Chương 163: Citation Needed

Dragon's Lair. Central Cavern 'Foyer.' Local Time: 1000 Hours. Emma I took a deep breath. In. And out. All the while, my eyes ran up and down the medical reports, at what was ostensibly a generalized seizure with all the trappings associated with it. The medical analysis was too esoteric for my taste, but the cliff notes and conclusions painted a clear picture — this was a completely idiopathic event. There were no event triggers, no physical trauma, nor acute points of physiological decompensation to point to.

In short, there were no abnormal preceding events, aside from what the EVI was ascribing to as a focal awareness seizure or an aura potentially associated with such. This would explain the 'experiences' in that void — the hallucinations, the vivid emotional distress, and the mental disconnect. … But it'd have to be a rather intense one, far outside of the norm, to have truly done so. The medical literature at present did cover that eventuality. But only just.

Which meant that while slim, there existed another explanation, and one that I wished I could have scienced away with irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Yet here we were. Right on the precipice of a rational explanation without an open-and-shut case, which would've otherwise left no room for doubt and its ensuing flurry of uncomfortable implications. …

"EVI."

"Yes, Cadet Booker?"

"Is there… a chance that taint had somehow affected me directly?"

"Requesting disambiguation—"" Is there a chance that the 30th manatype was able to affect me, my body, my physiology? Is it possible it's not just phasing through me and the armor but is actually interacting with my body on some fundamental level?" [...]"Insufficient sensor data for inferential analysis. All current observations congruent with pathognomonic signs for a grand mal seizure with preceding focal awareness seizure suspected."

"But is it possible that the 30th manatype somehow triggered that? That's what I'm asking!"

"The current cause of the grand mal seizure is idiopathic in nature. Correlation of 30th manatype spike is currently logged as circumstantial and not causative."

"So there's no bridge? No link whatsoever? Even if I tweak your tolerance for extrapolation for—""Inadvisable. Only one line of data exists to support operator's hypothesis: chronological incidence. However—""Isn't that alone enough to prove my point?! The medical incident report coincided with the spike of taint, for crying out loud!"

"The observed correlation supports operator's hypothesis. It does not definitively provide the quantitative or qualitative data required to either prove or disprove operator's causal hypothesis." I took a deep breath, narrowing my eyes at the datasets before urging the EVI to continue on its prior point.

"Continue the prior line of deliberation."

"Acknnowledged. Cont… —said incident is not an exclusive event. Noting [2] prior instances of similar 30th manatype intensity and exposure with no associated adverse reactions."

"But 2 isn't really a sample size, now is it?" I countered.

"Moreover, we're only measuring the intensity of taint itself here, not how said taint is being used as spells or targeted attacks. Both instances were just Thacea releasing an unstable field of taint as well, which was unlike what the shatorealmer was doing here!"

"Insufficient sensor data to ascertain amended operator hypothesis."

"What about the WAID? Did it manage to catch the shape, or at least the direction of the taint? That could be a clue to determine if it was, at the very least, directed towards me specifically and not just a field of taint, as was the case with the past 2 recorded instances of Thacea's 30th manatype outbursts!"

"WAID sensor data at time of incidence is of inadequate quality due to volatile efflux of 30th manatype." The EVI responded succinctly, putting its money where its mouth was and showing me exactly what it meant. The whole thing was just static. There were no ebbs, flows, or what-have-you, not even a discernible shape or direction, just… overwhelming 'static' in the form of the manafields simply collapsing in on themselves from the explosion of taint.

"Right." I managed out with a defeated sigh.

"Quantitative medical data in conjunction with operator-reported symptoms supports an idiopathic grand mal episode. Is the mission operator not satisfied with current findings?" My brows perked for a moment before realizing that the EVI was more than likely going through its mental health response checks, given the sudden bout of personable inquiry.

