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Book 3, Chapter 61 - Conflict Resolution
🕑 Added 2023-06-15 15:04:12 +0000 UTCThe northern gates of Elyra were absolutely teeming with people. If it weren't for the massive, massive barrier that Helix had erected, no small number of them would likely have surged right back into the streets of Elyra — but the barrier created by the Ashion heir was absolute, and none of the higher-leveled elites seemed willing to help them break it.
Not even Liz, who was sitting, bored, in a small stool right in front of it. "You're not paying me enough to break the barrier," she told the guard that was blustering at her.
"You'll be paid, but our treasuries are inside," the guard growled. Liz shrugged at him with a smirk.
"Guess that means you can't pay me." She yawned exaggeratedly. "Come back when you can."
The guard gave a frustrated growl and threw his axe at Helix's barrier; it bounced off, useless, and almost hit him in the shin. Liz laughed at him.
The same thing was happening in all the listless crowds around Elyra. Vex was surprised that a fight hadn't broken out yet — it seemed like it was only a matter of time — but Misa had summoned multiple copies of herself and copies of her villagers, and they were doing a remarkable job at keeping everyone calm, even the angry ones.
And then there was the fact that about half the people who were angry would suddenly stop themselves mid-argument, forgetting what they were angry about as their homes disappeared into the Void and they forgot they ever had one.
It helped, but it was a little chilling. Vex saw a little bit of the light leave their eyes every time it happened. Losing your memories of your home would do that. His connection with Misa's Anchor kept him safe, and that was only the smallest bit of comfort, when he could see it happening to everyone else.
Even the rebels.
"Come," Derivan said gently. "Let us get your father situated."
There wasn't anything more they could do.
—
It took some time to get everything in order. The confusion didn't help, as vast swathes of people lost their homes and forgot large sections of their pasts; they connected as many people to Misa's anchor as they could, but it was a tenuous thing, and it didn't have the integrity to host the entire kingdom of Elyra.
In theory, they would regain some of their memories as they traveled and connected to the nearby anchors. For now, they prioritized those individuals that helped the most in keeping things organized and stable. The Platinums were connected, any leading authority among the rebels, and the friends and family they chose. All in all, about a hundred additional people were connected with Misa's anchor.
"This sucks," Misa grumbled.
"Would you rather we all forget?" Helix asked her. He sat in the seat opposite to her in their respective caravan — but they didn't have enough caravans to carry all of them. They were mostly reserved for the elderly, for the pregnant women and children that needed them.
It had taken some effort to convince Misa and the others to take a caravan at all. They had to be told they would take turns before they climbed in, sucking in a breath of relief as they collapsed into their respective seats; four adventurers plus Helix, who had taken it upon himself to follow them in.
And their father, of course. Karix's still unconscious body lay on the floor between the five of them. Their mother was still out there somewhere, but Vex hadn't cared to look for her, and Prissa seemed wholly on the side of the people who wanted back into Elyra, for all that she had pretended otherwise.
"That's not what sucks," Misa said with a sigh. "What sucks is the fact that we can't stop all this. I've been watching people forget their homes all day. It's... exhausting, and I'm not even the one doing the forgetting."
"Oh. Right." Helix's voice turned almost meek. "Uh, thanks for letting me connect to your... anchor. Thing."
"Don't mention it," Misa said dryly. "I don't think I could let Vex's cool family members forget all their character development."
"You don't have to put it like that," Vex grumbled.
"It's true, though," Misa countered.
Through all this, Sev remained silent, his eyes closed and his hands clasped together in silent prayer. For him, of course, that meant he was communicating with the gods; there was no small amount of worry about the collapse of Elyra, and a few unreasonable demands that they find a way to rescue the kingdom.
We don't know how, Sev answered those demands. We've tried for multiple cycles. The best we can do is hold it back and run. The entirety of the system was built to fight it, and even that's failing us.
You've had seven cycles by your own account, someone said; Sev didn't recognize the god, and he didn't care to. Seven cycles, and you couldn't find a solution?
Seven cycles, and the combined effort of every forgotten god, every genius and lost practitioner of magic, every researcher that studies the Void, Sev answered. And we still couldn't find a solution. I don't see you helping.
There was an angry grumble at that, but no retort.
The truth was that Sev was just as worried. Tempus was playing defense for him, drawing the ire of some of the angrier gods so he didn't have to deal with them all clamoring for his attention — but a lot of them were worried, and rightfully so. Establishing a religious base within one of the Prime Kingdoms was a massive achievement for a god, and now that base of power was not only being destroyed, but erased.
There were devout followers now who could no longer remember their visits to their temples, the small favors that they had done for one another within those grounds. There were faithful that now no longer believed. Some gods were hit harder than others — those gods that still had temples within Anderstahl were fine, for example — but not a single god was escaping the destruction of Elyra unscathed.
And they weren't close to a solution. Not really.
Misa's anchor was helping. The glyphs were knowledge they had never had before, a whole alternative system of magic that could combat the Void in its own way, even if it was imperfect. Derivan had his Remembrances, small tokens carried forward from things that should have been forgotten.
And even with all those tools at their disposal, Sev didn't see a way to bring it all back.
The glyphs had been able to reconstruct reality, but at a cost; even in that other world, they were slowly losing to the encroaching Void. Give it a few more years, and reality would lose enough cohesion to be a chaotic mess that no life could exist in. Remembrances weren't truly able to bring anything back, for all that they could call upon powers that no longer existed. Misa's anchor had a limit, and could be strained and destroyed just like the rest of the anchors.
There might be some way to put it all together — to anchor the glyphs to one of the system's relaity anchors, and stabilize what was left of reality without the anchor slowly degrading.
But for that, they needed time. They needed time, and understanding, and the people and manpower to do the research; they'd lost most of the people that could do that a long time ago. He loved his friends, and Vex would surely have stood amongst the top researchers, but he didn't know if that would be enough.
Sev sighed, trying to loosen the knot of tension that had formed in his chest. His friends, of course, noticed.
"You doing okay there, buddy?" Misa asked him. She slung a friendly arm around his shoulders, and Sev grumbled slightly, but leaned into her; her presence was a comfort he needed.
"Just worried," he admitted. "I don't know how we'll fix all this."
"We'll figure something out," Misa said confidently. Sev didn't know where she got that confidence, but something about it was invigorating, and he managed to smile a small smile; at least someone was confident.
"How about you tell us some stories?" Vex piped up. The lizardkin was clearly dealing with some emotions of his own — Sev saw the way he kept glancing towards his father's unconscious body — but he put on a brave grin and a cheery voice. "You're really old, right? You have to have some."
"...You don't have to put it like that," Sev grumbled.
Though Vex wasn't wrong, technically.
The truth was that his memories were still a bit of a jumble. Sev had been trying to sort them out for the past several hours without much success. With the evacuation of Elyra being a priority, he'd had little time to actually focus on it, and even now that he did have time, he found he didn't know where to start.
His memories didn't come back in any particular order. They were a jumbled mess, and Sev had trouble identifying which memory came from which life. Having Derivan, Vex, and Misa with him helped. The memories of this life, at least, were anchored by their presence. Everything else?
"I don't know where to start," Sev admitted out loud. Derivan placed a gentle hand over his own.
"Why not at the beginning?" the armor suggested.
Sev blinked.
He supposed that was as easy a place to start as any.
