Both girls made their way back into the citadel, resuming their progress from where they had originally left off. They still had that one room to find, and hopefully they would manage to discover Mheridz in the process.
“So, about that spell stuff you were talking about, could you show me it now?” “Yeah, that’s what I was wondering about before you arrived. It seems whatever had fallen into place there to allow me such an opportunity was gone, all of my work there has been lost. I’m back to simply having access to only the normal two options again, sorry.” “Oh well, I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. Still, you’ll have to tell me all about it later then, I want to hear what sort of designs you came up with. Seriously, it’s creativity like that which would have made the mythos itself, maybe some of your ideas could bring us something in existing principles. Actually, who knows, maybe the stuff you came up with.. maybe it does already exist in a parallel neither of us know about, like a brand new mythos. That’s sort of the same thing that spawned the terran mythos in the first place, so who knows, really.” Axln couldn’t believe what angle she was going with there, rendering concepts of imagination as potential reality. Then again, that too was her life, walking in the realm of something that should have been little more than a fairytale.. but in reality couldn’t be any more real. It really led her to wonder if there really was any theory she could accept as being invalid, as almost anything could be true.. if the place held the right principles. Such might not work for this side or the other.. but was that really the end of opportunity, or might there be so much more?
Lyun in the meanwhile was noticing that much of the previous impressions she had in the halls were also gone, something quite significant had changed here. The red glow of the halls had vanished, the regular lights flickering instead. The halls did nothing to bar their progress either, being as open and inviting as while they had traversed it with Luna. Actually, the place somehow seemed even more inviting than even that, just with a lot of obvious damage scattered all over the place, bespelling scenes of what conflict it had just endured. Axln was thus very thankful for her foresight in asking for the others to keep working on the siege-mantle, the citadel wouldn’t be going anywhere for a long time. That however might be disappointing, Luna was practically designed to the place’s loyalty, the ersatz would probably be remaining then to continue the repairs, even if that took beyond Axln’s lifetime. Such would imply that Axln would be heading back without the citadel, either traversing by the siege-mantle or by riding on the Epsilon. Very obviously, she would need to use her new connections in the foundry to make more future visits to the moon at this rate. Well, not that anyone could stop her, she could always catch an aerospace shuttle too. Halls like this proved that there was very little that could possibly stop either of them, so long as they were determined to succeed.
As Axln looked upon the carnage of the halls, she got to see just how much this was no exception for Lyun either, not at all. Of course, most of this damage had probably been by her own hand, but even that only furthered the general idea. Such a vicious rampage, and Lyun had walked away the victor. Apparently, Lyun had achieved this with some rather unprecedented speed, a realization that was doing wonders at convincing her not to begin a race with Lyun suddenly. Not only would getting separated only lead to a swath of new troubles, but Axln wasn’t even certain of her rifts being faster than Lyun. Short of disconnecting her link with Lyun and resorting to time stopping.. actually, would even that be fast enough to beat Lyun, that was exactly the sort of measures her future self had tried to use to be faster.. it hadn’t been enough then either. Nope, Axln's only hope would be to create yet another paradox to take advantage of.. which probably wouldn’t be beyond her own abilities either. Still, at that point, it wouldn’t even be worth it. The two ladies of true chaos simply had no reason to compete like that, not when doing so would leave behind stuff like the wreckage she walked through. Trying to do better than each other at this point would have very obvious consequences to anything else around them without even a fragment of the potential to keep up to the changes their actions would bring.
Suddenly, Lyun let out a gasp of joyful surprise, drawing Axln’s attention forward. Hidden around the newest corner was the outcrop of what appeared to be a sort of ancient library, the entire place visibly left untouched in all of the carnage. Trying to resort to memory alone, Lyun tried to trace her steps, going first up to the top level above, with the circular hole in the middle, to then simply leap down that same hole to the level below. Axln had questions, but she didn’t voice them, this was obviously just how Lyun figured stuff out. Lyun continued her search until she ended up at an obviously suspicious bookshelf. It wasn’t suspicious because of any strange markings or passing floral, it was strange because it was already slid open, revealing a secret passage descending downwards. Lyun led the way through the familiar sights, Axln taking everything in for her first time. The gear structure of the room really did give a certain clockwork feeling.. but the place was really quiet, too quiet. All of the gears had even stopped, the place once again unmoving.
While Axln looked around for her first time, Lyun’s attention was drawn towards the main pedestal at the far end of the room. She knew what that was, the place where she had first found the book. Of course, there was no book there this time.. but something glimmered there slightly. She approached carefully, her curiosity intent on getting a better look. Once she reached it, she discovered that the glimmer wasn’t as unfamiliar as she had originally thought. Sitting there upon the pedestal was a single spherical instrument, almost as a mark of passage. However, it’s owner was nowhere to be found. Realizing that something had caught Lyun’s interest, Axln went to join her, seeing Mheridz’s trademark instrument sitting in Lyun’s hand. Axln took the instrument from Lyun’s offering hands, the message becoming more and more obvious as time passed. Mheridz had left a sign that she too had arrived in this room, she too had finally accomplished that aspect of her vision.
