The fur on the back of Daniel’s neck stiffened and it did take some effort not to turn around. He couldn’t hear anyone directly behind him but doubted the shavi was playing pranks. What do they look like?
Some kind of Cleric, I think? I can barely sense them and my wisdom is level 5. Also, you do know this power is rapidly draining my mana, right?
Isn’t this just telepathy?
It’s Far Speech, Silora thought, as if it were obvious. This is one of my grand, transregional powers that little slave driver is making me use to whisper to you from a few meters away. Completely unnecessary since he’s already noticed I’ve noticed, but he insisted.
Daniel thought quickly and decided that if this was someone the Tyrant had sent to shadow them, there was nothing they could do to stop them from joining. Rorshawd was right there and could reduce most of them to ash with one breath. Without the mana to chain Flash Jaunt, he knew he’d be as dead as he would be if Gtoll had actually wanted to kill him. Also, the fact that the spy knew he’d been made gave him pretext to react once they were away from the walls. It was entirely possible this was someone trying to escape Aughal with them, and if they could avoid all but level 5 senses they’d make a valuable addition.
Tell me if they do anything.
I suppose I could. The presence left his mind and he heard Silora make another demand for skin cream. Half of the space in the backpack Rait wore must have carried the stuff.
“Everyone, assume we could be attacked. I’ll do my best to sense monsters coming but I’m not Hunter.”
“Grafted.”
Daniel sighed. He really needed to get a good look at himself before he could dispel that theory. He’d figured out some time ago that Khare’s interest in the topic was personal, and he couldn’t blame the gestalt for wanting the ability to interact with society normally. At the same time, he didn’t want to give them false hope. “I don’t think this would work for you, Khare. Even with our bond, you couldn’t replicate the circumstances.”
“Acknowledge.” The gestalt’s voice was disheartened, but they trudged along the sand all the same.
The group fell into a travel pace set by Silora, their slowest member. When they were a kilometer away from the city, Daniel whirled around and reached a hand for the space right behind him. He caught nothing, and Silora spoke up a few seconds later. “Oh, he moved. Should I have said something?”
Daniel glared at the Fate for a second before speaking to the open air. “We’re far enough out. Show yourself.” His eyes were flicking across the sand, readying Flash Jaunt in case anything hostile happened.
Somewhat off to the side, space folded in and revealed a Cleric whose robes fittingly bore the symbol of the Cloak. “Callister?” Thomas asked, taken completely by surprise. “How’d you do that?”
“Fates,” the Cleric cursed. His face was shrewd, the dark eyes not reflecting enough light to reveal their color. That was strange in the dimming light of evening.
“Why are you following us?” Daniel asked.
“I’m not following all of you,” the Cleric answered cryptically. Silora shied away, but the man’s gaze made it clear to everyone else who he’d meant. His dark eyes widened as they fixed on several places on Daniel’s body. “Your Archetypes. What have you done?” With a hint of desperation he started half-running towards him. “Your mana flow, I need to assess it.”
Daniel used a small amount of mana to grow feathers amidst the fur of his arms and cocked one at the Cleric, who both understood and respected the threat. “Thomas, who is this?”
“I don’t really know? He’s just someone I’ve seen in the Divine Quarter, like, once.”
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Callister asked, instantly drawing Daniel’s attention back to him. “This is about the Collapse.”
Daniel stiffened as his suspicion that this Cleric was more than he appeared was confirmed. “I remember Hammer taking me, and that’s it until I got back. What do you know?”
The Cleric grimaced, started to say something, and then paused. “I’m going to test something. If I’m right-“
“Don’t,” Daniel warned, wary of the illusion Cleric. If he could hide himself from almost all of them he was potent, but he was also afraid of the feather attack. That wasn’t enough to convince him of letting this random person use a power.
“I’m just going to say something,” the man said calmly, and then his lips continued to move.
???
Daniel blinked and saw the man was suddenly three steps to the left. Everyone else had shifted slightly, most with surprise on their face. Thomas spoke up. “Wait, what do you mean-“
???
