Amdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic

Their ice cream feast had passed in silence for a time. When she finally started speaking, Amdirlain kept to the safe subject of monitoring devices to tag mortals brought into the Abyss. Then it slowly became a logistical discussion about a planar network of the crystals and what items those rescuing the mortals would need.

Whenever Amdirlain rambled about matters on which Sarah couldn’t provide input, she nodded like a wild bobblehead until Amdirlain snorted with laughter and moved along. As the table had emptied of tubs, it had gained an assortment of crystals crafted from psionics or song. Abandoning her Human form, Sarah had stretched out on the floor, her internal glow illuminating the chamber like a 70’s disco.

“Got your breath back?” asked Sarah after Amdirlain had paused.

Sighing, Amdirlain warily considered Sarah before she finally nodded.

“Alright, we’ll save further discussion on your 1984 big brother network for later. More importantly, what’s the biggest source of your pain? What thought keeps coming up?”

Exhaling hard, Amdirlain rocked on heels briefly before she answered. “He didn’t trust me enough to contact me.”

“Where does that lead you?”

“I hid so many big secrets from him. Why should he have trusted me?”

“Were you going to tell him?” asked Sarah, her tone softening.

“Trust yourself to go back into psychologist mode?” enquired Amdirlain.

The question earned a head waggle. “I’m better than I was, and I’ll tread as lightly as possible.”

Amdirlain sat beside Sarah’s sprawled form and leaned back against her side. “I’d let him know I had secrets I’d share as soon as I was free from the Planar Lock.”

Coiling her neck around, Sarah rested her head on the ground close enough that the warmth of her exhalations washed over Amdirlain’s legs. “That’s healthy. You admitted you held important secrets in your partnership but had given him a clear timeline for when you’d share them. Orhêthurin—to my knowledge at least—never planned to talk about her secrets with anyone that didn’t already know them.”

“Did Orhêthurin do something to your Soul to prevent others from hearing knowledge from your Song?” asked Amdirlain. “I thought I’d be able to hear it, but parts are missing.”

Sarah hesitated. “Yes, she did. You got rid of the vines, but do you know what other events weakened her yet?”

“Events? I figured there was at least one besides the vines' growth. I got a memory of the trial, and she felt weaker than when she had faced down Tia about your right to exist. Not Class or Skill weakened, but there wasn’t the same burning power inside her.”

“Tia?” laughed Sarah. “That makes her sound like a woman Orhêthurin was arguing with over something petty. I don’t know for sure if there were multiple events, but I know that the energy around Orhêthurin changed between one reincarnation cycle.”

“So you don’t know all her secrets?”

“No, I don’t. But, weirdly, you’re worried Torm had reasons not to trust you, and here I am keeping your ancient secrets from you. Where is your distrust of me?”

Amdirlain shrugged. “You told me you didn’t want to distort my understanding of events. You're my secret keeper, and I think how dragons access memories might be safer than how I'm recovering them.”

“Might Torm have also trusted that your secrets were yours to share or not? Does it feel you were being as open with him as you could?”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” replied Amdirlain.

“Was the timeline of the battle pretty tight?”

“Yes,” admitted Amdirlain, and she exhaled softly as grief washed across her again and tears burned in her eyes.

Sarah didn’t hurry on but waited quietly until Amdirlain calmed. “How proficient had Torm gotten with his Wizard Class?”

“It was still a work in progress,” stated Amdirlain, and she dug her fingers into her thighs. “He would have been fighting demons, and I’m going: ‘why didn’t he call me for help?’’, fuck I’m so pathetic.”

A claw tapped against the ground hard enough to cause a fracture, but Sarah’s consideration of her didn’t shift. “Would you call someone wounded and in pain pathetic?”

“No,” cried Amdirlain, and Sarah shifted position enough to press against her side, letting Amdirlain’s fingers dig into her scales as she wept for a time.

Sarah waited until Amdirlain’s crying had eased and drew back enough to watch her face.

“Did the Balor give you time to get Torm out once you knew the situation?”

