Okay, so this chapter isn't entirely written in the dark and tense style. I couldn't have done that without for all the serie without adding the angst tag. Also, this chapter present the main character in first person with and also has a quite large exposition dump in order to set some bases about the univers. I'm not sure if I should rather leave things unexplained or not in this story so your opinion would help.
Martenzo, you got it right.
Thanks to DeathAdder 47117 for the spell checking.
Review in bad or good.
Chapter one: Secrets and living fairy tales part 1
Citadel. Presidium. Executor Venari Pallin's office.
"Lock the door."
The Executor pressed a key on his keyboard, sealing the entire room.
"Are you sure this will be enough?" The voice snapped.
"Nihlus, even the STG would have a hard time breaking inside now."
The Spectre stopped his inspection of the office, turning his gaze toward the other turian sitting behind his desk.
"It is not the salarians I am worried about and you know it." He made his way to the previously mentioned desk, stopping in front of it. "Even they leave more traces of their presence than those people and they do not walk around with swords." There was an anger in those last words but not directed toward the Executor.
"You think I don't know that by now. It has been less than six months since you brought those 'facts' to me, ordering me to investigate those superstitions."
Nihlus clenched fist smashed against the polished surface of the desk.
"Those are not superstitions, lies, hallucinations or tricks!" There was a cold rage in his voice.
"I know dammit! And you know that!" Pallin wasn't going to let himself be intimidated in his own office, not even by a Spectre.
Slowly, Nihlus relaxed the tension of his hand and sat on the chair facing the Executor and his desk.
"You're right, excuse me." He sighed, this thing was grinding on his nerves more than a solitary assault against the entire Geth fleet would have. "What did you found?"
It was Pallin turn to sigh. "Too much and not enough."
On the holographic screen of his computer, the head of C-Sec brought forth many dossier and pictures that anyone would have declared fake the moment they would have seen them.
"Helena Blake" The picture of a young woman with brown eyes, dark hair, a fine visage and a slender silhouette appeared. "She was a waitress in one of the Ward's clubs for the public and the right hand of a cartel in private. Two years ago, she was found almost dead after a C-Sec drug bust that turned bad."
"What kind of drug?"
"Red Sand. What's important though is that she took six rounds to the chest before going down and had still enough strength left to insult the officers all the way to the hospital." Another picture of Helena came up, this time showing the massive wounds she had suffered. "That was how she was when they brought her in, this one was two hours after and the last picture of her we have." The next photo was of a hospital security cam, taken as Helena excited a service door, accompanied by a blurry figure.
"Jamming?"
"I talked to some friends in the STG, none they could find. Anyway, what you're looking for are the girl wounds"
The Helena on the image was barely dressed, as if she had jumped straight out of the operation table. Her jaws and neck were covered by blood but it was clearly not hers even though it was fresh. As for her injuries, rather than the life threatening thing they should have been, they were but faint red marks on her skin.
"And that is not the most troubling."
The Spectre raised what passes as an eyebrow at the Executor claim. Another image was brought forth. This time though, rather than another camera frame, it was some sort of rectangular card with a picture and information in a language Nihlus didn't know of. The picture was the troubling thing, the person on it didn't slightly resemble Helena, the person didn't resemble Helena greatly, no, the person on the photo was Helena Blake.
"This is a human 'driving license' produced in 2001. Which would mean..."
"That this human is one hundred and eighty-two years old. Which is, in all logic, impossible. That is, unless the humans have managed to hide the fact that some of their members can actually live to what looks like many centuries without aging and recover from wounds at the same rate a krogan can."
"Which I doubt they would. But even if they had and we could provide proof, this would be dismissed by anyone as pure insanity."
"Don't I know it." The bitterness in the Spectre voice was sharp and rash.
"The next one happened eight month ago." The whole Lucia document disappeared, replaced by the image of an asari corpse on an autopsy table. There was no apparent wounds on this one, well, unless flowers coming out of a bloody mouth, eyes and ears count as wounds.