“Stop! Don’t repeat anything I just said!” Callister suddenly cried out, making Daniel jump. It was like he was spacing out for a few seconds each time he heard whatever was said. The Cleric held a hand to his face and groaned. “I set it up perfectly and she had to go and ruin it.”
The missing time had shaken Daniel out of his aggression. Up until this point it had all been information retroactively taken away from his phone, only now he was being affected personally in the present. How was Torch doing this if she was dead? “What’s happening?”
“This should be a private conversation.”
“No. Enough secrets. I told everyone I’d tell them everything, that includes whatever you have to say.”
Callister glanced over to Silora and Rait. “Including them?”
“Yes.” Daniel gave the exact opposite answer his old self would have given. “What could you possibly say that’s that important, anyway?” He was fairly sure this Cleric was lower level than him.
“Well, it’s all our funerals.” He glanced at the city walls in the distance but was as satisfied as Daniel had been when he’d first struck out. “I know exactly where you’ve been and what happened during the time you’re missing. I can’t tell you anything because Torch restricted the knowledge from you specifically, forcing the Octyrrum to remove said knowledge as soon as you reacquire it.”
“How could you-“
“Father of illusion!” Silora suddenly cried, making a connection faster than anyone else. She bowed down into the sand, and Daniel could see her grit her teeth as she resisted the urge to call out for more cream.
“You’re a Proxy of Cloak? Wait, no, you’re-“
“Yes, yes, well, pleased to meet all of you,” the man said as he waved all of them away. A loud thump resounded as Khiat’s entire frame mimicked Silora’s. The dusker had gone beyond awe and into pure reverence, outdoing the Fate’s display through simple devotion. Daniel himself was taken aback as he realized the god had done to Callister what Ashier had done to their Proxies.
“You’re actually here?” he asked, not as spiritually moved as the rest of the crowd. Khare was similar, either not having gotten the full context or as skeptical of Daniel. Thomas was joining those bowing, while Willow had a very conflicted look on her face.
“Yes, I know you’re all honored, now, your mana flow. I need to see it.” Knowing that the person in front of him was possessed by a god did nothing to mollify his fears, but Daniel still brushed the feathers from his arms to disarm them and held one out for the man to inspect. Everyone else was frozen. As he was inspected, Daniel tried to use his seventh sense to determine what was happening, but either the method was noninvasive or too subtle for his still weak senses to detect.
“Good, good,” the Proxy-god sighed in relief. “Whatever you’ve done hasn’t interfered with, well, I think you learned about that already so best not to mention.”
“Learned about what? What exactly is going on with my memory?”
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“In short, all information you learned during that week is restricted. You’re prevented from remembering or learning about it. Fortunately, it only covered the last week, but she’s still covered the most important part.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “Ok, but I didn’t blank out when you mentioned that.”
“She can’t restrict the knowledge of her restricting knowledge while she’s restricting other knowledge,” he said offhandedly, as if talking about the latest thing his coworker had done to get on his nerves. “She only had one shot at you so she couldn’t get that, at least. I know what your next questions are and I can’t answer anything. I’d hoped to shadow you until the time was right, but you had to bring her along.” His gaze fell on Silora and she shuddered, either from the attention or the dryness of the ground. “As you clearly know, the Octyrrum is in grave danger. Another, second Collapse is upon us. I would tell you more, but provoking the effect Torch put on you will make it worse. There may be a way to recover your memories but we should get out of this desert first.”
“This world is your problem,” Daniel said, realizing after the fact who he was blustering to. Something inside of him was reacting to the god’s commanding presence, compelling him to resist it. “My only concern is getting my friends back.”
“Hunter, right?”
“What do you know?” Daniel asked dangerously.
“Nothing I could tell you, but I promise that I haven’t lied to you, I won’t lie to you, and that I will try to help you remember what you’ve lost.”
???
The god snapped a finger in front of Daniel’s face and his mind came back to the present. “Sorry. Even I’m having trouble keeping track of everything I shouldn’t say.”
“You’re Cloak,” Thomas said hollowly, catching up to about thirty seconds ago in the conversation.
The god gave Daniel a commiserating glance, which did ingratiate him a little. “They might be like this for a while.”
