Life Ore Death
My heart to joy at the same tone—
And all I lov'd—I lov'd alone—
* November 5 [Ferris PoV]
I stood on nothing, in the middle of nothing, and yet I did not float nor fall. Through the void of darkness, I could feel the presence of my own self, layered with and marbled through the presence of the Lord of Order, as well as one more.
"Hello, Mister Nelson," I said, but did not turn to see him behind me. An exertion of will tore open the viewing window mentioned.
"Ferris, was it? You're a fast learner," he complimented, stepping up beside me.
"This is rather an emergency," I replied, watching as my own hands, in the hands of the Dr. Fate, conjured divinatory symbols of light.
"I know. Batman and Zatara swung by to discuss whether they would put on the Helmet, but they decided not to yet." I scowled at this.
"Doctor Fate!" I shouted up. "The Lord of Order Nabu! I am grateful for your assistance!" Attention caught, the glowing Helmet appeared.
"It is the duty of Fate to combat Chaos in every form, and this is undoubtedly the work of Chaos. The Witch Boy {Wicked} is not on the same version of this plane, but his sorcery is at the core and base of this; he and his cohort cannot channel such powers in secrecy."
"If I tap my atium-mind, will it be safe to age-shift to the under-eighteen Earth?" I asked. "He is there if not here."
"No doubt it is so. You would be able to safely do so, if-,"
I nodded sharply and tapped youth from my atium-mind ring. The world flickered, uncertainly, and I was-
"Ah." I quickly grabbed the Helmet of Fate, which had been back on the shelf in the under-age-18 Earth, and put it on. "I am sorry."
"
You should not have been able to do that," Dr. Fate observed, and I perceived even Mr. Nelson felt surprised.
"Should I stop?" I questioned, re-opening the viewing window to watch Fate perform more spells.
"…No," declared the glowing helmet above me. "
The power of Fate was split between the two worlds as well, but is now reunited."
"If it is to help this stop, then good," I affirmed, assuming such was a beneficial thing. "I can keep the rate of this tap up for maybe a month."
"I'm afraid you don't have a month, young lady. Nabu! She deserves to know the Helmet is killing her!" Mr. Nelson shouted up.
"How quickly?" I asked, as I did not feel nearly dead. I was familiar with the feeling of impending death. "What is the cause?"
"The inherent destruction desired by your power is allowing Fate greater channeling capacity, but inflicting harm on you as well."
"You're burning the candle at both ends," Mr. Nelson elaborated, to which I nodded.
"If it is only both ends, doubling the shortness of my life, I do not care."
"No," Dr. Fate boomed.
"Were you to wear the Helmet of Fate and do nothing more, in two weeks and two days you would be dead. Every spell cast by Fate cuts shorter that amount. The divinations already done upon the Witch Boy's tangled web have lessened it by a day."
"Don't worry, we can get him to let you-," I was already shaking my head as I perceived the thrust of Mr. Nelson's reassurance.
"About eight years ago, I killed my own brother, and first wished I were dead. I lacked the courage to do it myself, and in the end inflicted the fate I could not face on others. Five years in the past, I fell into Ruin's Shardpool and learned what I was truly doing, to both others and myself.
"Three years before now, I confessed all my sins to Father and Spook, and while I did not receive the death penalty, a part of me has wished they had not been so kind. Seven months prior to this day, I pulled my sister from a volcano's ledge, and in her stead tumbled over the edge.
"It was a good death, I thought, and Father caught me. My Intent had been to remain behind as a Cognitive Shadow – as a Sliver I could hold on indefinitely – and aid Spook alongside Kelsier, being more easily able to speak. Instead, Father sent me here.
"I have long felt my own life to be borrowed time, loaned undeservedly, and I have sought to use it well in amendment for the people who had not. I will not flinch from death, for I have nothing to fear less than living with failure.
"I know not how many children are dead," I declared, "but more will die every minute we remain under this effect. Spend my life well, Doctor Fate, because you will not get a refund, but if my life can buy the end of this atrocity then I demand you spend it without remorse!"
Silence echoed in the darkness, after my words.
"Fate shall show that your sacrifice will not be in vain. By my name, I, Nabu, Lord of Order and Doctor Fate {That Which Should Be} do thrice swear it!" The air itself seemed to shiver at this. Mr. Nelson stepped back and bowed his head in respect.
