[scene continues from previous post]

“Well, follow me, I’ll take you to the analysis labs,” she says. “But you know there are procedures for carrying relics, even minor ones, right? We should have sent you the relic via certified courier.”

I consider saying that I’m certified, but I bite my tongue - maybe there’s some qualification required and I’m way too young, or certified couriers carry silver strongboxes, or who knows what. I learned to avoid Lies that can be easily disproved, so I stick to vague bullshit.

“The professor was in a bit of a hurry to get it back, and to be honest, I think xe wanted it moved as quietly as possible,” I say. “There was some bureaucracy issue with the University, so xe hoped to get it back to the Vault before the audit. Really, I don’t get the details. But I can call the professor to check with xem, if it’s important.”

I don’t dare put any magic in the Lie. It’s still a Lie, but, well, one made of words. Theta Scanners can’t detect those, fortunately. And Iketek is in her mind, pushing her to believe anything I say.

Dr. Voronev frowns again - not good. She’s probably trying to remember what Daravoi, impersonating Kairim, told her exactly, and finding the memory fuzzy.

“Don’t worry,” she finally answers, with a sigh. “I’ll have a serious talk with xem the next time we meet. Xe’s usually a stickler for rules. But I guess xe’s worried after the break-in and wants xir toys back. Which is ridiculous - your Vault obviously isn’t that safe.”

She turns and starts walking, leading me toward the back of the open space area. My muscles loosen a little - as soon as we get inside the actual labs, I can get away with a little magic.

We go through a heavy, metal door with a walk-in scanner, and she swipes her wrist to authorize my entry. The door slides close behind me, with a heavy thud.

This is the most dangerous part of it all - if I’m discovered now, the only way to escape would be blasting my way out with Elsefire. And I can’t see that going well, even assuming my weak-ass Elsefire is enough to cut through a wall.

“So, you said you discovered something interesting about the Tetrahedron?” I ask, mostly to distract myself, as we walk down a windowless concrete corridor, lined by identical metal doors. It makes me think of a prison.

“Well, I was just getting started studying it,” Dr. Voronev answers, with a bitter edge to her tone. “But it seems quite interesting. First, it’s an unusual material. Even for relics, that is. It’s an almost perfect light-absorber and can’t be scratched by any point - we tried very carefully, of course. Extreme hardness isn’t that unusual in relics, but it’s also very light. It’s less dense than Lithium - it actually floats in water! Again, not unheard of, but paired with its remarkable hardness it’s an unusual combination.”

I nod - most relics are made of a metal-like material that can’t be identified, but is dense and hard, even in thin sheets.

“It twists light, right?” I ask. “I’m curious to see it, I’ll be honest.”

She laughs.

“It’s nothing that impressive. I mean, I’ve seen a relic that looked like a lens, and would show you possible futures – even if only a few seconds ahead, and in a headache-inducing fractals. I’ve seen one that would record its surrounding environment, and then reproduce it perfectly in green light. For all the bureaucracy and dead-end mysteries, you get to see a few wonders in this line of work.”

A lens that shows you possible futures. It sounds like something close to my power - what could I do with it? I badly want to have a look at it. But I can hardly steal a second relic.

Or could I? I just need to double down on my lies. With Iketek’s help, we could make the doctor believe anything, for a while. And I just need her to believe me until I go back to the elevator, and…

I take a deep breath. I must stop taking stupid risks. Get the tetrahedron, get out, hand it to evil supercriminals, celebrate. That’s the plan.

“Here we are,” she says, stopping by one of the rooms on the side. She swipes her wrist and then punches a sequence of numbers on the pad. Internal locks open with a sequence of clunks, and the heavy door swings open - it feels cold, without even touching it. There must be silver in it.

This would be a terrible place to be discovered. If that door swings closed, I’ll be trapped. Even the Path of Ruin wouldn’t cut through a silver door.

It doesn’t matter. Dr. Voronev will hand me the relic and I’ll leave. This is just a boring, minor errand for the University.

