Chapter 332: A Cliff
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Chapter 332: A Cliff
Tala flew through the skies outside of Alefast on a rather interesting amalgamation, along with her defensive unit and a passenger.
Master Girt had created a platform of stone, and Master Limmestare had added a windscreen of curved, reinforced glass.
Tala, herself, had then reduced the effective gravity on the thing down to about five-percent, before Mistress Cerna had woven a select few patches of copper in the air, placing them just below the bottom, piercing thin tendrils of the stuff through to a central position, where she took up a seat.
The woman had then sat in that central position, and power began flowing through the metal spell-forms. They seemed to be some sort of propulsion, because the whole thing had easily lifted off of the ground to hover and await their boarding.
The unit had climbed aboard, along with a young-looking woman, who had introduced herself as Ezmenya-KepKep for shortand theyd taken off, heading to the northeast, and the foot of the mountains in that direction.
Mistress Kep was clearly a Paragon, even though she kept her aura politely contained.
As the group flew, Terry sat perched on the top of the hemisphere of glass, wind whipping his feathers as he looked ahead, an oddly intense light in his eyes.
Tala and the others sat around Mistress Cerna, trying not to shift too much.
This was apparently a very metal-efficient means of transportation, but not very stable, all things considered.
In either case, they were moving just under the speed of magical resonance, which wasnt that fast due to how many of them there were so tightly packed together.
Still, it was more efficient than jogging, given that they could skim about twenty feet above the treetops and head in a straight line.
They only had to deal with the occasional arcanous creature, but each was dealt with by a small stone firing off at greater than the speed of sound, a blade of glass molding to intercept and obliterate, or simple blades appearing to deliver death.
All in all, it was a rather uneventful way to travel.
I suppose thats the result of having so many combat capable Refined ready to hand.
Theyd been underway for about two hours, when Tala had a thought, Why would this take multiple days? We could get to another city in about a day at this speed. Why would we need more than one to go somewhere relatively nearby, fix an issue, and come back?
Mistress Cerna glanced her way, but returned her focus to the task of flying.The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0v3l-B1n.
Master Clevnis opened one eye, glanced toward the Paragon, smiled, and closed his eye again.
Masters Grit and Limmestare simply ignored her.
Mistress Vanga smiled and gestured toward the Paragon, Mistress Kep? Would you like to take this one?
Mistress Kep stirred from her musings, turning toward Tala with a patient smile. Well, as this involves my purpose, I think it fitting that I answer. Thank you, Mistress Vanga. Her gaze came back to Tala. You were Mistress Tala, correct?
Tala had introduced herself, and Tala knew that this woman was advanced enough to easily remember something so trivial, so she was likely just being polite. Her aura is held incredibly close, though, likely to help with magical resonance. I could pierce her skin with my magesight and look, but that would be a bit rude. Its enough just to know shes a Paragon. I dont need to know exactly where she is in that stage.
She nodded.
Yes, Im Tala.
Mistress Keps smile grew. Well, I am a specialist in analyzing and maintaining existence cells. Unfortunately, the time required for this type of mission is entirely on my end. It is not a fast process.
Oh? Tala oriented more fully on the woman. What exactly will you be doing?
Im glad you asked! Mistress Kep sat a bit straighter, positively beaming. First of all, I will examine the ancient materials left by those who created this particular cell to understand what the contained threat is. Then, the six of you will follow the instructions provided in order to engage the threat while I do maintenance on the seal.
Tala blinked. Say again?
The Paragon tilted her head to one side, questioningly, What part?
Engage the threat. What do you mean?
Oh! Thats simple. The repairs that need to be done cant be performed on an actively engaged seal. If the contained threat were to stress the seal as I was working on it, the containment might shatter completely, and no one wants that. She hesitated. Well, no one but the contained threat.
Why not have a double-layered seal, or something?
That is something that has been proposed, but it has also been dismissed. Do you want me to take you through why?
Tala thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. No, I think I can understand. If they were both sealed, then its effectively just one big seal, with no way of detecting the degradation of the first half of it. If the inner one is left open to later engage to repair the outer one, the threat would still likely have to be fought back through that open seal. Additionally, it would be giving the threat a potential template to examine, in order to work out how to break through its containment. If it was the outer one that was left open, it would effectively just be a in case you dont notice soon enough, close this for more time. Repairing the engaged, inner seal would be identical to working on a lone seal. Thus, a double seal in that case would just be extra resources for no purpose.
