Orphan At The Edge Of The World
/ Orphan at the Edge of the World 93 Crystal Cage 31
In a trembling voice, Danny asked, "What did I just see?"
Orison barked, "Don't think about it. Let it become nonsense in your head and push it out. Don't think about pink elephants or giant breasts. Okay, now that you're not thinking about giant breasts, continue to not think about them."
Gan snickered and then said, "Good trick...You don't have to tug on me. I'm the map guy, remember?"
Flanked on either side by a guiding hand, Danny said, "I know I'm supposed to be a climber too but I don't have anything about this in my memories. Can either of you enlighten me as to what's going on here?"
As Gan pretended to have hearing issues, Orison said, "Not to get too complicated about it, something's warped space here. People don't have minds capable of processing that. Trying to can cause brain damage. A little exposure isn't that bad... You might have a bit of auditory or visual hallucinations for a few days. It won't be anything major, just a little distracting.
"If you got a heavy dose of it though, things can get dicey. End result, you become a complete basket case or you suffer fatal complications. Moral of the story is, don't look at it. If you absolutely have to because you don't have a choice, minimize direct view as much as possible."
As they made their way deeper into the warped space, Orison added, "At least we have a decent clue as to why your reincarnation trick stopped working, Danny. There's some kind of slow leak contamination of alien essence. My pet name for it is miasma. In a pure state, as long as it's unclaimed, it's pretty useful stuff but this miasma belongs to something. Well, it would probably be more accurate to say something laid claim to it by spitting on it and daring someone else to eat it anyway."
It seemed that Danny wanted to say more but either couldn't find the right words or thought better of it. That suited Orison just fine. Answering questions would waste time and the young mage felt like that was a commodity he was running shorter a supply of by the second, figuratively and literally.
Reaching closer to their goal, the laws of physics nearly broke down entirely, leaving them more floating than walking as if they were in the vacuum of space. With an exercise of his weak telekinesis, Orison had them moving onward but another problem that wasn't as easy to solve made itself felt. Although they were moving forward, they weren't getting much closer. It was as if dimension stretched out creating a nearly limitless amount of distance to their destination.
Orison said, "I don't know what's keeping you from interacting with your conduit properly but we are now much closer, figuratively speaking I guess. See if you can reach it now, Danny."
The veteran guardian wrinkled his brows in concentration and said, "I think I understand. We're actually really far away from it. I could only feel it when we got closer to this place because it the only place it can be felt. It's like important rules are missing.... That part's a little harder to explain.
"Since there isn't anything to keep us from doing so, we should be able to approach faster with every small push. I don't get why we aren't getting faster now. Is there something about the way you're moving us that makes it not allow us to gain speed?"
Orison considered for a moment and realized that was the case. He had been using his telekinesis to move them at its top speed rather than pushing them. Once he had that figured out, Orison put it all of his current ability strength behind them and pushed. Slowly at first, then gradually much faster, the young mage had no way of knowing how far they were traveling in a place where distance had little meaning.
He could tell they were moving, however, because Gan could feel the more structured space they had come from, getting farther away. Orison could also feel that the bindings of time were getting looser. The alarm clock of his intuition was getting fainter rather than stronger. All three of them felt anxious over the sensation of sinking deeper into an endless void that drew them ever further away from a natural world they understood.
A dawning horror registered in Orison's mind that if it wasn't for the faint field generated around them by Gan's key, they might reach a point where they were no better than flies trapped in amber. They would eternally be moving/not moving towards their destination til the void that they were in inevitably collapsed, shunting them into a true void where they'd likely just cease to be. If it weren't for the warning inherent in that knowledge to avoid getting separated from Gan at all costs, perhaps his sub-mind would have withheld the realization to preserve blissful ignorance over the dire situation they voluntarily were thrusting themselves into.
Up til this point, Orison had held a subconscious superiority over his space concepts being internalized. It wasn't until that moment he digested that despite all the benefits his inner space gave, there would always be situations and environments where others' unique features would be able to outperform his own. Far from being jealous, Orison was inspired.
The young mage turned to Gan and said, "Imagine that the place where we came from is just behind us and the place where we're going is just in front of us. Don't just imagine space crunching towards you, the sweat you're popping shows me that kind of trick isn't up your sleeve yet. Instead, imagine that the space isn't there. If this was a normal room, our destination would only be a few feet away and the room we just left would be a few feet behind."
At first, Gan couldn't get it. He grunted and grew red faced like he had constipation as thick beads of sweat built up on his forehead, soaking into his clothes. Right as the scout gave up, prepared to tell them that he couldn't do whatever it was that Orison thought he could, the image of a hallway effortlessly appeared around them. He had been overreaching, trying to impose his will rather than letting the weak field of law simply superimpose itself. With nothing to contest it, the boundless near nothing around them adhered to the structure his field represented.
