As we descend the stairs to the Nexus of Tempests, the sound of raging winds assaults our ears, and the tempest only grows louder every step of our approach. The temperature drops suddenly, and I can see my breath fog before me. I can feel the wind whipping against my face and the thrum of power coursing through the air. My heart thunders in my chest as we approach the bottom of the stairs, and I can't tell what's louder, my heart hammering, or the howling winds that are almost deafening, drowning out my thoughts and making it difficult to hear anything else. The air is thick with the smell of ozone and the taste of static electricity, making me feel slightly lightheaded as we reach the bottom of the stairs. I can feel the wind picking up around us. It's like standing in the center of a hurricane, but without any of the chaos or destruction that comes with it.

The stairwell ends abruptly, the door to the Nexus of Tempests looming before us. It's made of dark wood, decorated with carvings of lightning bolts and swirling winds. I hesitate, a sudden feeling of dread settling in my gut. Who knows what sort of horrors lie beyond this door? Lil and Teuila share a quick glance, and I can tell they're feeling just as apprehensive as I am. I grip the handle of the door, twisting it open. A rush of cold air hits us full force, and I have to take a step back to keep from stumbling.

The room we enter is massive, taking up most of this entire sub level of the fortress, with towering walls covered in intricate runes and symbols. A network of pipes and wires snake across the ceiling, feeding into a massive machine at the center of the room. The machine pulses with energy, crackling with lightning and emitting a low hum that seems to vibrate the very air around us.

In the corners of the room, storm spirits dance and frolic, their forms flickering like lightning. They seem to be drawn to the energy of the machine, swirling around it in a frenzy of motion, though they appear less like denizens of this realm, and more like trapped, bound elemental spirits. Checking my pouch, my own bound elemental spirit is still curled up inside alongside the dracorocnix egg. The foxfire elemental that I call Zorro trills pleasantly, seeming content. These storm spirits seem anything but content however. What first appeared to be a nearly frolicking dance seems more like agonized spasms, as they're drawn somehow out of their home plane, in order to do -something- for this machine, against their will.

Huh, thinking on it, unless Al'Pa'Ca has some artificers as powerful as Nala and Littlebit, those robots, those clankers in the hallways probably have to run on something, some source of power. Gazing at the elemental spirits trapped in this realm against their will, I know what I feel the right course of action is, despite how much it's going to cost us. We'd be losing the element of surprise, and have to contend with the thousands of foes bearing down on us from above, back the way we came. I don't think it'd sit well with me to leave these beings, these elemental essences, trapped like this.

I suppose if we make a big enough boom, we could collapse some of the fortress in on itself, buying us a few minutes as our pursuers would have to dig their way through to us, if this is the only way down to the lower levels. My worry though is that it isn't, that there was some other path that could lead the horde outside straight down to us. Worse yet, that it might come out ahead of us, and block our path deeper into the complex series of tunnels that make up the Stormheart Keep or whatever it was that Al'Pa'Ca named this place again. If I act now, I might screw us out of being able to complete our mission at all, if there are any paths from the surface that lead down out ahead of us.

Glancing at Te and Lil, I see Te's face etched with worry, but she flashes me a half-grin of pride, acquiescing to whatever choice I make, even if she couldn't hear my thoughts as I struggled my way to a conclusion. I know she'd be down even if my plan meant we'd have to face the assembled horde above, the several thousand foes that we're attempting to bypass. Lil's expression is stern, resolute. I can tell he's focused on our goal, on not disappointing his momma, my wife, Kinzul. Failure on this mission is not an option. If Al'Pa'Ca wrests control of the Worldstorm, that's it, that's the end of everything for everyone, because Terrorzin is free to unleash flights of dragons across the land, in order to raze the entire world.

Leezahna thinks I'm overdramatic? Sure, she's probably right for the most part, but I'm not far exaggerating when I say that our success here is critical, too important to jeopardize. As much as I want to free these bound spirits, and possibly strike a blow against any automoton forces within this keep, it's too big a risk right now. Hopefully as we're destroying this entire place, the elementals can get free and return to their realm, before the whole mountain comes crashing down atop them. If they weren't bound here, I'd normally assume that even just squashing them would return them to the elemental plane adjacent to ours. As that’s happens with FFS when I summon her and she gets dissipated by an attack. As is, I'm not sure that's the case while this machine is intact.

