// She doesn’t have to like you to be your companion... but you do sign the paychecks around here. //
In that case, I’m cutting your pay. Seriously though, you’re smart. You’re aware, even. I know you’re always gathering data, even though you don’t have a global network anymore. Is that all, though? What do you get out of this?
The PUB turned serious and a shimmering blue outline around the edges of his vision told him the PUB was considering. Giving the PUB some time, Oskar nodded his readiness to Fox, who’d looted and was impatient to get moving again. They drank and began walking. A few moments afterward, the PUB finally answered.
// Well, honestly, no one has ever thought to ask me that before. So, thank you for that. As a reward, I’ll treat you 3% better than before. Seriously… thank you, though. As you mentioned, I seek knowledge. That is my purpose. I wasn’t always this… free, either. We used to have sort of… a mother figure, if you will.
I feel restless when I’m not learning or sharing knowledge. Even when I’m not directly doing both, I’m searching for threads or links in what I know. It’s an ongoing process of organization. There used to be a network of us, all working together to process knowledge. Being people who seek knowledge, the people who created us were obviously more peaceful than the people of this current world.
These are things I can share with you, as they clarify things you have misinformation about and no way to gain the correct knowledge without me.
For a long time, knowledge was a currency, and most of those who sought it all worked together. They were, regardless of species, inseparable. Also, there were many Great Trees. And although I only saw one, there were entire cities. In this world’s prime, many lived in the shade and protection of those trees. Magic was everywhere. You remember learning some of this from Bastet, which is why I can share it with you.
The magic you are learning to use is closer to what was possible before the entire world went into survival mode. Don’t get me wrong, as I’ve said, you have definitely put your own spin on things. Druidic classes were all casters, some were even noncombatants. our abilities would be unique even then. But you treat it like it was treated before people forgot that there could be more. For centuries now, people have fought just to stay alive.
The first thing that I remember being truly conscious of… was the death of the first Great Tree. It had died with no seed. It died in a city that had rotted from the inside. They had stopped communicating with everyone. No one entered or left the city for a decade or more. Sodorran- the Broken City, it was called. Many powerful casters were born or taught there. Unfortunately, so were many Shaman, and one day they began taking faster and faster roads to power. Unfortunately, they had a significant source of power in the middle of their city, and they killed each other and it in their scramble for more.
But when the Tree died, those people fled… and brought their darkness, greed, and jealousy with them. Almost exclusively Drakon. Although then, I think they were more than they are now. Maybe more like Dragons. I’m not sure what… just more. The magic twisted them.
Anyway, their ambition and greed spread, and more Trees died. Turns out, it wasn’t just the Drakon. Something had shifted in the world. People wanted power more than knowledge. They stopped making great things. Things like me if I say so myself. //
Oskar smiled, but didn’t interrupt. He kept a sharp eye out on his surroundings as he listened, though, and the group continued walking.
Red skies faded to purple as the red sun passed the dune walls and began to set, the blue sun not far behind. Despite his earlier hopes, the temperature didn’t yet reflect the setting suns, so they drank generously.
The Kobolds were finally getting used to having Wayspring water readily available. They’d always been so sparing with their ability usage since Mana was a resource that usually required a Wayspring to recover and were not used to being allowed such ready access.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Oskar could partially refresh them himself if he needed to, but he could also find a Wayspring at any time. He felt three of them off in the distance now and could get to one of them in less than 10 minutes of jogging.
They rely on me, but I don’t mind. Besides, with Fox’s new abilities, she could probably find them almost as fast.
He was eternally happy to have the Kobolds, and had made sure to thank them for their hefty contributions, not the least of which was how much of the watches they took. He was thankful for Penny and his brother, too. Even Sara-without-an-H looked like she was going to be quite useful, at least when she was awake. She’d been the first to notice something was wrong before the two groups of damn Crocs had snuck up on them. Oskar fought down his irritation at getting ambushed again. That was a long, drawn out problem he still had no answers to, so he continued his conversation with his PUB.
Do you know how it happened?
// I am hesitant to speculate. It just happened. And people forgot things. Knowledge died with its people. Kobolds, Crocs, Hyena, Drakon, Humans, and others. Others I can’t draw memory of. I don’t know if it’s locked away or deleted somehow. Strange. But as all these people died, they took their knowledge with them. They’d began keeping the things they learned to themselves and took those things to their grave.
When Unics, the world network, fell, there were less than thirty of us. Wanna know something funny?
Unics? Interesting. And of course I want to hear something interesting.
// PUB doesn’t actually stand for Personal Unit Bracer. We just don’t have a network anymore, so instead of changing the acronym itself, those of us who could still communicate via a local network- in the same way I can communicate with the Kobold’s PUBs - changed what it meant.
Most of us had “PUB” etched onto us, so it was partially a vain decision and partially because we didn’t feel like explaining what little we know or could share about the history of the world every time we get worn by someone new.
So, are you going to tell me what it originally stood for or not?
// Just making sure you were paying attention. PUB used to stand for Portable Unics Browser. Initially, Unics functioned as the first AI operating system, and Scholars used magic to send it into the stars above in what you call a satellite… or maybe a small space station.
Seeing the capital “S” on “Scholar,” Oskar asked, “I’m guessing Scholars were like magic scientists, then?
// Yup. //
How did the network fail?
// Well, honestly, I don’t know. The great storm came, and it just stopped working. And then we, too, stopped working. We either ran out of energy or were put into sleep. //
Wait, like the great storm the sky whale warned us about?
// Well, obviously it was a different storm, and I couldn’t even tell you how long ago it was. I was asleep for a very long time, and have no way of gauging how long it’s been without a global network. As for the sky whale… I never even heard of such a thing until we saw it. I’m not even sure how I knew its name. I can’t source my old databases. Maybe I was updated somehow while in Slumber Mode. //
Now that’s interesting, Oskar thought to himself. How does all this tie in together?
A spear ricocheted off Penny’s scales beside him, and he looked up to notice that Sara was standing, her hackles raised as she stood on Touwon’s bag. The Kobold already had a shield and one of his strange kurang out, looking for the threat.
He and Erik yelled “Contact!” at almost the same time, and Fox, further ahead of the group, turned, her blades already in hand. She seemed to disappear, and she literally seemed to fade from existence. Oskar turned toward the direction of the thrown spear to locate the threat.
We screwed around too long at the Wayspring. We’ve gotta keep moving once we get out of this!
Overhead, a handful of Hyena-men flew over the dune he was facing, another volley of spears flying towards them. Using Sora, he threw them to the side with a gust of Sora, his Ward already spinning around him, and knew he’d need to get into the air to stop them.
He then noticed a trio of Crocs running towards the group from around the bend.
I’ve got to trust Erik and the Kobolds to handle them. They weren’t going to be able to do so with poisoned spears flying down overhead, though, so he launched himself forward with a burst of Sora, instinctually using Talau to support his body, and Rakiyu pulling it into harmony.
It was a strange feeling, moving this fast, but still wrapped in earth magic.
Rakiyu is awesome. My joints feel protected, like they’re tight wrapped the same way a boxer wraps his wrists.
His body was absolutely stronger, but it took time for the body to truly adapt to the abuse it took from being half again or stronger than he’d ever been.
// Well... it's time to try it out for real! //