Alex looked up sharply at what Yas had said. “What do you mean Yas? That makes no sense!”

“Alex, this is my old mentor, but they’re roughly 5-10 years younger than when I saw them last, and apparently has no memories of ever having met me. Also, they were in the low level 90’s when I finished my training, but now they’re level 18. Almost as if they had only just… joined… the service. Zareth, how long have you been a part of the Fridigian forces?” Yas slowed as a realisation hit them.

From under Alex’s weight, Zareth struggled to force out a response so Alex lowered his weight to allow them to talk. “I joined up a year and 3 months ago, proud to do my part for the Fridigian people!” Zareth exclaimed, almost by rote, attempting to snap a salute but unable to with Alex sat on them. Yas blinked and came to kneel down beside their old friend.

“Zareth, you were meant to be getting out of the forces after reaching level 100 when I last saw you. Do you honestly not remember any of that? You literally taught me everything I know about how to create…” Yas teared up, struggling to contain the emotion they were feeling at seeing their mentor like this, being looked straight through by eyes that had once meant everything.

“I told you, I have never met you before, and I am certainly not skilled enough to be anyones mentor, so you must be mistaken!” Zareth half-shouted as they struggled to dislodge Alex from their back again.

“My friend, I am not moving until we find out exactly what is going on here.” Alex said down to Zareth. Looking up again at Yas, “Yas, I know this is hard, but I have had so many suspicions regarding the whole mind-wiping process you all underwent as ‘children’. I don’t know if you have movies or photos here, but do you have anything you can show Zareth to back up what we are trying to say?”

Yas shook their head a little, like they were trying to dislodge an errant thought before digging through their bag. After rummaging for a few seconds they pulled out another little cube and fiddled with it. It opened like a flower in sunlight, with a screen forming in the center. Yas tapped their temple, then a little recessed portion of the device and suddenly pictures were playing on the screen. “This is a mnemo-screen. I linked it to the posterior parietal section of my brain that holds visual memories. There is no way I can fake these images, so anything shown here has happened to me.” Yas placed the device in view of Zareth and let the images and videos play. They all showed an obviously older Zareth in various situations. Laughing, teaching, scolding. As they all watched these sometimes intimate memories play, Zareth’s face betrayed many emotions, seeing themselves but having no actual recollection of it.

“Please, turn it off. I won’t call for the guards, but can I get up? This is too much for me to process…” Alex complied and slowly let Zareth to their feet. Zareth headed over to their workbench and lifted up a stack of schematics that Alex couldn’t really understand. “I knew from the second you pulled that cube out that something was amiss. These are the plans on how to make a cube like that, and nobody else has the ability to make them besides myself. I haven’t even finished mocking up my prototype, and yet you stand there with a fully working version… This is…” Zareth trailed off.

Yas fidgeted uneasily, unsure of what to say or do next, so Alex broke the growing silence. “Zareth, are you sure there is nothing you can remember? Nothing at all that could explain what happened to you?”

Zareth shook their head, mind still trying to recover from the clusterfuck that had just been dropped on them. Yas suddenly looked up. “Zar, how old do you think you are now?”

“I’m 17. I entered the service a little late because of illness… Why?”

“That much is the same as what you told me when we were working together. But from what you said, you didn’t settle on Frigidtech until much later in your service because you couldn’t handle the thought of personally hurting anyone. So you dove into FT because it allowed you to look to save as many lives as possible with your creations. Hell, we came up with the cube idea together last time when you were MUCH older, but the fact you are already here in your own workshop and already creating the cube idea by yourself is astounding! Can you tell me any of your other theoretical designs?” Yas seemed to have hooked onto something, so Alex just stayed back and let the smart people talk.

Over the next hour or so, Zareth showed Yas all of their plans and ideas. After they were finished looking them all over Yas’ face looked much brighter. “Zar, these plans are basically identical to what you were working on when we last spoke! How did you come up with these ideas this time?”

“I… don’t actually know. Its almost like I had a mental itch I had to scratch, and doing so produced these. Oh I see where you’re going with this! If I retained these ideas, maybe the rest of my memories are still in there somewhere?” Zareth exclaimed with a smile.

Yas nodded emphatically, “Exactly! Once we get done with the task we came here to do, I want to sit down with you and see if we can recover what you have lost, if thats alright?”

“I would like nothing more. Now you’ve shown me irrefutable proof that I am not the person I once was, I dearly wish to regain what was taken from me, as well as find out WHY it was taken!” Zareth smacked their fist into the workbench in anger at this last part. Yas gave a sad smile to their old friend, and patted their arm.

“We will Zar, I promise on my connection.” Alex watched as the small telltale glow surrounded Yas at the oath. Yas continued, “I was wondering why the old shop still looks so run down? Surely if you rejoined over a year ago you would have tidied up a bit?”

