It's Turbin' Time (Library of Ruina Modded/Arknights)

3.15 - A Crack In The Heart

Ayam.

Yes, it works out quite nicely as a name. You like it well enough. But there's something missing. Something that you think you need.

A surname.

Your Mother should give you this one.

But maybe you can sort of… do it too? Make a composite name? You don't know hers…

Some sort of ancestral memory rumbles inside your brain. Knowledge consumed from one of your raw components- study of language, a rarely enjoyed hobby for the entire life of the user, as he went by with a completely mundane existence as a corporate office worker. The material was nearly completely destroyed, but what few traces you could gather…

You pierce together a meaningful sentence from the crumbling shards of awareness- a language you do not recognize.

An entire dictionary pours out. Documents upon documents slip out of their shelves and bombard you with information.

"Document" might not be the right word, but you don't know what else to call this.

There's very little left of the man's identity. What you remember of him are your own memories of watching his story, of reading through it as a man reads a book. But what is left isn't raw information, it is inevitably colored by bias and emotion.

It's diffuse, slippery. What you manage to pick up is fragmented, scarred pages and tattered letters.

But it'll have to do.

---

Now, let's take a look at the second sentence by comparison. Here we have an explicit present tense in the form of █████████.

Unlike the rest of the text, this sentence follows the VSO word order, thanks to ██████

Given that we see ██████ in the form of ██████ and the rest of the text uses topicalization, ████ thanks to █████ we can conclude that the verb is in fact ██████

In this case, █████████████ is the focus of this sentence, with ████████████ and other authors supporting this. Given that we are also ████████████ and then given the translations "to exist, to abide", perhaps it would be more accurate to utilize ██████ when translating, as perhaps using those words would better convey the meaning of █████████ or █████.

Following this, we see ██████ refers to the adjective "only" and modifies the noun.

██████ follows ██████ after ██████.

██████ is interesting because we are given the translation █████████ in the text, but that version is disputed as █████████ is an alternate reading in the Laterano translation and █████ is the most popular reading, in the Leithanian translation by ██████, that supports it as not simply "red," but rather "blood-red," due to the similarity to ████████, that reads as "bloodshed" in that same translation.

The controversial "Aegir Codex," meanwhile, translates it as "home," or "hell" depending on the context.

The arguably more faithful translation by ██████ ████████, however, translates it as "ocean," and the other as "sea," avoiding the misleading or biased readings that the previous translator quite obviously shows.

While both have overlapping meanings, I would argue in favor of the "ocean" translation.

---

Okay. This sort of makes sense to you. It sure is convenient that one of your components had knowledge of language- you wonder if Mother knew that beforehand, and fed him to you for that exact purpose.

Oh well. You're ready.

"Ayam Adom" will be your name.

It…

You like it.

It fits you.

"Red Sea."

…you might want to go with Ayam in casual conversation, anyway. Rolls better off the tongue.

…but now, you have a name. You just need to ask Mother for her surname and everything will work out just fine.

Well, all you have to deal with, now, is this guy laying on the pile of trash next to you.

You lightly tap him on the head. He doesn't budge.

You do it again, with your claws out this time. They scratch his flesh, but it heals quickly, not even leaving any scar tissue behind. But at least he twitches, if only slightly.

You stare at him for a second.

Quintus, huh?

You never cared about him much. He was slated for becoming part of We Many in the future, as his transformation progressed, but what information you had on him pointed towards this being a thing that was supposed to happen eventually. He was already kin, wasn't he?

Now that you think of it, what was his business with that Abyssal Hunter, anyway.

The First To Talk wanted to speak to the one with the Genezoic' essence, Skadi, but you don't exactly recall why the agile one- Gladiia, you think- was working with him anyway… What was she thinking? And why did he listen to her?

Did he simply assume one of his most fierce enemies had decided to defect for no reason at all? She didn't seem to have progressed significantly in her assimilation for it to start damaging her reasoning, and neither did she seem to show much sympathy to We Many.

...how strange.

The First To Talk was there to attempt two-way communication with your currently land-dwelling kin.

You believe he is a sign.

There is hope in the future for your kin. If they are capable of communication with the land-dwellers, the essence of your blood might be able to bring them into full awareness… if they do not simply fall into bestial hunger as the rest of your Sal Viento kin fell.

It's strange.

Ever since you've become a Bloodfiend, that old life has become closed off to you. Never again will you feel the tide's embrace. The ocean is the target of your fear.

