B 3 C 37: LAST DITCH EFFORTS
Teuila and I return to the Miracle Oak, arriving before mid-day. I think it would be best if we find Teodora, Spice, Sugar, Magnus, and Elder Tolkenstein. Perhaps some of the Fairies from up in the boughs may be elders as well, but Elder Tolkenstein is the only Fairie elder I’ve met thus far.
I glance at Teuila as we land near our newly created moat. Her gracefulness and strength bring a smile to my face before I gaze about at the rest of our settlement. Looking at the moat, schools of fish are already beginning to spawn within it, several humans are jubilantly casting fishing rods into its depths, sitting along its edges. The entire settlement gives an air of idyllic peace to be enjoyed by all. This is what we have strived for. This is what we yet struggle to protect.
Who to see first? I turn to Teuila, “So, what’s the order of operations here? It’s almost mid day, so Linti is probably still hunting, Lao and Ag are probably tending a shop. Dream and Jaz might be looking for work for Jaz. Since she’s military, I think she’d get restless without a job for too long. Our builders and the Fairies’ engineers are probably gathered at the site of whatever the newest construction project is. Elder Tolkenstein lives in that little museum-space in that building over there.”
I wave, indicating where I’d first met Rinnia Tolkenstein. Teuila nods along, following my gaze and my waving hands. She stops me for a moment, “Take a breather heartafarts. The order probably doesn’t matter too much. We’ll get to see Hunter this evening, same with Lao, Ag, and the rest of the fam. We have time. We can do this.”
Teuila’s right. It also seems obvious in retrospect that we should visit Elder Tolkenstein first, she’s likely to want to retire earlier in the day or evening than anyone else on our list. With that decided, I slump against Teuila playfully, forcing her to catch me to hold me aloft for a bit. We both laugh as she shoves me to a standing position before hugging me tightly. When we’re done goofing off for the moment, we head towards Elder Tolkenstein’s residence. I’m not sure if it’s a public building, or her private domicile.
Still, on approach, it seems like the Elder happens to be leaving to go on a walk. Her walking stick is a simple thing, but it seems curiously organic, living somehow. I hazard pulling out the staff I’d gotten recently, and I bring forth its power that lets me see auras. Sure enough, her walking stick emits a powerful, vibrantly verdant aura. Elder Tolkenstein seems to take note of me casting a spell, and wanders our way.
She calls out, “I suppose you have business with me then, Old One?”
I blush, chagrined at having interrupted whatever she was about to do, “Only if you have time to spare, Elder Tolkenstein. We’ve just visited some incredibly powerful beings, and have to set about on a new quest. It might be as simple as constructing a shield with materials we already have, or mages we already know, or it could require traversing our continent yet again for materials, I don’t know.”
She taps her foot impatiently and raises an eyebrow, “Well, out with it then. What are you hoping to construct?”
I reply, “Lady Maka-Akari, Gaea’s Cradle called it the shield of lacrimosa trifecta.”
The elder’s eyes widen at the name I just dropped, realizing I implied that I spoke with Maka-Akari personally. She composes herself, “Such curious things come to pass through your involvement Old One. Fine, fine, come with me. Back into there, yes yes, walk this way.” Elder Tolkenstein waddles quickly back into her residence, raising her walking stick to her shoulders.
Teuila begins to imitate Elder Tolkenstein’s waddle, but I hip check her playfully, hoping the Elder doesn’t catch on to Teuila’s gesture. We follow Elder Tolkenstein inside the residence, and there are all the curious belongings that I’ve seen before, and even a few more on display. There’s a disconcerting number of weapons on display, all sheathed of course, but still, it’s imposing. There are small models of ships in bottles, curious tomes, volumes of some forgotten lore. Even beyond all this, there are yet other oddities I’d never seen before.
The Elder does a strange thing, she sets her walking stick in place, and begins to climb it, standing upon its head. I worry that she’ll fall, yet the stick remains perfectly in place, and she maintains her balance atop it, as if held in position magnetically. She reaches to a high shelf, and pulls down what looks vaguely like a snowglobe. It’s some crystal orb clutched in what looks like claws made of stone. Why does that seem so oddly familiar?
The Elder holds it out, “I believe this is the basis of what you’re wanting to create. What are you trying to protect with such a powerful edifice?”
I blush, chagrined, “The um, the entire Miracle Oak and our whole settlement around it.”
The Elder pales at my statement. She regains her composure, instead acting flabbergasted, “Of all the inane, infeasible, impossible, insane, incomprehensible, inscrutable, inexplicable possible things you need to accomplish. I’m not even going to try to fathom it. Out, out, here, take this, show our engineers, maybe one of them will be able to talk some sense into you.”
I blush and gnaw on my lip as I receive the snowglobe, and let myself be shooed away by Elder Tolkenstein. Teuila follows along behind me, radiating embarrassment of her own.
Once we’ve left, and Elder Tolkenstein heads off in a different direction for her walk, I glance at Teuila questioningly, “That uh, doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence does it?”
Teuila jokingly replies, “Indubitably incorrect, it’s inefficient to imagine we’ll be less than industrious. Hehe.”
I snort, trying not to laugh, since Teuila is poking fun at Elder Tolkenstein’s rant. I actually hear a quiet shout from the distance, “I heard that!”
We both can’t help but burst into laughter that Rinnia caught Teuila being a punk. I guess we can try to find Sugar, Spice, Magnus, and Teodora. We only have to construct something that’s maybe several million times this size, that can’t be too awful, right? Ugh. Say it’s about one or two hundred thousand times the width, and about five or ten times that in height, yeah, several million times its size.
It doesn’t take long wandering around until we begin to hear the noise of hammering and sawing, so we head vaguely in the direction of the sound. As we reach a new project site, I wait for a moment when it seems like Teodora and Spice are conversing rather than working, and then wait a bit longer til that conversation hits a lull.
As their conversation begins to die down, Teuila and I approach. Teuila beats me to the punch, asking, “Hey, how do we make this thingy big enough to be a shield of lacrimosa trifecta that covers the whole town and tree?”
I facepalm at Teuila’s directness. Still, I suppose it’s better to get straight to the point. Spice looks between Teuila and Teodora repeatedly. He scratches his head in mild confusion.
Teodora replies, “I’ll need ye tae hold right there. I’ll bring some of the older builders tae look at this. I cannae believe the projects ye bring tae my home. Yer all daft, I swear on my life.”
Teodora jogs away after snatching the snowglobe. I chuckle nervously as I ask Spice how the last few days have been. Spice explains a few of the goings on, and indicates that they’ll be building more communal housing, and private homes over the next few days.
Spice elaborates, “We’ve already got everyone set up in permanent buildings, no more sleeping in tents unless people want to. That doesn’t mean we can’t cater to the needs of people who want more privacy in their lives though. Also, we’re keeping the humans closer to the drainfield you constructed, since their homes will need plumbing. It’s fairly ingenious, even if they have to bring their own buckets of water to wash away the waste for now. It’s far more sanitary than whatever they’d been doing.”
I blush, not wanting to think about what the humans must have been doing all this time, with chamber pots or other solutions to their waste problems. Teuila asks Spice about Magnus and Teodora while I’m distracted.
Spice gushes, “Tea is great, really great, her mind can spring in a hundred different directions at once, and I feel like she really gets me, she can get just as excited as me about a new project idea. We butt heads once in a while, but it always leads to better solutions for everyone. Magnus is my heart and soul. He has been a bit down in the dumps, I guess I haven’t been spending as much time with him, but we’re almost done with all the big projects that will need my attention, then I probably won’t see Tea as much.”