Mistress Kep chuckled in delight. Very good, yes.
So, the issue stands. How are six Refined supposed to fight back and keep at bay something that no human Archon, even Reforged, can kill?
She held up a finger. Permanently destroy.
Hmm?
Permanently destroy, not kill. There is a large distinction there. Most of these things are killable, many laughably easily so.
Tala found herself nodding. I think I understand, but can you give a few examples?
Well, all the myriad phoenix related beasts come to mind first. If they grow in power to the point of being an existential threat, they almost universally have to be sealed. Killing a phoenix, no matter the variety, almost always makes it stronger in some regard. Even when the creature doesnt gain strength from the death, they generally arent overly harmed by it in the long run. There are a whole host of creatures similar to phoenixes that we often just bunch together as threats that come back from even the smallest fraction of themselves. Then there are the self-replicating threats. For some of those, destroying them often just creates more, in some way or other. Then the conceptual threats, who can move through ideas. Then, of course, there are the ones that are basically impossible to kill, but that doesnt mean they cant be hurt, pinned down, or otherwise delayed.
She found herself blinking at the influx of information. None of it was precisely new but she hadnt really put it all together in these ways before. Things like dasgannach?
Exactly, though they dont pose a large enough threat to need to be contained generally. It helps that they generally have a limited capacity of how much they can absorb and hold sway over. Even so, I think there were some that spawned for rather unfortunate elements, but if memory serves some Sovereign or god-beast dealt with those.
Thats a lot to take in.
It is, but you arent hearing this all for the first time, are you? The woman cast a confused glance toward Master Clevnis. He and the others were sitting with eyes closed, likely working on some internal skill or other.
Really? Mistress Kep perked up. Thats a rarer one. What does that tell you?
Tala enacted her voidsight, and her eyes immediately snapped to a strange fold in the air off to one side, about twenty feet from where theyd set down. Now that she was focused on it, she could see it with her magesight as well, but it looked more like slightly more regular chaos, among the truly chaotic chaos.
-Eloquent.-
Hush you.
Mistress Kep noticed Talas attention on the spot and smiled, Ahh, you see it, then. What does it look like to you?
She frowned, walking forward. It looks like someone took a group of reality nodes and folded them over on themselves somehow? I dont know how else to describe it.
Thats a good insight. Anything else?
Tala frowned, looking around. There seemed to be tendrils of something connecting to various things close by. I think I see some connections. What are they?
The creators of these cells generally try to leave clues as the password for entry, so that when we have to come to do maintenance, we can get in.
So, beyond that fold is the cell?
Hmm? Oh, no. Beyond that fold is the entry way to the cell. In there will be some murals and other information on the creature or creatures or other threats housed within the cell itself. There is often also treasure, attempting to bribe anyone who might find the cell to leave it alone, or pay them to repair it. Things like that.
That lined up with what shed been told in the mobile villages. Then, she realized something about this fold in reality not being the only seal, and she quirked a smile, So, it is double sealed?
Mistress Kep chuckled. Not really a seal. From the outside, they try to give us the password for entry, from the inside, you can just walk out.
Tala nodded in understanding. Ahh, yeah. Thats not a seal then.
So? Lets try it. Place your hand on the fold, and say the password.
Tala frowned skeptically and walked over, placing her hand where she saw the fold.
There was no physical sensation, but she held her hand in the right place regardless.
So Whats the password? She didnt really have any idea.
The Paragon patiently responded, Whats it connected to?
Tala looked around. I think thats a cantaloupe vine over there, and thats a honeydew.
Alright, so based on that, what do you think the password is. Speak firmly and with determination.
Shrugging, Tala resigned herself. Melon.
Nothing happened.
Im a friend?
Nothing happened, except Mistress Kep chuckling again. Now youre just guessing.
Tala shrugged once more. It looks like its connected to plants, or vegetation, then?
At the lastvegetation, the fold seemed to unfold, leaving an odd warping in the air in the shape of a large circle.
On the other side seemed to be the same valley, but a portion of it that hadnt been visible before.
The group all walked through, and Mistress Kep patted Tala on the shoulder. Well done.
