An Age of Mysterious Memories

B 3 C 16: Lil, the Revered?

I don’t want to disappoint Lil, but if I was sleep-talking, I’ve probably been doing it off and on whether or not they were around, for a long time now. Still, if I did just start up again after so long, why now? Lil licks me as if they were a giant dog, startling me from my reverie.

I react, grossed out, “Eugh, buddy, what the heck? Hahaha, okay okay, quit it. Fine, yes, storytime is just for you pal, jeeze. That is weird enough on skin, on scales it’s just odd. Why would you do that?”

Lil apologizes, “Sorry pal, you just smell so good right now.” Lil guiltily sneaks one more lick as I playfully shove their head away.

My face screws up in a curious expression, “I, I what? I smell good right now? Huh, I wonder if I could regain my sense of smell if I self-actualized it while shapeshifting.”

My legs are in much less pain after a full sleep, but I can tell the bones have only just begun to knit back together. Lil, riding my thought waves, knows I still need help getting around, for probably a week or so. I’m amazed that shapeshifting can take the place of magical regeneration, but then again, it is an active ability versus a passive one, and they’re both magical.

Wondering if we can get back on track and expedite our journey, I ask, “Hey Lil, can you get above the canopy? Do you mind if I try to use JT on your rear legs to see what sort of speeds we can reach with your glides?”

Lil excitedly replies, “Sure thing buddy!”

As Lil performs a massive standing leap, they energetically pump their wings. Once we’ve broken the canopy, I scan the horizon in all directions to make sure there are no anomalies like billowing smoke, or Mata hanging out waiting for us. Everything seems clear, so I direct Lil on how to brace their legs so that I can use Jettison-Thrust propulsion to speedily drive us through the air.

There we go, Lil’s dense dragon bones and greater surface area to spread the impact out across handle powerful JT with ease. Lil ends up receiving less force at any specific joints or bones than I did, while being able to maintain a higher maximum velocity without injury than I’m capable of. I don’t want to risk injuring Lil though, so we’ll settle for this pace. We’re still fairly rocketing along in the sky, probably two hundred kilometers per hour or more. At this rate, we should be within sight of the Chamelefolk settlement within a couple of hours at most.

Concern for my best buddy still requires me to prompt, “Feeling okay Lil? No strain, nothing breaking?”

Lil whoops and hollers with joy in response. I guess they’re enjoying themselves. I find myself chuckling and whooping along with Lil. Lil, Teuila, and I all love flying, especially at high speeds. Utilizing JT for thrust and propulsion means we have to keep almost perfectly straight however, so that I don’t randomly knock us into a death spiral with inventory magic. I can sense how much Lil wants to be doing barrel rolls and swoops right now, but they’re still enjoying high speed flight.

I wonder if there’s a way for me to personally develop the ancillary powers that Valkyrie has. They don’t show up in her skills page, so I’m never certain if she’s making progress with them, but I’m certain her maximum safe velocity is slowly rising over time. Since they don’t show on her skills page, I don’t know what to rationalize to self-actualize gaining them as skills. I imagine infinite blunt resistance might make all of it safe, uncomfortable though it may be to feel like our skin is peeling away while leaping at incredible speeds. I haven’t run into a creature with physical resistances in the infinite range, even the phoenix only had somewhere in the five or six digit range, I didn’t get a good glimpse as it was blasting through me repeatedly. I worry that infinite blunt resistance might prevent us from being able to move at all, unable to initiate muscular motion. Hopefully not.

As I’m trying to calculate possible skill levels and combinations that I’ve come across, to possibly replicate Valkyrie’s ancillary powers, Lil tries to get my attention. Lil telepathically sends, “Hey pal, pal we’ve been going for a couple hours, I think we’re there!”

Good, good. I stop with the acceleration from JT propulsion, so eventually our speed dies down to Lil’s normal maximum glide velocity as they slowly spiral down towards the canopy. As we break the canopy with our descent, the sight beneath us is astounding. The Chamelefolk settlement is the second most advanced community I’ve seen since the human city on the sea. Everything is simple cubic stonework, simple buildings with few floors, perhaps only one, but crenelated roofs. Through some windows, I see lumber supports along the inner corner walls of the various houses. The town is essentially two perpendicular intersecting roads, though they come to meet at a roundabout that circles a small open-air temple on a dais.

Its denizens though are all chameleon individuals ranging from spheriform to feraform to humaform. They’re much shorter and smaller than the cats on average, I might even be taller than their largest humaform individual with my current stature. Oddly as they spy us, their dermal coloration all shifts to various shades of red. That doesn’t seem like a good sign.

I calmly request, “Lil, let’s not land in their town, let’s circle again and land just outside of it at the northwest where we had come from. Just take us in nice and slow, so that any of them can follow or ignore us.”

Lil nods and swoops another wide circle, aiming back to the northwest. I’m half expecting archers or spear wielders to be rushing after us as we land, but none come. Once we’ve fully landed, Lil follows further directions of mine to approach slowly while calling out our intentions.

