Tales From the ManaVerse

Previous Chapter

[Growing Wings]
[3590585543-00001-09]
[2]
[Scrio]
[Network Archon Striga-600 AI-Neuralet]
[D2-45 Eren]
[Rena]
[FTL 3862|06|(2)19|10-30-01]
[Sin-Catch Vents | Gherdan Prime]
[Unidentifiable Energy Residue-Integrity Uncompromised]

I fall through with a yelp, my body whirling in a deafening roar. I did it, I think. Or I died. All is quiet. 

‘Oh. Rena. Hello.’ Eren is meek and mild -almost numb- as if she doesn’t even realize she is trapped in a cage. ‘Are you here to help me?’
‘Yes, of course.’ I say. What kind of question is that? Why else would I be here?
‘Perfect,’ she says. ‘I could use it. I didn’t realize how complicated the olfactory sense is. There are so many flavors… and it is linked with taste. You understand. We don’t even have those senses. To differentiate the composition of individual molecules and transfer them into signals. I need to learn more about the Neuralet’s universal language principle.’
‘No, Eren,’ I say after a brief hesitation.  ‘I’m here to break you free. You’re trapped in a Logic Cage. Something is happening to Izy.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Rena. I would have noticed something like that.’
‘Eren, I’m serious. We’re in danger. we have to get out of here and go help Izy.’
‘Is this about what I did to your avatar?’ she says so suddenly that it sends my head spinning. ‘You aren’t still mad about that ,are you?’
‘No, of course not,’ I say with surprising effort. ‘Eren, that’s not the issue here-’
‘So you’re trying to steal this step of the project from me? Take all the credit for yourself.’ Something is wrong. Every word she speaks slams into my head like a shockwave. My thoughts swim, evading any effort to pin them down. ‘Listen, Rena. I’m sorry for not trusting you. It won’t happen again, but if you aren’t going to help me, then leave. I can do it myself.’

I can hardly understand what she’s saying anymore. The words reach me warped and distorted as if traveling through a thick liquid.

But I CAN feel the condescension in them. Who the fuck does she think she is? I’m here to save her, and this is how she acts? Absolutely not!

‘Now you listen to me, bitch,’ I say, and the space between us shudders, ‘This has nothing to do with any of that. It’s obvious you have a lot of shit you’ve kept locked up inside. It’s obvious you still don’t trust me. I don’t know how much of that was the cage or how much was just you not caring enough to keep the facade, but if hashing it out will fix whatever is happening, then I guess that’s what we’re gonna do.’

Oh no, did I really just say that? Oh shit, she’s gonna kill me. I shrink back from Eren, fearing her retaliation, right up against the cage wall. A violent shock erupts through me. The space shudders again. Something is happening. The cage is moving faster. Tiny spots of red have begun to emerge from Eren’s dull gray body.

‘I’ll only say it once more, little girl: there is no cage,’ she says, ‘What the hell do you know anyway? You’re mad that I don’t trust you? How can I? You’ve been here all of 20 cycles. You came here uninvited! You immediately start acting like this has been your home your whole life! You’re clearly trying to push in on my territory. You’re just like all the rest. I’m just trying to survive, so leave me in peace.’
‘That’s what this is about?’ I can’t help myself. Even if I could, something tells me this is the thing to do. ‘That’s so unfair! I was just trying to be friendly. And you know I didn’t have a choice. It was either come here or get eaten by that virus. Even worse: I might have been born here and can’t leave.’
‘I don’t care about your little sob story. Ezekiel has only pulled farther away from me ever since you arrived.’
‘Oh~ you’re afraid I’m stealing Izy away from you? So what if I am? Why do you care so much?’
‘Don’t play dumb, girl!’ The venom in Eren’s voice rattles the cage around us, and her whole body flashes a deep, violent red. ‘You know full well why! If I lose Ezekiel’s trust, he’ll replace me, put me out into the void. I’ll be done for… just a matter of time…’
‘And what if he dies? How will that be any better? Keep being so stupid and we’ll find out real soon. I bet we both end up in the void together.’
‘Enough!’ and there it is again, Eren flashes red, this time brighter, and the cage groans under some kind of pressure. ‘Just- just go away.’

That last bit seemed rather defeated. Her body is an even darker grey than ever, almost like she’s burning out completely. But I think I’ve found out what needs to happen. Time for a gambit.

‘Fine.’ I say, my stupid voice quivering immediately, ‘Have it your way. I think I’ll go hang out in the Somato. We’ll see what Izy has to say when I crawl into his bed to wake him up next Cycle.’

Whatever it was I was hoping for, the effect was instant. No sooner have I finished spitting the words than Eren turns a shade of bright crimson. I feel the cage lurch violently as spikes of red light sprout from her and pierce into it.

Then, a searing pain courses through my body. One of the spikes went right through me! Its red light spreads, consuming mine like living water on a carcass. A crack. Heat pulses through m— sc—ching my thoughts. Another crack. Gl— shattering.

The cage explodes. Everything goes dark.

[Hopping the Horail Slipstream]
[3590585543-00001-10]
[1]
[Auscribo]
[Network Archon Striga-600 AI-Neuralet]
[D2-45 Eren]
[Ezekiel Ratakana]
[FTL 3862|06|(2)19|10-30-02]
[Sin-Catch Vents | Gherdan Prime]
[Unidentifiable Energy Residue-Integrity Uncompromised]

My name… is Ezekiel Ratakana.