Teuila and I chuckle nervously when Spice states that they’re almost done with big projects, since we’re about to throw the biggest one ever in his lap. We stand around a while longer, conversing about random inane topics, food supplies, trivial matters, or gossip about the settlement. Eventually Teodora returns with someone that looks to be part ent, part faun. Their skin is a dark pine bark, and their fur darker yet.
Teodora motions for the ent individual to take over directing the construction crew as she draws us to the side. She shakes her head and slaps her palm to her forehead.
Teodora finally sighs before explaining, “Tae even contemplate creating such a shield, we’d need almost literally bottled lightning. Fulgurite ye might call it if ye know the term. Fulgurite in more quantities than have ever been generated in nature. We would need someone tae shape porous stone by the billions of cubic meters tae create the lattice-work. Even the physical needs are impossible, not tae mention the metaphysical ones. The energy isn’t self-sustaining, it will need tae have reached critical mass. It would need some sort of catalyst, even then, we might need as much energy as could be produced in dozens of years all at once tae even start such a field. Perhaps if we could compress the future intae the present in just the energy source. It doesn’t seem possible, let alone feasible.”
Teodora’s explanation of the physical needs make sense. I was hoping it would be as simple as drawing some runes in the ground around the settlement, and maybe spending a bunch of days casting spells into those runes with all of our mages. But at least part of it is going to have to be a massive edifice, constructed in at least part of a sphere. Suddenly it clicks. Everything that has happened until now. Now is the time. I even understand more about my time skill in this instant, than ever before.
I surmise, “Wait, a massive amount of fulgurite, like say the amount created if someone like me caused the largest lightning bolt in history to glass an entire beach to the west? And shapeable porous stone in the millions or billions of cubic meters to form a latticework? Like the kind that could be conjured by someone who has lava conjuration, cooled by someone with thermokinesis?”
Teuila catches my drift as her eyes spark with understanding. She squeezes my bicep reassuringly, beaming a smile into my eyes. She trusts me to handle this.
This is it, this is why things happened the way they did, this is when future-me knew enough to understand what messages needed to travel into the past. The only way we win this, is if events played out exactly as they happened, with one minor detail added. We need all colors of barrier to stand a chance at preventing the apocalypse. We need to redirect the ley lines of the world that used to produce barriers. The Blue barrier of Shellcracker Pond, the Red Barrier of the cragbeast warren, the Green barrier of the dungeon that Teuila found. I’m still not quite sure how to do that.
I think this also means that I’ve had a power this entire time, that would allow me to send my consciousness back without rewinding time entirely. I might be able to do it to others that are bonded in a psychic link with me as well, but the only one I can trust to send back without causing a paradox is Luni. It seems like I’ve got a message to deliver to Luni. I think based on how high my time skill is, I probably have these other options to use it, instead of just sending logs back into the past. I think I can send a consciousness back, like my own, or Luni’s. I must be able to reset time or send messages back without sending back my whole log as well. It happened, and I don’t have the billions of attempts logged that it took my time skill to get as high as it is from a future timeline, nor the infinitesimally miniscule ones from the temple of time. During those longest timelines in the temple of time, I was resetting time a fraction of a second every second, constantly using it, exercising it without creating new timelines.
Yes, I’m certain. I’ll be back in a flash. I telepathically think towards Teuila, “You won’t even know I’m gone.” While I’m at it, I’ll message myself all those times in the past where I heard my own voice inside my head. That should close those time loops.
I send myself back to the last time I was checking my logs next to Luni, before she had to take a different path. She had said some things that hurt me pretty deeply. At the time, I had shut down for a bit, probably being piloted by this future me, now that I think about it. Approaching her, I can tell she already knows that I’m the future version of myself.
I jokingly chide, “So, this must have been the big secret for all this time, huh?”
Lu replies with a wink, “You’d think that, wouldn’t you?” She shakes her head with a smile though.
My expression becomes dumbfounded. There’s more? Still, I have to focus on what I need to ask her, “As much as I don’t want to put this burden on you, it can only be you. You already know why, don’t you Lu?”
She nods.
I explain what I know that she already knows, “I have to send you back, into your younger self, but you have to let everything play out as it was meant to happen. We can’t risk changing a single thing. I finally get it now. I hate what I’m asking of you, I hate that you had to keep your stealth magics secret, that you had to keep the version of future-you a secret. You have to let me falter at the dam, giving me just enough hope and praise to go on without you. Did you really feel that way?”
Lu, smiling, responds, “I did, still do. I meant it then and I mean it now. You’ve got this. You’re my hero, always have been, always will be.” A lump catches in my throat as I smile back at her. There’s a bit more weight to the statement this time around as I finally realize just how much it implies. That singular point was of such vast importance.
I continue, even though I feel stupid for sharing the things she’s already certain of, “Remember, you have to be there at the precise moment when Mata breaks the first obelisk, you have to channel the power away from Mata, into our bond, through you and your music. That exact second is when younger me gained the time skill. They might not be okay when they use it for the first time. Younger me was pretty shaken up, and we now know about the death debt, well, you know. I’d tell you to say hi to my younger self for me, but we both know you can’t do that. Please forgive me for placing this burden on you Lu, you always were the kindest of us.”
I stare into Lu’s eyes. Her expression is neutral, yet tender. Seeing the love beneath the surface of her expression, I steel myself to continue, “We both know who set the red eyes free, but you can’t let me figure it out. Try to block the knowledge from even your own mind if you can. Definitely redact as much of your memory log as possible, so you don’t overburden your younger self, and so that the rest of us can’t catch on. Stop me from guessing at every turn as much as you can. I know how much it will wear on you to ride the waves of my thoughts so often, for so long, but I can ask no one else. We both know I would change course if I figured out any number of the precursor events.”
I pause, I know she knows all of this, but I have to have said it to initiate the closed time loop.
We can’t risk another paradox problem. When TQ filled me in on what almost happened near Elder Sthenic, well, oof. The thought makes me quake with fear. When gods of sea, sky, land and fire meet, armageddon be upon us all indeed. That’s still less cataclysmic than all of time being erased, with no universe left for souls to populate. I nearly caused that, I nearly ripped time itself asunder by defying the primary timeline.
I recall more, “Remember, tell younger Reggie that no matter how much they want to practice to train their time skill, they’re not ready, the cost would be too great. They’ll know when it’s time to start practicing. It’s patently obvious.”
I sigh, gazing at Lu wistfully, “You have to guide yourself so many times, to the last egg, to let me fail and falter against the serpent, to escape the dam with Sugar and Spice. Every last bit of it needs to happen exactly the way it did, and it has to be you that does it. I’ll always regret having done this to you Lu. Come back to us when this is all done.”
I continue relaying all the things she’s ever done that were mysterious, all the things she is still yet to do that are mysterious, Luni nods affirmations at each one. I know she’ll remember. She has logs that she can unredact as necessary.
If Luni is unsuccessful, then this timeline vanishes, the only one where we stand a chance against them. The only one where my family may yet live. No wonder I told myself to cherish every moment. That was so long ago now. Heh, I’ve always been at least a tad melodramatic. I guess this is what it was all for, all those times Luni had to keep me from guessing the future, all the secrets.
Lu, with a mental wink, telepathically sends back, “Something like that.”
My jaw hits the floor when she basically confirms we’re still not done with time shenanigans. We’re at the point when this version of me went on the hunt for Mataalii, leaving behind my family again, not being able to bear dragging them into a blood vendetta against their own kin. Luni had said some things to this version of me that left me feeling cold and alone, like what I was doing was both wrong, yet had to be done. It was mostly Luni’s hurtful words that sent me off alone. Mat would have killed several of my family and loved ones with copies of Gae Buidhe on that eve if any of them had come along.
Still, I’ll trust in Luni, I also need her to know what to do with Mat. I recommend, “In a few hours, or some time in the near future, I’ll figure out how to track down Mat, and kill him, but you probably already know you have to revive him before he derezzes. We need his lava manipulation and conjuration. Not only that, but we need to figure out some way to get an entire beach of fulgurite from the west coast to the east coast, basically.”
