An Age of Mysterious Memories

B 3 C 25: Point B, Fair Folk

After several days of training, the last of the Lavaborn Alliance has caught up to Point B. I’m making fairly rapid progress on some of my weaker skills, and I’m getting close to unlocking electrokinesis, I can feel it. Linti’s training is progressing by leaps and bounds. I left two copies of Umbralil at camp for Lil to practice controlling while they train with Teuila, and Lil is almost able to control one of them while moving around somewhat normally. Lil can control two at once haphazardly, but not well.

Linti and I have been, hm, growing closer, during the moments between insect spawns. We don’t even technically have to return to the camp, since my inventory carries hundreds, maybe thousands times more than the bag that Luni leant Linti, but we both enjoy our nightly cuddle. I’m sure Linti wouldn’t admit it though, of course.

Luni is a bit frustrated that Lil, and Te are training non stop. She’s similarly annoyed that I am training so long each day as well with Linti. She’s stuck mostly tending shops to allow for produce sales for hours at a time. Still, she stops by The Hollow once in a while, but that takes hours out of her day to travel back and forth, whereas it only takes Linti a few minutes to take us between camp and The Hollow. The travel is still mildly excruciating to me, but it’s one of the reasons my lightning resist is able to climb so quickly. That, and I’ve been trying to teach Linti to do the crazy ground based pillars of lightning storm that Lluxop and Rastoc did, which means I’m frequently standing in her wide area of attacks. Even though I have thermal resistance to insane degrees, I still end each day with my skin charred and blackened in large patches and swathes. Luna sleeps at the edge of the tent that our pair of families camps in. I didn’t see her the first day or so that I’d been back, apparently she makes her way to the river on occasion to fish. When she made it back on the second day, as Linti and I were returning, she of course knocked me down and sat on me, then she actually licked me as she stood up.

For some reason, the amount of my friends and family that lick me on any given day continues to grow. My extended cat family groom my lightning-scarred flesh, seemingly in apology in lieu of Linti, but their tongues are rough and it feels like they’re freeing up layers of my skin. Do I really taste good? Do I smell like cooked meat or something? I should probably regenerate my sense of smell at some point, since I know my self-actualization transformation lets me create entirely new muscles and organs.

Either way, now it’s time for us to canvas the region. Priss’s and Sir Reginald’s scouts are being sent out on cartographical expeditions, but my inner circle will be able to make short work of heading all the way to the coast and back. Linti agrees to take the longest leg of the journey, Teuila takes the second widest arc, I take the third widest, Luni takes the fourth widest, and Lil takes the slimmest arc of exploration. Our routes match our speed fairly well, so that we won’t be apart for more than a day or two at a time. It’s most likely that Luni, Lil, and I will be done before Linti and Teuila, simply because of how exponentially much more ground they have to cover. They’re several times faster, but the survey areas grow at a massive pace.

It’s our second day of surveying, and I’ve finished my route with no luck in finding any solid source of food for a settlement. I found several small ponds, but they barely had any fish spawns at all. If we’re going to try to expand one, we might as well try to expand a larger one, or just dig a trench and fill it with water, hoping it turns into a sustainable lake.

I was able to find several large patches of herbs that some of our Nagas have indicated make for excellent alchemy ingredients. So, I’ll be buying more vials and alchemy supplies from the shop to experiment later. On approach to the camp, I’m intercepted by Luni who bodily flings herself at me, wrapping her legs around my waist as I struggle to stay upright as I catch her.

Chuckling, I greet her, “Haha, I missed you too Lu, are you okay? What’s this about? Not that I’m complaining mind you, My Anchor. I love you.”

Luni sighs in frustration, “It’s, argh, can’t tell you yet. Yeah, I missed you. It’s not fair, three whole times, and you never notice.”

Quizzically I raise my eyebrows as I ask, “Three times I don’t notice what?”

Luni waves it off as she snuggles against my chest, still wrapped around me thoroughly, “Nothing, don’t worry. I love you too. Always have, always will.”

I take Luni into our shared accelerated thinkspace. While holding her physically, I take her avatar to our tree. We sit against it with her leaning against my left shoulder, my arm around her back.

Worriedly I ask, “Lu, are you sure you’re okay? If this is future stuff, I understand not being able to talk about it, but you are important to me. Your happiness is important to me. I love you beyond measure. It always seems to be eating you up inside, it sucks that you have to go through this. I do realize the stakes are massive, if they’re even more deadly than the Night of All Burn, but I wish I could do something for you.”

Luni’s telepathic avatar sheds several tears against my left pec as she snuggles closer, saying, “Can’t talk about it. Thank you though. I literally can’t tell you how much it means to me for you to be the way you are.”

My mental projection’s face adopts a sad frown as I rest my head on Luni’s. We spend several days in silence, holding one another in accelerated time. It’s only a few minutes in meatspace, but we remain embraced the entire time.

Lu breaks the silence, “So, um. I know you weren’t ready, back at the river. But you sort of are, now, aren’t you? With Linti at least? Also maybe Lil, because of the temple of time?”

I start to ask what Luni means, but realization dawns fairly quickly. She caught on that Linti and I have been sharing affection during our training in The Hollow. I wasn’t trying to hide it or anything. I only wanted to make sure I didn’t impugn Linti’s honor, by kissing and telling, or anything like that. Some sort of human notion from fakeworld memories about not sharing whether or not you kiss someone. I think. That one’s a little vague, but it also feels like something that Linti would agree with.

