“I never pursued acting in any capacity.” Alec confessed as Aleph devoured his eighth breakfast dish. A specialty at this restaurant, it could best be compared to yogurt and oats with copious amounts of spices
Then why do I remember studying for at least two years in college?
He finished off his bowl quickly, then grabbed another strange fruit.
“My working theory is that you had it tacked on after we split, but that timeframe is shoddy for such a drastic addition. And I doubt acting was the only set of dissonant memories here, or they wouldn’t have bothered.”
We’re talking what kind of timeframe? 20 seconds? No, it’s more likely that you’re just a different version of me- perhaps vice versa.
“As interesting as the idea of disagreeing with myself is, it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Half the battle is knowing. You should accept the ‘advance payment’ before we start any proverbial fights half-cocked.”
The fruit was encased in a shell similar to pineapples, but the yellow ‘scales’ were pried off easily by hand. The innards, meanwhile, belied the outards, having the texture and color of an oversized grape with a slight hint of acidity to it. Somewhere between a grape and a rambutan.
Well, at least we got a semi-relevant magical power. Speaking of which, how long until we can fully replenish our stock, so to speak?
“Without a supply of ‘soul’? Its slow going. From what I can determine, it’s dependent on your soul’s general strength, and we’re not dry of that. It regenerated incredibly quickly while you were being attacked, but now it’s erratic. Sometimes it’s slow, sometimes it’s fast. And we don’t have a large upper limit. We’re only at a third right now, give or take.”
I wonder if our unique situation is affecting that ‘strength’, but we can't be sure until we speak with Ravanaugh some more. Do you want to try anything else, first?
“Nah, I’m done. Eat the rest of it and let’s go.” Alec said, ceding control of their mouth, “Feels kind of weird, but it’s better than nothing. Food is just a waste of mental energy in here.”
Aleph finished a few other new and exotic dishes off, but their hearty breakfast was on a time limit. The devious kind, however- born more of social obligation than something deliberately designed. Even so, he stretched his eating habits to the limits of the situation. His engine and it’s properties weren’t powered by calories, so Aleph was still surprised when he looked back on an entire dinner table of empty plates.
He had skipped more than a few meals in the chaos yesterday, but the cost of those were less than half of this meal alone.
“More magical bullshit to sort out once we get a proper introduction from the sex demon.” Alec bristled. They were actually quite miffed about not being able to properly experience the ‘fantasy hobbyist’s ultimate dream.’, but Aleph himself was more than a little worried about it considering that, ideally, Ravanaugh would end up being their employer for the near future.
The table they were eating at was in a personal restaurant owned by Vauntergale. It sounds prestigious, but it was mainly a front that allowed cheap transportation across the city with the use of a teleporter in the basement. It made money rather than lost it. Right now, however, it was half an hour before they opened up and he needed to be out of there in time to miss the early morning crowd. As soon as he stepped away from the table, an elven server came and took the dishes. Normally, without any fancy technology, and while giving him an odd look the whole time.
Mildly disappointed, Aleph just traced his steps from the way they came to reach the teleporter. Stepping into the bathroom, arrayed in floor-to-ceiling decorated stalls and urinals for all sizes, he tried to remember the code. Aleph’s heart skipped a beat when he patted his pockets only to find the piece of paper with the password on it only to find it wasn't there.
“8-4-4-5-2-6-2-0-5-9-0-2” Alec cheats for him, likely having it written out inside his soul already. “If destiny was a demon, she’d be just as impatient with you as I am right now. You remember how the thing works, right? I don’t have to explain that as well?”
Aleph quirked an eyebrow, but ultimately said nothing, repeating the code on a set of black tiles that form a keypad. Rather than changing the passcode itself as a security measure, the keypad tiles swapped with random white tiles in the room. In this case, though, knowing which was which is rather simple, as it was manually set the way a normal keypad would be. He just needed to remember the code and tap each black tile in the correct order.
