Mother is insistent. In the last few days, she is melancholy… and clingy? How strange and frustrating. Here I am trying to finalize my Forgework, and she sits nestled in the corner of my room, simply watching. When I converse, she cries. When I shoo her away, she devolves into a frantic grief. I know that she suspects my role in her king’s death. But I don’t sense grief for him. Instead, it is guilt. No. It is a deep sadness that is beginning to infect my forgework. I wonder if I stand a chance against Toki. Mother says that I should stay away from the beasts, but where is glory if I cower in fear? This is the way forward.
I built this chalice out of hope. Hope that my revenge was enough. Hope that I can bear the grief, so that my mother would not have to. Dear mother, what is it that you mourn?
– Susie Q, Journal of Grievances
Chapter 39 – Titles
Toki had got up for the table and started to move, but One's voice stopped her.
"Prime Speaker, the meeting has not been formally closed."
Toki furrowed her brow. "What? Oh." Embarrassment flushed through her as she realized her mistake. Some great Council Speaker I’m starting out to be.
"You must access the system prompt and select the option to close the proceedings," One explained.
Toki turned and gave a polite nod, then reached for her menu. She looked for the [Prime Speaker - Aris] title on her status and clicked in. An array of menus and options came up. She saw four menus. She scanned through them, searching for anything about closing a meeting.
[Faith]
[Population Flags]
[Broadcast Settings]
[Council Functions]
Options sprawled before her – the only one that was locked was Faith.
Toki briefly looked into [Population Flags]. A list populated in front of her. It was a census… so much power at her command now. At least over everyone who had been flagged by Aris. Toki went through and identified five titles that Aris screened for.
[[Murder Most Foul] – Killed a sentient born on Aris.]
[[Elite] – Acquire three Master-stage support skills as a mortal.]
[[Problematic_0] – This is your first and only warning.]
[[Problematic_1] – I lied. You get two warnings. Next time, I’ll come personally.]
[[HiddenTitle_Target_Quest_Propagation] – Generation of Aris-system hidden quests is enabled for target.]
These must be what the council is tracking. It makes sense to watch out for people who have murdered. Wouldn’t this be helpful to the Allie Ring Protection Service? The only title Toki saw present in the list was [Murder Most Foul], but she didn’t look past the first page. Toki closed it, saving it for later. When she mentally swiped it away, another prompt showed up.
[As Prime Council Speaker, User Tokyo Twice has authority to integrate [Population Flags] into the interface. – Integrate?]
This must mean that I can tell if there are flags on someone. Sure. Confirm.
Nothing changed. Maybe I have to look at someone who has been flagged.
She shook her head, shoving aside the temptations. There. Under [Council Functions]. With a tentative mental nudge, Toki selected [Close Meeting] from the [Prime Council] function.
A sense of finality thrummed through the meld space and then everything winked out. Toki opened her eyes once more, face burning at her rookie blunder. I’ll have to carefully look at all these functions.
As her awareness fully returned to the physical world, a wet smacking sound drew her attention. Alpha sat nearby licking his last piece of roasted crab.
Toki pushed herself to her feet. It was time. The Primes were handled. She had to return to the surface and handle... everything else. Golgheim, first, for sure.
"Elder," she said. The howler monkey looked up, amber eyes gleaming. "I have to go now. Back up top." Toki looked as a tag popped up above the Elder’s head. [Murder Most Foul]. Interesting.
The Elder regarded her for a long moment, then dipped his shaggy head in acknowledgement. "Understood. We will await your return."
Toki swallowed past the lump in her throat. "Thank you. For everything." She glanced at Edgar, who was still unconscious. "I have to do this alone," she told him, reaching out to squeeze his wing-shoulder. "Stay with the Elder. I'll... I'll be back."
She turned to the Elder, “Please take care of Edgar.”
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The Elder nodded his head.
Squaring her shoulders, Toki turned away from her new friends and began the trek back to the surface. During her walk, Toki explored the system authorities given to the Prime Speaker.
She first examined the titles that were present on herself. Toki had to sift through the list, but she finally found her own name. Listed next to her were three titles. Luckily I'm not problematic yet.
[Murder Most Foul], [Elite], [HiddenTitle_Target_Quest_Propagation]. The last one is strange. I'll have to figure out how it was placed on me. I haven't seen anyone else with it.
Toki pondered the possibilities as she worked her way into [Broadcast Settings]. What Toki found was a giant list of external requests that called for attention. Requests from other planets... no, Empires. It appeared that most of the items on the list were added dozens if not hundreds of years ago. Most of them listed the vote of the council, though it appeared that some were just held in reserve. The most recent external request was the bounty from the Kathoric Dynasty, [3-0] - Passed. There were a string of votes leading up to this entry, all from the Dynasty. Probably the negotiations. Toki went back a couple hundred years reading through the different external decisions.
The last centuries were relatively quiet. The major decisions were regarding how the Falkori Envoys were twisting their contract. Toki looked through it, but was disappointed that the council at the time let it pass unanimously [5-0].
So other empires have to go through the Primes to ‘broadcast’ to our system. It also appears that entry is regulated. Typically, only envoys are allowed to enter, or those who are negotiating a contract. That explains why Chad is planning to come down.