I tilt Luni’s chin up so I can stare into her vast, divinely exquisite eyes. My eyes ask the questions my voice won’t. Luni’s lips tremble as tears adorn her lashes, she nods. This next memory can remain private too, in our own little redacted subfolder.

We leave accelerated thinkspace and I kiss Luni’s forehead softly. I politely disentangle her legs from my waist as I set her down, gazing into her eyes with utmost love and adoration. My face wears a sad half smile, because I know how much Luni is still hurting. I take her by the hand as we rejoin the camp to await Lil’s return. Though Lil had the least area to explore, they have by far the slowest speed without one of us to offer them additional acceleration. When I aid Lil, the two of us can approach Valkyrie’s speeds, but separately, neither of us are even near hers, not safely anyway.

Lil shows up only a few hours later, exhausted. They resume their spheriform shape in midair on a collision course with the two of us. Giggling, Luni leaps to catch Lil and purposely falls into my lap, sandwiching Lil between our torsos as she rolls to face my chest in my lap. I’m so grateful that she can find these sorts of happy moments, despite the strain she’s under. The phrase the weight of three worlds springs to mind. I wish I could lift that burden from her.

Since I hadn’t asked, I query, “Either of you two find anything interesting or useful? I found some patches of herbs that I’ve marked on a bark map of my scouted region. Some tiny ponds with one or two fish, nothing really sustainable or useful.”

Lu replies, “I found what I guess you’d call a dungeon, it could have some fun hunting for, mrgrgr, you guys, I guess. I did a little bit of fighting with the tattoo, and got a couple of neat things, but I was too scared to go any further in. I’m sorry that I’m not the same kind of brave adventurer as you guys. Same as you about small ponds though.”

I stroke Luni’s brow and sift my fingers through her hair. I wish I could absolve her of that feeling of disparity in bravery. She’s the bravest being in existence, to have taken on the burden that she did. You have nothing to be sorry for Lu, I wish I could get you to see that.

Lu telepathically sends an image of her avatar doing the SFSE, the Shellcracker Family Shyness Expression. It’s the expression where she pokes her index fingertips together while blushing and avoiding eye contact. I send waves of love at her telepathically.

Lil chirps out their exploration results, “I found a big mushroom, and lots of little ones. I’m not sure if you want us to treat the big mushroom the same as the big trees, so I left it alone. The little ones were kind of tasty, even the one that put me to sleep.”

Luni and I stare at Lil in shock before I exclaim, “Lil you goober! That could have been dangerous! Did you even know which mushrooms were safe?”

Lil, abashedly, replies, “Oh, uh, no, whoops.”

I laugh in disbelief, “Whoops is right buddy, jeez. I love you pal, please be more careful. Any mushrooms left? Anything else to share?”

Lil digs around in their inventory, producing several sorts of mushrooms, one I believe is called amanita. That red with white spots mushroom needs to be boiled to be safe for consumption, for most beings. The others look safe though, I’m guessing that Lil’s draconic constitution saved them from any too-harsh effects of the amanita.

Lil chimes in with pride, “Yup, that’s the one that put me to sleep!”

I roll my eyes as I chuckle, “Lil buddy, haha, that’s not something to be proud of. I’m glad you’re okay. I love you so much.”

Lil replies, “I’m glad I’m okay too pal, sorry that I didn’t think too much about it before chomping down. Sorry too Lu. I wouldn’t want to go away from you, my super sweet Gal-Pal and best buddy, neither of you.”

I rub the top of Lil’s cranium a little forcefully, almost a noogie, just enough pressure to let them know that this was serious, but that we’re okay. I’m suddenly struck with a flash of embarrassment as I realize something. Out of my entire inner circle, the only one I haven’t, hm. My beloved Teuila, My-Wings that soar above all others in my heart. What is this feeling?

Lil and Lu eye me suspiciously while they ride my train of thought. They both know I love them dearly as well. I simply fell romantically first and hardest for Teuila. Lu sends an exasperated sigh across our private mental wavelength, which causes me to raise an eyebrow curiously, but she waves it off and resumes hugging me physically and telepathically.

Teuila and Linti are a day late now, this is either good news, in that they’re cataloging more findings, or bad enough news to make me nervous. Neither of them has a comm stone, I wish I knew how to imbue magic into items to duplicate them. Wait.

I produce an umbral duplicate of the comm stone, and claim it to my inventory, where I wait out its five minute duration. I make another copy, just in case the copies work but don’t talk to the originals. I feel like the comm stone is a fairly simple enchantment, my space skill might be able to duplicate things like this and the soap stone and compass orb, maybe. I mean, heck, it transmits sound across space, if anything should work, this should.

I tentatively begin speaking into one comm stone copy while Lu holds the original, and the other copy. Both begin replaying my speech, though distorted, and hard to understand. It’s a start. Maybe I need a higher value in my space skill, or maybe I need enough disenchanting to learn enchanting. I feel like a level of one thousand disenchanting skill might unlock an enchanting skill, and then I could perhaps begin to copy the lowest difficulty magic items without distorting their effects too much. I suppose I can start selling things to the shops to begin purchasing more alchemy supplies to craft and break down potions repeatedly. I wish I knew how to make more types than just the water walking one. I suppose I could break down this clear oily potion. If I have the materials to craft more of it, I’ll probably make more progress with alchemy and disenchanting by utilizing several types of potions.

