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Emma
I blinked once.
Just once.
And that’s when it all changed.
Not just my surroundings, not just my vision, not even the constant compression of the undersuit against my skin and the overbearing presence of the tactical info-suite… but my very sensibilities.
One blink had taken from the utter precipice of dread into what was possibly its polar opposite — calm.
An overbearing feeling of calm, set against an acute awareness of apprehension and disorientation.
My gut told that everything was alright, that my floating here, armorless, suitless, motionless in a featureless void, was acceptable. Whilst my mind, my prefrontal cortex with all of its rational sensibilities, scread at , telling that sothing was wrong.
I was floating, but with none of the feedback that water or vacuum provided.
I was present, yet my body felt more like an afterthought than the physical manifestation of my sense of self that should have been second nature.
The world around was absent, not just muted or empty like in water or space, respectively, but absolutely nonexistent.
There were no tells, no resistance against my ‘motions’ as with water, or tiny pinpricks of light — let alone the ever-present sensation of an EVA suit — as would’ve been the case in space.
There was just… nothing.
And sohow, against all rational thought… my gut told I was fine.
Each passing… ‘mont,’ however, brought with it a gnawing sense of realization, as if there was a truth just out of reach, or at the tip of my tongue, that I couldn’t properly address.
It felt like the gnawing realizations of a burgeoning lucid dream. The implicit understanding that the experiences at present were all but a fleeting fantasy, an impossible reality with nonsensical rules and utterly ludicrous assumptions that all gave way to a simple conclusion — this was all in my head, which ant I could easily take control.
But I didn’t.
Or perhaps I couldn’t.
Because as with many lucid dreams, despite knowing and palpably feeling the wrongness of it all, you still felt like a part of it. Or at the very least, trapped within its logic.
This dichotomy persevered, ebbing and flowing between gut instinct and rational thought until finally they reached an uncomfortable equilibrium, one that manifested alongside my bearings of this featureless void.
Finally, perhaps owing to my adapting vision, I started to make out the basic landmarks of this impossible space.
A horizon finally ca into focus — this thin stretch of blacks barely dissimilar in hue to the rest, stretching into a facsimile of a sky painted not with colors or the lack of them, but simply varying intensities of dark.
Then ca the ground, or what passed for it anyways — a thin puddle of what looked and felt like liquid tal, perfectly reflecting the dark around it and, by extension, .
I began pacing, each barefoot step causing neither ripples nor currents to form, further centing this sort of disconnect between my physical form and this formless world around .
I tried crouching, kneeling closer, and putting my face right up against the edge of this infinite puddle, finding not a single imperfection or flaw in this… impossible simulation.
Throughout it all, and my frankly child-like curiosities at the impossible space, my rational mind scread at .
WHERE WERE WE?!
HOW WERE WE OUT OF THE SUIT?
WHY AREN’T WE DEAD?
WHAT EVEN IS THIS PLACE?
HOW DO WE GET OUT?!
Yet sohow, the panic brewing in my higher thoughts never trickled down to my conscious present, its realizations rely existing as flavor text against the sense of calm that never once dissipated.
This disconnect between the rational and emotional started expanding, as the more I explored, the more I felt eerily… at peace.
I didn’t know how to describe it.
It was as if I was finally sitting down after remaining on my feet for decades.
It felt as if my very soul had been released from my body, and the endless heights of the sensations I felt now were granted by the unshackling of gravity.
So lost was I in both thought and motion that I didn’t even realize when I’d sat down. It was only when I looked up, cross-legged and motionless, that I finally regained my bearings.
And that was only because I started to notice another presence, one that was eerily missing before but had finally ford following the introduction of the barest of light sources in the ‘skies’ above.
It was my reflection, directly beneath in the pool of dark and liquid tal.
My rational mind yelled at to use this to my advantage, reciting protocol and shouting for self-assessnts, which only translated to the barest of motions as I began inspecting my bare skin for nicks, cuts, or marks, but finding nothing.
My reflection followed as I used it to my best ability, now better orienting myself following this newfound developnt.
