84

Loyalty

Rian’s body and mind split as he passed through the portal. Entire galaxies surged past in an instant. He was there for a second, a minute, a million years; there was no difference. Time in the space between worlds was forever and nothing.

When he woke into his body like from a dream, he was on the surface of the tower again. But instead of rising into the sky, everything was inverted. They were falling toward the ground.

The only thing pressing down on Rian was the wind, so he stood up and dashed toward the edge of the floor. When he got clear of the tower, he slowed his fall until he was stationary. He spotted his mom hovering nearby, watching the tower fall toward the land below.

In the shadow of the tower, there was an isolated building among all the empty land. Rian only glimpsed it as the tower crashed and dug several hundred feet into the ground, sending out an enormous wave of dust and debris. Everything rumbled for nearly half a minute.

This area looked nothing like anything in Miriad—it was a desolate, half-frozen tundra without any trees. The air was frigid but not freezing like it had been before.

Rian could only assume this was Earth, but he had no idea where on Earth. When he looked around, his Perception was strong enough to spot an air base sitting out on the tundra, miles away, a road leading to it from the crushed building beneath Yindra’s tower. On the base, people were scrambling—soldiers, pilots. Rian could even see the emblems on the jets lined up.

It was the Canadian Armed Forces.

So they were almost certainly somewhere in Canada. But what the hell was a military base doing all the way out in what he presumed was the Canadian arctic tundra? How had Reflect Systems gotten permission to build a base here, let alone their headquarters? It was like they didn’t even care that this land was where most of the indigenous people lived—

Oh, that…lines up, actually, Rian thought.

As the rumbling of the tower’s impact lessened, Mom hovered over to him.

“Are we where I think we are?” Rian said.

“Reflect Systems’ headquarters was here,” she said, looking upon the base of the tower. “That was where…my old body was.”

Above, the blue ring of the portal shimmered. The clouds had parted around it and dispersed as if the eye of a hurricane had churned the sky.

Coming through the portal was Yindra, her robes flowing like liquid shadows. She spread her arms, and four runic spheres emerged in the air around her. In each one appeared a figure dressed in black; two of them hovered in place while the other two seemed to stand upon the bottom of the runic sphere.

It was Altrexis, Yatagara, another novai Loyalist that Rian didn’t recognize, and…

Corvis.

“Amount your defenses,” Yindra said. “The resistance will be here soon.” She held out her hands toward Altrexis and Yatagara.

Altrexis the Blademaster has gained Flight!

Yatagara the Ghostblade has gained Flight!

The runic spheres around the four of them vanished, and Altrexis and Yatagara floated in place as gracefully as the other two Loyalists.

“I am forever indebted to you, my lady,” Altrexis said.

“Quiet,” Yindra said, and already there were another two pairs of runic spheres appearing around her. “Now get to work before—”

The air shuddered. Rian felt it, like a palpitation that extended into the surrounding space. The summoning runes vanished instantly. When Rian looked aside, Mom had locked her gaze upon Yindra again.

Yindra grimaced, then smiled. “You think that’ll keep working here, Emily? You can’t suppress me forever.” She pointed at the Loyalist that Rian didn’t know the name of. “You, stay and begin preparations. The rest of you, capture Rian and the Ossyra impersonator. I’ll make the proper adjustments to their souls once I’m ready.”

Altrexis, Yatagara, and Corvis began to fly toward Rian and Mom, closing the distance.

“She used temporal energy to summon her Loyalists,” Mom said. “She’s at a deficit again, but I won’t be able to hold her for long, especially if everyone starts fighting.”

“Hang tight,” Rian said.

He didn’t have anything resembling a coherent battle plan beyond defending Mom to keep Yindra locked down, but he could worry about that once the immediate threats were out of the way.

He shot forward, manipulating gravity and space-time to accelerate toward the oncoming Loyalists as fast as he could. The surge of wind was overwhelming. If it weren’t for his elevated Perception, it would’ve blinded him.

The Loyalists’ levels hadn’t changed since Rian had last seen them. Altrexis was still level 35, Yatagara level 40, and…

Corvis was level 88, exactly the level that Rian had thought it was according to their levels after the merger.

Rian shouted his name.

Corvis slowed to a halt. The other two Loyalists, confused, stopped as well. Rian arrived in front of them but kept his distance.

It was the same Corvis that Rian knew—black suit and tie, the obsidian staff with a closed Eye of Ezre atop it—but he was looking at Rian like he’d never seen him before.

“What are you doing?” Rian said. They were all so far above the ground that he was getting nervous from the heights, and he had to focus on keeping his voice steady. “Don’t you remember who I am?”