This all reminds me that I need to ask some of the Nagas who joined us, if any are adept scribes, and if any have ever run into an identification scroll. Or maybe the fairies will have alchemy workshops or enchanting materials or something. Or maybe the dungeon Luni found might have creatures that can drop magical equipment that I could disassemble.

For now though, this doesn’t solve the issue of Teuila and Linti both being late. I could send a message back in time to myself to give one of them the comm stone. If they contact me, I can figure out where they’ll be at this time, then repeat the process with the other one, figure out where they’ll be now. Sighing, I relay my plan to Luni and Lil. They both understand that this means I’m going to be reliving the last few days several times over, and because I want to return to this timeline exactly as it was, I’ll come back again after, without having handed off the comm stones, so I still have the copying and disenchanting idea. You hear that past me? We’ve got a few things to do.

Future me sends me a message, and as I check the logs, I groan as I wordlessly hand Teuila the Comm Stone, and borrow the other one from Laomati. Thinking better on leaving Teuila with no clue as to why I handed her the stone, I tell her to contact me the day after she’s supposed to return, since I expect her to be late.

Te is in trouble, crap. Okay, breathe, it’s okay, we’ll come back to today after also checking in on Linti.

Future me sends me a message, and as I check the logs, I realize Teuila will be in trouble the day after she’s supposed to have arrived. I can’t let myself panic, I have to give Linti the comm stone, and live through the timeline at least twice more. I let Linti know to contact me the day after she’s supposed to arrive, since I expect her to be late.

Argh, Linti is in trouble. How? Really? Both of them? They’re the two most powerful creatures I know. Okay, breathe, we can do this. We go back in time, we keep the comm stone, we pair with Lil to hit near sonic speeds. We can get to Teuila’s location quickly, and either the three of us can head to help out Linti, or I can let Lil handle helping Te while I break off to find Linti.

At least they did the logical thing, and swept their arcs such that they were at pretty much their nearest survey locations when they got into trouble. Alright past me, one more time. Keep the comm stone, tell Lil to prep for near sonic flight, and head to these two locations by this time the day after Teuila and Hunter are supposed to return.

Urgh, living the same few days over and over leaves my stomach lurching when I’m not in the temple of time. Lil and I embrace Luni for a moment as I explain the situation. We head out early, hoping to beat at least Teuila to the spot where she gets in trouble. It sounded like plants were attacking her, and that she barely got the comm stone out in time to let me know. Linti said she was trapped below falling rock and it was getting hot, and then, and then she. Linti didn’t even finish using the full time on the comm stone, and didn’t respond to a second attempt at contact.

Alright, Lil and I have made it to the area where Teuila will have trouble, and she’ll be arriving shortly. I’m pretty sure I see the canopy shifting in the distance as she takes her massive leaps as she continues her survey.

“Lil, take us down? I don’t see any hostile plant creatures or anything yet.”

Lil nods and spirals low through the canopy to the ground. Teuila arrives in a few moments, and I still don’t see any creatures. I know she wouldn’t prank me about something so serious. Teuila wipes sweat from her brow as she leans against a tree, waving to us excitedly, surprised to see us. She takes a moment to summon water from her inventory to quench her thirst. Several drops spill on the ground and tree roots around her, and that’s when it happens. Roots and vines jet out from the ground and canopy, entrapping Teuila.

The vines begin to grow thorns that dig into and start to perforate Teuila’s tender flesh in the gaps between her armored plates. Teuila’s flesh begins to wither, it seems like the vines are siphoning her life force to grow stronger. A large series of vines entangle to form a spearlike wedge and drives towards Teuila’s chest and neck.

“Lil, torch these things!”

I Flash Freeze Storm the main spear as its tip impacts Valkyrie’s chestplate. It looks like it was about to ricochet upward and take her head clean off. Lil begins incinerating the vines entrapping Teuila before they can puncture her any further. Te is lightly charred, and looking withered, as if most of the moisture had been sucked from her body. I glance around frantically, making certain we’re not in any further danger. Teuila isn’t doing well though.

I pant furiously as I try to think of the right course of actions, any minute now, Linti will be trapped beneath rock and stop responding. I beg Lil, “Lil, can you get Teuila home, to the, to Point B? Please. Linti’s in trouble too. Te I’m so sorry. You know I would come to make sure you’re okay. Please forgive me. I love you both.”

Lil nods. Teuila looks saddened, and confused, but gives me a weak thumbs up. I drop my six foot form, engage my self tether, imagining my draconic form, and drop my tether partway to assume draconic shape. Reinforcing my legs with as much density from the surrounding air as I can muster with my FFS, I rocket skyward with JT motion and angle towards Linti’s location.

Blasting eastward I push the limits of what my body can safely handle. My JT propulsion reaches a top speed nearly in line with Lil’s when Lil is aided by me. I can feel fractures beginning to form in my heels, ankles, tibia, and knees. I let myself continue to glide on my wings, riding out my current speed. The odd gemstones that float behind me begin doing something new. They glow, and grow, and it feels like they suck thoughts and energy directly from my brain as they propel me onward, keeping my current speed. It’s agonizing, like having memories physically ripped from my brain and turned into fuel. I frantically check my logs to make sure I’m not losing any memories. As far as I can tell, I’m keeping a consistent number of memories though.

There’s a tiny dark splotch in the sky up ahead. I’ll give you two guesses who that is, and why Linti was trapped beneath hot rocks. My fury grows to boundless levels and I aim myself to spear Mataalii through his midsection with the blade of my hand facing forward.

