263 - The Bug

Aiden lay on the soft cloud that was essentially his bed, as he stared up at the curved ceiling of his new room on the spaceship. It was translucent and pearlescent, allowing him to watch the passage of the stars above him.

Although that was likely an illusion too, because as fast as they were moving, it would be impossible to see a real star. 

Still, the faint veins of light drifting beside him were comforting in a way. 

The colors in the room shifted at random, soft violets fading into mossy greens, probably responding subtly to mood, sound, and thought. The floors felt like stepping on grass, and runes drifted in the air, sometimes chiming and vibrating to emit relaxing frequencies. 

Aiden couldn’t relax, though. He’d only been on this ship for what felt like a few hours, but he knew that it had been several days on Earth. He was constantly anxious, constantly thinking.

Not that Lexie was in danger necessarily, but that she was up to something she shouldn’t be doing.

She was his daughter, so her sticking her nose where it didn't belong was pretty much a given. He smirked. No doubt she was getting into all kinds of trouble right now. As long as she was safe, he would allow it.

It helped that he could tap into her mind whenever he wanted and monitor her physical state. He tried not to look at it too often, given how invasive it would be, but it was nice to know that he could check in whenever he wanted.

And he had someone else watching her, too. 

Aiden’s visit with the Alchemist had been very illuminating. Not only had it revealed the very nature of their contract, including all their terms and conditions, but it also revealed that Aiden had a golem that he could very well control at any time.

A golem that had had his missing thoughts and had subtly influenced him in certain directions towards his main goal–protecting his daughter.

Aiden had sometimes not known exactly why he was doing the things he did. He had ideas that would come into his head, blending seamlessly with his thoughts.

At a point, he'd suspected that someone was trying to control him, but the thoughts felt like the right thing to do. And he’d trusted in those urges to keep Lexie safe.

He was doing the golem again. It was at his home, in the pocket dimension that he'd created in his room.

If it sensed his daughter was in grave danger, through the mind-link they shared, he would deploy it to save her, no questions asked. 

Well, as long as the danger was somewhere he could get to. If Lexie went back to the dungeon and anything happened to her there...well, there was no way for the golem to enter the dungeon.

He sighed. 

He just hoped Lexie would stay put as he asked.

He missed her. It had only been a few hours, but the anxiety made it feel longer.

He calmed himself, forcing himself to trust his daughter.

She would be fine, as long as he could more properly execute his plan. Or rather, the Alchemist's plan. Unfortunately, their lives were also tied together now, so he couldn’t get rid of the Alchemist, but at the same time, the other man couldn’t hurt him or Lexie. 

He didn’t think the Alchemist wanted  Lexie dead, but he did want to use her. 

He made that extremely clear during their last meeting, when he’d given Aiden that mad chuckle and said, “The children are the future.”

Aiden didn't know what he meant, but he'd found the whole thing unsettling.

Vulcan, though, would be dead soon, so there was that.

That was the last thing he thought of before something slammed into the side of the ship and alarms started blaring.

***

Stella was sitting at an oval table, where a press conference was about to be held. The press weren't here yet, and neither were the rest of the association. She'd come here right after her meeting with her agency, and she was getting herself ready, anticipating all the questions that would be thrown at her.

She was nervous. She shouldn't be considering how often she did this, but it was hard to get used to being pelted with repetitive, accusatory questions for two hours per session.

The door opened, and Stella's heart jumped, but she relaxed when she saw it was just Kya Wavelost coming in.

"Kya," Stella smiled in welcome. "I didn't know you would be doing the press conference with me."

The serene-looking woman drifted to the seat beside Stella, her blue robe billowing around her. "Jerry thought it might be better for more than one Elemental to take the questions. The other two didn't want to do it, so I volunteered. He'll be on standby as well if we need him."

"Oh, good." Kya was certainly a better choice than Groundsmage and Shadowbane, even if there was something about the woman's permanently placid expression that was a little disconcerting.

"Do you never get tired of this?" Kya asked.

Stella glanced at the other woman. "What do you mean?"

"Doing this. Talking to these people. Apologizing for nothing. Taking the blame when it wasn't your fault. Deferring to those less than you. Doesn't it get tiring?"

"I don't understand." Stella frowned. "By 'deferring to those less than me', you mean Jerry?"

"Him and every other member of the association who are not constantly jeopardizing their lives like we are." Though her words were said in that same soothing measured tone, and there was not a single wrinkle on her perfect face, Stella could sense her disquiet. "Why must we always be so sacrificial and lower ourselves to pleading and prostrating before the mundane masses while they flagellate us with their words?"