Lil announces our arrival, that we’re looking to speak with anyone who is willing to listen. Though we get some curious glances, no one responds to Lil’s attempts to communicate. That’s extremely disheartening. I do notice that the chamelefolk seem to rapidly shift pigmentation when looking at one another on occasion, mostly along their faces and necks. Their coloration changes slightly towards red when they view us walking their streets, but they make no attempt at contact, nor at hostility.

I’ve got a feeling I’m going to need to develop whatever organs allow them to change pigmentation so quickly. Ugh, I hope I can learn enough about one of them from my danger wraps if I can touch one without combat, or through Lil’s analysis skill.

“Lil, can you set me down carefully near the intersection? Feel free to either drop form, or stand guard at the edge of town.”

Lil hems and haws as they decide. Eventually Lil drops form next to me as we sit near the center of town. Lil’s evolutionary stage changing in the middle of town draws many curious Chamelefolks’ gazes. Their shades range from lilac, through shades of blue into those of green such as mint. Oh no, I don’t know what chameleons eat. I hope it’s insects. I carefully begin to place several kinds of food I gained from The Hollow in a semicircle around myself. Hopefully it’s seen as a gesture of peace and friendship. Even if they aren’t necessarily hungry, maybe they’ll take it as an offering to their shrine.

When what looks like a family unit passes nearby, one of the spheriform chamelefolk reaches to accept some of my food, but the humaform chameleon ushers them away. The humaform individual seems to offer me a polite smile, I think. Their expressions don’t change much at all, but the coloration on their face was a soft azure.

I sit and observe their culture. Several humaforms seem to leave town and return with a single granite brick once every few hours, they then place it at the end of one of the roads, slowly expanding it. Others seem to return from a gathering session, or insect hunt. After several hours, everyone in town queues up to head to the shrine. They each seem to kneel for a few seconds in turn. The queue is disorderly, asymmetrical, it fills and empties in-between duties held by the various folk. Each one rings a small bell as they finish their kneeling, before leaving to resume their duties or lives. Though there are four separate queues, there is only one bell.

I’m not entirely certain if each chameleon individual heads to the shrine only once, or if they make the journey from each of the four cardinal directions. I actually suspect it’s the latter. I can’t recognize the differences in their facial structures well enough yet to be able to tell if I’ve seen the same one in several locations, or just different individuals that look similar. I think there are only a few dozen of these scalekin here, maybe one or two hundred, but it’s hard to get a good count of their census.

On closer inspection, each of the shrine’s four faces has an engraving that depicts some kind of creature. The southern one seems to be a serpent, with wavelike markings beneath it. The northern one depicts a dragon-like figure that is also serpentine. It has no wings but is poised above cloudlike imagery. Its starkest feature is incredibly long whiskers. The western one appears to be a dragon with what looks like a volcano on its back in place of a dorsal ridge. The eastern one honestly looks like some sort of gorilla or something. It doesn’t really have any animal features or characteristics, it’s just bipedal with massive arms that reach down to its lower appendages on the engraving. I’d swear there are tiny trees on its back.

I still my breathing and try to extend my senses as much as possible. Lil’s boredom reaches my mind, but I push aside even that. Sorry buddy, right now I’m trying to take in everything I can. There’s a tiny rustle of paper, like the pages of a book being flipped, a single page for each chameleon’s visit to the top of the shrine. This strikes my curiosity. I’m not however strong enough to walk on my own yet.

I crawl into the queue behind a Chamelefolk spheriform, and drag myself along on my arms so that I don’t re-break my legs while they’re still mending. Lil hops along beside me, seeking anything to alleviate their boredom from simply observing. Eventually I make it to the temple itself, and I’m not certain what to make of my senses.

There’s a tome that looks identical to the other ones I’ve got, one of which I know steals time when I try to read it. This temple tome is seated on a pedestal. Each Chamelefolk will read a single page, while the one that arrived earlier in the queue waits for them to flip the page, once the page is flipped, the previous Chamelefolk rings the bell, and the one who’d been staring at the book seems to snap out of a daze, and take their place at the bell. I assume the first few likely took turns ringing the bell as they approached, so that none would be caught in a daze.

As it becomes my turn, the spheriform in front of me awaits me at the bell, seemingly willing to share in this tradition, even though I’m not one of them. I carefully drag my way up the pedestal to gaze into the book.

My mind leaves my body, I feel like I’m hurtling through a crimson void. I hear only one word echoed, its meaning slowly cascading through my mind and my entire being. Original. That is all I can make out before the clang of a small bell returns my brain to its mortal shell. I falter and stumble towards the bell while Lil looks confusedly at me.

Lil is the final individual, so I take my place at the bell, as I don’t want them to be caught in a time-stealing book for eternity. Lil hops up onto the pedestal next to the book, starts scanning pages, and their reaction baffles me.

Lil exclaims, “Hey, what’re my mental logs doing in some goober’s book?! Who’s the wiseguy?”

