73 Head Trip
I flickered in and out of existence as I moved through the city, indulging in my first experience of mid-range teleportation. I'd practiced Dark Slayer's teleport power in the workshop, but that was generally limited to the immediate area and places that you could see. Longer range teleportation required some form of technology for assistance. Or it required apparition, and that was a whole other challenge.
Apparition was one of the best methods of long-range teleportation available to me. Dark Slayer would probably always edge it out in terms of tactical use, but outside of a combat situation apparition was the definite winner. Assuming, of course, that I could actually master the damn thing.
It was one of the few spells that had an in-depth description in both the Earth Aleph and Bet versions of the Harry Potter books. The problem was, even with that detailed description of the training process, it was intended for wizards much, much more experienced than me. The spell itself stood in a weird area where the boost that Unnatural Skill provided to charms and transfigurations didn't help in the slightest. Instead, it had to be tackled head long, which is just what my duplicates decided to do.
I had to at least admire the enthusiasm of their experimentation, and appreciate how it provided such a detailed breakdown of just about every way that splinching could happen. For a while that seemed to be the traditional end-of-duration activity for duplicates. Just crash headfirst into apparition practices and see what would happen.
A lot of things could happen. A lot of very educational things. It probably shaved months off the process of learning that form of teleportation, but also acted as something of a damper on my enthusiasm to pursue it. Still, now that I had the benefit of my Key Link there was a vital reason to pursue long range transport.
Safely. Pursue it safely. With the benefit of support equipment. And arcane focuses.
For now, Dark Slayer would do the trick. It didn't need the Destination, Determination and Deliberation of apparition. Just a bit of focus on your next location, the briefest instant where your position in the universe amounts to a divide by zero error, and you were suddenly where you wanted to be. I had even managed to correct the drift from my first attempt, so no more accidentally teleporting half a foot above the ground.
Part of that was thanks to the cloak, but I had designed it more as a support item than a crutch. It was a principle that started with Aisha's hairpin and continued through most of my focuses. It would have been easy to just churn out an enhancement item, but something that would help build control and develop an ability was a lot more useful, at least in the long run. In Aisha's case it had been more about ensuring that she wouldn't be thrown back to square one if she lost or gave up the pin for any reason. For me, well, my dedicated combat equipment provided the greatest boosts I could achieve, but outside of crisis situations I had a second set focused on buildup and preparation, particularly for my range of newly granted magics and abilities.
Even though the cloak wasn't a pure amplification device, it still provided enough of a boost to let me stretch the range of my power far beyond my previous limits. Matched with stealth fields, concealment spells, bounded fields, and infiltration technologies I didn't need to worry about outside observation as I flickered through the city, setting access points for my Key Link.
The key worked on any lock on any door. As long as it counted as a door and had something that passed as a lock, I could access it. Considering Brockton's criminal climate, even before the recent disasters, the amount of exterior doors without locks amounted to a rounding error. Because of the somewhat cheeky definitions my power seemed to use, any variety of lock worked, even card readers or keypad locks.
I have to admit, there was a real temptation to take a completionist approach. To cover the entire city, get an access door set on every building and be able to perfectly deploy anywhere I needed in an instant. The idea of the Key Link's interface map being completely filled with every possible exit was satisfying on a very fundemental level. Still, it wasn't exactly the best use of my time. A wider net would serve me far better than fine resolution, and as quickly as I could move, my time wasn't infinite.
Survey had already conducted the analysis, proposing a series of exterior doors that would be ideal for either covert or rapid deployment. The near complete scans of the city taken during the aftermath of the ABB attacks had given her plenty of options to consider. Most of the time I found myself flickering into disused alleyways to set access points on electrical rooms, utility spaces, or service entrances to businesses that had shut down.
That was the standard procedure for the Docks, but continued even into other parts of the city. The economic divide was fairly pronounced, but it wasn't like there were no bad areas outside of the Docks. Every part of the city had its quiet areas or side streets away from the more active and prosperous bustle.
Moving into Downtown, the city's skyscrapers provided a perfect opportunity for access points in their rooftops. The roofs of tall buildings had more security than you would typically expect, but most cities didn't have a population of flying capes. The ubiquitous rooftop security cameras wouldn't provide any serious obstacle to a determined parahuman, but it was probably preferable to leaving the supposedly secure upper floors of the buildings in question completely unmonitored.
The security systems were so easy to bypass or hack that it barely registered to me. A moment's attention was more than enough to leave no trace of my presence as I squeezed between air vents and air conditioning units to use my Workshop key on the roof access door. A quick open and close was enough to set the link, then it was on to the next building.
Even though I was 99% sure I could get away with it undetected, I elected to leave the PRT headquarters alone, skipping even the attached hospital. I still had an access point at one of the back entrances from when I teleported away from my discussion with Panacea, so it wasn't like I couldn't respond to an emergency at the PRT home base. It would make less of an entrance than appearing on their own helipad, but I wasn't going to push my luck considering the amount of attention the city was getting.
Brockton Bay still had a shocking number of thinker powers pointed at it. My Analysis sensors could detect them in action as general sweeps or pings of parahuman energy playing across the landscape. It wasn't enough to tell what each power was doing or where it was coming from, but it was obvious that any thinker with a detection or analysis power that could be pointed at the city was being pointed at the city. I was confident in my mystic codes to conceal me from active sensors, but with the variety of parahuman abilities in play I wasn't going to push my luck. Tweaking the PRT's nose might sound like fun, but it was an unnecessary risk considering my objective.
A similar level of discretion was exercised towards specific individuals. While it might be fun to set an access point at New Wave's front door, there was little benefit to it compared to the garden shed half a block away. Likewise, I avoided direct links to Taylor's house, the Undersiders' hideout, Tattletale's apartment, and Rachel's dog shelter. I did find access points close enough that I could reach the parties in question with an unboosted teleport, but that was still significantly less intrusive than opening a door directly into their front yard.
Also, as tempting as it would be, I was staying away from the Protectorate HQ. The Rig had finally stopped smoldering, so maintenance and salvage crews were a common sight buzzing around the heavily damaged structure. While my stealth systems were probably good enough to walk through a crowd of workers without alerting anyone, it would be an unnecessary risk for middling benefit. Even with Uppercrust in the city, accounting for the speed other tinkers worked at, it would be days before the Rig was operational again. It could even end up taking more than a week. If I really wanted an access point in the middle of the bay I would have plenty of time to set it up.
It didn't take that long to finish a basic canvassing of the city. Following that I started to push outwards. I had considered making a beeline for another city, heading down to Boston or even all the way to New York. Ultimately I decided to focus on the immediate areas around Brockton Bay, leaving more distant locations for when I could reliably apparate to them. It was a better option than flickering along a highway a couple of blocks at a time, or taking to the air with stealth flight systems.
Besides, there was more than enough to do on the local level. After peppering the city with access points, I started to work through the suburbs and outer regions. The selection of doors shifted from rooftop access and back-alley utility rooms to basically whatever seemed like the least used accessway in the area. Abandoned buildings were the preferred option, but depending on the area I occasionally had to settle for less optimal offerings. I really, really hoped that we wouldn't have to make any dynamic exits through that gas station bathroom door.
I had started my push at the southern edge of the city, where Downtown blended into the unplanned mess of the Beaches. I zig-zagged back and forth in a wide band, my path taking me through the scattering of commercial, residential, and light industrial areas that followed no real pattern or sense.
