351
A day passed rather easily.
Mark watched as Isoko gained control in large ways, first being able to walk around on deck while in Full Platinum, and then to turn off Full Platinum and keep it off. Her Unionsense went away when she turned it off, though, which Mark could barely imagine doing, which helped him understand his own powers in a few different ways.
“Of course I realize it now, looking back on it,” Mark said, sitting in the air next to Isoko, at the prow of the ship. “Like when I was fighting Kardi and the cultists at Memphi with that Wand of Destruction. That disjunction turned off my Unionsense, too. So, like, duh. Unionsense is a part of Union. Not just a new sense added on to the other parts. I’ve been using Union, actively, the whole time. I just didn’t think about it like that.”
Isoko chuckled a little, her Full Platinum coming back, making the world wave silver at her mirth. She collected herself rapidly and then went back down to baseline, then she controlled herself, and said, “Try turning it all off right now.”
“Out here?” Mark said, shaking his head, “No way.”
Isoko suddenly shocked to Full Platinum, the deck of the ship splintering and breaking into the sky, whipping away on a gentle breeze that joined the storm. “… I guess we are in Endless Daihoon, yeah.”
“Yeah.”
Isoko looked at her skin, and said, “You know… I am really happy, but I would have liked to skip the ‘learning’ section of this whole thing.”
Mark grinned. “You ever seen that show with whats-his-face… the Australian guy and the Brazilian girl and the bank robbing?”
“ ‘To Bank a Heist’?” Isoko asked.
“Yeah! That’s it. It’s all about figuring out the main characters’ Powers. Deep past Curtain Protocol; pretty much completely open, actually.”
“Ah, nah. Never saw that one. Lola knows a bunch about Powers and Union and she’s been—”
“Attention!” Eliot announced, “We’re 2 minutes from opening the micro rift! Deploying dimensional anchors, now.”
The ship was going slow, but then the whole thing started to ‘friction’ with the storm. The golden Castellan bubble appeared, flickering around the ship, and then becoming a solid geodesic sphere around the Dreadnought. Soon, the ship was a rock in a storm, and the storm was moving around the bubble.
Eliot continued, “The mini-rift will be open for 30 minutes. If the ship has to move, then the rift will break. If something goes wrong, then the rift-gate is on a dolly and I’ll move it to break the rift. It only works when we’re completely stable! So put in your requests for stuff to search in now, or, more realistically, over the last 20 hours since that’s when the list went up for internet searches. Everyone prepare your phone calls if you got ‘em.”
Isoko’s composure fell away and the world turned silver in that falling. She was fine. The air turned clearer and the sky flexed in other directions. Mark still wasn’t sure how she was doing that without actually trying, and more to the point, how she was doing it without sending herself careening off into other directions. Mark had to use caltrops. Isoko needed ‘caltrops’, too; she had thrown herself into the ship when she tried to make a wind wall. But apparently she could… naturally grip the sky and use it as its own ‘caltrops’? Obviously it was more complicated than that. She’d figure it out, but if she wanted to talk to him about Shaping then he was all ears. So far she hadn’t asked about Shaping at all, and she probably wouldn’t. She wanted to figure it out herself.
But now she wanted to call her family.
Isoko tapped away at her earpiece and Mark left her to that.
Mark asked Quark, “The messages ready to go?”
“Yes sir. Messages for General Aurora, Uncles Alexandro and Gabriel, and Lawyer Goro Teshima ready to go.”
Mark had composed a few rather normal messages for everyone. Recordings would be informing Aurora that everything was on track, and that Isoko had gained well, and that Mark needed to know about dragon society here on Endless Daihoon. Aurora, being the world’s best dragonslayer, probably had experiences with Elkatracks and Quatrok and Odanci, too, and so Mark wanted to know about those guys, specifically.
For his uncles, Mark was just checking in, telling him he loved them, and that he hoped they were doing well.
Mark’s lawyer was going to get a half-hour breakdown of surface-level incidents that Mark had seen or knew about regarding Doomo’s treatment of him, as well as instructions that Mark would like to proceed with a lawsuit for whatever Goro thought necessary or applicable. On what grounds would Mark sue? He had no idea.
