the confrontation
"Hey, Craggy, c'mon. You alright?"
"Ｉ'ｍ... Ｉ'ｍ ｇｏｎｎａ ｂｅ ｌａｔｅ ｆｏｒ ｃｌａｓｓ..."
"Craggy, it's me, Suzy, get up."
She stirred, before slowly getting up onto one knee and staring at both Emmi and myself. "Ｉ'ｍ ｃｏｎｃｕｓｓｅｄ, Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｔｏ ｂｅ," she responded.
"No, no, it's fine, I helped her out, Emmi's with us now."
"I'm really sorry about any harm," she said, "I don't know what came over me."
"Ｉ ａｃｃｅｐｔ ｔｈｅ ａｐｏｌｏｇｙ, ｂｕｔ Ｉ ｗｉｌｌ ｐｉｎ ｙｏｕ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ ｇｒｏｕｎｄ ｉｆ ｙｏｕ ｔｒｙ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｈａｔ ａｇａｉｎ. "
"Got it," she said, removing the jacket to her Watcher uniform and tying it around her waist.
She cleans up pretty well. I'd... I'd probably clean up just as well. "Ｗｈｅｒｅ'ｓ Ｆｌｕｘ?"
"Oh, um..." I said, picking up the little silver heart off the ground.
The top popped open, and a small character peeked out into the world. "Ｗｈｅｒｅ'ｓ ｔｈｅ ｒｅｓｔ?"
"It, um... liquefied. Sorry, I'm so sorry about that, I--"
Craggy took the heart, and began to trudge towards a water fountain along the wall. She sat the heart in the basin and held the button, and eventually water began to gel up around the heart. Within just a minute, Flux was fully-formed again, this time taking on a bit of a blue tone. "ᕼEY, I'ᗰ ᗷᗩᑕK!"
"Ｃｏｕｌｄｎ'ｔ ｄｏ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｉｔｈｏｕｔ ｙｏｕ, Ｆｌｕｘ. "
"But wait," Emmi said, "water isn't blue."
"I GᑌEᔕᔕ TᕼE EᒪEᑕTᖇIᑕITY Iᔕ ᗪOIᑎG TᕼᗩT, TᕼEᑎ."
I'm not sure if that's actually how electricity works, though. Craggy stepped outside to look for Scriff, who had been hiding in a trash can outside the library, and after a very quick regroup we were back in order. There was just one thing left to do.
"Hey James, Simon, Richard, get up. You guys alright?" I asked.
Richard stirred and looked me dead in the eyes. "Um... wh—where am I?"
"We're at the library, the Watchers seem to be somewhere around here, we just got done dealing with a couple of them, and we're about to take this right to Amark and Rakonto, if at all possible."
"Uh... right... those are..." he said before wincing, "those are words, alright..."
"Wait, Richard, Simon... surely you remember? Being Retconologists, tracking down the Watchers?"
There was silence from the group as they glanced back and forth between each other looking for nonverbal clues for this conversation. "Uh, shoot... Flux, can you jump-start memories with your electricity?"
"I ᑕOᑌᒪᗪ GIᐯE IT ᗩ ᔕᕼOT, ᗷᑌT I'ᗰ ᑎOT TOO ᔕᑌᖇE..."
She walked up to Richard and touched his head. Her hand suddenly glowed blue, and he recoiled, crying out. "You remember anything now?" I asked.
"Yeah! I remember you tasing me! What was that about? What's going on here? This isn't Portland!"
"I don't think that worked," Scriff said, and I glanced at her for just half a second in cold acknowledgement.
"No, come on, surely you remember something, anything! There has tσ вє sσmєthíng lєft чσu rєmєmвєr σf чσur lífє αs rєtcσnσlσgísts..."
í fєlt ít αgαín, ít fєlt líkє єvєrчthíng ínsídє σf mє wαs stírríng αll αt σncє. í rєαchєd σut tσ trч αnd hєlp, вut suddenly I had lost it. Wait, no! Where did it go? What was that, even? Why was this happening?
