"Occasional downti indeed," I say dryly. I stare at the chat interface. It's a list of every single other Trialgoer, labeled by planet, Trial, and number; so of the nas are crossed out, which is a distressing thing to look at, and the others...
Well, the problem with the chat feature is that I can't interact with it. The entire screen is grayed out. There's a ssage sitting right on top of the screen.
[ Temporal band interference too great. Please stand by. ]
Talk about a disappointnt. I'd been hoping to speak to so others, maybe get a bit more information about what the Integrators are up to and what the other Trialgoers might have gleaned from their encounters with them, but it looks like that might not be a possibility. I'll check in occasionally, just in case.
If nothing else, it gives a way to check on how the other Trialgoers are doing. The majority of them are still alive, and that, at least, is a relief. I scroll through the list a few tis. It's not a surprise that I don't recognize any nas, but...
Five dead so far.
More than I'd hoped, less than I'd feared.
Resha Goodwin. George Halloway. Lu Xin. Ciaran Byrne. Inaya Devi.
The nas are aningless to , but I take a mont to morize them anyway. It doesn't feel right not to. I don't know how many people even know that they're dead. Do they have family waiting for them? Friends? How much do the people back ho know about what's going on?
"Are you okay?" Ahkelios' voice sounds oddly subdued. He's standing on the table, looking up at with concern, and I can't help but feel a small surge of affection.
It's nice not to be going at this alone.
"I'm fine," I say. It's only a small lie. Ahkelios seems to sense it, though, because he imdiately gives a severe look and crosses his arms across his chest; I laugh a little at how absolutely pouty he looks. It's incredible how well human emotions translate across alien body language or maybe that's the Interface at work again. "I'm just looking at how many of the other Trialgoers have died already. It doesn't feel like I have a lot of ti."
Ahkelios grimaces a little, then sits down on the table. "I don't rember much," he says hesitantly. "But I do rember the first ti I unlocked the chat feature... Over half of my planet's Trialgoers were gone. Just like that."
"Do you know if your planet passed?" I ask.
Ahkelios shakes his head. "I gave up before I ever found out," he says, his eyes briefly distant. "I hope they're still out there. I can't imagine..."
He doesn't finish the sentence, but I can feel the sentint radiating from him. Sotis I forget that he's been through all of this, too, even if his mories only co to him in bits and pieces.
"You should tell about what your ho was like," I offer. "Your people, your culture. I an, we're two different species eting for the first ti, right? I feel like that gets a bit lost in the whole Trial thing."
Ahkelios gives a small smile, like he knows what I'm trying to do, and shakes his head. "I don't rember enough," he tells honestly. "But I want to. As soon as I rember more."
"It's a promise," I say. Just ans we'll have to figure out how to restore him sooner. I hold a fist out to him, more on reflex than anything else, and to my surprise, he fistbumps .
I guess so things transcend cultures.
I pull myself to my feet. Using the Eye doesn't seem to have tired out as much as using the Mirror; if I had to guess, there are qualitative differences between Inspirations. I check my status just to be sure the Mirror had been marked as (Firmant, Unique).
The Eye is marked as (Reflex, Rank A).
"Reflex doesn't seem to be all about ntal speed," I mutter, half to myself and half to Ahkelios. "The skills and Inspirations I got were all related to the mind, but..."
"The categories have fuzzy borders," Ahkelios agrees. "I think it's a translation thing. I wouldn't put too much thought into it."
"Hm." I'm not sure I agree, but I don't disagree enough to argue with him at the mont. I take one last look around the empty room we're in, reaching out with my Firmant sense in case there are any fragnts I'm missing...
As far as I can tell, the room is empty. I take a sip of water from the satchel Mari had forced into my arms, and then step back out into the chasm that was Fracture.
The air is different. It puts imdiately on alert. There's an electrifying tingle in the air that wasn't there before, and I don't know what could possibly have changed. My Firmant sense is flaring up.
Strangest of all is the fact that none of this was clear to until I stepped back outside.
I fall into a slightly more cautious stance. ntal Acceleration is always active, but I push a little bit more Firmant towards it, just in case I need to react to sothing. Intuitive Analysis isn't reporting any problems, but it is telling that sothing dangerous is afoot. Whatever that sothing is, it isn't anywhere near , but it's present.
When nothing happens for the next minute, I start moving and searching.
The next house is completely empty. One of the charging alcoves is present, the one that's presumably ant to house a Fractured Guardian, but there's no hint of a Guardian in it. The lines of Firmant within the alcove are dead, and on closer inspection, I realize that the lines have been worn off intentionally, it looks like.
There's a pile of rubble in the room.
I very carefully avoid thinking about it, and move on.
