Chapter 259: Parting

Chapter 259: Parting

Tala took a seemingly eternal instant to stare at the hole that still remained into the Doman-Imithe.

The hole that shed opened for them to escape the approaching nightmare creatures.

The creatures that were still coming with alarming speed, though they were still a good distance away.

Well, thats probably not good, but we likely have at least a minute or two.

Could the creatures, whatever they were, even come through into Zeme?

She had no idea.

An odd heaviness had begun to build in the air, a feeling that seemed familiar, but she couldnt place.

She shook off the feeling and reached into Kit, reveling in the fact that she had access to her storage once again, and pulled out the sword and the book, tossing them to Thron.

The dwarf caught them with magically enhanced ease.

Here, as we agreed. Id appreciate if you stayed around and helped with this whole mess, but I wont blame you if you leave.

Thron looked at the sword in his hand, the black material taking on a green-ish sheen as he channeled his concept through the weapon. Ill stay.

He tucked the book into his pack. Tala nodded, feeling immensely grateful that she didnt have to face whatever was coming on her own. Ill be right back.

Tala dropped Kit to the ground, willing for it to become a hole opening right above her dais.

She dropped, landing hard.

She gritted her teeth in pain at the hit.

Thankfully, her bones had been reinforced on a material level, not just magically, so she didnt break anything with her hard landing.

That was pretty foolish, even so.

She reached out to the construct within the platform and commanded it to reinscribe her through her mouth.

She wasnt going to muck with the iron on her skin, and while through her mouth was more painful, it was also a sure thing, in the end.

Threads of metal blossomed from the ground and shot between her teeth.

She blacked out for an instant, the pain utterly overwhelming without her inscriptions in place to dull it and add to her fortitude.

She came to an instant later, not even having fallen.

Her will shifted just slightly and an extra bit of power slammed into the Archon star forming in her finger. Well, there goes an hour of my count down

She hadnt really had another choice, however. She hardened her will and sealed off most of her inscriptions, keeping power from flowing through them by pure force of will. She couldnt deal with the backlash of adjusting to enhanced senses, reactions, and other functions.

I just need healing, strength, and muscular-skeletal resilience.

-DING-

A sound, almost like a bell, hummed through her thoughts, and she found the note calming, achingly familiar.

Tears filled her eyes instantly, even though she didnt have time to address them.

Alat?

There was a short instant of horrifying silence.

-Consciousness lost for 0.013 seconds due to extreme painWHAT THE RUST!?!?!-

Alat? Tala was smiling uncontrollably.

-Tala? What happened? No, dont answer that, I can search your memory. Do what you have to, Ill get up to speed.-

Absolutely. Tala bent and sprang straight upward, exiting Kit less than a minute after she dropped in.

-Good call on holding much of the power out of your inscriptions. I estimate at least a couple of minutes will be required to equalize to your enhanced senses and reaction speed once again. The healing, magesight, and muscular-skeletal enhancements should be plenty.-

Thron was giving her an odd look. Reinscribed?

Yes. She scooped up Kit and hung the pouch from her belt.

He grunted. Thought so. That should help, no matter what ends up happening here.

Through the open hole to the Doman-Imithe, Tala could see the black things drawing ever closer, their shape indistinct but obviously predatory.

Tala called Flow to her hand, preparing to fight the things that were almost upon them.

-Oh! I found why this feeling is familiar!-

A screech cut through the air as a creature forged of reality dropped from the sky, crushing the open hole into the Doman-Imithe and sealing it instantly.

-It feels like the reality drake well, I was five seconds too slow.-

Thron and Tala both jumped backwards as they beheld the being before them.

It was an eagle, with a wingspan close to thirty feet across.

Its aura was a healthy sapphire blue, and it looked livid.

Like the reality drake, the reality eagleThat is such a stupid name.had a presence about it that was hard to describe.

Tala activated her voidsight, Flow growing to a void-sword in her hand.

She could see it, the threads of reality woven together in an intricate pattern that didnt so much make up the eagle as define its existence.

Those threads existed in everything, now that she knew to look, but they were miniscule. The eagle was packed full, metaphysically speaking.

-What does that even mean? You make no sense.-

Oh, I missed you, Alat.

-Focus, girl.-

Tala grinned, ready to fend off the big bird.

White metal flowed over her, and her bloodstars rose from their holsters into her battle positioning.

The eagle, for its part, bent forward and screeched at them, clearly zeroing in on Tala for some reason.

-Likely because you just ripped a hole in reality?-

Yeah, thats probably a pretty good guess.

Quicker than she could track without her enhanced senses, it launched at her.

Tala cursed, launching backwards to gain space.

As it turned out, that was unneeded.

Thron stepped between them, swinging his blade almost casually.

The tip struck the eagles beak, and something radiated through the creatures entire body.

Like a cool breeze, the reality eagle blew away, dispersing into thin air and leaving nothing behind.

Thron laughed, his tone almost maniacal. Oh, that was fantastic!!

Tala landed heavily, staring in disbelief.

She swallowed, eyes widening at the implications of the quick, easy destruction of the reality beast.

Her newly returned magesight tracked the dissipating magics from the blue-auraed creature. How?

Thron turned to her, grinning broadly as he walked her way. I explained it already, but Ill do so again. These weapons are designed to deliver their wielders concept directly to the target. For magical creatures, most of their defense is in their aura and passively keeping magics from reaching them. If you can breach that, its childs play to exert a strong concept over them, directly.

She found herself nodding. I I can see that.

Thron looked at the sword in his hand, then at the city in the distance. This is the real deal. I admit that even with the tests I ran in your sanctum, I had my doubts. No longer.

