Chapter 23-3 The Strix and the Ravens (I)

Chapter 23-3 The Strix and the Ravens (I)

+To all Mirror-Concaves and Convexes:

This is a confirmation that the Summer Contingency has been activated. You are free to assume pre-war footing and request the deployment of Heavens of Information for Threshold-III operations and above.

We are pleased to state that the casualties sustained after the “catastrophe” two days ago have proven to be minimal. Communications intercepted between the Paladins and Agnosi have confirmed the “Lodestone” is back in effect.

As such, we have eliminated the possibility that this was a Highflame or Omnitech attack.

Indeed, it appears all other colors were likewise unprepared for the incident and could not capitalize on the opportunity. Emergency deploy of the Psy-Net has also proven critical in several districts, preserving our advantages.

Despite this, the field has changed, and we must emphasize major points of caution for all in-field assets.

The first concerns the reactivation of Samir Naeko. Dormant for much of the last century, he is back to full capacity. All Glaives operating in the Warrens are to dispose of their proxies and extract immediately thereafter. The Chief Paladin is to be considered target category cataclysm – Do not engage him.

I repeat do not engage him.

We cannot risk him turning against us before the time is right or an opening presents itself where he can be nulled.

An elite asset has been assigned to take point on this matter and apply diplomacy due to previous dealings. [MEM-LOG: GLAIVE DENTON UPLOADED] Be aware that Glaive Denton’s operational priority is rated IV. All other operations of a lower rating are subject to cancellation or delay as per engagement guidelines.

The second issue is the return of Zein Thousandhand – Godslayer, eldest of the Glaives, and founding mother of the modern Ori Overclan. We understand that some among you might still feel fealty or honor-bound to her by way of tradition.

Do not make this mistake.

She does not stand for our creed. She is a creature of singular intent and selfish desire. Saintest too the core. She will not bleed for you, and you are not to do the same for her. The statement has been made. Any acts made to release or aid her will be considered high treason and have your name redacted from the annals.

The third and most troubling reports from our Incubi state that distortions have been detected in the Nether, and investigations hint at the presence of Nolothic warminds. Such is why the mass distribution of “Dichomtomist” Info-Sec golems are being distributed among operational groups. Incubi are to assume dive-pattern-vigilance for all ongoing operations. The waters are unsafe once more. The deep is unsettled.

As a final note, we, the speakers for the Inner Council would like to offer our gratitude and respect towards all who have given their lives in recent days.

More will fall in times to come. A great upheaval is approaching. We trim turbulent tides with the approach of the trial.

But as with the Great Waves of Tribulation across our history, we will endure because we, more than any other Guild, stand together. Even in the face of internecine, even with the masks we wear before one another, we are all Ori, and for our dream we strive as one.

What we have in you is not faith but certitude. You have never failed us. And even if you cannot see, every thought, every ghost, every mind in this city will stand with you all as kith and kin.Fôllôw new stories at novelhall.com

Unity is destiny.+

-Emergency Address from Ori-Thaum Inner Council to Active Mirrors

23-3

The Strix and the Ravens (I)

Noise.

With each passing day, the noise in Avo’s head grew. Every death he drank showed him something new–memories of a life lived and passed; how the world was through another’s eyes; how they faced their end; how they believed things to be.

The enclavers that lived above the fallen Neo-Creationist warship were no different. They had their own history. Own personalities. Own delusions. But it wasn’t the windfall he expected. They had not been the ones to build the stone temples, to shape the mountains. That had been done by previous residents. Scaarthians, judging from the runic script. The newly dead enclavers were merely settlers after the Godsfall, looking for a new home to lay their heads.

But now the chain was severed, the relic that determined their biome was entombed within a cage of blood and glass fifty kilometers south of New Vultun.

Meanwhile, he laid the enclaves to rest within his mind, and let their templates wander within a construct of memory imagined from their former home. It would take time for them to acclimate. Time for them to learn the facts of Idheim and Standard. They were tribal people. Primordial. Followers of another Godclad that turned eyes to stone if their oral traditions were to be believed.

Avo would let their templates mature before drawing them out. Let time do its own work.

Leaving them within a separated mind-space, Avo’s avatar instead manifested atop a lonesome tower overlooking a five-hundred-kilometer-wide district locked in perpetual war.

Before the conflagration settled within his ego, he was in the process of adapting his cognitive palace to a labyrinth. Had taken inspiration from the Incubi he nulled during his infiltration of Mirrorhead’s mind.

Things were different now, his former ambitions too paltry to stand against present threats. Imbued with millions ghosts and countless subsumed lobbies, his splinters spread across Idheim as nodes to a network, and from them rose a living city animated from nothing but thought and recollection.

