Chapter 19-2 Weapons of Ontology (I)

Chapter 19-2 Weapons of Ontology (I)

Building a Heaven is like trying to bottle an apocalypse. Designing canons, then, is giving said apocalypse a personality.

It is obvious to even the lowest creature that a Heaven is calamity manifested. A defiance of reality and all its laws in exchange for a new order. This, more than the looseness of the tapestry, is why Heavens are built within controlled ruptures, for what better to encompass a wound than another we already know how to suture?

Beyond the sacrifices needed to materialize the raw form of the entity and the scriptures required to narrow the Heavens effects, there must be other things offered into the jaws of chaos. Everything must be examined. Objects. Environments. People. If there is one mistakea singular misstep in the mythology and how it interfaces with the world, the structure of the Heaven will cascade into a collapse and fall.

Thereafter, what should have been an instrument to be wielded will then become a cancer of damnation that must be contained.

Hence, I wish for everyone to understand that your urgency has been heardand discarded.

An Agnosi cannot deny a build certified by the accords, but if they say it will take ten years, then you will not grant them a day less.

I am aware of our arrangement. You do not need to remind me of the oaths to which we are bound and the services we are obliged to provide. But I will remind you that our duty is above your station. Our duty is to the maintenance, preservation, and restoration of existence itself.

Know this when you stress my brothers and sisters designated to your Guilds. Know this when you demand the creation of another impossible weapon, and they strive to make not only the single most ruinous construct they can conceive, but must also do their best to keep us all alive in the process.

-High Agnos Jakuta Ajayi

19-2

Weapons of Ontology (I)

Total Heavens:

->[SANGEIST] x22; [LUSHBURNER] x15; [GALESLITHER] x18; [FULGERHUND] x12; [SNAKE-KING] x2; [SPRINGSTORMER] x4; [SHATTERHEAD] x10; [BULLET-BREEDER] x2

Sangeist (Blood/Matter); Lushburner (Biology/Fire); Galeslither (Air/Space); Fulgerhund (Lightning/Matter); Snake-King (Distance/Space); Springstormer (Biology/Lightning); Shatterhead (War/Strength); Bullet-Breeder (Guns/Matter)

Calculating total Domains

Domain of (Blood) x22

Domain of (Matter) x36

Domain of (Lightning) x16

Domain of (Biology) x19

Domain of (Air) x18

Domain of (Space) x22

Domain of (War) x10

Domain of (Strength) x10

Domain of (Guns) x2

Domain of (Luminosity) x1 - Leftover from [Shineguard]

Eighty-five golems. Eighty-five Heavens. One hundred and seventy Domains. The combined bounty earned from fifty-two continuous hours of raids, runs, and thefts.

And now, the reason for former Agnos Kae Kusanades lascivious smile. The symmetry of her face seemed designed around her smile, and so, despite the exaggerated expression she held, the thinness of her lips and the smoothness of her skin remained unblemished. The same could not be said about the shine of excitement in her crinkled eyes, her irises darker than they were before.

Assembled within the George Washingtons Command Nexus, the present members of the cadre included Dice, Avo, Chambers, Draus, Essus, and Kae, with Tavers and Sunrise in attendance.

Swiping through the holo-haptic constructs representing each of the recently devoured Heavens, Kaes teeth gleamed like beaded pearls as her grin grew wider and wider, her uncharacteristic behavior infusing Chambers with growing discomfort.

The man, pushing off the throne that was essentially his by this point, kept hiseyes affixed to Kae as if she was a bomb on the precipice of detonating. Chambers sent a direct message to Avo via Neurodeck, {So I gotta say something. Im not liking that look on her, Avo. Not one bit. Last time I saw a smile like that was on the face of Kid-Slicer Yoed. That fuckers Lustaway would be triggering all the while when juvs were screaming. I mean, damn, he sliced off a lot of ears in the Crucible. Shit. Rest in shit, Yoed.}

Avo shot Chambers a brief glance. {Dont compare our Agnos to a degenerate.}

{Im not comparing her to him. Just you know, that look. Thats not the look a mentally sound person} Suddenly, he paused, tilting his head at Avo, then at Draus, Dice, Kae, and down at the kitten currently pissing on his feet. Avo just kept staring. {Alright. I get the point. Were all maniacs. Except Essus. Poor bastards in nasty company.}

Chambers chuckled and Avo drove his attention past him, studying the near-flat sitting close beside Tavers. Essus still looked lost, but his thoughtstuff held to a steadier current now. More stability.

So, Draus said, seated on a chair constructed by smart matter as she finished loading another magazine, you reckon we got enough toys to kick this party up a notch or what? Gettin tired of snuffin chaff. She punctuated her words by slotting a flechette into the empty mag Dice handed to her, the girl helping in the preparations. I want me some big game.

Not yet, Kae responded, though her excitement remained. Not nearly enough to kick this party up a notch as you say. Each Guild has hundreds of thousands of Heavens. The golems abandoned in these Warrens are centuries out of date in thaumaturgyelevated from obsolesce only by virtue of Stillborns capabilities. Her dark eyes shifted over to Avo as she ran a hand through her shoulder-length braids. Her smile dipped into a sneer momentarily. You have no idea the promise they stole from mefrom my work. My life. What I could have

She drew in a breath. But she was smirking still. Face joyless, but gleeful, bright with fiery purpose. Being allowed to work her craft once more filled her mind with iron and returned to her a pride once savaged by thought-incinerating flames. For lesser Agnosi, a commission for a Heaven takes years. Years of studyyears of testing and trials. Countless lives offered on the altar of progress.