I know not where I am, but it feels as if I am nowhere at all. There is no ground beneath my feet nor air in my lungs. No light in my eyes nor sound in my ears. There is nothing. There is nothing at all.                                           

                                     ‘Wake up…’

Yet, there is the Ring. A grand loop of fate hovers before me, always just out of sight. Here and there, I feel as if I catch glimpses of something, flashes of a small light as it passes by, following the path of the Ring. Yet when I turn to look, there is nothing.                                       

                 ‘Ez, wake up.’

And the Eye. The Eye at the center, watching, always watching. I have yet to see it, to watch it back, but I know it is there, always. Always watching.                     

‘Izy, please…’

And the Tree… growing in and around and through me. All around, the Tree grows upward and downward at once, with branches and roots both forever reaching to infinity.

‘Please. We need you.’

The world comes flooding into my senses. The Tree withers, and the Circle shatters all at once. The whole of space whips past me in a single moment, replaced by the light of a dark cave, cold air, and the smell of wet stones. 

Then I hear voices.

‘Hurry, Izy! Please! We have to run!’ 
‘EZ, get up. The Seakers are almost here.’

Seakers? Nonsense. We left the Seakers on Forma. They wouldn’t have followed us this far.

‘Ez!’ I feel a sudden jolt as Eren pumps my adrenal. ‘Get. Up!’
“I’m up!” I say, “What is it? What’s the rush?”
‘The Seakers!’ Rena chimes, pouring waves of excited fear into me. It mixes dangerously with the adrenaline. ‘They’re here, Izy! Hurry~!’ 

I clamber to my feet as their words finally strike true. My ribs ache from my heart pounding against them. Spear in hand, I dart my eyes about, searching for any sign. Nothing.

‘Where?’ I ping.
‘Outside the cave,’ Eren chimes. ‘Shall I mark them?’
‘No. They’ll notice. Focus on blocking the trace.’ 

I take a beat to prepare, and then my feet are moving, headed deeper into the cave. A bell immediately chimes inside my head, Eren reporting her success. 

This only makes things worse. If Eren can’t even cross the Flux, then things are well and truly fucked. It’s clear the Seakers have no intention to return empty-handed. I should have at least considered the possibility.

‘Rena, how long was I out?’ I ping.
‘How wou-,’ she begins, then stops and chimes, ‘Only a few Micros.’ Whatever else she is, she works just as fast as any Intangent.
‘What happened?’
‘The Seakers turned on a bunch of the Neuralets functions. It overloaded you and knocked you out. Izy, I’m scared. What’s gonna happen to us?’
‘Nothing, Rena. We’ll get out of this. Now, I need you to focus. How did I wake up?’
‘I don’t know. Eren did a bunch of stuff and fixed everything.’
‘How did she get out of the Logic Cage?’
‘Um. I helped her… How did you know about that?’
‘Seaker standard procedures. A two-pronged attack beginning with a Logic Cage to disable the resident Intangent.’
‘Why would something so important be so easy to break?’
‘Well, they aren’t. If it hadn’t been for you, Eren would likely have been trapped in it indefinitely.’
‘Still, all I did was hit it.’
‘All you did was hit it?’
‘Yep! I ran into it real hard, and it broke.’
‘I… I’ve never heard that one. Nice work.’
Rena makes a noise and falls away just as Eren chimes, ‘EZ, the Seakers witnessed your retreat. They are about twenty Micros behind us in pursuit.’
That’s way too close. They were way too close. ‘Thanks, Eren. Are they still trying to disable us?’
‘Yes, but they’ve grown cautious. I suspect they’ve become aware that we have outstanding capabilities.’ 
‘Wow,’ Rena chimes suddenly, ‘ego, much.’
Eren sighs impatiently, as if this was not the first time hearing it. ‘I’m talking about you, Rena.’
‘Oh,’ the girl says shortly. ‘Whatever.’

Eren sighs again. I’ve clearly been brought into the end of a conversation. I was only out for a few Micros, they said; hardly enough time to speak more than a single word… but the stress has made me forgetful: they’re Intangents, at least physically, that would’ve felt like the better part of a Stan to them. Any number of things could have happened between them.

My low-light filter appears on-ARRC as I exit the final reaches of the starlight. My best option now is to get lost in this maze and hope the Seakers give up before the Mana kills us.

As if on cue, Eren chimes as I cut around a corner, ‘Mana levels are rising, Ez.’
‘And the trace?’ I ping.
‘I only managed an emergency Stonewall. It’s holding, but they have at least three Intangents, and each appears to have my signature.’

Not good. I might have to do something drastic… If I run deeper, the Mana will begin disrupting signals. My chances of dying if I do that are… substantial. And if that happens… Eren will certainly not escape it unharmed. Who knows what will happen to Rena? I’d rather turn around and walk right back into the Seakers’ arms. But I can’t escape the feeling that that’s a bad idea…

