Chapter 260: The Magician 18
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Looking around, he realized he was naked in a meadow with lingering traces of fat smeared on him. There was also a person with nearly emotionless eyes looking at him through the visor of a streamlined and slightly futuristic 'knight' suit. Experimentally, he tried nodding at the person.
The knight said, "You are temporarily safe and my reservoir is running low, patron. Please place me back in the inter-dimensional base for resupply. Current rate of resupply is approximately one second of operational power for two days time. Approximate time until full resupply is 169,000 years."
The knight transformed into a glass chess piece. With little other option, the young mage summoned it back to the rest of the glass chess set laying somewhere in the tower. Once that strange encounter had ended, he suddenly had a flash of requesting to 'arrive; in a new world in such an environment. He had never felt so insecure.
With the last vestiges of dark mist still lingering around himself from the law sealed key, he reached out and tried to pull whatever else nearby might have some lingering about them as well. Two familiar figures appeared along with a few items. Seeing that his two compatriots were barely clinging to life, he walked over to the troll carcass that was nearby.
After collecting some still usable fat from its meager and emaciated midsection, he smeared the fat generously on the worse of their wounds. It ended up taking all the fat and exhausting attempts to keep it invigorated with his own power but Orison managed to barely get all the wounds closed and missing pieces regrown. As soon as they were stitched together well enough that moving wouldn't make anything worse, he woke up Cole and a man he felt he should know, stamped with the remembered features of a Rogers family member.
"Come on guys. I know you're feeling weak and thirsty but I can only help with one of those right now," the young mage said as he conjured some water for them to drink.
Cole, more than a little traumatized, numbly obeyed as he staggered to his feet.
The Rogers man stood up and looked Orison over before hugging the stunned young mage. "Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes."
Orison tapped the man's back a couple of times before he said, "Don't take this the wrong way because I definitely feel like I should know you... Who are you?"
Smiling faintly, Adam added, "Am I that forgettable?"
Orison was about to answer when he felt a spiritual message being sent to him through another person that he thought he should know but had forgotten, Rio. "Sorry about that. I was frantic after feeling the return of my little brother's soul signature, I was too rough with my pull- you almost got them all killed!"
The young mage replied angrily, "Aside from two other survivors, whoever else was left probably did get killed!"
Defensively, the stranger replied through Rio, "It wasn't all me! Boca couldn't enter wherever it is you are. If I hadn't created a small rent in your vessel, she would have been squeezed out of it in a paste!"
Orison replied, enraged, "If there wasn't a hole in my 'vessel', she wouldn't have been sensed and rejected, dipsh*t!... Look, I can sense that you could give two sh*ts less about our situation. What is it you actually want?"
The voice cleared its mental throat. "I'll exchange the spiritual debt Rio has towards you with equipment equal to its value. As a concession, as long as she doesn't have a spiritual debt connection to you, I'll take Boca with us and ensure advantageous reincarnation for the accidental deaths."
While the mind of the young mage was being briefed on what occurred world side, he negotiated out the spiritual debts of Rio and Boca. He tried to be as kind as he could to the lady and worked out a 'secret knowledge' share to release her. He felt like he dodged some kind of emotional bullet when he found out that Boca was once Jacob.
World side, Orison said to the two, "Alright. Neither of you have to feel responsible for not being able to protect others when you weren't even able to keep your own lives. I won't ask how it played out and I don't want to know who was there. Take some comfort in the knowledge that a minor god level power just promised to give them all a new and better life."
Cole said, "When... if we get strong enough, we should return there someday. There's not much revenge to have against metal golems but..."
Adam nodded. "It would be insensitive to bring it up now but there's other good reasons to return... If we can get to the point we could handle it."
The young mage said, "WHEN that day comes, we will have no trouble finding this location again. We and even my conduit have bled all over this place..."
Orison had to stop the conversation to listen to the instructions and trace out the ritual circle diagram mildly flash burned into his mind's eye. After finishing it, he silently intoned a true name he instantly forgot by spiritual promise. For a brief moment the smoky impression of an unassuming but wet weather dressed person appeared within the circle. A package appeared in their hands and dropped to the ground as they faded from sight.
Opening the package, the young mage took his share of gear before pointing the other two to what was theirs. Grudgingly, Orison had to admit that it was masterwork quality. Although the 'clothing' was a 'one time every so often' shifter set that worked off the impressions their 'host' supplied them with, the weapons were custom made.
Adam had supplied his soul bound symbiotic apparel with a streamlined tactical suit. The caster gun that was supplied with it had decent piercing power and was surprisingly discrete. His, like everyone else's equipment, could be stored away and summoned out of his spiritual seat with a mere commanding thought.
Cole was wearing something that looked somewhat similar to the Silent Order assassin's garb Orison had gifted his brother Venito so long ago. As the young mage watched the feline young man test out the balance of his two new 'cat claw' daggers, he wondered where Cole had been inspired enough to have that image. He chalked it up to defensive gear that had good mobility and was still worth wearing having a limited range of expression, no matter what the culture.
