Just a Bystander

Chapter 131: Caught

Caden knew, dimly, what he had to do. Lifting himself out of the plane of reality that they perceived around them had given him a vague sense of the other segments of his auric-ambient-flare that lay beyond the veil of what most humans understood and experienced. He understood now why the augera called it a veil reality itself was unchanged, and the only thing that had happened was that he now saw more of it. And veils were not opaque, impenetrable things. If you stood close enough to it, if you paid enough attention, you could see through them.

And if you knew how to reach out with your hand, you could even push it aside, or tear it down.

Excitement was building up within him. Emilia's encouragement, her way of framing things, had made it click in his head, and he was certain that he was approaching a true understanding of the space in oblivion that they now occupied. It felt right within him. His auric-ambient-flare stretched out towards that veil that he couldn't yet see, but that he knew was right there. The metaphysical hand of his mind brushed something

'HMM.'

Caden flinched away and fell back, staring all around him in terror even though he knew the contact had come from beyond the layer of reality he could see.

Emilia flinched away as well, though it was because she had been startled by his movements. She stared at him, a question in her eyes.

'Wellspring?' Caden managed to gasp out, even as he tried to calm his racing mind. And somehow, perhaps because of the way he had directed this question outwards, Emilia didn't seem to have heard it either.

The clearing was unchanged, and even in oblivion the arcana did not register any colossal presence. But Caden supposed that for the wellspring-ocean-core, hiding itself so completely would be a trivial matter.

There was no answer. Slowly, he got to his feet, ignoring Emilia as he cautiously extended his senses and tried to peer into the other layers of reality by folding his mind. It was beginning to dawn on Caden that the existence of these higher, hidden layers also implied the existence of other beings. After all, the augera and the wellspring were proof of that. What if there were even more things out there?

Caden's heart sank. Yes. There was definitely at least one group of beings out there besides the augera and the wellspring. Why hadn't he been more careful about moving softly?

'... No. You're not the wellspring,' Caden whispered into the arcana. 'Are you?'

'Who are you talking to, Caden?' Emilia asked.

'Strange...' the voice said, trailing off, not responding to him. Emilia was still looking at him expectantly. Apparently, she couldn't hear it.

It was very different from the mental touch of the augera or the wellspring. Those beings had been alien beyond comprehension, and communication with them had been difficult primarily because they were so different from humans. But this... this felt familiar. It was still immediately evident to Caden that this person was operating at a higher level than he was, but there was no doubt that it was in fact a person. A human. There was a commonality in the nature of their thoughts that was impossible to hide.

'Cosmic chance and happenstance,'the voice continued, sounding a little concerned. 'How rare. What are the odds I'd see something odd here, where the pattern is supposed to be the neatest?'

The swell of panic rising within Caden's chest made it hard for him to think. If he was right and he strongly suspected he was he was speaking with an actual Fateweaver. How much did this one know? Were the rest aware of what was happening here, now that he had been found by one? Could he lie? Could he escape?

'Supremely strange. Outstandingly odd.'The voice took on a more reflective tone, almost like a person just thinking aloud. The panic within Caden surged the Fateweaver was somehow reading information about him, perhaps from his very thoughts. Was everything he was thinking now laid bare? But then a little bit of relief crept in, because it didn't even seem like the Fateweaver was talking to him. Was it possible that the Fateweaver couldn't even hear him, or see him properly?

'What are you?'The bewilderment was clear, and for the first time, Caden felt a slight shift in the arcana as the Fateweaver moved closer. Emilia seemed to have finally sensed something too, because she looked around the clearing in surprise.

'Do nothing.'

The whisper was so tiny, so faint, that for a moment Caden thought he had imagined it. But it was the augera in the shell, the young voice, that had spoken. He froze and held his breath, and the fear flooding him now even helped in some way as he tapped into some primal instinct that made him stay absolutely still. Every inch, every fibre of his auric-ambient-flare seemed to tense up. The shell hardened, helping him to maintain this mental pose of utter stillness, embodying his desire to be unseen, to be passed over by this greater being, this ancient-distant-spider.

Caden's first indication that it was working was Emilia's reaction. She stared, open-mouthed at him, and he realised that she could no longer see him. 'Caden?' she called.

He didn't even dare to bite his lip as he desperately hoped she wouldn't start frantically calling for him. What if the Fateweaver heard?

She didn't continue calling out for him. Instead, she started methodically scanning the clearing, carefully folding her mind. But there was a quiet desperation to the way she worked now, almost as if she felt afraid that she had just been abandoned. He felt a stab of pity, but his own fear kept him rooted to the spot, and kept him silent.