Okay, not 'no' sense. Survey was happy to break down the series of zoning decisions and development projects that led to the lack of cohesion you found in southern Brockton Bay, including theories on the private financial motivations behind them. It wasn't quite enough to launch an indictment, but it would probably have been a pretty good launching point for an investigation into civic corruption. Incredibly, her analysis seemed to indicate that it was all carried out independent of gang influence. Nothing at work but good old fashioned government sleaze.
After working my way through the Beaches, I pushed into the southern, more residential portions of Downtown. The homes ranged from upper-middle class to the mini-mansions that dotted the more picturesque areas on the outskirts. Solidly residential areas were tricky, but I managed to avoid using anyone's house for my access point, if just barely. A crisis in this area might result in the Celestial Forge having to pile out though the access hatch of a neighborhood transformer vault.
After that I moved on to the outskirts of the docks, the edges of Brockton's older residential and industrial areas. The outer portions weren't rundown so much as abandoned. They had been hit as hard as anything else by the economic slump, but without the concentration of people found deeper in the city they tended to be completely deserted, lacking either gang presence or a homeless population. Scattered pockets of life held out, usually around businesses that hung on through the downturn, but the wear was clear. In the buffer between Brockton's urban areas and its suburbs things fell by the wayside.
That left the outer suburbs. It didn't really hit me until I noticed the terrain changing. The higher elevation, the presence of the occasional familiar business or geographic feature. Then I realized it. I had completely looped around the city to a place I hadn't seen since the start of the month. Since the night of my trigger event.
I was back in Captain's Hill.
Well, not Captain's Hill proper, but the boundaries of the suburbs were nebulous at the best of times. The middle zone was effectively unclaimed by both sides. From the perspective of the Docks, you were out of the city proper as soon as you left areas that could be reached by the central bus routes. For residents of Captain's Hill, you didn't really count as being in the suburb if you could still see any part of Brockton Bay proper. From an official stance, well, I wasn't exactly sure. Maybe the school districts would sort things out?
Survey happily provided them, and the information resolved absolutely nothing. The map was so scattered I suspected it was connected with the same people who planned out the zoning of the Beaches.
Survey confirmed that it was.
Fascinating as all that was, I recognized it as an attempt to distract myself. I didn't want to be here. The handful of doors on the outskirts were enough for me, at least for now. Being back this close to 'home', it served to remind me of the call that was coming up. The obligation that I had committed to and needed to follow through with.
Dealing with one family issue at a time seemed reasonable enough. I had rapid dispatch to the entire city, that was enough for the moment. With one final flicker I teleported to the side door of a service station, opened it with my access key, slipped inside, and sealed myself off from the rest of the world.
I enjoyed the familiar feeling of connecting directly to the Workshop network as a dozen live updates and reports flooded towards me. And then I felt it.
My reach had been growing. Slowly growing, not the way it did in combat or more stressful situations, but still building. Building as it advanced towards another connection. And, as the next constellation swung towards me, I knew a link was going to happen.
It was the Magitech constellation. A constellation that had constantly evaded me from the moment I got my power. The handful of reasonably sized motes that were secured early on had given way to a constellation packed with powers of such magnitude that there was no hope of securing them with anything less than my greatest reserves of reach.
Reserves like what I was holding now. I watched as the constellation passed by, my power reaching out and linking to a massive mote. One of a pair of powers spinning through my mind, it was wrenched free from its partner and dragged towards me. A burning speck that grew to an all-consuming inferno as it descended upon me, consuming my senses and overwhelming my consciousness.
Cobblestones and wrought iron.
A sense of a dark night, closing round circles of gaslight.
Quiet sounds of life that echoed out into a true void, a deep vast nothingness that only spoke of the end.
I found myself there, drawn into a place that was simultaneously familiar and alien. The little touches of humanity, the warm lighting dancing on the cobbles, the iron fencing holding back the endless night, it drew attention to the contrast. Acts of man, imposed on a realm that had no place for them.
I had felt the impact of major powers before. The way they altered my existence, changed my past, or warped the very nature of my existence. This was different. I wasn't gaining new memories or knowledge. I wasn't remembering some event that was inserted into my personal history. I wasn't being altered on a mental, spiritual or physical level. This was actually happening. I was here, in this place, at this time.
And so was Tybalt.
The Felyne seemed to be taking the sudden displacement better than I was, but few things seemed to be able to seriously faze Tybalt. As far as I could tell, he didn't have a better grasp of what was happening with my powers than I did, but he was continuously able to take things in stride. He looked up at the murky architecture of the courtyard that surrounded us, meowed a word of reassurance at me, then summoned a strawberry milkshake.
The sight of a happy cat enjoying a pink milkshake did wonders to mitigate the ominous nature of the strange place. It still didn't help with the apparent lack of direction. Having a level of agency and awareness rather than being dragged through the experience against my will was good in theory, but it didn't exactly help when you had no idea what was going on.
"Hey there." The voice cut through the murky silence like a knife. Joyful and irreverent, it stood at complete odds with the environment. I spun towards the source, with a half dozen supernatural senses suddenly confirming the presence of someone I was sure hadn't been there a second ago.
If the tone was at odds with the environment the person's appearance seemed designed to clash as much as physically possible. The creature standing in the center of the courtyard was cartoonish. It stood as tall as a person, but its body was just an oversized head with long arms and stubby legs. It had pinkish skin and a tuft of green hair on top of its head, which, again, was basically its entire body. It wore a wide smile and had large, round eyes that probably would have looked simple if not for the glimmer of mirth in them.
"Nice to meet you again for the first time." The creature quipped. Before I could process that he pressed on. "I'm Spekkio, the Master of War. Before anything else, a quick question," he said, his oversized smile widening, "Would you say I look strong or weak?"
The oddly proportioned creature stood there, waiting for my answer. From a purely physical standpoint, he was barely threatening. His anatomy was robust, but badly balanced. I didn't doubt he could put out some decent hits, but nothing spectacular.
But this wasn't just about the physical. Nothing about this place was just physical, but that applied to him more than anything else. The extra senses I had developed were screaming at me. My pyrokinesis was strong enough to feel the machinery of life churning within cells. I had mastered the Dragon's Pulse to a level where I could feel out distinct characteristics of someone's lifeforce. Even without bonding with my familiar, I had an expanded sense of magic. My Aura warned me of the strength and magnitude of threats. My rudimentary psionic talents gave me hints of the psychic resonance around me. Even my mantra affinity could pick out the energy of pride, and the person before me was feeling inordinately proud of himself.
"I wouldn't say you LOOK strong." I stated cautiously, "But I know you are."
"Ha. Good on you. Sharper this time, like before." He replied.
"Spekkio." I continued, ignoring the concerning phrasing for the moment. "That means mirror." Even without direct access to my Workshop systems I had enough stored information to see me through a good deal of analysis.
"On the ball today, I see." He said, shifting his stance slightly. He took on a pose that flexed his arms slightly, but only served to make his cartoonish proportions more ridiculous. "My appearance is your strength. If you're strong, I look strong. If you're weak, I look weak."
"A mirror." I said.
He nodded in a movement that with his body was honestly closer to a bow. "But mirrors can only show so much. Eventually you're going to grow beyond what you can see and need to look deeper." His mouth split into a wide grin. "Man, it's fun to get another first chance to play that."