Luni wears a sly grin and winks, “I think I’ve got you covered, my hero.”
I sigh wistfully, and stand near Luni, reaching out towards her to connect to her mind in a new way. I can feel her future and her past stretching out before her. I might even be able to grab future memories to send them back as well, but I won’t do that at the moment. All I need to do is send this version of her to the point in time where she first started showing mysterious signs of foreknowledge. This version of Luni will travel along with her past self from the moment she first evolved to feraform after bouncing off of our heads. As I let myself connect to Luni's mind in order to send her to the past, I swear I hear an exchange of thoughts between two halves of herself.
“Will they ever know how deep this really goes?”
“No, I don't think so, not in this lifetime anyway. Loved them across three...”
With that, the voices that permeate my thoughts from Luni’s temporal consciousnesses fade. My own connection to this version of myself strains to the breaking point. Now I have to carefully send myself back into the various points in my past where I contacted myself. I have to hunt through all of my logs to do it though.
One of the first times I need to reach into the past to help myself out is when I check out from reality after a certain big event. I’ll have to keep myself hidden inside my own psyche during that time. I have to save Mataalii when he first goes scaling the cliffs of Fire Biome. I think I know how to cast the aura-sensing magic from this staff now, even without the staff, though it’ll be much harder without it. I probably won’t be able to talk or communicate while I’m focusing on it. I guess that makes sense. Lil said that I was closed off and unresponsive, but was still able to take care of things. The over-enhanced aura sense from the staff should let me follow Mat’s trail.
Whew, okay, that was far too long locked in my own mind with another part of me that was in such horrible shape. Poor past me, yeesh. Let’s never do that again. That was an interesting adventure though. I wonder if I should talk about it with anyone. Lil and Mat already know. Maybe I’ll keep it redacted to keep Mat’s secrets, in case he ever rejoins the family. I know, I know, not long ago I wanted to kill him, and I did. He’s still my brother though, and I think Luni is somehow undoing whatever evil has its grip on his mind.
There was the time in the Cragbeast warren where another-me shook the thunderstick and exploded a cragbeast skull from the inside. There were several times in the Cragbeast warrens honestly. Let’s take care of those. I get to tell myself jokingly, “Correction, you’re not holding it together buddy.” Heh, I can be a bit of a jerk sometimes.
I have to yell, “Freeze yourself!” after the cragbeast warren. Then I have to tell myself that it wasn’t my family who told me to do it, and to shut up. Also I have to remind myself that it’ll take a week or so of taking it easy.
I have to tell myself to not give Lao the idea that she can use Lucky to come save me, ever. Shortly after that, I’ll have to remind myself that the next time I take a swim, to start in the river, not the pond. I really don’t want to summon some radiant-overpowered exponentially larger Vampguppy from a massive wave of blood.
On the Night of All Burn, I have to yell, “Lucky must survive!” I also have to tell myself, “Look at Te.”
In Leviathan’s belly, I need to tell myself, “You can still be you. Never lose yourself, never give yourself up, or give up on yourself.”
After that, I should be mostly caught up. I suppose I’ll run into a paradox if I have to remember any other loops to close before the end.
There, now I’m back in the present. Teuila asks, “Was that really it? Is this finally everything you need to know?”
I respond, “More or less. You can see the puzzle pieces now too, right? You saw me when I glassed that beach with lightning, you know Mat can conjure lava, Lu is taking him away somewhere, probably coercing him to come help us, maybe she’ll even bring the fulgurite beach with her. Heck, thinking about it, we probably needed to destroy the colored barriers to redirect their energies here somehow. Maybe TQ knows something about ley lines? Teodora said we’d need years worth of energy all at once. Maybe we can send it from the temple of time.”
Te whistles a low note in appreciation before answering, “Yeah, yeah I remember the lightning on the beach, and ‘Ali obvee. I’ve seen all three barriers. I guess it makes sense. We’ve always been coming to this point, haven’t we?”
Teodora interrupts, “What are ye gabbing about? How do ye already have plans for something so big that we cannae even comprehend the materials alone, not tae mention the labor?”
Teuila takes the lead, “So my dingledork here is a time traveler, this isn’t their first rodeo, ya know? They’ve gotten to this point in time, time and time again, I think. They probably didn’t even need that many trips through the future to figure it out.”
I blush at Teuila’s praise, she’s overestimating my abilities for sure. I’m sure that many times I never even met Linti, or developed lightning powers, or knew how to develop them at the beach. I probably lost fights to various creatures when I tried to take different paths to reach this point. Anything from the point where I gained the time power onward I probably had to do at least twice, and a lot has happened since then. Plus, my time power actually stretches back further than when I initially received it, however that works. It’s how I was able to send Luni’s consciousness all the way back to when she first evolved into her feraform stage.
I wonder if I should send a copy of my consciousness redacted and hidden deep within my own psyche, all the way back to my beginning. Yeah, should I, just in case? Heck, maybe see just how far back we can send the memories, if we can send them back to before we even had a body, that might be how our soul was able to share memories with the Fairies. Sure, I’ll start sending this copy of my consciousness as far back as my time skill will allow. This also might be why my memory logs have been screwed up since Day One. Oops.
I slump to my knees and hyperventilate for a moment while I’m sending back a copy of my consciousness with all my memories as far back as my time skill will allow, far earlier than the beginning of my own lifetime. My pulse pounds like a jackhammer against my eardrums, and my tinnitus rings like a clarion bell. This is absolutely the worst moment to be utilizing my time skill to its fullest power on myself. No wonder my memory logs are screwed up. I clutch my chest as I try to still my breathing and fight back the day terrors.
Teuila stands next to me and sets a hand comfortingly on my shoulder as she waits for me to ride out my panic. As my breathing slows to normal levels, I exhale a breath through puffed cheeks and slowly stand with her aid. As we’re about to talk more with Teodora about the task at hand, I ponder the logistics of our physical and metaphysical needs. How exactly are we going to do this? Do we shape everything exactly like the little snow globe that Elder Tolkenstein gave us?
The four of us speak at length. Teuila, Spice, Teodora, and myself all have the slightest bit of hope once I’ve shared that I sent messages into the past that I think will help meet our physical needs. Eventually all I can do is leave it to Spice and Teodora to draw up plans that we can act on. Once I know exactly what we need, I’ll work my hardest to make sure we have it at hand. They say it will take a few days at the very least to draft up such massive plans, and I can’t fault them for that. I guess this leaves Teuila and me with some downtime for once.
Te and I thank Spice and Tea for their time, and see if there’s anything we can do to help construction, but right now I don’t actually feel up to even simple tasks. I’m so burnt out from our constant harrowing adventures, my own constant emotional turmoil, and this new pain of using mana. Thankfully Tea and Spice don’t have any tasks for us that really make sense or make use of our abilities, so we excuse ourselves to go find Laomati and Agwai.
As we near the shop that Agwai and Laomati are taking turns attending, Teuila skips ahead of me, calling out, “Ag, Lao, things are looking up!”
Agwai seems only mildly confused. I believe Laomati partially informed them about what we were up against. Lao smiles brightly at our approach.
Lao calls back, “That’s wonderful news my dears. How high may I set my hopes? Is everything at peace?”
I wear half of a frown as I respond, “Not quite that high yet Lao. We have a chance to build a tool, some protection, but there does still seem to be an inevitable fate that’s going to happen. We’ve bought ourselves some time to construct the protection, but we can’t dawdle. If my assumptions about this version of our timeline are correct, we should be seeing some familiar faces within the next few weeks.”