Altrexis and Yatagara glanced at Corvis.

“I’m not the Corvis you knew,” he said, tightening his grip on the staff. “I was his…twin.”

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re feeling reluctant,” Yatagara said. “It’s just a half-clone of yourself, Corv. You can still fight him, right?”

He didn’t answer.

As they talked, Rian quickly inspected the fourth Loyalist that Yindra had summoned. It was an older novai woman with knee-length gray hair. Three of her four horns were chipped. She wore dozens of charms, necklaces, and bracelets which held skulls of Miracian creatures. Instead of staying near Yindra, she’d begun to descend rapidly toward the ground near the base of the tower, her hair fanning out like a spider web.

Tsenira

Level 92 Spawner (NPC)

Alignment: Yindra

Companionship Level: -1 (Adversary)

Difficulty: S (Sacred)

“Tsenira,” Yindra said, her voice gentle on the wind. There was a huge distance between her, Rian, and Tsenira, but Rian’s Perception still picked it up in the silence, as it likely did for all the other present novai. “Can you bring Ossyra back?”

“Not yet, my queen,” Tsenira said calmly in the distance. “Her soul still travels Purgatory. I’ll begin cycling new reincarnations to accelerate her return.”

Much nearer, cutting through Corvis’s silence, Yatagara said, “Whatever. Just hang back and heal us, Corv. Yindra forgive me, but you novai are a bunch of weirdos.” He scoffed, then rested his hand on his katana’s hilt. “Looks like I should’ve stopped you when I had the chance, Cob.”

Altrexis drew his nullshard katana.

Rian shot forward and swung, realizing he’d finally gotten what he’d wanted for so long: an air dash. As Altrexis attempted to block, Rian effortlessly weaved past the katana and struck true. His fist shattered bones and sent Altrexis flying.

Yatagara drew his empty blade and unleashed a swarm of spirits, and Rian dispersed each one with rapid jabs, his Spirit Fists already active from hitting Altrexis. Rian air-dashed again into a shoulder tackle. Yatagara went hurtling away, spittle flying from his mouth as he gasped from the impact.

Rian turned to face Corvis. They glared at each other but neither made any motion to attack.

“Did you know, this whole time?” Rian said. “That Yindra was going to enslave humanity? I don’t want to believe it—that you strung me along to set all of this in motion. Please. Tell me you didn’t know.”

“I told you, I’m not the Corvis you knew.”

“No, it’s still you. You’re the same person. You’re just a parallel self. And I know what you’re really after. All you want is peace for your world. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

Quieter, he answered, “If this is what Yindra wants, then so be it.”

It took all of Rian’s strength to say it. “I’m still willing to forgive you. You didn’t know it would come to this. You couldn’t have.” Rian hefted out a sigh, shaking his head. “I know you’re not a bad person, Corvis. We still want the same thing. But we have to stop this.”

Emotion flickered across Corvis’s face. He gritted his teeth, then summoned a small needle of light.

Shining blue lines threaded through Altrexis and Yatagara. Their bodies went from crumpled heaps arcing through the sky to being suddenly normal again. When they flew up to Rian again, they attacked immediately, and he merely floated in place as they swung over and over.

The nullshard katana grazed Rian’s skin. The spirits felt like a cold breeze. Altrexis was almost half Rian’s level, and Yatagara wasn’t fairing much better at level 40. Their attacks left wounds on Rian which healed faster than they appeared.

So Rian took another look at Corvis, closed his eyes, and started channeling temporal energy.

The presence of the System was significantly weaker here, but he found that he could still reach through time and borrow energy from the future. When he did so, it was like closing his eyes and seeing a brilliant light. The power was overwhelming, but it felt…familiar somehow.

LEVEL UP! (Lv. 65→66)

It happened even faster than the first time he’d done it, which surprised him. But it was only because he was more familiar with the feeling, able to let the energy suffuse the space within his soul without resistance. As he drew more in, he noticed it was taking longer to reach his internal limit—and each time he reached it, the reservoir within his soul both emptied itself and enlarged. The stored energy flooded out into his body and mind, strengthening his muscles, sharpening his senses, attuning his soul with something beyond himself.

LEVEL UP! (Lv. 66→67)

A wave of pressure radiated from his body with each level, a momentary gale. Altrexis and Yatagara hovered back.

“Corvis, you could end this in an instant!” Yatagara shouted. “Just obliterate him already!”

But Corvis said nothing, only watching as Rian amassed more power.

