The next morning was… peaceful. More than I’d experienced in a long time. Sure, my arm was… well, and I was stuck in the ass end of nowhere, but it was good. The bed I’d woken up in was comfy and nobody else had woken up just yet.

There was a curious feeling there, too - a floaty, ethereal one, similar to the one you get for a few minutes while a late-night coffee works its magic, and you feel both tired and wide awake at once.

I tried to go back to sleep, but kept tossing and turning - not loud enough to wake up Erci, but Ref noticed and shot me finger guns before returning to a book - not falling asleep again.

I suppose I could do this now...

Resume customization.

Customization resumed. Please choose general output style.

***

The customization of my LD ended up taking roughly two hours. I spent twenty-odd minutes simply getting familiar with the options, the system and how it responded to me, and the rest of the time tweaking it to my liking.

There were a lot of pre-built designs, like one which encased everything into little blue boxes, or another which attempted to condense ethereal concepts into numerical values. While real-life RPG mechanics would be neat, I didn’t think that relying on overlays or HUDs was that good of an idea, especially when I had to perceive them from the corner of my vision - as things that projected over your view in such a basic way tend to move with the eye.

In the end, I simply mix-and-matched the modular interface, opting for more intuitive designs when possible, but preferring detail when needed. Under no circumstance did I want anything to clutter my vision at all times, regardless of how often the voice tried to suggest a "health bar" - as though a vague concept such as that could even be condensed down into a single value.

No, I went for the necessities. First, I activated every single security option possible, even if they put a slight hamper on overall performance. Who cares if the time takes one microsecond longer to calculate, if it means I'm protected from 'subliminal memory manipulation', whatever that is? If it didn't sound good, or I didn't know what it was, it was prevented. There were stranger options too, such as suppressing the actual, physical pain response completely in favor of a notification list of damages, or the ability to prevent certain emotions from firing. I didn't touch those ones - except for instructing the LD to get rid of them. I do not want to become an emotionless psychopath, thank you very much, and disabling pain seemed like a good way to get killed.

I set mental commands for a variety of other things, such as a time-HUD, calculated to approximate the system I was familiar with, a detailed listing system for things in my current possession, a virtual notepad, and an easy activation point for the mental translator.

The translator was a curious thing - All it provided was a best-guess overlay for languages. It meant I could understand other languages, but in no way did it help speak them. I thought Ask someone for a version of the translator that works with written text toward the notepad, and was pleased to hear

Note added.

Whisper faintly into my ear. At some point, the chipper voice had become too distracting for me, so I altered it to whisper when there was silence, speak in a conversational tone during normal noise levels and switch to a sort of ‘separate internal monologue’ when things were too loud around me. That last one did make me a little queasy, because it was as though there was something else thinking inside my mind, but I got over it eventually.

***

I found Ska'an at some point after joining some of the early birds in the common room for breakfast, and they gave me a number of trusted libraries useful for everyone, such as an "appraise" function capable of doing a surface scan of an object, comparing it to an enormous open-source list of objects, places, science and much more, coupled with an analytical narrow-AI system. Another useful one was an easy-to-use client for perusing the truly incomprehensible number of records floating around in the Network.

The Network, or the System, was the greater whole all Lexicon Devices had an inherent connection to. It could be accessed in other ways, yes, but only on a very shallow level - full functionality required an LD. One curious aspect was that it apparently prevented the use of search engines through its vast record system, necessitating the asking of very, very specific questions, or precise IDs. Things like “Did any important things happen in the 10th century on Earth?" were not sufficient, the question needed to either be more of a “During the Battle of Hastings, which strategy did William the Conqueror use to fight the english army?". Granted, the report on this was not too complete, but it was quite amazing that it even existed out here, considering all the information was compiled from things entered into the Network by users of the LDs.

Nobody knew why this was, and the limited amount of communication with the administrative spirit (as I learned the awareness in charge of the Network was called) revealed that there was a reason, but that it was not inclined to give it out. When the researchers in charge of one especially useless experiment tried to threaten it, it simply cut communication and refused to reconnect. They were not "punished for their insolence” or anything like that however, which I found very reassuring. Building trust, and all that.