Mark was positive a lawsuit wasn’t going to work at all, but he was sure that he wanted to bring a lawsuit anyway just because it would be a legalfight, instead of a disastrous fight. Goro had once spoken with Mark about Aluatha Empire going after him under false pretenses, to lock him up into that adamantium farm, and how he could probably file something, if Mark wanted, but ultimately Mark had decided against that. Now, though, Mark wanted to reopen allof that history.
Mark was going to call one person, though.
Walaria.
From down in the belly of the ship, far out of sight and behind a few different shields that would limit everything out here from affecting the rift in there, Eliot said, “Rift opening in 3, 2, 1… Open! ... Okay! Looks like we connected to Earth, and we appear to be about 4,200 kilometers above the Pacific, north of Hawaii. That’s exosphere, and orbit. There will be a lag to Daihoon, but it’ll work. There is a hard vacuum out there, but clear sight lines… connection working… handshaking— There we go! Connected! Firewalls up and— whoa, okay! Uh. Lots of sudden traffic. People were watching for us. Send your messages, people! Aluatha is already sending a question to us. Mark. Call Walaria.”
… Mark nodded a little as he waited for the shoe to drop. Walaria was already primed to call him, and also kaiju might be coming.
But...
The sky was clear.
No kaiju.
“… Well okay then.” Mark rapidly moved from one side of the ship to the other, and he didn’t see any issues. “Anything on scanners out there, Quark?”
“Nothing, sir.”
“Send the messages and then call Walaria.”
Quark beep-booped and then said, “Calling Walaria— Ah. Intercepted. Uh… Addavein is on the line.”
“Mark!” Addavein said. “How goes Endless Daihoon? Did you get your prismatic mana yet?”
“Uh. It’s okay.” Mark reoriented fast, deciding to try his words on Addavein, first. Mark said, “So I killed a Sleipnir for Isoko, and no one is quite sure what to say about that, but Isoko is fine and she’s working on mastering her new Sky Shaper powers… and her Full Union, and, uh… I think the gods are using us as backups for problems coming down the pipeline, and I met some dragons, Quatrok, Elkatracks, and Odanci, and we’re going to one of their human exile cities to do some shit and get stuff in return, mostly being able to hunt in their lands… Got any thoughts about that— Oh! And Big Silver paid us a personal visit when I used the machine to search for my prismatic mana target. Gravity went wonky—” Mark looked up at the sky, expecting Big Silver to show up in that exact moment. Didn’t happen; thank the gods. “And there were like, a thousand moon-sized eyes in the sky, all looking down at us, and then he went away. Maybe less than a thousand moon-sized eyes, actually, but still it felt like a lot. Got any thoughts about that?”
“… I haveso many thoughts. One minute. Princess Walaria is trying to reach you right now, and I guess I’ll let her through. Call you back!”
Click.
And then:
“Was that Addavein before me?”
Mark decided to say, “Yes, ma’am. Also…”
Mark gave her practically the same rundown he gave Addavein because it would be interesting to see ifthey had different reactions, and howdifferent their reactions were. Walaria’s initial reaction was the same as Addavein’s, though.
“… One… moment…”
Mark waited.
“The gods are using you as backups?” Walaria asked, almost in disbelief. In even more disbelief, she asked, “What did she say, exactly?”
“Freyala said that…” Mark paused. Freyala had spoken about Mark’s actions having big waves, and thus they needed backups for the inevitable collateral damage, because even gods could die. Gods had in the past. So instead of saying that, and knowing that Walaria would probably be getting footage of the whole event from someone anyway, and probably Mark himself, Mark decided to say, “I want to trust you with this, but holy fuck, Walaria, does your family have a horrific track record with me and mine.”