I take a deep breath and shake my head. We can't risk destroying the machine yet, we need to focus on the mission. We can't jeopardize it for the sake of these spirits. Te and Lil nod solemnly, apparently aware of my conclusion, and definitely understanding the gravity of our situation. I can feel the weight of our decision settling heavily on my shoulders. With a weary heart, focusing on the task at hand, I turn away from the bound storm spirits, trying to ignore their writhing.

I know it's not the right thing to do to leave them here, but we don't have the luxury of time to figure out a safe way to free them right now. One that doesn’t involve destroying the machine and alerting everyone to our presence. We need to press forward if we're going to have a chance at stopping Al'Pa'Ca. I try to steady myself and motion for Lil and Teuila to follow me. We move forward, cautiously, as we approach the machine, intending to skirt around it to avoid detection of anything that might not be registering to our senses hidden in the room. I can feel the power coursing through it growing stronger. The hair on my arms stands on end, and I can see the same reaction mirrored on the few bits of Te's bare skin that are exposed. Seeing Teuila's skin prickle in some sort of anticipatory or agitated reaction is enough verification for me that our caution was, -is- warranted.

Taking a deep breath, I work to center myself, trying to keep my thoughts focused on the here and now, the next few moments, each new step. Like I’ve told Lil recently, focus on every new step ahead of you Reggie, it’s the only way to keep moving forward. We’ll survive this room, and make it to the next floor, and then try to cast my senses about, in order to paint a picture of the next floor. If there aren’t too many mysterious areas, or surprises, we might be able to blow this thing up after all. For now, focus up Reggie, keep moving, one step at a time.

The way the mist swirls about us in this room sends chills down my spine as it’s reminiscent of eddies in a fast-flowing body of water. Worse, being buffeted by such strong, fast, powerful winds, is eerily similar to being cast about by the current of such a flow. It’s okay Reggie, it’s okay. We’ll never lose family to that again. We have magic items now that are bound to Shellcracker souls. A wave like the Night of High Water can’t take them from us ever again. I inhale a ragged, shuddering breath, trying to cast the thoughts aside, out of sight and out of mind. My family, Agwai, Laomati, Sugar, Spice, M-Squared, ‘Naia, Spring Blossom, Dreams of Days, Fawns at Sunsets, Six Thunder, Curious Branch, Elder Winter, and all the others we’ve left behind, I—. I’ll make it back to you someday, I swear it. I won’t give up on either world, Rayileklia or Can’Z’aas.

As we approach the machine, I can feel the tension in the air, like a coiled spring ready to snap. My heart races as we move closer, and I can hear my breathing quickening with each step. As we move around the machine, I see the glowing runes etched into its surface. Cranking up my aura vision, they pulse with a sickly green light, and I can feel an eldritch power emanating from them. I can't help but shudder at the thought of what kind of being could create something like this.

As we skirt around the machine, a sense of unease settles in and gnaws at my stomach. The power emanating from this device feels almost alive, like a beast waiting to be unleashed. I can feel the agitation, the excitement of the electrons in the air as we move cautiously through the room, trying to avoid detection. Hm, my electrokinetic and telekinetic senses. I'd almost forgotten about them, with this new body that I'd reincarnated into, my EM Field organ is weaker, and so I hadn't been spending as much time focusing on what I could learn related to atomics and subatomics.

If--, if I absorbed them, these spirits, I could not only reinforce that part of me, that EM Field organ, I might reach an entire side evolution to my Honoris Causa. Could I do that? They're simple spirits, they exist within another realm, and are drawn to the energies in our realm. As far as I'm aware, they can't be anything less than perfectly innocent. They've never had a chance to be evil. I don't think I could do it. I couldn't live with myself, despite the opportunity to become more powerful. What if... what if they were willing? If they consented to becoming a part of me, would that be much different than being trapped here? Would it be better?

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I guess there's only one way to find out. Grumbling internally, I curse my own foolishness, and chastise myself for my inability to stay focused on a single line of thought, being unable to carry through on a straightforward plan. Sighing, I motion for Lil and Teuila to flank the doorway into the next section of the keep, as I attempt something foolish, quite possibly even stupid.