"If you read the official report, you will learn that she died by suffocation and that then the killer stuffed her with flowers. More precisely, a human flower called..." He looked at the screen. "A rose."
"And if I read the other report?"
"Then you'll learn that the flower grew directly from her lungs, that the salarian medical examiner suffered a severe mental breakdown since he got the job a year ago and that the body dropped out of the records soon after."
"Falsification from the examiner?"
"Highly unlikely, he was on Sur'Kesh at the time."
"Which left us with?"
"The word of a mentally unstable salarian and a single picture."
"Of course, as usual."
For the third time, the computer screen's content was swiped away for another set of pictures to take its place. This time, it was a scene that looked like some kind of horror movie, evil invocation with the mangled bodies of several turians, asari, krogan, and even a volus, scattered around a room marked with strange and incomprehensible runes.
"We found them three weeks ago, piled up in in the basement of a morgue. Somewhere in there is also the body a human, an assistant to the morgue and the only one who died around that day."
"Around that day?"
"All the bodies you see have all been dead for some time, but not of the wounds, which are in order of importance; edge weapon, heat, fire, bashing and molecular bond disintegration."
"Heat and molecular bond disintegration?"
"Yes, heat as in laser and disintegration as someone apparently severed the links between the atoms composing the bodies of some of the corpses."
"So someone is walking around with a DEW and another weapon that can break molecules apart without all the scanners of the Citadel blowing off."
"Apparently." The two turians shared a look of extreme tiredness where strain and unnamed fear mixed together.
"You said they had been dead for some time. What do you meant?"
On the holographic screen, several videos popped up. They showed various crowded places on the Citadel and, amongst those crowds, groups of people had been isolated by a software. Those people corresponded exactly to the mangled corpses of the morgue.
"Some died months ago, others only a couple of days but none were killed on the scene. Worse, some were killed and then those videos of them were taken. I saw a report of those dead, pictures of their autopsy and there is no way they could be walking around. The worse is that when the corpse age was measured, the results were everywhere. Some which had reports indicating they had died two weeks ago seemed to have only aged two days while others who died a day ago where almost completely decomposed."
"You presented this to the Council?"
"Do I have a straitjacket on me?"
"Of course. And the runes?"
"They disappeared soon after."
The Spectre had another deep sigh as he put his face in his hands.
"This is madness."
"No, this is only, what do humans call it, the tip of the iceberg. There are probably thousands of incidents we are missing. Things the officers have edited out of their reports because of how insane it sounded, things 'they' hide, things nobody ever found, etc."
"You're right. It's the same thing everywhere I went. In fact, for the few I went to, human words are even worse. It is as if everyone knew about them but refuse to talk or even consider it."
"It's also recent. There has been some odd case before and stupid urban legends before, but nothing like now."
A questioned look appeared on Nihlus' face as he recognized where this was going.
"Already accusing the humans Venari, how very Saren like of you."
"I have nothing personal against humanity Nihlus and you know it. But you said it yourself, it is more pronounced on human worlds. Those things I just showed you, they all happened in a human heavy zone. I am merely citing facts and I think you too believe the human have something to do with it. After all, you did propose a human Spectre didn't you? And I know you never do anything without a reason."
The turian Spectre shrugged.
"I had already planned to sponsor a human Spectre long ago. The current situation only gives me more reasons to do so. Maybe I will be able to learn something about this with them around and talking more openly."
"Yes. This Shepard, you think she's involved with this whole mess?"
"Who knows? But even if she isn't, there is another I want to find."
"Who?"
"The video that has hit the Extranet this morning, one of my contacts has identified the asari on the video. If she has seen the other person, I might finally have found a way into this mystery."
"Hmm." The Executor pondered with the idea for a second. "I hope you know what you're doing Nihlus. I don't know what this is, genetic engineering, some kind of human Ardat-Yakshi or something else entirely, but this thing is dangerous."