Stella blinked. "I mean, I wouldn't call what they're doing flagellating. We're just answering questions and soothing their worries, that's all."

Kya shook her head, giving Stella a disappointed look.

"Things will be changing in the association now that Vacek's dead," she said.

"We don't know yet if he is."

"Please. Don't fool yourself, Stella. It's obvious what happened. Vacek was trying to create another Lara using her daughter, and Aiden killed him as a result."

"He–"

"Oh, sorry. He didn't kill him. He simply let him die."

Stella was starting to get annoyed. "That's not an accusation you should make without evidence."

"I don't blame him necessarily," Kya continued as if Stella hadn't spoken. "I would probably have done the same if that were my daughter. Vacek underestimated Aiden. We shouldn't do the same."

She gave Stella a meaningful look that Stella refused to interpret. In fact, for the sake of their working relationship, it was best to end the conversation there.

But it seemed Kya wasn't done talking.

"There are going to be a lot of changes now that Vacek's gone," Kya repeated. "Jerry cannot take the reins. He does not have what it takes. I’m beginning to doubt that you can either, Stella."

"Kya–"

"The Emperor will make his move soon. He's coming for the Shadowbanes first. Do you know why? Because he knows that without Vacek, the association is weak. We have the ammunition against him, but he knows that we won't use it. Because we will prioritize peace over justice, and you would prioritize the lives of the many over the lives of the very ones who serve as humanity's glorified slaves.”

Stella blinked at her. She heard movement outside the door, but Kya delivered her last lines before they came in, "Vacek killed Silas because he was right. He might have gone about it the wrong way, but the disposable era of heroes no longer serves us. We have to take control. It has to end now. And if you cannot lead us there, Stella, then you must step aside and let someone else do the job."

***

It wasn’t their master returning.

At least, not to Lexie’s knowledge. 

The pulsing of the walls was Neqal’s doing. She could sense his influence on the dungeons below, introducing more chaos, either to force it to collapse the pocket dimension or to ingest it.

Or both. Both might be true.

Neqal didn’t seem to care if he killed the kids, too, as long as he got rid of Lexie and Pvilycht in the process. But unfortunately, the kids didn't know that.

They were smugly thinking their master had come to rescue them.

“We should go,” Lexie said. 

“No. You should go,” Arami said. “And don't come back here if you value your life.”

“It’s not your master doing this,” she said. “It’s your master’s associates trying to kill me. And you in the process.” She turned around. “Pvilycht. Get us out of here.”

While Pvilycht worked, the darkness pulsed again, and it started to rain chaos orbs.

That was when the smile dropped from Arami's face. "What the–?"

More orbs poured outof the corners, drifting towards them, oozing out dark liquid, much the the kids' confusion.

“What’s happening?” Jana yelled out. “Why are they coming? We have not summoned them.”

“The one who actually created them has," Lexie said as the liquid began to pool together and rise, taking form. "Kill it! Now!"

They didn’t hesitate. They turned and started shooting at the things that began to join together, forming a large, gross monstrosity. Lexie tried burning it, but the more magic she used, the more the dimension glitched and shook like it was going to break.

The blob began to form arms, and one of them shot towards Tate, but he

sliced through it with his mist, shielding himself.

"Pvilycht,” Lexie called as she activated the shield around the kids who were screaming at the monster that began attacking Lexie and Pvilycht.

“Almost there.”

The good thing was that the creature was an amalgamation of lesser Eldritch, whose powers were relatively weak and didn’t have as much of an effect on Lexie. Fear manipulation, bone resonance, illusions, paralysis–all of them were relatively easy for her to identify and counter with her soul card.

But Lexie had to keep it simple so as not to exhaust the magical oxygen in the space and destroy the pocket dimension with them still in it.

One of the blob arms dripped with poison, and it stabbed at Tate, but Lexie burned it off.

Only for it to regrow back into two arms.

She voided those off, too, and it became four. The magic she was using was making the pocket dimension more unstable. She wanted to VOID the whole monster at once, but her biggest fear was that the pocket dimension would collapse when she did.

But finally, Pvilycht disabled it and got them out right just as Lexie unleashed VOID flame, swallowing up the rest of the creature. 

The kids stopped screaming as it vanished, and then they looked around in devastation as Duru faced Lexie in accusation.

“What did you do with our lab?”