“I actually only got given this place recently by the Council. I had to finish a year long stint under Councillor Gaet to become a Frigidtech and hone my craft. Now I am employed by the council directly to research and provide new plans.”

Alex recoiled almost physically at hearing this. “Hold the FUCK up! You are WORKING FOR THE COUNCIL?? Yas get away from them!” He moved to interpose himself between Zareth and Yas, but was stopped by Yas putting a hand out.

“Alex, calm down a minute and lets hear the whole story. Zar, can you explain a bit more about what you are doing?”

Zareth, still shocked at the sudden outburst began to fill them both in on what exactly the last year had entailed. After awakening from their ‘Connection’ procedure, Zareth had found themself face to face with Councillor Gaet. Gaet had explained that during the procedure Zareth had shown ‘unusually high’ aptitude towards the Frigidtech class and would like to personally bestow them with the Class along with a years tutelage. Obviously, thinking this a great honour, Zareth had jumped at the chance of such an offer. And so the year began. Zareth had quickly realised that they definitely found Frigidtech easy to grasp, and within a few weeks had already covered the entire years worth of material that Gaet had planned out. Apparently this had seemed to please Gaet a much greater amount than Zareth had expected. Gaet had declared the lessons over, and had told Zareth to just do whatever their heart desired to advance their Class. So for the rest of the year Zareth had been allowed access to whatever materials they had wanted, and were free to create whatever they wanted. Gaet had been especially interested in one of Zareth’s new blade designs, one that had allowed the blade to divert and harness energy. As soon as Yas heard this, they pulled Alex’s stolen blade out and gave it to Zareth.

“This… the base design is mine, but it’s been… twisted. I designed the blade to act like a focus for energy, to break apart elemental skills in the air and act like a battery for the wielder to draw from. This version is purely designed to destroy. It feels like my design intent was flipped on its head, as this version pulls from the wielder instead. If you had attempted to use this Alex, you would have been unable to let it go until it drained your body to charge itself.” Zareth carried on turning the blade over in their hands, examining exactly what had been perverted to create this version of their own design.

Alex recoiled a little at hearing how close he had come to a spectacularly grim death. “Would you be able to design me an Axe that does something similar, but obviously without it draining me to death?”

Yas gave Alex a puzzled look. “An axe? Weren’t you favouring the Saber-Shield before?”

“I was, and I do miss that weapon, but ever since Adareth gave me their blessing I’ve found myself drawn to trying to wield an axe instead. Not too sure why, but thought I’d ask.”

Zareth gasped at hearing Alex’s blasé tone when he spoke about Adareth. “You gained a blessing from a REALM?”

Yas laughed at Zareth’s reaction. “Welcome to the wonderful weirdness that surrounds Alex, Zar. He has certainly made me view things in a more… Open way.”

The rest of the evening was spent with Yas and Zareth re-acclimating with each other, and Yas actually acting as the teacher on a few points. Alex was happy to let the pair have a little time to get their heads straight whilst he finally got around to checking over his gains for the last day.

Power +3, Vitality +2, Finesse +5, Mentality +17, Judgement +6, Charm +1

Alex stared at his Mentality increase for a second. That was an insane jump up in power. The other stat increases seemed roughly in line with what he expected, but +17? The only thing Alex could attribute it to was Adareth’s blessing and the fact he had basically been Earthshaping for the entire day. If time wasn’t so short, he would love to dedicate an entire day to training his other stats, but that could wait. He ran his eyes over his refreshed stat panel.

Name

Alex Colt

Stats

Class

Species

Human(Nexus)

Power

25 (30)

Field Knight 13: HP Gained 10+Vit, +2 Vit per lvl

Age

27

Vitality

52

Maelstrom 10: HP Gained 2+0.5Vit, +1 Pow +1 Ment per lvl

Level

35 (Bonus Active)

Finesse

15

Combat Medic 12: HP Gain 5+Ment, +2 Ment per lvl

XP

600/4000 FK

Mentality

63

HP

1272

Judgement

11

Stam

155 (310)

Charm

2

RF

210

It took him a few minutes to work out what all of the things in brackets were. But he soon realised that it was their total once his passives were active. Seeing the other pair still deep in conversation, Alex drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

He awoke to Yas shaking his shoulder gently. “Whassat.. Yas? Wha?”

“Alex, Zar and I were just talking and they gave me our PERFECT point of entry to the compound!”

Instantly awake, Alex pressed for more info. “What? How? I couldn’t think of anything myself yet so whatever details they can provide would be great!”

“Well, Zar has a meeting with Gaet tomorrow mid-morning to go over some of Zar’s new designs. That means they will be expecting Zar at the main compound entrance along with some big crates. We can sneak in inside the crates!”