The center tile shuddered slightly, and the remaining tiles shifted downwards to form the beginning of a very square spiral staircase. After about a story’s worth of additional stairs, he reached a storage room with an empty portal gate in the center lane of a very tall-ceilinged storage room, shelving units packed to split into more paths. Aleph was curious about some of the items, but after being expressly told not to touch anything, he ignored it all and pushed aside a unit just beside the door. After verifying with a few finger pokes that it was, in fact, the fake wall he came in from, he walked straight through it. On the opposite side was the actual gate, already open in a projection of purple light that formed a door.
Seems kind of needlessly contrived, but what do I know?
Ravanaugh had hundreds of these scattered across the city at her disposal, but very few were allowed to connect back to her main nexus of control. If he wanted to get back to her in that fashion, he’d have to go through dozens of different businesses. But he hadn’t been there yet. Instead, the portal was via something he found hilarious, and was the reason why he’d been taken to the hospital so swiftly.
He stepped through, and seamlessly walked past the curtain of the booth they had been speaking in at the bar.
At first Aleph thought that Ravanaugh was being callous when they put something that could potentially kill them right in front of him, but when he found out that the booth they occupied was rigged to serve as a portal? That each of them were, all to separate locations?
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Pure insanity.
“You know, I didn’t actually expect you to just grab it in front of me, so you better be thankful I planned for that regardless.” Ravanaugh spoke, already sitting down in her demon form. “You could have ended up dying from the trauma your body went through. Perhaps the first thing I should have said about catalysts was the inherent danger of them, or you wouldn’t have done that.”
She was sipping on an indescribable fruit cocktail with a mixture of colors that boggled his eyes. Aleph was simply the same drink as yesterday, except in some different flavor.
That’s for the best- I still have the taste of carbonated bile in the back of my mouth. I wonder if it’s a different brand entirely? It tastes remarkably different. There is little brand recognition around here, though.
“That would’ve been appreciated, yeah. Now- would it be too much to ask if we could perform the Exchange first, rather than attempting to make some vague deal because I have no clue what I’m doing?” Aleph asked. “You said it first- I need information. And this is the most direct way to acquire it.”
Ravanaugh smirked, “You’re already in whether you want to or not, but no- I wasn’t lying. I may not be the only succubus in Mortum, but I have one of the most sophisticated information networks, which is the primary reason why I got to you first. Information we may exchange once we complete the… first phase of the process.”
Alec then made an observation Aleph would rather have not heard. “They have phases? Like a boss battle? Should I even be surprised at this point?” At the suggestion, Aleph couldn’t hide a jovial smirk from appearing on his face.
Ravanaugh, of course, misinterpreted this as excitement, matching his grin with one of her own. “Happy to see that you’re enthusiastic to begin- I hope your actions will speak louder than your words. Many men and even those of the fairer sex fail to reach as far as they hope in the exchange. Ignoring that? The first step is the easy part. Come- I’ll explain as we go.”
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“I thought this place is a pub, a tavern- some kind of bar, why on earth do they have an orgy room?”
“I beg your pardon?” Ravanaugh perplexedly stares back at me, standing at the closed door to the penthouse room.
“This ‘bed’ could comfortably fit eight supersized versions of me. It looks large and soft enough that it would have easily broken my fall from the skyline yesterday. So, I’ll ask you again. Why, on god’s green earth, would anyone unironically use such an enormous bed for actually getting a good night’s rest?
She opened her mouth to speak, but then affixed me with a scrutinizing glare. “You’re of Earth, aren’t you? Not a descendant, not a ‘geek’, but a well and true earthling. Why couldn’t I put the pieces together until now?” She shook her head fractionally, letting out a mirthful laugh. “I can’t believe that I even considered just selling you to one of my rivals. Regardless of what era you're from, you... ha…”
Aleph wasn’t much surprised that she had put two and two together, and not even that she had considered selling him out, but hearing the word ‘geek’ was… an odd reminder of where he came from. More pressing is that she mentioned an ‘era’, and Aleph was intrigued. “Era? Do you mean to tell me that time runs differently between the two planets? Earth and… what is this planet called?”
