Icarus Awakens

It was in the middle of the afternoon that they got back to the compound overlooking a town with a steadily increasing population. Their housing had thus far avoided the public's attention thanks in no small part to Spinner's defenses, and Daniel only felt slightly guilty about sectioning himself off because of what they hoped to accomplish to solve this.

Now that they'd gotten a show of Khare's true potential, it was time for some hard conversations ahead of their return to the Arcadian. The ship was only tangentially related, but it felt like reopening that can of corruption would just be another excuse to delay things.

Daniel was going to get right on that, mentally scheduling Hunter to come by his room later tonight, but Willow interrupted everything by sending a jet of fire into the sky. The sparrow was sitting on her shoulder, grumpily giving her access to his nature for Spirit Strike. Following Mavar's advice she had her second spirit invested in the frost wyvern. It may or may not be their final body, but it would give them more than if they sheltered in Willow. The sparrow didn't get this privilege for obvious reasons.

"Hi everyone! Do you have a few minutes? Spinner has something to show you." She gestured up to where the drider was standing atop one of the side houses. Spinner was wearing one of several dresses she'd had made that covered shoulder to half a meter below where the two halves of her form met. She had some armor for her torso that was infrequently used, but even Daniel's resource stockpile would be strained making barding for the spider portion.

Webs had been woven in front of her so densely he could see them from the ground, and in such a way they looked like they could be the control panel for a psychopath's kill mansion. For a moment Daniel was excited that Willow had finished repairing Spinner's mana structure, but her aura still lacked the '???' tag Hunter had that probably hid what the Octyrrum considered his class.

Spinner took a few nervous breaths, taking in everyone now staring at her. It was more than just Wingcraft in the courtyard, everyone housed here was out or watching from one of the windows. Even Khiat's parents, who stood in day armor next to an unclad, skeptical Gtoll. "Hello," she said, voice trembling. "I'm Spinner. Thank you for your attention. I, um…" she gulped, and froze on the spot.

Nearby, Tlara stopped trying to pretend she was ignoring Padri's persistent attempts to get her to consult on 'order protocols' and actually ignored him. She sucked in air, and then shouted, "Fuck 'em up, Spinner!"

The dusker Berserker was the only one who tensed, as he'd sensed the lines of electrical annihilation that Spinner called webbing strewn all across the place. She was in a decent position to backstab the group if that's what Tlara wanted, but her mistress' encouragement was meant for something else. Daniel was trying to puzzle out what that was, expecting her to pull out a violin and use the webs as an amplifier.

Instead, Spinner placed both of her hands into the web construct and then pulled back, many lines of individual string looped across the fingers. It didn't help distance her from the image of a demented puppetmaster, but what she did with actually did with them was everything Project Spinner had been trying to accomplish.

Purple light began to glow from one section of the courtyard. Initially it looked like it normally did when Spinner ran current through one, contained within the thread, but the light began to spread out to fill the space between the lines. The webbing itself still shone slightly brighter, and the way she'd laid it out formed a grid pattern in the ground. One by one, they began to shift into different colors.

She's using electrokinesis to change the color of her lightning! Daniel realized, recalling what Lograve had said about Spinner's ability. Alex's subtle smile told him there was more to this than that. If she could manipulate the webs to create light, what else could she do? Oh. I already know.

Sound began to play across the courtyard. It had a pitch to it that sounded synthetic to Daniel's ears, though those who weren't familiar with synthesizers wouldn't know the significance. His ears picked out several sources, Spinner activating different clusters of web to act as speakers even as the lights continued to grow brighter.

First it was one instrument, a violin played far better than Spinner could manually despite the distortion. It was joined by a guitar, which was far better suited to the distortion from Spinner's webs, and finally percussion that was a decent approximation of drums.

The initial beats were experimental, Spinner getting accustomed to controlling multiple sources of light and sound over the large area. She held up well, benefiting from her higher attributes. It was multiple effects, but she was accomplishing everything through a single manipulation of mana-turned-electricity. Spinner was effectively running a concert through the power lines.

A concert in a rather specific genre, pop. Daniel narrowed his eyes at his sister who winked in return. Alex could play classical music just fine, but she preferences outside of that she'd infected Spinner with during their lessons. He wasn't worried about people reacting to the foreign style of music, they were beyond trying to keep the secret of Earth from anyone important. No, Daniel was just sure Alex would be a bit prideful about pulling this off later and mentally prepared for her later, well-earned smugness.