The Spectre rose from his chair, the shadow of a smile on his face.
"Thanks. You too be careful, old friend."
With those last words, Nihlus left the Executor's office. Pallin, now alone, pressed another key on his keypad, releasing the lockdown on the room. Shifting his mind back to the matters at hand, he began to scroll down the list of mail he had received during his conversation.
In a world of grayish light and dark, the half erased form of a batarian was standing behind the Executor. He had no idea where he precisely was, or who those around him were. What he knew was that the master wanted him to hear all what those two forms were saying when alone together and then he wanted them to be repeated to them perfectly. Slowly, the batarian Shade without a name began to make its way back to the master, endlessly repeating the conversation he had just heard until ordered otherwise.
Codex Entry
Mindoir incident
The events surrounding the batarian slavers raid on Mindoir are still highly debated. What is known for sure is that a force of one batarian heavy frigate and several corvettes entered the system. Quickly, they destroyed all means of extra-system communications and began their approach on the colony's main settlement. It is here that the event became debated. The few surviving records of the initial ships descent show that thick dark clouds began to form over the colony at an astonishing rate, covering the slaver's fleet. On the surface, a heavy rain was filmed by some malfunctioning cameras. Their optics had been damaged as they registered the rain as being blood red. There are even fewer records of the slavers on the ground of the planet as most recording devices skipped some time due to the batarian slaver's jamming device though some conspirationists have claimed that the videos have been erased. The reason of those claims is due to the blurred images captured by the surviving cams of what looks like to be a humanoid figure fighting batarians with a short sword and a rectangular shield at inhuman speed. Then, after a mere ten hours, the batarian fleet apparently took off without having touched the colony and leaving behind them a massive cross of fused skulls reaching ten meters high. The colonists interrogated after the event by a System Alliance agent reportedly didn't notice anything and appeared surprised at the news that a batarian fleet had come into orbit, saying that apart from bad nightmares, the day hadn't felt different from the last at all. The fleet was discovered latter, floating in the edge of a batarian system, completely empty of life. The only ship missing was the batarian heavy frigate. As of now, it has become a sort of ghost ship legend haunting the Traverse and praying on batarian slaver ships. Most probably, it is the act of some other slavers using this legend at their advantage.
Corvette class ship. Firefly. Currently at bay at the Citadel.
I woke up to the sound of a soft piano tune, a man talking about sailors dancing under a red night sky and the smell of steaming coffee. The room I could see through my half open eyes would have been described as odd on many planets, but considering I was inside a spaceship, it was a downright out of place setting. Rather than the usual flawless metal walls with the abstract line of color, here they, the walls, were covered with dark brown aged wood left mostly bare except for some hand drawings and a couple of weapons stuck to it. None looked to be under hundred years old; in fact, most were either edge weapons or seemed to be from another reality. The bed I was in was also odd, having a wooden frame with atlantean symbols carved over most of its surface. Down, the floor eschewed the bare metal everyone seemed to like so much in favor of a heavy black carpet with scattered clothes on it. The clothes followed the trend set by the rest of the room, made with a mix of fabrics that were modern but looked out of time. Supporting personal modifications like the raven's feathers on the black short skirt, the red stones weaved at chest height on the dark blue shirt, the small golden wings sewed on the overcoat collar or other things that would have been impossible with the classic modern synthetic latex suit that everyone seemed to like. That wasn't to say the room was free of modern technologies, the omni-tools and computer on the desk in the corner were proofs of that. Okay, they had had spirits bound to them, were linked to space to a massive network that transited instantaneously everywhere in the universe, were immune to any form of simple technological hacking and could even be described as sentient in some way but hey, still technologies right. They broke most of the laws of the universe and the Citadel, but then, the laws of the Fallen world are rarely respected by us. Too constraining for our taste and all.