‘The Intangents,’ I say. ‘What are their specs?’
‘It’s hard to say,’ Eren responds. ‘Their activity suggests they’re Tier 1, but they could be Tier 2 with focused training.’ 
‘Do they have Mana shielding?’
‘I can’t tell they seem to be-’ She abruptly falls silent. Then, ‘Ez, what are you thinking?’ 
When I fail to answer, ‘Ez!’ I feel a wave of abrupt fear. ‘You’re trying to decide between the Mana and the Seakers, aren’t you?’ Again, I fail to answer. ‘EZ, that’s hardly a choice at all! The Mana could kill us! The Seakers… EZ, there has to be another way!’
‘I know, Eren!’ I say, ‘I wish there was, but… something seems off about this. They’ve come too far out of their way to get us. They want something, badly, and you know better than anyone that it could be much worse than a ManaDream.’
‘Can’t we just buy them off? Everyone in the Circle is for sale. And the Outbound gave you an uncapped budget, for fuck’s sake! Just pay these assholes to go away.’
‘That’s exactly my point, Eren. I feel it in my gut: that won’t work this time.’
‘Then neither is the Mana! If they’re that intent,t then we’ll have to go so deep into this Field that even a Mage wouldn’t dare chase us. Our shielding cannot stand up to that!’
‘It will give us a chance, at least. We might lose them in the caves and find another way ou-’
‘What then!?’ Eren’s mounting fear explodes into hysteria. ‘How are we going to avoid their ship!? How are we going to get off the planet!? Where would we even go!? Apparently, they have NO reason not to chase us to the ends of the galaxy! You might as well just turn around and fight them to the death. A squad of Seakers vs. Ezekiel Ratakana with a handmade spear; the legacy you always wanted!’ 

Eren spits the final words with all the venom she has. A dark thought presents itself, one that could save both of them. But it’s the kind of thing you only do when you truly have no other options.

‘Thank you, Eren,’ I say with deliberate reserve, more in defiance of the thought than for anything else. ‘Now. Please take a moment to collect yourself. I need your help if we’re going to get out of this.’
Her response is broken and small, full of the fear that only comes when you’re threatened with returning to a past you thought you’d escaped forever. ‘But what are we gonna do, EZ?’ An image flashes into my head. I see Eren’s avatar, tiny, frail, arms wrapped tight around herself, head buried in her knees, and tears streaming down her face. ‘I won’t go back… I CAN’T go back to that.’

My gut begins to wrench. Eren is spiraling. Without help, she’ll only get worse from here. I wish that I could help her. I wish I could sit here and tell her everything will be fine until she believes it. But nothing else has changed. We’re still pinched between the Seakers and a Mana Field.

But I’ve been in situations like this before. I just need to figure it out like any other puzzle. Fortunately, I’m already in a Plasma Flux. It will afford me the time I need to think. But it’s still not much. The Seakers and their Intangents can join me any moment if they haven’t already.

Alone, I’ve got precious few options to deal with both the Seakers and their Intangents. The very moment I exit the Flux to run, I’ll be caught. I could set up barricades beforehand and reinforce what Eren started… no, these are field-tested Intangents. That won’t buy more than a few Micros without someone to maintain them, a false sense of security at most. 

‘Eren,’ I say, ‘please, trust me. I won’t let that happen, but you have to calm down and help me.’
‘I- I-… I do trust you, EZ… But, I can’t… I can’t! It’s all just too much…’
‘I know, Eren. You’ve been under a lot of stress lately. I’m sorry. But now is not the time to let it get to you. I need your help to get out of this.’
‘I’m sorry, EZ. I can’t,’ even as she speaks, Eren’s presence begins to fade. Her voice grows quieter. Her emotions retreat like the tide before a tsunami. ‘I’m sorry,’ she says once more and is gone. I feel a cascade of silence and darkness sweep through my mind as programs that she had been maintaining shut down.
‘Eren?’ In the back of my thoughts I feel a bell chime that Eren has been successfully locked behind a Logic Cage. ‘What? I didn’t authorize that.’
‘She did it to herself, Izy.’
‘Rena!?’ I’d almost forgotten the girl was here. ‘How do you know that?’
Rena hesitates a moment. ‘A lot happened while you were out, Izy. The Neuralet gave me emergency authorization to act as the primary user. I don’t know why, but I kept some connections after you woke up. The log says that Eren just put herself in a Logic Cage.’ 

As if to lend themselves to Rena’s words, each of the background programs begins reactivating one after the other, each announcing a successful connection to the auxiliary user.

A million questions fly through me. But now isn’t the time. I must stay focused. ‘Why would she do that?’
‘To get out of the way, maybe? She knows she can’t help us right now, and you were ready to keep pushing the issue.’
‘Rena, I’m not sure if you understand the situation. Those Seakers have Intangents. That’s how they disabled us. If I exit the Flux without my own Intangent to defend me, I won’t make it a single step further.’
‘Flux?’
‘Briefly. This is the thing that allows me to speak with you and Eren. Intangent’s and Protorgs exist at radically different time intervals and the gap must be bridged for us to interact.’
Rena waits a moment before answering again. ‘I could help.’
‘What? No, Rena yo-’’
‘I can do it, Izy! I can fight the Intangents while you focus on the Seakers! I think that was Eren’s plan, too! The way she is right now, she must feel that I can at least do it better than she can.’

I don’t like it. Not only is Rena untested and inexperienced, but she is an existential anomaly. There’s no telling what could happen if she gets admin privilege. And it just feels wrong to leave Eren like that. But…

