Chapter 56: Vera's Domain

Subject: Caim Location: Vera's Domain

Piercing white flooded into Caim’s vision and then he found himself back in the unfamiliar void. He slowly turned in place until his eyes settled on the one that brought him here, and there was no denying that they belonged in a place like this.

He had been standing when he arrived and so stood the creature, who looked human enough, like a woman in her mid-thirties. She was beautiful, powerful, and calm. Faintly wavy, ocean blue hair stretched down to her elbows. It was perfectly parted so as not to obscure the glittering pale gray skin beneath.

The flash of a memory colored the empty expanse greyscale for a moment, just long enough for him to notice.

“It is good to see you again, Caim,” the figure said with a quiet confidence.

Her silvery voice sounded vaguely similar to the muffled sound Caim had heard before in his head, but this kind of conversation felt much more natural.

Another memory flashed, and he forgot what he was about to say. A small number of grey glyphs lingered on the ground. They were artifacts without any discernible meaning.

He sidestepped to the left and glowing eyes of brilliant gold casually followed his movements. The familiar stranger stood patiently still, her hands clasped together at the waist.

“What did you do?” Caim asked. “Who are you? What are you?” He followed up his first question with more in rapid succession.

The questions came out before he could stop himself. He already knew the important answers, he just couldn’t... It was like when a word was on the tip of your tongue, but different. You remember what word you were trying to say only to forget everything about the person you were trying to say it to.

The woman looked confused. She was still calm, but he could tell that she found the feeling unpleasant.

“We’ve already spoken. What has happened to you?”

Vera made the statement matter-of-factually and tilted her head like she was trying to trigger the memory of their initial meeting.

Vera was her name. The name came naturally, but no more memories surfaced. Still dazed, Caim glanced cautiously at her body to see anything about her appearance was familiar. Her form was captivating, though all she was wearing was an innocuous forest green coverall.

“Caim. It’s me. You don’t remember?”

He shook his head and held up a finger to ask for time.

“I remember, just give me a moment to get my bearings.”

He stumbled over to take a deep breath of empty air, noticing that more glyphs had appeared. Vera followed his eyes, but she either couldn’t see them or didn’t think they were anything out of the ordinary.

Caim took a few seconds to readjust. Something was different now. After a long pause, he noticed a deep purple discoloration along a winding path between where they each stood in this empty world.

Above him, the void transitioned to grey. It was less glaringly bright than the white expanse he remembered, but it was similar enough that he hadn’t noticed the difference until now.

Taking a silent step along the purple path, he spoke.

“I was in the middle of something, Vera.”

I remember a little.

Caim still wondered about her gender, or whether or not a creature like this even had a gender. She looked enough like a human woman that, for the sake of his sanity, he had decided to continue to frame her in that way.

I remember a little more.

He would alter this framing later if he could tactfully learn more about what she was, rather than what she wanted from him. It was much more likely that gender meant little to her species. She only looked like this to put him at ease. How he addressed her made no difference to her.

“I assume you’re still in the middle of whatever it is you were doing,” Vera corrected. “You aren’t really here with me. Why? Should I be worried?”

“Like I could do anything to hurt your interests, whatever they are.”

“That isn’t what I mean…” Vera droned on.

He busied himself trying to recall what he could about her. It felt like he’d been jostled upon arrival, and had the contents of his mind thrown out of order. In the back of his mind, questions nagged at him, compelling him to fill in everything.

“What is it? What is she? What are we? Find out. Keep talking. Keep learning.”

Caim took another step, and the purple ink swimming across the ground surfaced a pattern of clustered black dots, like eyes. While he looked down at them, they looked up at her. He didn’t know why he felt compelled to take each step.

He did remember some things about this woman. She wasn’t one for speaking clearly. The first time they met, Caim had taken a more conciliatory attitude. He was afraid of her.

“Why feel that way?”

Why? Caim knew what she’d already done to him, dragging him about at her whim.

It was the best he could do. He didn’t want to be rude to a creature that could squash him like a bug, especially when he was at an immense informational disadvantage. As guarded as he had been to the threat she posed, he’d adjusted surprisingly fast.

Not much had changed. His recent experiences had been numbing. A calm conversation with a beautiful monster just didn’t have the same impact. He’d feel those emotional tides if she tried to intimidate him, but he was proud of himself for seeing past her theatrics, holding it together through all this.