"I want to be. If anything, I can easily just… accept it and move on, write off this entire incident as a weird coincidence, and just… not think too hard about it. But I can't. It's just… the hallucinations I experienced were too detailed, too consistent, too… coherent to just be simple audio-visual hallucinations tied to seizures. Sure it's possible, but I just… it's stretching it."

"Subjective interpretation can be due to—""Immediately adding more set dressing after the fact, yes. But I know what I saw, and I know what I felt. This wasn't me making shit up after the fact. I experienced it. I swear I did…" I managed out, as my breath hitched, my pulse increased, prompting the EVI to respond with a series of manual maneuvers resembling a tight handhold, pulling me back to earth.

"Operator is advised to maintain steady and deep breaths." It spoke while highlighting a visual overlay of a breathing exercise that was then promptly interrupted by the world outside.

"Emma? Are you alright?" Thalmin's voice came through loud and clear.

"The young matriarch is perhaps shocked at the mention of her patron—""Right, that, that's…" I managed out, returning back to the conversation I'd tacitly left with my wits still frayed from the events of… well… everything.

"No, I'm not. This has nothing to do with that… but everything to do with it actually." I articulated poorly, as poorly as someone who'd just recovered from Ranger Hell Week would.

"Before I begin my rebuttal, I'd like to hear your take on this first." I continued as diplomatically as I could.

"Tell me what you mean by 'patron,' and exactly what you think is on the other side of the portal?" The dragon grimaced at this, exposing a gnarled set of fangs. Yet her voice, the 'voice' she now took on completely divorced from any worldly body, felt even more eerie than the corpse she started out with.

"Foremothers of my foremothers once made fleeting tell of a being, one of magic antithetic to the Light." Kaelthyr began, her voice carried by winds that picked up around us, echoing and whistling through the rock spikes and caverns.

"None knew of its true domain, yet my elders cited accounts of fools from different realms claiming to witness its listless wandering, who were driven mad by the glimpse of the infinite depths that was its abyss and unraveled soon after. A god they all called it, but no race claimed it their deity. These bare-tales from my grand elders were all but grim fables, I thought. Paltry attempts to snuff out haughty younglings."

Her front claws soon clutched onto the hard stone floor, piercing through and cracking the rock beneath.

"But now I've felt it firsthand. Its smothering embrace, its overwhelming power, and its tainted presence…" Her face betrayed no emotion beyond her rigid expression, but I could feel from the pause how she recalled that… reaction that forced her to cut her transdimensional connection. I took a step forward, wanting to assuage her worries before her eyes sharply pointed to me, making me halt.

"Scorned was I, and yet urged were you, young matriarch. Urged to witness it, to treat with it. The tales of my elders were sparse, but I am confident to claim myself as the only dragon in eons to ever witness such. Thus I believe… nay, it proves that your kind must be the prophesized adversary. You are an arrival of a foreign culture, born indeed of foreign constraints. And now, I see evidence of you being fostered under the auspices of this… foreign patron."

I nodded along slowly, piecing together Kaelthyr's assertions point by point.

"With respect, Matriarch Kaelthyr, I must counter your assertions. We have had no contact, no encounter, not even a glimpse of any other living, sapient, intelligent being within our own reality until we encountered the Nexus. Ergo, we do not have a patron, nor do we have any existing relationships — in any capacity — with any polity, group, or entity on our side of the portal."

"You speak with such worldly attachments, like a scholar to a shaman." The dragon began with a wistful observation, her echoey voice resonating eerily through the cave, emerging not from her maw nor the vocal cords of a corpse, but the currents of the winds themselves.

"Excuse me?"

"You come to address the metaphysical, the domain of the intangible, using tools reserved for mortal hands and mortal minds. You seek to paint without pigment, bow an instrument without its strings… you are attempting to ascribe physicality to the ether, applying its reason where logic is dethroned." The dragon paused, as if asking 'why' without vocalizing it, giving me the floor without another word spoken.

"To approach this in any other way would have been a disrespect of the highest order, Matriarch Kaelthyr." I began firmly, all the while placing both my hands behind my back.