Inside, there’s a room with concrete walls. It feels cold, stifling, like a tomb. I fight the urge to step back into the hallway - but wait, it isn’t actually colder inside. What is wrong with this place?

It takes me a moment to notice the thin, gleaming metal web covering the walls and the ceiling. The web is silver, I realize. Thin as it must be, that’s a lot of silver. My skin itches uncomfortably.

“Don’t worry,” the doctor says, misunderstandng my reaction, “the Tetrahedron isn't dangerous, or I definitely wouldn’t hand it to you, no matter how much your professor begs.”

I take a deep breath and force myself to step inside. It’s like putting my head underwater - which I absolutely hate.

Most of the room is occupied by a long steel table, its surface gridded with holes. A bewildering set of mirrors, lenses and machines I can’t identify are bolted to it. In the center, there’s a steel plate, surrounded by camera and detectors.

Over the plate is a black pyramid, small enough to hold on my palm, spinning slowly. It’s so black it looks without depth, like a hole in the room. No, like a sharp....

…Shadow, something whispers in my ear.

I really need to get out of here.

“We tried to prevent it from spinning, it would make the study much easier,” Dr. Voronev says, “but if we try to block its movement, it starts vibrating so much, it makes analyses impossible. If we want to scan it properly, we’ll need a counter-rotating support.”

“That wouldn’t work,” I say, without thinking.

Dr Voronev frowns at me. “Why?”

Why did I say that? How do I know?

I know because the relic isn’t what it looks like. I know it as surely as I know that snow is cold. No physical mechanism will affect its movement, because it’s not really here. It’s like trying to stop a reflection from moving by hammering nails into the mirror.

“Sorry, I mean, it’s just an idea,” I say, “but I did an undergrad project on something similar. A relic that ate angular momentum. If this works in reverse, keeping it still will cause the momentum to build up, until it breaks something.”

“Hm,” the woman considers, still looking at me. “I don’t think it’s a similar effect.” There’s a moment of silence. “Are you sure you should take it back to the University? And carry it in a simple bag? That’s… unusual.”

Internally kicking myself for not faking a silver-lined container, I smile, and let some power trickle in the Lie.

“It’s ten minutes by tube, and the professor takes full responsibility,” I say. “There’s really no danger.”

No alarm goes off, but even brushing the Else in the lightest of ways, I hear whispers, growing louder and louder. The doctor doesn’t look fully convinced, but golden motes spark in her eyes. Thank the Fallen Home, Iketek's magic still affects her.

“I suppose it will be fine,” the Doctor says, reluctant.

Yes, it will be fine, as long as we leave this place fast.

She walks to a physical console - they don’t trust Stemlink here, or the equipment is too old, I guess - and inputs a few commands. One side of the plastic coverage slides open, allowing her to carefully take out the pyramid. It floats a few millimeters over her cupped hand, and she offers it to me.

“Thank you,” I say. “I’ll let you know as soon as it’s safely delivered!”

I try to smile and sound confident, but my voice is shaky.

Doctor Voronev, however, does not hand over the relic to me. “The break in,” she says, slowly. “The robbery. How did the mage get in?”

Oh, fuck. She’s realizing something doesn’t add up.

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I open my eyes to the Else - I don’t need to close my lids for that anymore, fortunately. The room is suffocating, almost cut off from the outside world, like the Thaumocracy Fortress. Doctor Voronev is splitting in a spiral of possibilities - angry, smiling, terrified. A thin golden thread wraps around her - Iketek is still there.

The silver web on the walls is like a cold, dark curtain. But I welcome it, right now - there are things in the Else, moving and coiling and crawling just outside the room.

I can’t afford to think about those. I’m not a mage. Just a student, annoyed at xir professor for skirting procedure and letting xem to deal with the problems.

“It doesn’t matter,” I say, “the thief didn’t take anything! Xe must have been a pretty bad thief. Or xe was just there to look. The Vault in the University is safe. I’ll take the relic there.”

I reach for a possible future, one where she shrugs and walks to the door. She might be unconvinced, but it’s not really her problem, and she doesn’t want to be rude to a poor grad student. We can just be done with it and get out.

