Another nine days passed since the temporal visit, time the girls spent immersing themselves in normal routines. With how simple things had gotten in that time, it was all too easy to feel relaxed.

Through that time, Axln devoted her time to her studies, with her efforts landing her with a base reading comprehension even without her circlet. She had even adjusted her speech to a really believable accent, she had all of the sounds down really well. In turn, her studies had shifted more to a research of instrumentation and elements, possibly her weakest areas of knowledge at this point. Considering she had a knack for revising the function of an instrument so long as the principles flowed correctly, it was obvious that her understanding of the extent of such principles was a limitation of her own abilities. However, as the greatest expert in the Terran Mythos in the world by virtue alone of having lived a life with such technology, she was spending quite a lot of time with archivers who had questions of their own records. It didn’t help that, after all this time, the mythos had really lost track of reality, overall feeling far more like a strange science fiction than what she had really experienced. That was not to say that she was ignorant to such fictions made reality though, the starlight citadel was still pretty much that made real. Luna had even started offering rift transit to the citadel so that they could unload that treasure cache she had found, a brand new vault of the archives made simply for the storage and research of the stuff found there.

Xwyhr had even shown up at a point, taking Axln out shopping as had originally been promised. Since then, Axln had unexpectedly found herself the proud owner of what was being called a cell. The small communications instrument was also a research utility, clearly similar to the cellphones back on earth.. the similarity of name possibly not being a coincidence. The similarities ended pretty quickly after that though, the instrument being far too advanced for the name. The thing was about as information exposed as a holo, able to take readings and scans, she hadn’t even yet figured out the full extent of its capabilities either. Sure, she had to actually physically carry it, but the thing was completely in tune with the elements, it was an actual multi-tool device.. instrument.. whatever. Such a novelty took a lot of her attention, even though Xwyhr still had plenty else to show her. It seems Axln’s sister was a cosmetology student, actively researching cosmic bodies of the stars. Axln had to wonder though if Xwyhr was finding such studies boring, because the girl had honestly started spending quite a lot of opportunities to instead just casually go places around the academy to simply spend time with her, doing nothing actually important. As a result at least, Axln had gotten really used to the layout of the entire academy, exploring new areas each night and day.

Lyun meanwhile had been finding plenty of opportunities to do her own tinkering. One of her most ambitious projects had been to work upon the power armor suits they had found. The things were a marvel of instrumentation, with a lot of key units that processed functions even she remained unaware of. However, everything was so bulky, the scatter of instruments packed into a density of metal that felt more like space padding. Even without deducing what stuff could do, everything could be dramatically compressed, units the size of her hand reduced to a sliver of the size. Most of the processing occurred in the base unit, a tiny thing that took almost no space at all, so much space was wasted simply in elemental saturation. The thing used some of the worst capacitors she had ever seen, not even using a decent kyuemu shard. Simply reducing the areas around instruments broke down the size of everything to being little more in size than the shard and core themselves, like really tiny buttons. The bulky metals were yet another thing. Of course, it was obvious that the purpose was to provide protection, but such expensive metals were just simply inefficient, even rather slow. Sure, it was an appeal of the Mythos, but she had seen real mythos protection, either a holo’s kinetic factor or a sheet of metal that had a visibly low destiny factor. In fact, she had worked with cybernetics, core metals that could compact material durability at a very light density. If such protection wasn’t as light as casual clothes without compromising in this current durability, it wasn’t good enough. More so, crystal composites were perfectly okay, there was much more she could do with some good minerals than some difficult metals anyway. At least, that’s how things were here.

Across the temporal plane, Rosa was perfectly fine working with metals that were far more usable on this side. Helping out with some of the construction efforts was actually proving to be a bit of fun, even if her projects were far more small scale than the buildings the others were practically printing out in volume. The ruins were already cleared up, a lot of the base infrastructure for basic buildings in place, several core buildings already done. The area even had an OSIDF barrier set up to protect against the cold. What was missing then was basic accommodations for daily living, leaving her the chance to assemble some rather interesting machines to help with basic comforts. Her first machine was little more than an ionic lamp, something Tristine had helped her figure out, something Drew had even complimented her on for the really sleek design. However, it wasn’t as if she had nearly as much opportunity to focus upon things like this as she had on the other side.. as Lyun had. Getting even that distinction in her head was a rough process, but it wasn’t the only thing she had to learn.