Lao, Ag, and Teuila each raise eyebrows in my direction, but I don’t want to get their hopes up by voicing my suspicions. When I refuse to elucidate, they all shrug and carry on conversing.
Agwai jovially asks, “Why the long faces and quiet gazes? I hope your voices aren’t hoarse.” It takes me a moment to realize Agwai just hit us with a groan-worthy pun, as we all groan. Still, it was somewhat funny. We end up laughing a bit anyway.
Laomati nuzzles Agwai while chuckling. The pair are so warm and loving, it’s wonderful to see them happy together. Even though I know Maka-Akari, Gaea’s Cradle wants us to make haste, there isn’t much I can do without the raw materials. Hopefully Luni understood what I meant when I traveled back in time to tell her.
Lao sets about looking for another shopkeeper to tend the shop so she can take Agwai on a walk with us, it doesn’t take long to find a humaform camel man that’s willing to sit at the counter. When he takes their place, Agwai and Laomati join us for a walk along the moat. We wave politely at the various humans and critterkin fishing in certain sections of the moat. There are some barriers erected to prevent swimmers from ending up near fishing hooks, and the fishers seem to be respectful of the boundaries. There are even several more enclosed sections that seem dedicated to people like us who fish by swimming and hunting beneath the water by hand or by tooth or claw. I’m grateful that we’re catering to many types of needs simultaneously.
There are some tropical fish, and saltwater koi, in the non enclosed areas of the moat. The swimmers tread near them on occasion, enjoying the curiosity of the fish. I reach down and cup a handful of water from our moat to take a lick. The salinity is extremely low. At the locks, we have filters and boilers set up to reduce the salt content, it also provides us with a seemingly endless supply of salt. Teuila raises an eyebrow at me, while laughing at my action and train of thought. I shrug and chuckle as I dry my hand. I playfully run my fingers through Teuila’s hair, messing it up ever so slightly with the residual moisture that I couldn’t dry off. She swats my hand away, then we end up in an SFSF, a Shellcracker Family Slap Fight, where one of her hands ends up on my face, I chase it away with my hands, her other ends on my face, I chase that one away, and we repeat til we’re giggling like madbeasts.
Lao and Ag look on at our antics with joy visible upon their countenances. Seeing them derive joy and happiness from us being joyful and happy, fills me with even more joy and happiness. It’s sort of the opposite of a vicious cycle. Would that be a wonder cycle?
While I’m distracted, Agwai starts reciting offbeat poetry to us, haiku that don’t meet syllabic restrictions, rhyming couplets that don’t seem to connect with one another in any fashion, and so on. It’s amusing, so I find myself smiling despite the seeming ineptitude of one of our beloved elders. I think Agwai’s playing the fool on purpose anyway. When Agwai seems done, Laomati fills the silence instead.
Lao speaks her joy, “I’m so gladdened that you’re both home, and safe. This whole series of events has had me so worried about the two of you, and well, all of us. I do dearly hope Lucky, Lil, and Luni return to us soon. Knowing that they’re safe and alive is some comfort at least, but it is not the joy of their presence. What do you two suppose you will do when all this dreadful business finally concludes?”
Teuila answers immediately, “I’ll keep hunting, every day. Lightning and I make a pretty fun team. I’ll learn new magic if I need to, to keep up with whatever threats come our way. I want to be able to protect my boogerbutt against everything.”
I chuckle and blush as Teuila calls me a boogerbutt. For my own reply, I spend a while pondering before coming to a conclusion. I sigh as I come to a realization.
I mutter, “I’m going to have to cut back on magic usage and training. I’ll even need to cut back on adventuring and hunting too. At least until I can forge a connection with Umbra, but maybe even then, I don’t know if my body will be able to handle that either. I enjoy those activities, but I’m starting to realize I pushed my limits too hard too many times, and it took its toll on my body and psyche, and is continuing to do so, the more I rely on any of it. Plus, I assume I’m probably going to have to do some crazy magic before all of this is over.”
Teuila frowns at my assumption. Lao and Agwai join her in frowning, but no one denies my guess. Crazy situations tend to take crazy magic to solve, or at least evade. I doubt there’s anyone crazier than me when it comes to thinking up ways to apply magics. I’m not bragging or assuming I’m a genius of anything. I think half the stuff I do probably shouldn’t work. I’m just lucky that most of the time when my brain randomly gets distracted by a tangent that leads to a new assumption about my magic, that it ends up working out. Teuila knows how squirrelly my brain can be when trying to keep it on a single train of thought.
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Te grins at my train of thought and nods. Yep, she indeed knows. Teuila’s gaze flits about for a moment before she sighs wistfully. At first I’m about to ask why, but then a faint crackle reaches my ears, and a mild hint of ozone reaches my anosmic nostrils. I grin at Teuila who raises one eyebrow questioningly. I nod and she takes off like a rocket, leaping towards the sound of crashing thunder to intercept Linti on her return journey.
For my part, I meander in silence with Laomati and Agwai for some time yet. My beloved clan elders are so dear to me, yet I rarely treat them as people to interact with and be around. Similarly to how Laomati treated me, I put them on a pedestal and viewed them as something other. I didn’t intend to, it’s just how things sometimes happen I suppose. Our familial cuddle pile helps keep anyone from accidentally being or feeling too ostracized or neglected for the most part. Still, I wish I could do more to show them how much I appreciate each of them.
Lao pipes up, “I’m feeling peckish, should we find somewhere to sup with a few friends? I could introduce Reggie to Lizbette or Sooltyn if they’re out and about.”
I raise an eyebrow, since these are names I haven’t heard before, but, scanning our party pages, I can clearly see they’re members of our critterkin community. It makes sense, Laomati did say she wanted to introduce me at some point, to the friends she had begun to make in our greater community at large.
Agwai nods emphatically, but states, “That sounds wonderful, so long as you don’t let them rope Reggie into cards. Our dear one seems a bit exhausted.”
So Laomati leads us towards what must be some sort of communal mess, or galley, or dining area. It isn’t walled in, though it does have a large ceiling supported by beams at regular intervals. We walk its length up one side, then down the other, until Lao and Ag spot one of the two they’d been speaking about. Lao waves to her, and a cutely pudgy humaform porcine woman waves back. Lao rushes forward to embrace her as she stands from her seat, accepting the oncoming hug.
Lao excitedly states, “Reggie, this is Lizbette, Liz, this is our dearest Reggie, you’ve probably seen them flying about at some point or another. Liz, have you seen Soo or Cal? Or Pat I suppose, Pat can be fun as well. We’re looking to relax a bit before our dear one ends up being called away to yet more adventure or construction.”
Liz can barely get a word in edgewise, but responds, “Soo just finished up a late lunch, she was going to head to the lumber warrens to fetch some clay. She wanted to try some pottery. Apparently even if you’re not that great at it, it can produce some coinage at the shops, so she expects she’ll be able to keep her little clan fed. Cal and Pat will probably be along any moment, they’re spending more time together. I think they’re sweet on each other, the couple of handsome lads they are, can’t say I blame either one of them for their eye on the other. Shapely sights and all that, don’t ya know?”
Lao and Ag chuckle at Liz’s gossip, and I find myself grinning with a wide half-smile on the left side of my face. Being able to just enjoy such simple things as chatting about friends, their hobbies and their love lives is such an irregular or rarefied occurrence for me. At least lately, but also likely in my life as a whole. There has been so much time traveling up and down a river, getting into and out of dangerous situations, hunting, fighting, struggling, adventuring, training. This is the sort of thing one does with idle time in a community though. They sit, and listen, or talk, we can enjoy one another’s company in the safety and presence of others.
Liz, Ag, and Lao chat idly for a time, and sure enough, two handsome lads come by, a porcine humaform individual, and a feraform camel individual. Liz waves them over, and Lao calls excitedly to them for them to join us. I let my mind wander as they exchange pleasantries.
