Eternium ~ 32!

<Whoa. That’s some serious power echoing along those lines.> I siphoned a little taste, feeling a texture I had never tried before. It contained a hint of celestial, sunlight, and something. <It almost feels familiar, but I just can’t place it.>

“What feels familiar?” Dani wondered idly, watching the light sparkle above the clouds. “The energy in there? Yeah, The Master uses something similar.”

<That’s where it’s from!> I excitedly exclaimed. <I knew it was… actually, what does he embody? What Law is he bound to?>

“Not a clue.” Dani returned with her version of a shrug.

<What are you guys doing? Can I come see?> Mu called from his treasure chest.

“No! Learn not to say dumb things, and you can come out!” Dani snarled at the box. Poor little backpack dungeon. On a tangent now, I found that I felt bad that Mu was a millionth my own size. Maybe I could donate some land to him in my soul space.

<Sorry, Mu! If it helps, Oni is having a great time out here.> I was watching Oni’s body decompose rapidly, but I was pretty sure I could make a convincing new copy before Mu was let out of his chest.

<Oh, good! I hadn’t heard her speaking in a little while, I was getting worried.> Mu’s words made me grimace. It wasn’t my fault that the Ogre insisted on testing her mettle against Manny. I actually tried to stop her out of respect to Mu, but I wasn’t going to lie and say that I tried hard. I now had an Ogre pattern! That was pretty neat. It was a Kantor original, even! 

“I feel like you are being silly over there.” Dani whispered to me, to which I could only agree.

<Yeah… I’m feeling a little like a collector of shiny pebbles. Even if I have a superior pattern of something, I always want to get a variant or interesting version. I want a shiny version, you know?> I was hoping that she would simply let the conversation go, but I had to end it when she pestered me to explain myself. I guess she didn’t see Manny take Oni down in under three seconds. Prolly for the best.

I had to change the subject, and the brilliant sky gave me a perfect out. <So, does this spark any of your racial memories, or whatever it is that you have?>

“It… something about it does.” She watched the sky a while longer. “I guess it is the fact that the patterns in the sky have a bit of a Will-of-the-Wisp to them. Not a heavy effect, but anyone seeing the sky wants to follow it to see what is going on.”

Just like that, the slight nagging compulsion that had been nagging me broke, and I realized that I had been under an incredibly subtle lure effect. <Wow. I… that had me, Dani. How was it so easy for me to break?>

“You’re bound to a pink Wisp, Cal. Mind altering effects just have less hold on you when you realize they exist.” Dani was still staring at the sky, but I was reeling from the news.

<What?> 

“Oh, abyss, did I just-” Dani went into near-panic mode, and started zipping away.

<Hold it!> I barked at her, probably the roughest I had ever been with her. <You mean to tell me that you can shield my mind from certain effects?>

“I… Cal, I shouldn’t be discussing the secrets of my people.”

<I don’t have any secrets from you!>

“Cal…” She stirred the air in agitation. “It isn’t my information to give. It’s just… you know what? To the abyss with it, why shouldn’t I tell you? Different colored Wisps have different abilities, which is why you need to bond with a certain color. It creates a balance.”

<Care to offer an example?> I was feeling twitchy about this for some reason.

“I might as well.” Dani came over and landed on the Silverwood tree. “You’re a blue Core, and so you needed a Wisp that could more freely balance your mind. You were supposed to be a water Essence Core, prone to flights of fancy and extremely changeable. Luckily, that still held true.”

<Hey!>

“If I’m wrong, tell me I’m wrong.” Dani smirked at me, pausing briefly to give me a chance to speak up. “Thought so. Now, we aren’t ever supposed to talk about this because it builds resentment, distrust, and animosity when it’s known that someone is coming in to… guide you.”

<Control you.> I responded flatly.

“Balance you.” Dani firmy stated. “Mu over there needs a Wisp that can help control Essence so that he could build a dungeon. Otherwise he can only inhabit preset, prebuilt areas. Or backpacks apparently.”

<Like a Wisp that can move through stone and shape it?> I lost some color, Mu was going to ‘play’ in ‘his’ treasure chest anytime Grace was anywhere near this area.

“Exactly.” Dani quieted, and sighed. “Someone that can get you to be doing your best together. A partner in all things. You and I are a really good example.”

<Alright, Dani. I’ll let it drop, but you know I just want to be included in all this… secret Wisp society stuff. Just tell me, and I promise I’ll let it go if needed, okay?> An implosion of Mana signified that I was bound to my words, shocking her.

“Ah… alright, Cal. I’m… thank you.” Dani zipped in a tight circle around me, which I had found was her version of a hug. “It’s good to know that I can tell you anything. I don’t know why I had doubts.”

<Hard to break the habits of a lifetime, I get it.> I consoled her, even though I was waiting for the flood of information to begin. I’d be patient. For now. <Listen, is there anything else you can tell me about these lights?>

“If I remember correctly, they are called the ‘aurora borealis’. I don’t have much information, but they are not a natural phenomenon. That’s… really all I know about it.”

<Then I guess we get to learn about this the fun way!> I tilted the gyroscope forward, and the Skyland sped up once more. <Let’s go learn what’s at the top of the world!>

“Yeah!” Dani responded enthusiastically.

We watched the terrain pass, but still nothing came into view. Now feeling a tish silly, I laughed and delved deep into my inner world. If there was no danger, no land, and therefore nothing for me to do beyond upkeep, i needed to do everything I could to get my soul space up to snuff. There were three giant factors for me to consider, keeping people alive, getting as many of them as possible, and keeping them under control. Maybe I should figure out a way to keep people away from who they hated? Was that even a good idea?

Nah. instead, why not just let them sort all that junk out for themselves? Populations can sort themselves out much more quickly and accurately than I can do it for them, right? So, I really feel like my time will be better spent in solidifying and populating the areas. It was getting to a point that I was getting bored with the repetition, so I decided to have a little fun. I am a dungeon after all, and people would be expecting dangers and monsters!

I built up a series of defences around a small area, then copied the new a few times and remade this area in multiple locations. Alright. Starting areas for people to migrate to have been set. Easy enough. The next step was to introduce creatures to the new system and let them build up naturally and over time. Once again, I was starting an ecosystem from scratch and hoping that everything would settle nicely. It was one thing to make this happen in a contained and easily controlled system like a dungeon, but across a world? Much… slower. Luckily I had only a few miles in total created.

The bugs were just getting settled when I felt my dungeon get rocked to the side. Seeing as I tended to be moving much faster in my inner world than the actual world did, so I wasn’t too worried about getting back in time to understand what was going on. Drifting out of my soul space, my focus fell on the Bobs just as they began reacting to whatever had hit us.

<Bob, what’s happening?>

“Great Spirit!” Bob called back, not taking his eyes off the viewing screen. “It appears that we are not the only ones following this stream of power, there are creatures in the air and in the sea below! They are powerful, and I think we will start taking losses if we are attacked!”

<How powerful? B-ranks? A? How many, and is there any reason you can see that they’re here?> I paused and would have rolled eyes if I had any available. <Beyond the potent lure of the lights, that is?>

“There seems to be very little consistency.” Bob paused and looked over the screens. “In fact, they are from all over, as far as I can tell. As if-”

<As if they ran out of energy, especially the energy they need to survive, and started gravitating toward anything still radiating free power?> My thoughts were going down an ‘uh-oh’ route. <Could it be that we found the creatures that my shifting of Ley Lines evicted? I think this is something we should let the people upstairs know about.>

“Probably best, Great Spirit.”