When I break the fifteen foot distance enclosing on Mataalii, both of our danger wraps try to tell us every possible dangerous motion each of the others is about to take, and the counters they’ll take as we try to counter those motions. We each plummet out of the sky clutching our heads as we’re overloaded with billions of sensations of the next few seconds as our danger wraps each try to outdo each other.

Agh! Okay, seems like if either of us wants to engage in close combat, one of us will have to unequip our danger wraps. I know Mata would rather keep his distance. I see a massive glob of pumice that’s slowly re-melting near the top. I manage to toss out a massive Flash Freeze Storm across the entire area, cooling the pumice and trapping Mataalii for a moment, but I can’t approach because my danger wraps are still overloading my senses. I drop to my knees in agony, trying to conjure up an Umbral Shot, or anything towards Mat. My vision blurs as sweat pours into my eyes. How do I even sweat as a reptile? I try to fight back the urge to blink but can’t keep my eyes open as they sting with sweat. Suddenly as I blink, the agony is gone, and when I open my eyes, so is Mat.

I shout my fury to the sky, but he’s not important right now. I need to know if Linti is okay, I may have frozen her inside this stone. I claim the entire misshapen mass to my inventory, and sure enough, Linti is inside, shivering, somewhat stuck in place.

Shivering, Linti stutters, “Sh,Sh,Shellcracker? How’d dd ddd you know www ww where to ff f f find me?”

I embrace her quickly, emitting enough heat and reorganizing the speed of her atomic structure to thaw her instantly. Trying to smile wryly, I reply, “You’re talking to someone who can travel through time, who said they’d never kill you or let you die if they could help it. That rotten dastardly cretin is going to pay. Next time I catch him, that’ll be the last time. I was so close this time. So close to ending him. It seems he’s getting more used to certain powers of his though.”

Linti returns my embrace, calming down, I drop my draconic form and resume my secondary evolution stage so that we’re closer to the same height. Linti mumbles, “Thanks. That was, it wasn’t fun. A ball of molten stone dropped around where I was going to be mid-leap. The best I could do was launch a blast upward. I turned the ball into a bowl, or dome, and landed with it on top of me. On the ground I spun, trying to generate enough wind to cool it or blow it apart. I. I was going to die. Shellcracker that was it, that was the end. I. Reggie, thank you.”

Linti and I share our appreciation for the fact that she’s still alive as I fight back tears of rage. I want to enjoy our embrace and tender moment more, but I’m consumed with hatred for Mataalii at the moment. Linti catches on to my anger and distraction, so she pauses her affection.

She queries, “Hey, hey Shellcracker? You going to be okay? I’m okay. You’ll get him. It’s okay. Don’t go all spook on me. Okay? Don’t let him change you. Alright?”

The festering knot in the pit of my stomach feels like a lie as I nod to Linti. The tightness in my chest along my heart feels like a betrayal as I return her embrace. I’m so close to doing exactly what she’s asking me not to do. To go spook is to ghost and leave on a quest of vengeance. I’d be abandoning all of them in favor of hatred. Lil, Linti, Lu, Teuila.

Teuila! I exclaim, “Linti! Please get us back to Point B as fast as you possibly can? Te was hurt bad!”

Linti, hearing the panic in my voice, sets a resolute expression upon her face and transforms us into lightning. She moves us westward as fast as I’ve ever felt her move. My flesh peels and crackles in blackened webs and nets at the sheer intensity of the storm of lightning that we create together on our flight.

It feels like only moments since we’ve parted when we reunite with the others at Point B. The hatred drains from me and unties the knot in my guts as I gaze upon my weakened, drained Teuila. How could I possibly have contemplated abandoning them? I rush to her side and begin peppering her with kisses. Teuila, out of our entire expanded inner circle, you’re the only one I haven’t... You’re the one I most want to…

Te drags me into private thinkspace and points at a myriad of crashing waves of moving emotion, as we’re tossed about like a ship on an ocean. Our avatars embrace as we share what she knows I meant when I was thinking moments earlier.

I wrench myself from thinkspace, as much as I want to spend time with her, I want her to be okay first. I clasp her hands in mine as she’s laying on a cot in our infirmary tent. Teuila slips into unconsciousness as I hold her hands.

I gaze at the human medic, tears in my eyes, “What’s your name? Can you help her?”

She replies, “I’m, I’m Alice. We’ve never, I mean. Maybe. First, what happened to her?”

Nodding, I realize they’ve never bothered to learn how to treat critterkin, but biology and medicine should still mostly apply. Focusing, I state, “Plants dug into her and, it was like, hm. They seemed to suck out her life, and maybe, probably her moisture.”

Alice confirms, “She’s definitely dehydrated. If that’s all it is, we can get some saline in her. She should be fine. You did good to get her to us this quickly, she’s in advanced stages, but she should be on her feet in a day or two at most. Based on how you critters bounce back.”

The conscious four of my inner circle, Lu, Lil, Lin, and myself, let loose a collective sigh of relief. I express my gratitude, “Thank you, thank you Alice. Thank you. I hope you don’t mind if we stay with her.”

Alice shrugs, “Suit yourself, it’s not a serious operation, I’ll mix some salts into some pure water and start administering it now. I’ve uh, heard of you. You’re the one, aren’t you? The one who no one is sure if you’re people or critterkin?”