This is probably the primary timeline, the one where things come to a final conclusion. It has to be. Right? All these wonderful people, they deserve to live, to be happy, to enjoy life as long as they can. I gaze at my clan elders. They’re laughing and smiling, sharing jokes as they catch up with the two new arrivals. I feel vaguely like I’m a million miles away, but I’m still present, somewhat.
Agwai tries to get my attention, “Isn’t that right dear Reggie?”
I blush, having been spacing out, “I’m not sure, isn’t what right Agwai? I was distracted by my own thoughts.” I find it’s better to be honest, everyone knows I’m more than a tad distractible.
Agwai guffaws and gently slaps me on the back before answering, “You’ve found even more locations to adventure in. You and Teuila have been off adventuring, our mighty protectors, always on some quest or another.”
I chuckle as I rub the back of my head, “Something like that, yeah. Teuila’s probably going to be hunting with Linti for a while, but my powers have grown past my body’s ability to cope with them. I don’t know how much more adventuring I’ll be able to do for very much longer.”
There’s a mixture of emotions painted across the faces of those around me. Confusion, surprise, dismay, curiosity. There’s the tiniest hint of relief that plays behind Laomati’s dismay. I can’t blame her. She wants nothing more than for her clan to be able to enjoy an idyllic life at home, chasing our dreams and hobbies, far from danger.
Lao asks for clarification, “Whatever do you mean, dear child?”
I respond without going into detail, “Remember when I started working on the canal? If you check my skills pages and stat numbers, you can see that they’re so much higher than they were a few months ago. My body hasn’t kept up with their growth. That’s as best as I can figure anyway.”
Laomati clicks her tongue as she scrolls through our mental interface, nodding occasionally. Agwai follows suit, but Lizbette, Cal, and Pat don’t gaze into our interfaces. Maybe they think it’s an invasion of my privacy. Technically anyone in the party can peer at anyone else’s pages. There might be a way to change a setting in our interfaces that makes our pages private, but I don’t know it offhand.
Pat pulls out a deck of cards, and I take that as a cue to excuse myself. Agwai was right, I’m a bit exhausted, and it sounds like they might end up playing the entire day away with their friends. I hug Agwai and Laomati as I take my leave of them, sighing contentedly while I do.
I’m not certain who I want to catch up with, or if I should just sleep for a few days straight. If I slept, it’d be in the hopes that I’m fully rested when Spice and Teodora have finished their plans for the shield of lacrimosa trifecta. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to head towards the fulgurite beach or Fire Biome to see if I can start bringing some of the materials here. Still, while my inventory magic is impressive, I don’t believe it’s quite that impressive. I wonder if any of my family might have any ideas on how to transport so much material. Or even friends like Brastley. I suppose I could ask everyone in turn as I locate them.
I wander around for a while, observing the goings-on of the lives around me. Various fauns and nymphs and satyrs float between boughs of the Miracle Oak. I’ve never been to any of its branches or any of the dwellings upon it. I feel like I’d be intruding if I just launched my way up into the various buildings that reside along its trunk, branches, or near its canopy.
I run into Sir Reginald who regards me with a cold stare. I don’t want any unpleasantness, so I ask him plainly, “Sir Reginald, have I done something recently that has gained me your ire?”
Sir Reginald takes a moment before responding, “Do you intend to continue to use your power to get your own way? Does it make you feel good to bully those weaker than you into submission?”
I sigh as I try not to roll my eyes. I’d feared it was something like this. I’ll answer with questions of my own, “Did Priss tell you about our conversation when she had me falsely imprisoned? Is that what this is about? Did she tell you how I begged and offered my services, down to nearly my everlasting soul, pleading for her to divert the march even slightly? Did she tell you that I was willing to give up my life with my family, taking up indefinite service, for an assurance of their safety? Can you honestly tell me, that if the army’s march hadn’t been diverted, that they would not have slain my family?”
Sir Reginald balks. His reply is uncertain, “There was some mention of some of these details. But no. To most of those questions the answer is no. I’m sorry, perhaps I’ve viewed you in a slightly unfair light at the words of my commander. Still, my question stands, do you intend to lord your power over others?”
This time I let myself roll my eyes, “Sir Reginald, if I could get away with never using my power again at all for any sort of hostile action, or defensive action, I certainly would. I will state time and time again though, that the safety and happiness of my family is my highest priority, full stop. I’ll do anything to subdue or prevent threats to them. I recently had to kill my own brother to prevent his constant harassment from growing into a more dangerous threat.”
Sir Reginald’s eyes widen, “You what?” He pronounces the aitch before the double-u.
I feel like my eyes are in a constant state of rolling at the moment. I’m not exasperated with Sir Reginald himself, just the myriad situations in which I find myself.
I sigh, “He didn’t stay dead, if that matters for your opinion of me. You are of course free to feel however you feel about me, I’d just prefer peace between all of us. Mataalii was the flying, cloaked otter who could summon lava. He was brought back to life in the instant of his death, and we’ll likely need him before long. Do you know the prophecies for this land?”
Sir Reginald squints at me, motioning for me to continue.
Wonderful, I get to be the one to inform the humans of our impending doom, “When the gods of sea, fire, sky, and land meet, calamity shall befall our land. You very well know the god of the sea, he’s been active for a while now. Leviathan, Storm of the Endless River. Lord Deckard Agni, the Pure and Desolate is the god of fire, he slumbers beneath the volcano in the fire biome. In truth, that volcano is little more than one of his dorsal ridges. Lady Tenith Grayl, the Sky Unending is the goddess of the skies, she’s a serpentine dragon that resides far to the north on a flying mountain called the Elysium Ascent. Maka-Akari, Gaea’s Cradle is the goddess of the land, she slumbers beneath the southeastern quarter of our continent. Her head can be reached by one of the dungeons detailed in our survey reports, the one found by Teuila.”
Sir Reginald hazards to ask, “Why do you know all this, why are you telling me all this?”
I flick my eyebrows as I exhale a breath through puffed cheeks, “The thing that caused the Night of All Burn is trying to rouse these gods and force them to meet. It’s succeeding, slowly, but it’s succeeding. The reason Teuila and I have been missing the last few days is because I went to speak with three of them. I’d already spoken with Lord Deckard Agni, the Pure and Desolate, not long before returning the most recent time.”
Sir Reginald squints as he surmises, “You mean to tell me, we’re on the edge of a great calamity? Any day now, these four immense creatures will meet to do, what, something that destroys the island?”
I nod, “At the very least. Still, Lord Agni, Lady Tenith, and Lady Maka-Akari don’t wish us harm. They’ve agreed to try to buy us time in a sense. Lady Maka-Akari set a task for us, the creation of something called the shield of lacrimosa trifecta, but it has to be one massive enough to protect the entire settlement. For that, we’ll actually need Mataalii, as awkward as that may be for all of us that he has hurt or attacked.”
Sir Reginald ruminates, stroking his beard, “As upset as I’d been with you, I trust that you’ve never lied to me Billie. Err, Reggie.” He scratches the back of his head in chagrin as he realizes once again that we share a moniker for our first name. He continues, “These are the sorts of weights you bear? I suppose I’d falter under the pressure, trying to keep my loved ones safe in such dire circumstances. What can I do to ensure your success?”
I gnaw on my lower lip before responding, “As far as I know, just make sure everyone is rested up and ready to help with the construction of the shield whenever the plans are finished, and the materials begin arriving. The materials will include billions of cubic meters of lava generated by Mataalii, cooled by me, and the largest chunk of fulgurite ever created when I struck a beach with a massive bolt of lightning that glassed the entire beach.”
Sir Reginald whistles a low note, “By the gods, the enormity and scale. You don’t do things in half measures, do you?”