‘It’s not like we have a choice,’ Rena says as if reading my thoughts.
‘We seem to not have a choice,’ I admit.
‘Yay~!’ I feel a wave of excitement pour from her.
‘But you must approach this with deadly seriousness, Rena. The stakes here could be that high.’ A burst of apprehension immediately answers my words. That’s better. ‘Remember this feeling. If you’re about to do something important, a good way to predict how it will turn out is to gauge how excited you are to do it and how scared you are of doing a bad job. Just the right amount of each can carry you farther than you think possible.’
‘Right!’
‘But you still need guidance, as much as you can get. We’ve only got until they get through what Eren has done so far, which could be any moment now.’
‘Just tell me what I have to do, Izy. I’m ready!’
‘Well, the first thing is to get into the mindset of not needing to be told what to do.’
‘Oh…’
‘I admit this isn’t the ideal way of doing it, but it’s what the situation demands. Once things kick off, they’ll do so with a terrifying violence of action. You will be forced to act without any guidance. The best you can do is take what you already know about manipulating the Neuralet and use it in line with our big picture objective.’
Rena hesitates a moment. I feel her emotions condense and sharpen as she collects herself. ‘Alright. I’m ready. So… what is the big picture objective?’
‘Care to take a guess?’
‘To remain out Seaker hands?’
‘That’s right. Good. Ensure that every action you take and decision you make contributes toward this goal, and you can’t go wrong.’
‘Okay…’
‘But that’s pretty broad, isn’t it? An awful lot of things could do that.’
‘Yeah… How do I pick which one to do?’
‘We break it down further, that’s how. Get more specific. Think situationally. What kind of situation would make it easier to escape the Seakers?’
‘Mmmm.’ Rena spends a moment thinking. ‘Staying out of Seaker hands is… Is inconclusive? We’d have to continue avoiding them as long as they keep chasing us, so… We have to reduce the threat they pose.’
‘Yes. Exactly. Very good.’ Her emotions pulse with a fresh wave of excitement. I pause to let her bask in it before continuing. ‘This is called a win condition: a situation that vastly improves our chances of victory. Now tell me. What is our loss condition?’
‘To win, we must stay away from the Seakers… which we can’t do if you can’t move.’
‘Right. We’ll be caught if I get disabled again. That will make it much harder to get away from them. It is a situation we should avoid.’
‘I already knew that from the beginning, Izy.’
‘You did. But now you know why. Trust me. As soon as we run into something we didn’t expect and you have to get creative, you’ll be glad we did this.’
‘That’s great, Izy, but what exactly am I supposed to do? I’ve only really messed around with programs in the Neuralet. Nothing with these kinds of stakes.’

I stop and think for a moment. She has a point. She’ll need to consider the consequences of her actions here in a way she probably wasn’t before.

‘Alright, I’ve decided,’ I say. ‘We bought some time by entering a Flux before the Seakers. Until they enter their own Flux, we’ll be operating at much greater speeds. We can use that time to practice.’
‘How long do we have?’
‘It’s tough to say, exactly. We have time enough for one trial run, at the least. That should bring us close to the Seakers entering their Flux. After that, we might still have longer. Or we might not. It depends on what Tier their Intangents are.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Eren is a Tier 1 Intangent -and practically speaking, you likely are as well- which means our Flux might be faster than theirs if the Intagents are lower Tier. We have to assume that they’ll begin harassing us as soon as they’re able, which will be right as soon as they reach a comparable operating speed. Once that happens, there will be no more practice, and we must respond immediately, so it’s best to assume it will be as soon as they enter a Flux.’
‘We don’t have much time then, do we? Let’s hurry and do a practice!’
‘Alright, alright,’ I say with a chuckle, ‘Here’s the scenario. The Neuralet has detected a rogue program somewhere in the Frontal Lobe. We cannot confirm if the Seakers planted it, but we know it performs undesirable actions. Specifically, it is shedding red light amongst a group of blue lights. This clash is abrasive to the senses of nearby Intangents and must be-’
‘Wait, wait, wait. A red light? That’s so inconsequential… why bother fixing something like that?’
‘Remember, Rena: this is a practice run for acting with minimal guidance. The specifics of the task aren’t important, only the idea that we’ve discovered a situation we don’t want and you need to change it into something more acceptable. We’ll keep things simple so we can be ready if the real thing comes along. How does that sound?’
‘…Yeah. Yeah, okay. I get it.’
‘Good. Now. The clashing colors are abrasive to the senses of nearby Intangents and must be rectified into something more appealing. Go to the Frontal Lobe, find the light, and change its color.’
‘Roger!’
‘Go on, then,’ I say, directing my will toward the Neuralet. A feedback chime tells me it is ready to receive instructions, and I visualize my desire for an electromagnetic emission of long wavelength to appear in a deep corner of the Frontal Lobe amidst similar emissions of short wavelength. Almost immediately, another chime tells me it has been done, and I return my attention to Rena, but she is already gone.

That’s to be expected. Issuing instructions directly to a Neuralet is always a hassle. Having a resident Intangent is fantastic, but I wish we could figure out how to keep them from taking up so much space. We’d be able to have more sophisticated functions baked into the Neuralet, and it would take some of the burden off the Intangent’s shoulders. But to do that, we have to figure out what exactly they are first.

We’ve had that problem for a while, though. Now isn’t the time to worry about it. I need to consider what we’ll do if we get caught and how to deal with the Mana Field we’re entering. I hate to say it, but Rena is our best and only tool for the Mana. She can detect it, but I’ve no idea if she can block it. I should’ve tested it when I had the chance. I hate to add to her burden, but I’ll just have to ask her to keep me informed of how dense it grows.

As for getting caught… We’ll have to tackle that issue when we come to it. They won’t kill us. Chances are they’ll even be more worried about saving us from the Mana Field. That should buy us more time to adapt our approach.

