Shards of Old

This time, the opening was created in a tree.

I guess that meant we were back on the continent, then.

I looked behind me and had to do a double take.

I knew that tree very well.

It was Melle’s place.

-What are we doing here… - I mumbled, not even pretending to be not annoyed. - Come on, this really is pointless…

But, I stopped, seeing as Mike was staring straight up.

I followed his look, and couldn’t believe my eyes.

Just like on the island, the sky was cracked.

But, then we weren’t looking on the horizon. The whole sky was cracking.

-That is not good… - I heard him say. - That’s… Impossible… It should’ve taken her longer than just…

As he was mumbling to himself, I think he finally understood.

-Mor. Didn’t you leave a mark here?

-If you are trying to blame me for anchoring…

-No, not that! I mean, didn’t you want to check the time dilation…?

-Oh, that. Yeah, but at this point it’s kind of…

-Check it - he said, impatiently. - Where is it?!

-Okay, okay… Just…

I had to take a good glance to actually find it. It’s been a hot second since I’ve been here and a lot of things happened in the meantime, so no wonder, I guess…

Not including those supposed “time dilations”.

Speaking of…

I found the tree. But I didn’t get much.

-It’s gone - I simply said, seeing as Mike was impatiently looking and waiting for the verdict.

Honestly, he probably could do that himself?

It wasn’t that hard to get the spot from my memories, right?

-What, “gone”? What does that mean?

-Exactly how it seems - I sighed. - My timer is gone. It’s been too long.

-How long is “too long”?

-Hard to say - I said, scratching my head. - When I set the timer, I thought… well, I didn’t think much, I left mana for maybe a year. And I thought it was even an overkill.

-And it’s all gone?

-Not only that - I shook my head. - It’s completely gone. Not even a trace. I can’t even tell that something was here before.

-So at least a year?

-At least two - I corrected him. - If it was one year, I’d still sense… something.

-Fuck. That doesn’t tell us much. I already figured that out…

-Yeah…

From the places we visited before, it was clear.

While every single one was familiar, all of them were somewhat different. And that had to be because of the passing time.

At first, I didn’t care much, but since I’ve started seeing sky literally cracking above my head, I kind of was getting worried.

-Yeah… I’ve been meaning to ask… what do you think this means…? - I asked, pointing towards the sky.

-That the barrier is failing.

-This much I realized, but what does that mean for us…? - I said, still a bit torn. - Sure, ILMA will get out… so what?

-Don’t you think having a rogue AI is not enough of a problem…?

-Eh… - I shrugged. - I don’t really care…

I probably shouldn’t have said that.

-You sure you’re not under her influence?

-I don’t think so - I replied, raising my hand in surrender. - Calm down.

-I am perfectly calm.

He was not.

His mana was quite obviously irritated.

-Sure you are. But I fail to see how containing her is our problem any more. I mean… we are officially dead, right?

-You think they are that stupid? Our mana is kind of hard to miss. And if someone comes here to pacify her…

-I guess it’d be a shame for her to disappear…

-Disappear? Her? It will be us who’s going to disappear.

-Hmm? What, we already were punished.

-Oh, I am not talking about that - he said, shaking his head. - Imagine that she manages to escape. She goes back to civilization… I mean, more advanced civilization. There’s a good chance that she’ll get killed.

Hm.

Was he worried about her?

I mean, sure, I was too, but I was having a hard time imagining that there’s someone even remotely as powerful as she was.

Hell, even the two of us were just barely her match, and we were on the top once…

But that was not his point.

-Imagine. She dies. Or rather that part of her. What happens next…?

-...?

-She is not just in that singular body. She has multiples, as you are well aware… - he said, pointing towards his own form. - Me, you, other people here, you name it, there’s plenty of hosts for her Origin Crystal.

-So…? You’re scared of being absorbed…?

-No. I am scared of being hunted - he said calmly. - If… What am I talking about, of course they are. WHEN they defeat her, it’s clear that the next target will be us. And I’d rather keep my life, thank you very much.

Was he really thinking that there really are people like that?

-Okay, let’s not overestimate them - I said. - Okay, sure, I guess it’s possible for someone to match her power, but that would definitely exhaust a lot of their resources. And there’s a lot of us. We can still win.

-”We”? - he asked, turning his head.

-Oh, fuck off, you know what I mean. Besides, I am not planning to give up my body any time soon. I am pretty sure I can stay myself…

Or at least have enough power for the two of us to coexist in one body.

As different entities.

Should be manageable, right?

-Yeah, fucking right. Well, whatever. The point is, I want to stop her before she manages to bring ruin to us all.

-Mhm…

Honestly, all this was not convincing.

Not the whole argument about ILMA taking over and us being target, no… It’s more about his reasoning.

After all, it WAS his wife.

I wanna say “our” but that sounds so fucking weird…

Anyway, him just letting go so fast was weird. He for sure had to have some other kind of goal here, but for the life of me I couldn’t see it.

The whole chase, the strange pressure that suddenly was disappearing, the mood swings…

It made absolutely no sense.

It kind of reminded me of… me, somewhat…

Ah, intrusive thoughts.