"It would have been a disrespect to you, by virtue of my insincerity. It would have been a disrespect to my station, by a departure from the tenets of professionalism, which I attempt to maintain to the best of my abilities. And most of all, it would have been a disrespect, of the highest order, to those that have come before me — those whose shoulders I now stand atop of — and through whose sacrifices forged a world previously relegated to the pages of fiction."

I paused once more, taking a step forward to further close the gap between me and the dragon.

"The suggestion that our civilization, our kind, our entire history, owes anything to a higher power, being, or what-have-you, is an insult to the very notion of humanity. Sure, there have been men and women of faith who have advanced the sciences, philosophy, technology, and our understanding of the universe at large, but they were human all the same. We march ceaselessly to the tune of our own composition, to a beat of our own making, to a rhythm of our own dictation, all for the sake of our own betterment."

I turned to Thalmin, as if making eye contact with him to reassert this fact.

"We do not echo the chorus of some patron entity. We do not follow the footsteps of some overlord or master. And we most of all do not take charity." I took another breath, ensuring that my voice was heard even through the thickest of draconic skulls.

"Everything you see, everything I am, and everything we are, we accomplished alone. And for me to have given even the slightest hint to the contrary would be an affront of the highest order to the very spirit of humanity itself, and that's not to say anything of the disrespect incurred to those that have laid the path for me."

"I'm no neo-humanist, or a member of any new faith, mind you. But I firmly believe in the universal respect for the dignity of my forebears. And I intend on carrying that respect, wherever I find myself. This is why I speak in such absolutes, at least as it pertains to this subject matter, and especially as anything to the contrary would imply an undermining of the achievements." I cemented firmly, standing my ground as the EVI detected an increase in the windspeed of the local air currents.

"And yet you refer to faiths." Kaelthyr countered.

"How can you be certain then, that the faiths which you speak of — despite their number and differences — are not beholden to the same patron which—""That would be a different sort of insult, Matriarch Kaelthyr." I halted the dragon before she could continue this dangerous train of thought any further.

"Our faiths are our own. Some much older than others, some far newer and more… esoteric, but I can firmly attest to the fact that there exists no patron behind any of them. This is not even mentioning those without or abstaining from faiths, but I digress." Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

The dragon's brow ridge perked up quite curiously at that latter sentiment, though just as quickly narrowed as she made her final approach into this increasingly controversial discussion.

"And what about you, young matriarch? What do you believe in? Who do you follow?" That directed question, pointedly personal and completely removed from the grand sweeping generalizations of my whole speech, caught me off guard. It took me a moment to compose myself, racking my head for an answer, not because of the abrupt shift in the conversation itself, but simply because it was one of those questions I didn't immediately have a follow-up for.

"I'm a Theravada Buddhist. There's a lot to it, but for the sake of brevity I'll address the core of things. I, or rather we, believe that the path to enlightenment and the end of suffering comes from the understanding that much of what we value in physicality, as it were, these worldly attachments, are all kind of… transient. An illusion if you want to get into it. To let go of suffering is to sort of train yourself out of the suffering that comes from those attachments and the cravings associated with them."

The dragon's eyes were fixated on my lenses all throughout my explanation, narrowing her gaze but ultimately resulting in a frustrated huff, accompanied by the same wistful 'voice' carried by the air currents.

"And yet you act in opposition to your supposed beliefs. You explicitly walk the path of the tangible and physical, adhering yourself to…

'attachments' of the worldly sort. Indeed, you revel in them. Do you not find this amusing in its irony, young matriarch?"

"I don't claim to be a shining exemplar of my faith and beliefs, Matriarch." I acknowledged her claims plainly.

"And to be quite honest, I probably will find it difficult given my personality and my current path in life. But the thing is, at least according to those in the same position as I am, you don't have to completely invest yourself in that path if you don't want to or can't. Because ultimately, I don't have to be free of attachment to see that it binds me, and seeing the chain is the beginning of loosening it. There are, of course, those who may follow a more monastic path, rejecting worldly life entirely.