Frustrated, I frown, “Critterkin are people.”

Alice gasps, “Oh, oh right of course! I meant humans, I didn’t even think. Sorry. That wasn’t even what I meant to ask. I mean, if you’re that person, you’re the one that took all that magic on the Night of All Burn. When you swung outward, it was like you pulled all the life behind you into your attack that pushed back the lava. If you can suck life from things, maybe you can put it back into things? Especially if those plants drained more than just her fluids.”

Alice’s theory holds some water. The forest to the south of where I stood basically disappeared sometime during my attack. I don’t think it was a conscious or even subconscious effort by me though. It felt more like the world itself offered up the lives of those ancient trees to aid my effort. I relay that I surmise as much to Alice, much to both of our disappointment.

I’d trade an arm and a leg, a kidney and a lung, for the ability to heal others though. I hiccup, not realizing I’d been holding back sobs. My eyes droop heavily, wearily. The four of us lean against one another as we watch Alice tend to Teuila. Linti clasps my hands in hers and licks at my left mandibular joint, nuzzling my ear.

Luni sends an image of herself pouting across our private mental wavelength. I raise an eyebrow in return but she doesn’t explain further.

I ask aloud, “Lil, Lu, are you two okay? Lu, I, I can’t. I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re not out there trapped in some dungeon right now. Having two of my inner circle in trouble, far apart, it was so frightening. Thank you for being cautious. But, but, are you okay?” I stress okay as strongly as I can, trying to impress upon her how much I care about her wellbeing.

Luni sighs as she plays with my hair and strokes my right cheek with her left hand. She fiddles with Lil’s tail with her right hand. Lu then nods, explaining, “Yeah, yeah I am. I’m glad you are who you are and can do what you can do. Thanks Reggie. I love you. Lil’s doing okay too, look, they already fell asleep.”

The three of us look at Lil who is already snoring a snot bubble and we have to stifle our laughter so as not to disturb the few patients in the tent. I think it’s mostly just upset stomachs from not enough protein that ends up being the most common issue to deal with these days. Still, better safe than sorry in terms of disturbing them.

Teuila begins to look better overnight, but I stay awake watching her the entire time, just to be sure. Linti sits at my side with a furrowed brow. Luni and Lil retire to the family cuddle pile, but I sit vigilant as a sentry with Linti at my side.

Linti breaks the silence, “I, uh, didn’t know what I was signing up for. You’re all scary close. In a good way. I mean, I’d be gone if you didn’t care as much as you do. I’m sorry she’s hurt. She’s a really cool cat. Uh, lady otter.”

I nod as I pat Linti’s right thigh and knee before I stand up to pace around. I don’t mean to shun her with my silence, but I’m still nurturing my rage towards Mataalii slightly, and I don’t want to take that out on her. Linti let me know that other than some interesting monsters that seem to respawn near the coast, there was nothing that really screamed sustainable settlement. If Teuila doesn’t have good news, we have to speak to the fairies tomorrow. I’m not expecting good news, since she was late by a day. That likely means she didn’t find anything worth rushing home for. She may just have been taking her survey duty seriously though. That’s the only shred of hope I have that Teuila may have found us a place to live.

Linti stands up and slugs me in the shoulder, drawing me out of my reverie as she orders, “Hey, come on Shellcracker, talk to me. We’re sort of partners or something, right? Don’t shut me out. That’s not like you. I don’t, I don’t like the idea that something might change you. You’re scary powerful, and what we have is plenty nice. I don’t want to be on the other end of that power, and well, yeah, I’d prefer not to lose the other thing either.”

I gulp a knot in my throat as I try to respond. It takes a while but finally I can speak, “I’m, I’m sorry Linti. You’re right, on all counts. We’re partners, or something. Anything you want to call it. You’re also right that I’m fighting something that’s trying to change me. Mataalii was the cause of nearly every hurt in my life, due to time shenanigans. Until I knew that though, he was my brother. Aloof, sure, but he cared about our family more than anything. Seeing him out here, trying to kill those I love, it just, ugh. It probably feels like you think you’d feel like if I changed in the ways you’re worrying about. Maybe a little different, but I can empathize with where you’re coming from. Sorry Hunter. I, um. I love you. Thanks for talking me down. Again.”

Linti, Lightning Hunter, scratches her brow and flicks her gaze about the room, anywhere that doesn’t meet my stare. She replies, “Yeah, sure, no biggie, right? It’s uh, yeah, cool. Love ya too bud. ‘N stuff.”

I chuckle as I lightly sock her in the shoulder. She punches me back and then we embrace to share a tender moment. Of course right then, Teuila awakens, sits up, and coughs.

Te asks, “Hate to interrupt, but what’s a gal got to do to get in the middle of that? Also, could one of you help me get a drink? My limbs feel like lead.”

Linti and I slightly shove off of each other quickly, both of us scratching the backs of our heads in embarrassment for a moment. I kneel next to Teuila and summon a canteen from my inventory as Linti paces closer to the exit of the tent.

I say, “Drink slowly, just a bit at a time. Dehydration sickness is bad stuff. I was worried about you, My-Wings.”

Te teases, “Oh yeah, real worried, so worried your tongue had to seek comfort in someone else’s tonsils, eh?”

I'm utterly mortified, and the expression is clearly painted across my face. Yet I'm also fighting back laughing at the creative jibe, so I feel like my face is swelling up like a balloon as my cheeks puff out with a trapped breath.