Just like Axln, Rosa had plenty she had to study just to fit in properly. What was making that especially clear was how HyperTech’s official blueprints actually came with substantial documentation.. stuff she couldn’t even read. Holi had been around to help with that, but it was proving to be really awkward. To deal with such problems, Rosa had been taking a lot of her time working with Holi to actually try to improve her vocal and reading skills, to catch up to the quality Axln was capable of. She had at least made good progress on the accent, a thing she even tried to practice as Lyun while working over there, but reading was a lot harder. When it came to matters of relevant lessons though, what she was absolutely fascinated by was lessons of the sciences. Biology, chemistry, physics, the laws of this world. She had thought the eight elements of the other world were in depth, to think this world had over a hundred. As a result, she had the periodic table of elements memorized before she knew the alphabet.

Kori had meanwhile spent time looking around the ruins, having her nanites assist her in the search. It was like talking a walk into the past, seeing a scene from before the conduits had simply given up. The place was quite the serious stronghold, titanium alloys reinforcing barricades around decommissioned ionic laser battery towers, a weapon which would have caused some serious damage to invaders. Further in, she even found a plasma particle cannon turret. The whole thing was like some kind of war museum. Her surveillance proved very useful for all of the construction efforts, though she did try to help out with a few more direct things, mostly still in measures of planning. She had noticed that Drew had become especially busy, and not all of that was him remaining focused upon construction supervision, the guy was actually being quite secretive in most of his spare time. Tristine had at least let Kori know that such was pretty normal of the guy, he almost always had his own personal projects to work upon, though he wasn’t usually so closed-door about it all.

By far, the hardest part about shuffling between worlds was sustaining a decent amount of sleep. It might have been nine days, which would classically be eighteen cycles of wake and sleep, but with each side having different definitions of when either would occur, it proved difficult to stay adjusted. The two of them spent a lot of time sleeping while people worked, even occasionally sleeping during the times both worlds were sharing a waking state. Left in such a daze, each girl had to often take a moment to recall which of their two selves they happened to be at that time, which world they actually were currently in, which laws currently applied. Shifting rapidly between the laws of two different worlds, they were also left in a flux of the two different schedules, making it harder to keep track of both time and space. The warning they had in the temporal plane was no joke, trying to keep up awareness on this stuff was no easy task.

In line with the same lesson, it was also stressful that they were having troubles building an awareness of more than just the four of the two, they had made no progress on the one of the two either. The original impressions they had of the link held between each other had faded too, they weren’t blending into silent messages anymore, in fact they couldn’t figure out how to do it anymore either. There weren’t any signs of the aforementioned chaotic abilities either. The one thing they had noticed was that they were having a few different compulsions to unleash chaos, and it was happening with a bit of a growing frequency. Axln could just very well command the temporal like it was nanites, wouldn’t that make her research even easier? Lyun knew that instruments were empowered by the void, couldn’t then the temporal give her an indisputable edge? Rosa meanwhile could shape so much from a frost mold that would then be so easy to take down. Kori in turn would have no problems safely researching dangerous equipment, such a thing wouldn’t be able to hurt her at all. Constantly turning away from the voice from without, they were unable to hear the voice from within.

So by the dusk of the ninth day, Axln was both exhausted and restless. Her timepiece read that it was 24 moments into the evening, specifically 24:73e. Morning, afternoon, evening, night, each was a hundred moments long, with each moment a hundred instants. She had this system down to an art. It was so distinct, but it tracked the same rate of time as Aestus did, just with different units. Over there, at this time, it was pretty much a good opportunity to get some rest. Lyun herself was already on that, considering how much work Rosa had just recently finished accomplishing. Axln meanwhile had only just recently got back from a call from her sister, the energy proving a bit too contagious. It had appeared that Xwyhr was currently trying to study for a big test, and so thus had quite the volume to say about an unfair curriculum. Considering how hard Axln herself was studying of late, she couldn’t really offer much sympathy. It had however taken the better part of ten moments to actually convince Xwyhr that it might be more productive to study than to complain about it, even if the girl had only taken that as reasons for clearing her mind instead of being stuck on the problem.

