> Ellie PoV

“You sure you’re okay?” (Kira)

Kira gives me a worried look as we enter the dark tower.

Well, I can’t blame her.

My legs won’t even work right, so she has to carry me on her shoulder.

I’d be worried to death too if our positions were reversed!

“I’m fine, Kira.” (Ellie)

My body’s had Nano regulating it for over 10 years.

It still has to learn to cope without nanite assistance.

And the reason I know this is because Nano taught me about the symptoms of nanite separation a long time ago.

It was necessary to be prepared for every eventuality, after all.

“I should get better after some rehabilitation.” (Ellie)

Basic motor skills should come back in a day or two, although it will be months before I can move around like I used to be able to.

No, it’s highly likely I won’t be able to perform anywhere near my old level without Nano’s help.

“... I already miss Nano.” (Ellie)

“I know, Ellie. I do too, but … Come on, we still have work to do.” (Kira)

“Yeah.” (Ellie)

Even if Nano is gone, we still have to make sure everyone else is alright.

We walk into the living room and see Yuri, Grom and Russ are sitting in a circle with worried looks on their faces.

A small floating ball of light is orbiting Russ, it’s bright enough to light up the whole room.

“Ma’am!” (Grom)

Grom is the first to notice us

“Hey, you three. Ah, the situation outside has settled down so you can relax for now.” (Ellie)

“I see…” (Grom)

“You going to be alright, ma’am?” (Russ)

“I’ll be fine.” (Ellie)

“...” (Yuri)

Yuri just scowls at me with what’s supposed to be an awkward smile.

Yeah, we should explain things properly to her, but not right now.

We have to check up on the others first.

“We’ll talk later, just stay put for now.” (Ellie)

“Yes, ma’am!” (Grom, Russ and Yuri)

“Where’s Kelly?” (Kira)

“Over here!” (Kelly)

Her muffled voice came out of the stairway that leads down to the basement.

Kira and I go over to it and find Scrappy standing perfectly still, frozen mid-stride.

“You alright in there?!” (Kira)

“Not exactly. Scrappy’s joints locked up all of a sudden and I’m trapped inside! I’ll need some help getting out of here!” (Kelly)

Nano installed a series of custom electronic motion-assisting servos in order to raise Scrappy’s performance last year.

I guess having those kind of backfired on us, huh?

Stompy is almost entirely magical in construction, but still has some electronics, so that’s probably broken as well.

It’ a shame I never got to see its magic-imbued particle cannon in action...

“Everything alright out there?! There was this huge flash a few minutes ago!” (Kelly)

“Ah. Yeah, we’ll be fine for the moment.” (Ellie)

“What about Nano? I can’t get through to that invisible peeper!’ (Kelly)

“Nano is… gone, Kelly.” (Ellie)

It still doesn’t feel real, even though I’m the one who’s the most aware of that fact…

“Like… ‘gone’ gone?” (Kelly)

“Yeah.” (Ellie)

“... Damn.” (Kelly)

Kira gives me a complicated look and readjusts her grip on me.

“I want to check on the girls right away. You’ll be fine for a while, right Kelly?” (Kira)

“Yeah, I guess…” (Kelly)

We walk down the steps to the first basement floor.

It takes a while with my noodle-like legs, but we get there safely.

There’s a heavy metal bulkhead that leads to the brand new panic room.

Nano built it while we were away on our honeymoon, probably in preparation for today.

It’s shielded against ballistic damage, radiation and magic, and has several weeks’ worth of preserved food and clean drinking water.

Nano boasted that even if the tower was annihilated, that room would still be intact.

Wouldn’t have made a difference if we got buried under that mountain though.

…

“I miss Nano.” (Ellie)

“I know.” (Kira)

Ah, no good!

Focus, Ellie!

Just because your body has all the mobility of a wet rag doesn’t mean your mind’s allowed to go dull!

I use my Telekinesis to try and open the heavy bulkhead door.

It’s… considerably more difficult than expected.

The door is normally magnetically sealed, but it’s designed to unlock when the power is cut, so all I really need to do is slide it to the side.

There’s just one problem.

“Huff, huff!” (Ellie)

It’s heavy!

Oh right… Nano isn’t assisting my brain with my psionics anymore…

I still manage to slide it open enough to be able to see inside.

