B 2 C 12: IT’S ABOUT TIME

For Lil, it’s less on-foot when in their base form, but I meant that none of us are flying. Lil has to make sure their aura is on the ground. I’m not sure what they meant about the ground seeing aura. If Lil says the ground can see though, then the ground can see. I have utmost faith in everyone in my inner circle. If Mata told me that, I’d be skeptical.

I’ll happily walk with Lil and Valkyrie-Teuila as long as necessary, though I’m saddened that Lu isn’t walking with us. I trust that somehow, either she’ll catch up, or she’ll be right where we need her to be, when we need her to be there. I don’t know how, or why, but I have faith in our little Lu, and her ominous prophecies.

The three of us travel for several hours, Lil carefully staying at least half a slither ahead of us at all times. I want to be prepared in case of any surprises, so I’d better get my maximum energy capacity back up. Looking at my mental logs right now, it’s just annoying to read maximum energy capacity over and over. I should probably just start calling it mana, and max mana at some point. Lil should still understand what I’m talking about if I say mana. Right Lil?

“Sure buddy! Whatever’s easier to remember, think, or say. I’m not the boss of words! Hehe.”

Chuckling, I stumble slightly on a single loose rock as I browse my mind’s eye interface. Honestly, probably the only loose rock on this plain, and I stumble on it while trying to come up with a way to increase my effective max mana accumulation rate. The stumble causes me to drop a step behind Lil and Teuila. I pause for a moment to laugh at myself for once again not paying attention, but I swear I just saw a new skill pop up before getting distracted from my distraction. Just after my space skill, I swear it said time.

Distracted yet again, and a few steps behind, my world comes crashing to a halt. Time seems to freeze as it only does when someone derezzes. Completely without warning Lil and Teuila are engulfed in lava spewing from below. I hear the crashing, cracking sound of someone derezzing, and I pray it’s my imagination, or my own heart. Lil is immune, Lil has infinite thermal resistance. Teuila, my Teuila, she doesn’t. She isn’t. Time continues to stand still as I retreat into accelerated thinkspace. Less than a tenth of a millisecond has passed since the lava spewed forth from beneath their feet. I have a new skill, a time skill of one. Please do what I think you can do. As I try to activate the time skill, I swear the lava spout is bending, angling towards me.

My pillars of sanity come crashing down around me as I see lava erupt from beneath Teuila’s feet. My heart feels as if it’s ripped from my chest, impaled on spikes, set aflame, then dunked in acid for good measure. Lil will be okay, Lil has infinite thermal resistance, but Teuila doesn’t. I could swear I’ve seen this happen once before, and what comes next is the lava spout redirecting in midair. I’m crushed under the weight of my guilt and regrets, a burden so heavy that Atlas himself could not shoulder it. Retreating into accelerated thinkspace so that I can experience a lifetime of grief and trauma in a single instant, I take advantage of the time dilation momentarily. My mental log says this did happen once before, and that I have a time skill of one. But checking it, I have a time skill almost up to two. I hope you do what I think you can do, please take me back.

My whole world crumbles at the sight being enacted before my eyes. Lava spews forth from the ground, engulfing Lil and Teuila. Instantly there’s the horrid, gut-wrenching sound of derezzing as time stands still. I know I have an active imagination, and a propensity to dream up the worst, but I swear I’ve watched this happen before already. I retreat into accelerated thinkspace to wallow in the weight of my sins. I want to be swallowed by my sins and my grief, a thousand times longer than will actually pass in meatspace. While there, I check my mental log, to see what my last memory of my beloved Teuila will be. Oddly, my log says I’ve experienced this before, twice now, and that I have a time skill of one. But looking at my skills page reveals a time skill of two. I must have used it already, and failed her twice now. I hope Teuila will forgive me for failing her, however many times this takes. Here goes nothing.

Distracted from my own distraction, I swear I just saw a new skill pop into place, I think it said time. That would be crazy right? I’m several steps behind Lil and Te now, so I’d better catch up. Life suddenly ceases to have meaning as lava erupts from beneath Teuila’s feet, engulfing her and Lil. Lil has infinite thermal resistance, but Teuila, she, she doesn’t. Time turns on its head, freezing so hard that it feels like my own heart stops as I’m greeted by the awful, gut-wrenching cacophony of derezzing.

Not even being able to bear facing Lil at the moment, as we’ve both just lost someone so precious to us, I retreat into accelerated thinkspace. I go there, here, to wallow in my grief, a thousand times longer than one could normally fit into a lifetime. While here, I check my logs to ascertain my last memory of my beloved warrior-angel, my Valkyrie, my Teuila. Strange, it says I’ve experienced this before, time and time again. It also says that I have a time skill of two. That’s crazy, right? It couldn’t possibly have done what I was guessing, could it? If it does, Teuila please forgive me for putting you through this, over and over. Good luck, past me.