I gave the creature, Spekkio, a confused look. I was the only one who seemed out of sorts here. He was clearly enjoying himself and Tybalt seemed completely at home, leaving me the odd one out.
"Um, sorry if this is rude, or out of place, or something, but I have no idea where we are or what's going on." I confessed. Spekkio just waved me off.
"Of course not. It's your first time here. Again." Seeing my visual confusion, he continued. "This is the End of Time. Things like causality and continuity of events are a bit optional." He looked up at me with his overly large eyes. "I'm sure you're familiar with the effect."
Avalon. Working for an endless lifetime to perfect Master Craftsman. The Throne of Heroes, where I persisted outside of the normal timestream, allowing me to exist as portions of countless unnamed characters through legend, consolidated into a single existence. My own Noble Phantasm, suspending the flow of time to complete great works in the blink of an eye.
"I suppose." I said slowly, looking back at him. "But how did you know about that?"
He huffed. "I'm the Master of War. I've watched all kinds of battles from here. There isn't much that gets past me."
I furrowed my brow. "So, this," I gestured around me. "It's part of one of the other universes? The ones where my powers come from? And you've been able to watch me from here?" I considered something. "Like with the letters in the laboratory?"
"Hey, don't lump me in with the flukes and devils." He said indignantly. "And don't expect me to play pen pal. This is a one-time thing, or as close as you can get to that when you're outside the timestream. It's only happening because I was left in charge of the powers for this one."
"Wait, my powers came from you? Or people like you? I thought…" I trailed off. Honestly I didn't know what I thought. My initial ideas of an alternate passenger source quickly became overly complex, and not just because of how far my powers fell outside normal parahuman abilities. The connection to Web of Magic was still hard to accept, but in an infinite universe it was certainly possible, along with all the other recognizable sources. The actual mechanics of the process seemed to vary wildly from power to power. Sometimes it was a completely self-contained ability. Sometimes it was clear that I was accessing some other life that undeniably happened. And sometimes…
I looked over at Spekkio. Meeting again for the first time.
"This has happened before?" I asked. "Was the other-"
"No 'other' involved. It's all you." He said, cutting me off. "You've done great work, really living up to the promise, but you don't need to panic over every existential concept that you run into. Take a lesson from this guy."
He nodded to Tybalt who lowered his milkshake and meowed in agreement.
"See, he's got the right idea. Always liked that about him when I get a chance for a first meeting with him." Spekkio said with a wide grin.
I clenched my jaw briefly. "So, what, I finally get a chance to figure out what's happening and I should ignore it because it's going to get in the way?"
Spekkio shook his head, causing his entire body to swing from side to side. "Kid, I'm only here because I'm the one who gave out the powers, and therefore am giving out the powers. The last one could be passed off, but this one needs direction. You would have gotten it, so you're getting it, but no more than that. I'm not here to explain the chain, just my part in it."
Big, impassive eyes looked up at me with no hint of being willing to back down a single inch. Despite the cartoonish shape he was wearing, I understood the power of what was standing before me. Master of War wasn't an exaggeration.
No wonder he liked Tybalt.
But this had happened before, only in a way outside of the sequence breaking nature of this place. The major power, the one that dragged me here, was still playing out. That wasn't what I was talking about. I felt out the nature of the power and reached out through my assembled motes, feeling for the matching power.
"Lathe of Heaven." I said, feeling the Magitech constellation pass by once again.
Spekkio gave me a wide grin. "That was it. Masterpiece of craftsmanship. Shame you never got to show it off on its own, but it's been pulling its weight, no question. All those 'little' bonuses you've been folding into your work. Nobody even realizes where the boosts are coming from." He rambled on with a proud expression on his massive face.
Lathe of Heaven. I'd had the power for less than a week, but it had served to enhance everything I'd made since that point. Drawing strength out of materials, adding overwhelming power to my creations, and imbuing effects that would be a challenge even with divine workmanship.
Of course, it was shortly followed by Master Craftsman. It was easy to overlook the foundational powers when you had stuff like that sitting on top. Still, Master Craftsman wouldn't have been nearly as disruptive without powers like Lathe of Heaven to provide the base constructions for divine workmanship to enhance.
Focusing on that power, I could feel the titanic mote that brought me here settle around me. The fog and confusion stripped away, revealing exactly what I was dealing with.
Mega Bomb. The power's ominous name represented only a sliver of its true application. With this power I understood the secret to integrating magic seamlessly into mechanical devices. Part of that was just what the name of the power implied, bombs powered by magical energy, but it extended so much further than that. Any single-shot magical effect could be stored and directed by technology. Weapons that produced attack spells were simple to make, but I could also create medical kits that ran on healing magic, or disposable devices capable of perfectly casting a single spell.
That was a powerful effect. Something that could greatly extend the range of my abilities and remove the need for me to personally oversee magical effects. Magic could be stored for later use, or deployed autonomously. It was powerful, but the ability didn't stop there.
Seamless integration of magic and mechanics. A perfect fusion, one that I could never hope to achieve with my earlier knowledge. With enough work I could run machinery on magical power, set up automated spellcasting devices, and effectively manufacture the ability to use magic. The only limit present was my skill with machinery and magic. One was already tremendous; the other was growing quickly.
"There it is." Spekkio said in a satisfied voice. "Always good to see one of my tricks in action. Especially the good stuff."
I took a breath as the fundamental shift in my understanding of magic settled in my head. "That was what you wanted to teach me? Or did you teach me? That's why I'm here?" I asked.
"Ha. Hardly. Sure, that was a big one, and I'm particularly proud of it, but it's not the reason we're getting this heart to heart." I gave him another confused look. "Tell me, how would you handle something like that if you got it before your wand? Or your striker? Or those magic circuits in your soul?"
I blinked. The power was a massive expansion of my ability to use magic, but I hadn't always been able to use magic. I knew the distribution of my powers was randomized. My early precog defenses had relied on that fact. This power, it could have showed up at any point, long before I had the ability to cast anything.
Then what? Well, with enough work I might have been able to adapt it to parahuman powers. Provide items that could be charged and deployed, but I hadn't exactly been drowning in parahuman allies. In short I would have had a massively powerful ability of fundamental importance that I could do nothing with.
"Yeah, I figured." Spekkio said, reading my expression. "Okay, story time." I looked up. "Just remember to stay on topic. This isn't a briefing about the origin of your powers. Well, not beyond this one."
Information on another world. A world I definitely had a connection to. A million questions burned in my mind. Was it another version of me? Was I actually acting in these universes and forgetting parts of the experience? What was happening to whatever was left over? Was I causing some harm by collecting powers? What were the motes? The constellations? How did my passenger, who remained silent on the subject, connect to this?
I wanted so badly to ask, to have some assurance about the power that had completely upturned my life. I felt a paw rest on my arm and looked down to see Tybalt's face. There was a concerned expression in his big blue eyes as he meowed a question to me.
Slowly I let out a breath and nodded to him. He gave me a reassuring smile before summoning a fresh milkshake and handing it up to me. I felt more than a little silly drinking a desert item in front of a multidimensional war entity, but somehow I didn't think Spekkio would mind. I took a sip of the shake and nodded to the man.
"Right, glad you got that out of your system." He said, giving Tybalt an approving gesture before continuing. "So, long ago, not sharing the precise dates mind you, there was a kingdom where everyone could use magic. Any magic, as easy as breathing. Things happened, and they went the way of all mythical kingdoms. Following that, people were unable to use magic."
