THUD!
“Extraction point reached. Equipment Status Report (ESR): High-Performance Maneuverability Gear (HPMG) - Nominal, Active Camouflage - Nominal. Requesting operator status.”
I let out a series of heavy, breathy pants, fighting my stomach’s desire to appease the vertigo gods by chucking up my less than impressive breakfast consisting of a single bite of crispy bread and a tube of nutripaste. My whole body had all but given out, and I would have crumpled into a sorry heap of sweaty human if it wasn’t for the EVI activating the suit’s in-armor positional reorientation mode, keeping the armor nice and rigid whilst I squirmed inside.
To the outside observer, and most notably to Thalmin, I would’ve arrived with the flair of your typical videogame protagonist. Having gracefully, and rather epically might I add, landed on both armored feet whilst simultaneously decloaking and retracting both the grappler and its tether. I even did the thing they taught you in training where you followed-through when the grappler was fully retracted, meaning I’d pulled both of my arms back just as the grappler housing unit clanked shut; resulting in me inadvertently striking a pose just to cement my triumphant return.
Tween and teen Emma would’ve loved seeing this, and would’ve given anything and everything to be present-Emma.
Present-Emma, however, wanted nothing more than to die right now.
“Elevated Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, and Respiratory Rate detected. Cadet Booker, do you require medical assistance?”
“No, I’m fine.” I managed out through a stifled hiccup.
“Affirmative.” The EVI replied mechanically. Then as if nothing happened, it repeated the query from before in the exact same tone and cadence. “Requesting operator status.”
I groaned out in annoyance at that. But what was I expecting from a military VI? Some fake commercial-grade faux-compassion protocols?
“Operator status: nothing to report, just some mild nausea and vertigo.”
“Affirmative. Do you wish for me to administer anti-nausea medication, Cadet Booker?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Affirmative. Terminating Battlefield Networking and Combat Maneuverability Assistance Runtimes, standby.”
Just like that, I found half of my HUD suddenly freed up. The various programs and subroutines that were practically carrying me through that whole sidequest were suddenly terminated, their processing power being reallocated to the EVI as the virtual intelligence took back all of its real-estate with a ravenous hunger.
“Emma.” I heard the voice of a certain wolf prince breaking through my reverie. “That was… just…” I could hear him leading up to a compliment, a gushing one at that if that wagging tail was any indicator, but he stopped halfway. Instead, he decided to step forward, only to punch one of my shoulderguards with his fist. “Ya didn’t need to show off you know!” He spoke through a toothy grin. “There’s nothing to prove and no one to prove it to, so calm down with the theatrics there, my would-be rogue!” He continued, giving out a series of hefty, hearty chuckles as he did so. “You’re performing to an audience of one!”
I snickered outwardly, before responding with a healthy shrug and an unseen smirk. “Where I come from, flashiness and practicality aren’t mutually exclusive. But thanks for the considerate words, I’m glad to know I have a future as an entertainer or a rogue if things between the UN and the Nexus turn sour, or should my stint at the UN not pan out.”
The lupinor let out a single dry chuckle at that, baring his fangs as he did so. “It’s good to have an exit strategy, should things indeed take a turn. Which reminds me, how did things go with the Apprentice?” The lupinor’s tone took a shift at this, as he transitioned from that playful banter into a more serious tone of voice. “Did our gambit work out?”
“I would probably be fulfilling my surname’s namesake and be booking it out of here if things had gone south, Thalmin.” I began with a bout of sly humor.
Thalmin’s expressions however, didn’t seem to reciprocate my attempt at a joke.
I took this prompting to correct my course, as I purposefully cleared my throat before continuing. “In all seriousness, Thalmin, things went surprisingly well. The apprentice didn’t freak out. In fact, she seemed quite receptive. More receptive than I honestly expected, but I think a lot of it has to do with what she calls a life-debt? I’m not sure if that’s a literal thing here in the Nexus, but given how serious she seems to be taking it, I bet it had a pretty significant impact on how she took my request; especially when you consider the unconventional way I went about getting to her in the first place.”