In the higher planes of reality, something brushed against his auric-ambient-flare. With the augera's help, he stopped himself from shuddering. That touch was almost unbearably odd, and so disconcerting because he had never felt anything like it before. It was like a cold hand on a phantom limb. It brought the same instinctive desire to flinch away if something repulsive had touched his flesh, but he was experiencing this on the parts of his auric-ambient-flare that he had only just discovered.

'What's this?' The voice mused. 'Not a person? A strange echo. Tied to the Six-Chained-Foundations? What an odd shape. Who is this? Who was this?'

The probing continued, covering more of his auric-ambient-flares in the newly-discovered layers of reality. The experience was becoming deeply uncomfortable now, like Caden was watching someone else get patted down in an almost inappropriate fashion, but it was also horrifying in a disembodied way because he understood, even if he didn't actually feel it, that he was actually watching himself being patted down. But if there was one good thing that was coming from this singular experience, it was that this was helping him understand more about how his auric-ambient-flare inhabited those higher dimensions. Every point of contact was helping him develop a sort of more advanced proprioception that applied to his auric-ambient-flare.

'Oh. Oh! The original. So the current Foundation is a replacement. How unexpected! What broke the threads to the original? Did he die? An accident, perhaps. But then why is the echo here? Ah, they were friends. What a strong memory. Must have left a powerful impression. A pity.'

The ancient-distant-spider was coming even closer to the layer of reality that Caden was more familiar with now. He wondered if Emilia might even be able to finally sense it as more than just a vague wash in the arcana. But she showed no indication that she felt anything more than just a slight shifting of arcana as she continued to scan the clearing, evidently still looking for him, and the desperation on her face was giving way to despair. Caden's heart ached as he saw that she was close to tears now, perhaps thinking that something awful had happened to him and had left her completely alone in this clearing once more.

'... Oddly delayed progression. The transformation should have been finished by now. A curious tangle. Caused by this memory? ... Yes, such odd ripples. And it goes further back.'

In Caden's mind, he thought he could feel rather than actually see the ancient-distant-spider. It seemed to loom over the two of them in the clearing now, and the arcanic name fit perfectly. Its nebulous form was almost as unfathomable to Caden as the augera, but he did get the impression of something multi-limbed, and it was pulling what he assumed were threads of arcana that existed only in higher dimensions, although all he could catch at his current level was just a shadow of those threads. Were those the strings of Fate?

It peered at Emilia, then at a segment of Caden's petrified auric-ambient-flare. Its limbs gathered up spools of arcana from nothingness and it squinted at them, evidently thinking hard. Then it looked off into the distance, off into other layers far beyond Caden's current level of comprehension, and it seemed to sigh to itself.

'This causes problems further down the line. Where shall I start untangling this...? Further ahead, or...?' It glanced in another direction, then rumbled in agitation. 'No, going back is harder. Too many spools have closed or run out. Better to try and get ahead of it.'

And then, just like that, it was gone.

'Careless!' the young augera's voice snapped at him suddenly, and the shell around him turned soft so that his auric-ambient-flare could move freely again. 'To peer past the veil is one thing, but to dare to try and tear it? At this stage? Crawl first, then plan to walk, before you dare to dream of running!'

Caden allowed himself to flop backwards. He was so completely relieved that he didn't even pay any attention to the augera, or to Emilia, who had cried out in surprise and relief and run over to him.

'What happened? Where were you?' Emilia asked, trying her best to sound composed.

'I...' He propped himself up on his elbows. 'A Fateweaver. It was just here. Looking at us. Examining me.'

'What?' She stared at him.

'I was going to... to see, like you said. And then it just appeared.'

'So they know? The Fateweavers know?' Emilia's hands went to her throat. Caden couldn't help but notice how odd a gesture that was, but before he could remark upon it, the augera interrupted.

'They know they must look, but they do not know what they look for,' it answered. 'We can speak freely now for a time as they turn their gaze to the greater web. The transformation has been wrought upon the unchosen-sighted-{~?~}, and the brilliant-sighted-singer does not need to face it now, and perhaps not ever. Now you must all quickly return to the broad path, so that from a distance the pattern looks untroubled.'

'That's what I was trying to do,' Caden snapped. 'I thought I had to do that to break out of the sequence laid around this clearing. How do you expect me to know what the hell I'm doing when this is all new to me?'

The augera recoiled a little and seemed to puff itself up in indignation, but then it deflated. 'You are our slender bridge to freedom, Caden. Outside of Prophecy, we have only chance and skill, and this was a moment of chance that almost fell awry. But we have time and space now to speak a little more, and here is where skill can be applied.'

Both Caden and Emilia's attention were drawn to a specific spot of the sequence as the augera directed their gazes there, and there was a sense of invitation being extended to the two of them.

'Come,' the young augera said, sounding a little cheerful. 'Let us teach you how to break free of our prison.'