In the midst of trying to find rest out of the whole ordeal, pondering her complaints of circumstances upon her pillow, Axln suddenly realized she wasn’t doing any better than her own sister. In that light.. actually maybe Xwyhr had the right idea after all. Axln picked up an ashen protector instrument from the archives and left the academy, finding a quiet place in the middle of nowhere. Sitting upon an ashen dune, she just looked around at the vast expanse of scenery around her. The white ashen looked a lot like snow in this environment, but sitting around it proved it had a few more things in common with sand. The stuff was basically a thin white powder, almost like flour. However, she knew it was pretty deadly stuff, the kyuemu ash really was ash of the void, the stuff left when no life remained. Compared to her arm though, the stuff was actually gentle, it wasn’t as devoid of the elements. Such was exactly like the contrast on the other side, the snow was deadly cold, but it wasn’t as cold as absolute zero. If she didn’t have her instrument, she could probably manage a moment.. maybe even two.. before she got sick. As things stood, with her instrument, she would have all the time she might need.

By then it was only 28:16e, with her relaxing in the ashen just staring out into the bleak wilderness. A desolation, there was nothing to look at, but being occupied with the process left her nothing else to reflect upon. Zoning out though, she did catch herself reflecting upon how her arm could always bring more comforts like this if she did so wish. Of course, like all her other considerations, she dismissed that one too. It was perfectly okay if nothing happened right now, things were good just the way they were. Checking the time again, she found it was now 34:59e. Thankfully feeling a lot more relaxed, she decided that it might be a good opportunity to go back, maybe get some actual rest. Getting up and brushing the ashen away from her attire, she turned back towards the academy. As she did so, the ashen drifted past her from behind, a burst of white saturating outwards from behind her. Alarmed at the familiarity, she spun around to determine what had happened.

Towering behind her was an amalgamation of shapeless white, the ashen below it drained away until nothing remained. This horror advanced towards her, very clearly curious about her, somehow compelled. Despite all fears, Axln could feel a growing sense of familiarity with the monstrosity, a compulsion to just give in to it. Such compulsions were more horrifying than the abomination before her, as she was aware of what such could imply. This was an entity of chaos, the origins of her mark, and it resolved beyond the temporal plane as an aspect of absolute void. Such a thing was capable of two things if she let it, it could either corrupt her into sharing in its own chaos or it could simply consume her and leave no remains. If neither suited her tastes, which was certainly the case, her options were to fight or flee. If she fled, someone else would have to continue her fight for her, and certainly that would be a problem too.

“Luna, I need your help!” “Inheritor, how can I be of service?” “That thing is a problem, I need it dealt with.” “I’m sorry, but there is a considerable collateral damage potential in this area. Addressing such a threat remains difficult as a result.” “Superweapons aren’t as good on a small scale, great.” “Rift sequencer operational, calibrating sequencer. Providing filtration of core unit, cross-weaving discharge process. Deploying the core at limited capacity.” “Wait, what?” Axln looked up at the citadel as it blinked a momentary shine, Luna having assigned a suitable target. A rift appeared not far above the collection of void, with a surge of purple force smashing down upon it, the radius of the blast controlled using a rift. Once the purple flames vanished, they were both able to witness such an act had only made the thing mad. A wave of void washed forwards towards Axln, Luna raising up a barrier generated also by rift. The barrier shattered on impact. Axln blocked the remaining strike with her ashen arm, the threat of the void negated by her arm, but the force of the impact persisted, throwing her a distance away. Getting up from the kyuemu ash, Axln knew she was in trouble. She could probably escape with Luna’s help, but then what? That would leave the thing to wander towards the nearby academy.. which would not fare any better. Actually, if someone was going to leave, did it really have to be her?

“Luna, if destroying the thing is too difficult, have it removed. You’re already doing portals through the atmosphere, can you rift it into deep space?” “The fortress can only submit rifts with itself as one of the endpoints, this process would require containing the target and then providing it with an exit it would willingly pass through.” For having such an impressive reserve of power, Axln was starting to worry that Luna’s stuff wasn’t as omnipotent as it had originally seemed. This left Axln to try her best to simply dodge a couple more sudden attacks bursting out in waves as the thing sludged towards her. However, of all the worst circumstances, it was at this point her cell decided to go off, someone was trying to get her attention.

