Chapter 193: Book 3: Past Events
What I want to do now is something I considered doing from the moment I acquired The Road Not Taken. The only reason I haven't done it yet is because... well, because I couldn't. I've tried. The amount of Firmament it takes to go back and explore a different path increases almost exponentially the farther back I go; using the skill to try and retry Tarin and Naru's surgery was, moments ago, more or less my limit.
But things are a little different now. I've taken a half-step into the next realm of Firmament. I doubt that will make this easy, but if nothing else, I suspect it's no longer outright impossible.
I take a deep breath. I'm a little more nervous than I expected. I still don't know why Miktik did what she did; part of me fears finding out that it was something preventable, that it was something I should have noticed and tried to circumvent. It still feels... surreal, that she's gone. Death is so impermanent in the loops that for someone's loss to be permanent doesn't stick properly with me.
When I see her again—even just under the effects of the skill—it's going to be like she's still alive. I may not have known her well, but she was still a friend, and the idea of seeing her alive and well again, knowing there's nothing I can truly change...
It's not an idea that sits well with me. I haven't forgotten everything she's done for us. I haven't forgotten watching through Ahkelios as Whisper's skill burned through her.
She could have told Whisper about us to end it, but she didn't.
In a way, I think I owe this to her. I might not be able to bring her back, but whatever it was she wanted before she died—I'm sure there's something I can do about that. Something we can do about that.
It's something to do with Guard's AI core. I'm almost certain of that. That core is the whole reason Miktik agreed to work with Whisper in the first place. If there's anything that could drive her to dive by herself into the Intermediary, it has to be something she thought was really, truly important.
Time to find out what it was.