As for himself, Orison once again sported the cloud-like over robe and dark minimalist clothing he'd been secretly missing for some time. The unassuming cane he carried was an interesting little item itself. He fully intended on exploring all of its utility as soon as they were safe.
Done checking over their new gear, the young mage said, "I left my key two commands that it was to give importance to once we breached into this reality. The first was to find a 'safe', essence rich place and to be drawn to a familiar soul. The chances of it doing both were obviously not likely but the idea was to satisfy the first command nearest to the second.
"If everything had played out as it was supposed to, we would have grabbed some goodies from that place, careful not to disturb the locals, and then find our familiar soul. What ended up happening was a screeching crash landing that activated every security measure in the place and a scramble for survival to leave it.
"We're going to put that behind us and do what we need to do. I've got a lock on a soul and that means people. Considering its not THAT far away, expect them to be a tough lot. This isn't exactly national park level tame."
Both Cole and Adam gave him grim and silent agreement. Not running around naked and unarmed gave them a small boost of confidence and morale, at least. It would take a little more than that before anyone could feel comfortable much less satisfied again.
Packing away the valuable other parts of the troll, as they walked, Orison asked Cole, "Are you feeling regret for accepting that ticket off of Osomo?"
The feline young man shrugged. "Lots of maybes if I stayed and some of them weren't very happy maybes for a deaf with a crippled foot. I'll take the fighting chance I have now over that. Don't worry. If I get mauled to death by some random creature, I won't haunt you or anything."
Trying to lighten the mood, Adam said, "Before I got the squirmy thing that turns into a suit and this gun, I was feeling some nostalgia for my testing week in First Summit... You never made it that far did you?"
Confused by the reference, he tried to recall what the man might be talking about. "First Summit... I don't remember. If it's some kind of training evaluation, I never really did too much of any kind of training in a formal way. Was it a survival based challenge?"
Adam sighed. "How much could you forget in a couple of months or so? Did you take a bad blow to the head? An unexpected chemical reaction to the red hair dye and all the performance enhancers you took to get into shape, perhaps? Good job on being thorough with both, by the way."
Orison raised an eyebrow at the man. "It's been a couple of centuries for me in personal time. During which, at one point, I was 108 different people. I had to forget a lot of things to make room for all that. I had to forget a lot of personal things to not be dragged down by the emotional weight of that. Merging souls with an angry but otherwise emotionally numb child was helpful in some ways but not on that front.
"Obviously, some part of your memory and connection exists within the murky depths of all the things I decided to keep because you're here. I have a vague impression that something really bad happened at a muddy place. A lot of Rogers and other people were a part of that.
"If you're trying to find common ground with me to see where you stand, I'll help you out. You are a stranger that I feel friendly and responsible towards. I'm inclined to promote you through acquaintance and to legitimate friend fairly quickly as long as you don't lie, steal from us or attempt to kill one of us."
Cole added, "Sounds good. I think I'll go with that too... Wait, I DO know you. You chose to become an angel or something. Orison, the other set of memories I have now, its from that."
The young mage said, "THAT branch of ifs got erased. None of the Alpha or Beta series realities existed, Adam. You are a person that shouldn't exist but does. "Like Cole, you were in the space between places when your reality ceased to exist. Unlike Cole, your soul came into being within that reality which no longer exists. Don't let THAT worry you. The moment you entered a mid-dimensional reality, you registered as a new soul here."
Adam's emotional Teflon cracked for a moment. "Everyone I knew is gone?"
Orison shook his head. "There are some. I wouldn't dare to guarantee they would still be the people you knew. The again, you're a Rogers.
"Dustin, his sister and cousin got wrapped up with one of my closest friends. I think they would have been protected from losing who they were. If you knew them, then-"
The Rogers man cut him off. "My brother and sister are alive!?"
The young mage shrugged. "It's been a few years. Like I said, I wouldn't dare to guarantee anything but their odds are pretty good."
"What about little Garret? Do you know anything about him?" Adam asked eagerly.
Orison frowned.
He raked through his consciousness and didn't seem to recall until a shadow of a thought brushed from a brighter branch labeled 'Babs'. "It was only for a short while but he was a running buddy, I think. You'd have to find Babs. She's definitely not going to let something happen to her brother if she's okay. And her chances are pretty damn good of still being around, on her own merit."
Adam asked, "What are my chances of finding them?"
"Without becoming a climber, not good. There's a small chance one of them or their associated peeps could be roaming around the upper worlds of this reality but that's asking for one hell of a coincidence. They do happen, though. Spiritual entanglement is real. Family and friends do tend to be drawn to each other from life to life but climbers kind of break the chain or lengthen it, at least," the young mage said.