I didn’t do anything,” she said. “Your master’s friend destroyed it.” She brushed her hair back and glanced at Tate, whose left arm was limp. “You okay?”

‘Yeah,” he said. “Got hit by paralysis. It’s healing already. Should be good in a few.”

Lxie nodded, then eyed the kids still protected by her shield.

“Now you guys listen up, because apparently, you were playing with things you don’t understand,” Lexie said. “Your master's gone, and so is your lab. But that's probably for the best. Now you’re going to go somewhere safe, and you’re going to explain to me the concept of these chaotic doors and show me if you can–"

"They're here!"

Lexie spun around behind her to see that the entrance of the cathedral swarmed with armed soldiers from the Sultan's army.

"Halt!" The one in front, wearing a uniform that looked like red sand, said. "We heard devil worshippers had gathered to summon the devil in here."

Lexie and Tate shared a look.

"Erm, no," she said. "Just kids goofing around. Right, guys?"

She glanced at the kids, but they didn't pay any attention to her. They were staring at the soldiers with abject hatred and fear.

"Stand down immediately," the soldier in red said. "And submit to your arrest."

"You really don't have to do this," Lexie said. "We're not the bad guys here."

"Stand down and submit to your arrest!" He barked even louder.

Lexie sighed. Snapped her finger and dismantled all their weapons. 

They jumped back, and one of them gasped in shock.

"It's her!" he said, gesturing to the leader while pointing wildly at Leixe. "She's back."

The leader frowned at her. "You are here on hero business?"

"Sure. Something like that." She was distracted when the guy who'd announced her immediately scrambled to his knees and then glared up at the rest of them. "Bow, you fools.”

The leader didn't obey, nor did most of the soldiers. A couple gave her short bows, though.

“I thought you said humans didn’t like bowing,” Pvilycht asked ina voice that was confused and accusatory. 

“We don’t,” Lexie said. “Please get up, you’re embarrassing me. And teaching my assistant bad manners."

That was when they noticed Pvilycht. They turned even more pale.

"They did summon the devil," someone muttered.

The leader started to approach Lexie, but then he suddenly stopped, looked behind her with wide eyes.

“You! No!” Lexie heard from behind her as an explosion hit.

It didn't send her flying or anything.

It was mostly sound and dust, but it sent her to her knees.

Her and apparently everyone else in the room.

Lexie instantly felt nauseous as everyone else got to their feet, groaning.

By the time the dust cleared, the kids were gone.

Lexie frowned. "Where did they go?"

"They teleported out."

"How?" If they had orbs, why didn't they escape earlier?

And why did her system suddenly give her an alert in the corner of it?

SYSTEM TRANSFER COMPLETE.

Lexie frowned. "System transfer? I never initiated anything like that."

"That's because they likely stole from you," the leader said, getting back to his feet, holding his head.

"What?"

He gestured with his chin to where the kids had been standing. "We've gotten reports about them. A group of thieves, one of whom can steal things from inventories by initiating unauthorized transfers. I didn't think it was true, but since it just happened to you, it must be."

Lexie was shocked.

And also very impressed.

Duru or someone in her crew had skills like that? That was crazy.

She was some kind of system hacker. Could she do that everywhere, or was it just because of the region, with a faulty system? Was that how she created delivery channels? By hacking the system? If she could hack the system, even in limited ways, then she might be able to help Lexie a lot more than she initially thought.

“That’s insane," Lexie said.

"Yes." The soldier said. "Now tell me, young lady, what on earth is that thing? And did the heroes coordinate with our Sultan before sending you?"

"Well, not exactly." She shrugged. "Actually, you caught me. I'm not actually here with the heroes. This is more of a personal quest."

"Personal quest."

"Yes, but we're leaving now. Thanks. Bye."

***

Lexie got Uncle Max to take her to see Cecilia. The woman was still at the hospital, but now in one of the extended stay rooms that looked more like a hotel suite than anything.

“Lexie,” Cecilia smiled at Lexie as she opened the door and let Lexie walk in. Her expression was more complex when she saw Max. "Max."

“How are you feeling?”

“A lot better. So much so that I could probably have delved a couple of dungeon hearts by now. You know, I was having such a good day today, and then I learned that someone asked the doctor to declare me mentally unfit for delving."

"Huh. I wonder who did that." Max's expression was wholly unconvincing and unrepentant.

Cecilia looked displeased. "I get that you're worried, Max, but that was totally out of line."

"I disagree."