“...And I guess that is why the experience is so valuable. I can never seem to predict what you people will do. That aside, how have you been, Caim?”

Another step.

“Fine.”

She looked disappointed by his response. Not because he didn’t ask about her, but because she wanted more information. As if opening your mouth to explaining yourself let your strength ebb away.

“No, you’re not ‘fine’. Something is different. What is this event logged by your SLATE? Why would you attack someone so dangerous? Did your ally tell you anything? Do you think I can just save you whenever I want? Even if I could, do you think I would?”

Her eyes flashed red, much like a faron’s. He’d never made that connection until now. But hers was a strictly intentional visual indicator to communicate feelings, not native biology, and hers looked downright ghastly.

“SLATE? I don’t follow. And what ally are you talking about?”

“Good, I wanted to be the one to tell you. Your SLATE is that device I bound to your core. It feeds you information about your powers, guides their growth, and it also feeds me information about your progress. Not important right now. More important is what happened.”

She hesitated, making him worry. He froze, mid-step.

“What happened?”

“After noticing some ‘happenings’ on my end, I reached out to find that you were in danger. I… protected your body while you were unconscious. First, I attempted to rouse you up by pulling you into the- Hold on. Could that be the cause of the breach!?”

Vera’s face looked like it had almost started to reveal what was going through her head, but the spark of honesty was snuffed out, and she sunk to a lifeless standstill. It was almost like she was sleeping on her feet, eyes open, but a more apt comparison was a machine with its power cut.

When she was done processing her thoughts, she moved like nothing had happened.

Caim continued pacing closer, examining Vera's strangely emotive eyes. She was immensely powerful, but he didn’t recall her ever getting this fixated or emotional.

That’s right. I hated how dispassionate she was. How she described my future like it was a game, how she didn’t care how I might feel.

“You were vulnerable, and there was one like you at your location when I arrived. I ‘handled’ him. Using your body and that first sourcetech routine of yours, he was easy to defeat. You should still only have access to Scion, but you’ll have time to explain that to me later. The poor animal attacking you had practically gone feral in his master’s absence. Even with the restrictions in place, it is downright negligent.”

“You controlled my body and commanded Scion to save me?”

Vera was very animated with her gestures while she spoke. A ripple of color pulsed out from her eyes, and aquamarine light in the form of a circuit-like pattern extended out from her boots.

What is this? Is she conflicted?

Something inside told him he needed to find out why Vera was acting like this. If he could only sate this curiosity, he might feel better.

“Yes. I asked you for your permission, but I doubt you remember any of that. You weren’t in the best state.”

“You’re right about that. I remember none of this. I-”

At that moment he felt such a surge of pain that he staggered forward and almost toppled over. Startled, Vera snapped her fingers and Caim couldn’t move anymore. His head hurt less, but he felt uneasy about being unable to move forward.

“There’s only so much I can do, but that should help. You shouldn’t be having this reaction. It must be somehow related to that entry in the SLATE’s memory store.”

“You’re wrong. I’ve been getting headaches ever since I arrived in The Shrouded Theocracy. I never got migraines before I met you.”

She squinted quizzically.

“I seem to remember quite a few stress migraines during your studies.”

How could she remember something like that when he couldn’t even remember the name of his best friend? What was happening?

“Quickly, what is the name of the group you joined back home. The one that put you in my sights.”

“ARC.”

“Good. A harder one, now. What was my title within the organization?”

A trick question.

“You weren’t involved in ARC, you only supplied us with the technology to allow us, an unofficial student club, to compete with… to compete…”

“You don’t remember any more? How long has it been since I’ve seen you, Caim? Count the days.”

“Six weeks. No, maybe two months? Eight days. I’m a little confused, but I think at least four weeks. Final answer.”

“You shouldn’t be going through something like this. I did everything I was told to do and more. You should have been able to adapt to the divergent environmental conditions, transcending the limitations of your biology.”

Caim swallowed and his mind began to race, worrying about all the things that could have been happening to his body, all because of whatever Vera did to him.

“This must be why her child went feral like that. The experiment has been going on for such a long time, now. How could this have only just now started to happen? Unless... it has been happening since stage one. Yet, I know the others are still alive.”

“What is this ‘Experiment’?” he thought for a moment.

Oh, “The Experiment”. He remembered that one. Vera’s kind were studying humans, faron, cartemi, and who knew how many other creatures. This meant they were also studying Caim.