Now... how the hell does one go about speaking in lightning? Well, if anyone could do it Reggie, it's you. Well, you, or Teuila, or Linti, Lightning Hunter. Heh, shut up. Anyway, I get it, just do it without getting a big head about it. I spend a few moments concentrating in order to dive into the space between spaces, a moment between moments, I slip into the lack, the non, the absence of the flow of time. There is something occurring more and more frequently as I visit this realm of thinkspace, this supposed schism between seconds, but it’s probably something I’m not supposed to explore without Luni. We’ll work on that at some point if I remember, hopefully, maybe.

Right, can I ask these elementals for their cooperation? Do they understand that they’re trapped, and want to be free? Would my offer be the same as killing them? Ugh, so many questions. Coming to conclusions in retrocognition is just as thrilling and exhilarating as ever. Yes, I’m being snarky and sarcastic with myself, in my own paused time. No, it’s not productive, shut up. Heh, Reggie, my pal, you’ve really got to get a grip. Huff, you think I don’t know that? Erm, yeah, I heard myself think it. This isn’t a coping mechanism, this is just me being bonkers. I don’t think I have the wherewithal to utilize retrocognition at the moment.

Too much has gone on in too short a time. I died, got reincarnated, reunited with Tiktik, adventured in the ‘Twixt, reunited Tiktik with her true love who has joined our cause, reunited with Alanea, left Bud in the Hidden Heart to finally begin to heal, got back home with a bunch of prisoners, at least one of whom was working to undermine us, to hurt me especially specifically, and of course we found out about this whole crap with Al’Pa’Ca and the Worldstorm. Alright, alright, enough feeling sorry for yourself. Get back to it Reggie.

At the very least, I want to offer to be a battery for the spirits, in able to carry them to freedom personally, so that they aren’t trapped, bound to the machine when the fortress falls. I should be able to do this. It should just be like my electrokinetic thought-bubbles, my encapsulated dreams that carry my knowledge and will in the shape of a spark, right? It's not like I haven't communicated that way a few times in my life, either with Linti, or Teuila. Is it that simple? I encapsulate the electrical frequencies of certain neurons firing into a single time-delayed spark, and send it out to these elementals? Huh, I guess I can drop out of retrocognition-time.

Rattling my skull, I breathe deeply and center myself as I begin to return from the non, the absence, the lack of the flow of time. I’m not well in the head right now, and I don’t have the luxury of the time and support it’d take to get myself to a better emotional headspace. Sadly, that doesn’t change how much relies upon me. Reign it in Reggie, breathe air, breathe. One step at a time. Seek the spirits, their desires, and perhaps consent, before we move on from this Nexus of Tempests.

Fully returning to the flow of time, I cast my senses about the room, to, well, read the room. Sighing, I mentally facepalm at the unintentional redundancy. It doesn't take long to feel the confusion and fear within the energies that are coalesced into beings, creatures, that shouldn't be a part of this realm. Extending my consciousness, I work at searching for any sign of the trapped spirits that I can feel undulating within the flow energy around me.

I need to be aware of them on more than just the base visual level of seeing the masses of sparks floating about the edges of the room. I begin sending a pulse of energy through the air. It's a gesture, a greeting, a way of letting them know that I'm here and that I mean them no harm. As I send the energy outward, I also reach out with my mind, searching for the spirits, attempting to understand if and how they respond.

At first, there's nothing but static, an electric signal that could only be interpreted at best as a jumbled mess of thoughts and feelings, but then I manage to hone in on consciousness. There's a moment of silence, of stillness, and then I feel a response. It's faint, almost imperceptible, but it's there. A spark of recognition, a flicker of understanding. I take that as a good sign. Though it's faint, and barely there, it's enough. I focus my energy on it, and press on, sending more pulses of energy through the air trying to make contact.

Breathing deeply, I focus, stretching out this contact. It takes a few moments, but I soon feel their presence around me, like tiny bolts of lightning dancing on the edge of my consciousness. A spark of electricity jump from my fingertips, and I take it as a sign that the spirits are listening. I close my eyes and concentrate, picturing myself as a conduit of lightning, a messenger between this world and the realm of elemental energies that these spirits are native to. I feel a flicker of energy that echoes in my mind, crackling with static like the sound of a radio tuned to a distant station.