The man grew silent and thoughtful over the next hour. During that time, Orison ran down the list of experiments to see what he could and couldn't use. Cole had his own version of that instilled in his memories for the short time he traveled with Duran in the alternate 'what if'.
Finally, Adam broke the silence. "What do I have to do to become a climber?"
Orison handed him a few sheets of paper made during his experiments with plant fiber. On it were transcribed a refined version of the Rogers Family 'mana particle' meditation technique and technique conversion notes for different situations.
The young mage said, "I won't be responsible for your climber's journey but this is an idea that I gave to Babs and she ran with it. It's not a path but it is a gateway. With some hard work, you might find your own key to open it... or not."
After that, their journey took a turn for the challenging. Running out of meadow, they were once again entering a thick finger of forest and there were creatures waiting for them. A few small spectral animals hounded them, causing mildly aggravating scratches but weren't capable of actually harming them.
Those distracting creatures were bent on annoying them to death before Orison had finally had enough and shredded one with spiritual intent. The rest scampered away but a sense of ominousness settled over the area. A large and strong feeling spectral bear appeared.
As it stared menacingly at the trio, two living ones flanked it. The new additions were just as large and sported bony growths on their backs. Behind them, a few natural looking bears and a couple spectral lookalikes milled around as well.
Adam was ready to start firing but could see that the young mage had different ideas. Cole was ready to book up a tree and be done with it. It wasn't that he was a coward or that he would desert them but Orison already knew Cole's bottom line. The feline young man was no martyr.
"What are you thinking, man-thing? Now that there stands before you a greater force, do you regret? Do you rail against fate or feel like it is 'unfair'." the spectral bear projected.
Orison communicated back with emotionless inflection, "No. I'm wondering what they will call the desert this place will become if you attack me. We may not survive but nothing will for miles. It will be a lifeless waste for generations.
"Do not stand in my path. I am not a man-thing. I am a force of nature that wears the likeness of one. And if I am not provoked, I will be out of your territory in hours."
The spectral bear asked, "What are you about that crossing my land is needful?"
The young mage replied, "I sense a familiar soul half a day's journey in the line I travel. I go to see if it is a loved one. If it is, I want to deliver them from hardship and offer them protection. If not, then I will offer them to join my travels or leave them to their current life without interference."
The ghost bear huffed. "If I were to allow you passage, you would not be allowed to go there. It is a forbidden place to all save its warden."
Orison exercised Find Objective to see what it could tell him. "That place doesn't need to be guarded. I can close it. It feels like a wound in existence. I can remove the strange essence that keeps it from healing... The warden is probably the one I sense."
"It could be what is sealed there that you sense. Letting you go may doom more than my territory alone," the quarrelsome bear projected.
"The soul I sense is no power equal to a land god. Anything less than that is no real threat beyond the time it would take to stir interest in stopping them, should they be intending harm," Orison chuckled out.
The bear growled lowly. "You are an ignorant cub if you believe that. Even a weak little man-thing with a bright mind can rain destruction down on whole 'metal thorn' using tribes and the large lands they despoil, mark as 'kingdoms'.
With a genuine look of sadness, Orison said, "It's a pity. The meadow we walked through to get here was actually quite pretty."
An unstable pulse of potent energy spilled out from him as he added. "Well, either you die or I die and take everything with me unless you move. Oh, that means that thing out there as well. I'm close enough that the seal will break if I death spite this place."
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Looking around, he realized he was naked in a meadow with lingering traces of fat smeared on him. There was also a person with nearly emotionless eyes looking at him through the visor of a streamlined and slightly futuristic 'knight' suit. Experimentally, he tried nodding at the person.
The knight said, "You are temporarily safe and my reservoir is running low, patron. Please place me back in the inter-dimensional base for resupply. Current rate of resupply is approximately one second of operational power for two days time. Approximate time until full resupply is 169,000 years."
The knight transformed into a glass chess piece. With little other option, the young mage summoned it back to the rest of the glass chess set laying somewhere in the tower. Once that strange encounter had ended, he suddenly had a flash of requesting to 'arrive; in a new world in such an environment. He had never felt so insecure.
With the last vestiges of dark mist still lingering around himself from the law sealed key, he reached out and tried to pull whatever else nearby might have some lingering about them as well. Two familiar figures appeared along with a few items. Seeing that his two compatriots were barely clinging to life, he walked over to the troll carcass that was nearby.
After collecting some still usable fat from its meager and emaciated midsection, he smeared the fat generously on the worse of their wounds. It ended up taking all the fat and exhausting attempts to keep it invigorated with his own power but Orison managed to barely get all the wounds closed and missing pieces regrown. As soon as they were stitched together well enough that moving wouldn't make anything worse, he woke up Cole and a man he felt he should know, stamped with the remembered features of a Rogers family member.
"Come on guys. I know you're feeling weak and thirsty but I can only help with one of those right now," the young mage said as he conjured some water for them to drink.