I chuckle as I shake my head, “I’m glad we’re not enemies Sir Reginald. I’m sorry for the times I’ve abused my powers, even though I was bluffing, or thought I was bluffing. I don’t like being angry, or hurting others, much less killing others.”
Sir Reginald chuckles nervously, feeling admonished I suppose, “It seems we’re lucky that you stopped in Eimsas when you did. If our force had marched through your family, killing them for food, I doubt there’d be many humans left alive on Can’Z’aas. Am I wrong?”
I raise an eyebrow at the word Eimsas, by context, I realize that must be the name of Geawerene’s frontier town, “I can honestly say I have no idea how I would have fared against the might of so many mages if you all had caught me by surprise. I’d likely have panicked, and been unsure whether to target the fire mages first, as they would be easier for me to deal with, or to save them for last, using them as a battery for my own powers. This is a bit of a gruesome topic. I feel a bit ill thinking of it, I hope you’ll excuse me.”
Sir Reginald nods, “Of course, of course, my apologies. It doesn’t bear thinking about, forgive me. I’ll see to it that our able bodied are ready to drop any other projects when the time comes to aid the construction effort. Well, I’ll relay your request to our commander, acting as the liaison that I’ve been appointed as. I doubt she would deny such a request once she hears the stakes.”
I hem and haw a bit, “If it’s at all possible, could you keep the doom prophecy from spreading around too much? Other than letting them know that if Mataalii returns, he’s no longer a threat. Hopefully. We have someone working on that, I think. I feel like, while it’s unfair to not apprise people, that it’s also unfair to worry everyone. We’ve either got this handled, and we can go on living, or we don’t, and spending our last days in terror feels like such a waste. You know?”
Sir Reginald strokes his beard thoughtfully, nodding. He makes a polite quarter bow, partial salute, waves, and walks off. As Sir Reginald walks away, I exhale a sigh of relief. I’m glad we’re on better terms again. Still, he’s not who I was looking for, so I continue walking about.
It dawns on me that I’m going to have to tell our entire family that Mataalii is probably coming back to us sometime soon. I especially need to make sure Linti and Teuila know not to attack him, probably Brastley too. If Brastley has heard about Mat’s destruction of the Nagas’ settlement that’s not going to go over well, oof. I could be entirely wrong in my assumption, maybe Luni is taking Mat’s power away from him. Maybe she’ll be the one that can generate and control lava. I can’t bank on being wrong though.
A voice calls out, “I haven’t seen you around here before.”
I turn towards the voice, scratching my head, wondering if they could possibly be talking to me. I look around for any new faces approaching from beyond the illusion, but they’d have to scale a twenty meter tall wall of dirt to even get in at this point. Instead I find myself searching high and low for the source of the voice. I activate the spell in my staff that allows me to sense auras, but that doesn’t help much.
It calls out again, from nearly at my feet, “Yes you. Who might you be?”
Looking down, I spy a tiny individual resting on a blade of grass. I’m surprised at how light they are, since they’re still several inches tall. Chagrined, I respond, “I’ve been around for a while now, off and on. I dug most of the canal. My name’s Reggie.”
The spriteling replies, “No it isn’t.”
My facial expression screws up, “Excuse me?”
The sprite sighs, stands up and flies towards my face, “That’s not your name, nor is it Old Man. I recognize you now. Too bad you don’t know your own name.”
I frown, “Look, it’s the name I was given by my oldest friend when I adopted this body. I’m happy enough with it. If you know more about me, please, share what you know, because I’m at a loss about anything from when I was a soul or earlier.”
The spriteling says, “Nah. Shame is all. Guess I expected more.” The figure flies away towards the Miracle Oak before I have another chance to respond.
Well what the heck was that about? I don’t know how to feel about that whole exchange. Should I seek them out, and ask their name? Should I be offended? Was it just some sort of pixie prankster pulling my leg? I suppose I should watch my step a little more carefully, I didn’t realize we had such short individuals in our midst. I don’t want to accidentally crush anyone.
What do I really know about myself? I know my adventures along the river, my time with Lil and Luni and Teuila, the various major events since I spawned in the jungle. I know that I’ve apparently lived through many of these events several times. Not a whole lot when it really comes down to it. I don’t even know my own gender. Not that that’s really important in our world. It would matter more if I were part of the human society of fakeworld in my memories.
I guess none of that matters at the moment. I need to figure out how to handle the upcoming events, in case people need to be prepared to have Mataalii around again. I guess I have to tell everyone almost everything after all. I wonder if I can wrap it up in a story that won’t make me the center of attention. I should get Agwai’s or Dream’s help. Yeah, if it comes from one of them, tonight, then everyone will be up to speed, and I won’t have to draw attention to myself. Agwai is busy playing cards. I bet Jaz and Dream are walking along the canal with Luna, since I asked them to keep her company.
Sure enough, heading east for a few minutes, I manage to spy Dream, Jaz, and Luna. Now, how to do this. Let’s see. I suppose they can handle the full truth, if everyone is going to need to know most of it, then Dream can pick and choose what to lay on everyone else.
I call out, “Hey there lovely lovebirds, can I get your ears for a little while?”
Dream shrugs and responds, “Sure, whatever.” Jaz smiles and nods.
I start relaying the story of the chameleon village, its prophecy, the rumbling when Lord Agni began to awake, my spell that momentarily set him back to resting. I talk about the destruction of the Nagas’ village, and having had to hunt down Mataalii. I let them know that after killing him, he was revived, but taken away, bound. Shortly after that, Lord Agni began stirring again, so I went to speak with him. The titanic god of fire doesn’t want us dead, but is being forced to awaken. He let me know about his siblings, and the confluence that will bring about the catastrophe.
So, Teuila and I took our time to find out how to locate the other god siblings while I dug the canal. When it was finished, we were given a map, and that led us to Tenith Grayl, the Sky Unending. She was friendly, but still fatebound to join the confluence. Leviathan was not friendly, and more than happy to work towards the destruction of all of us mortals. Maka-Akari however gave us hope. She’s willing to delay the confluence while we construct a shield that might protect the whole Miracle Oak and everyone living around it. To construct it, we’re going to need lava, in quantities greater than anyone could possibly haul from Fire Biome. That means we’re going to need Mataalii to be recovered from his wicked ways, and brought back. That’s my assumption anyway. Tomorrow, I’ll head to the beach to check on the fulgurite, to see if I can devise some way to bring it here.
The pair are a bit dumbfounded, they press me for details about various sections of my story, and I oblige by filling them in.
Jaz runs a hand through her hair and heaves a sigh, “The end of it all, no wonder you were pushing so hard. I’d have snapped too, and you didn’t share it with anyone other than Lao, then later Teuila and Linti?” I nod in response.
Dream queries, “So, let me get this straight. We have some chance to survive a cataclysm, catastrophe, apocalypse, something or other, but we’re going to need that slimeball of a brother of yours? That’s just to meet the physical requirements for the shield? What about the energy problem?”
I scratch my chin as my face adopts a slightly pouting frown, “Yeah, that uh, that’s about right. The energy thing I’m not sure about. We still haven’t solved the book mystery, but I know one of the books is Mat’s, so maybe the right six people will be assembled after he returns. Maybe that does something.”
Dream throws her hands up in frustration. She looks like she wants to wring my neck for keeping this from them for so long. I can’t blame her, I wasn’t even going to share it at all, until I realized I needed to prepare everyone for Mat’s possible return.
I gulp as I ramble an apology, “I’m sorry for dumping this on you two, I didn’t want to have to share it, I was hoping to either solve it, or let everyone live in peace and happiness until the end, if I couldn’t find a solution. Still, is there any way you could work it into a story for tonight, without making me the center of the story? I don’t need acknowledgement or attention. I just want everyone to be safe, and for no one to screw up our chances at success by acting on vengeful desires.”