Tala smiled as she followed them inside, stopping in astonishment when she saw the cliff-face that had been hidden as part of the fold.
It was covered from top to bottom in squiggly lines for some reason that Tala couldnt comprehend. There were no artistic depictions beyond those odd squiggles.
When she glanced toward Mistress Kep, she saw the woman frowning. Well, this is a bit ominous. This seems to be a conceptual threat more than a physical one. Ill need to read this carefully before we proceed.
You can read that? How? It isnt words.
It isnt words in our language, you mean.
Tala blinked at that. Our language?
Yes, dear. The whole world speaks the same language because some millennia ago a sovereign got tired of having to relearn how to communicate to people due to linguistic drift, so he locked our language into a cohesive whole. It can grow, but it no longer can shift.
No one stopped him?
Oh, stars no. Apparently, many of the other Sovereigns were so taken with the idea that they helped him with some project or other in gratitude. No one knows what it was, and its probably just a myth, but there you have it. Everyone, everywhere, speaks, reads, and writes the same language.
But not that? She pointed.
No, writing in locked spaces wasnt affected by the magic, so we had to relearn how to read these writings. The password was affected, because it was within our reality for the working, this writing wasnt.
If this is in another language, then the aligning of all speech and writing doesnt seem like it was that long ago, then?
Mistress Kep shrugged. Like so many things, I could give you a definitive answer, but I could be off by a few thousand years in either direction.
Tala grunted. Wonderful.
It is what it is. Now, its time to read a cliff.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Chapter 332: A Cliff
Tala flew through the skies outside of Alefast on a rather interesting amalgamation, along with her defensive unit and a passenger.
Master Girt had created a platform of stone, and Master Limmestare had added a windscreen of curved, reinforced glass.
Tala, herself, had then reduced the effective gravity on the thing down to about five-percent, before Mistress Cerna had woven a select few patches of copper in the air, placing them just below the bottom, piercing thin tendrils of the stuff through to a central position, where she took up a seat.
The woman had then sat in that central position, and power began flowing through the metal spell-forms. They seemed to be some sort of propulsion, because the whole thing had easily lifted off of the ground to hover and await their boarding.
The unit had climbed aboard, along with a young-looking woman, who had introduced herself as Ezmenya-KepKep for shortand theyd taken off, heading to the northeast, and the foot of the mountains in that direction.
Mistress Kep was clearly a Paragon, even though she kept her aura politely contained.
As the group flew, Terry sat perched on the top of the hemisphere of glass, wind whipping his feathers as he looked ahead, an oddly intense light in his eyes.
Tala and the others sat around Mistress Cerna, trying not to shift too much.
This was apparently a very metal-efficient means of transportation, but not very stable, all things considered.
In either case, they were moving just under the speed of magical resonance, which wasnt that fast due to how many of them there were so tightly packed together.
Still, it was more efficient than jogging, given that they could skim about twenty feet above the treetops and head in a straight line.
They only had to deal with the occasional arcanous creature, but each was dealt with by a small stone firing off at greater than the speed of sound, a blade of glass molding to intercept and obliterate, or simple blades appearing to deliver death.
All in all, it was a rather uneventful way to travel.
I suppose thats the result of having so many combat capable Refined ready to hand.
Theyd been underway for about two hours, when Tala had a thought, Why would this take multiple days? We could get to another city in about a day at this speed. Why would we need more than one to go somewhere relatively nearby, fix an issue, and come back?
Mistress Cerna glanced her way, but returned her focus to the task of flying.The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0v3l-B1n.
Master Clevnis opened one eye, glanced toward the Paragon, smiled, and closed his eye again.
Masters Grit and Limmestare simply ignored her.
Mistress Vanga smiled and gestured toward the Paragon, Mistress Kep? Would you like to take this one?
Mistress Kep stirred from her musings, turning toward Tala with a patient smile. Well, as this involves my purpose, I think it fitting that I answer. Thank you, Mistress Vanga. Her gaze came back to Tala. You were Mistress Tala, correct?
Tala had introduced herself, and Tala knew that this woman was advanced enough to easily remember something so trivial, so she was likely just being polite. Her aura is held incredibly close, though, likely to help with magical resonance. I could pierce her skin with my magesight and look, but that would be a bit rude. Its enough just to know shes a Paragon. I dont need to know exactly where she is in that stage.