Raking her fingers through her hair, Amdirlain shook her head. “He moved so fast, slammed into the ground, and then was a racecar’s afterimage even for me. One moment he shattered the compound’s wall, and he started to run, then the warehouse wall caved in, and it was only after the dust settled did I spot Caltzan’s remains.”

“Should we count that as no?”

“I remember your adamantine scales felt more comfortable to lean against,” evaded Amdirlain, and she shifted awkwardly against Sarah’s faceted hide. The scales around Sarah’s eyes lifted slightly, and Amdirlain sighed in defeat. “No, I had no time. I didn’t yet know enough True Song to pull them free from a distance, and the other combatants might have spotted me if I’d come nearer. I was trying to figure out what to do, and then the Balor acted, and I was out of time.”

“Did you know the troops trying to rescue them were just the first available?”

“No… but I figured they must have been,” whispered Amdirlain. As she slumped slightly, Sarah’s snout nuzzled her side, and her warm breath washed over Amdirlain comfortingly.

Sarah gave her another gentle nudge. “No one had time to react in a considered manner. Two of the involved deities are greater powers, and they think incredibly fast, darn multi-tasking minds. Is it fair to rate your reaction as inadequate against a Greater Power?”

“No,” Amdirlain admitted after a moment’s hesitation. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

“Alright. Do you feel this puts you in a better spot to take apart your bad self-talk? You trusted Torm to make his own choices, but none of us can control everything. Can you put more trust in yourself?”

“Maybe. Can we just sit for a bit?”

“Of course we can,” agreed Sarah.

Amdirlain sat relaxing in the quiet and ‌rubbed a hand along the ridgeline of Sarah’s snout. It was an hour before she spoke up. “Is it weird you being in a Dragon’s form feels right to me?”

“Neither of us is who we used to be; to me, a Dragon's form also feels right. I find a Human body so confining now.”

“Will you tell me about the Erakkö and their shapers?”

“They’re interesting people, but they're not an immediate priority. I’ll figure out a way to repay them, as while I didn’t want the Mantle, the connection to them helped. I heard the whispers of the faithful from it a lot clearer than you did in your grasslands,” replied Sarah. “Our mutual need for order and rules added a commonality of concern and brought me back to an even keel. Millions of hours of positive reinforcement can do wonders to one's perspective.”

“Ebusuku said things had gotten a little heated,” probed Amdirlain. "How were you handling things?”

“I was frustrated,” huffed Sarah, her massive lungs provided enough force into the last word that Amdirlain’s hair got the wind tunnel treatment. “With the Mantle, I couldn’t go help on Vehtë, and then I couldn’t even come here. I could have if I wanted to cause you more issues than I would have helped with; it added up, and I caught myself being sharp with her a few times. I knew she’d done it purely to help me as your friend; certainly, she had no reason to trust a Kyton with a Mantle.”

“But gaining the Mantle helped overall ?”

“After I got free from being a Kyton, it helped me find my balance, among other things. Recently though, not so good. I have the Oath to keep with you, and so I was stuck in a catch-22. As much as the Mantle helped me restore my balance and perspective, it sucked in that respect. Day after day it was pushing and gouging at me, and when things went pear-shaped, it was frecking painful.”

“Did it let you pick your punishment?” Amdirlain asked, and she pretended to flick a whip.

“Only in ripping the Mantle free, and I didn’t even have a safe word to call time out,” grumbled Sarah. “My presence here, with the Mantle representing a bigger danger to you, was all that let me keep things moving and stay clear.”

“Sounds uncomfortable. Did the Mantle’s nature make it hard to separate yourself?” asked Amdirlain, and she raised an eyebrow when Sarah hesitated.

“Yes, but let's focus on your plans. They’re more important than a bit of discomfort.”

“What did it cost you?” persisted Amdirlain, and she leaned forward to briefly cup Sarah’s snout.

“I’ll have to regain some levels, an achievement, plus restore the level of a Grand Master Power that dropped a full rank,” admitted Sarah. “But then, you need to gain a Tier 7, so we’re in the same boat.”