They begin rapidly flipping through the book, mumbling various affirmations, confirming what they read. The sound of rapid page-flipping brings chamelefolk rushing back into the temple to gaze at Lil with wide-wonder. I’m fairly certain their barely perceptible facial expressions are astonishment. The chameleons begin rapidly flashing patterns of coloration at one another, and several brush by me on their way to Lil. My danger wrap senses pick up on the key words iridophore, and chromatophore. I now know what cellular structure to add to my draconic form to be able to communicate.

Lil’s fairly distracted by the book, but not lost in a daze like any of the rest of us were. Still, Lil barely notices as the chameleons begin to surround and stroke Lil’s tail. One of the eldest seeming humaform Chamelefolk carefully closes the tome, picks it up, and kneels before Lil. With the book closed, I can see what appears to be the roman numeral for one inscribed on the cover.

Lil starts to object when they finally realize how much attention they’ve gotten. The elder chameleon individual proffers the book to Lil who appears to be grumbling in confusion. Lil touches the tome with their tail to claim it to their inventory. The chameleons all gasp at its disappearance, but several pick up Lil and toss them into the air seemingly in celebration.

Lil seems to be a bit preoccupied, as more and more Chamelefolk are surrounding them. I’ll take this time to head out of town, dig a dugout, and work on adding the nanocrystals of the iridophores to my scales, and the chromatophores to the cells beneath them. I let Lil telepathically know what I’m up to, and tell them to enjoy themselves. It seems like they might be worshiped or a feast might be thrown in their honor. Something or other like that.

Lil wants to object, but knows that the better in their good graces that we are, the easier our task will be. I flash my buddy a bittersweet smile as I painfully crawl my way down the steps through the throng of Chamelefolk. Once I’m out of the crowd, I carefully launch myself skyward with a JT placed beneath my chest as I lay prone. Once airborne, I try to fly towards the edge of town. I’m still not a graceful creature, but after a few false starts, I’m able to make it the rest of the way in a single go.

Building a small dugout is easy enough with inventory magic, hopefully the chameleons won’t mind me making a temporary domicile. I practice my shapeshifting technique that requires applying my self-tether of mana around my heart, and releasing it prematurely. Over the course of several hours, I’m able to grow enough iridophores and chromatophores to change the colors in my fingertips. The process however is utterly exhausting. I let myself slump against a wall of my dugout to fall asleep.

When I awaken, I’m certain a day has passed, so I contact Lu and Teuila to wish them my love, and to let them know that Linti has the tattoo, that I’d like her to give it to Luni. They let me know the cats have arrived, and the march has made it all the way across the river already, but isn’t quite to point A yet. They decided a slightly more easterly route, worried they would intrude on the cat family’s territory, before Linti’s tribe ended up joining anyway.

I’m wary of them making further progress through the lands before I manage to secure a guaranteed peace with at least the chameleons. I’m much more wary of their progress if I can’t find and negotiate with the Naga. The Chamelefolk seem relatively peaceful, even kind. One stopped by just now with some bandages and salve for my legs. I didn’t know how to let them know that I was already healing, so I couldn’t really refuse the kind gesture. They applied the salve and bandages and left without a word. I assume they tried to communicate with their pigmented facial expressions, but I didn’t fully understand. I believe they indicated something along the lines of no hurt, or no pain, or no threat.

Well, nothing for it but to keep at it. I continue my transformation training. Now that I know I can generate the new cell structures and nanocrystals, progress speeds up. Still, it’s going to be at least three days of doing nothing but this, with breaks for eating and mana exhaustion recuperation. I’m fairly positive my abilities weren’t meant to be used like this, just like my space skill probably wasn’t meant to be a massive mobility boost for both myself and anyone around me. Similarly how my thermal resistance probably shouldn’t have given way to a thermokinesis that somehow allows for mana regeneration.

Lil stops by several times a day to check on me. I’m grateful for their company, but they haven’t made any breakthroughs in figuring out how to communicate with the chameleons yet. The chameleon village still keeps up their tradition of traveling to the shrine to ring the bell, but now they need not pause at the tome. I’m curious about the tome myself, but I don’t want to push Lil. If it’s a copy of their mental logs, does it have up to date logs? Future logs? I’m a bit frightened of that last possibility. It’s one thing to receive occasional guidance from a future self making tweaks to the timeline. It’s another thing entirely to know your entire life’s story is dictated before you even get a chance to live it. I’m hoping, and fairly certain, that that’s not the case.

I smother Lil with snuggles and smooches while I can, to load us both up on affection and lovey dovey feelings for the hours we’re going to keep spending apart. We’re both trying our best to advance our cause for peace. That my family works so hard to help my dream come true always astounds me. We’ve been through life and death situations, hell and high water, and more together. Yet they keep believing in me, no matter how many of these situations my dream puts them through.

Finally, most of my body, and my whole face can change colors at my whim. There’s a bit of an emerald hue to every color I try to project, due to the translucent green nature of my scales. Hopefully that doesn’t hamper my attempts to communicate. Now to find someone with the patience to teach me how to speak in colors.