She nodded.
Yes, Im Tala.
Mistress Keps smile grew. Well, I am a specialist in analyzing and maintaining existence cells. Unfortunately, the time required for this type of mission is entirely on my end. It is not a fast process.
Oh? Tala oriented more fully on the woman. What exactly will you be doing?
Im glad you asked! Mistress Kep sat a bit straighter, positively beaming. First of all, I will examine the ancient materials left by those who created this particular cell to understand what the contained threat is. Then, the six of you will follow the instructions provided in order to engage the threat while I do maintenance on the seal.
Tala blinked. Say again?
The Paragon tilted her head to one side, questioningly, What part?
Engage the threat. What do you mean?
Oh! Thats simple. The repairs that need to be done cant be performed on an actively engaged seal. If the contained threat were to stress the seal as I was working on it, the containment might shatter completely, and no one wants that. She hesitated. Well, no one but the contained threat.
Why not have a double-layered seal, or something?
That is something that has been proposed, but it has also been dismissed. Do you want me to take you through why?
Tala thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. No, I think I can understand. If they were both sealed, then its effectively just one big seal, with no way of detecting the degradation of the first half of it. If the inner one is left open to later engage to repair the outer one, the threat would still likely have to be fought back through that open seal. Additionally, it would be giving the threat a potential template to examine, in order to work out how to break through its containment. If it was the outer one that was left open, it would effectively just be a in case you dont notice soon enough, close this for more time. Repairing the engaged, inner seal would be identical to working on a lone seal. Thus, a double seal in that case would just be extra resources for no purpose.
Mistress Kep chuckled in delight. Very good, yes.
So, the issue stands. How are six Refined supposed to fight back and keep at bay something that no human Archon, even Reforged, can kill?
She held up a finger. Permanently destroy.
Hmm?
Permanently destroy, not kill. There is a large distinction there. Most of these things are killable, many laughably easily so.
Tala found herself nodding. I think I understand, but can you give a few examples?
Well, all the myriad phoenix related beasts come to mind first. If they grow in power to the point of being an existential threat, they almost universally have to be sealed. Killing a phoenix, no matter the variety, almost always makes it stronger in some regard. Even when the creature doesnt gain strength from the death, they generally arent overly harmed by it in the long run. There are a whole host of creatures similar to phoenixes that we often just bunch together as threats that come back from even the smallest fraction of themselves. Then there are the self-replicating threats. For some of those, destroying them often just creates more, in some way or other. Then the conceptual threats, who can move through ideas. Then, of course, there are the ones that are basically impossible to kill, but that doesnt mean they cant be hurt, pinned down, or otherwise delayed.
She found herself blinking at the influx of information. None of it was precisely new but she hadnt really put it all together in these ways before. Things like dasgannach?
Exactly, though they dont pose a large enough threat to need to be contained generally. It helps that they generally have a limited capacity of how much they can absorb and hold sway over. Even so, I think there were some that spawned for rather unfortunate elements, but if memory serves some Sovereign or god-beast dealt with those.
Thats a lot to take in.
It is, but you arent hearing this all for the first time, are you? The woman cast a confused glance toward Master Clevnis. He and the others were sitting with eyes closed, likely working on some internal skill or other.
Really? Mistress Kep perked up. Thats a rarer one. What does that tell you?
Tala enacted her voidsight, and her eyes immediately snapped to a strange fold in the air off to one side, about twenty feet from where theyd set down. Now that she was focused on it, she could see it with her magesight as well, but it looked more like slightly more regular chaos, among the truly chaotic chaos.
-Eloquent.-
Hush you.
Mistress Kep noticed Talas attention on the spot and smiled, Ahh, you see it, then. What does it look like to you?
She frowned, walking forward. It looks like someone took a group of reality nodes and folded them over on themselves somehow? I dont know how else to describe it.
Thats a good insight. Anything else?
Tala frowned, looking around. There seemed to be tendrils of something connecting to various things close by. I think I see some connections. What are they?
The creators of these cells generally try to leave clues as the password for entry, so that when we have to come to do maintenance, we can get in.
So, beyond that fold is the cell?