With structured reality asserting itself through Gan, there was a moment of breathlessness until a gush of pressure adjustment sucked air from the rooms behind them into the one they could finally enter. Orison's sub-mind was taking in all kinds of minute details and even ruminating on some of the observable concepts of Gan's field as they took in the huge, dark maw of a room in front of them. While empowering a larger casting of illumination magic, the young mage even came to the realization that the hint of pine and sweet air wasn't some subtle cologne or scent mask Gan wore, it was an effect of the scout's field regulating immediate environment in small ways.
Once Orison had released the magic light, all side thoughts ceased instantly. Trying to untangle the situation in front of them simply required too much attention. Slumped over a nearly invisible dome was a mass of random biological matter around the size of an adult blue whale. Slender limp tendrils of it framed the dome giving shape and dimension to the translucent semi-sphere. Within the dome was a small house sized chunk of the mass that had been neatly sliced off.
It took a second to place but the young mage realized that the dome was a similar yet much stronger version of the stasis field produced by the generator he had seen inside the First Family private facility. What produced it, however, was not a strangely technological looking magic device. It appeared to be two glass marbles that had fused to some degree, creating a peanut shape.
While Orison was taking in the scene, dissecting it for clues on how they could approach, Danny reached out a hand. What came to the veteran guardian wasn't the peanut marble, it was a plain pewter water pitcher. The pouring edge displayed a few spilling drops of supernaturally clear water that evoked thirst. Were it not for an instinct recognizing the water as 'structure poison' Gan and Orison both would have been quite eager to ask for some. As it was, the two swallowed dryly as they watched Danny pull a cup from his inventory and fill it with measured patience.
Turning to his companions, the veteran guardian said, "I'd offer you a draught but I sense it might do more harm than good for you. Forgive me in advance for my rudeness."
Exercising an excruciating amount of self discipline, Danny drank the first cup like a man who was dying of thirst but not for the first time. Slow, timed sips marked his progress through the first and two additional refills before Danny stored the pitcher within himself. Just a little too slow for direct perception, Danny was improving incrementally in all observable aspects, from soul to body.
Unsure of how to breach what appeared to be a solemn moment for the veteran guardian, Gan and Orison patiently waited for Danny to catch them up to speed. The person in question was wrestling with the return of many things he'd lost along the way but had countless similar experiences to guide him thorough it. While Danny was slowly sorting himself into a reasonable amount of order, he approached the dome.
When Gan and Orison moved to follow, Danny said, "It wouldn't be wise to follow me. It might look like a stasis field but it only functions as such on the outer side of its initial boundary. Inside is... different."
Becoming more profound and mysterious by the minute, the man who was quickly transforming into a complete stranger to them walked into the dome as casually as a man taking an evening stroll. Once Danny had grabbed the peanut shaped marble, aside from himself, time seemed to move in reverse within the dome. Pieces of alien matter flowed back towards the chunk on the floor before moving towards the top of the dome, stopping centimeters before its border, leaving the placid water underneath clean and clear.
Taking back out the pitcher, Danny drew the pool of clear water into his conduit before shrinking the dome around the chunk of alien matter, leaving the much larger part on the outside to fade as all dead creatures on Osomo did. As it grew smaller, the dome became a sphere that compressed the alien matter, continuing to shrink. Once the sphere had reduced to the size of a basketball, a black substance oozed out while giving off a dangerous air before evaporating as the larger part had.
Looking wistfully where the larger part of the alien matter had disappeared, Danny made his way back to them once the field had reduced just a little further and stopped producing any vile substances. A few feet away from them, Danny expanded the field again, trapping them inside. Making a calming motion with one hand, he divided up the sphere of solid, purified miasma.
Wryly noting Gan and Orison's tension, Danny said, "I didn't mean to startle you. It's just that I am adjusting and remembering new things, even now. Not to mention, no matter how much gratitude and favor the two of you are due, I'm no stranger to sudden betrayal either. And whether you realize it or not, what I currently hold in my hand is one of the most precious substances in the lower dimensions. It can be said that the chances of reaching tier four without it are next to impossible outside of special bloodlines or assistance from higher dimensions."
Orison said, "Before you launch into an explanation on it, Danny, our keys came from a similar source. It wasn't as condensed or pure but..."
Danny chuckled. "In that case, I'll warn you about a few little known facts concerning it. If you've already toyed with it enough to become a climber, it's best use is for the creation and strengthening of conduits. Using it to augment yourself directly will consume your future potential. Moreover, even the weakest of world wills can turn on their own most invested chosen to obtain it.
