Awakening of the Shadows [COMPLETE]

Return to Horizon

Eldernova

Alaspakta and I talked for quite a while longer after that. She gave me some rudimentary ideas on how to start with my magic, and gave me a better explanation of the Planes, which basically fan out from the Material Plane and the Ether (Which are essentially reflections of each other, and if the Multiverse could be viewed from outside of the whole thing, you'd see that the Ether and the Material Plane are right on top of each other). She explained everything from the Elemental Circle, to the Afterlife and Outer Planes that came beyond, and all the way to the Far Realm and the Void. It was interesting, to say the least. Back on Earth, I remembered playing tabletop role-playing games in my youth, like D&D 17th Edition and its more linear counterparts, Pathfinder 4th Edition and Starfinder 3rd Edition, and the Planes of existence described in their lore were very similar to what Alaspakta was explaining to me.

Eventually, when at least three hours had passed since an alert had been issued about an intruder in the Palace, the conversation began to run out of new material, even for Alaspakta, who had trillions of years of experiences she could relate. She'd mentioned that all intelligent items had eidetic memories (A more scientific way of saying 'photographic memory') because their consciousness was constructed in a different way in comparison to the neurons and synaptic impulses that created biological thought. It was because of this that she could relate, in perfect detail, everything about her history, back to the day she'd originally been forged.

The only problem was, could and willing to were very different things. She wasn't exactly willing to relate her entire three-trillion year existence, primarily because it would take so much time to explain, even if she transmitted it at the speed of thought.

Like I said, eventually the conversation ran stale, and my mind drifted to other topics. After a time, Alaspakta's thoughts ceased appearing in my mind, shortly before my brain came back to the fact that I'd now been gone for twenty hours and seventeen minutes without any explanation to the other Humans on Horizon. What exactly was Eternity doing to be gone so long? The MFS must not get intruders in the Palace of Shining Talons very often. Either that, or this intruder was a seriously dangerous threat, and we were all about to die.

Unlikely, Alaspakta commented in a bored tone. It'd be exceedingly hard to craft a weapon that would entirely destroy the Palace and everything in it.

Giving no response, I stood up and called, "Arkmedic?" Ashara looked up from her screen, acknowledged that I was there, stood, and crossed the room to me. "Problem, sir?" She asked.

"Well, no. Yes. Maybe. I'm not sure," I said. Oh great. Now I was being the confusing one. Ashara gave me a strange look, which confirmed my guess. "I was hoping to know when Eternity was going to come back by here. I was supposed to be leaving for Horizon so I could return to my people, with Eternity, but then the intruder was mentioned by the AI, and she left."

"Sentinel Timewind is rather indisposed at the moment," Ashara replied. "The intruder's been caught, but the Star Pharaoh and Sentinel have decided to question him. If I'm not mistaken, the Star Seeker should be here fairly soon as a replacement for Sentinel Timewind."

"Star Seeker?" I asked.

"Star Seeker Arcturus Skylight," the Arkmedic said. "Android demigod, son of Xynapse, and also Director aboard the MFS Supernova." When Ashara mentioned his name, I remembered that Celestys had mentioned him back at the throne room, before I'd awakened Ashara, as one of the leaders of the Multiversal Federation. Given that he was one of the leaders, I could only assume that the Supernova was the flagship.

"Xynapse?" I asked.

"Cosmic God of computers, order, technology, and AI," Ashara clarified. "Anyway, it should be a few minutes before he arrives. You'll want to be ready to leave by then. I was already going to inform you, but you asked about it before I got the chance."