Dream facepalms, and fumes while panting through clenched teeth. Jaz clasps her hands and sets her forehead against Dream’s, calming her slightly. After some time, Dream calms enough to respond, “Yeah, sure, fine. We’ll get the word out in different ways to different groups, but our family gets to know everything. Everything!”
I gulp, I was hoping to not have everyone filled in on my own involvement. I frown, but nod shakily. Acquiescing, I state, “O-okay. If that’s what it takes for your help, if that’s what you think will help everyone maintain their cool while we work on the solution. I can’t thank you enough. I’m sorry for everything, I’m doing the best I can.”
Dream nods angrily, or maybe neutrally, but her visage is always one of anger, save for rare circumstances. Jaz signs questioningly at Dream, who fills her in on her half of the conversation by signing back, and writing some of it on a notepad that she had tucked into her waistband. I wipe my brow as I sigh with relief.
At least I don’t have to be the one standing in front of everyone, telling this tale, or going around to everyone individually, sharing this story over and over. I thank the pair again, and seek out Lin and Te, hoping to enjoy some private time before everyone else learns about the current events. When I find them, I let them know that I caught Dream and Jaz up to speed, and that they’ll be telling everyone. The hardest part is convincing Lin to keep her cool since we’ll be needing Mat in one way or another.
Lin growls at me in frustration, nearly reaching a roar, “You want me to forgive the trash that destroyed our homes? That set my family at each other’s throats? That nearly killed me, twice!?”
I balk momentarily before responding, “I, well, no. I just want you to be aware that we’re going to be utilizing his power somehow, and that might include his presence, maybe, I don’t know.” I start to mumble, “I mean, I’ve technically also nearly killed you twice.” Realizing what I said, I backpedal quickly, “Not that I want you to not forgive me!”
Teuila starts laughing uproariously across our telepathic wavelength at my foible. Eventually, even Linti eventually joins her in laughing about my statement. After a while, I regain my composure and join my two loves in laughing at my own blunder.
Lin finally clears her throat telepathically, “Alright Shellcracker, we have a few days until anyone can start at all on construction, if we somehow start getting the raw materials in, yeah? What’s your crazy plan in the meantime? I know something’s cooking in that mad brain of yours.”
I shrug, “Other than heading to the coast tomorrow, and checking out the fulgurite situation, I have no idea. I figure that alone will probably take me several days to devise some slipshod slapdash ramshackle solution to.”
The pair of my inner circle look a bit surprised that I don’t have a more concrete plan, but laugh at my description of a possible solution.
Te singles me out, “Okay butterbutt, I’ll come with you, to help you get there and back faster. Lin, do you want to come too boogerboo?”
Linti cuffs Teuila gently in the cheek, “You cheeky chickadee Toots, yeah I’m in. This can’t possibly be the time that I die from helping out, can it?”
I quail momentarily as panic floods my mind. Panting, I try to calm myself by reminding myself that even if this ends up being the situation where we can’t bring Linti along, I should be able to just go back in time and tell myself to leave her here. Since I don’t see any logs from future me, I hope that we’re in the clear.
I clutch my chest as I slowly calm my breathing. When I’m composed, I hypothesize, “It should be okay, I don’t see messages from future me, and this shouldn’t be a situation so dangerous that I won’t live to be able to go back in time to stop us from taking Linti along.”
Lin and Te both nod appreciatively. Lin wraps an arm around my neck and noogies me with her other fist. Teuila leans in to smooch each of us once on the cheek before we drop out of thinkspace to find somewhere quiet to relax until the family gathers at nightfall. It’s fairly late in the afternoon, or early evening already, so it won’t be that long til our family members begin filing in from anywhere that they’ve been. Also, apparently two more constructions from now, we’ll be getting our own home again, one that Spice designed for the Shellcrackers, including all of our new cat family members. Teodora and Spice just prioritized other projects first, which I’m happy about. We don’t need special treatment.
Sugar and Magnus have been busy with the various construction crews. Sugar’s magic is invaluable for speeding projects along, and Magnus works hard to impress Sugar and Spice.
Linti and Teuila and I spend several days in thinkspace, cuddling and brainstorming ideas about how to move a whole beach made of glass, more or less. We can’t come up with much more beyond just having me rocket back and forth across the landscape, taking a full inventory load back with me each time as I return to the Miracle Oak. Maybe it’ll be different when we see it again.
When the majority of the family has arrived, Dream starts setting up the situation, warning everyone about the tale for tonight being news of current events rather than a story. She implies that the spheriforms or those of us who self-actualize as younger personalities might not be ready for this news before she continues. Everyone still stays to listen though, of course. Dream continues to demand attention and prevent questions or interruptions. She adds some drama and flair to the tale, though without bending the truth in the slightest, it’s mostly her mannerisms and delivery that change the mood of sections of the story.
When Dream finishes, everyone’s eyes are on me, other than Lin and Te. Lin and Teuila are gazing at each other and trying not to giggle or snicker about how uncomfortable I am from being the center of attention again. They don’t want to laugh and cause me any hurt when I’m already nervous and skittish about the situation.
When a barrage of questions begins to flood my direction, I nearly faint. Thankfully Lao, Dream, Te, and Lin have the prescience to expect this. They also have the presence of mind such that they are able to field some of them for me, as well as to calm everyone down. Elder Winter looks disgusted about the situation, Fawn looks mortified after realizing what I’d been going through. Fawn even gazes appreciatively at Teuila, seemingly thanking her for being at my side during the last legs of our journey. She’s sweet to care so much.
Agwai looks disappointed. They seemed to want to have a night of pun-filled tales, and light hearted jokes. Or maybe they’re disappointed that neither Lao nor I shared this information before. Instead, I’ve saddled them with the same information I’d dropped on Laomati, through Dream. Jaz actually walks around the room, waving everyone back a bit, and comes to kneel in front of me, wrapping me up in a hug for a moment, before heading back to her cushions to wait on Dream. I’m a little stunned, but extremely grateful.
After that, everyone begins hugging one another in turn. There’s a massive round robin of who hasn’t hugged who else yet, as we all try to make sure each of the others in our family know that we love them. It’s sort of the worst case scenario, preparing for the end, trying to make sure we don’t have regrets of leaving any of our loved ones feeling neglected. It hurts all the more because Lu, Lil, and Lucky aren’t here to partake of this.
Eventually each of us are left to our own thoughts and devices, but we all scoot closer to the center as we prepare for sleep. Even the more aloof members of the cat family are at least within arms reach as the majority of us cuddle amongst one another while bedding down. I can’t tell how many arms are draped across how many bodies in the tangle that is our cuddle pile. Even beyond that, frequently several hands are holding someone’s hand in any given space. It’s somehow the most sad, yet simultaneously most comforting, wonderful thing. I drift off to sleep embracing at least three people that I love who love me back.
“Do you know how old I am Miss Taylynn?”
“Drop the ‘Miss’, call me Taylynn or Tay, and no, I can’t say I’m aware of your age.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“Not much, no.”
“I’ve lived at least seventy years since I was found, and even then, I think I was a teenager when my first memories started. I don’t know how Eights has lived this long, I thought dogs only lived a couple of decades at most. His light just went out recently though. When I find whoever stole the spark of life from my dog, they’ll pay.”
“Really, seventy? You don’t look a day over thirty. I guess it makes sense, you did get to this world before us.”
“I suppose that’s one way of saying I was born earlier than you, yes.”
“Yes, of course. So, Aces and Eights huh?”
“I may have had a dark sense of humor in my youth, being raised by assassins and all.”