Anyway, back to the point. I extracted myself from the arms of our pilot, who answer to the name of, respectively; Raven, Corvina, which actually isn't the feminine version of corvo, Supergirl, The best pilot in all the universes, with an emphasis on the plural, Goddess and many other bombastic titles, or, if you feel suicidal, Branwen. She had half black, half blue hair that ended just above her hips, a slightly toned skin, black eyes like the darkess of night, a wing tatoo that covered most of her back and some of her upper arm and a slender build that made me think of a fragile bird. Of course, would I dare say that to her in public, I'm pretty sure she would try to ram me with the ship at FTL speed. Silently, I put on a pair of pants and a white cotton shirt, grabbed my omni-tool which I had integrated into a steampunk style bracelet - placing the micro-computed between copper gears and spirits sympathetic precious stones had been a pain in the ass - and left the room.
The door slid back behind me as I entered the corridor between the common room and the engine. Turning right, I walked in the direction of the coffee smell, the kitchen and our cook/medic. There, in the middle of our kitchen, was standing a Changeling. She was smiling over the cooking stove and the eggs inside, revealing her pointed teeth. The hand that held said stove was thin, almost to the bone, like the rest of her short body. More unnerving for those unfamiliar with the inherent weirdness of the supernatural 'life' was the unsettling glimmer in her eyes and her pointed ears. By the way, calling her pointy ears is tantamount to drinking poison. Something that is a real possible end for you after that comment.
"Hey, bon matin Elizabeth."
"Bonsoir Solomon."
"Oh."
"Oui. Bien que ce soit compréhensible vue comment vous nous avez garder éveillé que tu puisse penser ca."
Two other little things about Elizabeth. First, she was french, no shit. Second, she was taken by the True Fae with her little sister in 1943 on her way to Auschwitz showers. The history after that is long and complicated but, in short, they both got out three years ago and after much convoluted shenanigans, they ended up with us. Funny detail, though Elizabeth is the older sister, the faerie's Arcadia follow its own rules, especially concerning time, and as such, the older sister had the body of an eighteen year old while her little sister, Alice, had the body of a nineteen year old. Funny considering that when they entered, if Elizabeth was eighteen, Alice was ten. But again, I digress.
Head bowed, I approached the authentic 1940's coffee maker filled with the divine hot liquid, snatched a mug from the walled cupboard, grabbed the handle of the coffee container and... stopped.
"Wait. Why are you making coffee and eggs if we are in the evening?"
She smiled. It was both scary and mischievous. "Because you did keep us awake a little. Also you left muddy footprint on the entrance."
"Sorry, sorry. But you know it's not my fault if I'm so g... muddy footprint?"
"Yes. The captain hasn't seen them yet. Maybe you should hurry…"
She hadn't finished her sentence that I was already running away. Captain, cap, Ma'am, sometimes Bitch queen and more often simply Lilith, is a really good captain. She is also hyper strict when it come to the cleanness of anything outside our room in the ship and I don't want to have to polish the entire hull. I must have spent half an hour searching for both the mug marks and the cleaning materials which seemed to have mysteriously disappeared before realising something. When I came back, the rest of the crew was sitting around the table.
There was Raven in her undies and camisole, black, over a, - my - fuming mug. At her right was Lilith, our glorious and most magnificent captain. Seriously, must be careful what you think about her around her, she can read my thoughts. Though, I doubt she does it all the time. After all, I can be invisible and I don't do it all the time. Anyway, she was a six-foot tall blond valkyrie from the ancient land of Norway, or Germany, or somewhere, she never said. She wore a vine colored shirt, beige pants held by military suspenders and belt and a pair of black hobnailed jackboots. Hanging at her left side was a holster filled by a colt walker, a platonic exemplar I could feel buzzing with magic even at a distance. Beside her, on her right side, was Elizabeth in the green overalls and pure white apron she wore every time she either cooked or healed. Last was Alice. Alice was, well quite frankly she was an otherworldly beauty in all the sense of the term. Her skin was of an ethereal white, pure and flawless. Contrasting with it was her blood red lips, her black raven hair falling down her shoulder and her grand bright green eyes that seemed to gaze at your soul. Right now she was wearing black and white striped stockings, knee-high black boots, a skirt short in the front and long in the back, a white corset, a short black leather jacket with the sleeves rolled up and a red rose necklace.