I lowered the milkshake as Spekkio continued his story, becoming more expressive as he went on.
"That magic, it was a crutch. Power granted from nothing, for nothing. Too easy to misuse what they had, and constantly grasping for more, taking things beyond limits without understanding what the limits actually represented." He shook his head, and his body with it.
"Magic is the strength of the heart. It comes from inside you, the determination you have to push on, the will to keep going. That's what it takes to use magic, to properly use magic, without shortcuts or crutches carrying you through." He looked contemplative as he spoke.
"You're here, both of you, because you have that strength. That's what I'm giving you. Just opening the door, but I know you can make your way through," He smiled. "Because you already have."
Right. Time travel, or something close enough to be confused for it. As if my power wasn't complicated enough.
"So, this is magic? Another way to use magic?" I asked.
"A proper way to use magic. Trust me, I'm the Keeper of Magic as well as the Master of War. This is about your magic, the strength of your heart and how it expresses itself." He smiled wider. "Your Element."
I felt a pit of worry open in my stomach.
"You with the tail." Tybalt's ears perked up. "You're 'Fire'." A smile crossed his face at the announcement. Nothing seemed to have changed, but that was more because it seemed like it was announcing something that was already there rather than introducing something new.
"And you, kid? You're 'Shadow'." He continued.
"Shadow." I said flatly. Just like with Tybalt, it wasn't a massive shift so much as something coming into focus. An elemental nature that resonated through my being. Something revealed with such certainty that I couldn't question it. "Of course."
Of course, I would get the dark element. Shades of depression, or cold stretches of isolation flitted through my mind. The design of my Aura weapon. The self-expression I'd needed to embrace to use that power.
All the work I'd done, all the focus on hope and pride and determination, and I had a magical nature that was fundamentally dark. Was it the impact of what I'd gone through that had shaped the way my ethereal nature expressed itself?
Or there was the more concerning thought. The one anchored in years of negative comments, derision, and self-hatred. This was a fundamental element, something that was core to my being. Was it there from the start? Some aspect of my nature that drove me into the situation I'd found myself in? I had battled for years to break that way of thinking, even before I had the lifeline of Mental Fortress to pull myself through, but when you were faced with a supernatural expression of your character, it was hard to avoid a resurgence of those thoughts.
"Hey, none of that." Spekkio called. "Not this time."
I shook my head. "Right, sorry." I took a breath. "Thank you, I mean, even if it's…" I trailed off. Meanwhile Spekkio looked almost entertained by the display.
"Kid, you might want to get a grip on what Shadow is before you get down on yourself." He said. "No type of magic is good or evil, it's about how it's expressed. Sure, Shadow can throw out curses and blights, but so can Water, Fire, and Light. That's not what Shadow's about."
I felt the potential of magic that was within me, that might have always been within me, or might have been awakened long ago. Like so many powers, it was hard to place it. The paradox of this place was distressingly common when it came to my abilities.
Magic came from the heart. Will and determination. Using it still required energy, and my reserves of mana had been expanded to account for that, but to actually shape it, to project that force out into the world, that required strength, conviction, and determination. You couldn't use a type of magic that you were uneasy about because that simply wouldn't be 'your magic'. I knew I could call on this power, and I knew how I felt about playing the evil dark warlock. That wasn't me, so the question remained, what was the expression of my magic?
"Shadow is darkness." Spekkio explained. "Not in the metaphorical sense, but literal darkness. The space between stars, the shadows cast by objects, the void that sits between all things, waiting to be filled." He nodded to me. "Shadow is the magic of connection, of harmony. It's what lies between things, reaching out. It's not a power of isolation, it's a power that removes isolation, because nothing can isolate itself from shadow."
I took a breath as the Master of War's words sank into my head. One quick explanation had completely upset the way I viewed this power. A force that I could barely see myself tolerating was suddenly bubbling up, ready to burst forth, to reach out and cross any distance. Shadow, darkness, space, void. It was mine to command, not because I was an isolating influence, not because I drove people away, but because I wanted that connection. Because I wasn't alone.
Power flowed out of me. My clothes billowed and the force of the manifesting energy lifted me briefly off the ground. I focused, shaping my will and channeling energy into it. A power that was new and familiar. And the black wind howls, again. With a surge of power a burst of twisted space shot across the courtyard, rattling the wrought iron fence before vanishing into the surrounding void. Dark Pulse. An expression of my Shadow magic, ready for battle. Just like it had always been. Something I had just received, and something I had been capable of for ages.
It was just one of about a half dozen ready to use forms. Easily deployable Shadow magic that had already been developed, practiced and mastered. It wasn't the limit of what the power was capable of, but I wasn't starting from nothing. I had a grasp of the nature of the power and was ready to let it loose.
"Nicely done." Spekkio said with genuine pride. "Wish we could go a few rounds, but that's not in the cards."
"Wait, we're done?" I asked as my feet settled back onto the cobbles.
"This isn't a social visit. I know you still want to play detective at your power rather than seeing to the ongoing campaign, but try to moderate things. Your own life needs to come first." He nodded to Tybalt. "I'm sure the cat can keep you on track. On that note, last little trick to keep in mind. Remember those combination attacks." He said with a grin as the Knowledge constellation passed by. "And be grateful you have a friend who can help you out with them."
The sense of the place was fading. It wasn't like I was leaving, more like I was losing track of where I was. Why I was there. I remembered the place, the dim courtyard and the cartoonish proportions of the Master of War. But I also remembered other forms. A small creature with white fur that spun when excited. A rotund blue skinned goblin like creature. An armored cyclops wielding a massive mace. A horned blue giant that towered over me.
That conversation, that meeting at the end of time, I was sure it had happened, had just happened, but looking at it after the fact it seemed as vague as any other half-memory provided by my power. Except it wasn't. And it was.
Temporal paradoxes were a goddamn headache. If there was actually a version of me somewhere in the multiverse who had to deal with the insanity of time travel I felt decidedly sorry for him.
Finding myself back in the Workshop, while also having never left, but having clearly left, I was able to fully reconnect to my systems. My duplicates were already updating the computer records with the details of my latest power, and the two powers in support of it. Just for an extra layer of confusion, my duplicates remembered the encounter, but from my perspective, not their own. If it was a distinct memory then it shouldn't be present until I created the next set of duplicates. If it was part of the power then they would also experience it, but there was no reason for my actions to be baked into a power from another universe.
Honestly, it seemed like a good time to take Spekkio's advice and stop worrying about it. As concerning as everything about this was, it wasn't likely to result in any real threats. Conundrums, sure, but not actual danger. Also, I had possible confirmation that my actions were being observed by another party. That was something that would be a lot more concerning if I didn't have a pile of correspondence from hell sitting in my Prismatic Laboratory. It seemed my power could provide privacy from everything but the effects of my own power.
Putting that aside I focused on the final ability. Combination Attack. The ability to combine magic or combat techniques to create an effect that was devastatingly more powerful than the individual attacks could ever hope to be. The only problem was the other person needed the same power for the effect to function.
Fortunately, Tybalt had picked that up along with his Element. I was now capable of performing tandem attacks with Tybalt to devastating effect. You know, as if our individual attacks weren't strong enough. I smiled at that. Always nice to have an ace in the hole. There weren't many things that we would need that kind of force to put down, but having an S-class response constantly on hand was comforting.