Hmm? Oh, no. Beyond that fold is the entry way to the cell. In there will be some murals and other information on the creature or creatures or other threats housed within the cell itself. There is often also treasure, attempting to bribe anyone who might find the cell to leave it alone, or pay them to repair it. Things like that.
That lined up with what shed been told in the mobile villages. Then, she realized something about this fold in reality not being the only seal, and she quirked a smile, So, it is double sealed?
Mistress Kep chuckled. Not really a seal. From the outside, they try to give us the password for entry, from the inside, you can just walk out.
Tala nodded in understanding. Ahh, yeah. Thats not a seal then.
So? Lets try it. Place your hand on the fold, and say the password.
Tala frowned skeptically and walked over, placing her hand where she saw the fold.
There was no physical sensation, but she held her hand in the right place regardless.
So Whats the password? She didnt really have any idea.
The Paragon patiently responded, Whats it connected to?
Tala looked around. I think thats a cantaloupe vine over there, and thats a honeydew.
Alright, so based on that, what do you think the password is. Speak firmly and with determination.
Shrugging, Tala resigned herself. Melon.
Nothing happened.
Im a friend?
Nothing happened, except Mistress Kep chuckling again. Now youre just guessing.
Tala shrugged once more. It looks like its connected to plants, or vegetation, then?
At the lastvegetation, the fold seemed to unfold, leaving an odd warping in the air in the shape of a large circle.
On the other side seemed to be the same valley, but a portion of it that hadnt been visible before.
The group all walked through, and Mistress Kep patted Tala on the shoulder. Well done.
Tala smiled as she followed them inside, stopping in astonishment when she saw the cliff-face that had been hidden as part of the fold.
It was covered from top to bottom in squiggly lines for some reason that Tala couldnt comprehend. There were no artistic depictions beyond those odd squiggles.
When she glanced toward Mistress Kep, she saw the woman frowning. Well, this is a bit ominous. This seems to be a conceptual threat more than a physical one. Ill need to read this carefully before we proceed.
You can read that? How? It isnt words.
It isnt words in our language, you mean.
Tala blinked at that. Our language?
Yes, dear. The whole world speaks the same language because some millennia ago a sovereign got tired of having to relearn how to communicate to people due to linguistic drift, so he locked our language into a cohesive whole. It can grow, but it no longer can shift.
No one stopped him?
Oh, stars no. Apparently, many of the other Sovereigns were so taken with the idea that they helped him with some project or other in gratitude. No one knows what it was, and its probably just a myth, but there you have it. Everyone, everywhere, speaks, reads, and writes the same language.
But not that? She pointed.
No, writing in locked spaces wasnt affected by the magic, so we had to relearn how to read these writings. The password was affected, because it was within our reality for the working, this writing wasnt.
If this is in another language, then the aligning of all speech and writing doesnt seem like it was that long ago, then?
Mistress Kep shrugged. Like so many things, I could give you a definitive answer, but I could be off by a few thousand years in either direction.
Tala grunted. Wonderful.
It is what it is. Now, its time to read a cliff.