If…

If you can give your kin the essence of blood…

Will the sea be left empty of their presence? Will Ægir finally win their war…? You will not be able to stay in your old home. That will be the price of your freedom.

Perhaps that is for the best.

But where will you go?

What land will take you?

The City? You barely know what it is, beyond your Mother's recollections. And you have no idea of how to even get there.

A new nation, in the lawless wastelands? Possible. But difficult, and you will be under siege by many enemies. Nevertheless, a possibility- hardship should not deter you from seeking freedom.

A truce with Iberia? Unlikely. There is far too much bad blood between the two of you.

Heh, bad blood.

The other vampires- Kazdel? About them, you know nothing at all.

This is all so complicated.

It's best if you focus on what is happening now.

Quintus seems to be waking up, trembling as you caress his hair. You've almost finished braiding it with your tendrils… couldn't he wake up a bit later?

He stinks. Ugh. Not just of trash and refuse- though that doesn't help at all- but also of Nethersea Brand. It's practically fused with his flesh, and you can feel that acrid smell you suspect no one but you and the other Seaborn- and perhaps the Abyssal Hunters- could notice.

Your claws scrape a bit of the material out of his head. It grows like dandruff on his skull. For some reason, you cannot help but find it disgusting- specially when the blood-infused strain of it existed. It was simply so much better. Stronger, more resilient, more full of life, and it held the potential for awareness.

You could hear it, back then. The microorganisms on that cave, hungrily drinking from Mother's melting flesh and boiling blood. Her escape shattered them all, scattered their fledgling body that was that grotesque tree, broke their bones and tore it all out by its roots. But they had potential. Each of those microorganisms had the potential to become a higher being- an aware being- if they were allowed to fuse with someone who would accept them.

You're not that being.

You're quite content with what you are. But… perhaps, you could…? No, no. That's a decision they'll have to make themselves. You'll give the gift to the rest of your kin, and then you'll see what happens.

The Brand tries to melt your fingers off. It grows hostile, screaming at you, but then it seems to remember something- a faint sense of recognition echoes. Communication has begun. The organisms within Quintus' body, his Seaborn material, his genetic memory- they have all felt your presence.

Kin?

Kin…

Could they wake Quintus' mind? It still slumbers. You wish to open communication with him.

Wrong.

Eh?

WRONG.

You frown. The Nethersea Brand you collected is melting your finger off… this won't do.

You command your drone to adapt. Regeneration and resilience, resistance to acid by the means of neutralization through the production of defensive barrier compounds.

It slithers to your hand and bites the Nethersea-covered fingers off with a mouth full of sharp teeth. They'll be nestled within its stomach, and you can talk to it later.

Tainted kin.

Why… why have you left us?

Because you wanted to.

…we do not understand.

You don't have to.

So be it.

Quintus' eyes open all of a sudden. A tentacle lunges for your throat.

Oh boy.

---

You've been waiting outside the room for almost a full hour by now.

Your boss has been explaining stuff to Rhodes Island for quite some time. It's really important stuff, even. You don't care much about the specifics for now.

There's supposed to be an Office-wide meeting eventually, so everyone can catch up. You'll ask your questions later.

From what little you heard, you think it has something to do with L-Corp.

You frown.

You don't like them. You honestly couldn't stop yourself from smiling when you found out they crumbled.

You chastised yourself after that. Even if some of the upper management might have become toast after their main facility seemingly blew up to shoot a fuckoff laser into the sky, a Wing falling was not good. Countless Feathers of the Nest were going to die, fall into the claws of unscrupulous Offices who'd fleece them for protection (like those "Syndicate Offices" that seem all the rage those days), fall under the sway of the Fingers, toyed around by the fickle will of the Prescripts or brutalized by the Thumb for coughing on the presence of a Capo or something.

The Sweepers would fucking party on these poor souls. All the myriad Syndicates of all shapes and sizes would come out to play.

And there wasn't going to be a Sieghart there for all of them. No one to offer a hand to a lonely Feather, abandoned by the ones they trusted to keep them safe.

You did not understand how those people could simply do this. Did they not care? Did they not care for the millions of innocents they would leave out to rot?

Of course they didn't.

Those people never do.

But you grew used to it in time. You did the best you could- you took escort missions (with rates that, for someone of your grade, were frankly abysmal) to bring whoever you could to another Nest, you tried to point people towards areas where the Zwei could still enforce order, you gave them the contacts of Offices you could trust to protect them.

It was all you could do, even if it wasn't enough.