Cole, more than a little traumatized, numbly obeyed as he staggered to his feet.
The Rogers man stood up and looked Orison over before hugging the stunned young mage. "Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes."
Orison tapped the man's back a couple of times before he said, "Don't take this the wrong way because I definitely feel like I should know you... Who are you?"
Smiling faintly, Adam added, "Am I that forgettable?"
Orison was about to answer when he felt a spiritual message being sent to him through another person that he thought he should know but had forgotten, Rio. "Sorry about that. I was frantic after feeling the return of my little brother's soul signature, I was too rough with my pull- you almost got them all killed!"
The young mage replied angrily, "Aside from two other survivors, whoever else was left probably did get killed!"
Defensively, the stranger replied through Rio, "It wasn't all me! Boca couldn't enter wherever it is you are. If I hadn't created a small rent in your vessel, she would have been squeezed out of it in a paste!"
Orison replied, enraged, "If there wasn't a hole in my 'vessel', she wouldn't have been sensed and rejected, dipsh*t!... Look, I can sense that you could give two sh*ts less about our situation. What is it you actually want?"
The voice cleared its mental throat. "I'll exchange the spiritual debt Rio has towards you with equipment equal to its value. As a concession, as long as she doesn't have a spiritual debt connection to you, I'll take Boca with us and ensure advantageous reincarnation for the accidental deaths."
While the mind of the young mage was being briefed on what occurred world side, he negotiated out the spiritual debts of Rio and Boca. He tried to be as kind as he could to the lady and worked out a 'secret knowledge' share to release her. He felt like he dodged some kind of emotional bullet when he found out that Boca was once Jacob.
World side, Orison said to the two, "Alright. Neither of you have to feel responsible for not being able to protect others when you weren't even able to keep your own lives. I won't ask how it played out and I don't want to know who was there. Take some comfort in the knowledge that a minor god level power just promised to give them all a new and better life."
Cole said, "When... if we get strong enough, we should return there someday. There's not much revenge to have against metal golems but..."
Adam nodded. "It would be insensitive to bring it up now but there's other good reasons to return... If we can get to the point we could handle it."
The young mage said, "WHEN that day comes, we will have no trouble finding this location again. We and even my conduit have bled all over this place..."
Orison had to stop the conversation to listen to the instructions and trace out the ritual circle diagram mildly flash burned into his mind's eye. After finishing it, he silently intoned a true name he instantly forgot by spiritual promise. For a brief moment the smoky impression of an unassuming but wet weather dressed person appeared within the circle. A package appeared in their hands and dropped to the ground as they faded from sight.
Opening the package, the young mage took his share of gear before pointing the other two to what was theirs. Grudgingly, Orison had to admit that it was masterwork quality. Although the 'clothing' was a 'one time every so often' shifter set that worked off the impressions their 'host' supplied them with, the weapons were custom made.
Adam had supplied his soul bound symbiotic apparel with a streamlined tactical suit. The caster gun that was supplied with it had decent piercing power and was surprisingly discrete. His, like everyone else's equipment, could be stored away and summoned out of his spiritual seat with a mere commanding thought.
Cole was wearing something that looked somewhat similar to the Silent Order assassin's garb Orison had gifted his brother Venito so long ago. As the young mage watched the feline young man test out the balance of his two new 'cat claw' daggers, he wondered where Cole had been inspired enough to have that image. He chalked it up to defensive gear that had good mobility and was still worth wearing having a limited range of expression, no matter what the culture.
As for himself, Orison once again sported the cloud-like over robe and dark minimalist clothing he'd been secretly missing for some time. The unassuming cane he carried was an interesting little item itself. He fully intended on exploring all of its utility as soon as they were safe.
Done checking over their new gear, the young mage said, "I left my key two commands that it was to give importance to once we breached into this reality. The first was to find a 'safe', essence rich place and to be drawn to a familiar soul. The chances of it doing both were obviously not likely but the idea was to satisfy the first command nearest to the second.
"If everything had played out as it was supposed to, we would have grabbed some goodies from that place, careful not to disturb the locals, and then find our familiar soul. What ended up happening was a screeching crash landing that activated every security measure in the place and a scramble for survival to leave it.
"We're going to put that behind us and do what we need to do. I've got a lock on a soul and that means people. Considering its not THAT far away, expect them to be a tough lot. This isn't exactly national park level tame."
Both Cole and Adam gave him grim and silent agreement. Not running around naked and unarmed gave them a small boost of confidence and morale, at least. It would take a little more than that before anyone could feel comfortable much less satisfied again.
Packing away the valuable other parts of the troll, as they walked, Orison asked Cole, "Are you feeling regret for accepting that ticket off of Osomo?"
The feline young man shrugged. "Lots of maybes if I stayed and some of them weren't very happy maybes for a deaf with a crippled foot. I'll take the fighting chance I have now over that. Don't worry. If I get mauled to death by some random creature, I won't haunt you or anything."