“This really isn’t a good time.” “I can see that.” “What? Xwyhr.. why?” “I so happened to have decided to take my own break in our observatory. Seeing the citadel spark like that, it was pretty obvious you were up to something. The purple rush was a pretty decorative sign where to look next.” “... and this is still a bad time.” Axln stumbled as she tried to dodge another sweeping attack while holding a conversation with Xwyhr, the cell going flying at that point. She eventually cared to recover it, hearing further conversation on the other side. “... and from what I could tell such a thing was all pure void.” “Yes, that’s why I’m busy trying to dodge it.” “That’s the point, that thing is so clearly ashen, it just wouldn’t have been the right…” Xwyhr got cut off again as Axln was left to fumble the cell again, this time having the thing dive into the ashen. Luna was having little problem, making intuitive uses of rifts to easily step out of reach, the lucky woman. Axln herself was left with little more than the mundane to her help.. except for possibly that cell. She eventually managed to recover it, dusting it off.

“You dropped me, didn’t you?” “Surviving is more important than staying on the call.” “Right, of course, but I think ignorance isn’t doing you any good either. You do know how the void works, right?” “Huh, wait, what?” “Hells, Axln, void does nothing to void. Void exists when elements do not. This is really easy stuff.” Xwyhr had been trying to tell Axln that the purple strike used before was itself also attributed to the void, or at least related to it. Such a thing erased elements.. which then did nothing to actual void. Luna hadn’t actually considered such factors at all, and Axln was still generally lacking in her research of the elements. However, in this moment of distraction, Axon failed to dodge the next strike, a sweeping strike landing strongly upon her lower right leg in a flash of pain. A lot of the color of her leg vanished in that instant, and she found it impossible to stand upon. She was now wide open.

“Hey, jerk, leave her alone. Come get me instead, I’m a lot more fun.” Lyun was there too at that point, dashing around the field. The thing did a burst sweep in her direction, only for her to go straight up.. and float there. Faint glistens of crystals protruded in sparse areas around her entire body, the various pieces forming a thin sheen over her entire body with a few additional added winglets for her shoulders and a ring sitting on her head like a crown. The addition of a dense belt and shiny boots, in total it was a huge reduction from the original power armor. However, she still knew very little about what most of the instruments were for, she had only identified one. This thing had come with a gift amplifier, of all things, supposedly such having been important back in the day. She hadn’t had much practice with her gift before, but she really didn’t have anything better on hand. Focusing upon the amplifier, she came down on the thing with a flurry of frost, a glimmer of blue slashing over the otherwise pure white.

A large mass of the thing simply fell away and vanished as a result of the impact, with Axln watching in turn. An ice strike, such a thing seemed so obviously efficient upon the fiend only thriving by its lack of elements. However, Lyun herself got too confident in her moment. Lashing out in pain, the thing hit her square on, a direct hit across the middle of her chest, the crystals shuttering at the impact. The whole structure was mighty enough to withstand the blow.. but the white mark left behind covered a vast area of her upper torso. As vital areas of her body stopped functioning, Lyun flopped to the ground, completely unconscious and dying. All too obvious, she would be dead within the moment.. if it didn’t consume her instead.

Axln stared at Lyun’s fallen figure, a concept with more horror than the fiend who caused it. No, no, this couldn’t be happening, there was no way. There had to be another way. Her arm glinted in that moment, it was totally willing to open another door to another possibility, as long as she herself was willing to pay the price. She screamed in the turmoil of agony such instigation left her, the words of the temporal lady haunting her. Succumb, and everything is lost, it was an invitation to pay an even worse price. The result was then to not only watch Lyun drift towards death, but also to do so knowing that she had to do as much as possible to resist saving her. If it wasn’t by her own ability, it was a price she could not pay. That however was asking too much, it was beyond her to simply reshape the circumstances that she had been left to, to simply go back and redeem herself.

Or was it? Was she really so certain?