Walaria’s voice was solid as she said, “On my honor as Princess of Aluatha, I promise you again what I have already promised you in Agreement, as much as can be promised by mortal hands; you have your autonomy, and I will protect that to the best of my ability. You do not understand the depth of the Agreement that we undertook, but I hope you do, one day, for I will always honor the spirit as well as the letter of the Agreement, for as long as we both shall live, and further beyond.” Walaria continued, “With that said, and more meant, I apologize for my failure to enforce my side of the Agreement, to keep you out of attempts to control you... but I am your master in Mage Society, so when I ask important questions like ‘the gods are making backups?’, do notstiff me on an answer, Mark. Do notdo this, above all else, do notmake me think a Magefall might be happening.”
“… Yeah… well… Point. Send her the recording of the event.” Quark beeped in the background as Mark said, “Basically: Freyala spoke about how Isoko was going to be dangerous, but ‘we need all the help we can get’. And ‘if nothing else, several good backups are necessary. Then she went on to mention how gods can die, as they have in the past, and how they will in the future. Since I’m aiming big, there will be collateral damage, and no one knows how deep or far that damage will go.” Mark finished with Freyala’s own words, “But sometimes some damages must be done.”
A moment passed.
Walaria spoke strongly, “I have seen the video, and I thank you for that. I will have to think on that. Shifting priorities: Sleipnir, the 8 legged sky horse?”
“Yes. Lola knew that name, too… Was… Was that a problem?”
“Any monster that is known before you encounter them is a problem, especially any monster from a godly myth. It’s a complicated subject and Tartu would be able to tell you about it. If he hasn’t then it’s not a large issue. Still, finding a known kaiju is a large oddity. Ask the Solari boy about it.” Walaria asked, “Do you have any questions for me?”
“Quatrok, Elkatracks, and Odanci. Odanci had a ward, named Nalamenca, that attacked us. I attacked her back and let her go for… some reason. And then they all came out in force for a big talk. Long story short, they threatened, I threatened back and a whole lot better, I think, and then Odanci told Nalamenca to apologize. Nalamenca did not apologize, and in fact antagonized more, and so Odanci killed Nalamenca and ate her prismatic mana core, or something. And then Elkatracks and Quatrok spoke of needing appliances, so we’re headed to a place to drop off some appliances and get some supplies, so we can hunt in their land. Thoughts?”
“… You know you just admitted to dealing with dragons to me, right, Mark?”
“What of it,” Mark simply stated.
There was a bite to his words.
Mark wanted to apologize, to be polite, but… no.
“Do what you must and hide all evidence.”
“A heads up: I’m also bringing a lawsuit against the Empire for the multiple assassinations recently, as well as all that shit that happened back in Memphi. As a preemptive strike: Do you want to work out ignoring our trades with dragons right now, and I can drop the charges I’m bringing against Aluatha for the previous dragon trading charges?” Mark added, “But the lawsuits against the assassination attempts arehappening. I did, however, grow some rain lilies downstairs and take a photo op with them, and make a small message to post to the HVP message boards, thanking Doomo for the flowers. So there you go.” Mark asked, “Did I post that yet, Quark?”
“You did not post that yet, sir.”
“Should I post that propaganda?” Mark asked Walaria.
“… Post the message. We’ll talk more later. Good luck. And Mark? This is too heavy handed, by far.”
“Not as heavy as void bullets to the brain.”
“… Good journeys.”
Click.
“Oh oh oh!” Addavein said, “That was some spicy talk!”
Mark groaned. “How much were you listening?”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on NovelFire. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“All of it! I like the touch with the rain lilies, but I KNOW you didn’t come up with that. Who did?”
“Ah… Tartu. Speaking of him: I think he’s going to try to pray to Verdago, to get the real Farmer Talent... This shit with the gods… How serious is this?”
Addavein hummed, then said, “It’s serious, but it’s not thatserious. What is concerning is that you have 4 of the 6 acknowledged Pantheonic powers on board, and that Tartu is looking at being #5, but the full godly Powers are already out there, in full, in several people.
“You already know of the Full Union users. One of them is High Priestess Holy Mother Julia Garin, and the other one is her son, Serge Garin, also known as Justicar. They pretend at being ‘mere Chosen’, but they’re more than that, by far. And now there’s you and also Isoko,” Addavein said, “Not too sure about Pluta’s backups, or Verdago’s for that matter, but I know they have them. Pluta’s is probably in New Washington. Verdago’s might be there, too.