“A life-debt?” Thalmin parroted back with a severe look on his face, his snout actually wrinkling as he said that. “Did she actually use those words, Emma?”
“Yeah.”
“The apprentice…” The lupinor paused, trailing off as he seemed to be trying to find the right words. “...Is proving to be more honorable of a soul than I initially gave her credit for. Life-debts aren’t something to be trifled with, Emma. They are as socially binding as they are honor-binding. So this is rather significant progress. Please, continue.”
“There’s nothing much more than that to our conversation to be honest. We talked about the crate, I emphasized how big of a threat it posed, and she agreed to help. She said she’ll be talking to Mal’tory ASAP, probably sometime tonight.” I shrugged, before I realized a pretty sizable revelation that I’d all but left out. “There was a pretty non-insignificant development that I wasn’t really expecting from the whole exchange though.” I muttered out under a half breath, eliciting quite a few visible twitches from the lupinor’s triangular ears. I took this as my cue to keep on going. “You remember how it was pretty obvious that they were singling out that crate specifically, right? From the videologs we reviewed a few days ago?”
“Yeah, I do. I’m assuming she told you more about what it was that triggered that response?”
“Correct, and it wasn’t what I was expecting, like, at all. The apprentice claims, and I quote: that Professor Mal’tory wished to reclaim what is rightfully the property of the Academy, and by extension, the property of the Crown.”
Thalmin’s features began shifting yet again at that revelation, a dour severity took over, as the lupinor’s eyes began to dilate with a look of genuine unease.
“Emma…” He began with a throaty breath. “What exactly did your people put inside of that box?”
“Well, the apprentice called it a Minor Shard of Impart. She said-”
“Stop. Did you just say a Minor Shard of Impart?!” Thalmin interjected with a solid, guttural bark.
“Yeah I did. So after that she said-”
“WHY DID YOUR PEOPLE FEEL THE NEED TO PUT A PLANAR-LEVEL GIFTED ARTIFACT INTO YOUR PERSONAL BELONGINGS?!” The lupinor prince shot back with a series of loud, ear-shattering barks, each one louder than the next, which for a split second managed to surprise and overwhelm the EVI’s automatic volume adjustments.
“I have an answer for that.” I managed out with a sheepish tone. “I really do, but you gotta give me a sec.”
“DON’T THINK YOU CAN JUST GRAPPLE AWAY FROM YOUR PROBLEMS EMMA-”
“No, no. I’m not going anywhere. I just need to check something real quick, alright?”
With a look of utter confusion from Thalmin, I switched off my external mic, turning to the EVI as I addressed it with little room for patience. “So, schematics of the ECS? What did’ya find there, EVI?”
“The Minor Shard of Impart corresponds to a component designated as the AM-d-002b Low-Bandwidth Exoreality Unidirectional Narrowband Pulsator [AM-d-002 L-BEUNP], colloquially known within the exo-com department as the Trans-Dimensional Tranceiver.”
“That doesn’t sound really Nexian to me-”
“AM-d-002b being short for Anomalous Material-derived object, Cadet Booker.” The EVI quickly interjected, providing me with a neat little correction that could’ve just been stated outright.
“Wait, 02? I’m assuming this was the second crystal of its kind to be sent to the IAS? The one they kept talking about in D-Wing?”
“Correct, Cadet Booker.”
“I thought they said the thing’s power-source went kapoot ages ago? How did they-”
Warning: 10 successive attempts at physical confrontation detected.
“Emma?” Thalmin’s voice over-rid the conversation happening inside of the suit, his hands were currently placed on either side of my shoulders as he was shaking me, or at least attempting to, for good measure. “Emma are you alright?”
“Yeah! Yeah. I’m fine.”
“You completely froze for a solid minute there. I was getting worried.” Thalmin paused, his expressions shifting from concern to a patiently questioning one. “So, you’re sure you’re alright?”
“Yeah! I just needed some time to find an answer.”
“Alright, good. So, you’ve found an answer then?”
