Kahli stared at Unity 5a23's many whirring and turning chest gears, and then at Omar's puffing, roaring, and flaming arm, and then back at Unit 5a23's well-oiled gears, and then to Omar's oxygenated arm flame, and to and fro went her eyes until they were indeed quite sore and she felt achey and as if she needed some medicine to sooth the pains in her temples.
And then, it struck - an idea. She couldn't rightly use her nice, big rock to diffuse this fight, and she didn't have any other fighting [skills], but she remembered she did have another [skill] that might just fit the bill. Especially considering that she'd never truly finished the tale that she'd been telling before that obnoxious beam of light popped up and distracted everyone...
"Hey, um, guys, wait a second!"
"WHAT?!" spat Omar and Unit 5a23 as they glared at Kahli in unison.
"Um, you know that, uh, well, uh, you know that story I was telling you earlier? It was a story about how I was seeing Caubitha and having dinner with some of her friends, well, some of my old, ex friends as well? You know, from gymna - I mean, from geography?"
They both stared at Kahli like she'd suddenly turned into a gigantic, five-headed fish, although of course she hadn't - she'd only said something, to their minds, seemed like a complete non-sequitor. And, despite her powerful [Tale Teller] skill, they were decidedly perplexed. Now, possibly due to her [skill], and possibly due to how baffling what she'd just said had been, or perhaps due to a combination of the two, Unit 5a23 and Omar were indeed paying more attention to her and less attention to the fact that they'd been about to fight one another only moments before. However, they were clearly feeling very impatient and desperately wanted to know what her point was before they turned all their anger towards her. Which, in and of itself, wasn't much of a stretch - especially for Omar, considering the whole reason he was angry in the first place was due to his misplaced frustration with Kahli for what he'd thought she'd done. Regardless, the point of the matter was that Kahli needed to get everyone to stop being angry and to focus on something else, and fast.
"So, well, you may think this story is not relevant. And I can understand that, I mean, totally, I get it. But if you'll just listen to me, you'll see that, in actuality, uh, this is all completely connected and it perfectly explains why I, uh, had to somewhat be related to this whole Curr outbreak or whatever that Omar is so mad about, and it's an excellent reason for us to not all fight each other."
"Go ahead," said Omar with a nod. Unit 5a23, on the other hand, only fixed his steely gaze on Kahli, but he said nothing at all.
"So where was I last time? Oh, yes, it was when I was talking about Harshnah and her grandfather, and what Harshnah told us about her grandfather. You see, Harshnah was from a very wealthy family, and her grandfather was no exception - if anything, her grandfather was the pinnacle of that wealth, and everybody knew it. So, this is what he did. When Harshnah came back from a long geology expedition one day - you see, she was staying in one of his many lavish mansions at that time - but when she came back, she saw something that completely changed her-"
Kahli was cut off by a chorus of deafening roars.
"What in the fucking fuck?" spat Omar as he turned around to see a giant, looming beast swoop down from above and bite him in the torso. It clasped him like a precious jewel in its jaws, yanking him higher up into the air amid screams and curses.
"Oh, wow," said Kahli cooly as she watched what was clearly a boney mega dragon hoist her former master higher into the air. Was he about to die? Was that, possibly, for the best? Part of Kahli wanted to fight to save him - possibly because she thought that if she did that, maybe he'd finally realize she was on his side and he would stop trying to kill her. She didn't know why she felt so compelled, when Omar was a bit of a total blowhard and a complete imbecile who'd, once again, activated a prophetic scroll that summoned the Harbinger of Doom from the Pit of Despair. Kahli looked down at Froufrou, who was squelching in a rather foul manner that she had grown to find endearing. She was glad this disgusting creature was so thriving on land. Kahli looked back up to see the mega dragon soar higher into the air, Omar still dangling from its jaw and going to join a swarm of them. A swarm of apparently undead mega dragons. Swarm.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
One look at the swarm, and Kahli knew it would be deathly for her to rush after Omar.
"By the pincers of Theseosus, I really did pick the wrong timeline, didn't I?" said Kahli with a sigh.
"Pardon?" Unit 5a23 zoomed up close to Kahli, as if he'd had trouble hearing her from the partial distance he'd been spaced away from her before. Of course, now, he was practically touching her. In fact, he must've been only a hair's width away from her, in a bit of an uncanny manner that only some cold, calculating automaton could devise. It was, honestly, more than a little unecessary. Didn't he have, like, robo-hearing or something? If he did, would that be a [skill]?