But I had a new power to deal with, on two fronts. The magic that I could bring to bear directly from my Element generally wasn't that powerful compared to my other abilities. Well, there were a few possible exceptions, but barring high level and highly inconsistent effects that were very much 'all-or-nothing', it was 'only' in the range of what a high tier blaster could put out.
The thing was, the impact of that element wasn't limited to the magic associated with that power. Just having an element changed the specialization and possible expression of all of my magic. Even ignoring how Shadow could be expressed through other systems of magic, it was specifically the magic of harmony, built to synergize with other elements and effects. I could naturally blend and supplement my other magic with my Shadow element without even getting into what having that element meant for things like my Magecraft, talismans, or wizard magic.
Then there was the core power. Mega Bomb. Appropriately named, since it seemed tailor made to produce a magical nuke. Expressions of the ability didn't need to be that drastic, but the ability to store up expressions of magic for instantaneous deployment certainly made the name justified. The kind of ritual magic that would normally require hours or days of ceremony and unfathomable amounts of mana could be sealed within a convenient device and prepped for use the second it was needed. I wasn't as limited in terms of mana capacity as I had been before becoming a servant, but this power laughed at that restriction.
And that was just the most basic application possible. Charged objects, no more than spells in a can. I could truly integrate magic with technology. I could power any machinery directly with thaumic sources, dropping the need for power converters of specialized magitek designs. I could even design spellcasting procedures directly into a mechanical system. Not single charges of spells carried for when they were needed, but full-on artificial mages.
That would take work. Practice and experimentation. Mega Bomb didn't give me all the answers at once, but it also didn't impose any limits. The only restriction on how far I could push this power was my own skill. Mechanical skill was no issue, so the only limiting factors were magical theory and my own innovation.
Or my duplicates' innovation. They were already into their 20% time and I had a feeling I was going to see plenty of fresh examples of magitech by the end of their duration. At this point I could reasonably safely leave it to them and focus on getting a handle on my new magic instead.
It was also getting later in the day. A few seconds for each door added up when you were canvassing an entire city. I had nearly burned through an entire duplicate duration in the process. Getting distinctly into the border between late afternoon and evening I was distinctly aware of the impending call with my sister.
Alena worked in Chicago, an hour behind the East Coast. I was understandably not going to make the call while she was at work. Similarly, catching her during her commute or the instant she got home wasn't going to be much better. As a consequence, a call I was both dreading and desperate to get past was pushed later into the evening.
Survey's borderline cyberstalking of my sister could let me know when she got back to her apartment through triangulation of her cell phone. That would give her enough time that I would be unlikely to catch her in her worst mood. This was going to be a hard call, but a necessary one. I knew I needed to push past it, both for the still unresolved situation with my family and for the sake of my Revival power. I also knew that there would be push back and fallout. But minimizing the impact wasn't the same as capitulating. I needed to keep that in mind as the time drew closer.
As I moved towards the training room I considered the scale of the changes to my magic. I had an Element. Something fundamental in the system that supported Mega Bomb, but functioning as an elemental affinity for every other type of magic. That was more significant in some cases than others, but there was always some level of impact. My wand magic wasn't particularly elemental, but expansion charms were something I had already worked on, and this took them to another level. Void affinity had serious significance in Magecraft, where previously I'd been working with completely unaligned spellcasting. Other systems weren't that strongly impacted, but, as an element of connection, Shadow could be integrated into other forms of magic. Adding spatial elements to my striker shield would significantly increase its durability and even offensive potential.
All those applications would need to be explored and developed. My duplicates could handle the groundwork, but that would just let me know which avenues were worth pursuing. I would need to handle the actual training, and it would need to be done outside of the computer core, at normal speed.
Well, normal for me. The sight of the training area drove home just how far from conventional normal that actually was. A divinely crafted space perfectly designed to encourage development and retention of lessons with the best equipment possible, where even the snacks reinforced the body and mind. Tybalt had fallen right back into his lessons following his return, taking Aisha and Tetra through a set of combat exercises that also provided practice in the use of elemental weaponry and reinforcement of the principles of chi manipulation.
If we were operating on anything like a reasonable timeframe Tybalt would have been able to train the entire team to levels of unparalleled mastery. With the handful of days that we could devote to the task he was still proving capable of hammering in the basic principles needed to function in a combat environment to a largely unbloodied team.
Tetra's training was more abstract than Aisha's. Tybalt knew about the upcoming procedure, the shift and alteration of her abilities that was scheduled. The exact details of the design were still being revised, but Tybalt was smartly not training her to overcome weaknesses that would be removed, or to optimize strengths that were likely to be overshadowed. Instead, there was a focus on chi use, the Dragon's Pulse, offensive transmutations, and magic. All things that would either still be relevant, or would be enhanced following her conversion.
Aisha's training was more conventional. I recognized the combat stances she was taking from my own skills with ninjutsu. Aisha could have gotten by with nothing but the brute strength of her power armor and the concealment provided by her power, but she was working hard to expand her skill set. The fast and precise strikes of ninjutsu were a good fit for both her power and her natural abilities. Of course, the martial arts she was practicing weren't quite as striking as the massive waves of neon orange water that flowed behind her movements.
Aisha was carrying one of the Shooting Range's Nerf-colored weapons. Every weapon I was familiar with was duplicated in that arsenal for training purposes, including custom pieces. The short sword she was carrying had a bright yellow blade with a yellow and orange grip. It had a decidedly plastic looking texture, but I knew the weapons all felt completely real in both weight and texture. Still, looking at a neon replica of the divinely constructed, rune inscribed, elementally infused wakizashi that I had personally built was a little jarring.
The short, curved blade was a natural fit for water affinity, something I had drawn out through a combination of rune work and my Infusionist power. Enhanced by my divine craftsmanship and the power of Daedalus' Student it had unrivaled mastery of the water element, being capable of generating and controlling it in titanic quantities. The blade naturally enhanced the fluidity of movements and struck with the force of a tidal wave, breaking through or knocking down almost any defense.
Aisha was displaying all those features, though with a copy designed to be completely harmless. Not non-lethal, but incapable of harming anyone. The massive quantity of animate water swelling behind her as she moved through the combat forms that Tybalt had no doubt drilled her in was nothing but a very accurate illusion. The real thing would have had enough force to clear a street of vehicles, but the surge of emulated orange water, which happened to resemble an angry wave of Tang, couldn't even knock a person back a single step.
Upon seeing me Tybalt called off the lesson. Aisha actually managed a fairly elegant sweep of her trailing water before banishing the elemental effect. Once again, if it didn't look like she was controlling a river of astronaut orange juice it would have been fairly dynamic.
"Hey, I see you've taken to elemental weapon practice." I quipped as the Time constellation missed a connection.
She grinned as she gave the Nerf-colored short sword a dramatic flick, causing a pulse of fake water to spiral around it. "I knew it was a big deal when you were going on about major powers and everything, but I figured it was some kind of crazy Apeiron thing."
"Apeiron thing?" I asked.
"She means stuff that you need other powers to manage." Tetra said as she scampered up, abandoning her own training weapons. She pounced up onto my back, resting the hand covered by the Avid Glove on my shoulder as she peered around to look at me. "Aisha said you get out of touch with what normal people can do compared to Apeiron things."