However, Spinner still wasn't done. With further control of the electricity flowing across her fingers she began to alternate the colored squares in patterns, reinforcing the dance floor aspect as she opened her mouth and sang. "In darkness I was made, no comfort or name. I was nothing. A simple beast hunting to survive the day."

You couldn't forget what Spinner looked like because, well, look at her, but at the same time Daniel hadn't considered something. Her top half was avianoid, with modifications sure, but she hadn't lost the race's siren-like voice that lost none of its charm when broadcast. Her voice was simple and sad at first, despite the driving rhythm supporting it.

"Hatred filled me up, but it was not mine. I was nothing. Struggling in my silent fury." Spinner looked at Tlara with shining eyes, the Beastmaster taken aback by the display so far. "Your light shone and took me away, gone was the pain. I was saved. Walking to a new life. Found and saved, I was found and saved, all of you helping me on my way. There's still a path, distance to go. I can face it all if I'm with you. Of all I can say, there's something I have to. I'll say thank you. Thank you!" Spinner drew out as what sounded like the chorus of her song finished. Tlara's look of shock was complete, though Daniel could feel she'd meant it for more than just her.

"It's not winning a war, but this is still the best thing I've done since coming here," Alex spoke softly to Daniel, not activating her sound suppression amulet so she could enjoy the background music Spinner was letting continue wordlessly for one more verse. "We're working on more lines for this but Spinner couldn't wait to share it any longer."

"How long has she been able to do… this?" Daniel asked, gesturing around in general.

"Before you left to get Khiat's parents. She had to get better with it before we could pull this off." She raised the loop her amulet hung from. "Thanks for this, by the way. Made it really easy to get away with it. Spinner really wanted it to be a surprise."

"It was." Daniel saw the moment was beginning to wrap up and had a thought. "You must have been there when she was testing this. Can she amplify any sound with this web? Copy something and send it through?"

"She should be able to. Why?" Alex peered at him suspiciously. "What are you thinking?"

"I never told you about this, did I." Daniel dug his phone out of the shield and passed it to her, the right app already selected. "Everyone can use a chance to relax. See if Spinner wants to keep the party going. That has every song I can remember, so even with your taste you should be able to pick out a good playlist."

Alex punched him in the arm, hard because she knew he could take it, then did a double take at the screen. "Holy crap, you weren't kidding. Doesn't this make you basically a Bard?"

"The music doesn't have any magic in it. Besides, I never use it. Well, almost never." He didn't want to get into his history there, good or ill. "Go on, it's fine. People might not understand the lyrics but it'd still be fun. So long as I stay in the compound I'll be close enough to make it work too, since I'm willingly giving it to you."

"Alright. Just remember that you wanted me to do this." Alex started running away before Daniel could challenge the mischievousness in her voice, and he decided to let it go. Searching the nearby auras, he found Shuni had started to return to the main house once Spinner's song had stopped and ran up to her.

"Any plans?" he asked cheerfully.

"We're talking with Hunter tonight. And weren't you going to talk to your sister about something?" He'd been guiltily vague about that since it should be Alex who found out first. "I was going to hit a bakery before the crowding shuts them down. Not looking forward to rationing. Though, aren't there Cooks now?" She shook her head. "Weird class."

"Let them level and we'll see what happens." Daniel knew that stat-boosting meals had to exist as a power and could already imagine wolfing down something delicious right before a hunt. The previously restricted classes that were more heavily bent toward pure economic or entertainment purposes wouldn't have much of a direct impact on the war, but their presence was already beneficial.

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One current problem faced by society at large was the destruction of everything they'd ever known, which disrupted normal trade and inflated prices to the point where bartering was more effective. Daniel hadn't felt the pressure because he was rich, and could charge exorbitant prices if he ever decided to sell items, but there was another issue the governments of his world wouldn't face. Money was limited, you couldn't just print more because it used precious material that certain Arcanists like to burn through. Changing to a different currency would invite a different kind of chaos and wouldn't be a solution in the short term.

Rationing would fill the gap, but another factor relieving stress was the appearance of these new classes. They increased the supply of goods in general and helped make up for the shortfall in traditional industries. This didn't really help those who couldn't get a class as the flow of coins remained above them, but at least this dying region had a Commander that'd make sure they didn't starve.

All that being said, the noncombat classes were hit with the same advancement penalty stick everyone else was, and it'd be some time before the first reached level 2. "You're spacing again."

"Oh, sorry." Daniel smiled self-consciously as Shuni waved a hand in front of his face. In the distance, Alex was carefully flying up to join Spinner on the roof. "I'm delaying things with Alex for at least an hour. I think you'll want to stay, could be fun."