…
True to his word, the god of illusion faded into the background as they continued and everyone tried to not think about him shadowing them. That made things worse as the others were afraid to breathe in the presence of one of the divines they couldn’t see. Daniel himself wasn’t sure what to think about the intrusion, other than that Cloak wasn’t what he’d expected. Either possessing the Proxy had taken something from the divine’s presence, or the god was far closer to a normal person’s demeanor than Gadriel was. There was also the possibility that it was all an act, which would be completely in line with the god’s domain.
Eventually the sun reached the horizon and they broke for camp, Khiat collapsing to the ground. Daniel somewhat guiltily remembered she’d had guard duty the night before and had been running on fumes when he’d challenged Gtoll. The rest gathered mutely around a small fire made from gathered scraps foraged on the way and placed in Daniel’s bag of holding.
He sat on the ground, feeling it was finally time to examine himself in full and deal with whatever he’d done to himself. As far as he could tell, his entire body was now covered in a light fur that mimicked Hunter’s pattern. The spirals of the blue-white were less pronounced on his arms but still ran their length. His hands were mostly normal, but at the ends were retractable claws that Natural Expert made quite deadly. It was only a basic level 2 enchantment without any other modifiers, but most people, including Gtoll, hunted with normal weapons. Now that he was locked out of his Artificer powers it was at least a consolation prize.
His tail was next. It was long enough to grab and bring in front of him but he didn’t like the sense of his hand on it. There wasn’t much to say about it beyond the obvious, and the only thought he wanted to put towards it was that he was thankful his clothes were compatible. The last obvious change of what was visible was his head.
The canines of his new mouth weren’t as pronounced as Hunter’s, although they did poke out slightly whenever his jaws fully closed. The front of his head did protrude forward as well to give him a slight muzzle. From the reflection on his phone, he’d guessed this was what Tak’s ringcat transformation power would make a human look like if applied to the entire body. His eyes and ears were cat-like, and while he didn’t have hair anymore, the fur on the top of his head was slightly thicker.
Overall, he wasn’t sure what to think. The intrinsic descriptions of his new powers claimed they were permanent. There was also talk of how his ‘Archetypes’ had changed, something the Illustrious Assassin had been able to detect and comment on when they’d fought. The bottom line was he had a headache and wanted to sleep. “Do I call you Callister or Cloak?” he asked to the open air.
“Let’s stick to Callister,” the god half-whispered to him as he appeared nearby. “I should also let you know I’m unidentifying my presence and our conversations from your companions. It will be a weak effect, but it will stick.”
“Don’t do that!” Daniel menaced as he subconsciously bared his teeth. No one else in the camp reacted and he guessed the god was making this conversation private.
“It’s already done.” The Proxy shied away as Daniel advanced, which made him pause.
“You’re stuck in that body, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but before you ask why I’ll go ahead and say Torch probably caught that part of the conversation. Do you understand why I have to limit who knows about me?”
“Yeah.” The Octyrrum, the system behind the alerts, hadn’t been able to find a majority of the gods. Something terrible had happened during the week he’d disappeared, so bad it had shaken this divine being and had probably forced him into a desperation play of jumping into a weak Proxy to save himself. Was his main body gone? That doesn't excuse what he did, Daniel thought, but as Cloak had proved he could disappear on him and probably would if attacked. It was tempting to do so anyway because of what he'd just done, but Daniel had bigger concerns. "Why are you here?"
“Proximity, for one. There’s also… something about you that you fortunately didn’t damage with that transformation. All I will say now is that if my Proxy dies, all mortal life on the Octyrrum will end. I understand you have your goals, but the world still has to exist for you to realize them.”
“If you can’t tell me anything, why bother with this conversation?”
“Because I can tell you this. Continue what you’re doing.” He rolled his eyes as Daniel’s expression turned murder cat annoyed. “I mean in a general sense. Specifically, I need you to uncover the memories you’ve lost. The job Torch did was rushed and when she was below her full power. If we find someone of level-“ He quickly stopped talking and Daniel guessed they’d almost run into a point where his memories would self-wipe. “If we find someone with a strong enough identification power that would work, although I doubt there’s anyone like that nearby. What has a better chance of working is for you to be on the lookout for inconsistencies. Torch restricted knowledge you were deeply a part of, and with the limited time she had it’s possible she missed something. Leverage those opportunities and you can regrow your memories from those seeds.”