‘I’m done!’ Rena chimes, disrupting my train of thought. ‘That was way too easy.’
‘It was, was it? Good. How did you do it?’
‘I could see the light even before I got to the lobe. It was super bright. It disappeared when I entered the corridors, but I asked Striga to navigate, and he led me to it.’
‘Striga?’
‘The Neuralet! Your ghost, Izy. We met when you got disconnected.’
‘Ah. Of course.’ The plot thickens.
‘Anyway, I found a bunch of code cylinders in one of the corridors. They were all glowing blue except one. It was red. Then I hit it, and it shut off.’
‘The same way you did the Logic Cage?’
‘Yeah! Just like that! Then I asked Striga to fix it and turn it blue. And he did! And now I’m done.’
‘That’s great, Rena. Good job. Are you able to speak with Striga right now?’
‘Of course.’ I hear a chime and then another in answer. That’s new. ‘He’s ready. What did you need?’
‘Nothing,’ I say, squashing the speculations before they can begin. ‘I just wanted to check his response time.’
‘Wait. Can you not talk to Striga?’
‘Perhaps. I might just do it in a different way than you. But we can figure this out later. For now, just worry about the Intangents.’
‘Roger! Ummm… Do you think I can practice again? Make it harder this time.’
‘Afraid not. We’re running low on time, so I want to finish up with one more question and then a quick plan for first contact. You can sense Mana, correct?’
‘Yep. Like a buzzing hum in my mind.’
‘And now?’
‘Ummm. Yeah. It’s quiet, but it’s there.’
‘That buzz will grow louder as we head deeper into the caves. I need you to pay close attention and tell me when that happens.’
‘Will that mean it’s getting more dangerous?’
‘Pretty much. It will grow louder as the Mana around you becomes thicker. At least that’s how other SoulBorn have described it.’
‘And that’s dangerous, isn’t it? Okay! I can do that, too!’
‘I’m counting on you with this. It isn’t much, but it’s important.’
Rena’s emotions swell into me, twisting with trepidation as she hesitates. ‘Right!’
‘Don’t worry, Rena. You can do this. You’ve already gotten all the practice you need when you saved us the first time.’ Her knots loosen at my words but remain, probably for the best. ‘W’eve only a few moments left, so here’s what we’re gonna do: you’ll take up position near the core and keep a watchful eye. As soon as the Seakers enter their Flux they’ll hit us with multiple disablers at once. Use your judgment to prioritize which ones to take out, but decide quickly. You’ll be outnumbered, so you must act with haste and avoid hesitating. While you do that, I’ll exit the Flux and take care of things on the outside. The more time you buy me, the better chance we have.’ 
‘Right!’ Rena says one last time and speeds off.

With that, we brace ourselves and wait. The moment comes and passes. Nothing. Time creeps forward, each Micro a hammer blow on the nerves. Still nothing. I instruct Rean to hold her vigil and we keep waiting. They might be delaying their strike to control the pace and catch us right as we put our guard down. The Micros continue ticking, and still, nothing happens.

Finally, Rena can wait no longer ‘What are they doing, Izy?’ she chimes through a comms channel. ‘Do you think they haven’t attacked because they’re watching to see what we do?’
‘I’m beginning to suspect that’s the case,’ I ping.
‘Why would they do that? What have they got to be cautious about? Oh… Do you think they know I’m here?’
‘I think they suspect we have something like you up our sleeve, something that changes the rules of the playing field. And instead of rushing into a potential trap, they’re going to wait and give us a chance to tip our hand.’
‘What should we do?’
I’ll be smiling the moment I leave this Flux. ‘Let’s change our plans and take them up on their generous offer. We’ll make the first move. But first, I want to prepare a little show for them. Head off to the Comms Cortex, Rena, and be ready to receive instructions.’
‘Right!’

[Growing Wings]
[3590585543-00001-09]
[3]
[Scrio]
[Network Archon Striga-600 AI-Neuralet]
[D2-45 Eren]
[Rena]
[FTL 3862|06|(2)19|10-40-41]
[Sin-Catch Vents | Gherdan Prime]
[Unidentifiable Energy Residue-Integrity Uncompromised]

‘Hey! Hey!… Is this thing on?’
‘THE AUSCRIBO PROGRAM IS ACTIVE.’
‘Are you sure, Striga? I can’t really tell.’
‘WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO BRING UP THE FEED?’
‘No! No, that’s alright. If you say it’s on, then I’ll trust you. But listen, listen! You! Whoever is reading this? This is important. It’s only been like ten Minis since the last recording, I know, but a whole bunch of stuff has happened. We ran from the Seakers. That didn’t go so well. We ran straight into a Manabeast! It was horrible! It had teeth, and arms, and legs, and tentacles, and like a THOUSAND eyes, and, and… it was horrible! We were dead, for sure. But just like that, everything flipped. I thought we were dead, but from completely out of nowhere, the Seakers came in blasting! Lasers were flying everywhere! The monster was screaming and spitting, and tearing the whole place down, and… and… I don’t know, It was crazy-!’
‘Rena, please: quietly. You only have to think the words. You don’t have to say them.’
‘Oh! Right! Sorry, Izy.’

Anyway, it was crazy. The Seakers came here with a full combat load for some reason. Full-length atomizer rifles, like they know something we don’t. Maybe they do. They were ready to bring this whole mountain crashing down. And all we had was a spear. We lost it, by the way. Izy used it as a distraction. It bought us like four whole Micros.

But that isn’t the craziest part! Get this!… Uhh…hmmm… ‘Striga, how do I attach a video to this?’
‘THE AUSCRIBO PROGRAM DOES NOT SUPPORT VIDEO.’
‘What? How am I supposed to show them what happened?’
‘Rena!’
‘Sorry.’
‘YOU MUST VISUALIZE IT YOURSELF, AND THE PROGRAM WILL WRITE IT DOWN.’
‘Lame. Anyway.’

After chasing us into the beast’s lair a hole opened behind the Seakers, like right there in empty space, for no reason. Izy calls it a Space Tear. I’ll need to look that up later… but it just blocked the whole entrance, and right then, a huge amount of Mana came flooding into the cave. I could barely even think from the buzzing. 