Tetra openly translated her otherwise silent speech through the room's IR link, but if Aisha was annoyed by her revealing that particular detail she didn't show it. Instead, she just shrugged. "It's kind of hard to tell if something is because of some super powerful thing you made, or if it's one of the fifty support powers you get each day." She lifted the small sword. "I've seen what you can do with things like this, but I didn't figure it was this easy to use."
Tybalt made a sharp comment about the actual difficulty level of such work such that Aisha shouldn't undercut her own efforts. Or the benefits of Tybalt's instructions.
Aisha smiled down at Tybalt. "Of course." She said, rubbing the fur on his head. He happily leaned into her hand as she lightly scratched his fur. "Still, stuff like this, with how fast you can make them, it's kind of scary."
"It's really scary." I admitted. "That's why I'm really careful about what I hand out, at least now." One magic weapon was able to set off this entire disaster. Now that I could produce hundreds of weapons massively superior to Taylor's knife with trivial effort, well, the idea that any power balance could withstand that kind of influx would be a joke if it wasn't so frightening. "Still, you found an element you like?" I asked.
She nodded, examining the brightly colored sword. "Water's good. I wanted something that wasn't going to annihilate the first person I used it on, so it seemed like a good choice."
"Uh, you do know what that kind of water pressure would do to a person if they got caught in it?" I asked. "A person, and most brutes." Tybalt meowed, indicating that she was well aware of the danger of high-pressure water attacks, thanks to his instruction, and was maintaining her focus on the element primarily for thematic concerns.
I gave her a flat look. "Really? You're playing into Lethe like that?"
Aisha let out a breath before turning towards Tetra and me. "I guess? With the way people are talking about me I just wanted something other than being the scary stranger in the hot armor."
I elected not to comment on the armor thing. "It's not a bad thing to focus on. We can work on it, get you a weapon more suited to you." With more safety features. It was good that Aisha was concerned about injuring people, but I didn't want to leave any chance of her accidentally hurting someone, or worse. For her sake as much as the person she might injure. She didn't need to be dealing with that kind of thing. "Maybe tie in some other effects as well. Some new options just opened up."
Aisha nodded. "I picked up on that from Tybalt, but he kept the lesson going. Was it a big one? It looked kind of significant."
I gave her a wry smile. "Yeah, that was a big one. Pretty powerful ability with support powers, but it hit different."
"Different how?" Aisha asked as Tetra peered between me and Tybalt.
"Well, we kind of went to another universe and had a chat with the person the power came from." I stated plainly and watched the impact of the news on Aisha.
"Sorry, WHAT?" She asked, her voice pitching up on the second word. "You mean you talked with, what, like another version of yourself."
I shook my head. "No, but I think the guy was the person who gave those powers to whoever I was in that universe. And that was also when he was giving them to me."
Aisha goggled for a moment then took a breath and raised her hands. "Okay, I think I'm going to need some more information here."
"I would appreciate that as well." Tetra said.
I shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not that clear on it myself. We just kind of ended up in this courtyard floating in empty space. He called it 'The End of Time'." Aisha raised an eyebrow and I could only shrug. "From what I could put together it was some kind of extratemporal anomaly. Causality wasn't exactly solid there, so we were meeting him again, but for the first time."
Aisha let out a breath and raised a hand to her forehead. "I'm actually a little concerned about how easily I can accept that." Tybalt gave her an encouraging meow and she cracked a smile before turning back to me. "So, this guy gave you, the other you, the powers that you got from your power and because time was fucked he was able to give you them at the same time, which wasn't working, and you had a little chat about… what? And how did he know about you to begin with?"
"It was mostly about the powers, but there was some veiled philosophy buried in there. I kind of got the feeling he was messing with us." Aisha at least seemed to understand that. "As for how he knew, it sounded like he'd been watching things."
Aisha's eyebrows shot up. "Wait, he can do that?" She glanced around. "I thought you had countermeasures and stuff?"
"I don't think they work from, you know, inside my power. And yeah, it's possible. It's happened before." Aisha gave me a very concerned look. "Um, that creepy lab with the impossible colors?" She nodded. "One of the creepy things about it is there are letters from… people in the place the lab came from. They kind of commented on stuff from my cape work."
Aisha took a breath, then let it out slowly. "That's just one of the creepy things about that lab?"
I nodded solemnly. "Even as my power goes, that's kind of a standout."
"Right, okay. Whatever." She glanced roughly in the direction of the Prismatic Laboratory, then shook her head. "So, you got sucked into a powwow with some guy from another dimension who's been watching your career and wanted to… what, give you some notes?"
"Kind of. Mostly it was about the power. Serious Magitech ability, called Mega Bomb." Concerned looks from Aisha were becoming something of a pattern in this conversation. "It's not exactly that. Integration of magic and technology. It's something I have to develop, but the basic level is enough to create single use casting devices. Put magic in something that functions as a bomb or tool or medical kit and let it work when the device is activated."
"So, magic bombs." She said.
"Among other things. Magic anything, really. For all the stuff I used to need to be on hand to cast I can just charge up a device and let that handle it. Even save up magic in stored formats."
Aisha grinned slightly. "So, no more needing to play recordings to fire off those talismans?"
"Nope." I said with a grin of my own. "And not just that. Evermore Alchemy can be stored up and remotely deployed. I can put wand spells into equipment. Transfer potions to new formats, even deploy my stuff like my directional shield."
"That's what he needed to talk to you about? You couldn't figure that out on your own?" Aisha asked. "I mean, I'm sure it was good to check in, but you've worked through more complicated stuff right?" She paused. "And did you even get his name?"
"Okay, I'm not that bad at social situations." Aisha gave me a flat look and I huffed indignantly. "His name was Spekkio. It's a variant pronunciation of a word for mirror. Best I can tell he has some kind of shapeshift effect in play." This could have been a discussion of its own, but Aisha just gestured me on. "As for the why, he introduced himself as the Keeper of Magic and Master of War. As far as I could tell he was being sincere about that. The power had a link to another of my abilities, but that was just about making equipment. This one was based on magic." I smiled. "So, to use it he had to give us magic."
"More magic?" Aisha asked, a spark of excitement reentering her eyes.
"Not just magic. Elements. Affinity for specific types of magic, and a foundation in casting it." I explained. "Tybalt got Fire, I got Shadow."
Aisha blinked. "Dark magic?" She asked.
I shook my head. "That was part of what we went over. It's more void or space magic, magic of separation and movement than creepy dark stuff." It could be plenty creepy, but thankfully my expression of the element veered towards more direct natural phenomena. Space, gravity, and pulses of magical energy.
"So, you got a new type of magic. Like, I'm sure it's useful, but was it that big a thing?" Aisha asked. "I mean, compared to everything else you can do?"
"Everything else is the reason it's a big deal. I didn't just get Shadow magic, I got a shadow element, and that applies to all my other types of magic as well." I explained.
Aisha put things together faster than I expected. "Magecraft, right? You found your Magecraft Element? You're void?"
I nodded. "That's a big one, but it applied to a lot of other types of magic. Either direct elemental expression, or enhancement of any magic that involves shadow, darkness, connection, space, dimensions…" I paused as something hit me. "Fuck."
"What?" Aisha asked as Tetra peered in with concern.
"Nothing, I just figured out something about Grue." Surprisingly, the explanation didn't seem to reassure her. She quickly gestured for me to continue.