"You disagree? How would you feel if someone did that to you, Max?"

"Maybe someone should have. Maybe then I wouldn't have been stuck in a dungeon for almost a year."

"Oh, you're so frustrating. I don't even know why I talk to you."

“I wanted to ask about chaos doors," Lexie announced loudly before they could start bickering.

Cecilia raised her eyebrows. “Am I supposed to know what that is?”

“I think it has to do with Alchemy. You learned Alchemy, right?"

“Yeah, but I still don't know what chaos doors are. That doesn't sound like it has anything to do with alchemy."

Lexie cocked her head. "Are you sure?"

“I mean, as far as I know. When I learned alchemy...” Cecilia thought about it. “It feels like it was so long ago I barely remember. It started when I had a pretty bad day at work. You know how it goes. Faulty code jams the building access system; for whatever reason, everyone made it my fault. They needed a scapegoat for the boss to yell at, and I was the weakest link, I guess. Anyway, I was crying while in line to get a cinnamon bun, and that was when I met him.”

“The Alchemist?”

“No. John.”

Just the name had Max stiffening. 

“He told me I was a pretty crier, and that it made my nose look like cute water sprinklers. I thought he was trying to be funny or charming. He was a little clumsy at it, but I guess I liked that because I’m pretty clumsy with flirting, too. I thought it meant he liked me, was nervous around me, and I'd never had a guy nervous around me before, so even though the conversation was generally kind of awkward, I was just so desperate to have someone care that I overlooked it.” She blushed and avoided Uncle Max’s eyes, who looked like he wanted to break something,

Lexie blinked. This was awkward. She wasn't expecting a love story, but she bit her lip against impatiently asking Cecilia to speed to the end. 

"I told him all about my day and how terrible it was, and he seemed to know the perfect things to say to make me feel better. We got to know each other, and eventually, we talked about Alchemy and how I worked with it at the ISTS without ever really understanding it. He told me about this group that he was a part of. They went to the forest and meditated on the weekends, and tried to awaken alchemic powers. It sounded a little cult-like, but I was curious, and at that point, I liked him enough to go."

She shook her head. "I got there and the leader...he was very charismatic. I didn't know he was the Alchemist at the time. I didn't even know if he could use Alchemy. Just that he was very good at helping us relax, and for whatever reason, he focused on me. Told me I was special. Made me feel special. I was so stupid."

"You weren't stupid," Max said. "That sort of thing is kind of what cults are known for."

"Yeah, but I should have seen it coming." She swallowed. "He told me that he could sense something special within me, that my awakening was close. I told him I already awakened when I was ten, and all I got was mental stats. He said that it wasn't that type of awakening. Explained to me that though there was magic all around us all the time, we naturally rejected it. Because we were scared. Because we were taught to look away from things that confused us, when the answers usually lay in that confusion. He said he could help me get powers beyond my wildest dreams.

"Of course, I thought it was all bullshit. But I liked the attention, so I continued to meditate. And then one day, I did something. Fixed something with my mind. It was an insane rush. Ever since then, I started to train it."

"What does it feel like?" Lexie asked. "When you use Alchemy? Are your pathways involved?"

She shook her head. "I can't explain. It's not like...it's more like calculations filling my head, but I have to make myself empty first.

And also sometimes I can taste it, the numbers." She shook her head. "It's weird. If magic is an operating system, then alchemy is a bug that just appeared out of nowhere and acts all funky. It changes everything, but the more you live with it, the more you start to understand it. It's what happens when you bypass permissions. I can't really tell you how it works for anyone else, but that's how it works for me."

Lexie paused on that thought.

That method didn't sound anything like Chaos Doors. Nor did it sound like Aiden's version of alchemy, which used the outside of the magical pathways and his tilling bands to create it.

Sure, she'd known from the beginning that Alchemy didn't really have a fixed system and everyone accessed it differently, but she'd thought there would at least be a common thread linking them all together, something that could help her figure out how to access the magical realm and create a system on her own.

But alchemy wasn't a system. It was a bug.

And apparently, it was one that was too hard to spread.

If the alchemist could really just train other alchemists, why wasn't he doing that? Why didn't he do it with Tate instead of messing with his pathways?

Lexie bit her lip, thinking about it on their way home.

Chaos doors.

The bug.

Tilling bands.

What did they tell her? How would it help her?

It wasn't until much later, when Lexie was in bed about to call her dad again, that it hit her.

Of course.

It had been staring her in the face the entire time.