“When I was looking through Scorpio’s memories,” said Gaius, “these visions were tinted with red. It didn’t have any effect on me, but from what I could remember, Scorpio was…inordinately violent during these battles. And…”

           The boy recounted what he felt when Scorpio and the other Constellations were having that meeting, and the sense of oddness that had arose within him while they were talking to each other. These sentiments had continued to persist, even after the memory was over. It was, succinctly put, unnatural to a tee.

           “That’s…” Nexus tapped its foot. “The Constellations…do they really treat this world as a game of sorts? As a story to be experienced and shaped without any real consequence? What of the Human God? Does he not care?”

           “I’m supposed to be the one asking you these questions,” Gaius replied irritably. “But if you’re asking them, I guess you haven’t much of an idea either, have you?”

           “I’m an expert on facts,” said the artificial intelligence. “I’m not a legitimate expert in psychology or sociology, even if I’ve read enough books. Please do not pin false hopes on your intelligent artefact.”

           “Right. Sorry.” Gaius pushed himself up from his kneeling position. “This information is nice to have, but I’m not really sure how I’m going to use it to kill Scorpio.”

           “Maybe, if we are lucky, Scorpio and the Plenum will come to an agreement,” Nexus replied. “And he’ll release everyone affected from his Skill. Then we won’t need to kill him after all.”

           “And while we’re at it, let’s also hope the great gods would choke on a fishbone and pass away peacefully too,” said Gaius. “You know me, Nexus. As much as possible, I try not place the solutions to my problems in the hands of people that aren’t…exactly friendly.”

           “True.” The sculpture turned to the ball of energy floating in the middle of the formation. It had already shrunk when Gaius had drawn some energy out of it, but now that Gaius had seen the memories embedded within, the little globe was now struggling to maintain its shape.

           “What’s up with that?” Gaius asked.

           “The energy here was used to seal that memory away. But now that the fragment has crumbled away, there’s no focal point left. It’ll be a little leaky mist by the next few days,” said Nexus. “It’s going to be useless in the next few days.”

           Gaius looked at the mist sadly. “I should use it before it becomes entirely useless. Let’s use it on the Moonshot.”

           “The Moonshot, eh?” Nexus shrugged. “Go ahead. Better than nothing, I guess.”

           The tube-like structure appeared once again. This time, however, instead of golden strands, similarly coloured mist was spewing out of the open end. Gold swirled around the Moonshot, and in front of Gaius’ eyes, the weapon began to shine.

           “Is that the only thing this mist does?” Gaius asked. “Turn my weapon into something blinding?”

           “You’ll have to figure that out yourself,” replied Nexus. “Go get a target to shoot that, maybe you might get something out of it. But generally, such an enhancement definitely has its own effects, especially on logistics. The Moonshot might have a bottomless magazine, for instance.”

           The last of the mist drained out, and without a target, the elaborate formation of silver rings began to fade away. Nexus sighed; a languid sound that made the boy want to sleep.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

           Gaius picked the sculpture up. “Come on, there’s nothing left here for us. I suppose we should talk to Isabelle and see what she makes of this information. She was, after all, part of an ex-House in the Southern Assembly. Maybe she might be able to shed some light regarding this.”

           It didn’t take long before they were in the living room. Stone was still doing push-ups, a sight that earned an approving nod from the boy. Its owner was now asleep on the sofa — Gaius didn’t know why Isabelle didn’t shift the little girl over to her own bed, but she probably had her own reason.

           Her eyes lit up when she saw Gaius. “How was it?”

           “Illuminating,” Gaius replied. “I upgraded two weapons, and dived into the memory of Constellation Scorpio. I’ve some questions for you.”

           Isabelle tilted her head, and then gestured for the boy to go on.

           “First,” said Gaius, “if I recall, you’ve met at least a Constellation before, right?”

           “Yes, Constellation Pisces. Why?”

           “Did he or she seem…odd to you?”

           “Other than being bloodthirsty?” Isabelle twiddled her thumbs. “He was very sociable. Went around asking anyone and everyone random questions during the banquet we threw in his honour. I suppose that’s about it.”

           “Asking questions?” Gaius repeated, incredulous. “What questions did he ask?”

           “Things like ‘Do you need my help?’ or ‘Is there anything I could do for you?’. Weird stuff,” said Isabelle. “He was very…helpful, I guess, for lack of a better word. He was positively fixated on running around and helping people. I don’t know why.”

           “That ring a bell, Nexus?”

           The sculpture frowned. “That’s a very odd set of behaviour. Alright, anything else?”

           “He got into duels frequently too,” Isabelle said quietly. “During the banquet, he crippled quite a few men, for no real reason either. And of course, like most of the other male Constellations, he was a womaniser.”

           “That’s a very odd profile for a Constellation Hero,” said Gaius. “Nexus, try comparing his actions to the other otherworlders within your memory, and see what you can derive from them.”

           “Yes, Master Gaius.” Nexus sat down, legs crossed, and started searching through his memory.

           “What other impressions did you have about Constellation Pisces?” Gaius asked.

           “Other impressions…” Isabelle mulled over the word. “Other than odd…it was like Pisces sometimes didn’t really hear our words. I guess he was refusing to answer questions that were related to the Second Extermination, but still, it was rude.”

           “Probably a technique he picked up from Earth,” said Gaius. “Refusing to answer questions by pretending to not hear them, I guess.”

           Isabelle laughed. “That works?”

           “From what you said, it does.”

           Nexus stirred to life. “Alright, I’ve found something. Such a behavioural and social profile matches one particular archetype. One of the previous Masters of the Library has a name for it — the gamer.”

           “Gamer?”

           “Gamer?”

           Isabelle and Gaius exchanged looks. “Go on.”

           “It’s used to describe someone who has an obsession with killing enemies, completing quests and showing off,” said Nexus. “Interestingly, this term precedes the Masters of the Library itself — it was used by the Cardinal Champions themselves. Champion Lunaris had referred to Octantis as a ‘gamer’ before, as an illustration.”

           “That’s a very odd archetype,” said Isabelle. “What do you think, Gaius?”

           “It kind of fits, though. Most likely, this term was used to describe otherworlders who thought that Orb was an online game of sorts.” Gaius thought back to Flynn, the first otherworlder he’d interacted with, who had talked about a Status or something. From his memories of his past life, the boy could also vaguely remember games with such an…aide.

           “As useful as this is, I don’t think it’s of much use against Constellation Scorpio,” said Nexus. “I suggest we leave this discussion for later. Nakama’s about to slip off the sofa.”

           “Come to think of it, why didn’t you carry her to her bed, Isabelle?”

           “Oh, if you do that…”