Finding nothing of interest, she then went back all the way to the beginning. She looked at the first entry.
[Pendulum is requesting access to Aris [0-15] – failed]
There it is. Pendulum again. Also strange that there were 15 council-members back then. Where did they go? Did they not bequeath their votes? Strange.
Toki continued to skim the entries looking for the exact time when the council members disappeared. There is too much to unpack here. I need to go through this entire list to understand the history. Skimming won’t be enough.
In her analysis, Toki had arrived by the cliff. The stench of decay crept up Toki's nostrils as she approached Dutch Eternal's massive corpse. Its once-midnight black scales had dulled, and an empty eye socket stared accusingly from its skull.
Toki paused, pulse quickening. Not so long ago, the mere thought of this beast had filled her with dread. Its hunger, its power, the depths of its arrogance. She'd been a different person then. Weaker. Afraid. But she had faced the dragon, hadn't she? Stood before its leering maw, risked annihilation. The Toki of old was lucky.
"I wonder," she murmured, resting a hand on her hammer. "If we battled now, would I..."
She shook her head sharply. Pointless musings. The dragon was dead - she was alive. Victorious. She summoned a [Lesson]. 100% manadraw.
With a crash, the shadow crashed into the corpse.
[[Dearly Departed] has pilfered Chimeric Entanglement (67/100)]
[Chimeric Entanglement has reached partial comprehension]
A surge of knowledge poured into Toki’s mind. She had solidly grasped concepts that she had circled around while with the monkeys. Now she understood, at least partially, the mechanisms of the pathways applied to the beast cores, and most importantly, shored up her foundations in manasmithing. Dutch Eternal’s knowledge was esoteric and nuanced, so many of the insights were incomplete or cryptic, but this was still a treasure trove.
Toki considered meditating on the details, but she knew it was not the right time. There would be plenty to do after she found Dutch’s core and Edgar was safe. Toki looked once more at the dragon bones, scales, and hide. She quietly yearned to craft, but instead started her climb. The goal was in front of her and she couldn’t get distracted.
She had entered this cave with more questions than she could count. Now as she come forth from the maw, she had even more. Her mind flickered to her experiences down in the depths. She recalled the illusion placed on her by Kristina. Her stubbornness had pushed her to dispel it then, but now as she was climbing up, the consequences and responsibilities were real. She would have to face the world on the surface, tell them of the truths that lay below and reveal her role in it.
A flicker of unease chased down her spine as Toki continued her climb, boots scuffing against rock. It had only been a couple days since she went down with Edgar. She’d been on camping trips longer than this. Camping trips didn’t include murder, though. Memories swam unbidden to the surface - the crunch of the woman's skull, the man’s frantic sobs as Toki cut his brother down... Those were real titles. Brother. Mother?
What if they had family. What if they’re waiting up there? The family she'd torn apart in her hunger for survival. Would they confront her, eyes burning with hate and grief? Could she face them after what she'd done? She certainly couldn’t bear the thought of an orphan child waiting for her.
Toki reached the cliff's glass ceiling. It had regrown. Whatever mechanism this is, it’s strange. Jaw clenched, she raised a hand, shimmering stars and flames dancing around her fingertips. She injected them into [Lessons] with 100% manadraw. She infused her shadows with a [Piercing] enchantment. People usually use [Piercing] on arrows as a low cost boost to penetration for their archery, but she fashioned the shadows into a pick and aligned it on the ceiling. She pulled out her hammer with her one free hand and stuck the pick all while holding onto the cliff face.
The glass cracked under the onslaught, fragmenting into glittering shards. Again, Toki struck, until the glass shattered and only jagged edges remained. She clambered through the opening, ignoring the sting of cuts on her hands as she pushed her way through.
The air above was cleaner somehow. Familiar. Toki continued climbing. Now only a short distance from the cliff's edge. She blinked rapidly, disoriented. A soft sound reached her ears, muffled and haunting.
Weeping.
Toki froze, heart in her throat. It can’t be. There’s no way.
She slowly climbed over the edge and turned her head.
There, silhouetted against a boulder nearby, knelt Susie Q's mother. A single beam of light shone from one of the openings above onto her. Her shoulders shook with each wrenching sob, face buried in her hands.
It was not an orphan she found. No. It was quite the opposite. The bereaved. This was Lacey Q, mother of Susie Q. Toki's stomach turned to lead. Her mouth went dry as old parchment. She had known, somehow, that this moment would come. That closure was demanded by the voice in her head, patient and inevitable as the tides of Aris.
But not like this. Not with a mother's raw sorrow, an anguish so visceral it stole the breath from Toki's lungs.
Her feet moved of their own accord, carrying her haltingly forward. Dread coiled in her gut, even as a strange urgency seized her.
Toki approached Lacey. Behind the weeping mother was a tent city. There were people in the distance camped by the edges of the cavern, nearby the door.
"I..."
The woman's head snapped up, eyes wide and gleaming with tears. Her lips parted in a silent gasp.
Toki swallowed hard, palms slick with cold sweat. What could she possibly say in the face of such grief? What words could encompass the magnitude of what had transpired?
She took a deep, shuddering breath. Drew on the core of steel that had seen her through countless trials.
And stepped forward to meet Lacey the [Elite].