“I think I already did that.” Daniel related how he’d recovered the knowledge of his fight with Casia after charging at Rorshawd. When he mentioned the moments of deja vu he’d had since then without any progress, the god moaned.
“The effect’s patching itself. Unidentification is, well, something I tend to use more than the others so I’m familiar with how it works. Torch didn’t technically do that but the Octyrrum considers it the same thing. My best guess is you have to work your way forward and if you uncover a trigger too early, the effect will cover the hole and prevent you from using it later on.”
“So what do I do, not look for holes? I won’t be able to know which ones I can and can’t use.”
Cloak frowned at that, but he still said, “Anytime you feel something, you must pursue it. Trust me, this is important.”
Daniel didn’t know how he could trust someone he just met. This person might not even be a god, but the control he had over his limited powers gave weight to the argument. Callister was ostentatiously a level 1 Proxy that could partially block a level 5’s senses. The Divination Aegis he’d once had was just as lopsidedly powerful, and that had been granted by someone far above his strength. It could still be an act, and while Daniel didn’t fully trust him, be that a man or god, there was something he had to say now before Callister would become a ghost that would hear about it anyway.
“Alright. Just so you know, I’m originally from another world.” He again prepared to strike out at the god in case this prompted an attempted smiting, but was unprepared for the look of horror to spread across the man’s face as he stumbled backward.
“You, you’re not lying. Oh no. That’s what he meant.” Thomas glanced over to both of them and shaded his eyes as whatever illusion Callister was maintaining slipped for a second, though his control quickly reasserted itself. “This… Do you know why you’re here?”
“Kind of?” Callister tensed and Daniel further clarified, “There’s this other version of me back on my home world that hasn’t told me much, but it has to do with getting my dad back. He went missing, and from what I’ve gathered he ended up here somehow.”
Whatever Callister had been dreading, that wasn’t the answer. For a second it looked like the god had been about to hit him with a memory wipe and run, but he settled down and sat on the dune. “Alright, alright. That changes things, but it’s still worth the risk.”
“Has anyone else come here from another world? Can I go back?” Not before Hunter, Daniel added to himself, as well as, I should get this fixed too. Or maybe not. No one will think I’m Earth-Daniel’s twin, at least.
“No. You shouldn’t be here. How did we not see this? He must have been planning it for centuries at least.”
“Who?” Daniel asked, now somewhat aggrieved by the considerable vagueness plaguing Cloak’s statements.
“That would be restricted knowledge, right up towards the end,” Callister said, reaching through time and space to grab Earth-Daniel’s clipboard and hit him over the head with it. “If it makes you feel better, that is what I’m trying to get you to remember. Not that specifically, but the important knowledge is right up there with it.”
“Ok, but how did I get here in the first place?” A full sea of questions were unleashed in Daniel’s mind as he finally met someone that had all the answers. The restricted knowledge couldn’t cover all of it, but he was dismayed when the god vanished, his parting lines growing more distant.
“That is enough for now. You should rest. I don’t need sleep even in this Proxy so I can keep an eye out. Please, don’t mention me to the others. I’ll just remove the knowledge again at the first opportunity.” With that, he was gone. Daniel was left completely dissatisfied, though at the same time, finding a way home wasn’t his priority.
I should have asked about Hunter, he thought, kicking himself and resolving to the next chance he got. For now, he tentatively lowered himself further down into a sleeping position, found the old ones less comfortable than they used to be, and adjusted. Tossing and turning, Daniel wondered how much different his life was going to be now.
…
“Hey, uh, should we have set a watch?” Rait’s voice woke Daniel up and he opened his eyes to see the man looking around nervously.
“It’s ok,” Khiat reported, cresting over a dune. “Daniel had the first one and I- oh!” She was looking at him as she exclaimed and Daniel wasn’t sure why, until he looked down and saw that he was missing an arm. In addition to that shocking discovery, his other arm and the rest of his body were back to normal.