91 Days Gone

'Since everything has gone to shit and I have nothing better to do, for now, I'll at least record and recollect this. I just hope I'll be able to read it one day and laugh my ass out, thinking how scared of nothing I was.

It has been six days already. Six days, huh. I have been sitting here for six days already, damn. I wonder, how are Varisa and the kids doing. Okay, screw it, I'm sure they are fine.

Anyhow, six days ago those... those bastards, those brainless fuckers have apparently gone and launched the Spire.

I still can't believe it. I was sure the majority voted against it, but now that I think about it, who actually went and said no? The only two that came to my mind were Rimma Flamie and Pomas Nava. Perhaps, one or two more at best? The rest probably complied or even welcomed this insanity.

Immortality, my ass! An endless source of energy and Mana, uh-huh. To fuck with your bullshit, Vinchi, you degenerate. You should have listened to me for a change. The current research is already proving to be promising. I combined three elements in the lab, and even tested a dual combination with Varisa. She called it the Dualcasting. She likes giving funny names to my projects. Or liked... More importantly, I'm sure I could have made it even further with this multi-elemental theory that would have solved most resource and Mana issues and perhaps even helped us increase our lifespan. But no, this greedy madman went and ruined everything.

I told him numerous times that his calculations were based on a wrong theory, and his main assumption was also incorrect. Even a toddler could attest that was beyond stupid to put so many objectives in one project. This was beyond greed. A mad obsession. There was literally no chance for it to succeed. And here we are.

I should have protested more. I should have stopped Vinchi! But what was I supposed to do? Unlike him, I'm a mere researcher with a family that could be targeted easily... I wonder how Varisa and kids are...

I need to think of the way to contact them.

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Day 8

I'm still unable to contact my wife, but at least our Bond is still here, so she is alive. I tried to use Proxies, but they were all wiped out by these creatures. Ah, yes, creatures. While I'm at it, I'll try to elaborate. When these degenerates activated the Spire, something went wrong. Of course, who would have guessed? An unexpected result, indeed. Shit, could they... Okay, irrelevant. So, something went horribly wrong, and instead of collecting Mana from all over the Lazra, the Spire made a huge, I don't know, wave? This wave went through the lands, marking some regions and skipping the others, and even I saw and felt it. What were those marks for? I don't know, since the closest to my lab is quite far away, and I had no chance to study it. I don't know if or how was this wave related to the creatures, but they came shortly after. They rushed from the west, perhaps even came out of the Spire itself, and devastated everything in their path. These monsters looked like normal animals, but their eyes were replaced by Conjuration marks for some reason. And they were bigger, too, maybe twice as big? Irrelevant.

So, these monsters rushed through the land, there were thousands of them. Through the Proxies, I saw them devour everyone and everything around the lab. There was a fancy market not far from here. Yes, there was, but now it's a bloody grave. Shit, it looks so horrible even a week later, and I even adjusted the routes of the Proxies to avoid the place. These creatures, they ate everything. Other animals, people, food. I even saw one chew on the speeder's generator. That's crazy.

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I don't think they are that strong, though. One of the Proxies saw five Sentinels fighting the first group of these things. I didn't count, of course, but they slew at least fifty monsters, if not more. These numbers ended up irrelevant after a larger group came. But maybe I'll try to go outside and test it for myself?

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Day 11

Still no luck. Both Epheret and Proxy Con are inaccessible and have been like that from the first day, so still no way to contact Varisa or get any news. I have finished an upgrade to the lab's transmitter and can send Proxies farther, but they are still being hunted and killed by the monsters. Luckily, it costs me nothing to make more - as long as I'm alive and sated, I can squeeze out more Mana.

Funny thing, though. I had been stocking up for our first shared vacation together with Varisa for quite some time, saving up and storing quality food and ingredients. And here I am now, eating it by myself when it's her who likes the food, not me. Honestly, I don't care. Well, I mean, who would decline a nice meal? But I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to get things above the basic level. But Varisa, she is different. She... Ah, never mind. I just hope to see her again.

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Day 12

I thought things couldn't get any worse or more messed up. Shit, how wrong I was. Earlier today, one of the Proxies saw a group of almost naked people, you know, covered in leaves and whatnot, running from the monsters. I wanted to guide them towards the lab, but they were too far away. And too slow. And... Urgh, I don't want to remember.

But who were they? Why didn't they fight back?

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Day 15

Now that I think about it, Vinci did mention something about summoning energy from other realms to use it in the ritual. Were these monsters summoned in such a manner?

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Day 18

To keep myself occupied, I have kept working on the range of the lab's transmitter. This Dualcasting is a real deal! After combining wind and lightning glyphs in one chain instead of running them in parallel to each other, I was able to triple the radius of my Proxies. And, which is more important, the range of my connection went up to the Zion City transmitter. There are still some people there! We talked a bit about the catastrophy, but they knew even less than me.