“Ouch, and we’re not in the same boat; I used my achievement up. What Power?”

“Mineral Control,” rumbled Sarah, and she flicked a claw dismissively. “Ebusuku said you wanted to cost Moloch profits and stop the damned from forming demons or producing goods? Is that still the goal, or did your sweet alone time with Erwarth change things?”

Amdirlain leaned forward again to swat Sarah’s nose lightly, gaining an amused chuff. “It is the goal, but I also want to reset this Plane of the Abyss.”

“That’s basically like scraping the scum from the top of a polluted soup, so I take it that’s the long-term goal,” observed Sarah. “It would be simpler to lay waste to towns and cities, or even neuter the damned, but we could do those along the way.”

“I know the scum will rise again, but you need to change the oil from time to time.”

The edge of Sarah’s lip curled up to show crystalline fangs. “Pure food metaphors are better since you can sink your teeth into them; plus mixing metaphors is messy.”

“Brings me back to my earlier question: what have you been eating? You’ve gotten so big,” cooed Amdirlain, and she rubbed the sides of Sarah’s snout.

“Lots and lots of experience,” rebuffed Sarah. “My mentor says I’m the biggest, very young, Diamond Dragon that she’s seen, of any variation.”

“Where have you been levelling?”

“One of the older worlds Sage found listed on the memorial. The place is dead as can be, but I don’t have to hold back on breath weapons and large-scale destruction effects,” explained Sarah. “Why were you even working with Erwarth when you can create your crystals solo?”

Sarah’s matter-of-fact tone brought out a smile.

“To cover it up,” stated Amdirlain. “I kept samples we fixed. So I must have anchored any song in the crystal we’d fixed, right? Though it helped me level Duet, it's all about challenging skills to get them to progress fast.”

Sarah snorted and flipped Amdirlain off with her tail. “Did it smooth out your issues with Multi-voice?”

“Not yet, but it's reduced the dissonance in the objects I make when multiple songs blend into the working. After I reached Journeyman rank, the enchantment effects jumped,” explained Amdirlain.

“I’d call you a dirty cheater, but how can you be cheating when your former self wrote the rules?” enquired Sarah, but she continued before Amdirlain could reply. “Anyway, besides ice cream, I come bearing another gift.”

A floating patch of light that looked like a mildew-covered tea towel appeared between them.

“A yucky-looking coffee table holograph is a gift?” teased Amdirlain.

“Patience, grasshopper,” retorted Sarah, and the chamber’s illumination shifted as she rolled her eyes.

Amdirlain huffed jokingly. “Do I look like a cocktail to you?”

“You’re not sweet or minty, girlie, but you’re trying to distract me with silliness now. I’m not an IT person, but I know enough about maps to know how the zoom control works,” stated Sarah. “Moloch's palace is the dead centre of this projection. It has every location where I could purchase validated information from The Exchange.”

“How much did that cost you?” asked Amdirlain.

The hologram shifted and became an aerial overview of the junction of Ravager’s River, where the destroyed city had sat. Images of locations around the city, clear enough to guide teleportation, appeared as Sarah zoomed in further.

With the images showing an untouched city, Sarah hissed in amusement. “Let’s say it's good I had a world full of ancient treasures to plunder. I wonder if I can get a partial refund for your redecorating? Where do you want to begin?”

“Alternate crafting with recon, neutering, and mass destruction?”

When Sarah nodded, the map zoomed out, and specks of light appeared hovering over it, appearing like malignant Christmas decorations. “Black is training sites, blue is mining, green farming, red is production facilities, striped icons are mixed sites; here’s the full list.”

A memory crystal floated in the air before Amdirlain, and she quickly absorbed the information. “Not all of what we’ll need, but it's far more than I knew. How big an expanse does the zoomed-out map cover?”

“My supplier apologises that he only had one that could cover a billion kilometres across,” Sarah replied in a glum voice. “Woeful.”

“I think that’s not quite the distance of Earth from the Sun, so I’m sure that will give us more than enough to work on for a few centuries,” laughed Amdirlain. “Even with the vast areas on the Plane that are barren wastelands.”