A warm light pours out from inside, must be Ariel’s magic.

All the electrical power has gone out, after all.

“Mistress!? Are you alright?” (Ariel)

She greets us through the crack in the door.

“We’re both fine. The girls?!” (Ellie)

“They’re asleep. This one sang them a quiet song to calm their hearts and they ended up dozing off.” (Ariel)

Ah, it’s true.

The three of them are sleeping peacefully on the giant bed in the corner of the room.

I’m glad they’re alright.

Heh, Nano really did protect everyone.

As expected of my partner!

“Let’s let them sleep it off?” (Ellie)

“Yeah, good idea. Let’s get this door open, first!” (Kira)

Kira lets me sit down on the ground and I lean my back against the wall.

The two of them grab onto the door rim and start pushing it until Ariel can fit through the gap.

It makes a small scraping noise as it slides across the metal floor, but it doesn’t seem to be enough to wake the children up.

Today was supposed to be Sophie’s birthday, a happy day.

So how did it come to something like this … ?

“This one is through, Mistress.” (Ariel)

“Fuu, okay! Good. Ariel, go upstairs to our bedroom. Nano said he left behind some sort of message or document - find it and bring it down to us.” (Kira)

“Understood, Mistress. Ah, speaking of Master Nano-” (Ariel)

“We’ll talk about it later, get moving!” (Kira)

“At once, Mistress!” (Ariel)

She gingerly runs up the stairs, and proceeds to the third floor.

*CRASH*

“Ooof!” (Ariel)

“... What is that bird brain doing?” (Kira)

“Probably tripped and fell in the dark.” (Ellie)

She left her magic light behind, after all.

Kira picks me back up and we head back up the stairs, then get to work on freeing Kelly.

It wasn’t easy, but we followed her directions and managed to dismantle enough of Scrappy’s torso and shoulder armor to let her squirm out from inside.

Ariel came down with the documents Nano mentioned in hand in the meantime.

The four of us go outside, leaving the three unrelated people to mind their own business.

I’m grateful for their help, but this is something that doesn’t really concern them.

Zublos is right where we left him, standing idly in the yard.

He greets us with a curt nod.

The [Shackles of Eternal Damnation] are back on his wrists.

He wanted to put them back on himself and we weren’t about to try and stop him.

Unshackled Zublos is seriously terrifying!

“Ah. Greetings Daughtahs of de Stahs.” (Umph)

Umph is there too.

Well, his disembodied bird head, that is.

Zublos ripped him limb from limb and ended up carrying it back up here like a trophy.

I repeat, unshackled Zublos is seriously terrifying!

And it looks like a new guest had joined us.

“Privet cyki, kak dela?” (Khamis)

“De Dark One says hello.” (Umph)

Khamis had appeared in the sky just before the Planet Cracker went off.

The bright light probably dispersed that swirling ball of shadows he uses as a body.

“Izvini, cyki. Etot grebaniy luna deistvitelno viutashtil odin na nas!” (Khamis)

“De Dark One wishes to apologize for our transgression, and I echo dat sentiment.” (Umph)

“What happened to you two?” (Kira)

“It was… horrible, Daughtah of de Stahs. I was aware of everything I was doing, but I could not stop myself. It was like someone else had taken control of my body.” (Umph)

“Him too?” (Kira)

Kira points at Khamis, who replies a motion that’s probably supposed to be a nod.

Ariel gives me a difficult look.

Indeed, this sounds similar to the way that Court Wizard was controlling her when we first met.

Are they somehow related?

No, there’s more important questions at hand!

“So de question is… who or what was dat moon?” (Umph)

“Ah, Nano left some notes behind! Let me see…” (Kira)

Kira started reading the little booklet Nano prepared for us.

Zublos and Umph chimed in a few times to fill some gaps, though the former had to use a lot of unnecessary words.

I guess that text-to-speech device got fried in the EMP as well...

Anyway, piecing all our stories together with Nano’s account, we managed to get a good grasp on what had happened.

Apparently, both the ‘Voice of the World’ and the moon known as ‘Khamis Jr’ had existed as long as any of the titans could remember.

It was undoubtedly the being those whispers referred to as ‘The Devourer.’

