Seth's room was quiet, still, but smelled of ozone from repeated attempts at scrying through the Ark piece under his hands. He wanted to get a better idea of what this metal fully was, how he could work with it, use it. And this time he was trying to do it without the Garkah’s help. A mutual agreement at least, he wanted to learn for himself instead of having everything told to him.

He focused deep into the metal’s structure. The power he received from the abyss gave him considerably more control over not just the physical force of electricity, but the electrons that caused it. These electron threads, the key threads that glued the Ark together and that gave him his power. He understood a little about them, but only what a cursory glance and a bit of extrapolation showed. Normal electrons repel each other, things with negative charge don’t like other things with negative charge. If a free electron were to pass from one atom to another, either that electron would continue on or one of the atom’s original electrons would be repelled away, continuing the cycle. That’s what electricity is on a basic level, but the Garkah found a way to break that cycle. Or were basically that break made manifest.

The negative charges in the thread attracted, or were countered somehow, causing electrons to group up instead of spread out. Seth thought back and guessed they resonated somehow, similar to the key thread, and this caused the altering of these electrons. He just couldn’t figure out how. Whatever caused it, Garkah used them to great effect, spinning and weaving these threads of altered electrons, fusing them together and creating one of the thinnest bindings ever imagined. But it does have issues, namely the fact that these altered electrons will disrupt other normal electrons. If they’re too energetic, their resonance will spread to other atoms, specifically all the electrons surrounding them. This will cause the atomic structure of anything situated too close to them to break down and disintegrate, the outer layer of the atom and one of its main means of connecting taken away. Though Seth barely understood what that really meant beyond disintegration. But apparently the Garkah found a way to work around that as well.

Looking deep in, the metal that made up the Ark was completely alien to Earth. Seth was very sure he couldn’t replicate. But what really took the cake was the fact it was formed by hand, or… claw. Its atomic structure was manufactured and immensely stable, to the point that it would not break down when subjected to these altered electrons. In fact it could contain them perfectly and act as a sheath.

The actual structure of the piece in his hands was twofold, a series of ever thinning sheets of the metal that terminated in the sharp jagged edges Seth was making sure not to cut himself on, and a circuit like core that ran braided metal lines through the sheets. Each piece that the Ark split into was like an individual relay, substations for some comparatively beefy electron threading that ran through it. These cords of electrons would slot in those braided lines, acting like main thoroughfares for the rest of the threads that spread smaller and deeper into the structure. But also drawing the lines taut and pulling the sheets up like atomic shutters. Once these shutters opened they would slot in to other neighboring pieces and create the whole of the Ark.

But the small vacuum spaces between the now raised sheets also served a purpose. The metal was highly conductive, and the vacuum meant there was nothing for the free electrons to get attracted to, so the gaps kept the circuits from shorting due to their extreme proximity. These circuits in turn created a massive supercomputer that Seth sure as shit couldn’t understand, but he knew it allowed for the Garkah to become what they are now and get here in the end. But he found something else, the core of this piece was melted, the braided lines worn thin and the circuit hub melted down from an overload of energy. Threat’s energy. The old scars will forever haunt the Garkah. But in the end it at least meant Seth could theoretically form the metal with enough power. He just had to work out the structure he was going to actually use the metal for.

‘*sigh*… And now I’m regretting not asking for help.’

Seth stood up from his desk and took up his suit, copper connectors and parts of the gel layer were melted beyond repair. He’d spent the better part of two days clearing the inside of the suit, scraping the copper and pulling out what gel was left so he could put Ark metal under it. Thankfully the metal proved malleable rather quickly, its makeup was similar to the alloy the Garkah created for his suit, just quite a bit denser and more substantial. A little bit of the right kind of power was all it took to cleave pieces off and render it like really hard clay, but he was still stuck theorizing a useful structure to form it into. Just lining the inside with the metal would do little other than add extra weight and armor, it wouldn’t be utilized fully. Recreating the braided sheaths that the Ark had presented some success, but it was stiff and had to be loosened at the joints. Then he thought of his own electron threads, the ones the abyss’ power gave him.

