After a quick lunch break, Kori and Rosa returned to the outpost to touch base with Velvet. Velvet had still wanted to discuss the entire encounter as a whole, though wasn’t feeling inclined to hospitality during lunch itself.

“Why is Holi here too?” “Because Holi is always around. Why is Velvet having problems with Holi now?” “Rosa, I mean no offense. You just sort of missed what had happened back there.” “Do you mean the part about the bike, or the part about the cross-fire barrage?” “Nevermind. Going back to our original discussion from before that DMA conflict, that was, again, still just a scouting party. Things will only get worse from here, enough to make it seem like that battle was easy.” “Holi did make it seem very easy.” “That was only 7 of their weakest. The worst part is that once they start coming in force, there isn’t much to actually stop the tide. Not opening Pandora's box in the first place, that might have prevented so much of this, Mary and I were really striving for such a perfect solution. Now, everything has become far more complicated.” Velvet paused for a moment to compile her thoughts, leaving Rosa to wonder upon the very subject. How exactly does one stop all of this chaos, anyway?

“The first DMA appeared near Diamond Falls. You may recognize the value of such a place too. These things are not just wandering here on their own, they are following one of their own, tracking their frontrunner in this whole operation. You two have become their beacon into our society, with Mary contending with the same base principle on her planet. It doesn’t even matter if such was of your own will or not, you can’t even stop simply being their beacon anymore. As long as their beacon remains, they will just keep coming.. in greater and more dangerous waves.” “You make it sound as if this is only solved by our death.” “Kori, if your death would have solved anything, I would have let you die when that thing tried to crush you. Even your death does not stem the tide, because the beacon is only a part of who you are. Having both of you around, you share the weight of the beacon. If one of you perished, the other would be eventually consumed by it. If you both perished, that still wouldn’t remove the beacon. The beacon is one of their own that walks with you at all times, is basically a part of you both simultaneously. It is linked to you both, but remains safely behind each of you. If we could simply annihilate it, then we might find safety.” Velvet sighed, visibly finding this very difficult, and leaving Kori to interpret what was being implied at the same time. This beacon, that would be the being they both shared. Did Velvet then have a plan to remove such a binding from them?

“So if you were thinking I was asking a lot before, I expect being asked to both walk together into a thermal core, to be consumed by a whole lot of energy.. that might be asking for a lot. Alternatively, if you’re willing to save people but would rather not the quick death, we could send you two far into deep space. Sure, you would probably still obliterate another star or two eventually as a result, but that wouldn’t leave billions of lives on your conscience. There is a potential third solution, but that one is a lot more complicated.” “More complex than dying?” “Most things are more complicated than dying, that’s always the easier solution. The hardest part about the third solution is not knowing if it will work, or even how to make it work. When you consider how much sacrifice will be needed either way, it’s probably a good start to consider which of the first two plans are your favourite.” So, no matter what, Velvet was expecting Kori to make significant sacrifices in order to appease the concern over such a beacon concept. Velvet wasn’t kidding, this really was asking for a lot.

“Uh, yeah, sorry, do you even know how ridiculous you sound? Asking for us to die, or asking for us to willingly accept exile from everything we know. Have you ever stopped to consider how you would answer such a question?” “Considering my mother faced the first and I had to accept the second, it has been historically a family question already.” “Wait, aren’t you some bigshot from Aerospace’s collective? Pretty sure that’s a quite cushy form of exile, then.” “I did what I had to, to get the resources I needed to be here today. Everything else was sacrificed long ago in the process. There is no chance of getting anything done without sacrifice, that’s a lesson you’ll be learning soon enough.. one way or another.” Rosa had no idea what Velvet was explicitly not saying, but all of this secrecy was making it really hard to trust anyone. It certainly wasn’t enough to compel her to such extreme sacrifices, either. Kori wasn’t exactly impressed either, but Velvet hardly seemed surprised. In fact, it seemed as if they weren’t expected to come up with answers right away. Regardless, this did put a damper on everyone’s mood, Kori and Rosa didn’t even want to be there anymore. Bringing their quick meeting to a close, Kori and Rosa quickly left the outpost, with Holi silently travelling just behind them.