And so I began walking, pacing, one half of my vision locked onto the horizon and the ‘skies’ above, and the other half keeping track of the ground, courtesy of the reflection beneath .
I kept up this casual pace, this nonchalant stroll, my panics fading into the back of my mind, as ti itself felt more like an afterthought than a pressing concern.
Weariness never overca ; tiredness felt as lost to reality as ti itself.
But throughout it all, several constants remained.
The world remained perpetually still, the waters impossibly calm, and reality itself as colorless as it was formless save for my reflection, which followed dutifully.
I took a mont, after who knows how long of walking, to stop.
Not to rest, not out of any physical strain, but instead a reflexive obligation to a mind that told that it needed it.
It was around this point that my fixations grew over the only truly dynamic presence in the space that wasn’t .
The reflection.
I watched the confused expression that stared back at , at the perfectly mid motions of a being clearly not of this plane.
I continued this almost childlike exercise into futility until I suddenly heard a familiar voice.
Emma!
My mind racked itself for a mont.
Then, it felt like a whole life’s worth of mories flooded back in an instant.
My higher thoughts returned, and so did the pressing concerns of the present.
Following which, I moved to stand up, darting my eyes every which way in an attempt to find the source of that voice… only to be t with an even more hair-raising ‘voice’ that clued into the reality of the situation.
ALERT! ACUTE EPILEPTIFORM DISCHARGES NOTED IN EEG!
GENERALIZeeeddd… se i z …
ACTIVATING ERGENCY DICAL PROTOCOLS
AIRWAY PROTECTION AND ERGENCY DICAL IMMOBILIZA…t .. .t io … n …
The voice of the EVI spoke in a heightened state of distress, going in and out of the stillness of this impossible plane, as if attempting to break through the haze.
This forced my breath, for the first ti since I found myself here, to hitch up in panic.
Panic and anxiety returned in spades, these feelings clashing with a world that refused to acknowledge the very concepts.
My pacing grew, as did the wariness mirrored in my reflection.
However, hope grew closer and closer the more I ran towards the voices in question as they grew louder with each passing step.
That was when I noticed sothing different as I looked down for a split second to see my reflection following … but refusing to move.
Its arms were crossed, and its whole body sat cross-legged despite my own frantic motions.
Yet it was dragged along all the sa, like an unwitting projection perfectly matching my pace but no longer my motions.
I ignored it, instead focusing all of my attention on maintaining my pace, frantically sprinting at this point towards voices so clear I could practically feel their breaths on the back of my neck.
Finally, at what felt like the threshold, an ‘exit’ marked with nothing but a hunch and a vibe, did I find my voice returning to .
“THALMI—”
SPLASH!
But it was clear I wasn’t the only one to have cheated the eternal ataraxy, as I now felt a presence, a vice grip on my ankle.
My heart stopped.
And I found myself frozen again, this ti out of pure and unadulterated fear.
I took a steady breath, or I tried to, not realizing I hadn’t taken a consistent series of breaths this entire ti.
Then, and with a clench of both fists, did I reluctantly crane my neck backwards and downwards.
There, I saw it.
A hand.
My hand.
Piercing through the perfectly reflective pool of liquid, wrapping tightly around my ankle.
My gaze was quick to lock onto the rest of the doppelganger, my heart pumping harder and harder as I saw the rest of its form fading into the nothingness of the depths beneath the puddle, further muddying the logic and geotry of this… purgatory of a world.
But it was its face.
That expression on it.
It was the sheer stillness that never once gave way to anything else that truly sent over the edge.
Especially when those eyes began to shift from my own brown pupils to sothing resembling the abyss that replaced the shatorealr’s eyes.
I couldn’t move.
And this ti, I couldn’t tell if it was fear that was doing it or sothing else entirely.
…
Its vice grip soon loosened.
Then, after what felt like another eternity, the doppelganger smiled.
…
Fear and calm both disappeared.
Instead, a certain sense of… detachnt took hold; a removal of all worries and the earthly attachnts that ca with it.
It felt… more surreal than surreality itself.