The lights in the courtyard dimmed and a few seconds of music played in scattered bursts as Spinner tried turning her stage into a DJ set. Shuni raised a feathered eyebrow. "What exactly do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking I'd give you a taste of something from Earth."

"Well, I like what I've had so far," she whispered conspiratorially. It was fortunate for both of them that the draconoid appeared after that exchange, if only for mutual embarrassment's sake.

Zolyra teleported right next to them as the first song started, and then abruptly paused as Spinner reacted. Some of the nearby webs began to gather a stronger, deadly voltage that relaxed when she recognized the Arcanist.

The Commander saw that there was not an ongoing crisis as she had feared and sighed. "Sorry. People reported seeing flashes of light. Everyone's jumpy. Huh." Her foot touched one of the thin lines of power on the ground as it began to project light again, though Spinner was holding off on everything else. "I think I'm beginning to understand what's going on. I'd stay if I had the time. I do have to ask you not to continue past dusk unless you can suppress the light and noise, people need as much sleep as they can get."

"We can do that," Daniel assured, knowing that if this turned into an all night kind of thing he'd just use it as an excuse to push what needed to happen to later. "Everything going alright?"

"As good as it can be." Zolyra was about to manually cast Teleportation through her Spellcraft feature, a process that took far longer and wasn't boosted by her other powers but would save a scroll, then remembered something. "Oh, finally had this analyzed. Would've been sooner but Silora couldn't do it and we had bigger problems. Took the leader of Torch's church to pull it off." She handed Daniel a bag of holding. "Level 7. Descriptions in there. Not much of it and I'm tempted to ask, but it is yours. Just don't waste it."

Shuni was already frothing at the beak with curiosity. "What is it?"

"That wood we got from the cloud monster. Level 7, though?" Daniel shivered, seeing the processed wood inside. "No wonder that thing was dead set on eating it. Glad we stopped it from evolving, I'm betting it would've gotten a deadly evolution from this."

"Going to go see what it does?" Shuni asked hopefully, though not because she wanted him to say yes.

"We're good, guys!" Daniel shouted to the courtyard at large, before he took one of Shuni's hands. "You kidding? There's someone more important right here." Behind him, the dance floor's colors slowly changed as Alex's first chosen track played, 'Hooked on a Feeling'.

…

"This is music? Not what I would have… ah," Mavar Helioc, Prime of the Illustrious, sighed as something he could recognize as an instrument began to play after the first section of odd grunts from the 'song' finished. Not one he could place, nor could he understand the language of the singer, but he quickly grasped the theme as it continued.

He wasn't as keen an expert in this as other topics, mind you, but the collective had its own artists and, more importantly, Bards. While none among his cohort contributed directly to their primary goals, they still had a people to keep safe and sane during the long exile and coming war. Culture was important, and he was not immune to curiosity himself as one not of this world was exposed for any to hear.

However, Mavar Helioc, millennia old master of transmutation, was not here for the tunes. He had been honest in his agreement to a non-aggression pact with Daniel. That didn't preclude him from keeping an eye on the Artificer/Incarnate, especially as his underlings could handle the fortifications in Aughal without his direct input. Observing the actions of this man, as well as those around him, from afar would provide valuable information and ensure that he kept the terms of their agreement covert.

Yet, he found himself troubled. He had taken vows when swearing vengeance against Hammer for the god's sins against him, and the one he held most dearly was to never distort the truth. To his allies, enemies, even himself. Especially himself.

His convictions remained unchanged. Hammer needed to die, if only to remove one of the most stubborn influences on the Octyrrum. This world needed change, and the Illustrious were positioned perfectly to be its harbingers. Should the promise of a better way fail, he had no qualms with revealing everything to the network and allowing whoever was closest to capture Daniel and his small faction.

"But still, spurned and charmed in turn," he remarked, singling out one person in particular below. 'Spinner', as she was called. Daniel's method of spirit awakening was certainly more… organic than Grafting. They had had to perform genetic manipulation on the first generation of every new species to ensure enough variability, aside from the gestalt. His would have the opposite problem, creating lone individuals who would struggle to find their place.

That was what weighed on him. Mavar could recall now his time as a youth assisting with the great project that would become the Grafting. He had known the issues that earlier spirits faced when Grave's church rehabilitated them, it had simply been long enough that even his memory had struggled to recall that initially.