“Hells, that woman is impossible, I swear.” “Well, we never came here expecting to see eye to eye, anyway. We came for a bit more information.. and maybe to fight some chaotic freaks. At least everyone seems to agree about that one part.” “‘...one way or another…’ By the divine, it’s like she thinks we’ll keep going and suddenly be all like ‘oh, yes, I suddenly feel like I’m the source of all the world’s evil, please do away with me, I simply can’t take this life any longer.’” “Well, you are getting very emotional right now. I would have to agree, though, giving up just doesn’t sit well with me, and I really couldn’t think that the linchpin to the whole chaotic invasion would rest solely in the hands of two people. They have a lot of information, but they clearly don’t know everything if this is what they have come up with. I mean, even giving them the benefit of the doubt, that we’re being some kind of beacon of evil here.. getting rid of said beacon does not get rid of the temporal rips that already exist. Thinking about it that way, the most such thinking would achieve.. would be to slow things down a little as the temporal chaos resolves its confusion. I’m simply not compelled to share in their recklessness of a solution that honestly doesn’t even seem sound.” Rosa was still steaming, but having Kori’s support was at least having her calm down a bit.

“The hard question though is then what we should do next. It’s pretty close to dusk now, we had originally made plans to actually get some combat training. It means having to deal with Mheridz next, but that’s a complicated matter too. Supposedly, the other side is going to face off against an attack like the one we had here come dawn, and I don’t think running from that fight would be the smartest move we could make either. However, we both saw, having no idea what we’re doing in combat is probably a problem worth solving. Considering such, I’m of the opinion to take her up on her offer. Rightfully, I expect she will probably have plenty of ridiculous nonsense to confuse us with too, but that’s probably unavoidable. If the two of them really believe us to be the cornerstone that holds our enemies together, they will constantly be searching for ways to enlighten us to their insanity. At the very least, I like this diplomatic version a lot more than their tactical aggression. We’ve even managed to collect more information from them than we might have had otherwise, which had been the original point in all of this. I’ve quite honestly got an idea I would like to try as well, a bit of revenge for all of this secrecy, if you will. What do you think?” Kori really had a point that was difficult to dispute, avoiding the offer of training really wouldn’t make sense either. Rosa thus nodded her silent agreement. First though, they would probably want to find a decent enough place to get some rest, after a long day it was about to become a long dusk. It would be more time suspended sleeping hours, but Rosa knew that was just going to become a thing like all the time now. Holi meanwhile would be returning to HT in their absence, making sure the place was safe while they were gone. Considering the display Holi had put on before, the two were quite certain Holi had everything under control.

After their extended instant of rest, Lyun turned to face their next trial. This was going to be a foundry outpost, not exactly the sort of place she marvelled to be a part of. Foundry training, there really was something dirty about all of this. Mostly though, she was worried about their host. Velvet was a handful, but Lyun was certain that Velvet was still the easier of the two to handle. Considering how poorly their departure had gone with Velvet, that was saying something. This had been a concern that had troubled her while waiting for time to finally resume, after her sleep had concluded. Actually seeing the sight of the place before her, she was absolutely positive her concerns were well founded. Axln however looked to be of much better spirits, very visibly with a plan circling around her thoughts. So as to not get in Axln’s way, Lyun followed just behind as the two of them made their way into this new outpost. The place was filled with wardens, although fortunately Lyun did not see the one she recognized. The guy had followed Mheridz here, so she had expected Zxyd would be a part of this mess too.

“So I take it you two have decided to take me up on my offer for some actual training.” “Our day with Velvet was an absolute disaster. We were quite fortunate that our latest retry actually panned out well enough. Living the same disaster more than once made it especially grueling, though I wouldn’t say that my call to provide us with such an opportunity was ill founded.” “My, sounds like Vael really did fumble that one.” “Oh, yes, she was an absolute case through it all. Being so emotional though did make the experience a bit more enlightening at least. As you know, she could be so unguarded when stressed, so it was great to finally get to hear the great secret finally exposed. You could tell she was pretty uncomfortable about it in the end, but at least that’s one subject we won’t need to dance around anymore.” “Foolish girl, always panicking far too quickly. I hope you would understand at least the reasons for such secrecy, now that you know about our coming from your future. Speaking too much of the future could have…” Mheridz stopped as she noticed the wide-eyed look Axln simply could not hide. Lyun herself was staring in her own disbelief in just the same way, but her disbelief was compounded by just how easy Axln had made that whole thing work. The whole secret neither had been sharing the whole time.. it was because both of them had come from the future?