Rian took the opportunity to experiment: he quietly used Mirage: Cancel and split his consciousness in two. It was easier than ever to maintain the dual state—he suspected his beyond-normal stats were contributing to his handling of it—and he found that he could even control which version of himself remained detectable to the others.

He sent the parallel version of himself to the ground, unnoticed. He would try to position himself to intercept Tsenira if he could, but if not—

“At least go attack the Ossyra impersonator,” Yatagara shouted at Corvis. “Or do you not want to harm her, either?”

Corvis glanced aside. “I can’t. I’m…returning a favor she did. For my other self.”

“God, you’re useless.”

They resumed attacking Rian to no avail, frustration mounting in their gazes. The temporal energy flooding into Rian had even generated an aura, deflecting their attacks. It was enough to keep Mirage: Cancel active, as he could still sense his second self in a parallel universe.

Rian drew his focus deeper, pulling more and more energy.

LEVEL UP! (Lv. 67→68)

The Loyalists backed away again, and Rian could even sense that the power radiating from his body had pushed them slightly.

“Dammit,” Yatagara said, breathing heavily. “He’s too strong.”

“So…” Altrexis huffed. “This is the power…of a human-novai.”

“Wait,” Rian said to Altrexis in a moment of insight from what Yindra had mentioned earlier. “So you’re telling me…the reason you’re a katana-wielding edgelord who speaks like a pretentious anime character is that you…studied humans to impersonate them?”

“I only follow the path of the blade,” Altrexis said, his trench coat fluttering in the wind.

“Yeah,” Rian said to himself, deadpan, “that sounds about right. You’re aliens role-playing as humans. I get it now.”

Corvis finally spoke up. He looked from Altrexis to Yatagara. “Why haven’t you two taken off your limiters yet?”

Limiters? Rian thought. What? Oh, come on—

He supposed he should’ve anticipated that. The level gap between these two and the other Loyalists was suspiciously large. Of course there was something more to it.

“It’s not up to you, Corv,” Yatagara said. Then he shouted, “Yindra! We need more power!”

“Then why are you two still holding back?” she answered. “Stop playing around and intercept Emily already.”

“We dare not flaunt our strength, for it is desecration, my lady,” Altrexis said. “The accumulation of power is but the ultimate corrupter of all. We are not worthy.”

“You morons,” Yindra said. “Take off your limiters.”

Yatagara side-eyed Altrexis then shrugged. “Well, if she says so.”

In unison, they reached below the collar of their shirts and pulled out an amulet attached to a necklace they were wearing. With a sharp motion, they tugged the amulet off the necklace and tossed it aside: a circle of obsidian glass containing the Mark of Yindra.

Temporal energy surged into their bodies. Their muscles expanded in an instant, gaining nearly twice the girth and ripping some of the seams of their outfits.

Altrexis’s level had jumped to 76, and Yatagara's to 82.

“Ah,” Yatagara sighed, his voice deeper. “I haven’t felt like this in—”

Rian didn’t hesitate. He knew to take the opportunity when it presented itself, so he swung for Yatagara's face.

He didn't make it in time. Altrexis got to Rian first, the sound of the nullshard katana cutting through the air unlike anything he’d ever heard. The blade resonated so loudly under such speeds that it screamed. Rian only narrowly evaded it, and yet the vacuum left behind by the blade was so powerful that he could feel his blood starting to evaporate inside his veins. The negative pressure behind the swing pulled him through the air, throwing him off-kilter.

Rian immediately retreated to regain his bearings, and the two Loyalists were smirking at him.

“You want the honors, Al?” Yatagara said. “Go for it. Set her free.”

Altrexis shot through the air—toward Mom. He moved so fast now that condensation rings formed around him. Rian turned and went after him, but his Agility couldn’t match the Loyalist’s.

Nor could Rian outpace Yatagara now. The samurai was already flying ahead and cutting off Rian’s path.

Rian partitioned some of his awareness into his second self—the one that he’d placed on the ground several minutes ago with Mirage: Cancel.

Then he cast Earthen Resonance.

A whirlwind enveloped both of him. With one of his selves on the ground, the Agility bonus from the buff was shared so long as he could maintain the dual state, a superposition. Anything that applied to one self would apply to the other.

Rian shot forward, his body straining under the acceleration, the wind tearing at his eyes. He flew past Yatagara and was already catching up to Altrexis when an explosion sent everything spinning.

Rian tumbled, out of control, his ears ringing with pain. Though it hadn’t injured him, the fireball had burst close enough to daze him. Already he could hear more high-speed projectiles hurtling past.

Oh shit, he thought. They’re here.

The deafening roar of jets filled the skies.