Trying to lighten the mood, Adam said, "Before I got the squirmy thing that turns into a suit and this gun, I was feeling some nostalgia for my testing week in First Summit... You never made it that far did you?"
Confused by the reference, he tried to recall what the man might be talking about. "First Summit... I don't remember. If it's some kind of training evaluation, I never really did too much of any kind of training in a formal way. Was it a survival based challenge?"
Adam sighed. "How much could you forget in a couple of months or so? Did you take a bad blow to the head? An unexpected chemical reaction to the red hair dye and all the performance enhancers you took to get into shape, perhaps? Good job on being thorough with both, by the way."
Orison raised an eyebrow at the man. "It's been a couple of centuries for me in personal time. During which, at one point, I was 108 different people. I had to forget a lot of things to make room for all that. I had to forget a lot of personal things to not be dragged down by the emotional weight of that. Merging souls with an angry but otherwise emotionally numb child was helpful in some ways but not on that front.
"Obviously, some part of your memory and connection exists within the murky depths of all the things I decided to keep because you're here. I have a vague impression that something really bad happened at a muddy place. A lot of Rogers and other people were a part of that.
"If you're trying to find common ground with me to see where you stand, I'll help you out. You are a stranger that I feel friendly and responsible towards. I'm inclined to promote you through acquaintance and to legitimate friend fairly quickly as long as you don't lie, steal from us or attempt to kill one of us."
Cole added, "Sounds good. I think I'll go with that too... Wait, I DO know you. You chose to become an angel or something. Orison, the other set of memories I have now, its from that."
The young mage said, "THAT branch of ifs got erased. None of the Alpha or Beta series realities existed, Adam. You are a person that shouldn't exist but does. "Like Cole, you were in the space between places when your reality ceased to exist. Unlike Cole, your soul came into being within that reality which no longer exists. Don't let THAT worry you. The moment you entered a mid-dimensional reality, you registered as a new soul here."
Adam's emotional Teflon cracked for a moment. "Everyone I knew is gone?"
Orison shook his head. "There are some. I wouldn't dare to guarantee they would still be the people you knew. The again, you're a Rogers.
"Dustin, his sister and cousin got wrapped up with one of my closest friends. I think they would have been protected from losing who they were. If you knew them, then-"
The Rogers man cut him off. "My brother and sister are alive!?"
The young mage shrugged. "It's been a few years. Like I said, I wouldn't dare to guarantee anything but their odds are pretty good."
"What about little Garret? Do you know anything about him?" Adam asked eagerly.
Orison frowned.
He raked through his consciousness and didn't seem to recall until a shadow of a thought brushed from a brighter branch labeled 'Babs'. "It was only for a short while but he was a running buddy, I think. You'd have to find Babs. She's definitely not going to let something happen to her brother if she's okay. And her chances are pretty damn good of still being around, on her own merit."
Adam asked, "What are my chances of finding them?"
"Without becoming a climber, not good. There's a small chance one of them or their associated peeps could be roaming around the upper worlds of this reality but that's asking for one hell of a coincidence. They do happen, though. Spiritual entanglement is real. Family and friends do tend to be drawn to each other from life to life but climbers kind of break the chain or lengthen it, at least," the young mage said.
The man grew silent and thoughtful over the next hour. During that time, Orison ran down the list of experiments to see what he could and couldn't use. Cole had his own version of that instilled in his memories for the short time he traveled with Duran in the alternate 'what if'.
Finally, Adam broke the silence. "What do I have to do to become a climber?"
Orison handed him a few sheets of paper made during his experiments with plant fiber. On it were transcribed a refined version of the Rogers Family 'mana particle' meditation technique and technique conversion notes for different situations.
The young mage said, "I won't be responsible for your climber's journey but this is an idea that I gave to Babs and she ran with it. It's not a path but it is a gateway. With some hard work, you might find your own key to open it... or not."
After that, their journey took a turn for the challenging. Running out of meadow, they were once again entering a thick finger of forest and there were creatures waiting for them. A few small spectral animals hounded them, causing mildly aggravating scratches but weren't capable of actually harming them.
Those distracting creatures were bent on annoying them to death before Orison had finally had enough and shredded one with spiritual intent. The rest scampered away but a sense of ominousness settled over the area. A large and strong feeling spectral bear appeared.
As it stared menacingly at the trio, two living ones flanked it. The new additions were just as large and sported bony growths on their backs. Behind them, a few natural looking bears and a couple spectral lookalikes milled around as well.
Adam was ready to start firing but could see that the young mage had different ideas. Cole was ready to book up a tree and be done with it. It wasn't that he was a coward or that he would desert them but Orison already knew Cole's bottom line. The feline young man was no martyr.
"What are you thinking, man-thing? Now that there stands before you a greater force, do you regret? Do you rail against fate or feel like it is 'unfair'." the spectral bear projected.