“Vael hadn’t spoken about such after all, then. There wouldn’t be any other secret the girl would have worked to cover up, so I take it your whole act was nothing but a ruse. Well played, I admit your victory in that round, though deduction had always been one of your strong suits. In my younger years and your wiser years, it certainly hasn’t been the first time for me. Considering that I’m supposed to be the one with more wisdom and knowledge both right now, you being even younger than I am at this point of time, it’s still more than a bit embarrassing to have been outplayed like that. Maybe that is simply what I get for underestimating you. As I was saying though, I hope you still do understand the reasons for such secrecy. Being from the future, there are a number of things which would be problematic if we were being a bit too vocal about. Trying to change the future, the most important thing is to control information that results in possible futures. As such, please do not ask questions about specific particulars in the future that you might wish to learn more about. Getting such knowledge from the future would almost be cheating in that light, such would be far better for you to learn in a more natural way.” Mheridz was the one looking pretty uncomfortable with her sudden defeat, but she was at least trying to stay rational about it. Lyun and Axln hadn’t done very much with time themselves, but they at least had seen enough to measure that there was a principle in being slightly guarded about things that had not happened yet. However, the benefits were undeniable, future knowledge did provide an enhanced awareness of circumstances that could in turn yield any number of distinct advantages.

“So that’s how you always seemed to know too much, for you it was just a study of history.” “Yes, I admit that my being from the future was pretty much the entire resource that provided my fortune to get me into the foundry in the first place. History can be vague about certain things, but I’ve tried to be a good study.” “And the reason you knew so much about us…” “That gets rather complicated, but yes, I’ve happened to spend a lot of time with the future version of you both. The version of you over twenty five years wiser has a few differences, but it really isn’t that hard to recognize the similarities. Actually, considering how often you two are going to be extending time, I suspect it may be much more than just twenty five years of experience.” “Wait, right, going back in time with my ability wouldn’t be hard, so.. you both did it using my power? Why? How? No one here is able to go back in time.. wait, Velvet was within the area I was slowing time down, and she wasn’t affected at all.” “Vael and I got.. imbued by a small trace of the same mark you both have. It really wasn’t much in comparison, but it was at least enough so that we could slip through time too. For us though, the trip was decidedly one way, we didn’t come by our own power, we certainly can’t go back. But we were still the only ones who could make the trip.” Axln noticed Mheridz pause for a moment, clearly thinking about how to phrase things. So there was a lot of future nonsense involved then, that was itself interesting.

“Depending on how much you’ve already tried your ability, you may have noticed some odd quirks about it. Going back in time, you are still the future version of yourself in the past. So, if you got injured, going back in time would not prevent the injury. Meanwhile, if you tried going back to before the whole mark occurred in the first place, you would find you simply didn’t have access to do so because the version of you from then could not have done it. I have no idea if you’ve tried it yet, but the friends you lost back on that first day, they would then be unreachable, as they perished before you had the authority to save them. If you were to be so kind as to consider going back to when the book was taken, and stopping that whole incident, you would simply be bringing your state of having read the book back to that new time, yielding nothing. To make certain things change then, there was demand for involving others. At this time, the authentic version of me has not even been born yet, so I’m not even here replacing myself, I’m a brand new addition to a timeline I don’t even exist in, much like how Axln came to be too. Unlike Axln though, my existence can only continue until that clause is invalidated, once the past me is born, I’ll be wiped from existence. You have then used your ability to send each of us back in time to the earliest moment available to you, and from there we’ve worked to try and strive for a better future.” Mheridz sounded very sullen in this reflection, the obvious weight of obligation having left a mark of its own.

“Was.. was that what Velvet was saying about sacrifice? She, and you both.. you both have sacrificed your entire existence just to bring about a better future.” “Yes, exactly. It will be a future neither of us will see, but if we change the timeline, the version of us that gets to live it will actually get to have a much better future than we experienced. Considering the state of the world when we left, I highly suspect I wouldn’t have lived this long had I remained, so all of my time is borrowed anyway. One more solar cycle, even just one more year, it’s a blessing in itself.” “Maybe.. I shouldn’t have thought so harshly of her in this, then. It sounds like she’s had a lot of sacrifices to deal with, both of you.” “I admit she probably had things a lot worse, considering she got the chance to see her mother die before we left. It wasn’t the best of deaths, and that’s probably putting a lot of weight on her.” “She was saying at the same time that we won’t be in the position to avoid our own sacrifices either.” “No, I expect not, considering things in detail.” “I don’t know though, I think you two must have been crazy, throwing everything away like this. I don’t think I could have done it myself.” “Ah, so she was discussing long term solutions then, stuff full of sacrifice.” “Die, throw ourselves as far from the world as possible, or.. I forget, she said there was a third solution.. but…” “.. but she stopped saying it considering the details it would involve.” Lyun paused in her reflection, realizing that Mheridz was completely correct. Velvet had avoided the third solution, which had only made Lyun.. made Rosa feel worse about everything.