“Yup!”
“Alright then… WHY?!”
I let out a nervous sigh, uncertain of what it was the big brained whitecoats at home had gotten me into. “Erm, because some of our scientists and engineers were trying to construct a device that allows for communication between different realities. Now, I wasn’t exactly briefed on the specifics since I had a lot of other things to worry about during training. But long story short, we… kind of just retrofitted the magic crystal to send what we want it to send, instead of what it was intended to send.”
Thalmin’s eyes looked like they were about to pop right out of his head, as I could practically feel him fuming through all the layers of metal, composites, and nanoweave. “You… you actively, knowingly, and willingly repurposed a Nexian Gift?!”
“I mean, the apprentice said she also detected that it had been modified in a sense, so would that fit the bill for repurposing or-”
“YOU ACTUALLY DESECRATED A NEXIAN GIFT?!”
“Hold on just one sec.” I said sheepishly yet again, as I went through the motions of pinging the EVI for more details. “EVI, anything to say about the whole modification and desecration thing?”
“The component in question was designated as an Anomalous Material-derived object, Cadet Booker. The designation of 002 categorizes this as the second of the Nexian objects sent through the portal to the IAS. The sub-designation of b categorizes this object as having been deconstructed into two discrete components, namely: AM-d-002a, and, AM-d-002b.”
“So that’s what they were talking about when they said they had an easy-solution to the issue of entanglement, they literally just decided to break the damn thing in half. That’s… I can’t even be fucking mad to be honest with you.” I began laughing, half because of the stress, and half because of the ridiculousness of it all. “That’s fucking brilliant.”
I finally turned back to Thalmin, who seemed to still be a bit wary at my sudden introspective escapades, but was willing to go along with it.
“We erm…” I instinctively reached my arm behind my back, in an attempt to scratch the back of my neck, but was once again met with the unyielding presence of the armor being in the way. “I mean, if your definition of desecration involves stuff like breaking the crystal in half then I guess we might have done it?”
Thalmin’s mouth hung agape at that answer, as not a single sound escaped his gaping maw.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“I know it sounds insane, but it was necessary in order to-”
“Emma…” Thalmin stopped me in my tracks by what could only be described as a cross between a dulcet growl and a concerned whimper. “Do your people have a death wish?!”
“I mean, it’s a gift, and they even said it as such. We even reiterated it. It was a gift that had a practical and utilitarian purpose: to act as a tool to facilitate communication between realities. Besides, they’re designed to go kapoot after a while right? So what’s the harm of just repurposing one that’s already dead?”
“It’s because you weren’t supposed to. Its purpose is to serve as a tool for communication, yes, but after its utility has gone, what instead remains is its symbolic significance . I… I think Thacea will be better at coming up with a concise explanation of this. What I do know is that these gifts are meant to be cherished, as a sign of mutual respect. What gave your people the impression that this was even a good idea to begin with?”
“The portal people, as we knew them at the time, emphasized that they wanted us to keep exploring all avenues to reach them. They were also incredibly vague about what they expected from us. Now, we didn’t really have a lot of options, so I think our guys kind of assumed that the crystals might have been part of that whole process to reach the other side. So, we just went at it.” I shrugged. “The natural evolution of this is the repurposing of that project for our home-grown exo-com project.”
“The… they… the… the portal people…” Thalmin began breathing in and out rapidly, before he started to cackle, his whole chest heaving up and down in a series of uncontrolled laughs. “The portal people, upon first lines of discourse, encourage new realms to further expand on their mana-based practices. When they said you were supposed to explore every possibility to reach them, they meant everything but the desecration of a planar-level artifact intended as a gift.” The lupinor paused, taking a moment to regain his footing as he leaned against one of the terrace’s many ornate statues. “I don’t know whether to be terrified for your people for having committed this brazen act of defiance, or completely ECSTATIC by this flagrant disregard for adjacent realm stately decorum.” His eyes pierced straight through those two lenses and right into my soul. “Can you just answer me one thing, Emma?”
“Go for it.”