"...Hi..." Richard said, reveling in the awkward situation.
"Okay, don't panic. Scriff? Can you fill them in and keep an eye on the three of them? Flux, Craggy, Emmi, let's look upstairs."
"Um, alright," Scriff said.
"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐝, 𝐬𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬," Amark called, again seemingly from everywhere, "𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐚𝐤𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝."
So he wasn't here yet? Good to know, we could take care of this guy and have time to spare. We rushed up the stairs and eventually stumbled across the door to the afterward Wing of the library. I went to go throw open the door all cool-like and get the drop on Amark, but Craggy had the right idea: smash the door clean off of its hinges, crashing through the statue of Memmi on the other side.
I glanced around the room, looking for Amark, but was getting increasingly worried. This wasn't a large room. Craggy, myself, and the statue occupied about half the room's space, so it's not like he had a lot of places to hide. Finally, I was completing a full circle around the statue, and saw no trace of Amark anywhere. And at last, I looked up towards the ceiling to ensure I didn't miss anything.
I hadn't. He wasn't here. My pulse quickened, and I glanced back in the door. "𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨? 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐃. 𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬! 𝐈𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞?
"...𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞."
"Show yourself!" I shouted.
"𝐖𝐡𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞, 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫!"
I stared through the door frame, but suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned, recoiling, and quickly faced Amark, who had seemingly come from nowhere. "...𝐒𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐞? 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐡--"
I suddenly cut him off by shoving him against the bookshelves. "Look, what do you think you're accomplishing with this?!" I shouted.
"...𝐀𝐬 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐜𝐜--"
"No, answer me! What does this solve?!"
"𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐟𝐫--"
"nσ, í nєєd αctuαl αnswєrs thís tímє! thєrє's nσ gєttíng αrσund thαt!"
thєrє wαs thαt rush αgαín. ít wαs stαrtíng tσ вєcσmє sσmєwhαt fαmílíαr, вut í cσuldn't rєαllч pín hσw σthєr thαn í wαs fєєlíng ít mσrє αnd mσrє σftєn.
"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝," Amark said, "𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐦'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫.𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝. 𝐔𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐚 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐧, 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐩?"
"чσu hαvє nσ ídєα," í rєplíєd.
ᏖᎥᎷᏋ ᏖᎧ ᎦᎥᎶᏬᏒᏋ ᎧᏬᏖ ᏂᎧᏇ ᏖᏂᎥᏕ ᏇᎧᏒᏦᏕ
ᏕᎮᏂᎥᏁጀ ᎧᎦ ᏰᏝᏗፈᏦ ᎤᏬᏗᏒᏖፚ, ᏠᏬᎴᎶᏋ ᎷᎩ ᏉᎧᏇ
ᏂᎧᏇ ᎴᎧᏋᏕ ᏖᏂᎥᏕ ᏇᎧᏒᏦ ᏗፈᏖᏬᏗᏝᏝᎩ
ᏠᏬᏕᏖ ᎶᎧ ᏗᏇᏗᎩ ᏗᏝᏒᏋᏗᎴᎩ
"𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞. 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐈--"
ᏁᎧᏰᎧᎴᎩ ᏗᏕᏦᏋᎴ
"I... I... there has been a misunderstanding, Worldbuilder, and--"
ᏖᏂᏋᏒᏋ ᏂᏗᏕ
¥ØỮ'Ř€ ŇØŦ ŁƗŞŦ€ŇƗŇǤ
"I... formerly apologize, Worldbuilder, b—but--"
ĴỮŞŦ
ŞŦØƤ
αmαrk slumpєd tσ thє grσund, αnd í tσσk α stєp вαck, suddєnlч hít wíth αn αwful hєαdαchє. whαt wαs hαppєníng? whч díd thís hurt sσ much? í cσuld tєll fluх undєrstσσd í wαs ín pαín, αnd shє
48 69 20 53 75 7a 79 2c 20 74 68 69 73 20 69 73 20 46 6c 75 78 2e 20
59 6f 75 27 72 65 20 6c 6f 6f 6b 69 6e 67 20 72 6f 75 67 68 2e 20
4c 65 74 20 6d 65 20 68 65 6c 70 20 79 6f 75 20 6f 75 74 2e 20
49 20 68 6f 70 65 20 79 6f 75 20 66 6f 72 67 69 76 65 20 6d 65 20 66 6f 72 20 74 68 69 73 2e 20
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ever wake up hugged by yourself, it's wild
um
what happened
i think ive been electrocuted by flux maybe
why did she do that though
i was doing fine right
maybe
who could say.