Chapter 332: A CliffTala flew through the skies outside of Alefast on a rather interesting amalgamation, along with her defensive unit and a passenger.Master Girt had created a platform of stone, and Master Limmestare had added a windscreen of curved, reinforced glass.Tala, herself, had then reduced the effective gravity on the thing down to about five-percent, before Mistress Cerna had woven a select few patches of copper in the air, placing them just below the bottom, piercing thin tendrils of the stuff through to a central position, where she took up a seat.The woman had then sat in that central position, and power began flowing through the metal spell-forms. They seemed to be some sort of propulsion, because the whole thing had easily lifted off of the ground to hover and await their boarding.The unit had climbed aboard, along with a young-looking woman, who had introduced herself as Ezmenya-KepKep for shortand theyd taken off, heading to the northeast, and the foot of the mountains in that direction.Mistress Kep was clearly a Paragon, even though she kept her aura politely contained.As the group flew, Terry sat perched on the top of the hemisphere of glass, wind whipping his feathers as he looked ahead, an oddly intense light in his eyes.Tala and the others sat around Mistress Cerna, trying not to shift too much.This was apparently a very metal-efficient means of transportation, but not very stable, all things considered.In either case, they were moving just under the speed of magical resonance, which wasnt that fast due to how many of them there were so tightly packed together.Still, it was more efficient than jogging, given that they could skim about twenty feet above the treetops and head in a straight line.They only had to deal with the occasional arcanous creature, but each was dealt with by a small stone firing off at greater than the speed of sound, a blade of glass molding to intercept and obliterate, or simple blades appearing to deliver death.All in all, it was a rather uneventful way to travel.I suppose thats the result of having so many combat capable Refined ready to hand.Theyd been underway for about two hours, when Tala had a thought, Why would this take multiple days? We could get to another city in about a day at this speed. Why would we need more than one to go somewhere relatively nearby, fix an issue, and come back?Mistress Cerna glanced her way, but returned her focus to the task of flying.The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0v3l-B1n.Master Clevnis opened one eye, glanced toward the Paragon, smiled, and closed his eye again.Masters Grit and Limmestare simply ignored her.Mistress Vanga smiled and gestured toward the Paragon, Mistress Kep? Would you like to take this one?Mistress Kep stirred from her musings, turning toward Tala with a patient smile. Well, as this involves my purpose, I think it fitting that I answer. Thank you, Mistress Vanga. Her gaze came back to Tala. You were Mistress Tala, correct?Tala had introduced herself, and Tala knew that this woman was advanced enough to easily remember something so trivial, so she was likely just being polite. Her aura is held incredibly close, though, likely to help with magical resonance. I could pierce her skin with my magesight and look, but that would be a bit rude. Its enough just to know shes a Paragon. I dont need to know exactly where she is in that stage.She nodded.Yes, Im Tala.Mistress Keps smile grew. Well, I am a specialist in analyzing and maintaining existence cells. Unfortunately, the time required for this type of mission is entirely on my end. It is not a fast process.Oh? Tala oriented more fully on the woman. What exactly will you be doing?Im glad you asked! Mistress Kep sat a bit straighter, positively beaming. First of all, I will examine the ancient materials left by those who created this particular cell to understand what the contained threat is. Then, the six of you will follow the instructions provided in order to engage the threat while I do maintenance on the seal.Tala blinked. Say again?The Paragon tilted her head to one side, questioningly, What part?Engage the threat. What do you mean?Oh! Thats simple. The repairs that need to be done cant be performed on an actively engaged seal. If the contained threat were to stress the seal as I was working on it, the containment might shatter completely, and no one wants that. She hesitated. Well, no one but the contained threat.Why not have a double-layered seal, or something?That is something that has been proposed, but it has also been dismissed. Do you want me to take you through why?Tala thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. No, I think I can understand. If they were both sealed, then its effectively just one big seal, with no way of detecting the degradation of the first half of it. If the inner one is left open to later engage to repair the outer one, the threat would still likely have to be fought back through that open seal. Additionally, it would be giving the threat a potential template to examine, in order to work out how to break through its containment. If it was the outer one that was left open, it would effectively just be a in case you dont notice soon enough, close this for more time. Repairing the engaged, inner seal would be identical to working on a lone seal. Thus, a double seal in that case would just be extra resources for no purpose.Mistress Kep chuckled in delight. Very good, yes.So, the issue stands. How are six Refined supposed to fight back and keep at bay something that no human Archon, even Reforged, can kill?She held up a finger. Permanently destroy.Hmm?Permanently destroy, not kill. There is a large distinction there. Most of these things are killable, many laughably easily so.Tala found herself nodding. I think I understand, but can you give a few examples?Well, all the myriad phoenix related beasts come to mind first. If they grow in power to the point of being an existential threat, they almost universally have to be