"What is the situation, and what will be done about it?" I demanded, and Nabu complied.
"Even for a Lord of Chaos or of Order, a working of this magnitude could not be done alone. The Witch Boy {Wicked} would require preparation, ritual symbols, a prepared space, capable assistance, and an artifact to properly provide and channel this power."
"It sounds very methodical, like the magic of Order. I assume the Intent of Chaos manifests as causing chaos?"
"Astute indeed," Nabu confirmed.
"Moreover, for this working, the Witch Boy {Wicked} would need a sacrifice of his own ideal, as the power of chaos often works against itself. You gave a death toll overestimate, as it is in this moment."
"Fewer people are dead than I fear? Good, so let us keep it… Ah, you mean his power must keep them alive as a cost to him? Irony?"
"A simplistic explanation, but an appropriate summary of such a ritual's methodology." The viewing window showed kaleidoscope patterns of Order's golden light twisting through intricate fractals around my puppeteered fingertips. I could not quite comprehend them, but I barely got that there was something to comprehend.
"Unless you move immediately, if I know the method to his madness I can help strategize my approach. Three minds are better than one, and while you are not maniacal and malicious like Klarion, I expect there are some consequences to your thoughts, as there are to his."
"…Indeed," Nabu allowed.
"The Witch Boy {Wicked} has split the world across two planes, but as such he needed to power the divide and in part recreate the halves missing from each. In the world of adults all living beings are real, but objects are not."
"When the two inevitably rejoin once more, items, buildings, and cars will remain in the state they have here, in the child's world, and any adult that is dead or injured in the elders' world will remain as such. Similarly, any children, living or dead, will return to the joined world as they left it, alive."
I frowned in worry. "But if they are in a car crash they will return to a burning car, and if they are in an airplane that has moved they will-,"
"Indeed, but if the two positions are close enough when the spell is canceled, they will desire to slot together as the same. Fate still expects a steep death toll from this act against the world's order-,"
"But only a fraction of the potential death toll, perhaps; all the same, the size of that fraction grows larger with every second. We will-," I tapped my zinc-mind once more with this new information, and quickly came to a satisfactory conclusion. "-need to arrange the adults, especially the Justice League, to be in place when the spell ends, and I suggest we cancel it from this side, as we will need to worry less about members of the Team who die in the assault on Klarion. Can we arrange communication, gather our forces, and act within an hour?"
I did not consciously know exactly what else I was doing within my mind, as I arranged these ideas, but I knew it was significant.
Up to then I had stood on the floor beside Mr. Nelson, under the spotlight, in front of the window, while the Helmet that was Nabu floated above and (I knew it's position despite not turning to look) a ways behind me. I did not move, and neither did the Helmet.
All the same, I came to be in a different place, with Mr. Nelson further away, the viewing window obsolete, and Nabu a bit above me.
"If you do not survive, young heroine, die knowing that I hold you in the highest esteem. The Lord of Order Nabu Tralmanchia-reln offers you honor."
"I thank you, and return it," I answered casually. I knew I was in a hurry, and yet all the same I felt fully confident and serene, certain no time of any consequence would pass while we did this. What this was, I did not care enough to wonder.
I felt there was something more to say. I could not quite figure out what, until I unexpectedly could.
"I am known as the Sliver of Entropy, and as the heroine Ferris, but my given name is Renka. I have no natural family name, but…"
"If you have chosen one, speak it, and I will see it remembered." The Helmet that was Nabu floated above me in easy reach, I knew.
"Thank you. It is a kludged together pun of three languages, made with my mother's name, my position as her eighth offspring, and a dialect homophone for dawn and corpse. Nabu Tralmanchia-reln, the one honored to be your partner is newly named Renka Tyndwisra." I reached up.
"I shall engrave it," he answered.
I laughed, plucked his astral Helmet from the air, and held it clasped in my cognitive hands.
"Mm, excellent. Now then," I declared, "let's do this."
Under that extinguished spotlight, in the place that was only dark, I once again placed the Helmet over my head.
Darkness fell.
It was enough.
…
…
…
In a memorial, inside a mountain, in a room, inside a cave…
…
FATE's eyes opened.