“93 million kilometres short, hence the apology for the woefulness; it's barely a blip of what Moloch controls. Feel like a gnat yet?” joked Sarah.

“A tick bite can kill or paralyse a Human,” countered Amdirlain.

“How about we aim for the Balor first? I hear you got a name from the Wizard. Do you think the Moloch’s general was the same Balor that took them into the site?” asked Sarah.

“If he went into the transformation site, he’s now likely a Demon Lord,” cautioned Amdirlain.

“Yes, but a baby Demon Lord,” purred Sarah. “One boss fight at a time, girlfriend. Isn’t that the way gamers handle things? Build up, take out the boss of a region, and then prepare for his boss.”

Amdirlain gave a reluctant nod. “Any information on Zutag?”

“He used to handle this region,” Sarah said. With her pronouncement, most of the lights over the map went out; those that remained clustered together a hand span from the map’s edge. “The location of the first town you blew up is likely within that region, otherwise Munais would have come to someone else's attention.”

“This will be useful, but I’ve been trying to be discreet, or at least provide some misdirection, in my outings,” Amdirlain tapped on Sarah’s foreleg impishly.

“I’ve got that covered,” laughed Sarah, and her scales smoothed out. They took on a deep purple hue, a crest of razor scales appearing to run from behind her forehead and down along the length of her body.

“Why did you pick a half-breed to change into?”

“This is option one. Purple dragons are arrogant, mercenary, and manipulative, more so than either of their red or blue ancestors,” explained Sarah. “But they also operate in family units instead of solo, so we’ll have demons looking over their shoulder for mum and dad. A Succubus in Sisterhood leathers working with me should have Moloch’s lackey foaming at the mouth, wondering what family got hired.”

“Their breath weapon is very different to a Diamond’s dehydration effect, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it can manifest differently according to their intentions. In either case, it’s an effect of searing pure Mana, either a cone for a group of enemies or a blade to focus it on a single target. I’ve got enchantments to convert the energy in my breath weapon into either,” Sarah smugly advised.

A smile twitched across Amdirlain’s lip before she schooled her expression. “Just as well you did your research.”

“Are my protections still holding up against your Analysis?”

“Yes,” groused Amdirlain.

“Sweet. Let that serve as your motivation to push the Skill higher,” Sarah taunted mischievously before she turned serious. “They’re diversions for many types of divination, and since I’m no longer Hidden, I want to make sure the folks in charge around here can’t find you through me.”

“I’m more concerned that it's endangering you being here,” replied Amdirlain, and she stopped when Sarah’s determination caused her eyes to glow. “Did you get your second Prestige Class, at least?”

“I did. Indeed, being able to make an Avatar helped my experience farming. My mentor slash foster mum thinks the Prestige Class contributed to the size I gained in my second moult. I locked it off from getting experience until I got the Class. Unlike a certain individual, I wasn’t trying for level 120,” teased Sarah.

“No work ethic in the youth nowadays,” retorted Amdirlain, and she smiled at Sarah’s mock glare. “Shall we start on some prototypes for tagging and tracking?”

“I thought you’d want to get out and smack a few bad guys,” remarked Sarah, and she released a long table to sit near her lounging form. Various containers of fluids and psionic-sensitive materials appeared atop it.

A vivid green liquid fountained from one bottle and poured into a beaker larger than Amdirlain’s skull. The liquid swirled at an even pace while assorted measuring tools floated between the containers, adding various powders gently to the whirlpool Sarah maintained. When the last residue dissolved, Sarah slowly settled a psi-crystal fragment, smaller than an apple seed, to the bottom of the beaker.

“The pigeons being helpful?” asked Sarah, not having to clarify that she meant the celestials.

Wrinkling her nose, Amdirlain gave a sharp snort. “Is it helpful to continually try changing my mind about what’s best?”

“If they knew what was best, just because they’re old or celestials, Torm wouldn’t be MIA,” rumbled Sarah. “Want me to go destroy Caltzan? I could get onto their Home Plane and rip them apart.”

