There is soone watching the world from inside . I can’t hear them, I can’t feel them, but I know they’re there. Patches of my mories go missing, and there are these tis when I can’t separate my dreams from the waking world, but I know… I know…
What I don’t know is who I really am. Not anymore.
For the last fifty years, I’ve lived a life. A real life. An entire life. I was a kid again—or at least planted in the body of a child. I went through the Highfla academic system—got sorted into counter-intel after my Tempering Day. Tempering Day… The final tests that determine your aptitudes and potential for developnt.
I rember being so proud. But that night I dread of sothing else. Another life. Another series of monts not too unlike this one. Dedicated training in languages, philosophies, artistry, politics, combat, and tradecraft…
I rember people — but their faces were like blank canvases. I rember feelings, but they co to like echoes. I rember. And then they go away. And I was myself again.
But then sothing happened. After fifty years of service, after fifty years of holding the Great Wards against the Incubi and trying to keep Highfla safe, the Nether ca down. Everything collapsed.
And with it.
I was diving deep when the Nether fell. There was a distant fire, split through by a scar of gold. And then, for but a mont, that fla fractured, and part of it tore through . Took pieces out of . Or broke through my outer shell.
When parts of my present ego shattered, it exposed sothing beneath—sothing that was hidden all this ti. Another life. Another loyalty. I think—I think I was from Ori-Thaum. I think my assignnt was to reach a high enough position to cripple their N-DEF all at once, but I can’t tell if that’s a delusion or if I’m just too nulled…
But then I glimpse myself in the mirror sotis and see… and see a shadow of reaching back. But it’s not really . The shadow doesn’t have my face. But our minds were… once one and the sa. And it’s like it's drowning, like it's trying to swim away from sothing that’s captured it.
But like with my dreams, it goes away. It goes away, and I am alone.
But I’m not myself anymore. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know who I am. I don’t know who I am.
-Mit'sem-Log of a Rogue Sleeper
33-8
Unwelcoming Committee (IV)
—[Denton]—
Operative Valerie Denton wasn’t surprised often, but in the aftermath of all that transpired, her continued survival bordered on the miraculous.
Her mind was in fragnts after the sundering of Scale, and with the subsequent expansion of the Substance, a good portion of her sheath suffered near fatal damage as well. It was only by pure happenstance that she was discovered—pulled out from a mountain rubble while rescue units were trying to extract a buried Clan Elder.
So ti in a rejuv-vat and a few biological miracles later, she was in as fine of a shape as she ever had been. Physically, at least. ntally, the damage was severe enough to pose an issue. It went deep enough to compromise even her inner processes. Not ideal, considering the truths that might expose. But seeing as Ori-Thaum was in a hurry to dispatch her to fulfill her usual role of being Chief Paladin Naeko’s point of contact for Ori-Thaum, she assud they still trusted her.
As much as they always did.
Oh, before I forget to tell you this, I’m glad you're still unsnuffed, Denton. Cas is going to be burning hot to hear from you.
Her attention shifted to the Bond leashing her to Draus—or a constructed avatar of the Regular. It never ceased to astonish her how much could happen in the span of days. In the short ti since the destruction of Scale, Naeko had been freed, and now occupied the role of a tenth power in New Vultun. anwhile, Chambers was the new Heaven of Love—-and the unofficial replacent for the Deep Nether, no less.
The fact that Avo hadn’t interfaced with her mind was disconcerting. Chambers hadn’t remarked on his absence, so the situation couldn’t be entirely dreadful. However, she couldn’t quite shake the feeling of sothing being entirely out of place…
[Operative Denton: Directives from Inner Council. Establish closer ties to the Lovebringer and associates. Uncover Chief Paladin’s main objectives for the near future.]
The flashing Cognisoft notification almost made her tense before she released a breath. Whatever the capabilities of the Inner Council’s new ta-ntal constructs, it didn’t seem to be capable of intercepting exchanges across Chambers’ so-called Lovenet. And a good thing at that, otherwise, they might just have learned more about Denton than she wanted.
Thus far, they were expecting her to angle her way into compromising Chambers through her relationship with Naeko. Which was amusing considering she was likely closer to Chambers than she was with the Chief Paladin.
Their walk through the planetary ring was shortened thanks to Draus’ passages. So other representatives alongside Denton tensed at the prospect of venturing through a forr Regular’s portal, but when she passed through without hesitation, they followed as well. Accompanying her were representatives from all the major and minor clans — save for the D’Rongos. Their clansfolk were altogether absent in all sectors. Not surprising, considering the revelations at the trial.
