Kahli gasped as the torchlight engorged and she saw a strange etching carved into the stone wall behind Omar, the mayor, and Hauff. It was unmistakable, but she still could hardly believe what she was beholding.
Before her was a large eyeball, with carved fish swimming around in the iris as if it were but a pool of water.
"I thought this was only in legends," said Kahli. "But... that's the Seal of Ahw Gizer! And that means that..." She looked at the three men standing before her, their necklaces glittering in the torchlight. "You're members of the Order of Ahw Gizer!"
"Bingo," said Omar. "What, did you think I played elemental putt-putt with the mayor just for fun? It's also a serious part of being a member of the Order."
"Yes, very serious," said Hauff as he pulled out a red, feathery hat with glittery antlers. "As is our ceremonial garb."
Kahli chuckled lightly, unsure whether Hauff was being sarcastic. He then shot her a look that made it abundantly clear he was dead serious.
"Okay," Kahli started, "So, why exactly are you showing me this? What's the deal?"
"These two seem to trust you," said Hauff, adjusting his headdress. "I just hope they're not making a mistake."
Kahli watched as Hauff's imposing form sauntered toward a large, stone dial. There were strange carvings etched into it, in some bizarre language that was even less decipherable then Eldenscript.
"Behind this dial is the Gate," Hauff said with confidence. "It is the first of its kind, an absolute miracle of engineering. And I am so, incredibly proud to be here to show it to... all of you."
Kahli didn't like how Hauff emphasized the word all. He was clearly not happy to be showing it to her.
"Excellent, excellent," said the mayor. "This is the best use of taxpayer dollars since I bailed out all those loan sharks!"
Omar nodded in aggreeance.
Hauff pulled out a small lightstone from his satchel and held it up to a specific sign on the dial. The symbol started to glow a light blue. He held his lightstone up to another symbol, then another. Clearly he was setting these dial symbols alight in a sequence, though Kahli was not certain what the sequence was.
She felt a terribly strange sensation. It seemed to all be coming from her huge left foot. Kahli wondered if this was a sense somewhat related to her new [skill]. But what exactly was it that she was feeling? It seemed indeterminate and vague, but it was unmistakably a feeling of doom and ill boding. The vibes were not immaculate.
Kahli watched Hauff continue to light up symbols on the dial and she noticed the dial start to slowly creak and move. It began to slowly rotate like a wheel in a clockwise fashion.
Why did her left foot feel so absolutely dreadful? What was it that she was sensing?
"This is absolutely beautiful," said the mayor. "In all my years this may be the most remarkable thing I've ever beheld!"
"You haven't even seen the Gate yet, mayor," said Hauff with a knowing glint in his eyes.
And then, Kahli saw something in her mind's eye that denied and overwhelmed all her other senses.
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A light. A single bead of light in an endless expanse, echoing across time and space like it was only a pond in endless eons of existence.
Hello there, Kahli, boomed a deep voice from an indeterminate location.
Hello? Kahli responded in her mind. She noticed her thought echoing around the blank mental space as if it were a bouncing ball in a rubber box. Who are you?
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The voice didn't answer except with laughter that bewitched and entranced. Kahli was so confused, she just felt like laying down and sleeping it off. But she couldn't move.
Was this vision like leveling, where time dilated to the point wherein a single moment could contain an eon of time?
Consider me a friend, Kahli, replied the voice. And then, an enormous beast slowly faded into view. It was squishy and round with translucent skin, and it moved in strange gyrations as if it were pumping in and outside of itself. It had long, thin tendrils that danced around Kahli in a mesmerizing fashion.
You're a giant jellyfish?
I don't understand the concept of a jellyfish, responded the creature. I am simply presenting myself in a form that makes the most sense to your feeble tauman mind.
You know of taumans?
Oh my, yes. I'm very familiar with tauman beings. Some say I once was a tauman myself. But if that is the case it has been a long, long time since I have, so long that I have forgotten the pained limitations of your species.
Kahli couldn't help but be a little bit irritated by the tone this big jellyfish was taking with her. First it called her its friend, then it said it didn't know what a jellyfish was even though it was obviously a jellyfish, and then it ragged on her species? What did taumans ever do to jellyfish, anyways?
Then, Kahli thought a little better about what taumans did to jellyfish. Taumans did an awful lot of things to jellyfish, and most of those things were not kind. Kahli remembered visiting the jellyfish farms when she was little, where jellyfish were raised in small capsules of water from zygote to adult in order to properly mature in an ideal fashion for processing into that most prized form of sandwich spreads, jellyfish jelly. It was a huge industry in Gifflenberg, with many of the farmed jellyfish's parents originally hailing from the Sea. Maybe if she didn't think any more about this, though, the big jellyfish wouldn't bring it up.
So, um, why am I here? What exactly is this? Kahli asked.
This is a feature of your new [skill], Kahli, replied the jellyfish.
A creature of my [skill]? What do you mean? You're a creature. Are you talking about yourself? Are you calling yourself a creature?
The jellyfish sighed. Look, I'm here as your guide through interpreting what can best be described as, well, unique [checkpoints] in time. You've reached one. Time [checkpoints] can afford you unique experiences tied to your [skill].
Okay, but what does that have to do with you being a jellyfish?
The jellyfish sighed. Nothing, Kahli. It has nothing to do with me appearing to your tauman eyes to be an enormous jellyfish, okay? Can we please move past the subject and focus on your [skill] for a second?
Okay, thought Kahli sheepishly. She was still much more interested in this big jellyfish that was mind-speaking to her than she was in her [skill], but she didn't want to irritate it so much that it stopped talking to her, especially considering there was probably a good reason she was being afforded this opportunity to learn more about her system.
I know that I'm very interesting and mysterious to you, but if you don't have my guidance when using your new [skill], well, I'll just go ahead and say it - you're liable to fuck something up irreparably.
Kahli sighed inwardly.
And I have a vested interest in making sure that doesn't happen. And, since time is in a way immaterial... here I am, thought-spoke the jellyfish.
Why? Kahli asked.
All will be revealed in due time. The jellyfish chuckled. Now, on to your [skill]-
Wait, I thought time was immaterial!
Stop wasting our time together arguing with me, Kahli!
But how can I waste it if it's immaterial?
The jellyfish groaned so loudly that it felt like all of Kahli's conscious experience was shaking in the wide, expansive nothingness that currently enclosing her.
The jellyfish took a deep mental-breath. So your [Seismic Sense], though it is still relatively low level, allows for some very special considerations around specific moments in time known as [checkpoints]. Think of [checkpoints] like this, Kahli - they are moments where the senses of your humongous left foot are so overpowering that for a brief yet infinite moment you are capable of experiencing time dilation, much like when you level up, and thusly you are able to see into the fourth dimension, the dimension of time. Effectively what this means for you in the context of your [skill] is that when you reach points in time where your choices and actions can cause big ripple effects, you are able to see shadows of what those effects and actions might be before they happen. Another skill, similar to this but more widely known, is [Foresight]. What [Seismic Sense] does that [Foresight] does not, is communicate information to you on a totally different level, because it's through the new sense and feelings that only your huge left foot can feel and register. This allows for you to see, and sometimes even choose, what timeline you might step into.
Kahli gasped. She could step into different timelines?
That was almost too crazy to believe, but since it came from a giant telepathic jellyfish, Kahli was predisposed to feel that maybe thinking something like controlling timelines with her foot was impossible was a little reductionist.