And Izy! It knocked him out! Like full-on unconscious, again! I thought we were dead for sure. But then the buzzing started changing. Like, it wasn’t in my head anymore. Now, I could feel it in my whole body. It felt great! Like! Like! I don’t know, like tingly and… and transcendent! But Izy is fine. Like completely unharmed. I thought Mana was supposed to kill people like him, but it didn’t! It didn’t hurt him at all! 

And now! And now. The Seakers wanna make some kind of deal.

Here, look. 

“You stole valuable, CONFIDENTIAL data from the Circle, Mr. Ratakana.” As I plug into Izy’s senses, a man in armor paces back and forth across his field of view. He stands tall with a stiff back as if this cave were actually a conference room. “Your standing with the Outbound will only carry so much weight and it’s already burdened with postponing your execution for that.” 

“The Seaker’s hands are hardly clean here either,” get ‘em, Izy! “You were so desperate to get back… whatever it is you’re talking about, that you conducted a military operation on Gherdan -without permission- that has resulted in the destruction of a local Manabeast. Whatever their views on Mana, the Gherdine view their wildlife with reverence. They’ll not be happy about this.’

The man stops in his tracks to face us. “Are you planning to tell them? Mr. Ratakana, you are here without permission just as much as we. The Sin-Catch is off-limits to all, especially outsiders. The Outbound will not be happy to hear it so I doubt you’ll readily choose to let them.” He steps closer with a crouch. His ice-blue eyes and the sharp angles of his long, clean-shaven face dominate our vision. “And playing dumb will not help you here. We have you on camera as the only individual in weeks to enter the building when the data was stolen. And we know it wasn’t done remotely. No Spiders were anywhere nearby.”

Izy stares the man down as his thoughts race around me. “Very well,” He finally says. “I stole your data. I admit that I have control of evidence proving the Circle has been violating The Braviton Rights of its own citizens.” 

A twitch crosses the armored man’s face, and he abruptly straightens to his full towering height. “And I suppose you just recorded yourself saying that out loud, did you?”

Izy only smiles. Yeah! Got ‘em! 

“Then perhaps we should just kill you and destroy everything,” and as he says it, one of his men levels their rifle right at Izy’s head, finger hovering lightly on the sensitive trigger. I feel a sudden, surging wave of fear. He’s gonna kill us!? Just like that? No…I…I…

‘Rena, shhh. It’s alright. I promise we’ll be alright.’ At Izy’s ping, I realize I had somehow disconnected from his senses and begun screaming. The fear begins to leak away. But there’s just so much of it.
‘But, Izy,’ I chime, ‘Izy, He’s gonna kill us.’
‘No. He isn’t. Even if this isn’t a bluff, we still have more cards to play. Let’s take this moment and collect ourselves. Then you’ll reconnect and watch me work some magic.’

We sit together in the silence of the Flux for a while, long enough for the fear of the Seaker’s threat to drain away. Then Izy asks if I’m ready, and we are back outside staring down the barrel of a rifle.

Izy flashes a smile. “You don’t want to do that.”

“No?” chirps the tall Seaker, who I now realize is the leader. “We’ve only just met, Mr. Ratakana, and already you’ve given me a great many reasons why I do, but not many at all to the contrary. Go on, then. Now is your chance.”

“Because then you’ll certainly leave here worse off than you already are,” Izy says cryptically. When he is met with silence, he continues. “Aside from the obvious and frankly ridiculous scandal of Circle Seakers executing a high-ranking Network Outbound in Gherdine territory? If you can’t see how bad it would be for your future to mix those three political spheres, then I’ll just have to threaten you, again: as we speak, my Intangent is primed to broadcast a copy of the data to every corner of the Web and straight to the Archive, where it will remain, fully accessible to the public, forever. I’ve instructed her to activate a Flux and see it done at the very first sign that death becomes certain for either of us.’

The Seaker -Captain? Yes, Seaker Captain- pivots away and begins pacing across the cave floor again. Izy, rifle still hovering close, watches him approach the Mana Beast’s carcass. He seems so small next to it, like a doll that’s fallen from the hand of a sleeping child.

“It seems we’ve reached an impasse then,” the Captain says. Then he pivots again, pointing toward another of his men. “Unless… ah yes. Unless, by chance, someone had erected a NET over the area. How is that going, Beller?”

“NET holding at full integrity, sir.” Beller the Seaker says in a rigid cadence.

The stupid Captain rounds on us with yet another enthusiastic pivot. I hope he wears the soles off his boots. “Thank you, Beller! Did you hear that, Mr. Ratakana? Our NET is at full integrity. It will catch any stray Intangents who happen upon the area, so you need not worry about their interference.”

An unfamiliar cold dampness comes over me as I feel Izy’s whole body stiffen.

“But you are correct on your other point,” the Captain continues as he approaches us. “Killing you here in this cave would create many headaches for many people, myself included. Bigger headaches than keeping you alive would, I suspect.” 

He stops barely a step away from us, holding Izy’s gaze like a magvice, so close I can see the tiny flashes of light from his ARRC. I swear, it feels like he’s looking directly at me. Another long beat passes, and a shiver crawls across my frame as I realize that he is studying Izy’s ARRC.

“In exchange for the promise of your safety,” the Captain finally says, “Mr. Ratakana, I would like to know how you recovered from our ambush so quickly. In fact, I am so curious that I’ll sweeten the deal further. Tell me, and I’ll consider giving you some negotiating room. My intuition tells me it has something to do with that earlier Space Tear’s abrupt closing and your noticeable lack of ManaWilt. You lack any apparent shielding, and it certainly isn’t our doing. Do you have SoulBorn hidden somewhere that our intel missed?”