But for a layperson like me? I just try my best to be, er, good, you could say. Practicing generosity, and reducing attachment over time. And while I would say I have kept to the five precepts… it would be a lie to say that I didn't just break them in the worst way yesterday through the act of killing." I spoke… way too earnestly there. My breath hitched up for a moment before being swiftly defused thanks to a firm glance from Thalmin. A glance that read simply as ' there was no other choice.' Kaelthyr, however…

considered my words carefully, as if now contemplating them far more intently than she ever did previously. There was an instance in which something clicked behind those draconic eyes, and it was with that sudden shift that she finally addressed me in a far more earnest light, bereft of the initial slyness that had led me into this bout of oversharing.

"Prophecies… are a fickle thing." She began with a resolute smile.

"They often predict a future in broad strokes, whilst lying — through omission — the details written within. Your outbursts of youth, whilst naive, have proven their point, young matriarch. Perhaps both truths may exist concurrently, as your existence and faith so paradoxically prove." I cocked my head at that, garnering yet another sly yet earnest chuckle from the dragon.

"It might be the case that patronage has yet to be offered. It might also be the case that patronage itself is a [TRANSLATION: RED HERRING 98. 7% Confidence]. It may also be that the patronage in question may be translated not as a relation between master and slave, but rather, a symbiosis of shared intent. Regardless of what the truth may be, one thing remains clear: there will be a final confrontation. And I will await the day when that clash finally manifests." The sudden…

shift in the dragon's narrative was as jarring as it was a complete tonal whiplash. Thalmin even tentatively raised a hand to address this, though it was preemptively addressed by none other than me, as I recalled the dragon's words from yesterday.

"Offense is only taken when a sapient mind refuses to acknowledge evidence challenging its maxims." I repeated verbatim… with a little help from the EVI's transcripts.

"Has an offense been incurred, young matriarch?" The dragon questioned coyly.

"Let's just say… we're even, Matriarch Kaelthyr." I spoke with a sigh of relief, feeling a rush of genuine reprieve washing over me, as Kaelthyr once more proved herself to be not only adherent to her word but likewise capable of actual productive dialogue. The threshold for Fundamental Systemic Incongruity was perhaps just a bit further down the line for dragons.

Though frankly, despite the progress made at correcting Kaelthyr's misconceptions, there still existed several elephants in the room that needed to be addressed.

"So, just for the record, Matriarch. This… being you speak of, do you truly believe you sensed it through the other side of the portal?"

"Your fellow voidlings sensed it too, young matriarch." The dragon posited.

"It could just be the pressure differential theory proposed by Dr. Meki—""We are talking in circles." Kaelthyr interjected, putting her proverbial foot down.

"My apologies." I acknowledged with a dip of my head.

"So… if you did sense it, I'd like to politely request that you describe it for me. Exactly what did you 'see'?"

"I saw nothing. But what I sensed was nothing short of an entity one could tacitly call a god." I felt a chill run down my spine as Kaelthyr continued unabated.

"One could say that it had merely grazed us with an extremity." Kaelthyr continued, her words now rolling throughout the cave like a distant thunder.

"But that would be ascribing mortal attributes to a being beyond such worldly restrictions. This was no hand, no digit, not even the suggestion of a limb." The dragon paused, as if attempting to rack her head for the right words.

"It was… akin to a stray thread, on a scale so immeasurable that what I felt was not its reach, but its periphery." Her eyes now narrowed, focusing directly on my lenses.

"We were not grasped or observed in a way a blind giant would. We were simply grazed, young matriarch." Kaelthyr took a step back, taking a moment to ponder the cave's ceiling before turning back to me.

"And by the end of our communique, it had moved to push us out." I felt my stomach churning, my gut twisting into a knot at Kaelthyr's assertions. Especially as it related to a lingering point of contention still fresh on my mind.