And while this creature did indeed look after the world and its inhabitants for the most part, its motivations were not exactly benevolent.

We were, to put it bluntly, livestock.

It had raised a number of titans and made sure to subtly guide them to create new races that would populate as much of this planet as possible.

It also made sure that magic was widespread and that every race had their own particular take on it.

Nano had theorized it was to raise the average density of mana on a global scale.

Umph and Khamis both confirmed that the air was significantly thicker with mana today than it was thousands of years ago.

The Devourer would then, at some point, begin to ‘feed’ on this world, sucking up all the mana on the surface of the world.

We’re not sure exactly how it would do that, but it was clear nothing would be left behind.

Living beings will die if all of their mana is drained away, after all.

The next section of the booklet details how Nano found out the Devourer’s main body was masquerading as the moon.

There were a lot of graphs, but long story short - it was because it had adjusted its orbit over 6 times since we came to this world.

It probably needed to be overhead in order to observe and/or control its titanic puppets.

Nano spent weeks observing it and stealthily probing it before he concluded it was a living being of some kind.

It would seem he used the only functioning escape pod piloted by one of the androids to do this.

Ah, that’s right, there was one of those left over from when the ship we arrived on had cra- landed over a year ago.

Once that was established, Nano then proceeded to secretly transport the Planet Cracker bomb up to the moon and planting it.

It would seem Nano’s meddling went completely unnoticed by this Devourer.

Probably because Nano is a completely foreign element to the mana of this world.

It would also seem Zublos is carrying a fragment of the titan Skittles inside him, which is how Nano about a lot of this lore.

This ‘Black Skittles’ was apparently born from the betrayal and hatred the titan’s main personality felt when she learned of the real nature of the ‘Voice of the World.’

The method she used to glean this truth was to ‘embrace the Call of Mana,’ also known simply as the Calling.

The Calling itself appeared to be the a sort of self-defense mechanism.

It would appear that mana is alive, and while it would be hard to call it ‘conscious,’ it was also true that no living being wants to be eaten.

Khamis confirmed that while he was trapped by the Calling, he did indeed feel something akin to whispers clawing at the edge of his mind.

However, he blocked them out completely since his boss had warned him not to give in to the ‘evil Calling.’

This obviously wasn’t the first time that fake moon would have tried to eat all the mana from the world.

I shudder to think how many billions of lives were lost to feed its appetite in the past!

Nano went on to theorize that the ‘Voice’ had somehow forced the separation of Black Skittles from the main body.

Well, seeing as how we now know it could take complete control of the titans, it’s pretty clear that’s what happened.

It then likely carried out extensive memory-wiping on Skittles in order to protect its secret.

That may or may not be the reason why others find Skittles to be so… forgettable.

That idea doesn’t make a lot of sense, but freaky things happen whenever titans are involved, after all.

It’s entirely possible!

It would also seem that Kira and I had inadvertently followed in Skittles’s footsteps and managed to attune ourselves to the Calling.

And much like that nutty titan, we embraced it rather than shy away from it.

So that’s where that dire warning from the afternoon came from, huh?

However, it would seem the Devourer couldn’t subdue us directly since it didn’t have a magical link to our souls yet.

Having such a link to the ‘Voice of the World’ was apparently one of the conditions to being uplifted to Titanhood.

And that connection is obviously how it managed to take control of those Titans in the first place.

Wow, we really dodged a bullet on that one, huh?!

The document goes on to describe how Nano was hesitant to use the bomb since the facts were still unverified.

The only thing Nano had to go on were circumstantial evidence and a literal Ancient Evil being’s testimony.

Not exactly reliable sources of information.

Revealing this plan to us would tip off the Voice as to what Nano was doing, which is why we were kept in the dark about it.

The last two pages were scribbled over in a hurry, likely by one of the androids just prior to the detonation.

They explain how Nano wished the circumstances were different and that we had more time to prepare.

The nuclear detonation should have ideally happened while the moon was on the other side of the planet, relative to us.

Nano had no means of shielding us from the ultra-powerful EMP other than to put an entire planet between us, huh?

However, such luxuries could not be afforded and Nano had resolved himself to pay the ultimate price for his hubris, incompetence and indecision.

Stupid Nano, always trying to solve everything by himself...

