Die. Respawn. Repeat.

Chapter 81: Book 2: The Automaton

Ahkelios doesn't tell me what happens, exactly. He can't not with Guard there. Instead he sends filtered images and impressions to me, enough that I have a decent idea of exactly what happened, and everything about it makes my blood boil.

It takes everything I have not to run right back up the stairs. She-Who-Whispers' command was to leave. It said nothing about whether or not I could go back. Her Whisper has already loosened around me, enough that I can make my way back up without worrying about getting fried.

And yet I don't move. I remember what happened with Naru. I don't regret what happened with him. He deserved the punch, and the look on his face was worth it. But here? Rotar and K'hkeri are still at risk.

Tarin and Mari have both told me I'm too reckless. It takes everything I have to hold myself back. There's a part of my brain screaming that I should try, that I can't just let this happen, but...

I don't have the power to fight off She-Who-Whispers right now. I can't run back up just to punch her.

But that doesn't mean I can do nothing.

My mind races. She-Who-Whispers clearly cares about how she looks to others. She's nothing but graceful and polite when speaking with us, and her threats are all veiled threats and subtle gestures. She has a giant castle floating in the sky as a home, and the path to it involves standing on a stained glass representation of her.

"I forgot to ask Miktik something," I tell Guard apologetically. "I'm just going to go back up real quick."

I bound up the steps before Guard can stop me although to my surprise, he doesn't even try. He just looks at me curiously as I make my way back up, hoping against hope that I'm going to get there in time. Miktik's said that She-Who-Whispers can't kill with her ability, or at least has never done so where it would be noticed. I don't know if that's an actual limitation of her Whispers or simply part of what she's chosen to portray.

I knock on the massive doors once before I push my way back in. I haven't thought of an excuse yet. Miktik is trembling on her legs, trying to stay standing, but there's barely even a hint of the restrictive Firmament that was just burning away at her. For her species in particular, I think, most of the burns aren't visible but I can feel the agitation Miktik's own Firmament is in, as it rushes to try to repair the damage done to her body.

She-Who-Whispers frowns at me. "You have not left," she notes.

"I forgot something," I say, bowing my head apologetically. "I think I might actually need Miktik along for this. She's the one that tracked Rotar down, and the Fracture's pretty big and pretty deep. I'm going to need her along in case I can't find him."

"Hm." She-Who-Whispers stares at me, and I wait patiently. She seems suspicious, but she doesn't have any proof that I know what she's done. If she's clever, she'll make a note in her Interface to watch out for future 'suspicious' behavior from me I'll have to watch for any changes in the next loop.

Which might come sooner than I expect, at this rate, considering I feel the pressure of her Firmament slowly increasing.

But it lets up before long, and I take a quick, discreet breath of relief. "Very well," She-Who-Whispers says grandly. "You may have two of my subjects instead."

The way she says it makes it clear she believes I owe her a favor for it, and it takes effort for me not to screw my face up in distaste. Miktik scurries over to me, her relief evident, and I give her a slight nod.

"I appreciate it," I tell She-Who-Whispers, and then I pull Miktik back out of the room. Figuratively. I don't think she needs me to drag her around right now.

I don't ask her if she needs help. She-Who-Whispers will be able to hear me if I do. I do glance at her worriedly, and she gives me a small nod, as if to say she'll be fine; this mostly makes me frown, because I don't know if she's telling the truth. I don't know why she's being so brave for us in the first place, unless she has a lot more history with Tarin and Mari than I know.

"You don't actually have to come with us," I say as we head back down the steps.

"I think I have to," Miktik answers. There's a tightness in her voice that takes me a moment to parse, and I wonder if She-Who-Whispers has layered yet another Whisper onto her. The thought makes my fists clench, but I say nothing; I just nod in agreement.

We'll figure this out.

The layers of Firmament that flow through the castle are still concerning to me. I glance around, trying to pinpoint where they're going, exactly. I can identify at least two individual rivers of Firmament, one heading up towards She-Who-Whispers' throne room and the other one down. Where that one is going... I'm not sure.

I stop at the base of the steps, where we rejoin Tarin and Guard. Tarin's eyes widen when he sees Miktik, and he squawks and steps towards her. "You hurt."

"Miktik is fine," Miktik says, which is maybe the most transparent lie I've seen during the loops yet. "We should get going."

Tarin's about to protest, but Guard speaks up suddenly, rumbling in agreement. "We should."

I don't protest. I want to get as far away from She-Who-Whispers as possible right now.

There's a limit to how far I can extend my Firmament sense, but I try to push it as far as we leave. I want to figure out where the Firmament flowing through the castle is going. It doesn't feel like it's going anywhere, though; if anything, it feels like it's just bouncing around the castle, getting inexplicably stronger, and then flowing back out and down towards all of Isthanok...

I almost stop in mid-step as a thought occurs to me. It translates to a slight stumble, and to my surprise it's Guard that reaches out to steady me. He stares at me in what looks like concern. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I just tripped," I lie.

Guard's strange behavior aside...

She-Who-Whispers' castle is a signal amplifier. It's probably how she listens in on everyone, and it's probably how she sends down her Whispers across the city, too. It explains the range she has, and it explains why there are two separate rivers of Firmament moving through the castle. It explains why her skill is so strong even at a distance.