Orison communicated back with emotionless inflection, "No. I'm wondering what they will call the desert this place will become if you attack me. We may not survive but nothing will for miles. It will be a lifeless waste for generations.
"Do not stand in my path. I am not a man-thing. I am a force of nature that wears the likeness of one. And if I am not provoked, I will be out of your territory in hours."
The spectral bear asked, "What are you about that crossing my land is needful?"
The young mage replied, "I sense a familiar soul half a day's journey in the line I travel. I go to see if it is a loved one. If it is, I want to deliver them from hardship and offer them protection. If not, then I will offer them to join my travels or leave them to their current life without interference."
The ghost bear huffed. "If I were to allow you passage, you would not be allowed to go there. It is a forbidden place to all save its warden."
Orison exercised Find Objective to see what it could tell him. "That place doesn't need to be guarded. I can close it. It feels like a wound in existence. I can remove the strange essence that keeps it from healing... The warden is probably the one I sense."
"It could be what is sealed there that you sense. Letting you go may doom more than my territory alone," the quarrelsome bear projected.
"The soul I sense is no power equal to a land god. Anything less than that is no real threat beyond the time it would take to stir interest in stopping them, should they be intending harm," Orison chuckled out.
The bear growled lowly. "You are an ignorant cub if you believe that. Even a weak little man-thing with a bright mind can rain destruction down on whole 'metal thorn' using tribes and the large lands they despoil, mark as 'kingdoms'.
With a genuine look of sadness, Orison said, "It's a pity. The meadow we walked through to get here was actually quite pretty."
An unstable pulse of potent energy spilled out from him as he added. "Well, either you die or I die and take everything with me unless you move. Oh, that means that thing out there as well. I'm close enough that the seal will break if I death spite this place."
Looking around, he realized he was naked in a meadow with lingering traces of fat smeared on him. There was also a person with nearly emotionless eyes looking at him through the visor of a streamlined and slightly futuristic 'knight' suit. Experimentally, he tried nodding at the person.The knight said, "You are temporarily safe and my reservoir is running low, patron. Please place me back in the inter-dimensional base for resupply. Current rate of resupply is approximately one second of operational power for two days time. Approximate time until full resupply is 169,000 years."The knight transformed into a glass chess piece. With little other option, the young mage summoned it back to the rest of the glass chess set laying somewhere in the tower. Once that strange encounter had ended, he suddenly had a flash of requesting to 'arrive; in a new world in such an environment. He had never felt so insecure.With the last vestiges of dark mist still lingering around himself from the law sealed key, he reached out and tried to pull whatever else nearby might have some lingering about them as well. Two familiar figures appeared along with a few items. Seeing that his two compatriots were barely clinging to life, he walked over to the troll carcass that was nearby. After collecting some still usable fat from its meager and emaciated midsection, he smeared the fat generously on the worse of their wounds. It ended up taking all the fat and exhausting attempts to keep it invigorated with his own power but Orison managed to barely get all the wounds closed and missing pieces regrown. As soon as they were stitched together well enough that moving wouldn't make anything worse, he woke up Cole and a man he felt he should know, stamped with the remembered features of a Rogers family member."Come on guys. I know you're feeling weak and thirsty but I can only help with one of those right now," the young mage said as he conjured some water for them to drink.Cole, more than a little traumatized, numbly obeyed as he staggered to his feet.The Rogers man stood up and looked Orison over before hugging the stunned young mage. "Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes."Orison tapped the man's back a couple of times before he said, "Don't take this the wrong way because I definitely feel like I should know you... Who are you?"Smiling faintly, Adam added, "Am I that forgettable?"Orison was about to answer when he felt a spiritual message being sent to him through another person that he thought he should know but had forgotten, Rio. "Sorry about that. I was frantic after feeling the return of my little brother's soul signature, I was too rough with my pull- you almost got them all killed!"The young mage replied angrily, "Aside from two other survivors, whoever else was left probably did get killed!"Defensively, the stranger replied through Rio, "It wasn't all me! Boca couldn't enter wherever it is you are. If I hadn't created a small rent in your vessel, she would have been squeezed out of it in a paste!"Orison replied, enraged, "If there wasn't a hole in my 'vessel', she wouldn't have been sensed and rejected, dipsh*t!... Look, I can sense that you could give two sh*ts less about our situation. What is it you actually want?"The voice cleared its mental throat. "I'll exchange the spiritual debt Rio has towards you with equipment equal to its value. As a concession, as long as she doesn't have a spiritual debt connection to you, I'll take Boca with us and ensure advantageous reincarnation for the accidental deaths."While the mind of the young mage was being briefed on what occurred world side, he negotiated out the spiritual debts of Rio and Boca. He tried to be as kind as he could to the lady and worked out a 'secret knowledge' share to release her. He felt like he dodged some kind of emotional bullet when he found out that Boca was once Jacob.World side, Orison said to the two, "Alright. Neither of you have to feel responsible