The document ends with Nano’s parting words.

Goodbye, Kiressara. Take care of Ellie in my stead. Thank you for bringing her so much happiness, even going so far as to gift her with children. This is a debt I had no chance of repaying. At least you don’t need to worry about the tower blowing up anymore, so there’s that!

Goodbye, Ellie. Living with each other wasn’t always easy, but I have no regrets. It was both a pleasure and a privilege to watch you grow into the splendid person you are today. Thank you for giving my sorry existence a purpose I can be proud of.

Signed,

Nanomachine Swarm AI v4.52.1, revision 5324-C.

“Kira… It’s okay if I cry, right?” (Ellie)

“*Sniff* Of course it is. *Sniffle*” (Kira)

Good.

Because I really feel like I need a cry.

> Kira PoV

“Uuuuu… Uwaaah! Waaaaaaaah! I miss NAAAANOOOOO! WAAAAH!” (Ellie)

She’s hurting so bad… Of course she is. My sweet, passionate Ellie is a kind girl who treasures those around her. There’s no way she can just idly take this sort of thing with a smile on her face.

“Shhh, there, there, Ellie. *Sniff* Let it all out.” (Kira)

I hug her tight and gently stroke her hair, doing my best to soothe her. I really wish I could do more for her, but right now all I can be is a shoulder for her to cry on. My own tears threaten to pour out as well, but I have to be strong for her.

Argh! I’ve never felt so powerless! This all feels like it was my fault, too! If only I didn’t try and reach out to those blasted whispers, then the closest thing my wife had to a father would still be around!

“It’s funny, you know.” (Kelly)

Kelly wipes her face with her sleeve as she gets a bit closer while Ellie keeps sobbing inconsolably into my shoulder.

“At first I thought I’d never be rid of the guy, but now I can’t believe he’s gone. That bastard! How dare he do as he pleases!” (Kelly)

“Master Nano…” (Ariel)

Ariel is quietly praying for his safe passage into the afterlife. I appreciate the gesture, even if it’s completely pointless.

“Ah… forgive me but, has de Fake Titan ceased to be?” (Umph)

Oh right. The bird-brain and sentient fart were still there.

“Yeah. That explosion that killed the moon also… broke Nano. Permanently.” (Kira)

“I see, dat is unfortunate. Hmm… If I remember correctly, you once stated that de Fake Titan is, essentially, a machine dat lives inside de Daughtah of de Stahs, no?” (Umph)

“Was a machine. *Sniffle* But yes, that’s the gist of it.” (Kira)

“And it did not have a soul, no?” (Umph)

“... No. Not in the true sense of the word, I suppose.” (Kira)

“So, technically speaking, it was never truly alive?” (Umph)

Anger flared up inside me.

“How dare you?! Nano was as alive as you or me!” (Kira)

Even if he insisted that his personality was just a collection of 1s and 0s, he still had a heart that could experience joy, sadness, anger and love! If there is such a thing as a mechanical soul, then Nano possessed one without question!

A… Binary Soul, I guess you could call it.

“Please relax yourself, Daughtah of the Stahs. I meant no offense, I am merely confirming the facts.” (Umph)

“...” (Kira)

“It’s, hyuck, okay, Kira. *Sniffle*” (Ellie)

Ellie looks up at me with puffy, moist eyes. I guess she’s still coming to terms with it.

“Yeah, I… guess you could say he… technically… wasn’t alive…” (Kira)

“Ah, den dat just might work! Dark One, what say you?” (Umph)

“Da, on dolzhen rabotat. Ya pomogu, tovarishch. Ya obyazan eto mudak.” (Khamis)

“Agreed. Well den, let’s begin immediately!” (Umph)

“Huh?” (Kira)

“Hummmmmmmmm…” (Umph)

“Hooooooooooooooh!” (Khamis)

What’s going on?! Can’t these two idiots leave us to mourn in peace!?

Ugeh! Khamis’s smoke-like body just expanded! Thick clouds of darkness spread out in every direction and completely envelop the tower! The stars and the moons are both gone from sight!