The whole castle is a massive imbuement that enhances her core skill.

I don't know what to do with this information yet, but it's more information than I had before. My steps are a little lighter as I head back out, step on the absurd launchpad that serves as an exit for the most ostentatious structure I've had the displeasure of visiting in all of Hestia so far, and leave.

Isthanok is a beautiful city, but I think I've had quite enough of it.

We don't encounter any trouble all the way back to the Gates. All the way back to the Fracture, actually. The trip is faster than I expected Guard offers to carry all three of us, supported partially on his back and partially by ropes of Firmament that wrap around each of us and keep us securely attached to him.

I'm not exactly enthusiastic about being bound like this, but I don't exactly have any excuses left to use. Getting back to the Fracture as fast as possible is a benefit, and the speed at which he goes... I think Tarin is jealous, actually.

All this makes me wonder if me pushing him into the Fracture was something I should even have been able to do. He's clearly a level above all of us.

As much as I want to bring Ahkelios out, I don't. I don't want Guard or She-Who-Whispers to know that he's anything more than a Firmament ornament. Their skill with Firmament Manipulation is significantly greater than mine, if the imbuement on her castle is any indication, and I don't want to risk anything happening to him.

So the trip back to the Fracture is largely quiet.

Tarin and Miktik are both subdued. Guard isn't much of a talker, it seems, and I'm lost in my own thoughts. I do spend some time examining the Firmament that runs through Guard I've seen it behave strangely twice, now, and I'm still trying to figure out what that means. Considering She-Who-Whispers' modus operandi...

I really hope this is the Trialgoer that Ahkelios mentioned the one that can influence minds but I have a feeling that it isn't. She-Who-Whispers just operates in a somewhat similar way, I suspect, which means this is going to get worse before it gets better. The thought makes me grimace.

Countermeasures. Sooner rather than later. Virin might be able to help me with imbuements that can counter effects like this, and Miktik clearly had something that was able to offset the 'punishment' effect from the Whisper applied on her. Judging by the vision Ahkelios sent to me, anyway.

We have options.

Guard lands in the Fracture, and the Firmament binding us falls away; all three of us land quietly on the ground, and I hold up a hand to stop the others from proceeding. "Careful," I say. "Guard, can you head up first? I think the part ahead of us is trapped."

Which is to say, I know the part ahead of us is trapped. There's a Stone Guardian that will fling itself at us the moment we cross some invisible boundary. I can deal with it now, but I want to see what Guard does.

...Which is nothing.

Guard cocks his head in interest as the Guardian emerges, but doesn't bother to act. The arm that brained me in one of my first loops simply shatters ineffectually against him. There might have been a laser involved, but if there was, it happened too quickly for me to see.

I suppose I should have expected that. Metal versus rock: metal wins. The new age version of rock-paper-scissors, except the scissors have experienced a massive upgrade and now have lasers.

"Your friend is further down," Miktik says quietly. "About three hundred meters."

This far away from the noise and bustle of Isthanok and having already pinpointed the feel of Rotar's Firmament she doesn't need her pocket oracle to find him, apparently.

Three hundred meters is further down than I've ever been in the Fracture before. There's also an all-too-familiar buildup of Firmament slowly gathering, and I know what that means for us.

"We need to hide," I say. As much as I'm trying to avoid showing off my capabilities, I'm not risking this entire expedition just to do that. We need to get to Rotar. "Something's coming."

"What something?" Tarin asks.

"I can protect us," Guard says.

Miktik doesn't say anything. She just scurries into the nearest home built into the Fracture's walls, then peers out worriedly; I gesture for Tarin and Guard to follow.

"Bettter not to risk it," I tell Guard. I can't exactly tell him I know he won't be able to take a direct hit from the Fracture's Firmament emissions. He ducks into the house behind me, his expression mildly puzzled

Hexfold Shield.

Firmament blasts out of the Fracture, so bright that my triplicate cast of Hexfold Shield is barely visible against the light. Guard automatically brings up some sort of barrier of his own, a light-purple shield that sections us off entirely, and I disable my own shield as soon as he's brought up his own.

For a solid ten seconds, Firmament roars up and out of the Fracture, bright and powerful. It's impossible for us to hear one another, though Miktik tries to speak and Tarin squawks what sounds like something rude. Guard is silent, but his expression is surprisingly focused I see the Firmament within him flare, flitting through different hues.

Then the Anomaly ends, and the room is silent but for the leftover ringing in my ears.

"That warning was well-placed," Guard says. He sounds grateful. "I would not have survived a direct hit, I think. This must be what we have been detecting we could not find the exact source. If She-Who-Whispers had not commanded me to guard you, I would have sent a different copy of myself to investigate this."

That's the most he's ever said at once. "You're welcome?" I try. Guard nods at me respectfully.

I... don't know what to make of him, honestly. She-Who-Whispers treats him almost like a pawn, but there are things about that that are strange; the fact that he has a silverwisp name, for one, and that she was particularly insistent that I respect it.

He's certainly one of her tools, but he's something else on top of that.

A mystery to file away for another time. Deeper within the Fracture, Rotar's temporal jail awaits.