“Hearthswell has a Castellan backup in New Tokyo. She’s a Bi-Talent with Shapeshifter body, and there is no way she’s dead, even though no one has directly seen her in a long time. She appears when there is need, but other than that she’s been keeping New Tokyo upright for 60 years. Her name usedto be Lacy. Who knows who she is anymore.
“Drakarok has a Retribution backup in South America named Sarge. Might even be his former second-in-command. There’s also Redwolf, and you met her in Wolf Bayou north of Memphi. She’s not a Full Retribution, but she could be with a trip to Endless Daihoon. The Head Popper could take out a kaiju all by herself, too.
“Malaqua has actual copies of himself with his Power scattered around Earth. He raised them himself, so that the System could never be corrupted as bad as it was, ever again.
“So this thing with Freyala appearing and talking about the issue is concerning, but not thatconcerning.” Addavein added, “What’s more concerning is Quatrok and Odanci trying to goad you into thinking they’re anything less than tyrants themselves. Quatrok is an enemy of mine. He still wants me to rule the worlds, though, but who wants to do that? Certainly not me! Do youwant to actually do that?”
“Not particularly,” Mark said, thinking about multiple godly backups scattered across the globes, “But I would appreciate fewer assassinations in my life.”
Addavein chuckled, and it was the rumble of a volcano and an avalanche. “I just survived another one of those, too! A small one; more like a pot shot, so not really like an assassination attempt at all. Can’t really blame the guy who tried, though; he was terrified of me passing overhead to kill a kaiju he was aiming at. Ha!”
Mark smirked as he looked out at Endless Daihoon.
All of this was so fantastical.
It was more than he had ever dreamed of when he was watching Glorious Man fight kaiju on the Saturday shows, when he was 8 years old and he barely understood what he was seeing. All he could tell was that Glorious Man was strong, and that he needed to be strong if he wanted to be out there, too, helping people and saving the world.
Life was more complicated than ‘be strong’, but it was a good base with which to handle all the rest.
“I gotta ask… How was yourtrip through here?” Mark asked. “The big one, to Arakino to repair the System?”
Addavein hummed, weighing things, no doubt. And then he said, “Big Silver buzzed us, too. He does that to all the truly strong people. But we didn’t go in there with an army. We just went in with the few of us. If you go into Endless Daihoon with an army then the armies are never seen, ever again. Anything more than 20 superheroes is deadly for all involved. The actual number is likely a lot higher than that, but ‘20’ is a good number.” Addavein added, “But other than those initial thoughts toward the excursion… We went as deep as possible, toward Arakino, and we eventually got there. It was terrible at the end, but the worst part was the middle part. Everyone below archmage or superhero died in the middle part, and we barely made it through the last part. Reeni had to stay back past a certain point.
“The kaiju close to Earth and Daihoon are the normal ones. The Cat 7s and the Cat 8s… The only way to escape a Cat 8 is to be lucky AND crash into dreams and keep going, skirting the very edge of death and life and watching in horror as the Cat 8 swims by… hopefully swims by. They stay inside the layers as much as they can because Cat 8s are basically the cleaners of the layers.
“They fill up the entire layer, Mark, and it’s a 10 hour trip between layers when you’re in the center of Endless Daihoon… Though you’ve seen Endless Daihoon by now. What could you even call a ‘center of Endless Daihoon’? It’s all subjective, and the only real way to know where you are going is to either head away from the Two Worlds, or toward them.” Addavein asked, “You’re not going further than 10,000 kilometers out, are you?”
Mark answered, “Tartu’s target was at 32,000 kilometers. He was the furthest away.”
“… That will be dangerous, but possibly doable. You’ll have to get good at skirting the dreamlands.” Addavein added, “And if Tartu goes for Farmer, then you might find a much better target closer by.”
Mark took that under advisement, but he also frowned as he realized something. “Elkatracks implied that we’d start seeing Cat 7s at 5,000 kilometers in, and maybe even a few Cat 8s. Was that implication a lie? Was she trying to scare us into taking a dragon escort?”