sealed. Killing a phoenix, no matter the variety, almost always makes it stronger in some regard. Even when the creature doesnt gain strength from the death, they generally arent overly harmed by it in the long run. There are a whole host of creatures similar to phoenixes that we often just bunch together as threats that come back from even the smallest fraction of themselves. Then there are the self-replicating threats. For some of those, destroying them often just creates more, in some way or other. Then the conceptual threats, who can move through ideas. Then, of course, there are the ones that are basically impossible to kill, but that doesnt mean they cant be hurt, pinned down, or otherwise delayed.She found herself blinking at the influx of information. None of it was precisely new but she hadnt really put it all together in these ways before. Things like dasgannach?Exactly, though they dont pose a large enough threat to need to be contained generally. It helps that they generally have a limited capacity of how much they can absorb and hold sway over. Even so, I think there were some that spawned for rather unfortunate elements, but if memory serves some Sovereign or god-beast dealt with those.Thats a lot to take in.It is, but you arent hearing this all for the first time, are you? The woman cast a confused glance toward Master Clevnis. He and the others were sitting with eyes closed, likely working on some internal skill or other.Really? Mistress Kep perked up. Thats a rarer one. What does that tell you?Tala enacted her voidsight, and her eyes immediately snapped to a strange fold in the air off to one side, about twenty feet from where theyd set down. Now that she was focused on it, she could see it with her magesight as well, but it looked more like slightly more regular chaos, among the truly chaotic chaos.-Eloquent.-Hush you.Mistress Kep noticed Talas attention on the spot and smiled, Ahh, you see it, then. What does it look like to you?She frowned, walking forward. It looks like someone took a group of reality nodes and folded them over on themselves somehow? I dont know how else to describe it.Thats a good insight. Anything else?Tala frowned, looking around. There seemed to be tendrils of something connecting to various things close by. I think I see some connections. What are they?The creators of these cells generally try to leave clues as the password for entry, so that when we have to come to do maintenance, we can get in.So, beyond that fold is the cell?Hmm? Oh, no. Beyond that fold is the entry way to the cell. In there will be some murals and other information on the creature or creatures or other threats housed within the cell itself. There is often also treasure, attempting to bribe anyone who might find the cell to leave it alone, or pay them to repair it. Things like that.That lined up with what shed been told in the mobile villages. Then, she realized something about this fold in reality not being the only seal, and she quirked a smile, So, it is double sealed?Mistress Kep chuckled. Not really a seal. From the outside, they try to give us the password for entry, from the inside, you can just walk out.Tala nodded in understanding. Ahh, yeah. Thats not a seal then.So? Lets try it. Place your hand on the fold, and say the password.Tala frowned skeptically and walked over, placing her hand where she saw the fold.There was no physical sensation, but she held her hand in the right place regardless.So Whats the password? She didnt really have any idea.The Paragon patiently responded, Whats it connected to?Tala looked around. I think thats a cantaloupe vine over there, and thats a honeydew.Alright, so based on that, what do you think the password is. Speak firmly and with determination.Shrugging, Tala resigned herself. Melon.Nothing happened.Im a friend?Nothing happened, except Mistress Kep chuckling again. Now youre just guessing.Tala shrugged once more. It looks like its connected to plants, or vegetation, then?At the lastvegetation, the fold seemed to unfold, leaving an odd warping in the air in the shape of a large circle.On the other side seemed to be the same valley, but a portion of it that hadnt been visible before.The group all walked through, and Mistress Kep patted Tala on the shoulder. Well done.Tala smiled as she followed them inside, stopping in astonishment when she saw the cliff-face that had been hidden as part of the fold.It was covered from top to bottom in squiggly lines for some reason that Tala couldnt comprehend. There were no artistic depictions beyond those odd squiggles.When she glanced toward Mistress Kep, she saw the woman frowning. Well, this is a bit ominous. This seems to be a conceptual threat more than a physical one. Ill need to read this carefully before we proceed.You can read that? How? It isnt words.It isnt words in our language, you mean.Tala blinked at that. Our language?Yes, dear. The whole world speaks the same language because some millennia ago a sovereign got tired of having to relearn how to communicate to people due to linguistic drift, so he locked our language into a cohesive whole. It can grow, but it no longer can shift.No one stopped him?Oh, stars no. Apparently, many of the other Sovereigns were so taken with the idea that they helped him with some project or other in gratitude. No one knows what it was, and its probably just a myth, but there you have it. Everyone, everywhere, speaks, reads, and writes the same language.But not that? She pointed.No, writing in locked spaces wasnt affected by the magic, so we had to relearn how to read these writings. The password was affected, because it was within our reality for the working, this writing wasnt.If this is in another language, then the aligning of all speech and writing doesnt seem like it was that long ago, then?Mistress Kep shrugged. Like so many things, I could give you a definitive answer, but I could be off by a few thousand years in either direction.Tala grunted. Wonderful.It is what it is. Now, its time to read a cliff.