But this 'bliss,' this weird serenity of the mind from its worldly attachnts, lasted for scarcely a second in the eternity of this place.
Very soon, much to the bemusent of the doppelganger, would my curiosity return. This very worldly drive for answers eventually took the spot that fear, calm, and bliss had once reigned.
The doppelganger eventually pulled its hand back beneath the waterline, its voluntary withdrawal causing the reflective liquid tal to harden, turning into a solid, glassy surface. Following which, it proceeded to place both hands against the glass, palms-open, as if peering into the other side of an aquarium.
Those eyes that’d just sent into a frenzy now treated to sothing completely different— that sa sense of awe that bordered on dread but never outright fear.
Calm returned to , of my own volition this ti, as sothing inside both my rational mind and gut instinct told to give… whatever this was a chance.
It… could’ve very easily dragged down earlier, after all. It had all the opportunities and every chance to simply dominate this headspace that I ultimately had little say or autonomy in. But instead, it chose to remain separate, grabbing only to garner my attention.
Or at least I assud so.
Click! TAAPP! Click! Click!
I looked down once again, only to find the doppelganger tapping its finger against the puddle-turned-glass.
Silence soon followed, but only punctuating the next few deliberate strikes.
Three more deliberately slow ‘taps’ in rapid succession.
Then silence.
Followed by three more.
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And then finally a shift.
A slow tap followed by a quick click and another slow tap.
My confusion persisted but was quickly assuaged as the doppelganger simply gestured for to look upwards.
It was there, after squinting at the varying ‘degrees’ of dark, that the whole ‘plane’ I found myself in erupted in a flurry of colors everywhere, all at once.
I… I was witnessing the birth of a universe.
But in that birth, I saw sothing else.
I noted a darkness, a lingering splotch of dark that stubbornly refused to change.
And it was in that splotch of darkness that I could swear I saw sothing stirring.
TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!
Dragon’s Lair. Central Cavern ‘Foyer.’ Local Ti: 0100 Hours.
Thalmin
It all happened so quickly.
Emotions, which were already running high as is, reached its absolute zenith in several rapid motions.
First ca the complete and utter incredulity at this rare line of communication being severed.
…
At the most inopportune of monts at that.
Then ca the sudden shift to concern, as Kaelthyr reared back in a motion that betrayed the pain and shock that’d overco her.
My heart sank.
My veins abruptly filled with ice.
This… reaction, this visceral cry of unabashed pain from a dragon of all beings, was just about as bad of a sign as could be.
My thoughts raced to security, to a potential incursion by so Nexian blackthorn who’d since spotted and was quick to end this short-lived venture into rebellion through an illicit line of status communicatia.
I reached for Emberstride, drawing her without a second’s hesitation.
…
But nothing ca.
I scried the area for intruders, for any would-be interloper, both corporeal and not.
…
But again, I saw, felt, heard, and slled nothing.
Confusion was quick to join the litany of conflicting emotions but was as abruptly subsud by an entirely new feeling — panic.
I watched and observed, with both manasight and instincts, as the room flooded with taint.
I had to pace back just to avoid consumption, leaping back what felt like several leagues before finally landing on an outcropping where I was finally able to see the source of this taint incursion.
Then, it was dread, pure and unadulterated dread, that filled my soul as I watched the shatorealr’s eyes glow with darkness.
I stared on with terror at Emma’s sheer proximity to that deadly force, as all seed fine at first, and Kaelthyr’s own remarks on Emma’s surprising resistance to taint took to the forefront once more.
However, all those reassurances could not change the reality of the situation. As I witnessed, in short order, Emma suddenly fell back-first, her helted head rearing backwards and held taut in an unnatural position.
“EMMA!”
Fear, anguish, and every possible worst bookend slamd with the force of an unrelenting gale.
My heart skipped a beat, then another, as I wasted no ti in locking eyes with the undeniable source of this incursion.
Hesitation never once ca over as I raised my palm; without any delay, my soul poised to deliver a most righteous end to this heinous beast.
FWOO-ZAP-CRACK!
I ended him rightly.