"And it was your theory that this… thing infiltrated my mind?"" Communed with your soul, yes." Kaelthyr 'corrected.' Though that did little to assuage the growing pit of dread twirling within me.

"Suppose I take you on your theory… what exactly did it want from me? What did those visions mean, if anything?"" That, I cannot say, young matriarch. For this is a matter between you and this… entity." A fresh bout of frustration soon took the place of the growing dread inside of me, as I willed myself to calm down before pressing the dragon further.

"Supposing you had to ascribe meaning to it, what, if anything, can you tell me of—""Oneiromancy is a practice I do not dabble in." Kaelthyr concluded.

"But if I did dare to derive meaning, I might posit that this is a sign, Matriarch Emma Booker. A sign that this entity wishes to openly acknowledge your presence." [Citation Needed] The EVI added ever so surreptitiously at the corner of my HUD, right at the edge of the active transcription. [Dreams are no longer an acceptable academic or primary-source citation. Please provide a source generated while awake.] My eyes actively narrowed at that, but just as quickly moved to address Kaelthyr.

"And what did it want beyond acknowledging me? Surely the whole pointing towards the stars could mean something?"

"Without directly seeing into this vision, I dare not even ascertain such a… complex exchange of thoughts." I took a deep breath before deciding to finally pull out of this short-lived endeavor.

"The library, or even Thacea, may be of some use here, Emma." Thalmin asserted, prompting me to nod in acknowledgement.

"Right. Okay. That's a good point." However, instead of hearing and seeing the EVI's automatic updating of my 'to-do' list, all I was met with was silence on the HUD front.

"EVI, add this to the list." I urged.

"Does operator wish to pursue a point of contentious—""Yes, do it. This… is a hunch. I can't just discount it. I'd be no better than Ilunor if I up and ignored this without pursuing this to its ultimate ends."

"Acknowledged. Updating objective list."

"Matriarch Kaelthyr?" Thalmin continued, walking brazenly up to the dragon in question.

"What is it, princeling?"

"I wish to call upon that favor now, if you'd be so kind." … Kaelthyr practically glowered down at Thalmin but relented anyway.

"I make no promises, but out with it."

"If it is alright with you, Emma, since we do still have some time for the quest…" Thalmin turned to me for a moment before focusing his attention back to Kaelthyr.

"... I wish to contact Earthrealm again." Kaelthyr's eyes narrowed at this, her whole body tensing, as she simply craned her serpentine head downwards to meet the prince halfway.

"No." Thalmin, clearly frustrated, tried his luck again.

"May I ask wh—""I would sooner teleport back to Elaseer than risk incurring the wrath of that blind horror. Your requests all border on the irrational and short-sighted, if not entirely self-sabotaging, princeling." Kaelthyr announced firmly, before turning back to me with an expectant glare.

"You and your kind have a large deal of work on their hands with this realm." It was that latter sentiment that truly began to tick Thalmin off, as he let out a low dulcet growl in response to Kaelthyr's jabs.

"I am afraid I will no longer be acting as a medium between the realms. Moreover, I believe that this should be where our respective chapters conclude, young matriarch."

"Wait, what?" I responded instinctively, my heart skipping a beat as prospects of maintaining this otherwise impossible dialogue with an invaluable — but admittedly tentative — ally practically evaporated in an instant.

"I… I understand your hesitance on the former, Matriarch Kaelthyr. I really do. But as for the latter? Surely we can stay in touch through some —""This was an entertaining chapter. A remarkable milestone in my story, but merely a chapter all the same." Kaelthyr spoke firmly, her words resonating throughout the cave in this larger than life display of magical acoustics.

"I still have my own epic to write, and thus, I cannot remain as the lynchpin to your story."

"I insist that we have some way of contacting each other." I countered.

"I'm not saying that I'll be using you, Matriarch. All I request is that—""My request, Matriarch Kaelthyr, is for some form of communication to be given in the case of emergency." Thalmin interjected with vigor, garnering a side-eye from Kaelthyr, who simply dipped her head in tacit acknowledgement." That, princeling, was the correct request." Kaelthyr responded wistfully. However, instead of coughing up anything tangible, the dragon merely lowered her head to meet Thalmin eye to eye."