“Why did your realm assume that it would be a good idea to try using a Minor Shard of Impart for your own machinations?”
I tried to come up with an answer, I really did, but only one thing came to mind. An answer that was sort of a non-answer, but was a good one all the same. “It’s because we’ve had a long history of tricking much smaller rocks into thinking. I think our scientists just assumed that tricking a much bigger, fancier, magic rock into talking for us wouldn’t be that big a leap from that time-honored tradition.”
My answer seemed to have hit harder than expected, as the lupinor mercenary prince’s face looked as if he’d just logged out of this conversation. I was left there with a completely broken prince, on a completely empty terrace with the winds starting to pick right up. Looking up, I saw rainclouds starting to form, as it was clear any open-air spaces were probably going to be soaked pretty soon.
“Come on, let’s head on inside. Thacea’s about due to come back right?”
----------------------------------------
The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts, Hallway Connecting the Castle to the Medical Wing. Local Time: 1725 Hours.
Emma Booker
It had been three full hours since Thacea had entered the medical wing to conduct her misdirection mission. Three full hours of what I could only imagine was an endless onslaught of vapid conversation points that would’ve all but fried my brain into a goopy mess of oobleck. I’d expected our bird princess to return with a dead look in her eyes, or worse, as a completely reprogrammed zombie having been subsumed back into the Nexian ways.
Reality however, couldn’t be further from the truth. As Thacea arrived with the same determined gaze she’d given us when she left. In fact, there wasn’t even an ounce of fatigue behind those sharp copper eyes.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 275% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
She even managed to pull up the privacy screen without breaking a sweat. Though to be fair, I wasn’t really sure how difficult those were to get set up.
“This is most certainly a welcome surprise.” Thacea began, slowly but surely shedding that haughty ‘proper’ cadence, and entering into that earnest tone of voice that honestly felt more at home with the person she was. “I’m glad to see both of you are well.” The avinor took a moment to pause as she noted Thalmin’s expressions. This seemed to be enough for Thacea to gather that something else had recently developed.
“Emma, could you please tell me what exactly happened with the apprentice?” The princess spoke with a preemptively timed exasperated sigh.
----------------------------------------
Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30. Living Room. Local Time: 1755 Hours.
Emma Booker
It was probably a good thing that Thalmin was the first person I talked to about the true nature of the ECS, because it was clear that Thacea had a lot more to say, but was keeping her side of things deathly silent until we finally returned to the dorm. It was clear she was using the commute time for all it was worth, as those eyes never once let up in their intensity throughout the entirety of our walk back.
It was only after the doors to the dorm had closed did she finally relent, letting out a sigh as she turned towards me, then Thalmin, before gesturing for the both of us to take our respective seats on the living room couch. “And that’s all you’ve told her about the significance of the Shard of Impart?” Thacea kicked things off by directly addressing Thalmin.
“Yes. I mean, you must forgive me princess, I wasn’t one to regularly frequent the Havenbrockian Ministry of Adjacency. It was more my sister’s prerogative, as I was training for the ranks of the military, before finally being singled out for the Academy.” The lupinor prince shrugged.
“That’s quite alright.” Thacea managed out politely. “I’ll take things from here.” The princess now turned towards me, as those avian eyes once more pierced straight through my opaque lenses. “Emma, what your realm has done is something that few would ever think to do, much less dare to act upon. Stately Decorum deems gifts as less of a transference of ownership, but rather, a transference of ownership with caveats. Namely, that the item in question be undefiled, and is to be in the same condition it was received. It is a matter of courtesy, and a test of due diligence. The modification of a gift not only violates Stately Decorum, but it also is a taboo that hearkens back to The Great War. Beyond this, the very nature of it being one of the scant few magical artifacts capable of planar-level magic, is yet another strike against your favor in the eyes of the Nexus.” Thacea laid it all out for me, as it was clear she wasn’t done with just that topical explanation. I honestly expected nothing less from her. “The Minor Shard of Impart is one of the fundamental cornerstones which underpins the Status Communicatia, the forum of inter-realm diplomacy that ties all realms to the Nexus. During the war, these shards were purposefully shattered, as a sign of rebellion against the Nexus. Legends say that its shattered remains were repurposed into a new system of Status Communicatia, one that doesn’t rely on the Nexus as its focal point. Though many question whether or not this venture was successful, the act of destroying a Minor Shard of Impart has become synonymous with open discontent, or outright rebellion. Now, since Earthrealm is still considered a newrealm, I’m certain this offense will not be considered in the same light. I believe what Professor Mal’tory is truly concerned about is what you claim to be… a means of repurposing the Shard of Impart for your own purposes.”