“Alles.” She afforded easily despite the hitch in her voice, “Let me answer both your questions at once; it is an ancient word used by an ancient king, forty-thousand years ago, to refer to the whole world- ours. A world that he ended up conquering almost twenty-percent of. But those of Earth know him as Solomon, a jewish legend who was never recorded to have ever existed elsewhere.”
Alec raised a metaphorical eyebrow, “I’m sorry, but this is descending into conspiracy theory territory. If it wasn’t coming out of the mouth of an honest-to-goodness succubus, I’d have reported them to the authorities by now.”
Unprompted, the succubus continued in a disconcertingly-excited fashion, “That is one of the few consistencies in every single earthling’s recollection of Earth. Just as Alles wasn’t always Alles, Earth is called innumerable names by your own people. But Solomon is always a core figure recorded in a divine scripture- them, and many other humans core to your religions. He’s just the only one to have appeared on Alles without assistance, and the most prominently known, especially revered not just for his life but his death. There’s Kukai and Tui Atua, who advanced philosophy and culture rather than warfare in the golden period of the restitution era. The one I enjoy studying the most is Atotoztli, the motherly icon who brought greater rights to women- one who eventually ascended. Every single one has had a major impact on history, without fail. And like Atotoztli, more than a few ended up becoming gods of their own- it’s a twist of irony I see time and time again!”
Without being asked to do so, Ravanaugh named historical figures even he didn’t know extensively about. He recognized the origin of each ones’ names- Japan, Samoa, and the Aztecs, in that order, but he only recognized Solomon and Tui Atua, the latter of which was actually more concerning. Not because they were another great figure of prominence, but because they are still alive today. And she means to tell him that, somehow, he became a historical figure here? One that didn’t just survive, but thrive?
“I remember a Kukai- they were a buddhist monk from the 8th century I believe. However… oh. Hmm. I think I’ve decided that I’m going to just… dip. I don’t think she’s supposed to breathe like that. Good luck, me.” The pinprick of Alec’s thoughts and emotions in Aleph’s consciousness disappeared just like that as his wingman just left him with a very excitable, very unpredictable succubus. Where before Ravanaughtilus was a very measured woman and presumably experienced diplomat, she was now like a kid in a candy store, talking about a combined Earth and Alles history that, while he couldn’t deny very much interested him, it ended up being a really, really strange contrast to her demonic physique. Which- hell, also interested him.
“You’re not just a treasure trove of secrets…” Ravanaugh began, clothes falling away from her like a black widow molting of its shell, “You know where to find others! A navigator that ends up on my doorstep of all places- Aleph, you can’t understand how long I’ve spent looking for someone like you. Me- I’m part of a society. Beyond the Vauntergales, beyond Mortum, beyond the personas I wield as weapons, I’m part of a historical coalition that collects Earth history and knowledge. One that is known by a name given by one of your kind. One that would give you anything you need to advance your power if it meant finally seeking out what keeps drawing your people here.” She sculpted her bare form, privy to man’s desires in a way that goes beyond mere acts of pleasure. Beyond what she saw in the brothels and carnal dens of her youth.
Yes, Ravanaughtilus was a woman- A succubi who knew how to turn opportunities into wealth; whether it was in the banking records of a remote country she hadn’t heard from in decades, in the seat of a tank firing at an enemy who stood in her way, or even under the covers of the same beds she hailed from. Even so, it all was secondary to the historian that lay somewhere in her heart. An historian who knew that which humans loved most. A Historian. Now- she was one. She knew exactly what she needed, how she would need to do it, and she wouldn’t even have to hide her true emotions from the eyes of an impersonal client. All it took was an outstretched hand and an offer one couldn’t refuse.
“Aleph Schteim, would you like to join the Geeks?”
There was a pause- and then a reply.
“Yes- on one condition.” He replied in a neutral tone.
‘Name it.’ she said with her eyes, “What is it?” She parted from her lips.
“...name your organization something else.” Aleph said, finished preparing himself for the storm that was to come.
And try not to just end up as pretty-sounding thunder.