It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it was better than anything else Alex had been able to come up with. “That could definitely work… Zareth are you sure you want to openly help us? You could end up in a LOT of shit.”

Zareth came over from where they had stood by the workbench. “I have never been more certain of anything. Someone somewhere has been fucking around inside my head and I want answers. From what Yas has been explaining to me, you think that the whole council is in on whatever is going on? Well, I have a direct line to one for you to… Question.” The implied meaning behind that last word was clear.

Alex reappraised Zareth and nodded with a smile. “Well thank you for offering to help. I will follow your lead on however you best think we should go about this.”

“Well for now, we need to sleep. In the morning Yas and I will make your axe, and then I’ll get you crated up ready for my collection time. Here.” Zareth threw some blankets to Alex. “Only one room here, but you’re free to sleep on whatever you think will be most comfortable.” Turning to Yas, “Yas, would you like the bed? I shall sleep on the workbench.” Yas accepted graciously, and they all turned in.

Alex awoke fully the next morning to the sounds of hushed chatter and light tapping. Getting up and stretching, Alex reshaped the floor he had slept on. He had made himself an Earthshaped recliner. Looking over towards the workbench he saw Yas and Zareth whispering to each other so as not to wake him whilst they worked on something between them.

“Morning you two!” Alex shouted over to the pair who had yet to notice him stood there.

“Oh, morning Alex. Sorry if we woke you?” Yas responded, barely looking up from whatever project the two were pouring over.

“Not at all, can barely hear you at all. What ya working on?” He asked, curiosity piqued as he realised it was likely his new axe.

Zareth looked over with a grin, “You’ll see when its finished in about 15 minutes. We are just adding the final touches.”

Alex just shrugged and went to use the facilities. Splashing some icy water on his face, Alex gave himself a quick once over. His dirty blonde hair was caked in dirt, and his face looked to have lost a lot of the pudge it had before he arrived. After doing his best to get rid of some of the muck, he headed back downstairs, almost running head first into a positively bouncing Yas.

“There you are Alex, come on!” Grabbing his wrist Yas pulled Alex behind them back to the front. There on the table was a pair of absolutely mindbending weapons. Looking like a hand axe had mated with a shield, Alex had no idea what to even call the things.

“Wow… What are THOSE?” He breathed, ingrained lootgoblin rearing its head.

Zareth answered, “These are a pair of BucklerAxes. Yas said you liked to have a strong defense as well as offense, so we came up with these. They don’t offer as much protection as a full shield, but for the tight corridors inside the compound, these will offer you phenomenal versatility without getting caught on walls.” Zareth picked up the weapons and showed Alex how to attach them to his arms. They attached in a similar way to a normal buckler, just slightly further forward. The axe handle formed the shield handle, but the straps meant that if he needed to use his hands, he could let go and the weapons wouldn’t move.

“Well damn… I wasn’t expecting even a single weapon this good, and you made me 2. Thank you my friends.” Alex gave a small bow to each of the masters of their craft. Taking the BucklAxes from Zareth, Alex quickly equipped the pair and moved through a few slashes and spins. They allowed him to move much more fluidly compared to his SaberShield, which combined with his fighting style would allow him to dash in and out of range of his opponents and just generally be a huge pain in the ass.

Whilst Alex twirled about the shop, Yas and Zareth set up the crates they would be getting loaded into. Each crate was fitted with a false roof that had stuff thrown on top to act like it was a normal load. Zareth made sure that each crate was completely solid and would pass inspection before loading Yas and Alex into them. Exactly on time, there was a knock at the door of the building, and Alex could just about hear a muted conversation between Zareth and the guards assigned to escort the shipment.

A few minutes later Alex felt his crate lifted and moved about before being carefully placed back down, but with no way to see outside the box he was unable to see exactly what they had been loaded onto. Still not 100% sure about trusting Zareth, but without a viable alternative and with his friends languishing away in the compound, Alex was willing to risk it. He heard the other crates being loaded onto whatever form of conveyance was being utilised and settled down to try and solidify the little plan they had concocted the previous evening. Zareth’s crates would all be put straight into the Councillors chamber ready for their display. As soon as his crate was opened, hopefully by the Councillor themself if Zareth played the situation right, Alex would leap to action and attempt to restrain the councillor and extract answers. Both to his friends whereabouts, and to the host of other questions plaguing his mind. Gripping his new weapons tightly, Alex hoped this haphazard scheme would work.