I observe her face as I lean my back against the wall near her room’s door. Its contours are smooth, lovely. She lets her hair fall to one side, framing her face on that side, but also drawing attention to its clearer, uncovered half. Her flawless skin glimmers a reflection of the twinkling candlelight. Her reaction to my joke is one of mirth, a smile that reaches its widest point, eyes shut trustingly. Why did I come to this room? She pats the bed next to where she’s seated, almost as if to answer my own thought.
I awaken to one of my family members rolling sideways such that their hand falls on my face, slapping me awake. I cough with a start, coming to my senses. Trying to extricate myself from the pile of loved ones seems quite tricky, but if I’m careful, I can probably get away with only waking up Linti or Teuila, or both. I gingerly pluck my limbs out from the grasps of others, under, around, and over various family members. Finally I’m left on top of Teuila’s left arm, with Linti on top of my left arm. Teuila’s left hand is wrapped around my left elbow under Linti.
Trying to move my left arm wakes both Lin and Te of course. Thankfully they’re plenty happy to start the day. Linti would never admit whether or not she enjoys the cuddle pile enough to stick around longer than necessary, and Teuila is always itching to start exercising, training, or spending private time with Linti.
The three of us slip out as quietly as we can, and Teuila leaps us all into the sky, pausing our gravity above the canopy. I conjure our semi-spherical vehicle around us, Teuila reduces its external friction and gravity as we sit nestled amongst its cushioned interior, and I begin launching us towards the coast at sonic speeds. Linti whistles appreciatively as we leave behind a sonic boom. This velocity wouldn’t be possible without Teuila’s aid.
In only a few hours at most, we’ve reached the west coast. The sight we’re met with however fills me with mild dismay.
Lin asks the question we’re all thinking, “Where’s the beach? How do square miles of glass just go missing?”
We land and investigate the area. The tide comes up to a rough edge in the sand that’s still slightly glassed, but the tidal pool is some twenty feet deep, and stretches for probably several miles. At its bottom is a thin sheen of fulgurite glass. Someone has beat us to the punch.
Te tries to get my attention, “Hey dooferpootz, any ideas?”
I try to stifle my chuckle as I respond, “I can really only hope that Luni somehow figured a way to transport it, and that she’ll be arriving at the Miracle Oak sometime soon. If not, I’m going to have to reset time again, stake this place out, see who stole the fulgurite, how they did it, then reset time again, and beat them to it.”
Lin flops down into the sand and growls as she shakes a fist at the sky. I end up chuckling after all. Between Te’s endearing insulting nicknames, and Lin lazily raging against the cosmos, the situation is pretty amusing. Plus, if anything, this is good news. It means the fulgurite is transportable. One way or another, we’ll be able to get it to the Miracle Oak, even if I have to reset time a few times to do it. Somehow though, I’m fairly certain that the only person powerful enough, and crazy enough to steal an entire beach is Luni anyway, since she knows we’re going to need it.
We laze about at the beach for a few hours, exercising, swimming, splashing. It feels like a vacation from the constant stream of epic nonsense that is the rest of my life, and the cataclysmic events of the world. Linti gets restless first of course, so we decide to journey back so that she and Teuila can go hunting. I’d like to join, but I’m still trying to figure out how to get my body to be able to handle my own magic-oriented powers at their new level. They haven’t even peaked, or really hit the next plateau yet, so it would only be harder and harder to sustain their use as they got stronger.
I drop Linti and Teuila off at the hollow, we each share several passionate kisses and tender embraces before I break off to head back to the Miracle Oak. I think I’m going to spend my days meditating between now and when Spice and Teodora are done making the shield plans. If I’m lucky, I might stumble upon some insight into Umbra.
After returning to the Miracle Oak settlement, I help with construction for a few minutes before retiring to the structure requisitioned as our family’s domicile. This will be our home for a few more days yet. I pile up as many of the pillows as I can that are left laying around, and I sit in lotus position on one as I lean back against the pillowed pile. I try to shut my brain off and just exist, trying to reach for the connection to the furthest edges of the universe.
Over several days, Linti and Teuila continue hunting, while I continue meditating my days away. My body, in all its forms, is at least fully recovered from all the recent events. But I still haven’t learned any secrets of the universe that would let me derive power from a source of the purest infinite, the vast darkness of the furthest beyond.
Teuila tries to sit with me to meditate after returning early from a hunt with Linti. It must be barely noon at this point, if even that. Even the two of them are starting to feel a tad unnerved by keeping up a routine in the face of an apocalypse. Te and I lean against each other in our family’s newest home, its construction is nearly complete. We’ve been meditating inside its first floor, primary wing, looking out over the canal to the east through a doorless door-frame.
I’m startled from my meditation as a messenger comes zooming in from the east looking for anyone with authority. This creature that looks like a weasel with wings, a Kamaitachi I believe, flits about, crying out, “Ships, ships coming down from the sky south along the coast! Ships landing south of the locks from the sky! Ships coming to the coast!”
Teuila and I exchange a glance. I thought there were ships traveling east in the skies along the southern edge of our island continent, but I assumed I was hallucinating. Could it be Quetzalcoatl’s blessing? That would mean it’s Luni returning home!
Te excitedly asks for assurance, “Are you sure? Do you really think so? My spootalu is coming home? My spoony Luni is in for an earful when I get my hands on her. Leaving us all so worried.”
I cry out, teasing Teuila as I race out the door, “Come on slowpoke, let’s go meet her, lazybutt!”
She laughs and zips along after me, catching me firmly in her grasp and taking to the skies. Once airborne, I conjure our vehicle and blast off to the east. It takes barely a quarter of an hour to reach the coast, but there’s no ships in sight, yet. We meet the canal’s lock guards and ask for clarification, they say that scouts from the south reported back before the break of dawn, and a messenger was dispatched to the settlement.
Teuila and I exchange a glance, and immediately nod. We both want to meet whoever this is, and I’m fairly certain it’s Luni. We set off to the south, once again taking to the air. It’s not long before we can spot masts cresting the horizon. What’s more, a familiar jolly roger flies, its smiling face betraying who crews the vessel. It’s the Undine, her captain and her crew. She touches down upon the waves and takes to the air again, basically hopping and skipping along the sea’s shore northwards. Not only that, but two other vessels that almost look as if they’re made of stone follow along behind her.
Are those two massive ships made of pumice? Are they hauling a pumice barge that carries the fulgurite? This is what we’ve been waiting for! Even if Mataalii isn’t here, this is enough raw material to begin working with, I can superheat the pumice that makes up these ships and that barge to melt it into the shapes that are needed, if necessary.
My heart sinks as I think about the fact that I might have to face my brother, the one I had slain in battle. I also don’t know how Luni feels about me right now. In linear time, when last we spoke, she was cold towards me, angry, pushing me away. In time-loop time, she was jocular, teasing, ready to accept an impossible task. I hope those feelings still last.
I get cuffed alongside the back of my head by Teuila as she exclaims, “Of course those feelings are still there wonderpunk! It’s our Lu, our sweet little Lu. Just because she’s mysteriously crazy powerful sometimes doesn’t mean she’ll stop loving us. I mean, words, you know. Right?”
I blush and flash Teuila a half smile as I nuzzle her. I adopt my draconic form and claim our vehicle to my inventory as I unfurl my wings, holding Teuila aloft as we glide in the direction of the oncoming vessels.
The vessels are riding low in the water, as if they’re absolutely laden down even more than their bulk would suggest. Upon approach, it’s clear why. They’re jam-packed full of critterkin. Likely from Morgan’s secret settlement. There at the aft of the Undine, playing her harp, is a sight that melts my heart and brings tears to my eyes. Luni has arrived with the Undine, Morgan, critterkin, Mat, and two ships made of pumice hauling an entire beach worth of fulgurite. An otter on the deck of the Undine is holding Penina.
Teuila and I blubber in each other’s arms as we glide low to reunite with those aboard the ships.