However, it told much more than that. Axln's visit to the will of the world, in finally completing her mission, she had completed the mission of their descendants too. There would no longer be a reason for their descendants to travel back in time, so they had lost their place on this timeline. This symbol was Mheridz’s final farewell to them both, as her time had come to an end. The Mheridz and Velvet they both knew were now forever gone. It would be more than a few moments before both Axln and Lyun would regain their composure from this realization.
Leaving from that sacred chamber, Axln made sure the secret panel was successfully reset, still carrying Mheridz’s instrument all the while. There was no longer any reason for them to remain within the citadel, it was time for them to return from their lunar voyage and get things moving forward from there. In fact, to much their luck, the siege-mantle’s repairs had actually been completed successfully, they would be ready to depart at any time. Exactly as Axln had expected, Luna and her other citadel ersatz would not be joining them, they would instead need to begin work on restoring the citadel. Axln felt that they had a need of bringing this aspect of their voyage to an end, to set off right away, but they really had two sides of this to worry about. The Epsilon would also need to be informed that things here were completed, it was time to leave. Axln was torn between options, not sure of an appropriate plan of action, even Lyun could tell this. Lyun sighed, realizing that Axln was again forgetting the most obvious fact that stood out glaringly before them.
“Don’t forget, we aren’t both bound anymore, we can both do this in our own way. You bring your family home, I’ll go bring mine. When we get back, where do you want to meet up?” “The foundry, Mheridz had said there was a letter there for me, didn’t she? You’re the only one who knows where that is, I’m going to need a guide.” “Ah, right, sure. I’ll meet you at the entrance.” It was Lyun this time to cut the bonds between them as she left Axln to coordinate the siege-mantle’s return voyage. Axln even knew better than to wait, Lyun was far too quick, they would have to leave immediately if Axln had any hopes in not getting there embarrassingly late behind Lyun.
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Rosa meanwhile arrived at the Epsilon, spotting Velvet’s ship safely docked on arrival. Rosa would need to look into both getting everyone going home, as well as to look into whatever Velvet had left behind. Holi would be a strong resource for both projects, but the nanite cluster was being elusive. Eventually, she came across the private quarters of the ship, with each room plated with the room’s owner. One of the rooms however had no plate at all, the door still securely locked. The ionic lock however failed to endure a carefully set elemental shift, having the room open instead to expose what looked both like a collection of personal belongings and a simple organized storage room, everything placed visibly as if the owner knew the room would require no usage. Turning on the personalized thermal lamp on a shelf near the entrance, she could tell she was in the right room, Velvet’s room.
“Oh, welcome back Rosa. Where is Kori?” “She’s busy with other stuff, I’ve been sent to make sure we all go home. Velvet.. Velvet is gone, isn’t she?” “I’d actually been searching for her myself, worried the girl was playing with more tricks. She was last spotted inside her personal transport, which I had been forced to keep a distance from due to concern of more of her tricks. However, at a point while waiting for her to emerge from it, I had run some health scans over it to make sure she was still alright. All scans instead came back.. negative.. there was no one present inside, and yet no one had left it either. She couldn’t have gone far though, don’t worry.” “No, no, unfortunately she could have gone very far. Keep in mind the measures of her existence as I tell you that we’re going home in absolute success. The terms of her continued presence in our timeline.. have expired.” Holi wasn’t quite certain how to treat this report, but she figured that such a special case would demand her to simply follow any special instructions from Rosa. For now, that implied that they had all received authorization to depart, so Holi made sure that command was forwarded accordingly.
“Exactly as she had mentioned in that message she had forwarded to you, while you were on the other side. Actually, regarding that message, I guess you had already found all of the stuff she had left behind for you, you never needed my help. Oh, but there is one thing, she also had a file she left in my care, considering data like that is so much easier to leave to someone like myself. The file is in the same format as a letter, which I have to admit to having already read before you. Having done so, I also know the letter was entirely intended for your eyes alone, so it will be kept confidential for just you otherwise. I can generate a readable copy for you via a holo, so you could read it right away if you would like.” Holi obviously would have read such a letter, such news wasn’t even surprising. Even the process of storing such a file would involve her technically reading it first. However, Rosa nodded, wanting to see what final message Velvet had left to her. Making room to sit inside Velvet’s room she looked upon the letter through tear filled eyes.