The cave walls erupted in a flurry of fire and fury so imnse that it left a trail of permanently seared stone as a testant to the path of death leading to a now-eviscerated shatorealr, a being whose traces now lay scattered amidst the floor, walls, and ceiling of the room.
Though no more charred and blackened soot than anything else.
The incursion of taint, however, lingered for a split second longer.
But only a split second.
As it eventually, as taint often did, simply dissipated, crushed and overwheld by the nascent manastreams ready to bring order to chaos.
It was here that a second’s hesitation returned to the forefront, if only to ensure that the taint had well and truly dissipated.
For what good would rescue be if the unwitting heroes die at the foot of the injured?
…
“EMMA!” I bellowed out, leaping down and landing just short of her still form.
It was there, at the foot of her completely unresponsive body, that I realized I had no ans of helping her further.
All my healing magics, limited as they were, were useless.
All of my training, my understanding of battlefield healing, could only inform of a likely truth.
Touching, or moving, or doing anything to her motionless state… could actually incur more harm than good.
This growing discordance, this heightened turbulence, eventually culminated in addressing the only other being who may have a clue as to what the next appropriate step should be.
“Matriarch! Matriarch, you have to get up! You have to tend to Emma imdiately!” I demanded.
The convalescing dragon, however, seed more dazed and confused than helpful, as she simply shook her head violently in response, as if trying to regain her bearings.
“Do you… not see… the state of affairs, princeling?” The dragon responded, though her speech, her 'voice,' had changed drastically in the ensuing seconds.
“I do. And we must expedite—”
“I know not… how.” The dragon countered.
It now felt as if she was speaking through the winds themselves, the cave walls echoing and the crystals resonating with her voice without a definitive start nor end.
For no longer was she speaking through her own throat, nor the throat of so fallen corpse, but instead… the very air itself.
I took a deep breath, the unwelco feeling of helplessness coming to dominate my consciousness.
…
But not before another thought entered the fray.
“Then we must send her ho.”
“What?”
“You were able to open a line of communication back to her realm! Surely, a dragon such as you, must be able to pierce the veil in a manner that re elves can—”
“Cease with your foolishness, princeling! CEASE!” Kaelthyr practically growled out with a whistling gale. “Do you not hear yourself speak?!”
“I… I do, but what other option do we have—”
“We must wait for fate.”
“What?”
“If she truly is what I, and surely you, assu her to be, then we must wait.”
“I don’t—”
“The prophecy you speak of — the harbingers of death and doom to the Nexus — it is but one part of the tale, is it not?”
My eyes darted back and forth, not wishing to play conversation when my comrade-in-arms lay wasting away.
“Just be out with it, Matriarch!”
“The ‘final confrontation' speaks of this: the arrival of a foreign culture, born of foreign constraints,nurtured in the auspices of foreign patrons…” The dragon paused, as if wishing to emphasize that latter sentint through silence.
It was at this point that my heart skipped another beat, and my gut churned in dread. “Are you saying that the entity, being, or whatever it is that incurred such a visceral reaction from you, is none other than this ‘patron?’”
“The sa presence I felt smothering and the voidlings during our conference, yes.”
I couldn’t move.
My whole world tensed at the possibility of an entity, a powerful spirit, a god, or… whatever being may exist that possessed the potential to so callously rival dragons in their reach.
But this couldn’t be.
Emma had ntioned nothing of a patron.
These… were rely the musings of Ilunor and Kaelthyr, potentially limiting its reach to a tale of draconic origi—
But even Mal’tory spoke of the sa notion, if Emma’s ‘recordings’ of that fateful conversation were anything to be believed.
I shook my head violently, wracking my mind for answers but ending up with even more questions than anything else.
“You may have just killed its proxy emissary by the dispatching of that shatorealr, princeling.” The dragon teased with a sly chuckle, causing my grip to tense around Emberstride's hilt.
“Then answer this, Matriarch. What sort of patron would incur this—” I paused, pointing at Emma’s still form. “—upon its client?!”