Te laughs and absolves me, “Relax sweettoot, jeez ya gooberlicious goontacular wonderpunk. It’s fine. I mean, unless I was hallucinating, didn’t we, right before I passed out? Same thing, in mindspace, yeah?”

Blushing, I nod as I caress Te’s shoulders and knees and elbows. I’m trying to make sure her circulation is the best it can be to keep the fluids moving through her body. I’m hesitant to ask for her progress report while we’re dancing around a topic that seems sensitive.

Tentatively, I ask, “I hate to even ask Te, but, the three of us turned up nada in our surveys. I don’t suppose that you..?” I pause as my voice lilts the unspoken question.

Te shakes her head. She looks like she’d raise her hand to scratch the back of her head, but can’t manage to move her limbs yet. We both sigh, knowing how frustrating it is that we still haven’t found a suitable home for the Lavaborn Alliance.

Te reports as best she can, “So, there was a small, very small orchard in an interesting clearing. I think they were maybe peach trees or something. Honestly I think they produced mixed fruits, but they’d been harvested other than a single peach that I found, so someone’s using them. There were also grape vines growing on the trees and between them. Similarly empty. I thought I spied the harvester, but by the time I got to where I saw them, I couldn’t find any tracks. They might live in some sort of secret treehouse, or underground or something. I don’t think they’d cause any trouble, but they probably wouldn’t take kindly if we just stole their orchard.”

Te takes a breath before continuing, “Other than that, I found a neat little cave, a dungeon type thing I guess, I spent most of a day goofing off, hunting in it. I know I shouldn’t have, but it was kind of thrilling. I found a room though that I knew not to go in alone, after you told me about the menhir that later marked the cragbeast queen spawn. Most of what I fought in there were reptile skeletons, and uh, floating tooth things with long whippy tails.”

There’s more of them!? I groan as I remember nearly being eaten by a giant, ugh, floating toothy thing with long whippy tails. I’m not even going to think about what I was forced to call the last one.

Teuila raises an eyebrow at my thought train, but chuckles slightly. I think she saw my logs of the fall near the pyramid previously, so she already knows. Te nods towards Linti as Linti returns from the entrance of the tent.

Linti interrupts any further report, “So, uh, this might not be the time, but as you can probably tell, I don’t normally. Err, like, this whole situation isn’t something that I normally, or ever, uh. Like, I get it, your circle is everything to you, and I totally get it, they’re crazy powerful, fun, adorable, tons of positive traits. Am I messing with that dynamic? I respect you Shellcrackers, all of you.”

Teuila and I exchange glances before we start chuckling and I wrap my arms around Linti’s waist and drag her into a hug close to Teuila, so Teuila can embrace her on the other side, without needing to lift her limbs.

I mumble, “Hunter, you’re whatever you want to be, you’re welcome here. There’s no pressure though, okay? If it’s too weird, or new, or anything. We’ll always be here, and I’ll always look out for you. Right Te?”

Teuila nods and Linti exhales a sigh of relief, “Phew, okay, okay yeah. Alright. Do you two, uh, do you need some alone time to catch up, or, uh? Like I’m kinda worried about her too, if that’s cool. I mean, not that, ugh.”

Teuila chuckles and replies for me, “Lightning, if Reggie and I want to, we can have an entire private day in a minute and a half. We can spend an hour together in like, what, four seconds? Our bond is that strong. You’re welcome here. Reggie has the best taste in people. I mean, I should know, right? I’m one of them. Nyeh” Te sticks her tongue out at Linti and blows a raspberry, and I can’t help but laugh. She’s jokingly being braggadocious.

Linti whistles in appreciation of the accelerated speed of our bond, but then recoils slightly at Teuila’s joking arrogance, before laughing with the two of us.

Linti gazes out at the light spilling over the awning of the tent entrance. She mutters, “I’m, I’m glad you’re okay Shellcracker. Both of you. I haven’t hunted in a few days, so I’d understand if, uh. I mean, I’m going to hunt. It’s more fun when you’re around, but I totally understand. Y’know?”

Teuila, strugglingly, throws her hand on Linti’s shoulder as she flashes a wicked grin. Te claims, “Try and stop me from joining your hunt today, ya poser!” Te struggles to her feet, and cycles through her transformations for a bit, making sure that when she settles on Valkyrie, that Gae Buidhe is stowed in her inventory for safety. Teuila flashes us both a wink as she jets out of the tent.

Linti and I share a sideways glance, flick our eyes after Teuila, then glance at each other again before laughing. Linti wraps her arms around me and transforms into lightning to chase after Teuila. Once we catch up, Linti angles for an interception course and snags Teuila in one arm so that we’re all a massive jumble of lightning. Our electrons mingle and jumble, and I could swear I begin to experience Teuila’s thoughts in a new way, along with Linti’s thoughts as well.

During the first wave of the hunt, Teuila is a bit sluggish, and takes it easy as she keeps sipping water between every few attacks. Without thinking, after we finish the wave, Linti and I embrace to share our passion as we had been previously doing during our recent hunts between each wave of spawns.

Teuila grins like a lunatic as she salaciously exclaims, “So that’s what you two have been getting up to all day, eh? Hunting all day, suuuure!”

My heart flutters as I blush, sending apologetic waves across my private telepathic link with Teuila. She just winks and blows a raspberry as she limps over.