The princess paused, as the wave of just… everything was already starting to hit me hard. Everything made so much more sense now that she put things into perspective, and provided me with that crucial historical precedence that changed everything.
“Emma, you do realize that if your artifice works, it would be analogous to the legendary counter to the Status Communicatia. It would be proving a principle that has all but been shrouded by the sands of time. I believe this is why Professor Mal’tory has taken possession of your artifice, Emma. It’s not just for the purposes of saving face from the embarrassment you inflicted on him during orientation. It’s also not simply because it’s an offense against the Stately Decorum. I believe that one of the major instigating factors is in fact the destruction, modification, and repurposing of your realm’s Minor Shard of Impart.” Thacea stated concisely, causing both Thalmin and myself to turn towards each other with a look of outright disbelief.
“I… fuck this is becoming way more intense than I thought.” I paused, before leaning in closer. “How do you know so much about this whole thing, anyways Thacea?”
“Knowledge has always been one of the few weapons in my arsenal to ward off against the others within my court that would prefer I was no longer a nuisance and a blight on the realm. Rather than pursuing potential mates, sharpening my talons or my blade, or honing in my web of connections, I instead focus also on the accumulation of every scrap of knowledge I can muster. You will be surprised how certain esoteric bits of knowledge can be used to one’s advantage against many a royal and noble.” Thacea spoke in coldly, and in no uncertain terms, before turning to face Thalmin. “No offense was made to your endeavors of sharpening your claw and blade of course, Thalmin. I was merely providing my side of the story.”
“No offense taken princess, you know how things are in Havenbrockrealm. It’s far less… intense, and far more casual than the court life in Aetheronrealm.”
I took a few moments just to breathe after that entire spiel, as Thacea and Thalmin’s gazes now landed on me. “So, I do have a few questions about this Minor Shard of Impart business.”
“Go on, Emma?” Thacea chirped affirmatively.
“Why can’t your realms just make their own?” I asked bluntly, as a part of my memory quickly harkened back to that conversation with Sorecar. Maybe this was the result of the same issue?
“Two primary reasons. One: lack of expertise. Two: a lack of significant enough levels of mana to allow for the propagation of the crystals used to make the minor shard of impart. You must understand, Emma, the minor shard of impart is a truly planar-level artifact. Not just an artifice, but an artifact. It isn’t so much created as it is birthed from the earth itself. This is the result of a combination of geology and mana that can only be found here in the Nexus. This is why the Nexus gifts these shards annually, as the ambient environmental mana of adjacent realms are incapable of sustaining its use. The less mana a realm has, the more shards are sent to resupply that adjacent realm, as the internal mana stores of these Shards of Impart deplete quicker the less ambient mana a realm has. Which begs the question… how are your people so certain that this artifice will even work? By what means are you assuming you can simply break a Minor Shard of Impart in half in order to communicate back to your realm?”
“Yeah, didn’t you say Earthrealm was a mana-less realm, Emma?” Thalmin quickly added.
It was at this point that I turned to the EVI, who had already conveniently pulled up a diagram of the ECS, particularly of it in-action. I went to work reading the simplified diagram, before I finally got it.
My eyes grew wide as I saw just what the white coats at home had concocted, and to say that I was beyond ecstatic at what the science boys had come up with, would be nothing short of an understatement.
“Simple, princess.” I started, as I grinned wildly underneath my helmet. “We’re just using the same rules you just outlined.”