She shook her head. I remember before you took the fire from me, I once told you that your Frame would see me and my fellows made redundant. My words were too kind! Not only can it make us redundant, it will shame our efforts in the process. Even with simulated designs, the precision offered by your Imitators is beyond the capabilities of mortal ken, without a chance of rupture or failure. All it needs is the proper structural inputs

Sweeping a hand through the projections, the visual replicas of each Heaven swirled around her like planetary bodies bound to the gravity of a star. A hand came up, and she pulled a Lushburner from the ensemble.

But as the EGI pleaded, another thought filled Avos mind. Other considerations of his own.

{Avo} Calvino sighed.

Will see what I can do, Avo finally said.

That earned a toothy grin from the waif, and reinforced with Kassamons traits, it suddenly dawned on him how young she was. How soft. He quickly resequenced himself away, deleting the guilt before it could overcome him.

Humanity was an insidious thing.

{Careful not to let that morality bite you,} Calvino tittered.

Okay, Chambers said, grinning. That cats a Breaker. I can feel it. Destruction. Mayhem. Piss. He pointed down at his boot. Hey, Kae, is there are Heaven of Piss.

You will never have it.

There is!

Anyway, Avo re-railed the conversation before things could develop into a place more scatological, Woundshaper served me well. Zephyr too. Datacaster essential for survival. Think the first is a good tower. Physically affecting. Want it to be more. Create things. Fabricate matter and flesh both. Expand control.

And spread your influence like a fire? Kae asked with a smirk.

Yes.

I think it can be done. But your Zephyr though She seemed more uncertain. That will require adjustments. Much like the Twice-Walker. We must borrow deeper into the mythologies. Make them harder to paradox and tighten the parameters of their canons. Her eyes narrowed. Or overhaul them altogether.

Shootin out from reflections and turnin people to glasss been useful, Draus added. But I need somethin with a bit more kick. Fuck the ice bear. Give me somethin that can slag a block. Thatll pair well with the Twice-Walkers my say.

[Cant say I disagree,] Abrel stated. [Which is probably why you got the Bullet-Breeds from that patrol, didnt you? I was wondering why you went for one so out of the way.]

Avo refused to acknowledge her implications, but Kae caught on without any prompting.

I think we can make something of the Domain of Guns, she said. Or fire. Or war. Or even Strength, really.

[Keep your Heavens a bit mixed too,] Kassamon said. [The Twice-Walker and Galeslither are pretty good at getting away but they lack any offensive capabilities. Specialize but dont neuter is what I learned. Give yourself a few options at least.]

That was an easy suggestion to agree with. He told Kae as well.

Chambers? Avo asked. Have a selection to choose from this time. No need to compete with Draus.

The man smacked his lips together. I want some lightning. Lightning and fire. Something elemental. And wont let people get away from me. I want to be everywhere and in their face all the time. And then, I want an easy pocket. So I can you know

Contained Rash-pockets, Kae muttered to herself, seeming a bit disgusted. Wonderful. What has my life become.

Wait, Chambers added, looking to Avo once more. You got one of them Paladins in your brain-fire now, right? I think I saw the girl between the flickers. Karde.

Kare?

Yeah. What I just said. Why dont you you know. Spread the memories. Share the experience. With all of us. Make it easier.

A lull followed as Chambers realized the nature of his suggestion, of Kae being subjected to the fires anew. Oh, shit. Sorry, Kae. I, the fires uh I mean, its really not that

Fuck it, Draus said, interrupting his stammering. A boulder inside Avo plummeted. He turned to regard the Regular. She was standing now. Looking directly at him, her features inscrutable as she ran her tongue along her inner cheek. She shot a look over to Dice, and then another at Chambers. Finally, she rested her stare back on Avo. Lets see it.

See it? Avo asked.

Lets see whats your fires like, Draus continued. Aint youve been waitin for this. For me to ask?

Avo breathed. Would have been fine if you never did.

She scoffed. You would have spent the rest of your life pussyfooting around. Sides. Im tired of you hoarding all the spoils in your mind. I wanna know what my kills feel like. How itll be to sink among them.

Across the chamber, Avo heard Tavers mutter. Fucking Regulars. Godsdamned maniacs. All of them.

What changed? Avo asked.

Shotin, Draus admitted. Got a new thrill to slake. Need a bigger gun. Better skills. And a lack of time. But lucky me I know a certain memory dealer that can rebuild minds.

Draus, Kae said, bravado faded, suddenly sounding very unsure.

S fine, Kae, Draus replied. Aint never been fraid of fire. Not gonna start now.

Wont be able to take this back, Avo said. An instance of you

Will finally be able to keep you in line from the inside, Draus said, sneering. And maybe youll fight worth a godsdamn bare-clawed now. Who knows. Itll be a small miracle, next to a big one. So. The hells are you waiting for, cosang? Light me.