"You've noticed by now that Firmant is layered," Gheraa says. "Imbuent stones are even labeled that way by the Interface—by its 'depth'. The deeper you sink into Firmant, the closer you get to its true nature."
"Mysterious," I say, raising an eyebrow. "This have anything to do with what I sensed earlier?"
Gheraa cocks his head, then leans in close to peer at , his expression intrigued. "Depends, I suppose," he says. "What did you sense?"
I shrug. "When I was trying to imbue a Hunger stone, there was a kind of reaction from the Void Inspiration. It gave the sense that there was sothing underneath the Firmant. I can't give it a na, exactly. It felt like intent. Or willpower."
Gheraa goes silent for a long mont, staring at contemplatively. "That's... not what I was talking about, exactly," he says slowly. "But you're not the first one to sense sothing like that. It's never been verified. We can't really reproduce the effect reliably, so all we have are stories."
I frown. "Sounds like you guys haven't fully figured out Firmant, either. Aren't you made of the stuff?"
Gheraa gives a withering look. "Do you want to learn about Firmant or not?"
"Carry on." I laugh.
"What you sensed is most likely a deeper layer than the ones that are relevant for phase-shifting," Gheraa says. "The deeper you connect with your Firmant, the more you can utilize it. A phase-shift is an encapsulation of that process—it allows you to access more of the energy contained within your Firmant, so you can do more with the sa amount of it."
That explains why my skills have been getting easier to use. "But there's more to it than that, isn't there?" I ask. "I an, I had to fight during my phase-shift."
"Yes." Gheraa considers for a mont. "Think of each layer of Firmant as having a guardian that decides whether or not you're worthy of connecting to it. It's not a perfectly accurate taphor—that's Integrator doctrine—but it's close enough. Every individual's Firmant is unique, but a lot of the lower layers are... unford. Raw with potential. When you connect to a layer, you define what that layer of your Firmant is. The fight is sothing between a test and a calibration process. You're working to define a layer of your being."
There was that mont during my phase-shift when I had to answer a question. I rember the feeling of it, the question that it felt like I was being asked.
"For the first layer, you have to define who you are," Gheraa says. "You went through that, didn't you?"
"I sort of refused to answer, but yes," I say with a grimace. Gheraa tilts his head.
"If you actually refused to answer, you wouldn't have been able to complete your shift," he says. "But it does explain why the Interface detected abnormalities. You gave it an answer that didn't fit?"
"I said I was whatever I wanted to be," I say with a shrug. "I don't like the idea of being boxed in by a label."
"Ah." Gheraa places his hand on his chin. "That... is normally a second-layer answer. In the first layer, you define who you are now; in the second, you define who you want to be."
"I'd answer that question differently." It surprises how easily the answer cos to —it's not sothing I've ever thought about before. But the answer's pretty simple.
I want to be stronger. Strong enough to be kind.
I can't be kind or rciful when I'm fighting for my life. Even with the loops in play, there's a limit to what I can afford. Letting the assassins go free to get dical help would have cost if they were to report to Whisper or Teluwat; even putting them into a cell was a questionable choice, though I had my reasons beyond just rcy.
But as long as I'm strong enough, it doesn't matter. And now I know I have an advantage that others don't. Temporal skills are unique to , and if I play my cards right, they'll stay unique to .
What's stronger than manipulating ti?
"You would, would you?" Gheraa's gaze lingers on for a long mont. Then he chuckles. "Yeah, that figures. You're a bit of an abnormality all the way through."
A slight pause. "I should apologize to you," he says suddenly.
"...Why?" I ask. He says it with enough grim certainty that I almost involuntarily tense up, readying for a fight; Gheraa winces slightly when he sees my reaction, but he doesn't move away.
"Because it's my fault you were chosen as a Trialgoer," he says. The words make a cold anger shoot through briefly before I stamp down on it and wait to hear the rest of what he has to say. "The Interface profiles everyone that's going to be chosen for the Trials. It wouldn't have chosen you without a manual override."
"...So much for random choice, huh?" I say. I don't quite manage to keep the bitterness out of my voice, nor do I want to. "Why ?"
"You were a risk," Gheraa says. "Too much independence. Not enough traits that are easily manipulated. Most Trialgoers we choose are people that we can manipulate into working for us, or they're people who can work with us, even if they have their own goals."
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"I'm not that hard to manipulate," I snort. The anger is cooling a little—mostly because it seems he's chosen specifically because he thinks I'll be a hindrance to the Intergator's plans. "I an, I've been running around solving problems for other people."
"Because you think they're problems that need to be solved," Gheraa says. "But you don't ignore the bigger picture, nor do you follow blindly. Also, frankly, it's a lot easier to manipulate soone self-serving by bribing them than it is to set up so contrived scenario in which your kindness allows us to manipulate you."
I pause. "Fair enough, actually."
"I'm sorry," Gheraa says. "You wouldn't be involved with the Trials at all if it weren't for my intervention."
"It could've been worse."
Gheraa blinks at . "What?"