for not being able to protect others when you weren't even able to keep your own lives. I won't ask how it played out and I don't want to know who was there. Take some comfort in the knowledge that a minor god level power just promised to give them all a new and better life."Cole said, "When... if we get strong enough, we should return there someday. There's not much revenge to have against metal golems but..."Adam nodded. "It would be insensitive to bring it up now but there's other good reasons to return... If we can get to the point we could handle it."The young mage said, "WHEN that day comes, we will have no trouble finding this location again. We and even my conduit have bled all over this place..."Orison had to stop the conversation to listen to the instructions and trace out the ritual circle diagram mildly flash burned into his mind's eye. After finishing it, he silently intoned a true name he instantly forgot by spiritual promise. For a brief moment the smoky impression of an unassuming but wet weather dressed person appeared within the circle. A package appeared in their hands and dropped to the ground as they faded from sight.Opening the package, the young mage took his share of gear before pointing the other two to what was theirs. Grudgingly, Orison had to admit that it was masterwork quality. Although the 'clothing' was a 'one time every so often' shifter set that worked off the impressions their 'host' supplied them with, the weapons were custom made.Adam had supplied his soul bound symbiotic apparel with a streamlined tactical suit. The caster gun that was supplied with it had decent piercing power and was surprisingly discrete. His, like everyone else's equipment, could be stored away and summoned out of his spiritual seat with a mere commanding thought.Cole was wearing something that looked somewhat similar to the Silent Order assassin's garb Orison had gifted his brother Venito so long ago. As the young mage watched the feline young man test out the balance of his two new 'cat claw' daggers, he wondered where Cole had been inspired enough to have that image. He chalked it up to defensive gear that had good mobility and was still worth wearing having a limited range of expression, no matter what the culture.As for himself, Orison once again sported the cloud-like over robe and dark minimalist clothing he'd been secretly missing for some time. The unassuming cane he carried was an interesting little item itself. He fully intended on exploring all of its utility as soon as they were safe.Done checking over their new gear, the young mage said, "I left my key two commands that it was to give importance to once we breached into this reality. The first was to find a 'safe', essence rich place and to be drawn to a familiar soul. The chances of it doing both were obviously not likely but the idea was to satisfy the first command nearest to the second."If everything had played out as it was supposed to, we would have grabbed some goodies from that place, careful not to disturb the locals, and then find our familiar soul. What ended up happening was a screeching crash landing that activated every security measure in the place and a scramble for survival to leave it."We're going to put that behind us and do what we need to do. I've got a lock on a soul and that means people. Considering its not THAT far away, expect them to be a tough lot. This isn't exactly national park level tame."Both Cole and Adam gave him grim and silent agreement. Not running around naked and unarmed gave them a small boost of confidence and morale, at least. It would take a little more than that before anyone could feel comfortable much less satisfied again.Packing away the valuable other parts of the troll, as they walked, Orison asked Cole, "Are you feeling regret for accepting that ticket off of Osomo?"The feline young man shrugged. "Lots of maybes if I stayed and some of them weren't very happy maybes for a deaf with a crippled foot. I'll take the fighting chance I have now over that. Don't worry. If I get mauled to death by some random creature, I won't haunt you or anything."Trying to lighten the mood, Adam said, "Before I got the squirmy thing that turns into a suit and this gun, I was feeling some nostalgia for my testing week in First Summit... You never made it that far did you?"Confused by the reference, he tried to recall what the man might be talking about. "First Summit... I don't remember. If it's some kind of training evaluation, I never really did too much of any kind of training in a formal way. Was it a survival based challenge?"Adam sighed. "How much could you forget in a couple of months or so? Did you take a bad blow to the head? An unexpected chemical reaction to the red hair dye and all the performance enhancers you took to get into shape, perhaps? Good job on being thorough with both, by the way."Orison raised an eyebrow at the man. "It's been a couple of centuries for me in personal time. During which, at one point, I was 108 different people. I had to forget a lot of things to make room for all that. I had to forget a lot of personal things to not be dragged down by the emotional weight of that. Merging souls with an angry but otherwise emotionally numb child was helpful in some ways but not on that front."Obviously, some part of your memory and connection exists within the murky depths of all the things I decided to keep because you're here. I have a vague impression that something really bad happened at a muddy place. A lot of Rogers and other people were a part of that. "If you're trying to find common ground with me to see where you stand, I'll help you out. You are a stranger that I feel friendly and responsible towards. I'm inclined to promote you through acquaintance and to legitimate friend fairly quickly as long as you don't lie, steal from us or attempt to kill one of us."Cole added, "Sounds good. I think I'll go with that too... Wait, I DO know you. You chose to become an angel or something. Orison, the other set of memories I have now, its from that."The young mage said, "THAT branch of ifs got erased. None of the Alpha or