Seth focused, felt around for the threads under his skin, coating his muscles, waiting… humming. They were humming, the resonance on them was audible, to him at least. But it was a different resonance than the key thread. A familiar rhythm. Seth felt deeper, these weren’t just single line threads either. These were cords as well, twisted and braided cords of altered electrons that resonated… But didn’t propagate their resonance. They just hummed in unison. There had to be more to it, so he deepened his focus. He almost couldn’t see it at first, but there were frays in the cord. A few threads would break off, spread out and connect to everything nearby. They wrapped around every structure, every organ, every cell.

Seth switched his focus outward, looked at more of the whole picture. The threads covered everything that made up his body, some feeding normal metabolic systems with spare electrons, others forming webs under and over things that needed to be protected. Or healed back. He closed in tight and felt a line at its very end. It was whipping around, the cell it held dead and splitting open. Suddenly what was left disintegrated under the line, base elemental debris spreading out, but then reforming. The framework pulling tight over the base pieces, extra material brought through the cord to replace what broke to begin with. The line straightened out and the cell reformed, all wrapped in electron thread. This really was what the laceroids were made from, a framework electron lattice that healed and empowered them. Why the hell did…

‘Why did I never look at myself like this before?’

“Because you’re not as vain as a proper Garkah.”

Threat had broken the self-imposed silence.

“Welcome to the world of Garkah biology, next stop, self-mutilation and peer pressured alteration.”

‘…I- I can change myself with this?’

“Oh crap. Don’t get any funny ideas. One slip up or wrong system and you could kill yourself painfully and slowly.”

Seth felt Threat’s bias here, though it didn’t seem unwarranted. Pulling a few of his memories from the abyss, it seemed the Garkah liked to alter themselves based on trends…

‘Heh, who needs designer jeans when you can design yourself?’

“It’s a bad road to go down. They used it as a status symbol, if you’re powerful or skilled enough to alter yourself in extravagant ways, you’re pretty damn high on the social ladder as well. Thankfully that’s died down since everyone’s just made of energy now and there’s no consequences.”

“You should have seen it with your own eyes.”

Speaker finally piped in, a longing reminiscence in his voice that Seth had almost never heard before.

“I used to spackle shimmering gold and silver on my scales, like a living primordial vain. Oh and the females, they colored theirs with such pearlescent hues. It was…”

Speaker stopped, feeling a lot of jealous and disappointed eyes on him. Threat seemed to smirk.

“And there’s the vanity I remember.”

Speaker turned away, his embarrassment was almost adorable.

Seth drew back his focus, he wanted the complete picture of what he had. The electron cordage spread out over his entire body, like a second smaller nervous system and circulatory system rolled into one. The brightest spot though was in his brain. A central hub maybe? The cords attached to sections of his brain, sections Seth was kind of sure weren’t normal for humans. One tacked on to the part that handled memory, if he remembered what he was taught in school at all. Another tied to areas governing emotion, and another was just sat right in the center between hemispheres.

‘I guess those are some ‘additions’ that allow me to control this power?’

“*cough* Yes.”

Speaker had cleared his embarrassment.

“Those are special transfer nodes that allow your brain to influence your power, how else would you control all this? The key part is that central one. It is where the thread is weaved and disseminated out from.”

Seth looked closely. He saw surrounding sections of his brain light up with nerve activity, but that activity fed straight into the center… center…?

‘I’m just going to call it the weaver organ.’

The weaver attached to nearby nerves and took in the free electrons that the nerve signals passed along. It then imparted the resonance on to them with what looks like…

‘More Ark metal?’

“Yes, it is a considerable rare but a natural occurrence on our world, and is what gave us this power in the first place. We had to synthesize a great deal of it for the Ark. Its natural structure was quite… intricate. And maddeningly sparse.”

Rings of Ark metal, small enough to pull electrons through effectively, existed in the weaver. As they went through, the rings spun and vibrated to create the resonant hum. There were also a few lines that attached to the rings, braiding and keeping the hum constant as the cord formed.

Seth refocused elsewhere, his hand. He pulled up power into it, intent on understanding just how it occurred. His hand flared, the hum heightened as the cord bulged around his focus points, freeable electrons massed and humming a different tune, his tune.