"Okay, part of the deal with the Undersiders was that I could study their powers through medical scans and stuff." Aisha nodded. "Grue's darkness was kind of hard to figure out. There wasn't any physical substance or significant interaction with the environment. It looks like a cloud, but there's not really anything there." I explained. "Because there isn't."
"What?" Aisha asked.
"Grue's power isn't blocking light; it's shifting it to another universe. It's not a concealment power, it's a spatial one that's been stretched to function in a very specific way. That's why it interferes with breaker powers like Shadow Stalker's." I paused. "Actually, there are probably a lot more power interactions than even he knows about."
"Wait, it's not about concealing things?" Aisha asked.
I shook my head. "Basically, it's a 'Shadow' power, but not a darkness one. I've been working to figure it out for a while, but it just fell into place. Finally realized what I was looking at."
"But it's not supposed to hide things? Like, at all?" Aisha asked in confusion.
"No, it's just been stretched to function like that. Passengers do that a lot. Specialization in certain applications. You see the range in cape families. Sometimes there are outliers, the passenger reaching to create a certain effect, but most of them follow a certain theme. Most of the expressions of Grue's power would probably be mover or shaker focused. I mean, more aggressive kinds of shakers." I explained.
Aisha seemed to be pondering something. "So, a variation of Grue's power, it wouldn't have other stealth effects, like affecting people's minds or perception?" She asked.
I shook my head. "Not unless there was another passenger involved, and even then, that kind of mental effect would be really unusual. Probably completely unrelated to Grue's power, rather than a branch." I shrugged. "Or maybe not. Powers are diverse enough that there could be a completely unexpressed aspect to Grue's power. Honestly, I probably have the best understanding on the planet and there's plenty I'm still trying to figure out."
Aisha gave a short nod and seemed to be pondering things. "Right. Uh, if we're wrapping up…" She paused and turned to Tybalt. "We are wrapping up, right?" He meowed at her. "Right. I'll get this packed away." She flipped the sword in her hand and made her way towards the weapon racks, now completely choked with brightly colored Nerf-style weapons.
I glanced at Tetra, then at the scattered array of elemental weapons around her training area. "Did you have fun?" I asked wryly.
She nodded, but looked contemplative. "I did, but they didn't feel right." I gave her an inquiring look and she shrugged her little mink shoulders. "I wanted to find the right element before you gave me one of my own, but none of them were what I really wanted."
I scanned through the footage of her training using my upgraded implant. Video of Tetra trying out weapon after weapon played in my head. Fire, ice, wind, water, earth, lightning, dark, and light. The weapons hadn't been built for hands that were more mink than human, but even so I could see she wasn't clicking with any of the offered elements.
"There are more choices." I said. "We'll find something right for you. I promise."
She smiled at me with a mouth full of fangs. Then I felt a sudden and significant connection form to the Personal Reality constellation as the Workshop shook around us.
"What was that?" Aisha called as the new information was already flooding through the Workshop network.
I reviewed it myself, both through my power and the scans that were already taking place. "That." I said. "Was my Library."
"My Library." Survey's hologram stated firmly from where it was projected in front of the Library's entrance.
"Survey, nobody's arguing with that." I explained as Aisha, Tetra, and Tybalt looked on amusement.
"You have emphasized the importance of us finding our own space within the workshop. With Fleet effectively overseeing the Garage and Hangars, Garment's dedicated textile facilities, and The Matrix's focus on the Volcano and Skyforge, I have yet to stake my claim. This is my attempt to do so." She explained briskly.
"That's fine. We would be very happy for you to look after the Library for everyone." I explained. I had the sense that maybe Tetra would be a little less than thrilled, but not enough to mount any kind of objection.
"Fleet is returning us to Garment's studio at the highest speed possible which remains compliant with local traffic laws. He has rejected my suggestion to engage his divine authority to clear vehicles from our path, but has been willing to exercise it to provide a favorable pattern of traffic lights during our return." She paused. "On reflection, and in comparison to the established traffic control pattern, I believe he may have been doing so for the entire duration of his role as our driver."
That did not surprise me in the least. "That's good. I'll open the access door for you when you get back." Survey caused her hologram to shift slightly. "Unless you'd like us to wait for you before we go into the Library?"
"There would be no practical benefit to such a delay. I could not justify such a request." She said briskly.
"I'll meet you at the entrance. We'll all go in together." I said, concealing a slight smile on my face.
Very shortly after, so shortly that I seriously doubted the claim about compliance with traffic laws, the entire Celestial Forge followed Survey into the Workshop's new library.
As much as it had been built up, it wasn't that impressive of a library. The mote that provided it was one of a cluster of six upgrades of different sizes. The first, creatively called 'Library', was just that. A room that would hold books in pristine condition, sorted to whatever scheme we could want. It didn't provide any books, just empty shelves that could expand to fit the size of any collection. It was a nice library and came with a reading room that actually improved people's concentration, reading speed, comprehension, and retention rate while they used it.
The second mote was what had Survey chomping at the bit. Starting Collection provided a quantity of materials that any small-town library would be proud to host. Ten thousand fiction titles with three times as many non-fiction volumes as well as an entire periodicals section with several thousand newspapers and magazines. It was a trove of knowledge, but nothing that would normally set Survey off, except for one detail.
Every item in the library was from another Earth.
My power had just pulled in an entire cross section of another universe's history, culture, and art. Survey was well aware of this thanks to the third mote, Digital Database. This upgrade didn't just affect the library, but extended to every text that entered my Workshop. As soon as it crossed the threshold the entire work would be digitized, indexed, and intelligently cross-referenced. Survey was granted a digital copy of every book in the library, and every other text in the entire workshop. What's more, this synergized with the final upgrade.
Library Services took any text added to the library, provided one of us could translate it, and added a full appendix, including the nuances of word usage, all cultural or historical references, and even added a description of the author's background and possible inspirations. Essentially, it granted context and a full scholastic framework for every book in the library. Instead of trying to piece together a picture of another world from scraps and hints, Survey had a complete breakdown of every volume, instantly uploaded to the central computer for analysis.
I could feel Survey's primary code churn through the information, digesting it in record time and quickly expanding to secondary analysis and deeper assessments of the underlying culture. Meanwhile her physical body browsed the shelves, flitting between books she had already committed to her infinite memory with a peaceful smile on her face.
A smile that slightly faltered when she saw what Garment was doing to the fashion history section. Garment's telekinesis only extended to materials, so her attempt to read six books at the same time while juggling three more was a disaster waiting to happen, and one Survey quickly strove to head off before some accident could damage the original knowledge.
Aisha watched the display with an amused expression, then shifted her gaze to the rest of the team. Tetra was ignoring Survey's comments about her behavior as she clambered over the shelves reading titles of books. Occasionally she would find one of sufficient interest to inform me, which she accomplished by holding the Avid Glove's eye up to the book's spine and tapping it until I acknowledged that I had perceived it through the link. Fleet was browsing the extra-universal car advertisements in a stack of magazines, apparently contemplative, but I could feel his program running analysis on the design variations compared to Earth Bet models. Tybalt had found a warm seat in a corner of the reading room and curled up with a book he was barely paying attention to. Even the Matrix wandered through the new addition to the workshop, though they were perfectly happy reviewing the digital copies of technical manuals rather than disturbing any of the physical books.
"Damn." Aisha said. "This is really incredible." She paused. "I mean, everything about this is incredible, but this is a very different kind of incredible than all the fire and godpower stuff."