Nukes painted a perpetual sunrise in the skies above as devastation swept through the endless horizon of megablocks. Draus and the Regulars were engaged in brutal close-quarters engagements, firing and killing each other through walls. Enforcers joined in sometimes, the braver ones seeking stimulation, the rest serving as spectators. Most of them died horribly. Bad enough for Avo to drain the trauma from their minds, but the experiences they were garnering proved invaluable.

They all died when line split the horizon clean as Abrel, Chambers, Dice, and Elegant-Moon engaged Lip, Osjon, Glitch, Kare, and Kassamon. Fleets of drones filled the skies as the Godclads fought, dying and returning between the seconds.

With Draus and Fardrifter passing back into the enclave through window, they were en route to meet Kae who was still speaking with Marlowe. The thoughtcast host had the Agnos laughing as noodles spilled from her open mouth.

The mem-cons were slowly dissolving his inner prejudices–melting away the malignance of his former culture, but the taboo of open laughter was a hard trait to remove.

For whatever reason, the master of his place hated smiles. It was a stupid restriction. A pointless one.

The man was lucky he died at the hands of another. Otherwise, Avo might’ve carved a permanent grin into his features before taking all he had.

{And this is why the ethics committee demands that I constantly monitor your psyche,} Calvino said.

+Psyche’s fine. Just got hungry watching Kae eat.+

He shifted again, this time checking in with Essus. Tapping into the man’s cog-feed, he found himself watching a group of youths talking to a heavily tattooed Scaarthian woman from a fifth-story hab-stack.

“Avo,” he greeted.

+Anything new?+

“I think I have another smuggler. This one for the giantesses. The cold-mothers’ Guild.”

+Stormtree.+

“Yes. Smugglers tied to other Guilds seem to be much less active these days. But this one has been aggressive. Almost desperate. I am going to make contact when I can, but she seems only to be interested in the young... I fear to discover why.”

Avo understood and cast a splinter out to infect the smuggler. A passing drone swept the plascrete streets with a flickering grid but otherwise ignored the crowds breaking curfew. +I’ll see what I can get from her.+

“Thank you. Also. There has been an outbreak in Sanctuary 102. Something they brought in from the Sunderwilds. If you have time–”

+Take a look when I can.+

“Artad’s blessings, Avo.”

The ghoul paused. +Keep yourself well, Essus.+

Shifting away from the sanctuaries, Avo became the splinters he had nested across New Vultun, creating a mental replica of the megacity within his mind. Four hundred thousand red dots marked the lobbies he compromised. Over one hundred and forty million minds were noted as moving crosses. Spread out across a continental stretch of land, his presence drifted like threads passing through the currents of the city, but he was there, he was spreading, and a new plague was filling New Vultun’s veins.

ESTIMATED INFECTION LEVEL: 0.00014%

He needed to hit more high-traffic lobbies. Places like Marlowe’s thoughtcast and other frequented haunts. The thought of infesting Stormjumper lobbies came naturally as he watched Kare’s marker descend from Scale to meet her uncle. He cast the mem-data over to Draus and placed her on standby.

If he could secure the Planeshift, he would truly be happy with the day’s recruitment efforts. Right now, he was but–

Auto-Seance Activated

->Session MEM-ID: [Cas eld'Canduir]

Ghost-Link Accepted

+Cas?+ Avo asked, surprised that the Columner was contacting him so soon. He was supposed to making contact with the various cells. As cold tension passed over from the man’s mind, Avo knew there was something wrong.

+Avo. Denton sent me something earlier. Packet of mem-data. Said that Clan D’Rongo was compromised. Said she needed to go dark, and that you needed to be place to watch over. Shotin Kazahara. Said you’d understand why.+

Avo did. +Compromised. Compromised how?+

But before Cas could respond, Avo accessed Denton’s mem-data, and understanding expanded in his mind.

Memories passed through him of Necrojacks sequencing new phantasmics into themselves–a Meta-update on the part of their Mirrors. Denton had neglected to sequence hers, casting it over to Cas as a package instead. Viewed initially, the ghosts seemed to contain stable improvements made to Auto-Seance’s security functions, but faintly, a feeling ebbed inside Avo. A dissonance that made his steam flicker.

There’s a dormant splinter of Delusion in this mem-data. Not ours. Not ours. The Low Masters are making a move.

Peace’s booming laughter lit a flame of frustration in Avo’s stomach. He thought he would have more time after his descent into the Deep Nether. Corner just scoffed in response. [The easy days never last, consang. Looks like you're back to having rivals in these waters.]

+No,+ Avo replied, sharing the information with his cadre–and Kare. The Paladin jolted with a start as he prepared to commune with her. +Not rivals. Prey.+