"I picked the wrong timeline, Unit 5a23," said Kahli. "Haven't you seen my [Seismic Sense] skill?"
"No," said the robot.
"But, Unit 5a23, you could see my whole character sheet earlier, right? Didn't you see it?" said Kahli.
"Um, yes, it said something about an extra sense based on your left foot."
"That's right," said Kahli with a nod. Then, she remembered the obtuse way her system liked to describe, and in those descriptions omit, certain aspects of many of her [skills]. "But, uh, that description isn't the whole story. Sure, I can technically sense something else, it is a weird feeling more than anything else, almost like I have another limb, but the limb is numb, and it tastes like grapes, and... Sorry, I'm trying to describe things to you using senses that taumans usually have without any regard for the fact that they'll never really tie in with what the sense actually feels like. But, regardless, the sense is just kind of there, it doesn't do much, I don't even know why my system calls it [Seismic Sense] because I honestly have no idea what is so seismic about it. Maybe I'd know if I leveled the [skill] up. But, regardless, the one thing I do know about this skill is that, well, it lets me... well... it lets me see different timelines. And then, it lets me choose one of them."
"Come again?"
"Okay, so, you know how Omar lopped my arm off a while back there?"
"Yes. It was grisly, but it had to be done, what with all the Curr on your hand or whatever."
"Yes, yes it definitely was, and there was definitely Curr on my hand," said Kahli in a manner she felt was completely unconvincing. And yet, in that same moment, it seemed that Unit 5a23 caught absolutely no nuance in what she'd said and took her completely seriously. Kahli was not altogether certain whether that was due to her [Tale Teller] skill, or if it was a function of Unit 5a23's robotic personality, but she wasn't about to question her luck. No use looking a gift fony in its disorienting, multi-pronged mouth, as they said. "But, regardless of that, that was a timeline that I chose. There were actually two other timelines that I saw an experienced before I chose that one."
"You chose a whole timeline?" Unit 5a23 repeated, almost like a skipping recorder, Kahli thought to herself.
"Yes, and I'll do it again, most likely, unless I disable the [skill]." She went on to explain the minutia of how the [skill] worked down to the last iota, to the point where Kahli felt she'd completely exhausted all of her [skill]'s current features and functionds. Of course, she made certain to leave out the bits where she'd never had Curr on her hand and that that was all a fabrication. Just to play it safe.
"Wow," said Unit 5a23. "That is... Well... That sounds massively overpowered for what it is and what level you are. I mean, with that power, even though of course you're limited to these supposed [checkpoints] that seem to me a bit cantankerous and altogether ill-defined, you can essentially predetermine whether you will live or die through any event that you experience. And as you've noted, there always seems to be at least one, if not two or more, timelines wherein you live. The fact that this timeline, the one wherein you usually end up dying, is one you lived through, makes me think that something very complex must be going on with this [skill]. I wonder if it is, in what seems to us thinking beings to be a haphazard way, actually using mathematics and probability to determine what timelines to show you."
"That would be likely," said Kahli. "The jellyfish said that it chose the closest timelines to me. But if I leveled up the [skill], supposedly it might show me more."
"Ah, the jellyfish, I'd forgotten about that bit. I wonder if that jellyfish is something, well, I wonder if it can be trusted."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Kahli, I'm just looking at this from my own, mechanized perspective here. But when I consider everything, and believe me I do, as that's how I'm programmed to think, when I consider everything, I feel that this jellyfish is a bit out of place and altogether... Well, I feel that there might be more to this jellyfish than meets the mind's eye, if you catch my machinations."
Kahli nodded. "That would make sense. But regardless, I don't really know what else the jellyfish is doing there other than talking to me and advising me on using the [skill]."
"Just be careful what you think around it, Kahli," said Unit 5a23. And then, suddenly, one of the gears in his chest caught on something, and he started to sputter.
"Hey, Unit 5a23, what's going on?" asked Kahli with concern.
"I'm sure it's nothin-" Before Unit 5a23 could complete his thought, the light in his eyes shut off and he plummeted through the air, limp and lifeless, leaving Kahli there floating in the air as she lightly kicked off her big rock.