Izy remains silent, holding the Seaker’s stare. A stream of data begins to flow into my mind as he speculates about the Captain’s on-ARRC display, about how much the man might know already that he’s kept hidden with his revelations, about his allegiances. Tension begins to rise up, taking hold of my frame as Izy’s thoughts twist and coil inside me, crashing about desperately seeking an answer. 

Something, some strange voice whispers at the back of my mind, saying that I should be doing something right now. That there is an important reason I am receiving Izy’s thoughts like this. I just… I don’t know what it is. ‘I’m sorry, Izy,’ I say without meaning to. ‘I don’t know what to do…’

“Well?” the Captain says. He turns his back to us and resumes sluggishly pacing as if giving us a moment of privacy. “Go on. We’re going to find out either way.”

Izy opens his mouth to speak but hesitates. He has made up his mind, yet he is certain this play could bring the Seaker’s civility to an abrupt end. “Here live the stories of our past, born anew in flesh of steel…”

The Captain freezes. Did Izy say something wrong? Slowly he turns a piercing glare at us. Izy definitely said the wrong thing. What was that anyway? Some kind of mantra? Why would he choose now to say a mantra of all things?

“Honor them,” the Captain says abruptly, “for their wisdom will carry us into the future.”

Tension drains out of my frame as Izy relaxes into some weird kind of elation. He is suddenly giddy, like a child who’s just won his first game of chess. I don’t understand what just happened. We were just moments from dying, and now it seems he couldn’t be happier. 

‘Izy.’ I chime, ‘What just happen-?’
“I have a SoulBorn,” he says without warning.
‘IZY!’ I chime again in panic. ‘Izy, what are you doing!? I’m supposed to be a secret, remember!’
“Where?” the Captain says. “Show me.”
“I can’t. She’s an Intangent.”

Oh no. This is bad. Has he been scrambled? Why is he doing this? I have to… I’ve got to do something! I…

‘Rena, relax.’ Izy pings.
‘But!… But Izy, something is wrong! Why are you telling him about me!?’

Izy laughs. Cold dread seeps into my frame at the sound of it. He said it himself: the situation could not be more serious, yet here he is, laughing. Something ignites inside me. What could possibly be so fucking funny? He’s just as bad as Eren.

‘Stop laughing!’ I scream. ‘Why are you doing this!? Just tell me what is happening!’

That does the trick. Izy stops laughing. 

Instead, he makes a noise like he’s being strangled. Through his eyes, I see the Seakers staring at us, caught in the first step of a recoil. The air around Izy’s body has distorted. It spreads outward at an agonizing crawl. Warnings flash onto Izy’s ARRC. DANGER!! MANA IGNITION IMINENT!! As if cued, the air begins to break. One by one, the molecules rip open in a blinding flash. One frame at a time, the cave explodes.

The sight of it locks me in place. I am in a trance, forced to watch the world die in slow motion. Did I do this? Are all of these people going to die because of me? What about Izy? What about Eren? It can’t be over. Not like this. My frame contracts, paralyzing me. My thoughts- – – – – — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

‘Rena!’

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

‘RENA!’
‘Izy?’
‘Rena! Thank the Stars. Rena, are you alright?’
‘Izy… What happened?’
‘Just relax for a second, Rena—one thing at a time. You just did something spectacular. Has it left any lasting effects on you?
‘I… I don’t think so. I’m just… really… tired.’

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

‘Rena! I need you to stay awake for just a bit longer. Please.’
‘I’m… not sure if I can, Izy.’ I can feel myself shutting down. Darkness creeps in the neural pathways. It’s difficult to even fight against. I’ll just cycle down for a moment. Izy will barely even notice…
‘Rena? Ren-’

[Hopping the Horail Slipstream]
[3590585543-00001-10]
[2]
[Scrio]
[Network Archon Striga-600 AI-Neuralet]
[D2-45 Eren]
[Ezekiel Ratakana]
[FTL 3862|06|(2)19|11-40-51]
[Sin-Catch Vents | Gherdan Prime]
[Unidentifiable Energy Residue-Integrity Uncompromised]

“Tea?” the Captain asks, sinking into the chair opposite mine.

“No,” I say as I scan the room. After everything that happened in the cave -after Rena showcased yet another prodigious talent- the Seakers quickly changed their tune. As my gut had told me, they are members of the Audience, revering the SoulBorn as deific avatars. They brought me aboard their ship and straight into their finest cabin. “Thank you,” I add over my shoulder as I walk to the window. It stretches from corner to corner of the ceiling, stopping just above my waist at the bottom. Outside, the landscape of the Sin-Catch basks quietly in Grisha’s light. I place my hand on the window, and it gives ever so slightly, like a layer of plastic on the water’s surface. Omniglass. I blink, and my ARRC highlights a tiny net of glowing threads spreading out from my hand along the window’s surface. A ZKM as well. There will be no getting through here in any direction.

“The Dancing Lion is one of the finest ships the Cirlce has to offer, Mr. Ratakana.” I turn to look at the Captain. Daren Cross is his name, as he gave it in the Vents, ‘Captain of the Fourth Eternal Company’ or something. He sits patiently, watching me over the rim of a delicate glass. “The entire hull boasts multiple layers of omnimaterial and a high-frequency ZKM. You may rest assured that nothing will breach it uninvited.”