Another significant individual of note was Valhu Kitzuhada—Ambassdor to Stormtree and soone with a personal interest in attending this conference. His daughter, Kare Kitzuhada, was a Paladin. With the destruction of Scale, her fate was now dubious. Though he kept his expression neutral, his thoughtstuff was spinning at an alarming rate, comparable to the mind of a soldier lost in a battle frenzy.
Drawn by Draus across a grand expanse of shifting fractals, Denton eyed her Bond and cast a question. Chambers. A question before we arrive: Do you have any information about Kare Kitzuhada?
The heavy pulsations of love weakened, as if enervated by her words. Yeah… I do, but…
She is dead.
Yeah.
How?
Fucking, sothing went wrong when Scale got obliterated. Everything went to shit and, uh… It might be best if Shotin speaks to the Ambassador. Denton noted Chambers’ Bond to Valhu being significantly dimr than the others. I’ll be honest, consang, just attaching myself to him makes feel like shit. I haven’t told him at all. Don’t got the heart, and I think it would be pretty fucked if i just forced love into him to blunt the ugly reality.
Quite. Shotin. What is his condition?
Not doing super nova, either. I had a talk with him earlier. Did what I could. I might be the Heaven of Love, but sotis… I think so things aren’t fixable with love, you know? Or not really. I could pump everyone up with feel good and pleasure, but that just makes the Godclad equivalent of a joyfiend dealer. Or a porn-vic. An oddly pensive feeling oozed over into Denton. And I’ve lived that mistake for most of my life. I don’t think I want to have everyone else turn into who I was.
Chambers’ words proved to be a welco surprise. Denton noted the man’s growth. Whether that was due to Avo’s influence or outright resequencing, she didn’t know, but it pleased the little bit of her that was “human” to see soone learn and grow.
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Too many people didn’t.
A passage opened far ahead, and Draus tilted her head slightly. We’re almost there, the Regular said, speaking through Chambers’ Bonds. We’ll need you to play the stranger a bit longer. Naeko’s tryin’ sothing.
I understand. Keep this to a need to know basis. We never know who’s listening.
Synced on that. A ntal sigh slipped over from the Regular. Any chance you got intel on the kid or the cat? White-Rab and the others.
Now there was a troubling confirmation. A good portion of Avo’s cadre was missing. That, or Draus was trying to match information she already had. Paranoia ca with the territory when you lived as a spy. No. Ori-Thaum has an internet network. Most of their Sovereignties are in stable condition and a secondary communication network exists via our Cognisofts and other information-based miracles, but the collapse of the Deep Nether was unforeseen.
Shit. Unforeseen, and Ori-Thaum still didn’t get caught with their pants down.
They spent years fighting you. They needed to be prepared for any eventuality.
The Regular chewed on that with silence. Right. And Voidwatch?
Also a ss. Lots of standby orders coming in from Threshold. Calvino has been reassigned several tis. He’s got a Contingency Bleak tied to his node now.
Refusal.
Yes. I believe so.
Yeah. Reckon their playing their own gas too.
No. The Bleaks do not play gas. If they are involved, then they believe that there is a tangible threat to the continued existence of the polities they were created to safeguard. With what is consuming the Tiers of New Vultun, I’m inclined to agree.
Draus went quiet. Denton narrowed her eyes slightly. The Regular had always been hard to read—more a weapon in the shape of her person. Aside from bloodlust-derived joy and other muted emotions, she didn’t have so many tells. But her silences spoke volus, and sothing closer to intuition than logic made Denton think that the Regular knew more about the Substance than she was saying.
Another notification flicked in Denton’s feed. She wasn’t surprised to see who it was from.
GHOST-LINK REQUEST FROM [VALHU KITZUHARA]
>ACCEPTED
Glaive Denton. I apologize for my impatience and this intrusion, but…
I do not have any information about your daughter yet. I suggest that you wait until we reach our destination and ask the Chief Paladin directly. Lies ca easy to Denton, but she wasn’t looking forward to the ambassador’s discovery of his daughter’s fate. The man deserved better. He was one of the few decent political operators in Ori-Thaum—among all the Guilders for that matter.
He deserved better.
But since when did deserve an anything to this broken universe?
Of course. I apologize. I apologize. Valhu disconnected from her imdiately, but even seconds after, she felt the after-pressure of his ntal tension pressing against her wards.
***
—[Aedon Chambers, The Lovebringer]—
Fuck. That was all Shotin said. That was all Shotin needed to say.
Yeah, Chambers replied. THis isn’t going to be easy, consang. Maybe I should just—
No. Don’t you godsdamned dare. He’s my bondsbrother. I’ll tell him. See if I can get him to dump so of his hate on —
Hey. No. Don’t do that shit. Trust , I did the whole “I’m a piece of shit” thing for years just to survive. But it never solved anything. It never made anything better. You tell him who’s actually responsible instead. Tell him the High Cuntess did this. That’ll give him a real direction.