I shall be the party to initiate contact, if ever I feel the need to." The prince narrowed his eyes in frustration before raising both shoulders as if to ask how. However, instead of continuing to address him, she instead turned back to me as she gestured for my hands.

"I believe you will be needing this." She revealed the recently attuned crystal, plopping it into my two open palms.

"It was what you came here for, yes?"

"Yes, Matriarch. Thank you." I bowed deeply in appreciation, garnering a smile from the dragon.

"Furthermore, this will be the medium through which we shall remain in contact. Once again…" She turned to Thalmin.

"At my discretion." At which point, the dragon began making her way back to the mouth of the cave.

"This… has been an enlightening experience. I am certain that fate has more in store for the both of us, young matriarch. Until then, let us do what we each deem right. For the future… well… the future is as certain as an arrow in flight. We need only to nudge its trajectory into the desired outcome of our design." Kaelthyr continued 'speaking', her words becoming less echoey yet no less otherworldly as it adapted to the narrowing passages we took back to the cave's entrance.

"I wish to part with some words of ancient wisdom from my people, Matriarch." I offered respectfully.

"Do tell."

"I know you wish for war, I know you desire revenge. I… can't fault you for that, especially with how the Nexus has treated you and your kind. But while we may be able to challenge the Nexus, and indeed inflict enough damage to perhaps incur some sort of settlement, we can't forget that this conflict won't be fought in a vacuum. When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." Kaelthyr took a moment to consider this, her eyes truly receiving my words…

though whether they were registered as a fleeting interest or had struck some deep and resonant chord was difficult to discern. Especially when the dragon simply smiled and dipped her head amicably in response.

"You speak like your elder 'Weir,' young Matriarch. Perhaps one day you may take her place, hmm?" The dragon bellowed with amusement before spreading her wings wide, basking in the warmth of the 'sun.'

"Until we meet again, Cadet Emma Booker. And perhaps in more favorable circumstances." She announced, before taking a step back and then sprinting her way forwards up and off of the ledge of the mountain. I expected a massive gust of wind or something that'd dramatically knock the both of us off our feet. Instead, the whole scene was eerily silent, save for the thumping of the dragon's feet against the ground.

This silence continued for several minutes more, as both Thalmin and I watched the dragon's silhouette slowly shrink off into the distant skies, becoming nothing more than a speck that was eventually hidden behind the few lazy clouds that hung overhead.

"Emma." Thalmin began, his voice earnest yet shaky, as if wishing to address something important with a sense of trepidation.

"Yes, Thalmin?"

"I… I think there's something that we have to address."

"Oh?"

"It's regarding a rather important point I can no longer afford to put off. Emma, we have to discuss—""THE FLOWERS!" I practically yelled out, reaching for my helmet with both hands, if only to add to the shock growing within me.

"EVI!"

"Yes, Cadet Booker?"

"Get a commlink with the other scouting drones. We need that flower scouted out yesterday!"

"Correction: Target…

'Everblooming Blossom' locations confirmed 'yesterday,' Cadet Booker."

"Wait, what?"

"Targets were scouted alongside the primary objective as an addendum secondary objective." I took a deep breath, narrowing my eyes at the literal flurry of points of interest that now flooded my mini-map.

"Why… why didn't you tell me earlier, EVI?"

"Operator did not vocalize commands to reveal secondary-target data on the minimap."

"... so just because I didn't ask…"

"Affirmative."

"Right. Okay." I took a deep breath before turning back to Thalmin.

"I found the flowers."

"You… what? When? How?" Thalmin retorted, completely dumbfounded.

"I… apparently overlooked it yesterday in the heat of the moment, but my drones were able to pinpoint several locations. The closest one is just a klick away from our current position, so let's—"" Mrrraaaowwww ow ow ow ow!"