"I know." I said. With the constant training, the barrage of new powers and abilities, the mounting crisis in the city, something like this, something normal, but also extraordinary, it felt special. Like something that should be cherished.
"So, we have a third version of the Harry Potter books." Aisha said, reviewing the catalog. "But no Maggie Holt." She added, then gave me a sideways glance. "Not even a Blake Thornburn."
"Truly, an impoverished universe." I quipped, smiling at her.
"And no capes." She said, "Or no real ones."
"It makes sense." I replied. "Aleph has fewer and weaker capes than Bet. That pattern holds up and you'd have worlds with no capes, or capes so weak you wouldn't be able to tell them from the charlatans and cold readers." I glanced through Survey's rapidly expanding notes. "Everything before Scion lines up, so the lack of capes seems to be the only real divergence." I smiled. "We might be looking at the progression of a completely parahuman-less world."
"God, and it just dropped in your lap." Aisha exclaimed, then turned to me. "You know, if you were at all hard for cash you could make a mint from this stuff. It'd outsell the Aleph imports by a mile."
"I am hard for cash." I said with a grin. "I've been coasting on my retainer and savings since this mess started. Probably going to have to end up begging from Garment to get by." I glanced over to where Survey was fretting over Garment's expansion into the magazine racks before desperately commissioning the Matrix for a flash assembled copy printer.
"Right, what's the saying? Cash poor, land rich beyond the wildest dreams of mortal men?" She said with a broad smile, one that I returned.
"Something like that." I replied as I mentally checked the time. A quick ping to Survey confirmed my suspicions. It wasn't time yet, but I should start getting ready. No cause to drag this out more than I needed to. "Tybalt said it was time for a break. You should take some time, enjoy the library. The actual library, outside of the computer."
"You're not sticking around?" She asked.
I looked over the collection of individuals, my teammates, as they enjoyed the library, each in their own way, and smiled. "For a little bit. Then I've got something to take care of."
This was good, and this was something I needed, because afterwards I was calling my sister, and would be dealing with the aftermath head on. No more dodging my problems. I was past that. The doormat mentality had to end.
Jumpchain abilities this chapter:
Mega Bomb (Chrono Trigger) 600:
Magic and Technology are both capable of some pretty fantastic things. So why not put them together, and see what happens? You now understand the secret to integrating magic seamlessly into your mechanical devices, enabling you to create devices like bombs powered with fire magic or medkits that use healing magic. While initially your devices will be one-shots that rely on a magical charge you have to deliver, in time, you'll learn how to make much more advanced fusions, such machines that run on magical power sources, or automated spellcasting devices. In the end, the only limit is your skill with machinery and magic.
Element (Chrono Trigger) Free:
Anyway, weak or strong, you've still got enough strength of will to you for the old guy to send you to me. I'm not just the Master of War, ya know. I'm also the keeper of Magic. Sky, Dark, Water, and Fire... used to be, everyone could call on the power of the elements. But now, only those with enough determination and a strong enough heart can use it. Lucky for you, you've got some great inner strength, so I can teach you the good stuff.
Shadow: Shadow's the element of darkness, covering everything from the space between the stars to the shadows in a cave. Void and gravity are two obvious uses, and curses and status magic fall within its domain as well. However, it's also the magic of harmony, so you might be able to throw around some elemental combos instead.
Combination Attack (Chrono Trigger) Free:
You didn't think I'd let you go without teaching you this one, did you? Now that you're fortified with magic, or other tricks, you're going to start noticing some of them seem compatible with your buddies' moves. Well, that's because they are. By using them together, you can merge them into one big move that'll be greater than the sum of its parts. Fusing two spells, enhancing an attack with elemental energy, even a well-coordinated double strike... there's a lot of possibilities, so try them out and see what works. Just keep in mind your buddy needs to know how to do this too, and not all techniques are going to be compatible.
Library (Personal Reality) 200:
A place to keep all the books and writings you and your companions might create or gather throughout your adventures, with all of them kept in pristine condition and automatically sorted based on your selected scheme, no matter how harebrained. Comes with reading area that has an effect of slightly boosting concentration, reading speed, comprehension, and retention rate.
Library Services (Personal Reality) 100:
This Library Upgrade means that any written text that you add to your library, assuming you or any member of your team possesses the ability to translate it, will gain an appendix that includes all idiomatic word usage, cultural or historical references, and even scholarly explanations of the author's background and possible inspirations. All such notes will be written from a scholastic, in setting standpoint, as if written by a learned scholar writing from no more than a single century in the future from the time the original work was created. Additionally, if you request a specific book translated into a different language, it will be produced within 24 hours, and the translation will be written by an expert native speaker of both languages. Cover art for the new version will be similarly translated. You or a member of your team must know both languages to a high fluent level for this translation service to work properly.
Digital Database (Personal Reality) 100:
This Library Upgrade automatically digitizes every text that enters your Personal Reality, even if it's already in digital format, and does so safely (spells will contain the correct symbols but not power, memetic or conceptual texts will be rendered harmless). The entire contents of your Library are now completely searchable, indexed, and intelligently cross-referenced, allowing far easier use and accessibility.
Starting Collection (Personal Reality) 100:
This Library Upgrade gets you pre-stocked with books you would expect to find in an average town or school library, with a nice spread of books on a variety of topics and in a language of your choice. This comes with 10,000 individual fiction titles and three times that number non-fiction titles covering all normal real-world subjects. Most of the books will be best sellers or classics (80%) and will cover the last hundred and fifty years or so. The other 20% will be more esoteric works, but seldom anything particularly obscure or rare. In addition to scholarly works and literature, you'll also get a periodicals section similar to that of a town library, containing several thousand assorted magazines and newspapers. This can be purchased up to five times, each time increasing the number of titles in all three categories (fiction, non-fiction, periodicals) by a factor of ten. Additional purchases only cost 50 WP. This is the only Library Upgrade that includes fiction from 'the real world'.
New abilities for Tybalt:
Will Thee Accompany Me? (Chrono Trigger) Free:
While it might not be my specialty, I'm not a bad hand at restoring lost timestreams. If you have any friends who tagged along with you, I make sure they're able to find you wherever and whenever they end up. I'll even provide them with a healthy new human body, along with the Element of their choice.
Element (Chrono Trigger) Free:
Anyway, weak or strong, you've still got enough strength of will to you for the old guy to send you to me. I'm not just the Master of War, ya know. I'm also the keeper of Magic. Sky, Dark, Water, and Fire... used to be, everyone could call on the power of the elements. But now, only those with enough determination and a strong enough heart can use it. Lucky for you, you've got some great inner strength, so I can teach you the good stuff.
Fire: Fire's the element of the world, from the day it was born until the day it dies. It's a pretty simple element, generally in the form of blasts of flame and explosions, but molten lava's not impossible, and you can even go with rock and earth if you want. It's also offers a good mix of support for your allies and debuffs for your enemies.
Combination Attack (Chrono Trigger) Free:
You didn't think I'd let you go without teaching you this one, did you? Now that you're fortified with magic, or other tricks, you're going to start noticing some of them seem compatible with your buddies' moves. Well, that's because they are. By using them together, you can merge them into one big move that'll be greater than the sum of its parts. Fusing two spells, enhancing an attack with elemental energy, even a well-coordinated double strike... there's a lot of possibilities, so try them out and see what works. Just keep in mind your buddy needs to know how to do this too, and not all techniques are going to be compatible.
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