"It could've been worse," I repeat. "You picked a Trial I can't possibly lose in unless I give up. You picked for a reason I can respect. I've endured a lot of shit in these loops, but I've also t at least two people I would consider close friends. Three, if I count you, but honestly you're still on probation." I smile at Gheraa as I say this—it's ant half as a joke—but the Integrator seems genuinely stunned at my words. He takes a step back, then falters a little, falling back into a makeshift seat he forms out of his Firmant.
For a long ti, neither of us say anything. And then Gheraa finds the words. "Thank you," he says. "I... wish the real would hear that. Would you tell him?"
"We'll see," I say.
The more I think about it, the less I'm willing to let this version of Gheraa just fade away. He'd said sothing earlier about how he'd been able to pack mories into this version of himself—that ans, theoretically, that mories can be contained in Firmant.
Maybe this version of Gheraa doesn't have to die.
"What did you have to teach about Firmant?" I ask. "Besides the layer thing, I an."
"Oh, right," Gheraa says, blinking a few tis as though he isn't quite sure where he is. "What... I was talking about phase-shifts. First and second layer shifts. You're quite close to the second-layer shift."
"And there's more to it than that, isn't there?" I ask.
"The first layer is Deepening," Gheraa says. "It's exactly what it says—it deepens your Firmant. Sets how it's aligned and the aspects you're most compatible with. You've already defied expectations there by aligning yourself with multiple strong aspects instead of one."
I nod. I rember incorporating the Firmant from not only the crows but from the Interface itself into my shift—though I suspect Gheraa isn't aware of that part of it.
"The second layer is Consolidation," Gheraa continues. "Ahkelios was given the standard information packet on it, if you rember. He'll be able to guide you through it when the ti cos. As I said, you choose who you want to be—and your Firmant will shape itself in a way that guides you toward that outco."
"That's a little vague." I frown. "Is that why I have to give up skills for Consolidation?"
"Yes and no." Gheraa glances away briefly. "The information packet contains so minor lies to keep Trialgoers... weak. That's one of them. You don't actually have to give up any skills. But the more you do, the stronger your remaining skills will be."
"Sounds like a decent tradeoff to ," I say, although I can see how it might impact so Trialgoers differently, depending on the skills they've gained.
"It can be," Gheraa agrees. "But I'll give you a better way to—nevermind. We'll get to that.
"Back on topic, Consolidation will impact the skills the Interface will give you." Gheraa taps his fingers on his knee, eyeing carefully. "More than that, it ans that your Firmant will begin to hold the properties you established in the first layer. When you first begin to manipulate Firmant, it's all undifferentiated potential—powerful, yes, but also much harder to use. By the ti you reach the second layer, your Firmant will begin to manifest properties directly associated with your first-layer attribute. Or attributes, in your case."
"How many layers are there in total?" I ask warily.
"Well, nine," Gheraa admitted. "But no one actually gets to the ninth layer. Most Integrators are at around the fifth or sixth layer. Trialgoers rarely progress beyond the third, and regular citizens, even the ones that can use Firmant, don't usually move beyond the second."
"Is there a way for to figure out what layer soone's at?"
Gheraa studies for a mont. "Not unless your ability to sense Firmant is a lot stronger than you've let on," he says. "Firmant layers aren't sothing that's easily sensed, usually. If you could sense those layers within soone, it would be fairly obvious—untouched layers are still raw and undifferentiated."
I've only been able to sense the layers in imbuent stones and in my own Firmant so far. I haven't tried to examine soone else's Firmant to that degree, mostly because it takes so ditation for to be able to access my Firmant sense that deeply. I nod in thought.
"None of this is the big secret, is it?" I ask.
"No," Gheraa says. "Although most people aren't aware of the details of Firmant layers or phase-shifts. The big secret is that normally, progression between layers is difficult. You've noticed it yourself, right? Even your crow friends don't know exactly how to deepen their Firmant. They know it has sothing to do with crafting things, but they believe it's different for everyone."
"Isn't it?"
"It is and it isn't," Gheraa says with a shrug. "It's true that natural Firmant growth differs for every individual, for every species, and for every planet. There are degrees of differences in all three categories. But there are universal ways to push your connection with your Firmant forward."
I make a connection. "And one of those is the Interface."
"Correct," Gheraa says. He leans back and stares at intently. "All growth within the Interface pushes you toward your next phase-shift. Every ti you bank credits for a skill, for example. Or every ti it offers you a reward or an achievent for sothing you've done. But growth within the Interface is slow—to the point where it can take decades to move down a single layer."
"I don't have decades," I say. "But you wouldn't be telling this if you didn't have other ways to grow."
"Quite," Gheraa agrees, giving a smile that's a little too smug for the situation we're in. I can see that it strains him. He gestures to the void around us again, and then more specifically toward a thread of Firmant I'm just starting to be able to sense. "Your little... assistant. His na's Ahkelios, right?"
"He's my friend," I say, my voice a little colder than I intend. Gheraa winces a bit, realizing his misstep, and swiftly adjusts.
"Your friend," he corrects himself. "He's been absorbing Remnants."
"He's been absorbing the monsters the Interface has been spawning, yes," I say. "The ones that resonate with him. What's the deal with that, anyway? Why are so of these monsters so obviously based on him?"
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