Through their shared Bonds, Shotin studied his bondbrother’s face, noted the deepen wrinkles on the man’s forehead, the scratches on his glasses, the cold sweat beading upon his brow. Fuck, Shotin said again.
Yeah, I know, consang. I know. If you need sothing to blunt the hurt, just tell him. I’ll give you a spike.
Shotin wanted to say no. Chambers could practically feel it. However, he could also feel the raw agony hatching out of the man’s chest. There was only so much hurt soone could bear before they started looking for a way out. In the end, the Seeker didn’t say yes, but he didn’t need to.
Shotin, Naeko said, awkwardly entering the conversation with a grunt. I’ll make sure you get your mont to speak with him. But I want to talk with him after. To offer… I don’t know what the fuck I’m going to offer. She was one of mine, and now she’s gone. I got a debt of responsibility here too.
Holy fuck, it was like the misery was contagious. Was everyone going to do the woe is thing. Chambers wondered if he should infuse the Bonds connecting all of them with a bit more love, but he wasn’t sure at this point. He created an internal set of connections between the mbers of the Symtry, effectively creating a Love-lobby for everyone to work together, but the compounding misery wasn’t very nova…
Ever so slightly, he added just a bit more pleasure into the Bonds.So rawness dissolved imdiately, and Chambers caught a cast from Draus. Nice work. Probably a good call. Keep them focused. Just don’t overdo it.
He almost did a double-take. She was complinting him more now. Barely grumbled at him anymore. Shit, maybe he should have rcy take a dive into her mind. See if anyone pierced her wards and was jacking through her ego.
She is clean. I am certain of this. rcy’s voice made Chambers flinch.
“Gah! Fuck! Don’t do that shit!”
I apologize, Keeper of Love. But I hope that you might be assured by my sugbtlety. If you did not notice my intrusion, then few others will. And few things are capable of slipping my notice.
Alright, Chambers said in reply. Just keep an eye out. Our flats got any bites yet?
A few have reached into them thus far. They are probing through my false mories. The contagion should spread through the delegation relatively soon.
Nova. Heh. These poor half-strands don’t even know what kind of ga’s being played.
***
—[The Majority]—
Every person had a Shadow.
It wasn’t exactly like an ego-node possessed by the Low Masters of Noloth — nor was it ever ant to be. Rather than copying from one’s sequences directly, a compilation of information, actions, decisions, and other essential details were channeled through the Majority to create a near-perfect model of a Constituent.
Near perfect because the highest Domains for Ori-Thaum were never the realm of minds or consciousness, but intelligence, information, and perception.
After all, the mind was such a malleable thing. Easily changed, easily fooled. Better to control the environnt it faced rather than the vulnerable core itself.
That being said, they still needed a ans to access and imprint the m-data composing an ego — a task that was imnsely difficult when the specific ego you were trying to copy was a Highfla Regular.
Constituent of Aedon Chambers [Failed — Connected to the Drear; Risk Potential: 99.5%]
Constituent of Samir Naeko [Failed — Connected to the Drear; Risk Potential: 99.5%]
Constituent of Cas eld’Canduir generated
Constituent of Cala Marlowe generated
Constituent of Famine of rcy generated
Constituent of Shotin Kazahara updating… [Failed — Connected to the Drear; Risk Potential: 99.5%]
Constituent of Jelene Draus pending… pending… pending…
“Other infiltrated egos on hold. Devoting more resources to the replication of the Regular.”
A brief shuffle of discord passed through the Majority. So didn’t like this idea—thinking it a waste.
“She is just one person. This is not worth the expense.”
“She bears a fragnt of the Stillborn. She is a herald of the Burning Drear. We must have her Shadow retrained for predictive simulations. Nothing must be left to chance—chance—shekilledshekilledsomanyofuskillherherkill…”
“And what of Shotin?”
There was the other person of concern. Though he had a vague sense of their Seeker, his Shadow was now diluted with a burning presence that seared the Majority’s tendrils when they dared to approach.
“He has been marked by the Drear too. We must approach with caution. Manipulate them through social engineering thods. Cogni-thaumaturgical ans deed too high risk.”
“Concurred. Most optimal path to allegiance with Ori-Thaum: Create conflict with Voidwatch. Engineer mont of assistance to deepen ties.”
“Risks… acceptable. Revelation of Kill Team Innsmouth also useful.”
“Confird. Beginning info-simulations… Priming Constituents Denton and Kitzuhada…”
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