Teuila taps her upper lip and asks, “So, where’s mine? I’m not picky. You’re both cutie patooties ya dingleberries.”

Laughing, Linti and I accidentally headbutt each other as we turn to kiss Teuila. The three of us start laughing uproariously and roughhousing with one another after sharing a kiss.

Our hunt for the rest of the morning is jubilant to say the least. Teuila’s strength returns over the course of several hours. We all manage to practice several skills, as well as to gain further defenses against one another’s abilities. Linti has named her wide area flood of lightning pillars her Infinite Voltage Blossom, it’s pretty cool to see her use it and be able to shape the lightning pillars to spiral out like flower petals.

Teuila’s starting to be able to manipulate gravity at range. It still doesn’t show up as any kind of skill in her stats panel, but I can tell she’s getting better at it. She can now set some things to slightly below zero gravity, as in, they’re repelled away from the ground, but just barely. Doing that seems to tax her mentally though. It’s easier for her to just double something’s gravity that is within touch range.

I make sure to carefully help them raise their thermal resistances during our hunt together. I’m hoping someday that none of us will ever fear lava again. I’m still at risk if I forget to engage at least my weakest passive FFS when standing in lava. I also need to make sure I don’t accidentally engage too strong of an FFS while wading through lava, or I’ll trap myself between millions of tons of cooling stone. Regardless, one day we should be able to withstand the heat of molten stone as no more than a warm bath. Unless it’s lava from someone’s special ability that has resistance penetration, like my frost abilities and Umbral Shots.

That last thought is sobering. There’s never any guarantees. Just like my time travel skill. If either of the two of them turned around and lunged at me at full speed when I wasn’t paying attention, they could kill me before I could react. There wouldn’t be any future me to send a message to warn past me. Similarly Linti could flick a timebomb spark into my brain when sending me a message, and I’d be gone before I even realized it. Or Lluxop and Rastoc could do the same thing. I only lived the last time due to Lil’s bond, and that bond was strained to near its breaking point as the potion healed my internals.

Anyway, it’s mid-day. As much as I am having a blissful day hunting with these two amazing women, I need to take a party to the fairies settlement. I let the two of them know my plans, and they exchange a look, but they both stay behind, continuing their hunt.

I’ve been thinking about how to safely increase my speeds. I now have a massive dome of pumice, but what about a hollow sphere of stone? Summon an Umbral copy of it around myself, coat the inside with leaf cushioning, and JT that around, rather than having to impact myself. I won’t be able to see where I’m going, but with my innate sense of direction, I should be able to at least cut down general traveling time by a bit. It won’t be something to use in combat, unless I want to just bowl over a bunch of people in a line. If I wanted to do that though, I don’t need to be inside of the Umbral Shot, that’s just stupid.

I actually make it back to Point B in almost as little time as it takes Linti to travel from Point B to The Hollow. I’d better get Luni for this, in case I can’t communicate, she’s always the best of us for this. I’m still a little worried about Teuila, so I hope Lil is willing to check in on her and Linti, to make sure she keeps taking breaks between waves, and hydrating.

Thankfully, Lil is totally willing. They’re a little surprised to hear that Teuila is already up and about, more surprised to hear exactly what transpired in the early morning, but they’re grinning like a goon as they fly away southward.

I gulp a bit, for some reason I feel like I have something to apologize for as I ramble, “So, hey Lu, uh, been a long time since it was just us, or well, down to us for an adventure, huh?”

Luni leans into me, and hides her face in my left shoulder as she feebly pounds on my chest. I hear her whisper, “You big dummy.” But she doesn’t say anything else aloud.

I nuzzle her forehead and kiss her brow as I continue, “I think I found a safer, slightly more comfortable way for us to travel, but the air is pretty limited, so if it gets too stuffy, just say, and we’ll take a break, okay? I, um, I love you, absolutely and truly. Don’t let, I mean, um. Just, yeah. You can tell me things. You have to tell me things. Okay? Please?”

Luni nods and squeezes me tightly as I summon an umbral sphere of stone around us. I line the inside with leaf cushions as I begin using JT motion to rocket us at near sonic speeds in the general direction of the Fairies’ settlement. I send my telepathic avatar into Luni and my shared thinkspace, but she resists joining me for a bit. I sit there, alone, saddened, for hours.

Finally Luni’s avatar pops into our mental haven, and she skips over to me and sits against me, nuzzling me happily as if nothing was wrong. I furrow my brow but I try to foster my joy and elation at sharing happiness with Luni. She’s hurting so badly right now, and I don’t know how or why.

“I love you Lu. I’m right though, aren’t i? You’re hurting. You’re hurting and you won’t tell me why, but somehow it’s my fault, isn’t it?”

Luni frowns and feebly strikes my chest once more, “Just, please don’t ask, it’s already so hard.”

I gulp back a sob and fight back my tears. I try to correct my frown as I say, “Right, sorry. I love you.”

We sit in silence, neither of us deriving the joy we want to, from holding one another. I decide to try another tack.

I mutter, “Hey Lu, hold on tight in meatspace.”

She raises an eyebrow, but I can feel that she complies. I drop from our accelerated thinkspace, and shift my form into my draconic stage. I spread my wings as I claim the Umbral sphere and cushions. Holding Luni borne across both my arms, close to my chest, I begin using JT motion to propel myself through the skies, but I dip my right wing lower so that we spiral like a corkscrew, doing an endless barrel roll across the sky.