Addavein scoffed. “Elkatracks is the most cautious, trustworthy dragon I know, so it was not a lie, exactly. Most of the dangerous kaiju do not get that close at all because the layers are thicker and more real way out there, so they stay out there. That’s where the prey is, after all. Past 5,000 kilometers the cat 1 kaiju are so numerous and the dreamlands so stable that you slip in and out of layers and dreamlands quite easily, and you’ll see kaiju like you’d see monsters when stepping outside of any settlement.”
“Ah…” Mark imagined what they would need to get past a horde of cat 1 kaijus and he felt that maybe… maybe they would have enough? “Isoko on Sky control would take care of a lot of cat 1s. Sally with a big sword would do the rest. Eliot making a base would be good enough. And Andria… To be honest, I’m not sure what Prosperity does. Is it a Luck thing?”
Addavein said, “Prosperity is technically the weakest of the Pantheon’s powers because it works best in low-stress environments, but it’s the most-used Power in any governmental position. I imagine that Andria couldn’t do much with either the real Prosperity or the Chosen System version of Prosperity, except realizing before everyone else certain small things. Like maybe you should take a different layer toward or away from your destinations. Small things like that. It’s not Luck. It is more… holistic, than Luck. Bad environments make Prosperity users very uncomfortable, so they tend to get out of those as soon as possible.”
Mark suddenly realized something.
Mark recalled seeing Andria on the floor, almost catatonic with worry when Big Silver showed. It had hit her even worse than it had hit Eliot. Maybe she wasn’t just unnaturally scared of kaiju; it wouldn’t be the first time Mark had ever seen someone go catatonic around a kaiju. But…
Was Prosperity fucking her up?
More than most?
Ahh…
She was probably having a reallyhard time, especially with Mark actively choosing to not listen to her… But then again how could he? Gods. Kardi had fucked him up a lot.
“I should talk to her about that. Thanks, Addavein.”
“No problem… So how did your meeting with the dragons go? Did Quatrok say anything about past dealings with me?”
“He said something like, ‘If you, or your brother, seek to create the world I want, then I will help’… or something close to that.”
“Hmm… Well good luck. Later, Brother.”
“Later, Brother,” Mark said, feeling really weird about calling Addavein that word, but he did it anyway.
Click.
Mark took a moment.
And then Mark asked, “When are we shutting the rift?”
“2 minutes, though everyone is already done with their calls.”
“Oh… Yeah.” Mark said, “I’m done. Close it.”
“Preparing to close the rift!” Eliot said. “1 minute warning.”
Mark looked over to Isoko, sitting serenely on the prow of the Dreadnought, her vector calm and pleasant. David and Lola were in the secondary steering room, at the top of the castle, and talking about very serious things that only they were privy to. Mark was pretty sure that Derek had tried to actively Clone himself through the micro-rift, and he had either succeeded or failed, but either way Tartu was yelling at him, or at least talking at him sternly. Eliot and Sally were near that, but not really interacting with that event. Eliot was doing something with the ship again, while Sally seemed to be doing something with the ship, too.
Andria was sitting by herself just inside the castle, down and to the right in the Hub.
Accessible.
Waiting.
Hmm… Now, if Mark was a paranoid man, and he was, he would assume that Andria was waiting forhim… And he might as well go fulfill that prophecy.
Mark did a once-around the Dreadnought, looking for kaiju, but none were out there at all. Soon, Eliot was announcing that he was closing the rift, and Tartu was announcing that people should not try to play with the rift, no matter if it did look like a particularly interesting keyhole, Derek. Derek countered Tartu’s suggestion of what to do with his life with ‘If I’m not getting prismatic powerups then I should at least be allowed to try fitting through pin-hole rifts in space! Never know when it might come in handy.’ to which Mark replied that Derek had a point.
And then Mark visited Andria, just inside the Hub, saying, “Hello.”
Andria startled, and said, “Ah… Hello. Uh? Need… uh, something?”