‘So… my power is all about electron resonance.’

“Yes. Though there is nuance in it. Each of us has a different resonance, but they are all fairly similar. Our main difference is how strong and stable it is, whether we can change it ourselves on the fly and maintain it for as long as we need. This is what we call the Discipline path of our power. One that is trained and focused on to bring out its potential. But... in the end that is only one side.”

“The other… being mine.”

Threat felt worried, that passive guilt manifesting.

“My energy came with a resonance you already know, it’s the one in the Ark key thread, the one that’s too strong for its own good. My kind… subscribe to the Wrath path of this power, and are the original creators of that resonance. Though not by choice.”

Seth felt Threat’s memories again, flashes of lessons on Garkah like him.

“We have more Ark metal in our systems than normal, which causes us to have more connectors in our brains. That part that’s connected to the ‘emotional centers’ of your brain, that’s one from me. It causes your power to be influenced by emotions more prominently. The greater the emotion, the closer you’ll get to reaching that resonance that siphons. You’ll start to pull in energy from everything around you. If you’re in control enough you can pick and choose, but lose yourself and you will become a black hole… another abyss.”

Threat felt sad, worried, and remorseful. A lifetime's worth of guilt weighing down his words.

“Don’t end up like me. I… I don’t think I could handle being the cause of anymore death.”

Seth stopped focusing.

‘You are not at fault, and you will not be at fault if anything happens! You understand!? I’ve got this either way, I can keep myself. You just make sure you have proper introductions in order. Even if it takes decades, I will make sure you earn my people’s trust.’

Seth sat back in his chair, chunks of worked Ark metal strewn about on his table. He’d done enough for today, and there was still two and half weeks till graduation.

Over the rest of the week, between faked training sessions, Seth tested every possible means of integrating the metal into his suit. There wasn’t enough material for anything substantial, but maybe he didn’t need all that much. Seth took up a hunk of Ark metal he’d sheared off to practice with. Thinking back to what the Garkah told him of his biology, he realized he didn’t need vast amounts of material to get what he needed.

Seth pinched at the metal, focusing on it as far in as he could. Once he felt a hold, he pulled. The metal followed like a pulled bedsheet, perfect material to cut and shape. As the sheet came free of its metal layer, he snapped it flat so he could work. Taking a finger he circled the center of the sheet, cutting a hole. Then a bigger hole around that. He took up the doughnut shape and bent it around, folding it in on itself to become a complete ring. It was definitely too big, his fingers weren’t the best manual tools for atomic construction, but it was a start.

Seth ended the voluntary silence and ran his idea through the Garkah and they helped him refine and form Ark metal rings like the ones in his head. These were then placed across the suit, melted into the plates like supports to run threads through and around. to keep them stable and in line. He had more than enough to reinforce his entire suit with these relays, using the excess to coat the inside and augment the capacitor plates so they wouldn’t meltdown. Or at least they would heat up away from his skin. The inside of the suit was now matte black under the reapplied gel layer, the iron filings replaced with Ark metal as well.

‘Hopefully the metal passes as just terrestrial. It wouldn’t make sense for it to be Ark metal anyway right?’

Seth still had one more thing to do, run and wrap those electron threads through the rings. The problem was he was going to need power and time to focus, two things he couldn’t get together. He couldn’t commit to this kind of heavy work in his room, he’d be pulling a lot of energy in and people would wonder why his room was bent inward and all the lights are busted. The arena was the obvious choice, but he wasn’t going to get lucky twice with only getting caught by his allies. He’d have to be discerning, bide his time on this one. But he only has a week and a half left.

‘What the hell am I going to-’ *bam bam bam*

Someone was banging against his door before it opened automatically, after he released his power lock on it. It’s… Kabar?

“Para’s calling everyone to the arena, come on!”

He was off before Seth could wonder what this is about. Or why he didn’t just use the terminals. More banging followed, Kabar was going door to door. What the hell would require this kind of urgency but need to be kept off the record, from Para no less? It didn’t matter, he had to get going.

‘But I swear to god if this is some stupid shakedown.’