“Haven’t decided what I’m going to do with them yet,” admitted Amdirlain.

Not wanting to pursue the subject, Amdirlain started to sing. The crystal’s four-part harmony flowed from her lips, and a glow appeared beside the table’s closest leg. One after another, faster than she’d previously managed, palm-sized blocks of True Song crystal solidified near the table.

She was on the fourth block when the seed Sarah had been agitating into the shape of a spire peaked above the beaker’s rim. Having reached the tipping point, the matrix expanded in a rush—turning into a pillar the length of Amdirlain’s thigh—having drawn in all the material in the beaker. The surface still gleaming with fluid, Sarah impressed a mental pattern into it and floated it to the table’s end.

“I’ve only got a few blank memory crystals with me. Do you want to make some, or should I fumble around to handle it?” asked Sarah, even as she fixed Amdirlain with a sad-eyed look.

Amdirlain rolled her eyes at the dramatic tone. A clear spot above the table started to glow as airy notes lilted and danced about in the chamber’s stillness. Dozens of clear memory crystals settled in place, and Sarah’s laughter rumbled in her chest.

“If any sufficiently advanced technology will appear as magic, does that mean we’re devolving magic into technology by applying your 21sh-century Earth techno-babble?”

“You zoned out on my techno-babble,” muttered Amdirlain.

“True Song Crystals to monitor an area, tag mortals, and send messages to memory crystals. My psi-crystals will then collate data and pass it in a fashion that allows others to track them with your toys. You’ll also set up other toys to scry them, either singularly or in groups,” reiterated Sarah.

“Fine, that’s the highlights,” muttered Amdirlain. “I wanted to ensure I had it covered to scale up without issues.”

“Maybe stop trying for perfection the first time through? You’re hurting, so you feel the need for control. Let’s build some of your ideas, see which work best, and use them to help people,” replied Sarah, before she pointed a claw at one of the palm-sized pieces of crystal. “Are you going to put one in a fancy black holder and have it make a beeping noise, so I can pretend we’re in aliens?”

The request drew an amused snort from Amdirlain. “That I won’t be doing.”

“Spoilsport.”

“Thank you.”

“For what? Calling you a spoilsport?” teased Sarah. The lift at the corners of her mouth lent her draconic features a smug feline feel.

“For not being yet another person trying to get me to change my plans to keep me safe because they know best.”

“You lost your partner and didn’t immediately go off in an uncontrollable homicidal rage. I don’t count the ritual or that town as a homicidal rage. I know you’ll be kicking yourself enough about things you can’t change. Everyone needs to shut up and not waste your energy on dealing with that sort of shitty behaviour,” declared Sarah. “I’m here to help.”

“I got a bunch of innocents killed in the city,” whispered Amdirlain.

Sarah gave a heavy sigh. “Honey, they were already dead. We both know that it might have taken a year, twenty, or even more in which they’d have experienced agony and torment. Did you give them a far quicker death than prisoners would likely find here?”

“But-”

“Yes, my butt is bigger than it used to be. Stop body shaming,” quipped Sarah, her dry tone causing Amdirlain to snort in surprise. “You know the extremely slim likelihood of them being rescued. In their place, would you rather a quick death or a fate that involved slow, agonising torment and corruption?”

Clearing her throat, Amdirlain bit off her objection. “Quick.”

“The rules prevent demons from keeping innocent souls—they must transport them to Judgement, if they’re still innocent when they gain them. You saved them, no matter what the achievement said. Gideon has his rules and you likely fulfil a sucky requirement with the curse. Okay?”

“Okay,” breathed Amdirlain, and she nodded when Sarah didn’t immediately continue.

Sarah hummed for a moment, and when she spoke, her tone was gentle. “Can I point out something that isn’t to stop you from hurting Moloch and his allies? Heck, after what happened, I want to hurt them as well. So maybe I’m not stopping you because I’m still an evil bitch at heart.”