Beta series realities existed, Adam. You are a person that shouldn't exist but does. "Like Cole, you were in the space between places when your reality ceased to exist. Unlike Cole, your soul came into being within that reality which no longer exists. Don't let THAT worry you. The moment you entered a mid-dimensional reality, you registered as a new soul here."Adam's emotional Teflon cracked for a moment. "Everyone I knew is gone?"Orison shook his head. "There are some. I wouldn't dare to guarantee they would still be the people you knew. The again, you're a Rogers. "Dustin, his sister and cousin got wrapped up with one of my closest friends. I think they would have been protected from losing who they were. If you knew them, then-"The Rogers man cut him off. "My brother and sister are alive!?"The young mage shrugged. "It's been a few years. Like I said, I wouldn't dare to guarantee anything but their odds are pretty good.""What about little Garret? Do you know anything about him?" Adam asked eagerly.Orison frowned. He raked through his consciousness and didn't seem to recall until a shadow of a thought brushed from a brighter branch labeled 'Babs'. "It was only for a short while but he was a running buddy, I think. You'd have to find Babs. She's definitely not going to let something happen to her brother if she's okay. And her chances are pretty damn good of still being around, on her own merit."Adam asked, "What are my chances of finding them?""Without becoming a climber, not good. There's a small chance one of them or their associated peeps could be roaming around the upper worlds of this reality but that's asking for one hell of a coincidence. They do happen, though. Spiritual entanglement is real. Family and friends do tend to be drawn to each other from life to life but climbers kind of break the chain or lengthen it, at least," the young mage said.The man grew silent and thoughtful over the next hour. During that time, Orison ran down the list of experiments to see what he could and couldn't use. Cole had his own version of that instilled in his memories for the short time he traveled with Duran in the alternate 'what if'.Finally, Adam broke the silence. "What do I have to do to become a climber?"Orison handed him a few sheets of paper made during his experiments with plant fiber. On it were transcribed a refined version of the Rogers Family 'mana particle' meditation technique and technique conversion notes for different situations.The young mage said, "I won't be responsible for your climber's journey but this is an idea that I gave to Babs and she ran with it. It's not a path but it is a gateway. With some hard work, you might find your own key to open it... or not."After that, their journey took a turn for the challenging. Running out of meadow, they were once again entering a thick finger of forest and there were creatures waiting for them. A few small spectral animals hounded them, causing mildly aggravating scratches but weren't capable of actually harming them.Those distracting creatures were bent on annoying them to death before Orison had finally had enough and shredded one with spiritual intent. The rest scampered away but a sense of ominousness settled over the area. A large and strong feeling spectral bear appeared.As it stared menacingly at the trio, two living ones flanked it. The new additions were just as large and sported bony growths on their backs. Behind them, a few natural looking bears and a couple spectral lookalikes milled around as well.Adam was ready to start firing but could see that the young mage had different ideas. Cole was ready to book up a tree and be done with it. It wasn't that he was a coward or that he would desert them but Orison already knew Cole's bottom line. The feline young man was no martyr."What are you thinking, man-thing? Now that there stands before you a greater force, do you regret? Do you rail against fate or feel like it is 'unfair'." the spectral bear projected.Orison communicated back with emotionless inflection, "No. I'm wondering what they will call the desert this place will become if you attack me. We may not survive but nothing will for miles. It will be a lifeless waste for generations. "Do not stand in my path. I am not a man-thing. I am a force of nature that wears the likeness of one. And if I am not provoked, I will be out of your territory in hours."The spectral bear asked, "What are you about that crossing my land is needful?"The young mage replied, "I sense a familiar soul half a day's journey in the line I travel. I go to see if it is a loved one. If it is, I want to deliver them from hardship and offer them protection. If not, then I will offer them to join my travels or leave them to their current life without interference."The ghost bear huffed. "If I were to allow you passage, you would not be allowed to go there. It is a forbidden place to all save its warden."Orison exercised Find Objective to see what it could tell him. "That place doesn't need to be guarded. I can close it. It feels like a wound in existence. I can remove the strange essence that keeps it from healing... The warden is probably the one I sense.""It could be what is sealed there that you sense. Letting you go may doom more than my territory alone," the quarrelsome bear projected."The soul I sense is no power equal to a land god. Anything less than that is no real threat beyond the time it would take to stir interest in stopping them, should they be intending harm," Orison chuckled out.The bear growled lowly. "You are an ignorant cub if you believe that. Even a weak little man-thing with a bright mind can rain destruction down on whole 'metal thorn' using tribes and the large lands they despoil, mark as 'kingdoms'. With a genuine look of sadness, Orison said, "It's a pity. The meadow we walked through to get here was actually quite pretty."An unstable pulse of potent energy spilled out from him as he added. "Well, either you die or I die and take everything with me unless you move. Oh, that means that thing out there as well. I'm close enough that the seal will break if I death spite this place."