The next few hos I check are similarly empty. The tingle in the air makes it difficult to sense the sparks of Firmant that were so clear before; it's like the whole Fracture is saturated with Firmant, and it makes my ability to sense it almost useless. It's a little more muted in the hos themselves, at least.
It's in the fifth ho that I find sothing different.
This one is decorated. It's not colorful; there isn't much in the way of color here. Everything is made out of the sa pale-brown stone. But there are carvings decorating the walls, deeply intricate carvings that don't just look like lines of Firmant; there are rocks on the ground that look... worn, for lack of a better word, the edges rubbed away until they form perfect, flat shapes. So of them are stacked on top of themselves in precarious towers.
There is a Fractured Guardian here, sleeping in its alcove. I tense, but it doesn't move or react to my presence, and no one else is here.
"Ahkelios..." I say slowly. The little mantis climbs up to my shoulder from where he was clinging to my back, peering around the room in silence.
"Do you think they're alive?" he asks.
"I don't know," I say. The one I fought hadn't seed that way, but then it had also been berserk and attacked imdiately; it probably wasn't a good example of the Fractured Guardians as a whole.
"Let's leave this one alone?" Ahkelios suggests uncertainly, and I nod. There isn't any Firmant here to indicate there might be a skill shard anyway. I step outside, feeling that electric tingle of Firmant settle across my skin again
Intuitive Analysis flares. I feel that tickle of Firmant suddenly beco sothing more, sothing originating from deep within the Fracture.
I dart backwards and react with pure instinct. Barrier. Crystallized Barrier!
The two barriers flash into existence. The first one evaporates almost instantly from the pure Firmant that radiates out from deep within the Fracture, a blast of pure-white that I imagine must be visible for miles around; the Crystallized variant cracks, but holds. I use the ti it grants to call up another two Crystallized Barriers, gritting my teeth at the pressure it exerts on .
The Firmant blast is directed upwards, which is the only thing that saves . What I'm dealing with isn't the blast itself it's the dregs of it, the spare pieces of energy that radiate out to the sides.
But I have to hold the barrier for what feels like an entire minute, and it's a strain on my Firmant. I feel the first Crystallized Barrier finally break into nothing, and I'm forced to take a step back so I can make a third; even through the two Barriers in front of I can feel the sheer heat of Firmant pressing down on .
But eventually, it fades.
I'm left panting. Ahkelios is clinging to , eyes wide with terror. "I don't rember anything like that," he says, his voice half a squeak.
"What was that?" I mutter. I step outside, staring up into the sky; there isn't a trace of the Firmant anymore. The stone around is scorched, but nothing seems overtly damaged by the Firmant; it's enough to hurt anything organic, but it doesn't seem to do much to stone.
"We should hurry," Ahkelios says, looking around nervously. "If Naru is investigating anomalies..."
"Right. He might co here."
There's the sound of stone scraping on stone, suddenly, and I glance behind . The Fractured Guardian is coming to life. I tense up again, ready to fight if it attacks but instead of attacking , I watch as it hurries over to its little towers of stone, as if worried that they were knocked over.
It seems... surprised that they aren't. It looks around slowly, until its gaze lands on , and then it gives a small nod.
I don't know what I'm supposed to make of that.
It stops paying attention to there, and I grimace, forcing myself to get going. If Naru if any of the other Hestian Trialgoers are on their way here I need to make this quick.
The translation stone is, I think, at the far end of the Fracture. I stop looking for other skill shards for the mont, deciding that it's not worth my ti; the single shard I have will be enough for Mari to examine if I manage to bring it back to her, but right now, I need to successfully bring it back to her to begin with.
Intuitive Analysis agrees that the stone is probably at the far end of the Fracture, so I ignore all the hos to the side and just book it as fast as I can. Triplestep and Firestep carry , the flas of each step dying on the stone surprisingly quickly; there are a few Guardians that leap out of their hos, looking to attack , but with my stacked skills it's easy to dodge out of the way.
Hopefully, they don't follow .
The far end of the Fracture where I suspect the stone is looks far grander than all the other generic hos built into the side. It's hidden in a crevice, and so isn't visible from outside the Fracture, but it looks almost like a temple. The pillars surrounding the doors are intricately carved, and there are swooping lines of architecture that flow into one another like the curves of a river.
It's an awe-inspiring sight. I'm tempted to spend a mont to take it in, but with the potential threat of soone coming to investigate the Firmant burst, I just push open the doors and hurry in.
The walls glow with Firmant. There's a stone at the end of the hallway, but in front of the stone is a statue a more decorated, more intricately designed version of the Fractured Guardians.
I sigh, and settle into a stance.
I probably should have expected that a temple like this would have an equivalent boss fight.
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