They were all eating the slightly bluish eggs and orange tainted bacon. Oh, I don't mean they were bad or rotten, simply all food cooked by Elizabeth, however good it was, always had a slight color weirdness to it. The best chicken I ever ate was fuschia and I can also say that I know now what blue milk taste like, it taste like milk. After having taken my things and my part, I sat beside Raven.
"Hey, where were you?" I translated here because she said that with half a bagel in her mouth.
"Was looking for a mop before I realized there is no mud on the Citadel"
From the other side of the table I saw another pointed smile. Well you just wait. Or maybe not because next time I get injured I don't want my doctor to have a grudge against me. She had not sweared the hippocratic oath after all. Had she even heard about it, I wasn't sure.
"Solomon." Lilith tone was seemingly uninterested but I knew better. "Care to explain why you went all Kane yesterday?"
Oh yeah, of course she wasn't going to let that little incident pass.
"Well, for starters, I would like to precise it wasn't my fault as I, at no moment, planned to have this encounter."
"Go on."
"It all began as I was waiting for Raven at a club bar and that asari approached me."
"Which asari? The one you then proceeded to save valiant knight style?" That was Corvina who spoke. With most girls, I would have had to deal with some kind of jealousy or insecurity. When you were talking about a were-raven, things were a little different. "You know, if I wasn't so sure of how sexy I am I could feel a little threatened."
"And if I wasn't sure that you would tear to shreds any compliment I offer, I would say that you are the most beautiful girl in the universe."
"Aww, that was such a sweet lie."
And by different I mean that she's a hard boiled cynic and that translated as all the innocent lies that are told were mercilessly eviscerated every time she felt like it. Though, contrary to what it might look like, she actually had no problem about it and could be a real minx when she wanted to.
"Uh huh." Lilith shook her head. "Back to the point please."
"Oh, yeah, right. So, the asari left after I read her omni-tool, I tried to finish my drink but it started to boil a little before clinging to the left side of the glass."
Nobody commended, that was simply the kind of thing that happened.
"I was curious as to what was happening so I followed my instinct and ended up in the bathroom."
Elizabeth let out a little snicker, Alice turned her head but I'm pretty sure I saw a hidden smile, Lilith had no reaction and Raven grinned.
"You sure you followed your instinct? Because to me it looks like you followed something lower."
I ignored the comment, that was the best thing to do. "Anyway, inside there was some kind of spirit. I don't know if it was the body-snatcher kind or if it was trying to bring the girl into the Shadow but it was definitely doing something."
"And so you drew sword and gun and attacked the creature." Lilith continued. "In front of a camera."
"Hey, to my defense I am usually invisible to all electronics. Also, I am surprised this camera didn't fry up during the fight."
"Hmm, me too actually." She was a little too serious for a simple reprimand.
"You think there is something else going on?"
"Maybe. As you said, you are invisible to anything electronic. For something to even partially capture your image and the one of a spirit, I doubt it was completely normal."
Raven swallowed her eggs. "So what, hunters?"
"Possible. In any case, we leave tomorrow so everyone try to stay out of trouble."
Alice's voice had a light british accent, no idea why or how. "So soon? We have three days left before reaching the limit."
"Yes but I got a call from Eden Prime for a job."
"Where is that?"
"A colony in the Utopia system, Exodus cluster. There is a Prothean beacon there and a cabal wants it."
"I suppose the local powers won't let that happen"
"Probably not without at least some complaint. With luck the Free Council won't have to burn it down by the time we get there."