“Caim, do you remember where you’re from? Give me the name of the city you were living in when I found you.”

“City? I think it was more like a… a big village. Actually, you’re right. It was a kind of city, but some of the aspects of my life beyond The Barrier are hazy.”

“What are you talking about? Barrier? Is that something you picked up down there?”

“Yes, that’s what they call the divide between Shroud and the rest of the world. I know I’m from beyond the magic barrier. I’m from a city where we had different technology, complexity beyond what I’ve seen lately, but we didn’t have any magic.”

“Caim, of course you don’t remember magic. Your planet was chosen because it was hidden from Pulse in a deadzone pocket. I don’t know if anyone knows why, but it functioned as a kind of insulation throughout the blindspot it created, preventing organisms within from accessing the pulse interface. You did not acquire magic ‘naturally’ as a part of your species’ intellectual development.”

There was something pretty important here that was being glossed right over.

“My… planet?”

“Yes, your planet, Caim. That’s what I’m trying to communicate. Even primitive, unconscious magical traits never formed on your planet, leaving ecosystems there bereft of one of the dominant constants in existence. It felt rather alien for me, even for those who are accustomed to exploring irregularities. Don’t ask me why this was. It isn’t my field.”

The pieces didn’t fit together.

“And you made me believe I was from the planet I’m on now? Was this a part of The Experiment?”

It was a gentle accusation.

“You aren’t listening to me or even to yourself. I didn’t do any of that. I wasn’t even forbidden from telling you about The Experiment, so I went right ahead and filled you in. It doesn’t affect you so much when you can’t do a thing about it. What you should be worried about is your affliction. You’re in the early-stages of sourcetech degeneration... also sometimes called Pulse madness. Your body underwent such substantial change on account of my power manifesting in a host that had previously been disconnected from all magical intervention. That’s my guess.”

“Can it be treated? What does it do?”

“In my kind, no, but a specialist would be able to introduce new sourcetech strands in an ailing body, treating symptoms and putting you on the path to a natural mending. I am not a specialist and I cannot let anyone know I disobeyed orders. Don’t get hung up on the concept, it isn’t within your reach. ”

“Fine, then how did you disobey orders? You said The Experiment wasn’t a secret.”

“It is very much a secret, but not one that interests me and not one I was forbidden from cluing you in on. There must be some reason we’re doing this… There has to be.”

Distracted, Vera’s bindings loosened and Caim was able to continue walking. The pain was gone for now, but something kept pushing him forward. She didn’t notice, pacing back and forth, lost in an explanation that he was only half listening to.

“I crossed a clear line. There was to be no contact between Procurement Officers and Grant subjects after sending them to their destination. I am also forbidden from knowing where you were sent. From that point on, I’m not allowed to involve myself in The Experiment. My role is over and I’m free to do as I please.”

“Then how did you find out where I was?”

Vera shot him a prideful grin and snapped with both hands. A colorful array of symbols appeared in the air. From a glance, he understood that he wasn’t supposed to know what these symbols meant.

The swirling spheres, the unintelligible matrix of “label pins” like a three-dimensional blueprint, the color coordination that seemed to exhaust every color in existence merely trying to simplify the design concept… It all translated to: “The process was complicated. Be impressed.”

“Persistence and ingenuity. I embedded a sourcetech uplink in that spinal augment of yours. It is made from metal alloy on your world that has a peculiar interaction with our tech. Supplementary systems in the SLATE were disguised as regulatory mechanisms to throw the inspection teams off the scent. Well, they do technically function as regulatory mechanisms, but I’d never use that approach without another reason. Shamefully inefficient to one of my caliber. I wonder if I made myself look bad by doing that. Well, I’ll just have to make up for it.”

This explanation only made Caim feel more impatient.

“So what’s going to happen to me? Will I die?”

“No, you won’t… Well, you could turn out like that other one, but it is an unpredictable beast, this affliction. I suppose I do have someone who will know what to do. But to contact them, I’d have to indulge in their misguided fantasy. I guess that’s just the price I’ll pay for you.”

He didn’t know whether he should be appreciative or just irritated by whatever Vera was talking about.

“I think I’ll need to fill you in on some things before we proceed,” Vera sighed. “While we talk, I’ll work on a solution to temporarily stabilize your condition. Neither of us benefits from your pain.

And so she began her attempt at reminding Caim what his life had been like… things he didn’t even know he’d lost until they came flooding back.