Part of the issue was that the Illustrious had suspended all work with spirits, even purged the 'half-born' from their ranks during the early days of the last Collapse to better ensure their survival. It wasn't vindictive, there had simply been no grafted strong enough to survive. They hadn't abandoned their noble aspirations, but they had put them aside until they were in control and could do a better job of it.

"Should we sacrifice good in the name of perfection?" On a whim, Mavar contacted Sasha through a sending stone of superior design than the handful Daniel carried. It could pierce regional barriers, and woe be to the one who tried intercepting its signal. "Miss Veltrex. I wish to speak with you."

"Prime!" She sounded surprised, which was appropriate. He had taken off without much explanation after sensing Threst die, and had only communicated his absence would be extended following that. "I am available. Is everything alright?"

"Yes." Mavar's eyes continued to track Spinner as the chimeric creature basked in the communal joy. "Do you know what my greatest weakness is?"

There was a thoughtful pause from the sending stone. "Time. I assume you were not counting the need to repair your mana structure."

"You are correct in one way, Sasha." Time was a good answer, simple, one you would give in response to a riddle. Despite all they had bought with their dealings with Hourglass he was unsure of their chances against Hourglass. They could force an engagement easily enough, after that it would be up to how he had prepared himself and the collective. "I would have said the same, but I find myself disagreeing with that assessment as of late."

"What is your answer now?" She asked, wisely, rather than guess at his intention. Sasha probably assumed this was some kind of lesson, but Mavar was simply using her as a sounding board. That was part of his problem.

"Who is the second oldest member of our collective?"

"Andrast-" Sasha began, before remembering the death of the former master of the Astral. "Enlightened Cassar? I know his skills trump my own, accounting for differences in specialization. Mark has yet to break through his class, and the other Enlightened are younger than I."

"Unfortunately, you are correct." The short man who had freed himself from the Beastmaster class was indeed older, though his age paled in comparison to Mavar's. He was practically a child, and could bicker like one. "Do you see my shortcoming now?"

"Lack of any true contemporary." Mavar smiled at that, but it dwindled as Sasha took the thought down the wrong path. "Prime, if you accept my judgment, I believe the collective will be enough to engage Hammer under your direction. You have wisely spared our main forces from other engagements and allowed us to advance at our enemy's detriment. With the Spiritualist's plans shattered, we only need worry about the Old One itself."

"And what if my judgment was in error?"

Sasha puzzled over that for longer, as if the question had cast a Mirror Hall spell on her. "You would have consulted the other Primes. In the worst case, I'm sure there are those that could reposition in time."

She wasn't getting it. Sasha did not have the perspective, for all her years and talent, because he had been standing over her. Others had risen with her. "Thank you Sasha, that is all."

And Mavar was alone, as he always had been. With Andrastia cut off in the Astral, it had been up to him to shepherd the flock. None alive saw him as anything other than an eternal being, alpha and omega. Even Remir Cassar's little outbursts did not rise to the degree of impudence a level 2 ringcat had shown. He had had Foresight to assure him that his choices were empirically correct, at least until that magic had been rendered useless.

Who oversaw the overseer? The other Primes were distant, communication with them limited to avoid notice of the gods. None below him had truly questioned their mission to end Hammer. Or the decision to end Grave. That was history, practically dogma. Unalterable, even if one were to stretch time and return to the distant past.

Could he have neglected his mind through the simple act of depriving it of debate? The majority of his existence had been spent in one place, leading one people. Life changed to suit its environment, this was a known fact. The Illustrious aided this process in their work creating different breeds of monster, but had his mind been narrowing to fit its enclosed surroundings all the while?

This troubled him, deeply troubled him, for it reminded the man of every full-throated accusation he had laid at Hammer's feet. It was the reason he believed the cycle of old needed to be replaced. Did other Primes whose collectives possessed more than one survivor of the last age have this issue? The experimenter within him wanted more data, but the man was cautious. He did not want to give his distant peers any reason to doubt his conviction. But is that not the very instinct I wish to suppress?

There was no clear path forward. The old plan had too much momentum, too much work put behind it to derail at the last second. Hammer needed to die. Though, perhaps, the world at large would have a better way. It remained to be seen.

High above Pinion's Point, Mavar decided he had witnessed all he wished to of the people here and would have returned, when the music below changed. His rapid pace through the air slowed, before he reversed and settled down on a floating island. This new composition was completely different, stylistically as well as in instrumentation. The breathy shouts of the last one weren't symbolic of the entire culture, thankfully.

Mavar found reason to smile again as time passed. His quandary remained, but he could at least stay a while and listen.