Thacea’s face went completely blank for a moment, as something very quickly clicked in her head, leading to two eyes which shot back a look of complete and utter disbelief.
“You’re not implying that-”
“Oh yes I am.” I interjected with a snicker growing ever more prominent. “We’re in the Nexus are we not? The MREDD has already proven a simple principle, that our artifices are capable of shoving mana from one area to another, hence why my tent is mana-free. It’s not that hard to consider the possibility of pushing mana from the ambient air already rich in it, back into a small enclosed space. And you said it yourself: the crystals are only capable of growing naturally here in the Nexus due to the sheer concentration of mana here. The Exoreality Communications Suite has a dedicated series of mana extraction chambers designed expressly for the concentration of mana back into the chamber with the crystal. I’m assuming that’s enough to make it work, right?”
Thalmin’s face was all but glowing with complete and utter excitement, as he turned to Thacea as if to gauge her reactions to my small little explanation.
The avinor… was expectedly, completely floored. “As simple as that is… This actually might work.” She admitted with a breathless sigh.
“There’s something about you Earthrealmers that just keeps putting a smile on my face, Emma.” Thalmin panted back with an excitable grin, punching the side of my armor with a furred fist as I could only look back with a look of genuine giddiness. “How about we take tonight to leave for a small feast in the grand dining hall? The apprentice will be talking to Professor Mal’tory tonight won’t she? I’m certain the professor will summon you sometime in the morning. So how about we spend tonight feasting away, in preparation for what’s to come tomorrow?”
I turned my head reluctantly towards Thacea, as if waiting for her go-ahead.
“This is a prudent course of action.” Thacea nodded once. “It is important to keep appearances, public social gatherings are but an aspect of this.”
It was with this majority vote that I reluctantly agreed with a heavy sigh. “It’s not like I’ll be able to eat anything, but, sure. It’ll get my mind off of things until tomorrow morning I guess.”
----------------------------------------
5 Hours Later
Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30. Local Time: 2355 Hours.
Emma Booker
The dinner was just about what I’d expected from Nexus fare: fancy, overplanned, and seemingly endless. When I thought they’d just about ended dinner service, another platter came out as if to taunt me and my inability to consume those tasty morsels. I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than an hour at a dinner before, let alone five.
By the end of it, I felt like I’d been put through a gauntlet. Though having five hours of downtime just to talk with both Thacea and Thalmin was honestly kind of nice. It was certainly something I didn’t know I needed, but I was happy enough to have gone along with. Sort of like when your friends invite you to do something you didn’t want, but it ended up being better than you thought.
Though I would be lying if I didn’t say I was more than glad to be out of there, as we now turned the corner towards our dorm.
Except instead of an empty hallway, I was met with a lone gargoyle, standing patiently in front of the door.
My heart suddenly sank right into my gut as I realized what this was all about.
“Emma Booker. Professor Mal’tory has approved your request. The Professor sees fit that you meet him immediately. Please, follow me.” The gargoyle spoke with a guttural, bassy voice, as if the stones inside its form were vibrating in order to generate that facsimile of a voice.
I turned back to face Thacea and Thalmin, who looked on at me with genuine concern.
“It’ll be alright.” I managed back with a forced smile. “I’ll be back before you know it. Promise you won’t blow anything up while I’m gone alright?” I made one last attempt at defusing the tense scene with a small infusion of humor.
Thalmin responded with a nervous smile. Thacea took it a step further by gripping my hand tight and maintaining a steady gaze of determination, as both of our eyes locked for what felt like longer than just a few seconds. “Remember what I told you over dinner: calm is the ally of the victor, panic is the flatterer of the defeated.”
I responded with a small squeeze through my gloved hands feeling the avian’s gaze of determination flowing through me, before carefully untangling my hand from her own. “Trust me, I’ll be fine.”
“I will count that as a promise, Emma. Know that knights do not break their word.”
It was with those few parting words that I finally stepped away from the group, trailing behind the gargoyle as my course was now set to see this whole thing through.