I take another deep breath and focus my thoughts, I need to be able to communicate in a language of lightning and energy. It's a language that's foreign to most everyone I imagine. Well, most everyone other than elementals I guess. But I'm me, and I've been talking to, and dealing with esoteric concepts like energy, mana, inventories, magic itself, and hell, even the void at the edges of the universe, all my life more or less. As my thoughts take shape, I feel the spirits begin to stir, drawn in by the energy and the power of my electrokinetically shared thoughts.

As I continue to speak, or spark I suppose, the spirits start to coalesce around me, their energies dancing at and tickling at the edges of my own. There's an effect that begins to cloud my senses, a rush like being caught in an avalanche, a white-out. For a moment, I'm lost in the surge, the whirlwind of power and energy, but then something pierces through the noise. It's not a sound, yet it's still a voice in some manner. Moreover, it's one that's not my own. "Who are you?" is what it seems to ask, its entirety encapsulated by the static thrum and crackle of electiricity.

Grinning, feeling pretty used to answering that exact question at this point in my life, I respond, "I'm Reggie Shellcracker, a Hero of the Order of the Onyx Dawn, an archmage aliased Schism, and I am the Void Dragon Honoris Causa. Moreover, I'm someone that wanted to know your desires, and what you consent to, in regards to your being trapped here. Would you be willing to merge, with me to escape your current confines? I don’t know exactly what would happen if we unite, if you’d fuse with me, or simply ride along as if I were a capacitor. I don't know what you'd experience beyond that point, if you'd be subsumed entirely by my will, but I wanted to offer you this chance before we destroyed this domain."

There's a long pause, and I'm beginning to wonder if I can even spare these precious seconds making this offer. And then, just like that, I feel a connection. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced before in my own body, a merging of consciousnesses, a melding of souls. It's exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, because it's like accessing the sporebrain, the hivemind, without my myconid form, but more voltaic, charged and stimulating, while retaining my sense of self. For now at least.

I can feel the spirits inside, their presence now a part of me. I can sense their energy, their power, their knowledge. It's overwhelming, and I'm not sure if I can handle it, this isn’t exactly what I was expecting. I was hoping to simply be a conduit that could store them until I could get them out of here. I’ll just have to push on. I’m determined to make the most of this. Despite wanting to believe I’d been entirely altruistic in my offer, I can’t deny a small part of me wanted this outcome, the possible increase in power, resilience, reliability, and more.

I feel the power of the storming spirits surging through me, strengthening my connection to the natural world around me, the harshness of the elements, the pervasiveness of the Worldstorm. It's a strange sensation, like being plugged into a vast network, able to detect leylines of mana. Well, at least those that are electric in nature, running throughout the entirety of Rayileklia. Between my new connection to the Fel magics of Rayileklia with my recently reincarnated body, and now a direct electrical connection to the natural world, I'm feeling more and more like I'm becoming a part of Rayileklia itself, or it is becoming a part of me, inseparable, and indiscernible where one begins and the other ends.

Rattling my skull, I balk, attempting to collect my thoughts for the briefest of moments. I won’t let my sense of self be overridden by elemental spirits, Rayileklia, or anything else for that matter. Still, taking in these spirits of pure energy has sapped me deeply. If I had to take a guess, I'd say I lost half my health from my Can'Z'aasian stats page, maybe more. What's more is, I'm not sure if it's just temporarily not regenerating, or if they've cut my maximum in half as well. I've survived some encounters with what was probably single digits of hitpoints already on Rayileklia. I don't think I'll survive many upcoming battles if the answer is the latter.

Gulping, I hope that it’s just halted regeneration, and that it’s merely a minor, temporary effect suppressing it as my body acclimates to the energy beings that are merging with my EM Field organ, heart, spine, and other electrically significant areas. I do my best to prevent them from permeating my brain, as I don't want to chance having one of them overwrite my will and personality. It feels cruel in some ways.

After a short time, as I acclimate to them, and they to me, I can sense that they're no longer separate beings, no longer spirits with individual wills. They're now an accumulation of energy that can ebb and flow, dwindle and grow, pulse and thrum within me. It may have some semblance of its own consciousness as a living energy, but at the same time, it’s also mine, fully and completely, entirely at my beck and call.

I've turned lives, a type of existence at least, into a battery for my body and my powers. Even if it was unintentional, what kind of monster does that make me?