Chapter 391: Behind_Millennial Mage

Chapter 391: Behind

 T nced back at Alefast as it faded into the distance behind her and her travelingpanions.

 Her unit-mates sat around her, Mistress Cerna piloting theirbined, flying contraption, as she usually did.

 The Paragon for this trip was a wisp of a woman, smaller even than T.

 Her hair was a blonde so light that it was almost silver.

 Her skin was smooth and unblemished, and she could have been anywhere between twenty-five and twenty thousand.

 -Probably in the middle somewhere.-

 Yeah, I think Master Xeel is among the older Archons, and hes only a millennium and a half old.

 -...only.-

 Fair.

 T might have assumed the Paragon was a slender dwarf, but she could see the evidence of the gate within the Paragon easily.

 It was funny that she left her aura open for just such verifications.

 She probably knew what she looked like.

 Or she has an item like my through-spike.

 -That way lies paranoia. Anyone could have one.-

 Thats true, I suppose Are you really what you seem, t? Are you using a through spike to fool me?

 The alternate interface huffed augh within Ts head. -Fair.-

 The group was heading to yet another cell that was near to breaching.

 There was something odd about this cell in particr, but no one could quite tell what it was.

 The general assessment was that it would either beughably easy for their unit, or theyd be calling in backup before even opening the door.

 Master Grediv had begun to rotate through the units, sending them out in something closer to an actual rotation instead of just sending out the smallest units again and again.

 The number of cells appearing this waning was truly extraordinary, and the various units had been theorizing as to why.

 While it was fun to theorize about a time when disaster was striking every week, with some new world-ending threat that the peoples of the day had to contend with, that just wasnt realistic.

 That theory was made less viable by the fact that cells decayed at somewhat random rates. So, the alignment of cell degradation had almost nothing to do with when the cells were originally created and filled in rtion to one another.

 A more realistic, popr notion was that the increase was the result of a cascading effect.

 Since there was already greater stress in the region, cells that might have endured another cycle or two wereing in need of maintenance sooner.

 It was a good theory, all things considered.

 Much better than Ts own original theory.

 I still think reality is especially angry, and its breaking cells down more quickly as a tantrum, or an attempt to wear us down or something.

 -...You know how I feel about that theory.-

 That it lines up too well with the facts, except that it would require reality to have the ability to choose?

 -Precisely.-

 It could also be that one of the cells which is weakening contains a powerful Reality Mage, and he or she is the one choosing.

 -And thats why I dont dismiss your theory out of hand. Do you have any idea how maddening it is when you spout foolishness, then put reasonable backing behind it?-

 T felt herself smile. Considering that Im doing it to myself? I imagine it is pretty maddening.

 tughed within Ts mind, purposely making the sound a bit manic.

 I do hope that isnt the case, regardless. Id rather be wrong than have to sh with a Reality Mage. They sound less than great.

 -Agreed.-

 T lifted her gaze up to Terry, where he perched in his usual ce, eyes closed, simply enjoying the wind streaming across him, ruffling his feathers.

 He was a wonderfulpanion.

 Flockmate. She corrected herself. Friend and partner too.

 Her gaze flicked back toward Alefast once more.

 It had been a week, and while Rane was up and moving around, some indefinable spark had gone from within him and was yet to return.

 He moved slowera bit more deliberatelyas if to make sure he didnt hurt himself.

 He spoke less and seemed to be thinking even more than usual. It was either that, or his mind was wandering without purpose.

 They hadnt specifically discussed the Refining session, yet, and she wasnt looking forward to that talk.

 Still, she had seen him everyday, but it had mainly consisted of her just being there while he recovered.

 As she herself had experienced, magical healing couldnt remove the worst of the symptoms.

 He had to adjust to the changes in his body, ande to grips with the weight of what hed been through mentally.

 She thought back to thest time theyd interacted before the Refining session, her birthday.

 It had been the day before his first session, and T had thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with him.

 She hadn''t expected anything, and he had masterfully surpassed her expectations.