All this was detailed in the historical record Neetu had recommended to me, also revealing that one could also search for a more complete document if they knew the specific ID-number of said file, not just a broad description. Neetu himself also gave me some more libraries he had written himself, a few of them specifically designed to make living in the "place between everything" more appealing.

One of them, "Dark Sky Beautification v12.3" allowed me to use the LD's connection to the optical nerve and visual cortex to superimpose a sort of "artificial sky" over the dreary darkness outside. It came packaged with some breathtaking sights, vistas of colorful nebulae or starfields, most of which, Neetu confided in me, were pulled from his own memories. I ended up choosing a beautiful deep-purple nebula, starting the hermetic memory-scan, and simply laid on the roof until I fell asleep.

***

On the next day, I checked on the scan (it was not finished) and set out to use the appraisal program on everything in sight, with some very unexpected results - mostly because it was more sophisticated than I’d initially assumed.

I concentrated my thoughts and focused the word Appraise toward my jacket hanging from a hook in the common room. Immediately, a small window sprang up in my vision, alongside a dotted line pointing toward the thing I'd targeted.

Name:

[Worn Leather Jacket]

Rarity:

[Unique-Common]

Type:

[Humanoid Covering, ...]

Owner:

[Amelia Grayheart]

Description:

[This jacket was designed for a symmetrical humanoid body shape, is made of synthetic leather and features a synthetic fur lining along the collar. It was exposed to both the Pale and to Earth's Worldstone, which has degraded its quality. There is a tear in its left sleeve, as well as evidence of Paling and some dried blood. The right sleeve has burn marks, and there is a small tear along the back. It is missing one (1) chromed steel button.]

Condition:

[Damaged]

Value:

[10-20 SYC]

Experimentation revealed that the visual part was anchored to the real world in some way, as it gave the illusion of depth and distance, and remained accurately positioned even while moving. A few steps away and it winked out on its own.

It was also much more detailed than I'd suspected. Ska'an later told me that the entire report was composed partly of the user's own knowledge and understanding, as many reference objects from the database as possible, as well as semi-intelligent deductions by the assigned AI-construct.

For instance, the Type of an object was both its intended use, which was underlined, as well as possible uses deduced by the AI. I mentally focused on the three “...” and the category expanded, with the uses becoming more outlandish the further I read. I went past “Makeshift Bedding” and “Intimidation Factor”, and eventually stopped reading at “Marital Aid”.

The rarity value was two-fold, with the first describing the actual rarity of this specific item, and the second the rarity of items like it. The scale went 'Common', 'Uncommon', 'Rare' and 'Unique". In that sense, this very jacket was the only one of its kind, one of the only artifacts left over from Earth, but there were many coverings which could replace it if I so desired. Ska'an further offered to have it repaired for me, seeing its deplorable state.

I was reluctant to part with it, but Ska'an assured me that it would be as good as new (“and perhaps even better”, but I’m not sure what they meant by that) once I got it back. I acquiesced.

***

The rest of the day was spent drinking tea, reminiscing about our journey so far, and appraising random objects. I’d given Erci and Raven the list of useful libraries as well, and we were all having fun getting used to the new perspective.

Reya popped in once and assured us that it was normal to feel an extreme hangover after being freed. I wanted to ask Neetu about the actual effects of it when we saw each other next, but he’d opened the tavern once more and couldn’t just make time whenever.

Come nightfall, I couldn’t sleep, so I emptied the wardrobe and quietly appraised everything I’d brought with me, instead of just random objects. We’d held out until now, but my curiosity wouldn’t let me sleep.

Name:

[Walking Staff (Wood)]

Rarity:

[Unique-Uncommon]

Type:

[Mobility Aid, Blunt Weapon,...]

Owner:

[Amelia Grayheart]

Description:

[This staff was was carved from red oak by your father about thirty years ago, and fitted with two steel caps on either end. It was exposed to both the Pale and Earth's Worldstone, which have had an unknown effect on it. It is undamaged.]

Condition:

[Excellent]

Estim. Value:

[20-130 SYC]

And that was apparently my staff. Or perhaps dad's staff? In any case, it was interesting.

