Chapter 154: Book 3: Warning

Chapter 154: Book 3: Warning

Before I can do anything else, a warning blares into my skull, making me wince from the sheer force of it. I have to blink away the spots in my eyes to even begin to parse what just happened, but when I do, my eyes widen.

[Let it kill you.]

It's a Paradox Warning. The skill construct resonates within my core, and I stare up at the volley of golden spears. I don't like the idea of letting it kill me. I don't like the idea of not pushing this fight to its limits and getting everything I can from it. Almost unbidden, I can feel something rising within me, responding to my desire to keep fighting.

The Knight. It struggles to free itself, and already I can feel its influence leaking into my Firmament; my skin hardens, gaining the glint of solid metal in odd, mishappen spots. I grit my teeth, forcibly pushing it back—I can't afford this right now. Not if I need to let myself die. I don't know how I know, but I feel certain that if I allowed it to take over, I won't die. At least not easily.

And if I let that Seed get destroyed... that's a failure that has a chance of blowing back into other Trials. As much as I'm interested in seeing that process, I don't think I'm ready for it. I need to have something that allows me to—

Oh.

I suddenly understand, and the moment I do, I trigger the skill.

Paradox Warning. I feel the skill activate, then feel the way it coils around me, asking me to complete the loop, to send back the warning that gave me this train of thought in the first place.

So I do. Sending the message just a second or two into the past doesn't cost me as much Firmament as it might have otherwise, but the cost is still staggering; I feel nearly a quarter of my Firmament supply empty out of me in a way that I almost never feel these days, leaving me to stagger and grit my teeth.

No time to let this slow me down. The Seedmother's skill is seconds away from firing, and if I don't make sure I'm hit first, both Guard and Ahkelios are going to suffer more than I will.

"Guard!" I call out. "You know where to meet me?"

"I will find you," he calls back gravely, apparently sensing what I'm planning. Good enough for me. Ahkelios calls out in alarm, clearly also sensing what I'm planning and disapproving of it, but before he can try to convince me otherwise, I Accelerate up to meet the spears.

I have to admit: as many times as I've died in the loops, I don't think I'll ever quite get used to the feeling of being stabbed multiple times over.

[You have died. +57 Strength credits. +15 Durability credits. +32 Reflex credits. +50 Speed credits.]

—

When I wake up, I'm lying in the dirt, staring up at the sky. Ahkelios stands on my chest, his arms folded across his chest.

"You let yourself die again!" he complains.

"I did," I agree. I reach up to pat him on the head, and he flails for a moment as he tries to push my finger off before he reluctantly accepts it, huffing. "I know you're worried about me getting used to it, but... I'm in a time loop, Ahkelios. I need to take advantage of it while I can, especially if it gives me an advantage."

"How does this give you an advantage?" he grumbles.

"We've got some time before Guard manages to find us." I push myself up to my feet, prompting Ahkelios to hop off and then reclaim his spot on my shoulder. "Why don't we find out?"

"What are you talking about—" he begins, but I don't quite give him the time to finish the question.

The Road Not Taken.

It's the realization I had. I might have been able to fight off the Seedmother and protect the Seed, especially with the help of the Knight—but that's not what I need right now. What I need is information, specifically on the consequences should I fail a Ritual stage, and that Seedmother set up the perfect opportunity for it.

I'm changing a decision that's a fairly limited amount of time in my past, but even then, it's a costly use of Firmament. I feel about half of my reserves drain out of me, leaving me with barely a quarter left, and I groan against the strain; I feel Ahkelios's worry flicker down the bond as he reaches out to support me with his own Firmament. It's an automatic act, but it still makes me grin.

It all starts with the Seed.

The Seed is tied almost haphazardly with the Interface, like the Integrators couldn't quite make the Interface to do what they wanted and had to brute-force it into doing what it wanted; limited though my senses are, I can feel how tiny threads of phased Firmament thread through the Seed and into the Interface, reaching a core of something that's beyond my ability to sense. The destruction of the Seed causes a ripple that echoes into the Interface...

That makes sense, actually. If the Intermediaries serve as a primary means of connecting different planets, then the Interface must serve as a secondary one; it is a single construct that ties together all Integrated planets.

What, then, do the dungeons have to do with it?

I have to push my senses farther. The Knight resists, but I manage to wrest enough control to activate both Firmament Sight and Phaseslip; it pushes everything just a little bit farther into clarity, and allows me to see...

What is that?

I can't be sure what I'm looking at, but it feels almost like the dungeon is part of the Interface—like the threads that lead into the core of the Interface also attach to the edges of this dungeon, right at the corners of what I can sense. The entirety of the Empty City is twisted into itself, creating a self-sustaining bubble of space that's stored in the Interface.

Is that what this is? Does the Interface somehow take these dungeons and... contain them within itself?

Before I can think on it any further, a second attack slams through me; this time, it's one of the Seedmother's legs. The Knight snarls in retaliation, resisting as much as it can. Our armor survives for a moment as the street cracks around us.

Another moment.

Two more.

Impossible pressure rises around us, and we resist with everything we can—but eventually, the street beneath us cracks, and we plummet into darkness—

The skill ends. I come back to awareness, my chest heaving; even Ahkelios looks a little bit shaken. He climbs off my shoulder, looking a little bit dazed, and neither of us say anything for a long moment.

"First of all," he manages to say, his voice not entirely steady, "that's cheating."

"Was it?" Even in my current state, I manage a cheeky grin at the mantis. "I'm pretty sure I'm just using what's available to me."

"It's cheating," he insists stubbornly, though he can't quite resist the grin that steals across his face. "...You think you can use what we found?"

"I'm sure I can." It's going to take me a while—I'm not dumb enough to think I can mess around with the Interface without severe consequences just yet. But once I've got Gheraa back... well, who knows?

I hear Guard's thrusters in the distance. He wasn't kidding about being able to find me.

"Wanna take bets on how many tries it'll take us to beat the Seedmother?" I ask, injecting a bit of levity into my tone. Ahkelios looks up at me.

"Five," he says.

"Three," I say easily. And only because I want to study those skill constructs on its back.

Guard lands a moment later. "Four," he says, having apparently heard the conversation. "I will adjust my strategy, but it is not an easy battle."

"We will adjust our strategy," I say, smirking. "But fine. Let's see who's right."