-We cannot continue like this… - he finally said, interrupting my thoughts. - You are too unreliable…

-It’s not…

-I know it’s not your fault. Well… Fuck, I don’t know whose, or what’s at fault, to be honest… We should be good with your pact and…

-To be precise, I didn’t really fail…

-You never teleported us correctly. That kind of counts as a failure.

-Did I? Well, I think I was on point every time.

-Excuse me? Did you find her and not tell me or some shit? Huh?

-You know I didn’t. But, every time, we found some kind of place that was connected to her, right?

-You…

He paused and looked at me, absorbed in thought.

-Hm. Well… yes. You think…

-That the pact was connecting you to the spots instead of her? I…

-That would be possible - he said, interrupting me. - Sure, your contract was with her, but what is “she” really? She absorbed many people, drained mana all over the place, who knows what exactly her mana is like right now?

-You’re telling me you think she changed so much that the contract thinks that places that have traces of her magic… her old mana, is more similar to the entity that made the pact with me than her actual person…?

-Precisely. But… I still am not sure… those places were abandoned… and why the order like that…? Shouldn’t we just get teleported to what was closest…? It’s…

-While I love this theory, I don’t think that’s the case… - I said, after a moment of thought. - I think… It has more to do with the time difference.

-How does that explain the change of place, though…?

-Easily. I think… I am really targeting her main body.

-Mhm…

-But, the problem is… I am slow.

-Ha.

-I have to admit… I am not the best at this kind of magic…

Yet.

-I know. But then…

-Yeah. Every time we teleported, we were stuck in that “void”, right? And even though it was just a portal, we still, at certain points, weren't on one side or another…

-You think it was THAT delayed…?

-And how do you explain that overgrowth in MIRE? The dead desert that didn’t even have a sign of ruin? Changed islands…? And you said it yourself, this… - I pointed towards the sky - shouldn’t happen so fast.

-If we were that slow… that would be possible…

-I said at least two years…

-If you are right… it’s more like twenty…

-Fucking great…

-Fuuck… - Mike was not hiding his irritation. - That’s problematic…

-Well, it’s not that bad… - I said, trying to be positive. - It’s not like it matters to us… Besides that we aren’t really affected by it, it still wouldn’t matter… we are kind of immortal… at least, if it comes to aging…

-Oh, I know. It’s more that I am worried about this - he pointed to the cracked sky. - If we are correct, we cannot teleport like that any more. Twenty years… ish… yeah, about that… It means that every portal we are losing a few years…

-Yeah…

-And judging by the sky, this thing doesn’t have that much left. I’d say… It's months… half a year at best.

-That much? Still a lot to plan something.

-Plan? Sure. But to get wherever we need without teleporting? I don’t think so.

-We still can use anchors. I mean, regular ones.

-And do you have one…?

-Not really… but we can find something. It’s not like we are completely cut off from the outside world.

-We kind of are in the sticks.

-That’s true…

-Last time I just walked through the mountains, but I don’t think you have the patience to do that…

-Patience… well, I might have it, but the cracking sky probably does not.

-Yeah… I’ve been meaning to ask… What’s going to happen with that…?

-What? I thought you know. The barrier is…

-I know what the barrier is - I interrupted. - I was asking more about what’s going to happen… well, water and shit. I don’t think lifting a spell that is constantly regulating its flow won’t just go peacefully.

-What…

-As I see it, if we remove it, we will be disturbing a lot of the physics of the water. That is got to have an effect.

-Hm… maybe. But that’s not a consequence to us.

-Not a consequence?

-Yeah. Let’s think of the worst scenario. The disturbance creates a wave. While it’s unlikely, it is possible. Let’s say it’s big enough for it to cover the island. So what? We’re not going to get swept. Water does nothing to us. Hell, it’ll energize us a little bit.

-I mean… sure, but don’t you think there’s others that are going to be affected? What about them?

He paused, turned his head in confusion.

-What others? What do you mean?

-Err… people?

-I am not stupid. What people?

-The fuck you are on about?

-The same question to you. There’s no one left.

-What?

-Everyone had been absorbed already.

-What?

-Don’t pretend. You’ve seen scraps of our shared memories. You saw ILMA absorb others. You know she was chasing people.

I saw someone else do that, but I was not going to correct him.

-And you think that EVERYONE got got?

-Of course.

-You really think it’s that easy?

-Easy? The Origin Crystal has been in circulation since we appeared here and were trapped in this place. You think it was easy?

-What do you mean?

-It took planning and careful management. Spiking waters. Creating branches that controlled the population. It was not easy. But after a while, it was confirmed, and even the facilities I created started being pointless: the Crystal was in natural circulation and even newborn children were already affected. One hundred percent coverage.

-Okay… so how did we survive, then?

-Well… we are a special cause… you weren’t here, so…

-I know, I was asking about the rest. My group, after all, wasn’t completely converted. Well, at least not at first…

-You… You know, time is a funny thing. And luck. I think it had to do with your scuffed portals, but I am not sure.

-Portals? I get mine, but…

-Yeah, I am not certain either. I assume that you had to miss the “call” to connect at the most inopportune moments…

-Hm…