“Where the fuck are we, and how the hell did we get here?” Were the first words out of Twonger’s mouth the second the portal to where he had been found was fully closed.
“The Abyss, and somehow we passed into some sort of protected region full of proto realities. My best guess for how we got here was that weird tentacle we saw. It doesn’t explain much, but I don’t really have anything else to go on.” Andy answered.
“How is it being around yer weird group puts my life in more danger than robbing galactic empires ever did?” Twonger slumped against the cavern wall as he spoke. He looked exhausted and ready to pass out.
“Hey Twonger, you okay? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so tired.” Bill said.
“No, I sure as hell ain’t okay. You try running as hard and fast as you can from things that are going to eat you if you stop. It had to be a damned mushroom forest. That’s a real nightmare come to life right there. Next time you see Onelder, ask him about what happened the last time we were in one and how long it took to regrow his arm.” Twonger managed a small laugh between the wheezes.
“Alright, how about you sit down and rest while we see if I can find someone else? Libby is probably the next best bet. They see me as some sort of Library steward, so that should give me a relationship to feel for.” Andy was worried about the last two after Libby. He barely knew either of them. How do you find an unknown needle-sized object in an infinite space in a limited time? He wished he had a good answer.
“I have a feeling Libby will be surprisingly easy. When you begin your search, instead of focusing on the thrum of living mana flows, look for a connection from yourself that feels like it should wither away but, for some reason, remains alive and connected. I’ve had some experience with mana bonds and machines, and they tend to work a little differently. While you do that, I will ponder on the problem of our other lost friends.” Ralth said.
Andy sat down and started his search, but before he had a chance to begin a deeper examination of the web, he just spotted the thread he needed. It was so easy now that Ralth had explained it. It was just sitting there motionless, surrounded by vibrant thrumming strings of mana. He grabbed it and yanked.
“Hey, actually, I already found it. Zoz if you could…” Andy was cut off before he could finish his request.
“Yes, I have it.” Zoz tore reality at Andy’s direction, and where the energy from his antlers had poured now hung a window into a world of metal. All they could see from their current view were endless gears, slowly turning.
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“Well, I suppose I won’t be pondering then. No rest for the weary and all that.” Ralth said.
“Look, gents, I’d love to join yous, but I just can’t. I have to rest.” Twonger said.
“It’s fine, we get it. Some of us are stronger than others. You rest here, and Andrew will watch out for you.” Andy said with a smirk.
“Bah!” Twonger slumped further to the ground, his annoyance with Andy’s verbal jab didn’t look likely to motivate him to join them.
Ralth, Bill, and Andy left Twonger and Andrew behind as they passed through the portal into the weird gear world. As Andy looked around, he quickly noted the gears were even more massive in person. He had no idea if they were deep inside some machine with a grandiose purpose or if this was just another strangely contained world.
“This doesn’t feel random. We seem to be ending up in places that resonate with us in some way. I can’t say exactly how or why, but I really do not think things are as they seem.” Ralth said as soon as they had walked a bit away from the portal.
“I don’t know. Neither Andrew or I seemed to end up anywhere that seemed important to either of us in any way.” Andy said.
“Yes, well, Andrew will always be a special case when you are involved, the reverse as well. I’m willing to bet it is very difficult to tell the two of you apart unless you happen to know you both exist in the exact way you do. So let’s assume you were pulled off course from whatever proto-reality you were meant to land in, and by the same token, Andrew was knocked off course as well. The rest of us end up somewhere that draws on some emotional state within us. Bill got lucky with relaxation. I got extreme loneliness, and Twonger was stuck with terror. All familiar things to us.” Ralth explained his reasoning.
“So then, what do you think is going on?” Andy asked.
“I don’t know. This a new experience for me. I had no idea any of this existed in the abyss, let alone that things outside of the beasts could survive or even thrive here. Then there’s Zoz. I’ve seen that energy he’s using before, and it isn’t a pleasant memory. So, I’m hesitant to trust him fully.” Ralth looked nervous, something Andy had never seen on his face before.
“Understood. I guess we keep our eyes on him then. We need him for now, though, so I think we are stuck.” Andy said.
“Yes, I agree, for now at least,” Ralth agreed.
“Hey guys, there’s a door over there.” Bill pointed to a door that was situated on a wall in a space between rotating gears. There was a sign on the door that said Control Room.
“Huh, well, that looks promising. Good job, Bill.” Andy started walking fast towards the door.
Bill was the first through the door, soon followed by the other two. A very unexpected sight greeted them. The room was full of monitors for various different read-outs. They were all labeled, but the two that caught Andy’s notice the quickest were the large screens labeled Librarian Unit 004 Left Eye and Librarian Unit 004 Right Eye.
“Uh, guys, are we inside of Libby?” Andy asked the group.