And now… your boss has something to do with them. The Library is obviously connected to L-Corp too, and now they followed you into this world.

You like this world. You don't think you want to go back, but would it really be right?

You could still help people back home. There's still people to help.

You hope everything is okay with your boss. You hope whatever he got tangled up in doesn't end up destroying him.

As much of a self-sacrificial dumbass he can be, you know Sieghart is a good person. That he is, more than anyone else, worthy of trust.

You hear a ringing sound.

Hm?

It's your phone.

It's pretty bulky. Terra doesn't use phones as much as the City does, and instant communication between nations is still a pipe dream. So it's someone calling from this very city.

You could never pull off some of the stunts you did back home- like that time you, Sieg, Emil and Stonehead attacked a Thumb smuggling operation from both sides, in a two-pronged operation. You went with Stonehead and hit the receivers, in the Backstreets of N-Corp, while Sieg and Emil hit the senders on District Y's borders.

You smile at the memory. That was a fun job. You wonder how Stonehead and Emil are doing now.

Anyway, you don't recognize the number. You decide to answer.

"Hey?" says out a voice you don't recognize. "Nicole?"

"Who's there?" you ask.

"It's- well, it's me, Linette." the unknown says.

"Prove it."

"Uh. Right. You haven't changed much." they say, sighing exasperatedly. "Remember the Moonstone heist we stopped?"

You remain silent.

"When it happened, I still didn't have a hang of internal transportations, and my stomach melted down, while I was disguised as one of them. I puked blood on the guy's face."

"What was the name."

"The name?"

"Who paid us for the security service? Give me a name."

"Itachi Hidetada, I think? M-Corp executive."

It's her.

"Linette." you say.

"Yes?"

"I'm not talking to you like this."

"...this is important."

"All the more reason to not say this on the phone."

"Okay, okay! Just, just tell me where to go and find you. Jerk."

She still can't muster the capacity to curse at you. 15 years and she hasn't changed.

"The Rhodes Island building."

"...I'm heading there."

"Don't you have any matches today?"

"Nah. Just tomorrow. I'm going to face off against the newbie. Flagbearer Knight, I think?"

"Don't fuck it up. Bye."

"Bye."

You end the call.

…you feel some sort of weight over you.

---

"Hello." you say, looking at the quietly sobbing form of Quintus.

"What… who? Who are you…?" he asks.

Your mouth is covered with blood.

Not his, though. It's from the wound. When he tore out your throat before you could react.

He immediately stopped, apologized and fell face first into the ground trying to get out of the dumpster after that, but getting your throat pierced and torn by a tentacle hurts.

But it's okay. The pain isn't that bad, and it's already healed. You fixed the vocal cords, at least.

"What… what are you?" he says. "I recognize you. You feel like the wise one. The One Who Watches."

You frown.

"That's not my name anymore."

He looks at you in surprise.

"What?"

"My name is Ayam." you explain. "I don't call myself The One Who Watches anymore. I stopped being just another analysis unit."

He stands up, shaking.

"You… what happened to you? There's something different about you. You feel…" his face turns, a visage of anguish and guilt. "Like them. The tainted children…"

You grin.

"I've partaken of Mother's blood, Bishop. I'm not just a Seaborn by now."

"...how are you… speaking to me? I thought you were lost. Consumed by reckless hunger."

That's…

True.

You were consumed. But by now, you've returned. That thirst is still there, but you understand it now. It's a part of you, and it's as wonderful as the rest of your soul. You have someone to support and teach you, as well.

"I was consumed by the thirst, yes. But I came back. I'm different now."

Quintus looks around. He stares at you. He looks at your horns, your antlers, your cat ears. You smile at him, revealing your sharp teeth and prominent canines, and pull back your sleeves to reveal your scaled hands. His eyes grow from surprised to completely confused.

"It's my new body! What do you think of it?"

He seems to have been struck speechless. You point your index finger at him- he's absolutely envious of your perfected form, isn't he?! Hahaha! It's a biological masterwork, and you're surely a peerless genius in the field of biomanipulation!

Well, no, your Mother is probably better.

Quintus has surely been defeated by your perfect body! Truly, he can do nothing but marvel at your form! He's even burying his face in his hands to hide his shame!

"The Seaborn are just another kind of organism, that is all. The Seaborn are just another kind of organism, that is all. The Seaborn are just another kind of organism, that is all. The Seaborn are just another kind of organism, that is all…" he mutters endlessly to himself.

Well, that's true, but it doesn't seem to mean anything. Every organism is a different kind of organism.