"um... thanks" i said to emmi as she lifted me off the ground.
she was strong.
was i this strong too?
I mean I was recovering somewhat quick
I felt kinda numb and tingly
Like when your arm falls asleep and now you can't hold a glass of water or anything
Like that.
Just all over.
At least there was a hug involved.
"Ｗｅ ｈａｖｅ ａ ｐｒｏｂｌｅｍ."
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Ｉ ｈｅａｒｄ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｄｏｗｎｓｔａｉｒｓ. "
We headed back to the lobby only to find Scriff and the Retconologists gone. Maybe not gone, but they had relocated, and she gestured towards us. We ducked behind a shelf, and she pointed towards the front door, which there were clear signs of someone standing before it. At once, the door was flung open, and a man stepped into view. He was easily about my height, but dressed in blue, white, and gray, with red hair, and he had the same electric blue eyes Emmi had not long ago.
All at once I was hit with this cold realization that this guy was the end of the line. I was face-to-face with who I could only assume was Rakonto.
"...Amark! My champion! Come forth and let's end this! Let's usher in a new era for--"
"He can't," I heard.
It was my voice, but it wasn't me. It was... It was Emmi. She had put on the coat and was standing facing the imposing figure. "Amark has been decommissioned once more. I had tried my best to subdue his attackers, but it was in vain."
"Worldbuilder Emmerson... well, it's not all lost, I suppose. Are there others with you?"
"...Yes."
Emmi, what are you doing?!
"Bring them to me, now."
"I'd rather not. Besides, we could broadcast the access code across the entire building to activate them all at once, could we not?"
"We could. This is why I trusted you as a Worldbuilder."
Emmi?! Please explain to me what you're doing!
"Here, let me show you where this building's intercom system is."
She walked with Rakonto, and I was breaking out in a cold sweat. Had I messed up? Did I miss my chance to help her? As they rounded the corner, I felt more tense than ever. Flux, I just...
Where the heck was Flux
I watched as Emmi walked with the man, but then they stopped. In front of a water fountain. All at once, my panic became confusion, and then determination. She knew what she was doing. She turned towards us again, her eyes brown as ever, and then had him face a wall. "There is a loose brick here, remove it and you can open the intercom room."
While his back was turned, she placed the silver heart in the basin of the water fountain and held the button. Flux once again formed from out of the fountain, and the two ambushed Rakonto.
I rushed out of cover with Craggy, and rushed after them to back them up. "Wha--" he shouted before suddenly getting fried, screaming in pain.
"I.. wh... what did you do to him?!" I exclaimed.
"ᕼE'ᔕ ᑎOT GOIᑎG TO ᕼᗩᐯE ᗩᑎY ᑭOᗯEᖇ ᖴOᖇ ᗩ ᗯᕼIᒪE."
I turned towards Emmi, more speechless than ever. "Oh, well, I knew he could trust me given I still had their coat, it's too dark for him to see me clearly in here, and I could get Flux in there to knock him out."
This didn't help my confusion. I don't think I would have been capable of these sorts of tricks in my first couple days, but here she was pulling it off quite nicely. I was stunned. Honestly stunned.
"...So what now?" I asked.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