Tala gave him a side-eyed look. That is a bit of a terrifying weapon.

Oh decidedly. Houses have risen and fallen at the mere rumors of the disposition of such a weapon. With this in hand? I could walk into Platoiri and challenge the City Lord. He paled. Im not going to, because he probably has one tucked away himself, among other ways that might end badly, but I could in theory.

Tala grinned, then chuckled. Well, I suppose Im happy for you. I hope you carve a place for yourself, back in your homeland.

Throns smile faltered, then fell. Yeah Thank you.

There was a moment of silence between them.

That was

-Awful.-

Understatement of the year, but yes.

She opened her eyes, nearly screaming at the incredible deluge of light, but she refused to close them again and her eyes adjusted almost instantly, bringing her relief.

She slowly sat up.

The world spun, and she would have puked, but her anti-vomit inscriptions were back online. Oh, bless you Holly.

Thron was standing outside of a green bubble that encompassed her, scanning the surrounding terrain.

He noticed her movement, and the bubble vanished. Are you alright?

She nodded, standing up on shaky legs. Yeah.

Her voice sounded raw, but she felt it healing as she stood. Even so, she pulled a cup of water out of Kit and took a long drink. I need to hunt down my incorporators, soon. They should be in here, but I havent needed them lately.

Thank you.

He shrugged. As I said, it didnt cost me much.

What was the bubble?

You were screaming and getting louder. The bubble broke apart the sound so everyone in Platoiri didnt know you were here.

Oh Thank you, then. Thats a clever use of his concept. I wonder if he can use it more locally, and on himself, to be stealthy That would actually explain a few things.

He smiled. Well, as far as last experiences before parting go, today has been a lot.

It has, hasnt it.

Quite.

She grimaced awkwardly. Take care of yourself, Thron.

And you, Tala. I hope our paths cross in years to come.

As do I.

Tala felt a heavy, heavy awkwardness. Why?

She took a long moment, utilizing her newly returned mental enhancements to delve into the reasoning.

Well, first, we may never see each other again.

-Yeah, and if you do, you two might be on opposite sides of things.-

Tala grunted internally. Its also pretty weird to say goodbye after so long without even a handshake.

-Oh! Me next. Youve been lying to him since you met. I doubt he blames you, but its pretty obvious that he has no idea who you truly are.-

Yeah, and theres the fact that he was a knowing partner and contributor to the system under which I was taken and had who I was obliterated.

-Which might still happen. That dasgannach isnt really intent on leaving in a way that youll survive.-

He did offer to put me out of my misery, and I just gave him a sword that would make that act relatively trivial

-Yeah, its probably good were parting ways.-

She smiled in relief and started to turn, but as Thron also turned to go, he hesitated.

Clear conflict flashed across his features. "How much of the time..."

But then, he just shook his head.

Ahh, yeah. That makes sense that hed be curious.

"How much of my time as an Eskau was I putting on an act?"

He gave a nod in response, clearly curious.

She shrugged. Honestly? I was much more myself in private than you might suspect. You were the closest thing to a friend I had through the whole nightmare.

-Excuse me?-

Hush you.

-I am offended on Terrys behalf.-

I said hush.

Plus, your insistence that Tali treat other people well, let me stop being rusting terrible to the people around me, just to hide that I had recovered. Thank you for that."

He grinned at that. You were a bit awful at the start there. Im glad to know that that wasnt the real you.

She shrugged, not really knowing what to say.

He let out a breath he seemed to have been holding. Fair enough, I suppose. Thank you for that answer. I do hope we cross paths again, and not as enemies.

He nodded again, more firmly this time, before turning away once more.

Then, he was gone.

And thus, I am alone, again.

-Well, you have me.-

Tala smiled, straightening just a bit. I do, dont I?

-Now and always.-

Without looking back, Tala began running to the north and east.

She was to the southeast of Platoiri, and the human lands were to the north, so it was the most reasonable path.

Her great loping strides carried her fast across the ground.

Not quite fast enough to create a magical boom, but certainly faster than a caravan usually traveled, and much faster than a human could usually run.

So, what? Were a few hundred miles from humanity?

-Give or take, but I assume you dont want to deal with the Leshkin.-

Oh yeah, were going around their part of the woods.

-Then we have somewhere less than two thousand miles to travel. Might be closer to one, but Im not sure. Im still not exactly certain where we are. As we get closer, Ill be able to get a better idea, I think.-

Cant you just compare your connections to the Archive from two different cities?

-Of course, I can, but that doesnt tell me anything. The connections are instantaneous, so I cant compare time for interaction, and they dont exactly have a way of telling me where they are in relationship to me. I think Ill be able to use them for navigation when were within a couple hundred miles, but probably not further out.-

Good to know. General navigation it is, then!

-Thats the plan-

And so, she ran.

After shed traveled for about an hour, she opened up Kit and called to Terry. Terry! Do you want to come out for a run?

Terry flickered into being beside her, standing about her height. He looked around, then looked to her, trilling in question.

Yeah, were out. I dont know if well be followed, but Im going to try to go as fast as possible. Want to run with me?

He examined her for a long while, then leaned in to headbutt her chest.

She jumped back. Sorry buddy, I might have something in me that could hurt you.

-Yeah, Im looking into that. I still cant believe you brought me back before solving this-

Yeah, yeah. You keep trying to pick a fight, but I'm still just happy you're alive.

Terry tilted his head to the side, clearly unhappy, but finally bobbed in acknowledgement.

Ready to run?

Terry bobbed excitedly, then threw his head back and chirped happily.

Ill take that as a yes. And she was off again, Terry keeping pace beside her with ease.