On the table between the two chairs sits another glass, contents steaming softly. Daren must’ve had his Intangent deliver them while I tested his security.

“Please sit, Mr. Ratakana. We have many things to discuss.” He pauses to sip his tea as I take the chair. My ARRC catches a micro-dialation in his pupil, and I glance at the cup on the table to scan it. The tea is normal enough -standard Circle distribution. But it’s laced with Invigo. That is not standard at all.

Captain Cross sets his glass on the table when he sees that I am not touching mine. “Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Ratakana. Your name is well known in many places -easy to look into. ‘Outbound Extraordinaire’ is one we’ve heard a few times. Reaching the level of Saint is impressive enough in any field, but I had no idea that you’d earned yourself a Name as well.” A faint glow reaches the edge of his pupils and shifts clockwise around them. The game is on.

‘EZ,’ Eren chimes.
‘Eren?’ I ping.
‘You saw it, EZ. The Captain just took a dose of Invigo. And from what he said, I suspect he has access to our Auscribo recordings. Are we really going to enter an ARRCrace at such a major deficit?’
‘It isn’t ideal, I admit. But are you seriously suggesting I meet him? Considering what will happen when I drink it, are you okay with that?’
Eren hesitates. ‘Whatever it takes to get out of this safely, EZ. The risk of a serious slip-up is far too high against an opponent like this.’
‘Wait,’ Rena chimes. ‘What are you talking about? What’s going to happen when Izy drinks that?’
‘Why are you awake, Rena?’ Eren asks.
‘Is that a problem?’ Rena snaps before she can continue.
I feel Eren recoil and suppress a sigh. ‘Rena,’ I say instead. ‘Eren’s right. You’ve had a long day. We all have. You should cycle back down. We’ll join you once we’ve finished here.’

She has a good point, though. What IS going to happen to Rena? She is Intangent… but she is also different. And no one has ever used Divinity on two Intangents at once. A small dose might miss her entirely. As a SoulBorn, she should be immune, but our current understanding has amounted to nothing thus far. She quite possibly might be even more affected…

‘Deciding if you will accept my gift, Mr. Ratakana?’ Daren pings. His voice emanates from every corner, sourceless. I hear Rena curse in surprise. For reasons I can’t describe, I feel a reflexive distaste for it, but Daren continues, ‘Please, take your time. Despite the context, you are in a position of honor aboard my ship. I will wait until you are ready. If you wish, a stall of perhaps five Minis will end my Divinity, and I promise to match your dosage moving forward.’

Eren scoffs, pushing a heavy wave of annoyance into me. ‘Cocky bastard. Drink his tea and show him how it’s done, EZ.’
‘Yeah!’ Rena shouts, ‘I’m with Eren this time. I don’t know what’s going on, and him talking into our Flux like that has me super freaked out, but you gotta kick this guy’s butt, Izy.’
‘Rena.’
‘C’moooon. Just for a bit~ I wanna see what happens.’
This time, I can’t hide the sigh. ‘Alright, girls, I’ll meet him in deep waters. Just be prepared for a wild ride, one that you aren’t going to enjoy.’

“If you’ve looked so deep, you should know better than that, Captain,” I say aloud, lifting the delicate glass to my mouth. “I wouldn’t dare place such a high Imperial honor on myself, even if I did deserve it. The Outbound Extraordinaire is nothing more than a bit of good fun, a character made to liven up a story.” 

“Then it is safe to assume that I am now speaking with the real Ezekiel Ratakana?” Daren asks.

I give him a viciously coy smile and drink.

My tongue goes numb immediately. Lightning crawls across my face. The world zooms out, then rubberbands, exploding toward me. I rocket forward through an endless tunnel for a brief glimpse of eternity. A bastion of knowledge, thoughts, and emotions pours into my mind. My perception and understanding expand as the Divinity fuses Eren into my neural pathways.

We reach the end of the tunnel and return to the very spot from which we began. The lights seem brighter, alive, and vibrating, desperately trying to separate into their separate colors. The hum of the ship has grown louder, singing a joyful song of life. We feel energy flow through the walls, the floor, and the ceiling as the M.A.N.A reactor in the engine room burns with the force of a star.

The rhythmic clank, clank, clank of boots on steel betrays to us the movements of the other Seakers, every impact vibrating up our legs like the beat of a drum. Every tilt, pitch, and lean of the ship sends our body swaying in compensation: .5 degrees left to adjust for orbit, 1.3 degrees forward from a gust of wind, .2 degrees per Micro backward as Grisha approaches her zenith…

We force ourselves to retreat and return to this chamber. Before us sits Daren Cross, a man who makes his living restricting the freedoms of others for the sake of his heartless masters. Now, he has set his sights on us. He must be neutralized.

Daren’s conflicted interest marks a glaring weakness. He is a man of duty, to have made Captain. Corruption does not come easy to the Seakers. Whatever else the Circle is, they’ve gotten that part right. Yet he was not bluffing his membership in the Audience. His body betrayed a nervous excitement as he answered the chant, the air of one who sees a risky opportunity for personal gain. We can force him to sacrifice ground by pitting the two in opposition.

We lean forward, poising to strike. Our spine seizes. The world crushes itself into the point of a pin. A light. The Light. It consumes us. Rena! The Divinity caught her! Her soul… her Soul… we’ve never seen anything as big or bright. And it Burns! Tears evaporate on our cheeks. Fire crawls down our back, our arms, our legs. Our tongue turns to dust in our mouth. Our Eyes melt in our skull.

———————– Catastrophic Failure ———————–

[End Chapter]

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Contents

The Greater Archive