Sometime during the relatively short but bumpy journey Alex felt a wave of pressure wash over him. Zareth had warned that as they passed through the gate into the compound the boxes would be scanned for explosives etc, but shouldn’t get triggered by their bodies hidden within. A few tense moments passed as Alex prepared for that to not be the case, but shortly after he felt the rhythmic jostling start back up as the transport carried on along it’s journey. A short while later they came to a jostling stop again, and Alex assumed they had arrived at the compound proper. The time was drawing close for the plan to succeed or fail, and Alex began to psyche himself up as best he could within the tight confines of the crate. He had never really felt claustrophobic before, but he was definitely feeling the beginnings of its caress after being cooped up under such stressful conditions. Feeling the crate lifted again, Alex readied himself, and felt a calm come over him. From this point on, what happened happened, and all he could do was roll with the blows.

A sudden thud shook the crate as it was placed down, and Alex tensed. He was ready when he heard the lid being pried from above his head and a muffled voice exclaimed at the quality of the items in view. Pushing himself upward with all of his force, he let out a primal roar and forced the false lid out of the way. He found himself face to face with a thin, almost frail looking Fridigian with a look of mild shock crossing their features. Lightning quick, Alex lashed out with the buckler aiming to land a stunning blow to the face. His strike hit thin air as suddenly the Fridigian was a few feet away. Sparing the second it took to examine them, Alex found himself shaken to his core.

Councillor Gaet(P) lvl 380

Weeeell shit! He had expected a higher level, but this was beyond ridiculous. Why had Zareth not told them about Gaet’s high level before they went along with this stupid plan? But before his eyes he saw why. Gaet seemed to deflate a little and Alex watched as the display information changed.

Councillor Gaet lvl 105

The fuck? Their level visibly changed and they seemed to physically shrink a little. Recovering a little, Alex leapt from the box and stood ready next to Yas and Zareth, who both looked as shocked as he did.

Gaet looked at the trio with an almost sad look on their face. “Zareth, I am so very disappointed in you. I thought we had managed a perfect transition this time, and you were progressing so well…” Gaet looked at Yas next, “Ahh little Yas. This is most unlike you! When I had heard you had joined the defectors I was sure it was a simple misunderstanding on your part. But seeing you here? With THE outsider? It seems I owe my siblings on the lost bet.” Finally Gaet looked at Alex, the same way a predator looks at its prey. “And you… Alex, wasn’t it? And already so progressed in our ways! It seems almost a shame I will have to kill the first connected Nexian, but you cannot be allowed to interfere with things I’m afraid.” Alex never saw Gaet move, but suddenly found himself reeling from a number of powerful blows. Falling back, Alex’s vision blacked for a fraction of a second. That was enough time for Gaet to cross the gap and grab Alex by the throat.

Alex felt time slow, but not by his doing. From the corner of his eye he spotted a figure walking toward the melee. Focusing on the figure was impossible, as they seemed to almost vanish and reappear constantly. Similar to Adareth, Alex felt a pressure in his mind.

You appear to be in a pickle dear boy. Unlike my softer sibling, I do not generally feel the need to interpose myself into mundane actions, as despite what happens, MY realm will always remain. However, you have intrigued me. You have drawn more on my power than any other living being outside my realm ever has before, and you have willingly paid my tithes to do so. It has been literally forever since anything has managed to take away my boredom so effectively, and I would like to see where you could end up. This nasty being is obviously not who they appear to be, and I dislike unfair fights. I temporarily grant you my blessing, and depending on the outcome of this fight i may allow you to keep some of its perks.

Blessing of Chronos: Chronos removes the limitations imposed on your connection to their realm, allowing greater drawing on their power.

Use this well, impress me with your thinking, and like Adareth I may have need of your services in my realm.

Alex felt the pressure recede and the figure vanished, leaving time stopped, but under his control now. Even frozen, Alex could feel the pressure Gaet was putting on his neck, and he was unsure how to get out of this situation even with Chronos’ blessing. Checking the drain his Stoppage was using, Alex saw that Chronos had completely negated the tithe aspect, and cut the usage back to be in line with his boosted regen, meaning that for this battle he could fully manipulate time without worry. That, he could work with.

Alex focused on the feeling he had when he reversed time during his little workout scheme, that was meant to lead to him grinding up his power the old fashioned way. He felt himself slide out of his body, and watched as Gaet reversed away from Alex back to their original location. In reverse, Alex watched how Gaet had moved faster than he could see to land the stunning series of blows that had rocked him so badly. He slowed down even more to watch how the blows came in exactly, committing their sequence to memory. He replayed the scene a dozen times until he felt he had the exact flow down, then put himself back into normal time flow just as Gaet was finishing up his stupid little monologue. Timing it juuuuuust right, Alex interrupted the last few words Gaet was aiming at him.

“...allowed to interfere with thi…”

“Yeah yeah yeah, not allowed to interfere with things, got it. Now are you going to throw those cheap shots at me like you plan to, or just stand there like a massive dick?”