Chapter 165: Finally Time

Chapter 165: Finally Time

Tala sat in the lap of a giant, the comfiest chair in the world.

Before her, a book lay open, a massive finger pointing at funny black lines.

A steady cadence of sound washed over her, and though she couldnt understand it, yet, she knew it had meaning.

More than anything, she knew that she was happy to be here, held by the giant, safe, loved.

* * *

Tala came out of her memory, cheeks damp and eyes swimming.

Rust you. Why did you show me that?

-Ding-

-That is your earliest repressed memory.-

Why would that be repressed? As soon as she asked, she knew the answer and didnt want it stated, but it was too late, the question had been asked.

-Tala-The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

-You dislike how it makes you feel about your father.-

Tala grimace. Great The other her was being snarky. She should change the subject before things got too personal.

What should we call you?

-I need to continue following my last command.-

Lets settle on a name, first.

There was silence for a long moment, to the point that Tala thought that shed have to wait. But, finally, -That is acceptable.-

What do you think about AI?

-For Alternate Interface?- Other her could clearly pull from Talas own mind for the reasoning behind the initialism.

Yeah.

-I think it will be confusing.-

How so?

-Im not sure. It just seems too obscure. I dont really like it, either-

Tala grunted. Fair enough, I suppose. You should like the name we use for you, after all.

-I appreciate that.-

So? Should we call you Sue? Thats a pretty good name.

-Im not a boy.-

I know?

-What other suggestions do you have?-

You know youre basically me, but you can think much faster.

-Thats true. So, Im Tala, what should we call you?-

Tala rolled her eyes. You know thats not what I meant.

-True, but its harder to do humor based on misunderstanding when we share a mental space.-

I should call you Dorris.

-Thats hurtful.- Dorris was Talas imaginary friend from her childhood.

When other kids had made fun of her for bringing her fake friend out to play, Tala had asserted that Dorris was real, simply invisible.

When they couldnt touch Dorris, Tala had stated that Dorris was intangible too.

Thus, the neighbor kids had asked Dorris to speak to prove that she existed.

Of course, Tala had informed them, Dorris was a mute and so couldnt speak.

We could say we got a Mage to cure your vocal cords.

Other Tala snorted a laugh within Talas head, which begged the question of how but that would have to be explored, later. -We did promise to do that, didnt we.-

So?

-No.-

Fine. What do you want to be called?

-Well, Im you, just as you are me.-

We already established that.

There was a momentary pause. -Do you just want me to tell you, or should I walk you through it?-

Tala considered for a moment.

-You know, I can hear your considerings, too.-

She sighed. Just tell me the end result.

-Alat-

Alright. That sounds great. You are A Lot.-

-I see what you did there, and I dont appreciate it.-

How? They sound the same.

-Im literally in your head, Tala. I can read your thoughts. In this case, that is relevant because homonyms are incredibly obvious.-

That makes sense. But you had to know Id make that joke.

-I thought you might be better than your baser humor.-

Alat?

-Yes?-

For someone who lives inside my mind, is built from me, and is basically just another aspect-manifestation of my soul, you dont seem to know me very well. Tala felt herself relax a little. She didnt really know why, but having the voice in her head not pre-guess her actions was relieving.

Tala crouched and launched herself forward, locking onto her opponent as she did so. Increase.

Stans will opposed hers, causing the inefficiency of her working to spike.

Tala growled. He couldnt shake her lock, but he wasnt trying to. Instead, he was disrupting it enough to render it moot in the short term, unless she wanted to burn rings for a bout. Yeah, Im not rich enough for that, not yet.

It was actually a bit of a revelation. Jean, in fighting Tala off until she was overcome, let Tala end the battle of wills with a full lock and fully effective magics. Stan, by not opposing the lock itself, and only fighting the working, ended up being better protected than Jean, even though Jean had a much stronger will.

So, oppose outright those who I can block fully and hamper those I cant. That alone was a valuable insight.

The revelation was so foundational, that Tala almost completely missed the sudden working of power, which pulled a line of high oxygenation into existence, with a larger pocket created just in front of her.

Stan snapped, his hand passing through his end of the trail with expert precision just as his glove created the needed spark.

Fire ripped through the air, but Tala dropped and slid to get under the blast.

Stan anticipated her and a line of fire tore down a secondary path to an ancillary oxygen pocket, which appeared just ahead of her aura, in the path of her slide.

The two zones detonated simultaneously, one almost directly over her the other just ahead.

Tala was driven back and down, but not nearly as much as Stan likely expected.

Increased mass for the win! Her physiological inscriptions were still increasing her density, even though she was already at least twice as heavy as she really should be.

Focus, Tala.

Her momentum had been utterly countered, and so she was just lying there on the sand.