There was a lot of hate from the Free Council toward the Prothean devices in general, or anything eezo based really, the kind of hate which leaded to major breakthrough in laser technology in order to destroy them. I'm pretty sure they have stored a giant laser or two somewhere in the Twilight powerful enough to melt a Mass relay or transform the Citadel into scrap metal. Shame nothing of it could be showed to the galaxy, only slowly leaked to.
"So if you have anything left to do here, better do it quickly."
"Dommage. Je commencais vraiment à aimer les rèves de Sha'ira." Alice murmured.
Breakfast was over quickly after that.
We never stayed for a long time anywhere, a week being our max. This wasn't because of anything money or permission related, simply an effect of owning a ship like ours. I'll come back on that later. At least, it meant that we were always seeing new things, meeting new people. As a result, we have quite a few friends everywhere. We also had a lot of enemies everywhere but that's beside the point. Anyway, I found myself back in my room gearing up.
First was my ring. Well, maybe not because I was already wearing it. The ring was a gift from Lilith after I was mind controlled on an asteroid by the ghost of some long dead alien species and tried to eat her eyes. Hmm, maybe it wasn't a gift in fact. Anyway, the ring was imbued with a mind protection spell and it was one of the few things I never take off, even for sleeping.
Second there were my clothes. A pair of dark grey pants, brown lucky leather boots, and I mean real enchanted boots of luck here, a white shirt, a black vest onto which I pinned my pentagram badge, a nice little thing which made me invisible to electronics and gave me a master Force shield, then a dark blue overcoat I left unbuttoned and which ended a little over my ankles. The little wings on the collar were a gift from a werewolf pack I had helped a long time ago, a way to never make a sound from a fall three times a day, didn't protect me from the impact but still. Over my arms were brown brassards given to me by an Adamantine Arrow guy with a worrying obsession on the Assassin's Creed series. Sincerely, they should have stopped after the twentieth, after that the series really went downhill. Anyhow, maybe I shouldn't complain. After all, how many people can say they have monomolecular hidden blades and a coil operated micro grapnel launcher strapped around their wrist? Next were my gloves. Of a black material, I weaved it with wires of Orichalcum and Kypris, perfected gold and copper, into atlantean runes of heat, light, sounds, fire and electricity. Useful in many circumstances, trust me. Last was the red scarf I wore. Crafted with Hedgespun, it was a gift from Alice. I don't know what it look like to Sleepers, but to me it was like I was wearing a living flame around my neck.
About my clothes, as I said earlier they only look out of place. The result of another crazy mix of supernatural and science by the Free Council, those clothes were the equivalent of a light hardsuit, just without the hazard protection but also without looking like a damn hardsuit. And to continue on the tech vein, I wear lenses connected to my omni-tool so that when I use it, it doesn't send a big orange flare to my enemies saying: Hey! I'm using my omni-tool!
Third were my weapons. My pistol was, like almost everything I owned, out of place in this time. The curved wood handle with copper ornaments, the slightly triangular undebarrel compartment holding the magazine, the round siderite canon containing the focusing mirrors, the hammer and back containing the heat converter, it made the pistol look more like a steampunk revolver but without a revolving barrel. Which was good because how else do you want you're laser pistol to look like? I slid the holster on my right side, its weight a comforting feeling. My sword though, I don't think that even if I were to use it for a thousand years I would ever found her weight or sight comforting. Shadow and Light it was called, an artefact of infamy. It is a long, slender, slightly curved ending in a delicate point blade made of a whitish-gold metal. It reflects everything with a perfect metallic sheen, though, look too deeply into your reflection and you will only see two dead and soulless eyes. The hilt is wrapped in matte black wires while the guard and spherical and small pommel are of the same substance as the blade. The edge never dulled or showed sign of usage even though the blade was several millennia old. More impressive, even today it sliced through hardsuits like as if they were nothing but paper, inflicting wounds way beyond those of a normal blade. If that wasn't enough, the magic permeating the artefact was amongst the most vicious I've ever saw. Each time the blade would dig into flesh, be it the incorporeal one of a ghost, the essence of a spirit or the material one of a Fallen world creature, it would leach a part of its vital energy and transfer it to me. It was an exhilarating feeling each time, as if adrenaline was suddenly pumped directly into my system. And that was the trap. Mana and Will would never make me default as long as I would continue to hurt others, a very tempting possibility. I tried to restrict myself to ghosts and spirits or animals but sometimes, way more than I would like, I am forced to fight a sentient creature. The saying 'power corrupts' has always been very fitting to a mage and this artefact was one of the reasons why. One day, I fear that I will fall to the same trap the previous wielder of Shadow and Light have, driven drunk by the power of the sword, killing all in order to satisfy my addiction. I suppose those who entrusted it to me had reasoning along the line of; let's get this damned thing away from us by giving it to a wandering mage. He will kill a couple of spirits, become mad far away from us, get himself killed and then we'll simply give the artefact to another drifter.