Luni shrieks once before she starts laughing, giggling with joy. She sinks her teeth lightly into my collarbone, and I swear she sneaks a lick. Seriously, even with entirely different skin, what do I taste like that has my entire inner circle, and more, licking me? Luni laughs further at my distractible train of thought.

Suddenly I feel like I’ve gone the wrong direction, because the Miracle Oak appears in front of me and we’re barreling towards it at near sonic speeds. I have to dive into a spiraling swoop to reverse course, so as not to plow into the massive arboreal life at a fatal velocity. Looking around though, I realize there are small lights, and huts built in the boughs of this Miracle Oak. I’m fairly certain there weren’t any such things on the Miracle Oak located in the swamp.

I spot fauns and pixies flying between boughs. Every creature in the settlement seems to have at least a smattering of wind magic. That’s good news for me. Oh wait, I look like a dragon right now, I should drop my transformation. Oh double wait! I should wait until I land before I do that.

Luni bursts into laughter as I nearly de-transformed while still soaring around at high speeds, over a hundred feet off the ground. When we finally land safely, we both double over with laughter at my near fatal distractibility. I then re-tether and de-tether to swap back to cherubic Reggie form. Hopefully I appear less threatening like this.

Luni and I begin approaching the settlement. There are as many buildings at ground level as there are amongst the trees boughs, if that’s even possible. The tree has to be a kilometer in diameter, and a hundred of those in height.

What looks to be an elderly gnomish chap approaches us as we wander around. He asks, “What brings you to Can’Z’aas?”

My jaw drops as I reach to clean my ears. Lu laughs at me telepathically, she knows what I’m thinking.

I reply, “Excuse me, did you say Kansas? Is that the name of, uh, our world? This continent? This settlement?”

He responds, "Our continent, since you seem to not know where we are. Of course, ours is the capitol of Can’Z’aas, named so after our own fair city. Besides, what need have we for a planetary name? Until recently, ours was the only orb in the cosmos. Though now, the night sky expands each eve. Further stars and galaxies than we could possibly ever count, let alone reach."

The fairies apparently call this continent Can'Z'aas. It really sounds like they're saying Kansas, it truly does. Not that any of them know what a Kansas is. Me neither, I guess. Somehow I vaguely know it's a location in some fake world that is not here. Not the real world. And yet he said something that makes me recall my early memories in the Fire Biome. There was no night sky, there was no sun, no stars. I swear on everything that that’s how I remember things. It wasn’t until Teuila earned her wings, when she took me skyward, that there was finally a sun. As we broke through the clouds, the sun broke through into existence is how it felt. It felt like Teuila herself placed the stars in the sky just for us to enjoy that moment.

Luni sends an image of her mental avatar pouting. I tease her that she put the moon in the sky and the moons on all the new planets, and that that’s just as impressive. That seems to brighten her mood for the moment.

Realizing I’m standing there dumbfoundedly, I reply, “Oh, uh, thank you, we’re here because, well, we have refugees, our home settlement was destroyed by lava, and a human settlement was destroyed by Leviathan activity. We’re trying to find some place in the world for a new home, anywhere. We were hoping maybe we could talk to someone that might be able to help with that. I’m also on a personal quest apparently. I need to find three more tomes, one with a two, a three, and a five on the cover.”

At first the elderly gnomish chap begins to respond about my refugee situation, but then pales as I mention the tomes. He regains his composure to say, “Ah, then you must be the old man. I must admit, this was not the form I was expecting. I doubt any of us would have put money on this being your return appearance. I’m betting you don’t remember a thing anyway.”

Wait, my return? My memories!?

Eagerly I ask, “Wait, wait, you know? Something about my messed up memories? I thought I spawned alone in a jungle, I just knew things, like critterkin do immediately at spawn. Not that I even knew that at the time. Why do you call me old man, who am I?”

Luni begins to sniffle and shuts our mental wavelength off completely. I glance at her with sorrow in my heart, and longing on my face. I’m conflicted. This is something that hurts Luni, but, but I’ve been waiting for so long to unravel some of these things.

He hems and haws before continuing, “Hm, of course it would be something like that. Bup bup, I’m not the one to talk to. I don’t really have your answers, only some of what has been passed down.”

I hear someone call out, "Hey, hey it's old man! That's gotta be him right? But they've taken on such an androgynous form with their return. Can we even call them old man anymore? They aint old or a man."

My return? Is that even right? Am I even the person they’re assuming I am? Would TQ know? They told me to find the fairies.

He responds, “I can show you to someone who will direct you to these tomes. If you’re who you’re supposed to be, their information will make sense to you. I suppose you’ll have to trust that your companion here will handle this refugee situation. You head towards that building over there. My dear, would you please come with me? I’ll take you to someone that might be able to help you with this refugee situation of yours.”

The gnomish fellow takes Luni away by the hand, and I’m so torn. She has shut herself off from me mentally. I want to mend our bond, to fix whatever hurt I’ve caused, more than anything. I can’t even take comfort in the fact that she knows I feel this way, because she isn’t riding my thoughts like she normally would be. I slump to my knees as various fairfolk pass me by. I sob for several minutes before I gulp down my tears and struggle onward. The terrible ache in my chest makes me want to wail in anguish but I keep it bolted down. My throat feels as if I’m clenching it tight to cut off a pained scream.

Fine, if there’s some sort of fate, or destiny at play, let’s get these tomes to get it over with so I can get back to patching up things with Luni.