control people with fear.” Phesmux flicked her tongue out. Rozu did too out of compulsion. Miyuki’s tongue also slipped out to her collarbone and remained there. Trixie could tell it was uncomfortable for her to keep it inside in its entirety.

“Well… anyone still hungry? We were about to get something to eat, right?” Trixie remembered.

1 note · View note