Chapter 28: Choice

Chapter 28: Choice

Gheraa snaps his fingers, and the air pulses; this time, it's strong enough to make me stagger beneath the weight. The two initial options are still there, but the two new ones that appear feel strangely heavier. Gheraa holds one in each hand, and he does it carefully, reverently.

Above one hand, I see shards of glass, divided into four perfect quadrants. They shimmer with a strange light, and the Interface's name for it is the longest I've seen yet.

[ The Mirror Twice Shattered ]

"We begin with the past," Gheraa says. There's an abrupt change in the tone of his voice like he's now speaking to a camera. The so-called mirror floats above his hand, shimmering in the light, and I catch a glimpse of myself; in every quadrant, I look a little different.

Determined. Angry. Sad. Frightened.

"You're quite the contradiction, aren't you, Ethan?" Gheraa looks me up and down, and I see something in his eyes, though I can't make out what it is, exactly. An apology? He hums. "Determined and resilient, like a little cockroach... But compassionate. Almost too compassionate. It's a bit artificial, don't you think?"

He smiles at me, his expression entirely genial. I try to ignore the way I freeze at his words.

"You know what being compassionate is supposed to be like," he says, like he's enjoying exposing me. These are thoughts I've never shared with anyone uncertainty that my compassion is real, when it feels so forced; uncertainty that my empathy is complete. "That's the person you've chosen to be. But you worry so much that what you've chosen doesn't match who you are, on a deeper, fundamental level... You've been broken and reforged twice over, and you worry it's left scars."

I stare at Gheraa, and clench my fists. I see his expression flicker, but it's gone almost as soon as I notice it.

I take a deep breath and calm myself. I'll think about this later. What he's saying isn't wrong, but it's also something I've been working on. Before this before the Trial I was better than I had been in years. I can't say dying four times in a row helped, but I like to think I've been dealing relatively well.

"And now for the present..." Gheraa hums. He lifts up his other hand, and above it, Firmament crackles.

I can't see it. But I can feel it, dense and powerful, despite everything else being near invisible to my Firmament sense. It whirls into the shape of a dagger, a sword, a hammer.

The Interface's words above it are comparatively simple.

[ A Weapon Forged And Wielded ]

"You've forged yourself into quite the weapon, haven't you?" Gheraa says. His voice is playfully condescending. "I was impressed with the way you handled that Raid. Only three tries, and you still managed to pull victory from the jaws of defeat... Or maybe you got lucky. If it's luck, then your luck has landed you quite the Inspiration. The Weapon is one of the most powerful Inspirations we've seen far greater than the personal Inspirations."

I stare at the Weapon, and then at Gheraa. Something tells me to step forward and take the Weapon, to use it and wield it against the Integrators. It's a powerful voice that thrums in my head, urging me to step forward, to take it. I've taken a full step forward before I realize what I'm doing and force myself to a stop, glaring firmly at Gheraa.

His expression is innocent. There's something about the way he phrased that one of the most powerful Inspirations we've seen. Not all Inspirations are unique, and this one has been seen before; other people have picked it up, even.

"...Does Naru have this Inspiration?" I ask after a moment. Gheraa cocks his head at me.

"Now that would be telling, wouldn't it?" the Integrator says, nodding to himself. I stare at him for a moment more.

The Mirror showed me four of the most significant moments in my life. It didn't show me the fifth the one where I got over it all.

I suppose that's because something like that never really happens in a single moment. It was a dozen small things; learning to smile again, to laugh again, making myself stop in the street to talk to a beggar and give him some food, instead of walking past. Talking to a therapist, engaging with the world.

My past isn't complete without those moments. The Mirror is still coalescing inside of me, and as I think about how I've gotten this far, something within it seems to resonate. A fifth fragment forms, and settles among the other four.

"I've already been through that particular character arc, thanks," I mutter to myself, and when Mari gives me a confused look, I chuckle. "Don't worry about it."

"I watch your Firmament," Mari says. "You stronger now. But your Firmament more unstable."

I flex my fingers, calling upon Firmament Manipulation and gently twisting a stream of my own Firmament into a helix above my hand. The amount of Firmament I move isn't enough to be visible, but it does feel surprisingly... lighter. Easier to manipulate.

"I just got an Inspiration," I say. "It's an Interface thing, apparently. I had to speak to an Integrator, but... he said I can use it to modify my skills?"

Mari frowns. "You trust him?"

"Not in the slightest," I say. "But there was something weird about him for sure. I think there's more to the Integrators we don't know about. He told me something... He told me one of Naru's inspirations is something called The Weapon Forged and Wielded. I didn't take it."

"Hm." Mari frowns. "That sound right. Sometimes I see Naru's Firmament change. Become wicked. It good you did not take."

"That's what I thought," I say with a sigh. It seems even with the Interface, I may need to be careful. Hopefully, I won't have to deal with too many poisoned rewards I'm not even really sure the Weapon was poisoned the way I suspect.

I could be wrong. Or it could just be an Inspiration that makes you thirst for power, for growth, in which case I can accomplish that all on my own.

"You need test your power," Mari declares. "You not go and fight without testing. That suicide."

"Not like dying in this loop matters that much to me," I mutter, and Mari gives me a severe look.

"That dangerous way to think," Mari says. "What you do after Trial? You forget you not invincible? Dangerous! You not stupid. We spar. You learn Inspiration thing. Then we talk. You need figure out better plan than fighting Naru. He too strong for you."

She sounds like she's figured everything out. Mari speaks with the conviction of someone that's decided on a path and won't be budged from it. She's not wrong, though; it's something I'd already started thinking about last loop. If I make Naru my target, I'm not going to be able to cure Tarin in time, even if I train in the Fracture. He's leagues ahead. I only got the better of him because he has anger issues.

Distract, get the plant, and finish the Hotspot? That way, I won't have to deal with him in future loops; he won't get the alert that brings him here in the first place. Gheraa's mention of temporal banding being difficult to travel through makes me think that Naru's access to outside information is more limited than he made it sound, and that matches with his lack of information on me in our second encounter.

"Does that mean I get to watch Mari beat you up?" I'd forgotten Ahkelios was there. He looks way too excited for this. "I'm going to go find some flowers to munch on while you fight. Wait for me!"

He zips away, and I stare at Mari.

"He also not stupid," Mari says, and grins at me. I swallow.This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.