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Distracted from my distraction due to stumbling, I am positive I just saw a time skill get added to my skills list. Opening my skills list again, yes, I do have a time skill of three, but if it’s three, that means I have to have used it several times already. I look at my mental logs to confirm having used it. I don’t have time to read as I gasp in horror when my normal vision catches lava erupting, consuming Lil and Teuila in an instant. I vomit, but even that hangs in the air as time freezes during that horrid familiar sound of someone derezzing. Lil has infinite thermal resistance, but Teuila, she, she doesn’t. I retreat into accelerated thinkspace. I want to cry a thousand lifetimes worth in a single lifetime, and this is the place to do it. While here, I want to know what my last memory of Teuila will be. Strangely, my log shows this having happened over and over. Some well deserved self-inflicted punishment it seems. Yet still, I have a time skill of three, the temptation is there. I hope Teuila can forgive me if I’m putting her through this over and over, failing again and again to save her. Maybe next time will be different.

Looking at my skills page, I spy a time skill that’s halfway between three and four. I pause midstep to check within my logs how I could have used it already. Gasping, I begin to cry out a warning as I fall behind Teuila and Lil. As my mental logs show, I witness Teuila being engulfed by lava without warning. Time stands still as she’s instantly taken from me, I can feel Lil screaming with loss in the frozen moment. I’m sorry my beloved buddy, I can’t comfort you or stay with you to grieve. Please work, please work, please be real.

I decide to pull up my skill page while trying to figure out ways to increase my max mana faster, and spy a curious skill at four. Time. That is quite odd because I’ve never used it before. Checking my mental logs however is like a gutpunch. I’m just going to trust past future me, and skip witnessing that, to try out this skill. Here’s hoping I notice it early enough to finally save her. Please work, please work.

While checking my mental logs to confirm how annoying it is to read maximum energy capacity, and maximum energy capacity gain rate, several new entries pop in simultaneously. But these can’t be real. I verify that I have a time skill of four, I see a rock I was about to stumble on, so I bolt for Teuila. Using my new knowledge of my space skill, I lean almost horizontally, then jettison raw matter beneath my feet with the velocity aimed directly at Teuila's midsection. It's probably the fastest I'll ever move.

I cry out, “Aerial, quick! Lil, up!” I grip Teuila’s waist tightly as she plants her feet, having caught me. Te begins her leap because she intrinsically trusts me. She trusts me even though I’m dashing at her like a loon, looking like I’m going to tackle her. It seems like I watch the same event described in the logs happen in slow motion. This time though, my beloved Valkyrie was on the move as the lava rose. I thank my stars that convection isn’t a real thing, at least not in this reality.

I also thank everything lucky for Teuila being as powerful as she is. Nothing’s as fast as Teuila taking to the sky. Her ancillary powers must reduce g-forces and whiplash for herself and those near her as well. I think she can only break the speed of sound with gravity assist currently, but I’m sure someday she will be ascending tiers of mach speeds even during vertical climbs.

Lil actually rides the lava spout for a while before transforming. After a bit, Lil does their best to pound air, attempting to rise on the updraft provided by the lava itself. It looks like the lava is still rushing up to meet us from below, we have to retreat a bit and get our bearings. This is not normal lava. I also think we’re going to have to somehow fight it, which is very confusing. I also feel a bit drained for some reason.

Anyway, time, really? Now this is a hell of a convenient power to have acquired just in the nick of time. Ugh, two puns in one mental sentence. Someone sentence me to mental prison for them, please. Ugh, more wordplay. Seems like I can’t help myself. Somehow, somehow I just know that Lu is the reason I have this new power. She had to be gone so that I’d have it in time. Ugh, wordplay again.

There’s no way, there’s no way, right? The last few seconds are just me hallucinating from panic or something, right? But there it is, my logs arrived as I traveled mere seconds into the past. Great, now I’m going to be so paranoid that I need to look at my logs every second of every day to make sure future-me didn’t bring back some logs warning of somebody’s imminent demise.

Teuila and Lil are chuckling at my puns until they telepathically hear me talking about my logs. They then take a look for themselves. My pals are both aghast at what appears in my mental journal. I give them a look of horrified confirmation. Yes, these logs really must have happened.

I can virtually sense Lil’s question before they ask it telepathically. No, Lil, I will not use it to guess what number you’re thinking. Not even by waiting til you say it, then coming back in time so I can read the number before you even think it.

Lil begins to ask, “Hey Reggie, wanna use it to guess.” As I interrupt, Lil releases a dejected, “Awwwe!” Te seems a bit somber until Lil’s joking around makes her giggle into our telepathic bond. It must be awful for her, reading how I failed to save her, time and time again. Reading about her own demise, over and over.

My Valkyrie hugs me tightly as we change trajectory, retreating somewhat. She calls across our telepathic wavelength to me, “Reggie, Reggie it’s not awful for me, it was awful for you. How, how can you possibly keep worrying about me, when your logs literally say your sanity crumbled, your world shattered, your heart broke? I never want to see you hurt so badly, ever. If I have to train hard enough to become immortal to prevent it, then I’ll sure as spitfire do just that boosterboob.”

I didn’t realize I was crying until I started to hiccup and laugh simultaneously. I think I’m a bit lightheaded from the altitude or something. Wait though, did Teuila just say something really sweet to me about my state of mind? Actually, why is it getting so dark all of a sudden?