“Do you dare to apply your preconceived notions on normalcy. In a circumstance as foreign as this?” Kaelthyr challenged slyly.
And though disparaging in its intent, I couldn’t deny the reasonable logic that backed it.
“This could rely be communion of sorts between voidlings and whatever patron they may have. Though what follows after a forceful severing of said communion, I cannot say.” The dragon continued, now pinning the bla onto .
“She never spoke of such entities.” I surmised. “If anything, I saved her by preventing further harm.” I then glared daggers at the dragon. “I can say with certainty, however, that I surely have saved you from harm.”
“Choose your next words with exceptional care, princeling.” Kaelthyr hissed.
“By right of honorable conduct, you owe a debt, Matriarch.” I announced fearlessly… despite fear very much welling within .
The dragon’s eyes shifted once more, narrowing and piercing my very soul with their enigmatic intent.
“You speak of Expectant Decorum?”
“No, of course not. I know that a being such as yourself eschews such elven trivialities.” I countered.
“Then you speak of the old ways.” Kaelthyr surmised.
“Yes.”
“Then you know well I have no obligation outside of—”
“Honor.”
“An honor amidst mortals.” She countered.
“But honor all the sa.” I reasoned, garnering a pause, then an amused smile from the beast.
“You amuse , princeling.” Kaelthyr acknowledged before promptly nodding. “Go on then, what sort of favor do you wish to call upon.”
“If you cannot open a portal to Earthrealm, then you can at least send the both of us back to the Academy using teleportation magics.” I urged, garnering a wide-eyed glare from the beast. “That I know you can manage, and from there, I may be able to send Emma back by right of—”
“I cannot honor a favor requested in duress.” Kaelthyr countered bluntly. “You know not the implications of what you request, for it will spell the death of us all, princeling.”
I shook my head, reaching both hands around my ears as if in an attempt to physically pull ideas from my—
“Ugh…” A voice, followed by a stirring, erged from behind us.
I felt relief and a whole mountain’s worth of weights lifting off my shoulders as I ran to Emma’s side with a spell-aided dash.
“Emma!” I hollered. “Emma, are you alright?!”
But instead of any coherent response, all I received was a series of slurred and unintelligible noises, a trend that continued for many, many more painful monts until she finally raised a single hand.
“Am… am fin— Fine…” She finally managed out, just barely. “… dicines… causing tired and confuse…”
“I-it’s alright, Emma. Please rest. We can continue this in the morning. We have ti. We have ti.” I reassured her, grabbing ahold of her hand and squeezing it tight.
“Ok… keep… watch… I’m gonna… pass out…”
9 Hours Later
Dragon’s Lair. Central Cavern ‘Foyer.’ Local Ti: 1000 Hours.
Thalmin
Both Kaelthyr and Emma had gone into what I could only describe as a deep hibernation following the start of my sentry.
Indeed, I would have found myself envious of their rest, if not for the horrors both had faced prior to that slumber.
In that ti, I found ample opportunity to simply… reflect on the events of the past day.
The clash with Ignalius and the recovery of the crystal were indeed monuntal successes in their own right.
But the encounter with Kaelthyr and the rewriting of the Nexian narrative? That was where things truly departed from re tales of adventure to one of epics, if not mythical heights.
Indeed, I found myself reliving those few monuntal hours over and over again with a mix of pride, hope, fear, and ultimately… abashnt.
The proposal for Emma’s hand in marriage… was a mistake.
Not just because of Asva — though that thought did weigh on heavily — but because it was a step too far, and a step far too soon.
And even if my fears were warranted, even if it was clear that the line of communication was indeed at risk of outright collapse, pushing for an agenda as paradigm shifting as that was just… as Kalim would say — a desperate play.
I loathed the conversation that will inevitably co following all of this.
But more than that, I feared what Emma may say about this potential… patron of the void.
If that sort of thing even existed.
…
Sure enough, as these things often went, Emma began stirring the mont I decided to begin unwrapping our rations.
I sprinted towards her once more, making sure I was by her side as she returned to the realm of the living. “Thank the ancestors. You’re finally awake.”