I appraised some other things, mostly the junk that had accumulated during our journey, and found little of use. Most of the time, the description was a single word or sentence, and I eventually stopped appraising everything individually and instead built two piles. One with junk, the other with useful stuff.

Cans, water and Co. joined the 'junk' pile, while only a select few things ended up on the 'useful' pile. My hand brushed against something, I pulled it out - and froze.

Memories came flowing back, clawing at my subconscious to stay hidden, and I realized what this was: the antimemetic cloak. It joined the useful pile.

By now, there were a precious few items there - the bag, the cloak, my staff, my sword - my broken phone, stashed away at the very bottom. The mirror shard joined it, as did the small vial of Stardust, covered in scrap of blackout cloth. Above everything floated the slightly-shimmering Worldstone. I began appraising.

Name:

[Unnamed Fey Blade]

Rarity:

[Unique-Rare]

Type:

[Bladed Weapon, ...]

Owner:

[Amelia Grayheart]

Description:

[The blade of this sword is forged from fae steel and features two channels. Its hilt is wrapped in an unknown type of leather. The overall style and composition indicates it was forged relatively recently. It was exposed to the Pale, which has damaged its metaphysical structure and Earth’s Worldstone, which stopped the corruption. It holds a lethal edge.]

Condition:

[Excellent]

Estim. Value:

[100-130 SYC]

I turned to Ref, who was fiddling with her own LD. She held up a finger to stop any questions and slowly brought a tiny metal instrument up to her temple. When it was a few millimeters from touching the LD, there was a tiny green arc, and I felt a very slight electrical shock through my own temple. Ref suppressed a snort.

"What was that?" I whispered, bewildered.

"Well, It looked like you were having fun, so I sort of... deepened the connection between our LD’s, which really are just one and the same, but there's some weird hardware limits so I had to disable those... long story short, now I can use what you use." she whispered back.

"That's great, actually - can you help me with this? The part about 'metaphysical damage' is totally going over my head."

"Of course! hmm, let's see..."

She looked at the reflection of the sword intently, moving this way and that, and I dismissed my own appraisal window.

"I think I know what happened... that's a shame." she said eventually.

"What is it?"

"Hmm, basically... No, well- ehm. I don't think I can shorten this down. Are you up for a little lecture?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, why not?"

"Excellent! Alright, so you know that some particularly powerful daemons can steal information that exists physically?" I nodded. She'd mentioned something like that last night. "They do this by accessing what's known as the 'information metasphere' of an object. It's a metaphysical construct around something which determines how this object is perceived from the outside, and it changes alongside the physical in a multitude of ways."

She stood up, and started pacing, before pausing and pointing at the table.

"For example, the table: Its metasphere contains a form, a texture, how it looks and smells and feels. This is determined by the physical structure - though one layer of differentiation can act onto the other, even in reverse. Anyway, the metasphere doesn't only contain that, but also more ethereal concepts, like the fact that it is a table in the first place. It links this specific table to the concept of tables, making it recognizable as such. Do you follow so far?"

I nodded. That actually sounded similar to the concept of the Platonic Ideal.

"As for your sword - its metasphere was damaged. Remember how I spoke of both sides being able to pressure the other? Just like the physical can change the metaphysical, the metaphysical can change the physical, albeit with much more difficulty. But for the Pale, that's nothing. It would corrode at the sword until it turns to ash, and then it would turn the ash into nothing."

"What exactly is 'The Pale', anyway? I've heard it often enough, but apart from knowing that it makes arms disappear and that it damages... information, apparently, I don't know anything about it." I interrupted.

"Hmmm. This would normally require a grounding in theoretical informational metaphysics, but I'll try to make you understand. The Pale is... a force of nature, more than anything. You can imagine it as the universe forgetting something, in a sense. When things slip through the cracks, end up where they aren't supposed to be, on levels where the structures maintaining them aren't present, the Pale gets them."

She looked up, and stared into my eyes.