Most of the letter was overall very personal, either in reflection of their time spent together, or in discussion of Velvet’s time spent with another Rosa. The first was filled with fondness, while the second had much more turbulence. The general principle behind both was encouragement to keep doing the good she was doing, and to learn from what another Rosa had done before. Very clearly, this sort of message was really important to Velvet, who strongly desired the future to become one of positive opportunity. After all of the warm messages had ended, Velvet had resorted to matters of business, considerations that Hypertech should itself keep in mind on the road ahead. Along with such was a swath of notes hinting at how Hypertech could not only get their old contracts with Aerotech re-established, but also how certain aspects in just how the contract had been breached actually left grounds for due compensation towards Hypertech from an investment standpoint, hinting that a large category of Aerotech’s transportation equipment was actually Hypertech owned. As a result, a vast portion of Aerotech’s local operations was actually in reality under Hypertech ownership, especially considering the clauses of the breach of agreement in question. The terms of the breach were signed off by a member of high command, an individual named Velvet. Through all of Velvet’s actions in aerospace, the entire effort was even originally espionage and sabotage, leaving the framework to pass everything up to her parents after her work was completed. Because time travel had been required, there was no proof of this that remained.
Axln was actually surprised to not find Lyun waiting for her on arrival, in front of the doors to the foundry. Lyun was, for once, notably late, something about having to look into a family investment. The two of them entered the foundry, the front guard not even considering stopping either of them. Lyun led Axln to the place that had previously been Mheridz’s office, the space still remaining untouched in her absence. Lyun waited outside, leaving Axln to the privacy of the room, much as Holi had just done for her. Eventually, Axln discovered the masked cabinet of the letter left for her, the writing being exactly as she had been warned. Scripts from the other side, horribly done, but at least not unintelligibly so. Her circlet at least made it a bit easier to read spots that started to get challenging, picking up the patterns in the writing style. For all of their division, both girls were of the exact same mind, writing a letter that held much of the same message. A personal reflection, though without quite the same expression of heart, matching impressions left between this timeline and Mheridz’s old timeline. Then, the letter began upon educational matters, recommendations for her new teaching career. The most important recommendation included a mass compendium of foundry secrets, a substantial collection of information that would outright unmake the local influence of the foundry as a whole. With all of this information, the academy would replace it as the center of local influence. Then it went into volumes on how to properly use such information so that Axln herself had governing authority over the impact, ensuring that administration didn’t get the power for itself. Much of it would result in influence with the academy’s most profitable investment, Ezhyrae, who herself would still need to turn to her own source of fiscal success as a core management resource. This information as a whole placed Axln as the keystone of the entire influence. This encoded letter made clear exactly where Mheridz’s true loyalty lay.
Both time travellers had made a massive contribution to the lives of those left behind, giving everything they had to invoke a change for the better. Even though neither of them were still around, their contributions would continue to cause the future to flourish, and there would be those who would never forget such sacrifice.
Of course, to pay proper respects for such actions, Axln and Lyun would first have to ensure they continued to work towards a brighter future, and there was already so much that needed to be done. The whole temporal involvement had left the social stability of communities involved in an upheaval, it was time to restore order to such communities. Rosa had already ensured that Hypertech was moving forwards before flying towards the foundry as Lyun, Axln too would need to ensure that the place of learning she had taken to call home could keep moving forward too. There were classes that were missed, so many things that would be important to catch up too. A specific set of those involved were disappointed in returning so soon, even distinct members of Axln’s family wondering why there would not be a party before things would return to the droll and dreary, but Axln assured them that a party would be forthright, there just needed to be enough time to properly plan for one. In honesty, she was simply delaying to ensure that the festivities would include all of the good news, including Mheridz’s final gift to the party.
However, one of the most prominent plans she had was to stage yet another concert for the party, one with a massive stage beholding all of the academy, starring Snowbell and Mixer Deejay once again. It would be a prominent concert that commanded the forthcoming of dramatic change from influential people.. but this time there wouldn’t be silly concerns such as some stupid concert curse. For the first time spanning an eternity of history, they would be in charge of such fate, there would be no room for such despair to simply come up completely at random as an errant malfortune. Their fate was in their hands, completely theirs to control, and they would be free to pass that control down from generation after generation. Even if this was a mistake, even if there were still things to change, the wheels of fate were in motion too to the opportunities of true chaos bearing light of what would need to be done to keep improving. There would be no waiting for things to fail, not anymore, change was eternally on the path before them. It did really mean there was so much to do, an entire lifetime of pursuits that would extend well beyond their lifetime.
Even so, after everything they had done, the two girls had really done enough to enjoy an opportunity to relax. As the two of them withdrew to their serene beds and promises of restful slumber, the sunlight faded from the horizon as dusk brought the end of another long day.