She was nervous. Scared. Frozen in fear a bit, but still moving around. Working. Normal, for her, as far as Mark knew.
“I have been made aware that you might be particularly susceptible to the negative effects of simply existing inside Endless Daihoon, and I am sorry for not noticing. If there is anything I can do to make this trip easier for you, please let me know.” Mark finished with, “I wasn’t tryingto be mean to you, but Kardi… She fucked me up a lot. I’m sorry that I let her influence how I have interacted with you.”
Andria’s eyebrows went up, and then her face scrunched and all of her vectors suddenly flexed to complete and total emotional breakdown. She maintained, though. Even with voice breaking and tears flowing freely, she managed to say, “I’m sorry I came on too strong! I just wanted to help! You can do so much and now you’re doing all of that and I’m just glad to be here, even if it is the most terrifying thing I have ever done in my whole life and I am so worried about dying and… and of course we’re all worried about dying! You were assassinated and— attempted assassination! And then you got demons all over you and I’m… Thank you… for telling me that.”
Mark… nodded a little, and said, “If you need anything, then say so, okay?”
“That anti-Fear is good, please!” Andria sobbed, happily.
Mark grinned a little as he Unioned with Glory and Fear, wiping away all fear from Andria’s vector.
Andria suddenly relaxed, and the tears flowed softly. “Thank you. Can you… keep it up until I go to sleep? I need to sleep.”
“Sure. Sleep well.”
“Thank you.”
Mark went back up top and Andria went to her room to collapse completely into her bed. Soon she was sleeping and Mark was standing at the forecastle, looking out at everything.
Isoko floated toward him, not platinum at all, saying, “So that was cute.” She spun in the air and then landed on the forecastle next to Mark, and she didn’t break anything at all. She also wasn’t Platinum, though, and that was a bit concerning. “Glad you worked it out with her.”
“Andria seems alright… kinda shameful I didn’t notice her particular difficulty, though.”
“I think she’ll be fine.”
“I hope so. You seem alright, too! Grandma helped? But the non-Platinum is concerning.”
Isoko grinned for a moment, then said, “Grandma helped a lot. Proper Sky Shaper is more about letting go, than about directed control, so that’s why I’m not Full Platinum right now.”
“Ahhh… directly counter to Platinum Body andUnion.”
“Sort of. Sky Shaper and Platinum Body feel like they’re at opposite ends of a spectrum right now; I can use them together, but not as well as I want to be able to use them together. Union is a cool middle ground. I can Unionsense the entire sky, but only when purposes rise above a certain level of purpose; sort of how I can sense breezes everywhere but only if they’re strong. Like, I can tell your vector, because you’re close and strong, but Derek is kind of a wash of purposes, sleeping Andria is too quiet to feel at all, and the others are like soft impressions, barely felt.”
Mark nodded. “It was a good stop, then.”
“A very good stop.”
“So what is your range?”
“About 3 kilometers. 4.5 if I really relax and don’t do anything at all. 1.3 if I have Full Platinum active.”
“Ahhh… Sky Shaper and Platinum Body are vastly different densities of astral body.”
“Yup! I’m getting the hang of it, though!”
Mark grinned. “I know you will— Oh my gods. Do Glory/Fear!”
Isoko desperately wanted to, but she held herself back, saying, “Lola told me to try normal Unions first before I get into stuff like that because it’s up to me to find out whatever my ‘best’ Union is.” She added, “I can already tell you my best Unions ain’tgonna be Glory and Fear.”
Mark thought for a moment, then said, “Well you’re prismatic, so… Prismatic/Weakness? Figure out something better for ‘weakness’ later when you figure out something that makes sense?”
Isoko’s eyes glittered and her vector lit up. “Ohhhhh.” And then she smiled and gave Mark a playful backhanded slap against the arm, saying, “Thisis what I was missing when you were doing all your weird Unions and talking with Lola, and I was over here trying to make sense of ‘Good/Bad’ in different ways!”
Mark smiled. “Welcome to the big leagues, Isoko.”
Isoko’s eyes glittered, and then she sniffled, and said, “Gla— glad to be here.”