"Something like this happened when you ended up in your world's Maintenance - A place not meant for you or anything you brought with you. The moment you fell into that beam, unprotected, you fell through the grid, into the emptiness below. You are unfathomably lucky to have ended up in a Maintenance Area, because if you had 'missed', you'd have kept falling. Down and down, into the emptiness, beyond reality and structure. You'd have dissolved into nothingness."

She smacked her hand onto the table. Erci grunted in his sleep, and Ref looked sheepish.

"Sorry, I get real into these sort of things. Back to the sword. The Pale is like a poison for information, insidious and slow-acting. It slowly seeped into the sword and the mirror, and attacked its biggest apparent memetic association - that of reflection. Let me just tell you right now that reflective properties in general are ridiculously fragile. Once that was destroyed, it would have moved on to more hidden associations, like glass and metal, and slowly corroded the sword and the mirror shard into dust."

She held up her hand, a bit of tabletop dust pinched between two scarred fingers to emphasize the point.

"Luckily, you touched the Stone before that happened. A Worldstone's creative energy is pretty much the antithesis to the Pale - and also orders of magnitude more concentrated. While the Pale is everywhere, lurking beneath everything, Worldstones are ridiculously dense collections of their type of energy. It burned the Pale from everything you had on you, except your arm. Most likely because you fought against it."

She sat down on her chair once more.

"At least, that's what I think happened. No guarantee that I'm right, of course, but it's my best guess. And no, I can't even begin to guess how to 'repair' something like this."

“A shame, that - I kinda liked the mirror finish, but I guess it has its own kind of charm now, doesn't it?" I whispered with mirth.

"That it does." she chuckled.

"Shall we continue? I can't wait to see what this appraisal system says about some of this other stuff."

"Yeah, let's do that."

I turned back to the 'useful pile', visually targeted the antimemetic cloak, and thought Appraise toward it.

Name:

[Antimemetic Cloak]

Rarity:

[Unknown-Unknown]

Type:

[Concealing Garment, ...]

Owner:

[Amelia Grayheart]

Description:

[Warning! Disruption of function detected. Unknown anti-memetic effect present. Unknown energy-signature present. Unknown markings present, but refusing analysis.]

Condition:

[Unknown]

Estim. Value:

[Unknown]

"Well that's interesting." whispered Ref into the silence.

"I know, the effect seems to work on non-organic means of observation as well!"

"Not that, over here! Look." She interrupted me.

I looked over, not really knowing what to see, until I glanced up to her face instead - she was looking back and forth from the cloak on the floor, and... nothing?

Wait a minute...

"It doesn't have a reflection?"

"I don't know how I never realized that!"

"Do you think we should tell someone?"

"Hell yeah, maybe we can replicate the effect somehow! Put it back into the bag, we can’t afford to lose this thing."

I picked up the cloak, folded it, and placed it into the bag.

Then, mine and Ref's memories of it vanished, alongside any thoughts of telling Neetu or Ska'an.

***

Appraise.

Name:

[Cell Phone]

Rarity:

[Unique-Common]

Type:

[Radio-Communication Device, Portable Computing Device, ...]

Owner:

[Amelia Grayheart]

Description:

[This is a common human device, featuring an inbuilt radio frequency transceiver as well as computing hard- and software. Its casing is made of a crude polymer and the screen is touch-sensitive. It runs on a binary transistor structure and electrical energy. There is a crack along the casing, screen and the inside component.]

Condition:

[Damaged]

Estim. Value:

[20-50 SYC]

"I wonder if I can get this fixed."

"Oh, definitely. There's a shop for everything in the Nexus, even obsolete, primitive technology."

Disregarding the slight, I latched onto the unfamiliar place. "What's this 'Nexus'?"

"It sits at the center of this local cluster of worlds. I don't know how many are in it nowadays, but back when I was still... active, I think it was a couple hundred free worlds, all piping their governmental concerns and trade business through the Nexus. It's maintained by the Agents of Order, some sort of bizarre Lawbringer/Paladin hybrid group who act as a police force in the Nexus and decide when a world is ready to join the local cluster."

"What's the criteria for that?" maybe Earth had been close?