“The third solution involves trying everything yet another time. Like I said though, if you two went back, it would ruin the whole point, the book would have already been read. If instead you sent us back, we could have another chance to stop you. However, even a second chance alone.. we still might only fail. Our only chance would be to make sure that we have enough preparation to ensure that your whole plan could instead fall apart. The exact hiding place of the book would be the most useful piece of information, as that was my biggest struggle through the entire process. Details on tracking you would make slowing you down a lot easier, and any insight on advantages against you would work even better. I expect Vael would have a few things she would love to know too, but I don’t know what exactly she might have struggled with. Don’t worry, much like then, I don’t have anything personally against you, just the future that results along this path. If we can prevent it, I’ll make sure that you’re left with plenty of prosperity. I mean, once I’m gone, either of you are welcome to everything I own anyway.” Mheridz pulled up her sleeve, exposing that bracelet they had seen earlier during the same incident mentioned, something which was visibly exceptionally meaningful to her.

“The hand of fate, the mark the four of us shared when we started making promises about discovering a better future. It was Axln’s idea, though Lyun had personally made our bracelets. It was something the four of us had promised to endure to the bitter end, across two worlds. Now, I know, the future version of you is not the same thing as the present you, you’ve promised nothing. This is why I approach you understanding that you aren’t bound by the same oaths we are, you have your own decisions to make. After all, I have no idea what happens to a timeline that is left behind when we change the past, you could be leaving this entire timeline to oblivion as everything is rewritten. You could also be sending us back to change your own fate, your last ticket to happiness, and be left otherwise to continue this tragic timeline as it plays out in full. Even if such futility isn’t enough to draw you into despair, you would have to actively help us in betraying you simply to accomplish these goals, an idea that is challenging for most to achieve with their sanity still intact. Possibly the worst part, we’re asking you to simply give up and fix everything for you, because you can’t. I say that too, knowing you for as long as I have, neither of you have been the best at giving up like that, which is why I know that winning you over will not be easy. However, as tragedy continues to blossom across both worlds, as you find nothing but despair in your futures, you will come to terms with such inevitable suffering. The pain you will face will be ongoing, and it will last until you sacrifice your will and entrust your future to us.” Mheridz picked up a few things from a nearby shelf, dusting off her long coat and started walking out of the outpost. Having such a shift happen unexpectedly, the two other girls were caught off guard and looked at each other in their confusion.

“Of course, this is then something you can worry about while we deal with other important matters. You two had come to me to get some actual training, not to hear the musings of the future. We’ve still got an unwanted guest this dawn to deal with, and I certainly can’t have you both screwing things up, right? Until you two are ready to finally surrender to us, we’ll have to just keep fighting. The first step is, of course, learning how to fight at all. Training is going to begin right away, just out in the dust of the ashen void. Make sure you’re both ready, I have no plans to make this easy for either of you.” With that Mheridz was gone, leaving the two girls scrambling to catch up. In all of this talk of timelines and sacrifices, they had actually forgotten this was the original reason they had shown up in the first place. Axln was already feeling everything was a huge success, they had learned so much about what was actually going on. Having an awareness of their circumstances really did make quite the difference. Now, Mheridz was not wrong, she wasn’t in the least bit sold on this crazy sacrificial plan, even Lyun seemed to be feeling as dissatisfied with it as she did herself. However, at least knowing the perspective of these two made it easier to wrap their heads around what was going on. With that out of the way, they could face their training with fresh minds filled with their complete resolve.

The two of them would then meet up with Mheridz soon after off in the ashen dunes, where their training would begin in earnest. The dusk had still only just begun, there would be plenty of time to fill with even more knowledge and awareness.