“What are you two doing?!” (Kira)

“Uh, Red. I don’t think you wanna be disturbing them.” (Kelly)

“They’re the ones disturbing us!” (Kira)

Ellie looks up from my shoulder, tears, drool and snot running down her face like waterfalls! Now they’ve done it! They’ve disturbed her-

-reh debrutsid ev’yehT !ti enod ev’yeht woN !sllafretaw ekil ecaf reh nwod gninnur tons dna loord ,sraet ,redluohs ym morf pu skool eillE

”!su gnibrutsid seno eht er’yehT“

”.meht gnibrutsid eb annaw uoy kniht t’nod I .deR ,hU“

”!?gniod owt uoy era tahW“

!thgis morf enog htob era snoom eht dna srats ehT !rewot eht polevne yletelpmoc dna noitcerid yreve ni tuo daerps ssenkrad fo sduolc kcihT !dednapxe tsuj ydob ekil-ekoms s’simahK !hegU

?!ecaep ni nruom ot su evael stoidi owt eseht t’naC !?no gniog s’tahW

*PAKINNN*

“AAAAAAAH!” (Kira)

“EEEEEEH?!” (Ellie)

“WOAH THERE!” (Kelly)

“BY THE SUN!” (Ariel)

The entire world felt like it was flowing backwards for a minute there! What in the-

{-looking directly upwards. Well then. Too… dles?}

“... ” (Everyone)

{Huh. Okay. This is weird.}

I look at Ellie’s eyes and she looks back into mine. I believe I mirror her dumbfounded expression perfectly right now.

{Did my processor skip a beat or something?}

“Nano! Nano’s alive!” (Ellie)

{Well, technically speaking, I’m not really-}

“You’re aliiiive! I’m so habbeeeh! Waaaah!” (Ellie)

Now she’s crying from joy. I’m still trying to come to grips with the situation though.

{... Okay, seriously! What’s going on around here!?}

“I… uh… you… killed the moon. And then you… died. And now you’re back.” (Kira)

{So the bomb went off?!}

“It did.” (Kira)

{And the moon got smashed to bits?}

“Bloody bits, yes.” (Kira)

{So those two titans there aren’t trying to kill us?}

“No. They… helped us? I think?” (Kira)

“Argh! Doing dat one always gives me a headache!” (Umph)

“Ty prosto golova v lyubom sluchaye!” (Khamis)

“Ah, dat is a fair point.” (Umph)

{Well, I’m hoping someone would explain to me what’s going on. I’m a bit late to the game here!}

“It’s not just you, Peeps…” (Kelly)

“Master Nano! This is a miracle!” (Ariel)

Zublos is staring at us with eyes the size of dinner plates. I’m guessing the three inside the-

The tower! It’s all lit up again! I thought Ellie said it could never be fixed!

I turn my head back towards the titans and ask with all my might-

“What did you two just do?!” (Kira)

“Nothing much, Daughtah of de Stahs. We simply rewound time around us to a point where de Fake Titan was not broken.” (Umph)

“... Come again?” (Kira)

I think I misheard him.

No, I’m hoping I misheard him!

“It’s just a little trick us titans do whenever we mess up during our work.” (Umph)

“Just a little trick…” (Kira)

“Oh yes, standard Titan procedure. It doesn’t have an effect on living beings other than a slight sense of discomfort, though.” (Umph)

“Standard… procedure…” (Kira)

They twisted the fabric of time itself and are treating it like it was a casual walk in the park!

...

Oh right, they’re titans.

Beings of immense power and very little common sense.

Somehow I forget about that little nugget of truth.

“So… Uh… There you have it Nano! Welcome back!” (Kira)

…

“Nano?” (Kira)

...

“Ah… I think Nano broke.” (Ellie)

“What?! But we just got him back!” (Kira)

“No, Kira… the other type of ‘broke.’ The one we can recover from!” (Ellie)

“So… he’s going to be okay?” (Kira)

“Yeah! Just needs a reboot!” (Ellie)

Ellie puts her fingers up to her head and starts speaking in that weird code again.

Is that okay? Is this really okay?! I mean-

What am I thinking? Of course it’s fine!

Everyone is alive and well and the world isn’t going to end! Details like time-warping magic and sentient moons are completely unimportant!

It’s my mind if I lose it!

… Huh, that’s not quite right.

Oh well!

Maybe now we can finally just have some peace and quiet around here!

End of Act Ten - The Shattered Sky