“You’re not, but go on, share what’s on your mind,” whispered Amdirlain, but she braced herself just the same

“Torm isn’t destroyed. Yes, he’s wounded, messed up and twisted—and I can’t say to what degree he’s damaged—but he’s not destroyed. He’ll never be the same because he’ll have the memories of whatever he thinks or does between now and us getting him to see sense. Yet not being the same doesn’t mean he’s irredeemable.”

Amdirlain let out a soft breath and tried to swallow down her protest. “Torm already sent Livia a message.”

“Yeah, his current state has turned his love into an obsession,” agreed Sarah. “Might be hard to recognise him, but if you’d seen my behaviour on the expedition, I’m not sure you’d have recognised me, Amdirlain.”

“He wouldn’t tell me what happened other than some of the expedition died,” admitted Amdirlain.

“I’ll tell you one day. Torm helped pull me back from where I’d been heading. He came and delivered your message, and he could have left it at that,” said Sarah. “Instead—because you counted me a friend—he stayed to help me regain some of the sanity I’d lost. You didn’t give up when you found yourself in the Abyss, don’t give up on him.”

“He said leaving would have interfered with the ward keeping the rift open,” recounted Amdirlain.

Sarah gave a bark of laughter. “See, partial truths aren’t just your thing. If he’d left via the Material Plane, it would have. Except he regularly helped with the hunting on the Para-Elemental Plane of Ice, and he could have just gone on his way on that Plane.”

“We both owe him.”

Assuming a woebegone expression, Sarah nodded. “Yeah, and I really don’t like debts I don’t want to repay because the person’s become a dick. This means we need to heal him first, so I’m not uncomfortable repaying said debt.”

“But what the transformation site did to him-”

“Yet there is a path for the Fallen to rise again, phoenix girl. Can you figure out how to set up the gadgets to tag fallen and mortals? You might not revert him, but maybe if we find him, you can dilute the corruption enough he’ll want to be better.”

“Do you think it’s possible?”

“I don’t know, but we both owe him, so we should at least try. You’ll only need to hear Torm’s new song to contain him if he’s not grown strong enough to resist. But what do you plan to do next? I’m sure you memorised at least snippets of his old song,” replied Sarah. “You might not wash everything out, but can you clear some pollution?”

“You can’t just sing someone’s old song into them,” protested Amdirlain.

“His exact song, no. I remember being told songs are always changing, but the essence of it might remind him of who he’d been. Could you compose something along those lines?” persisted Sarah. “Remind him so he wants to be redeemed for whatever he’s done before we find him. Yes, it won’t turn him back into who he was, but none of us are who we once were, and that doesn’t mean we can’t become a better version of ourselves.”

“I remember the trio that Ori created the path for,” admitted Amdirlain, and she straightened as she considered Sarah’s proposal.

Sarah gave her a broad smile. “Is the memory precise enough to isolate the fallen as a species?”

“Maybe, but they served the same deity. It will help if I have at least one other Fallen beside me for comparison.”

“You mean like a member of the Cloister of the Fallen who might have occasional trips to The Exchange,” proposed Sarah, coyly tracing a circle into the stone with a claw tip. “I have a name.”

“How did you-”

“I’d been searching for a way to contact them for you before things went wrong. Your proposal seems worth bringing forward the timeline,” interjected Sarah, tapping the circle’s midpoint. “Those fallen on the path want to make up for what they’ve done and can move about the Abyss safer than celestials. Why not have them place the marker gadgets about the place? Let them know the purpose is to help free mortals. Taking on such risks will help them offset their past deeds.”

“If you think they’re safe to deal with in my circumstances,” replied Amdirlain, heading off Sarah’s suggestion.

Sarah nodded. “I can run them past Isa first, use her nosy listening to individuals' songs to sniff out issues.”

“You corrupted Torm with puns‌,” observed Amdirlain, and she noted the slightest easing of the pain that saying his name had brought.

A little twitch of Sarah’s lips warned Amdirlain. Ignoring Sarah’s snickering, she resumed creating crystals. The possibilities opened up by Sarah’s information added fresh energy to her efforts.