Chapter 158: Book 3: The Return
Somehow, saying the words makes them feel all the more real. There are enough inconsistencies I've uncovered between the Integrators and the Interface that I'm no longer willing to take everything it says at face value. It doesn't help that I know for a fact that not even the Integrators fully understand the purpose of the Interface—it's an object of worship for them more than it is something they control, and their limited administrative rights over it is a reflection of that.
Unlike Kauku.
The thought strikes me out of the blue, and I frown. He modified the Interface's method of rewarding Inspirations with little more than a wave of a hand. He changed at least one Durability roll so that it modified me physically rather than rewarding me with skills, and he added a message into the Interface on top of that.
Gheraa's done something similar, but he couldn't do that by default, could he? He added Temporal Echo to my Firmament rolls, and that seemed about the extent of his manipulation—he couldn't send me a message through the Interface until...
Well, until whatever he did just before he died. Whatever he did that gave me those skills. That gave Isthanok a chance.
Kauku didn't need to do any of that. It's another mark in what feels like an ever-growing list of questions about what exactly he is.
Not that any of this changes what I have to do next. Complete the stages, retrieve whatever memory it is Kauku wants from the Empty City, and then bring Gheraa back to life. The sooner I can get that done, the better—but even if the Intermediaries are repaired, I don't think I care anymore about whether the Integrators are watching.
Let them watch. There's more at play than them. Bigger actors. Kauku is proof of that, even if I don't know what his presence means yet.
"Okay," I say, letting out a breath and gathering myself. "The Interface is lying. We can deal with that later. Ahkelios—can you get the Seed?"