“Aurgh…” Ca Emma’s response, as a part of worried if her condition had not yet improved. “Fuck… I… that was… did that all really—” Emma paused, as if once again returning to her knightly display of stoicism, entertaining so internal reprieve, before addressing once all was said and done.
“It did… but only so far as the call back ho went. Everything else was… it was all in my head? A seizure-induced hallucination?” Emma began babbling, causing to cock my head in confusion.
“We were indeed able to establish a temporary and illicit line of status communicatia, Emma.” I acknowledged. “Though that is the extent of my own experiences. Imdiately following my…” I cleared my throat, looking away in abashnt. “... proposal…” I imdiately moved away from that topic as quickly as I’d touched on it. “... did we find the line severed. Kaelthyr was subsequently incapacitated, which prompted you to help, but—”
“The shatorealr.” She interrupted plainly. “And then you…”
“I killed it, yes.” I nodded. “I… apologize if that had in any way interrupted any ‘communion’ with whatever entity you were in audience with—”
“Wait, what? You knew what was happening?” Emma interjected with a growing concern.
“No. All I saw was your own loss of consciousness, followed by a conversation wherein Matriarch Kaelthyr proposed—”
“That you were in the audience of your void patron.” Kaelthyr interrupted with a long growl of a yawn. “Because I now understand what it was that smothered both and incurred the reactions of your fellow voidlings. It was the presence of a great, unfathomable being from your side of the portal. Not the unintended effects of ‘pressure differences’ between mana and taint, as was proposed by your scholar.”
Emma paused, refusing to continue her train of thought as she placed her helted head firmly between two outstretched hands.
“Emma.” I urged softly. “What… what did you see? What exactly happened during your unconscious state?”
Another silence punctuated the tense scene, as Emma rely reached for her belt, connecting her ‘food pouch’ to the ‘rim’ of her mouthpiece.
“I saw nothing.” Emma finally spoke, causing both Kaelthyr and to glance at each other in tepid disappointnt.
“But at the sa ti… I saw everything.”
That mutual look of disappointnt soon turned into abject confusion, as Kaelthyr was quick to urge Emma on. “Elaborate.”
“I… I saw…” She shook her head. “I was in the void. A dark void, a completely barren and empty black. Blacker than even the void I’ve been to back ho. I was floating, without my armor, and then suddenly… I saw the horizon. From there, the ground beneath turned into this thin puddle of water, where I saw my reflection — the only other entity there. And after what felt like years of listlessly existing in that nothingness, I heard your voice. That interruption alone caused the realm of nothingness to start stirring, changing, and reacting to external stimuli completely alien to it. Chief amongst those changes being my reflection. Its eyes shifted to beco that of the shatorealr’s. Then, it tried to communicate to , and not in the sa way the null did, mind you. Because this… this thing? It didn’t feel threatening. If anything, it felt like it wanted to talk. It beckoned to look at the skies, and when I did, I saw… well… nothing… followed by everything.”
“What exactly do you an by that, young Matriarch?” Kaelthyr pushed harder, her features already growing more confused by the second at Emma’s disjointed story.
“I… I don’t really rember it clearly, this was about when I was ‘pulled’ out of the whole… dream? Hallucination? Anyways I… I saw an explosion of color, and stars, clusters, and just… everything everywhere. But it was in those stars that I noticed sothing else it pointed towards. A dark, empty splotch of sky that was seemingly untouched, or perhaps just absent of said vibrancy. I… I don’t know what I saw inside of it, maybe sothing stirring, maybe nothing at all. But that’s when it all just ended.”
I looked to Kaelthyr now for answers as the dragon seed to be in deep thought, her eyes squeezed closed as her paws tapped incessantly at the ground. “So you could say… there was a crack in the grand facade?”
Emma nodded slowly at this, all the while cocking her head in confusion. “I… guess? It was just a black splotch where everything else was just bright and vibrant.”
“Then it is as I feared.” The dragon spoke with a growing wariness, the stagnant air of the cave whistling with a palpable apprehension. “This entity, your patron, does not like intrusions into its domain.”
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