 Several others had wished her happy birthday when shed seen them, her unit-mates included, but shed still elected to spend the day almost exclusively with him.

 Now, he was clearly not in his usual state of mind. After all, he had apparently refused to see Master Grediv.

 Rane was understandably upset with how differently the session had gone than his expectations.

 Master Grediv wasnt too put out by the rejection. He had apparently be rather used to that reaction from those he led to this stage long ago.

 Regardless, T and Rane also hadnt discussed her being in the room with him for most of it. Though, he had said a simple thank you on several asions.

 Honestly, T would be fine if they never discussed it beyond that.

 -Yes, because then you wouldnt have to think about all of the implications.-

 T didnt acknowledge her alternate interfacesment.

 -Of course not, because ignoring yourself works out so well.-

 Instead, she turned her attention back to the diminutive Paragon, who was watching her with curiosity.

 When their eyes met, the woman smiled. Mistress T, correct?

 T nodded.

 The Paragon lifted from the tform and shifted to sit beside T, all without her limbs or muscles moving.

 T saw the womans aura expand a bit, but then all the magic was worked within that shroud.

 Thats a clever application. Still, she must be using incredibly little power to be able to hide it so thoroughly.

 -Or shes just that good.-

 Yeah, that could be it.

 So, you''re the new one in the unit?

 I am, Mistress Sigyn, at least rtively. Its been more than half a year, now. After a moments hesitation, she asked, What magic did you use to move over here?

 Mistress Sigyn tilted her head to the side. Just now?

 Yes.

 Oh, its rather boring, really.

 It wasnt.

 Apparently, she was skilled at manipting temperature differentials.

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 The Paragon tried to exin how that would allow her to float about, but T was so out of her depth, that the discussion didntst too long.

 Even so, Mistress Sigyn didnt leave. Instead, she returned to what seemed to have been her purpose ining over. So, how are you settling in? This is your first waning as well, correct?

 It is, yes. T was a bit hesitant. This should be freely avable information, but she supposed it was just small-talk.

 Its a g pile of a waning to be your first, ridiculously full of attacks and cells in need of repair. She huffed, shaking her head. Ive already been involved in more cells this waning than any full cycle, previously.

 Ts eyebrows rose, but Master Clevnis chuckled, interjecting, Mistress Sigyn, youve helped with two cells this waning, including the one we are going to now.

 The woman nodded solemnly. Exactly. I am being pulled from my research again, and the waning has just begun. Something is odd, let me tell you.

 T found herself nodding. She was cautiously curious to get a Paragons perspective, and Mistress Sigyn seemed more talkative than most. What do you think it is?

 Mistress Sigyn sighed, shaking her head. I study gics, Mistress T, not cells. She hesitated. Well, I study cells, but not this kind of cell. She chuckled. I also dont study reality, or wanings, oranything that would give me meaningful insight into what is going on. I only know enough to strengthen and reseal a cell at need.

 T cocked her head, frowning. So why are you in a waning city?

 Im trying to determine if the people who either chose to stay in waning citiesor those who choose toe to themhave any gic simrities.

 T sat for a long moment, considering. Huh. I had never thought of that. If they did, wouldnt that go against free will, though?

 Mistress Sigyn leaned forward, a bit excited. Does the fact that we get hungry go against free will?

 T slowly shook her head. No, we can choose what we eat, and even choose to ignore our hunger if we want to.

 Exactly. The Paragons face was lit with excitement.

 She thought she understood. I see. So, you''re looking for predispositions?

 Generally, yes. There is the issue that, with free will involved, no data-set can be clean. There will always be those who ovee their own nature toe and those without the means to leave. I am still in the gathering phase of my research. I only have six full wanings of data so far.

 How do you gather it? T found herself leaning forward in interest.

 Oh, thats easy. A part of entering any city is tacit agreement to being monitored by the citys magics. Part of that is verifying no pathogens are spreading through the popce. Because some can modify peoples gic code, the city keeps a single record of each upant and checks it against their current gics every week or so. The information is generally only essible to the city magics, and it used to be obliterated when a person died, or when that city was abandoned. I have campaigned to have the data kept. She grimaced. Theyve only agreed to do so for waning cities for the time being.