"Osomo may not be a world will in truth but in many ways, she is far more powerful than the average lower dimension will. That means we must use it here within the field of my master's conduit or she will undoubtedly attempt to claim it as she has with the rest. As you can see, I have split it into three equal portions. I will claim whatever you cannot use for master's temporal centrifuge. It has plenty of room to spare for such a thing. Best to not let it be wasted."
Taking the portion offered, Orison brought the entirety into his space and let his sub-mind have at it. He felt a little bloated but after having lost so much, it was a welcomed tonic. At first, it seemed like he could have taken far more but that illusion was quickly dispelled. Danny may have made it seem easy to compress and contain the miasma but he had the help of a conduit that belonged to a whole new level of strength if one didn't compare it to Osomo.
Looking nervously at Orison, Danny said, "If it becomes too much to bear, expel the rest. If you lose control of the chrism, you can mutate into a creature similar to what it comes from or die."
To get the absolute maximum use out of it, Orison shut down most of his conscious thought to aid his sub-mind with distribution. Although it had skirted the line almost the whole time, it had only grown truly threatening once. To bring the processing of the miasma back to acceptable levels, he shunted the excess he couldn't control through Ivan's mark. Using such a method, he lost around ten to fifteen percent of the total before he was done.
Coming back to full awareness, the young mage concluded that the whole process had taken around five minutes or so. Glancing at Danny and Gan's progress with their own, Orison noted that the veteran guardian had less than ten percent left that he had given up on using for his own gains and was feeding it to the peanut marble. Gan still had around half left but as long as Danny kept the field up, Orison guessed that the scout would reach his limits when there was around thirty to forty percent left.
To burn a little waiting time, Orison asked, "Why not make another conduit?"
Danny chuckled. "More is not better. Most beings refine and expand one, preferring to collect others when they desire more. It's a matter of resources really. Even if an entity makes multiple, when they reach a certain point, they'll end up condensing them. But as with everything else involving climbers, there's no solid rule. Besides, the best conduits are like children. The more you have, the more your attention gets divided up between them. And just like children, neglected ones can easily end up abandoning their maker in return."
A little worried, Orison asked, "What if they start out willful and independent?"
Danny frowned thoughtfully, "From what I know, exceptional conduits that are born with a will of their own tend to be the hardest to subdue or twist the loyalty of, making them the most desired to produce. Much like children, they can be a handful in the beginning but later they become the greatest boons to their creator as long as they aren't naturally inclined towards excess or vice.
"Perhaps the greatest reason for not having multiple conduits actually stems from that. Conduits are intimately tied with their creators so they can influence the direction of growth or even directly change their creator. Such problems aren't present when subordinating an unclaimed conduit, so it's far more common for additional ones to be acquired rather than made."
Looking over and seeing that Gan was starting to get shaky and unfocused, Orison reached out a hand and tempered the flow, siphoning trickles for himself and even a little more for Ivan. Ultimately, that only bought Gan a couple more percent but Orison despised seeing himself or the people he cared about having to cough back out even the smallest benefits. Sadly, once there was around ten percent left, Danny announced that holding the temporal centrifuge open much longer was beyond his ability.
Orison almost called bluff on it. After all, it had been 'open' for a little over 1200 years with no problem. Despite that, the young mage could see the strain in Danny's face and there was a lot more going on in the field than just a general time stop. Orison considered that if there was any falsehood in the matter, it stemmed from the peanut.
Once Danny was done channeling the remaining 'chrism' to the peanut marble, it disappeared with an audible pop. With a brief hateful look where it had been, the veteran guardian sat down looking visibly pale. With an assurance to Gan and Orison that he was fine, just in need of a little recovery time, the man fell asleep right where he sat. After moving back to a more stable part of the building, the two conscious members of the party didn't see a reason not to get in a good rest themselves.
While he slowly slipped into trance, Orison took stock of what he had gained. As much and as helpful as the miasma had been, almost the entirety of it was relegated to future gains rather than present ones. The condensing power of his space's formation was greatly enhanced. There was also an additional dimensional aspect to his spiritual seat's room for growth that he couldn't discern directly but vaguely understood from his sub-mind.
Perhaps the greatest gain and the one that had cost him the most in resources had been his sub-mind's work in forcing aspects of his space and spiritual bloodline to merge rather than just grudgingly sharing a cycle between them. Small slips of spacial boundary would no longer take chunks out of him. Moving his intent from inside himself to outside would be much easier too. Intuitively, he could sense that those were merely minor benefits in comparison to the significance such a change represented but he was far from a level where it was a concern.
During the time that the miasma had saturated the insides of his space, there were all sorts of small things to note. Before the resting mage's sub-mind could catalog them all midst a myriad of more important divisions of its labor, the core of Orison's soul shook. Even his sub-mind went blank. Three hours into his trance, the young mage opened sightless eyes as his mouth opened in a silent, mindless parody of disbelief.
Chapter end
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