“There’s…” she says, as if trying to remember something. Finally, her eyes flash golden, and she relaxes. “Well, ok. Take it. But tell professor Kairim to go through proper channels in the future.”

She puts the pyramid into my hand. It’s so light I barely feel it. I have to curl my fingers around it, because it’s slippery, like a cube of ice.

Since I had to peek at the Else anyway, I check the markings on the tetrahedron - symbols the Prop Master had sketched for us, to ensure we’d get the right relic. They are there, one on each face. They look like anchor glyphs, but distorted and useless - you need specific, regular geometries to create a working anchor for magic. As the tetrahedron spins, the marks shift a little.

Wait, they’re not symbols. It’s only one symbol. The markings I see in the shallow Else are its shadows, stretched in different ways.

The whole relic is a shadow, cast from something else, deep in the Else.

It’s easy, knowing that, to locate the source of that shadow. It’s deep in the Else - much deeper than I’ve ever Reached, but I can follow the shadows like guiding lines to the real relic.

Before I realize what I’m doing, the world has faded to a bright, perfect blue, a color so beautiful it makes me want to cry with joy. I can’t see Doctor Voronev anymore, even the silver in the room is just a distant shadow. I feel a pressure on me, as if I were under deep, deep water.

The only thing I see in the endless blue is a glyph, fiery red, burning even brighter than Elsefire. It’s redder than anything I’ve ever seen, like blood from the heart of the universe itself. It’s small, as small as the black tetrahedron I’m holding in my hand, far away in the Material, but it’s bright. It’s powerful, it’s beautiful, and I want to know more about it.

I should go back to the Material, immediately. I should put the relic in the bag and go. Doing anything else would be monumentally stupid.

Time feels strange, sticky - am I standing frozen in front of the doctor? Would I know it, if she talked to me? But no, I don’t think time is passing, or at least not nearly as fast as it looks to me.

And theta detectors are tuned down in the labs, right? I just want to have a good look at the true nature of this relic, it’s so strange. then I’ll put it in the bag. I’m not stupid.

I stare at the burning glyph. I can’t stand the idea of going back to the Here, deliver it to the Syndicates, and go on with my life. This is something strange and wonderful. I could learn so much about it, I’m sure, if only I Reached for it.

My arm, in front of me, is made of pure, perfect blue glass. I don’t move, not with my physical body, but I Reach, and slowly, feeling a resistance, as if moving through molasses, I touch the burning glyph.

A jolt of electricity goes through my body, and there’s a moment of searing, burning pain on the palm of my hand.

Suddenly, the glyph is huge, taller than a skyscraper, vaster than a mountain, filling my whole field of vision. Wherever I turn, there’s only the glyph.

Fuck, fuck, I’m so stupid. In panic, I try to go back to the Here, but without the shadows to follow, I’ve no idea how. Where am I? Is this even the Else?

And then the glyphs speaks, and nothing else matters.

WHO ARE YOU?

the glyph asks that - it’s not even words, it’s concepts, it’s raw meaning pouring into my mind. It fills my mind, pushing away terror and doubt and even curiosity, there’s only the question, who are you, filling every part of me.

Korentis, I answer, unable to stop myself. Disappointment. Liar. Runaway. Student. Mage.

A pause, like a held breath. Like something immensely vast and powerful is thinking, considering. Even the pause fills me entirely, I can’t conceive of doing anything but waiting for its answer.

AUTHORIZATION DENIED

My whole body shakes with the certainty of being unworthy, insufficient. The glyph burns even brighter, and I expect it to consume me, to rightfully destroy me for my unworthiness.

“Wait,” a voice says. A human voice, barely more than a whisper. And yet, as it speaks, the glyph’s terrible burning subsides, and suddenly, I can think again. I’m Korentis, not just a vessel for the glyphs words.

“The Enemy desires this key,” the human voice says, in an urgent whisper. “Its servants are coming. They can’t be allowed to take it. Will you keep it safe, at any cost, Korentis Tal-Venant?”