 T was a bit conflicted. That seems invasive?

 Oh, it is, and it isnt. It costs them nothing either immediately or in the long run, but it is very real information about them. Mistress Sigyn grimaced. It would be nice if it was ck and white, but like most things, it isnt.

 T was silent as she took in a long, deep breath. Im not sure how to feel about that?

 Oh? Do you get permission from everyone around you before you Archive your every thought? From what Ive observed you can see past physical barriers, do you censor out that information from what you store?

 It was Ts turn to grimace. I suppose not

 Information is power. Mistress Sigyn nodded. Power is what we need to keep humanity alive.

 T found herself agreeing with that sentiment, even if it felt odd to do so. It helped that she knew that all Archons had to have at least some altruism, even if it manifested differently for different individuals.

 Mistresses to mind. That woman was interesting.

 -Yeah, what was going on with thatdy?-

 I dont know. I suppose she could have been an arcane? But I dont think so. I dont think we checked for a gate when we saw her even if she did offer to trade Archon stars

 Have you learned anything interesting? Anything helpful?

 Mistress Sigyn nodded enthusiastically, I have actually, though not in line with my direction of research, not yet. I was able to find several markers that corrted with degenerative diseases of several varieties. We are in process of getting the findings confirmed, and if they are, we will likely initiate a program to remove the defective genes.

 T paled, thinking of only one easy way to remove genes from a poption. How?

 Voluntary gene alteration. Mistress Sigyn gave T a knowing nce. We dont kill people, Mistress T. Not to improve the poption. That would be counterproductive at the very least and immoral in the extreme.

 Oh right. T chuckled awkwardly. Do people actually go for that?

 The Paragon shrugged. We usually pay people to undergo the procedure, after building it into an artifact style device. It takes less than a minute, and is generally rtively painless.

 That sounds like it could be abused

 Yes and no. It has to be voluntarily agreed to. I could probably enact the changes forcibly, but an artifact cant. Itcks the magical weight. She smiled. Just as your body is better at resisting outside magics than the air around us, our gics have proven to be even more resilient.

 T tilted her head to the side, considering. Huh, I didnt know that. Is it because it is more us than even our bodies? She frowned. Then, wouldnt our minds be more resilient?

 Mistress Sigyn smiled. I think our minds are designed to take input and make changes, but our gics generally dont change, some exceptions aside. By their very nature gics are less malleable than our minds, and I think that factors in.

 Fascinating.

 The two women continued their discussion well into the morning as they streaked through the sky, just below the speed of magical resonance in the ambient zeme.

 * * *

 Huh. T examined the writing on the wall alongside some of herpanions. Is this real?

 Mistress Sigyn was grinning broadly. I think it is, and it is a wee surprise.

 Master Clevnis had already sat off to one side, slowly slicing small bits off of a rock that he found. He was clearly sad that the cell was likely tock excitement.

 Mistress Vanga was reading her te, and Master Girt was reading a book.

 Master Limmestare and Mistress Cerna were beside T and Mistress Sigyn.

 Terry had returned to Kit when theydnded in a forest clearing beside the cliff-face.

 The cell didnt even have an antechamber.

 Those who created it would clearly have been happy if anyone were to open it in the future.

 A simple message was written beside the entrance to the cell.

 T was quite happy that she was able to incredibly easily identify the entrance with her threefold sight. Unfortunately, it didnt really show her much. All that she could see was just something that looked much like a reality thread connecting an otherwise innocuous point on the wall to something in between increments.

 Something in the void.

 -It does make sense to have the cells segregated off within the void.-

 Yeah, it also lines up with what weve learned about them as well.

 The message read: If the world has survived, may what is contained within help you to rebuild and endure.

 Its a doomsday vault? Mistress Vanga was looking to Mistress Sigyn. Ive heard of those, but I havent encountered one myself.

 The basic concept was rather obvious.