I did learn something from them - by their claim, these monsters are reacting to Mana. That's strange but also fascinating in its own manner. I need to think more.

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Day 22

It took me long enough, but I still made it, and for the past few days, I have been studying these creatures. So what did I do exactly? Oh, that's so cool and elegant. Well, not as much as elegant, but... Whatever. I redesigned the Proxy scheme and added analyzing glyphs before sending these new Proxies out. I call them Inspectors. Indeed, the folks from Zion were right. The monsters do react to Mana. That's precisely how they can effortlessly locate my Proxies! And now I know the reason behind the lab's safety - maxtolitian walls absorb most of Mana, and the rock surrounding it hides the rest. See, Varisa? It was a wise purchase in the end!

But that's not the best part. I studied one of them while it was running after the Inspector, and I found so much more about its structure and functions. Three is something extremely powerful inside each creature, but I'm yet to find what is this knot of mighty Mana. I so wish to dissect one of them. Imagine how wonderful it would be to study such a thing. I'll keep observing them for now.

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Day 24

The work has kept me distracted, indeed. Because of that, I almost missed the date. Yes-yes, it's today. The whole point of me being here - to prepare for our anniversary with Varisa. Twenty-five years... It's been such a long and wonderful time. Well, she did piss me off from time to time, but man, such a woman is one of a kind.

I've been saving the best bottles for the day. Going to indulge a bit.

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Day 30

That strange wave that occurred on the first day, it happened again! I checked, and then I double-checked. Exactly thirty days from the first. Coincidence? I don't know.

A few days ago, I saw one of these monsters attack a group of its kind. It was bigger than the rest, and it shot spells, too. Real, full-fledged spells. I'm not sure, but I think its... eyes? Well, these things on its head, they were of a different color. I need to double-check again.

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Day 30

There are more of them now! I wish I had recorded it! I swear, I saw them materialize out of thin air. Perhaps the 'out of thin air' isn't right. The first to appear was some kind of mineral or crystal structure that then formed the matter around itself, creating the monster. They came from the west before, but now are appearing right here? What does it mean, I wonder.

On another note, the supplies are running low, I should start conserving food. I thought about getting out, but every time I look outside, there are dozens of these creatures walking nearby.

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Day 36

I'm mostly out of food because the last package was damaged, and everything inside it got spoiled. On the bright side, I advanced the studies of these monsters during the past days. Even after double-checking the results, I'm still confused, though. I recorded and analyzed Mana imprints of several creatures through my Inspectors, and they all look oddly familiar. I wish I had access to Epheret or at least Proxy Con to look into the database.

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Day 40

Honestly, I don't know what to say. I have doubted myself. I have doubted the results as I was taught to do. But they are still the same no matter what I do...

I recorded my own Mana signature and compared it to the monsters'. If I were to remove some of the flows possibly related to the Spire transmitter (further study required to determine their origin), I would get identical results. I know how it sounds, I really do. It's impossible, yet it is what I get every time.

On a side note, I turned off most of the functions of the lab since I can no longer maintain the necessary Mana supply. Who would have thought?

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Day 42

I woke up in complete darkness, and the air was stiff and dirty, hard to breathe. Obviously, magenerators are empty now. Oh, how I understand them, I'm running low on... on everything? The grumbling of my stomach reminds me of my university days, those were fun times, indeed.

So here I am, writing this after I used the remnants of my Mana to charge the inputer. It won't be long before it goes dark again, so I'm finally going outside. Perhaps I can, well, salvage a few of these creatures for food?

I'm coming, Varisa.

---

The group had been sitting in silence for quite some time, pondering over the fate of Markes Todo. Only Toatre was unfazed and kept going through various menus and folders, looking for something.

"I assume this complex and Markes himself both ran out of Mana, that's why the door was stuck half-open," Kanai voiced his thoughts.

"But w-w-what a horrible way to g-g-go..."

"It's his fault for leaving everything until the last moment. He could have left the shelter earlier," muttered Iten grimly.

"You are right, but... It still saddens me that he w-w-wasn't able to meet with his w-w-wife in the end."

"Guys is it just me, or some names in this log looked somewhat familiar?" Orisa suddenly said in a thoughtful tone.

"What do you mean? How can they be familiar?" Kanai answered with doubt.

"Everyone, I understand your emotional investment into the fate of an unfamiliar person that died centuries ago, but what would you say about skipping to the most important part?" Toatre interrupted them with an even voice.

"I thought this was the most important part? I think we'd learned quite a few useful details from the log," Orisa looked at the girl with a questioning gaze.

"Oh, really? Well, I'm sorry then. I just thought that you of all people ought to value his research data and the glyphs he was talking about. By the way, from a quick glance over the notes, I also assume that these glyphs are, in fact, the Seals you are using."

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AN: I hope to be back in several weeks.