"What are you trying to speak to me, Bishop?" you ask, confusedly. "...I do think I am a different kind of organism, too."

He seems to get back on track.

"I… what did she do to you? You're changed."

"Of course I have changed. We all change. One cannot ever step into the same river twice. The second they step out and back again, the river has changed, and they too have." you say. "My change was simply more drastic. Do you recall Adrien? The mercenary, facing the First To Talk?"

He blinks, and mutters incomprehensibly to himself.

"No, I do not. But there was a strange person accompanying that man in the purple hat. The feeling… was that… you?"

You nod, but then stop and shake your head.

"When I first took the blood of Mother within myself, I became a monster. Thirsting, seeking means to sustain myself. But the Inquisitor vanquished me, and I fled in another form. Eventually I came across that mercenary, who abandoned his comrades to flee."

"...you consumed him."

"Indeed. I fashioned a shell for myself out of his body. However, it was destroyed in the fight against you."

You don't think he cared about Adrien, but it's nice to see confirmation. He just nods and gestures at you to keep going.

"Mother led me here, and I used the bodies of those long dead to construct myself a new body, a new identity that would be wholly mine. I am quite satisfied with it." you pause. "And that's all, I believe."

Quintus stands in silence for a while.

"...I see."

He seems lost.

And sad.

…you consider the possibility of tearing his throat out with your teeth. Of grasping his heart with your claws and eating it in front of his eyes, relishing in his agonized expression and drinking deeply of his inner strength, binding him with your tendrils and draining him of his blood, drinking deeply, deeply, deeply, deeeeeply, until there's nothing left but skin and bones and…

Well…

You don't want to.

He hurt Mother, but you're sure Mother would let go of it if you asked.

He just seems lost and confused. Without purpose.

It would feel like bullying.

"Are you well?" you ask again. It's a legitimate concern, he does look very sad.

"No." he mutters.

…well, at least he's honest.

"Why?"

…He's conflicted about telling you.

He takes a deep breath and falls to the floor.

"Was I wrong, the entire time?"

…yeah.

The whole Church of the Deep thing sucks pretty hard. As someone who lived as a Seaborn you can safely say self awareness and free will are great.

You're not going to say that, though.

"Have you lost your conviction?"

"Perhaps. I… I am not sure I made my flock, their lives and souls, better. In the end, all that happened was that I led them to their doom."

"What could you have done to change that?"

"...I could say "kill the Vampire," but… I am not sure." he says, looking away from your frown. "I am not sure whether or not my path was even correct in the first place, or if it was simply a failure on my part when it came to walking it."

"Have others not tried your path before?"

"Cicero, Amaia, many others have. Amaia I have never cared much about her. I did not believe she had good intentions. In my vision, she sought the Seaborn purely as an instrument of her own nihilism. But all my good intentions were meaningless, in the end. So perhaps she was right."

"You're not sure whether or not the problem was you or the Seaborn's principles themselves. You're doubting whether or not they are worth following."

"Yes. I do not know. That Voice… doubt in my ears. She tells me it's… "It's alright to be selfish." These are the words. Is she simply a delusion, a hallucination from my broken mind? Or is she right? You… you left the Seaborn behind, didn't you?"

"I did."

"Are you happy?"

"I've only gotten started today. But I like to think I'm happy. Happiness isn't something you experience all the time. But I think it's worth it to be what I am today."

"...I see."

He turns away from you. You can tell he's still conflicted.

You could say something.

[ ] Walk away and return to Mother. Leave him alone to his thoughts.

[ ] Ask him what he's doing here.

[ ] Tell him to come with you. Then return home.

[ ] Knock him unconscious and take him with you.

[ ] Offer to infect him with your blood.

[ ] Simply stand there. Say nothing.

[ ] Write-in.

---

Character Trait Altered: Abel's Scars trait has changed. (Scars: Abel cannot stand up to Carmen. He cannot even bear to hear her voice. Not yet. The pain is simply too great. It still hurts. But for better or for worse, he has to gaze upon that horrible sight. It isn't time to be scared.)

Character Sheet Unlocked: Bishop Quintus (Under the category "Unaffiliated")
Character Sheet Unlocked: Ayam Adom, the "Red Sea" (Under the category Turbulence Office)

---

Status of Self and Allies (and Others):
You: Not hurt. Why would you be?

Sal Viento Bishop Quintus
- Grade: Low. Probably.
- Condition: Looks even sadder,
Your Note: Depressing and depressed. Awful combination.