 There was something that made people of the time fear that the world would end in one way or another in the future.

 Unfortunately, whatever it was couldnt be contained in a cell, so the people of the time took the opposite approach: They tried to send resources into the future to help when they would be needed most.

 Thus, they gathered what they thought would be needed if the feared disaster came about and put them in a safe ce, to hopefully help society restart, or remember, or just survive.

 Some were even from the time before the unification ofnguage, often even from before the Archive, or at least from a time when the Archive wasnt widely usedor not used in a way that would allow a legacy to be easily left.

 Or the information was left in the sections that were deleted when some fools tried to breach them.

 Regardless, given the information provided, this should be a very easy process.

 They would open the cell and determine if the items within were of use. Then, they would either seal it back upnoting what was in it in case there was ever needor empty it and recover the cell-core, if one had been used and if it was recoverable.

 Generally, the existence of a cell-coreor theck thereofwould be a heavy factor in whether or not the cell was maintained.

 Cell-cores were the items crafted so that humanity could still ce something in a cell at need if theycked a Mage capable of doing so with their own magics.

 Currently, T understood that humanity had four Archons who were capable of such, but they might not be nearby when the need was identified.

 Also, the number was only that high due to Archons being so long lived.

 Thus, every city had at least one or two cell-cores for such emergencies.

 T had yet to see one and had only heard them referred to obliquely.

 That is, until now.

 So what does a cell-core look like? Mistress Sigyn looked her way, and T shrugged, continuing, If were going to be seeing if this cell has one, Id like to know what it should look like.

 The Paragon quirked a smile. Well, for starters, it wont be in the cell. It will be on the reverse side of reality, anchoring the cell while helping to hold it suspended in the most robust, physical void we know of.

 There was a lot to unpack in that statement, but one thing stood out, causing Ts eyes to widen. The Doman-Imithe?

 Mistress Sigyn nodded. That is as good a name as any for it. The arcanes, for all their faults, do have a depth and history of knowledge that shouldnt be ignored.

 T tilted her head to the side. Should I go look?

 Her whole unit stopped, turning to look at her even as the Paragon shifted to face her fully. You can go there? On purpose?

 T shrugged. I believe so. I havent done so under my own power, not yet, but I have been considering doing so at some point. If it would be helpful, I can try now.

 The Paragon grimaced, rubbing between her eyebrows. Mistress T Why do I dont

 The woman rubbed at her temples, clearly a bit at a loss.

 Mistress Cerna walked over, next to Mistress Sigyn. Mistress T goes about things in odd ways at times, but she does get the job done. If she says she believes she can, then most likely she can.

 The Paragon sighed, looking up. Oh, I dont doubt her word. Im just a bit bbergasted. Most Refined arent even aware of the Doman-Imithe, and she can most likely go there, directly.

 T cleared her throat. She is right here, and Im still waiting for your answer.

 Mistress Sigyn nodded slowly. My apologies. I was simply sorting through the possible implications. She seemed to consider. Can you get back?

 Absolutely. I am much more confident about getting back than getting there.

 Another moment passed, the Mistress Sigyn nodded again. Alright. It will be a quicker, easier way to get a definitive answer than the methods I have at my disposal.

 T smiled, taking Kit off her belt and tossing her against a nk wall, where she grew into a door into the sanctum.

 There, a nice anchor if nothing else.

 -Good thinking. It would have been rather embarrassing if we got stuck.-

 Your confidence is inspiring.

 -I am exactly as confident as you are.-

 T sighed. Yeah. I figured that was the case.

 -Shall we explore the great behind?-

 T hesitated, stifling augh and almost choking.

 -Hmmm I was going for the great beyond but the Doman-Imithe is behind Zeme. Thebination did not work as well as I thought it would.-

 But it definitely made me smile.

 -There is that.-

 To the great behind! T sent mirth to t within her mind.

 -I really, really dont want us calling it thatplease?-

 Alright. T took in a deep breath and let it out, nodding once. Lets do this.

MillionNovel

Chapter 391: Behind