"I don't know the full whys of it, but development of sapient AI, reality simulating to the subatomic scale and the discovery of Magic are criteria that all allow for diplomatic missions by the Agents. They gradually free the inhabitants from the Illusion using machines much like the one in the basement - except they're legally allowed to own and operate them and Neetu is not - and negotiate terms for inclusion in the cluster. Most worlds' governments eventually accept, and they're integrated."

"Do they 'create' worlds as well? Or where do new ones come from?"

"That's... a matter of debate. They seemingly come from nowhere, some drift into the cluster, some appear overnight, and others take the place of dead ones. The Agents eventually come along, slap a monitor and a sign that says 'do not touch under pain of exile' on it and leave it alone until it's ready. Some people believe that there are gods who make them, or that they condense from chaotic energy out there, but it's really the same in the end."

"Do you think I could get a new arm made there?" I said a little quieter.

"Have you seen some of the people here? You could probably get a portable phase cannon installed in its place. Don't sweat it, sister."

***

Appraise.

Name:

[Vial of Stardust]

Rarity:

[Uncommon-Uncommon]

Type:

[Magical Reagent, Food Additive...]

Owner:

[Ref Lection, Amelia Grayheart]

Description:

[A vial of diamond dust infused with the power of celestial Light underneath a dark moon event. This kind of reagent is often used for specialized ritual configurations, and due to its difficulty of manufacture, the high price of its base material and the rare conditions needed for its creation, it is quite an expensive material indeed.]

Quality:

[Medium]

Estim. Value:

[250-300 SYC]

"Are you serious with that name."

"I am! It's hilarious."

“Any idea why it shows you as the owner?”

“I provided the recipe, you just carry it around. Perhaps that staked some sort of claim?”

“Hmm, could be. I’ll just hold onto it for now, eh? With my hands.”

“Just because you have physical matter does not mean you’re better than me!”

***

Appraise.

Name:

[Matte Mirror Shard]

Rarity:

[Uncommon-Common]

Type:

[Reflective Surface, Paperweight, ...]

Owner:

[Amelia Grayheart, Ref Lection]

Description:

[Single shard of a wall-length mirror. Possible sympathetic connection to the other shards of the same mirror, but a linking is not advised, as Earth currently exists without a Worldstone. This shard has been metaphysically damaged by the Pale.]

Condition:

[Damaged]

Estim. Value:

[0-5 SYC]

"What's this 'sympathetic connection' about?"

She fixed me with a look. "Remember the two mirror shards? Actually, I wonder if Erci has his still... Anyway, remember how I told you that shards of a mirror still retain the connection to their original form?"

I nodded.

"This is because of a concept known as 'metaphysical association condition', which essentially states that broken parts of an object can still be recognized as being that object in some strange sense. This was how I could manifest in the other shards, because according to their metasphere, they were all still parts of one Thing, the original mirror. I don't know why it calls that a 'sympathetic connection', though, that's not what it is at all. Perhaps... no, that doesn't make sense."

I nodded along, the explanation making some sense to me - if the mirror shards were associated with being part of a greater whole, then it would make sense for this 'metasphere' to encompass all of them as one instead of each one individually.

Filing that thought away, I appraised the last item, the dimly glinting Stone.

Thinking Appraise at it had a different effect, though - there was a noticeable delay between the command and it being picked up, and then again a huge one after the command was eventually registered.

When it eventually did finish, the window looked unlike any before it.

Name:

[Worldstone - ᚠᚱᚨᚷᛗᛖᚾᛏ-ᚱᛖᚨᛚᛗ ᚢᚱ, ᛒᚱᚨᚾᚲᚺ ᛟᚠ ᛁᛟᛗ (Depleted)]

Manufacturer:

[ᚱᚺᛁᛚᛃᛁᚨᚱ ᚠᛟᚱᚷᛖ-ᛏᚺᛖ-ᛋᛏᚨᚱᛋ]

Type:

[Mystic Focus Point, …]

Owner:

[Amelia Grayheart - Binding Possible]

Description:

[Though permanently devoid of the power it held previously, this Stone is far from useless. Storing and channeling said energy for the eons it has done so left behind an echo. Apart from that, this Stone remains a supreme focus for magical energy. Handle with care.]