She kicked up to a defensive stance just as more explosions rocked the area around her.

Tala felt the activations of power as the defensive magics in her clothing activated to counter the blows.

She was satisfied to see Stans eyes widen as he evidently noticed the armor.

Alright, play this smart, Tala. She took out two tungsten balls and began gravitating one towards her opponent, even as she simply threw the other.

Her opponent gave her an odd look as he easily stepped aside to avoid the thrown metal sphere.

He glanced back at it a few times, clearly scanning it with his own mage-sight, but he seemed to determine that there was no working on the ball that would stab him in the back.

In that time, Tala was bouncing around the battlefield.

Some of her movements were volitional as she dodged and wove around the ever-moving fields of fire.

Some were involuntary as the explosions changed her trajectories and moved her in ways she didnt expect.

Well, this is good anticipation and reactionary training at least.

She drew Flow and threw it in sword form.

Stans eyes widened as the magical weapon spun through the intervening space, but when the superheated blade hit one of his protective zones of oxygenation, the pocket detonated, throwing Flow back and away.

It seemed that the Material Guides defenses were as effective against Flow as against lightning.

Tala called Flow back to her and continued throwing it at regular intervals in both the form of a sword and a halberd. It always encountered those pockets of hyper oxygenated air and was deflected, but that provided a good distraction and allowed her to slowly work her way closer.

She threw Flow one last time as a sword, and Stan ignored it, confident in his defense against the weapon.

It was finally time.

At the last moment, before Flows blade would have entered and triggered the explosion of one of Stans defensive zones, Tala reshaped her weapon into a knife. The knife form did not have a superhot blade.

At the same time, Tala extended her aura a bit to one side, so that the Mage was directly between that part of her aura and the tungsten ball shed thrown earlier, the tungsten ball containing one of her bloodstars.

Tala pulled. Even as she changed her direction of movement and let the ball still in her hand pull her forward just slightly, adding to her speed. The fight wouldnt last long enough for it to be a useful weapon, but it could help with this.

Her opponent didnt have time to notice that his defense had failed let alone to even attempt to stop Flow, before the blade sunk into his shoulder.

Such a wound would hardly have been the end of the fight, even though it would obviously be painful, but that was just a distraction.

Normally, Talas pull would have been incredibly obvious, and Stan could have been expected to defend himself with ease.

Now, with Flow in his shoulder, he had an instant of less acute focus.

In that instant, Tala mirrored her inertia into the proper bloodstar and the tungsten ball slammed into his back, near his upper spine, cracking ribs. Additionally, it pulled the mage forward and even more mentally off balance.

The sphere behind him continued to pull him towards Tala even as she closed the last few feet.

His eyes were unfocused as hed clearly been taken off guard in quite a few ways.

She slammed her right fist into his gut, driving the wind from him.

As he bent nearly double, the tungsten sphere helped push him over and Tala changed the direction of her pull, drawing the bloodstar toward her right knee, even as she drove it upward into his falling chest.

There was another sickening crunch as the colossal strength of the hit lifted the Mage off the ground, compressing his chest dramatically in the process.

Victory, Tala! Cazor called, the healer already halfway to them.

The sphere in Talas hand lost the little attraction it had had towards the Mage, because he was no longer her opponent.

Huh I wonder if I can use that somehow.

Stan dropped to his knees, gasping and wheezing.

Tala quickly knelt next to him, bracing him up and holding him steady even as she tucked Flow back in its sheath and the spheres back into Kit.

The healer slid into place next to the two of them, her magic rushing through Stan, identifying the issues. Without a word, the other Mage placed her hand on the damaged Mages shoulder and healing magics rushed through him, restoring him to perfect health almost instantly.

Stan let out a gasping whimper, then grimaced and spit out a mouthful of blood.

He turned his head to the healer, nodding his thanks, then looked to Tala. What are you made of, Mistress? You kick like a bull. His voice sounded a bit thick, and he coughed again, cleared his throat, and spit out more blood. You take fire like youre made out of mud.

Tala grinned back. Im just a poor woman, made out of muscle and blood. She hesitated. Well, muscle and blood and skin and bone.

Stan snorted a laugh, then made a gagging sound, coughed, and spit up yet another mass of blood. Yeah. No more challenges for me today.

Tala chuckled. You did great, keeping me at a distance.

I did, didnt I? He gave a half smile.

She offered him a hand up, and he took it. Thank you for the match, Master. She bowed over their linked hands.

Well fought, Mistress. He bowed in return, and they released their grips.

Rane had walked over, and he clapped them each on a shoulder. Well fought, both of you.

They nodded in thanks. Then, Tala glanced away.

I did promise She sighed internally and looked back towards Rane. Ready to have that chat?