Forgotten Enemy, what the fuck is happening?

“Who…” I begin to ask who are you?, but the words die on my lips. Even considering the question makes me feel brittle, like I could break if I spell one more word.

This is the deep Else, a place of meaning, not of simple words. I understand it instinctually, because it speaks to the deep mind. Truths here are so great and terrible, asking a question, and having it answered, could shatter me to pieces.

And it doesn’t matter who is talking to me. I don’t matter. There are no lies here, the very idea of untrue words makes no sense in this place. What matters is that the Prop Master was horribly wrong, this is the relic the Syndicates want, and they can’t have it.

And so I must take it.

“I will,” I answer. “But I’m not very powerful. Nor very smart. Nor very good.”

Those truths about myself hurt, physically, like pulling out my own teeth to show that they’re flawed. And yet, they must be said.

“And yet, here you are. You managed to reach the Key. And you’re willing to stand against the enemy. Of your allies, one is too weak, one too broken, so you will have to do,” the voice says. It sounds… wistful?

“It is not optimal. But this is the only option, to prevent it from reaching the Enemy’s hand. By the authority vested in me, I grant Korentis Tal-Venant Alpha permission.”

I have a brief vision of distant, immense machinery whirring, stirring into movement.

“Until transfer, or death, you shall be the holder of the Captain's key.”

OVERRIDE ACCEPTED

INITIATING TRANSFER

My right hand - the one that touched the glyph - burns horribly. I want to scream, but my mind is still full with the words, initiating transfer. I stand frozen and paralyzed, unable even to scream, as my hand burns so badly, I expect my skin to char.

A terrible current drags me upwards, away from the glyph, like a leaf tossed by the wind. My hand keeps hurting, and yet I can’t move it, my fingers are clenched tight around something red and glowing.

Then, suddenly, the pain is gone. My consciousness is slammed back in the Here, to the stifling laboratory, where Doctor Voronev is looking at me, frowning.

“Is something wrong?” Voronev asks - she looks really concerned now, her suspicion gone.

Fucking Abyss, what did just happen?

Heat is flowing along my hand, to my arm, to my shoulder, like a sticky fluid. I leave the Else in a hurry, but it keeps flowing. Fortunately, nothing visible is happening in the Here.

Maybe I should let go of the relic. Maybe I should scream for help.

But I told the truth to the mysterious voice. Student. Mage. I want to learn magic. And I won’t give the Syndicates whatever they want. Everything else about me is a lie. Bot those things are true.

So, I keep the relic in my hands and smile.

“Oh, sorry,” I say, “I didn’t expect the… slippery feeling. It’s a bit strange.”

She chuckles. “They really should make students handle more relics. That’s how a mild repulsion field feels.”

The heat gets to my neck, my head. It pours into my eyes, and for a moment, I see a vast city of black towers, crowned by sharp spires. Dark, bird-like things with long snaking tails circle in the starry sky. I look down to the city, and I see it’s burning. The ground level is full of strange, glowing trees. They’re ablaze.

Lost Stars, what the fuck is happening?

The vision suddenly ends, and the heat with it. I’m back in the lab. There’s a ripple in the Else. It’s faint, and doesn’t trigger any alarm. But it’s vast. It makes me think of a massive glacier that starts sliding, slow but inexorable. Something changed.

“Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Dr Voronev.” I say, pushing the words out of my lips, forcing myself to smile. The vision is gone, but it’s seared into my mind. It was so vivid, I could draw it in perfect detail.

“I’m sure we’ll meet again if you stay in the field,” the doctor answers, and her voice sounds distant and tinny, as if I were drunk. “I’ll lead you outside.”

My hands shake, sweat pours down my back, but she’s ahead of me, and I manage to follow her through the hallway. I keep hearing whispers even without touching the Else.

“What were you doing with that relic, you idiot?” Iketek hisses in my mind. “Anyway, we have urgent problems, right now. ThauCon are entering the building from the ground floor. There’s also a chopper coming. I don’t think they know where you are - no alarm upstairs. But they must know we’re in the building. We must run.”