"You won't." Raven's voice behind me made me jump in surprise. "At least not now."
I turned around toward the sneaking girl. She too was now dressed, sporting black knee boots slightly covered by her brown short and tiny black skirt. A sombre blue, almost dark purple, waist corset over a red shirt with bishop sleeves. The shirt's back had two long cut revealing parts of her wings tattoo while on her skirt numerous black feathers and onyx pearls had been weaved into the clothing. The finishing touch was the necklace around her neck depicting a lunargent raven and an orichalcum eagle dancing around in a circle.
"What?"
She wrapped her arms around my chest. "Every time you pick up your sword, you get all angsty and depressed about how bad and evil you could turn. That's bad because that's supposed to be my thing."
"Hmm. I never saw you like that."
"That's because I don't like playing stereotypes."
"So Corvians aren't obsessed with dark clothes?"
She pinched me. "Okay, I don't act the stereotypes I don't like."
Gently, she took the sheathed sword from my hands and began attaching it to my belt.
"Anyway, you are too much of a stand-up guy to fall for that kind of stupidity. And if you ever where to, I would poison you in your sleep." Her tone was one of dark humour but was nonetheless completely honest.
I grinned. "Glad to see you have my back."
"Your welcome." She tightened the belt. "Well now that you are all geared up, you're gonna have my and Alice's back."
I let my hands slid down her hips. "And how am I supposed to interpret that?"
She tightened my belt a second time, not nicely. "Not with that part of your body you contrived idiot." Though she was smilling.
She took a step back. "You are our designated bodyguard for today."
"Really? So anything you two cannot turn insane, freeze under a blizzard or shred into pieces, I am supposed to take care of?"
"Hey, I'm not the all-powerful boasting mage here. Or did you drag me into your bed with lies?"
She pouted, arms crossed on her chest.
"Raven, I lost the illusion I had any control over you a long time ago."
And back was the cynical smile. "Then you're an idiot."
"Isn't that why you really are with me?"
She laughed. Her laugh could tear someone's self into pieces or make people mad. There, to me, it was warm and honest.
"Yes, I remember now." She kissed me. "Among other things."
And with that, she led me out of our room and into the Citadel.
Order Codex
Element Zero
The Free Council has an official position on element zero which can be summarized as: Fuck eezo. When element zero was discovered after the decyphiring of the Mars ruins, the Free Council was mostly enthusiastic about eezo. A new branch of science and technology was opened to humanity and even if the Free Council philosophy was a theoricaly at odds with eezo, element zero being an old technology by galactic standard, many were eager to magically experiment with it. Two things quickly killed that eagerness. First, eezo in itself is as reactive as any mundane material to magic. In fact, it's on par with wood or gravel. This in itself wasn't that big of a deal for the Free Council. The second thing though was a real deal-braker. A couple of Mysterium mages talented in the Time arcana began to study the Prothean ruins. Thus, leading to the discovery of said Prothean and of how they were wipped out. Then the mages went back further and saw the same thing happening, only with a different race. Seeing element zero as the death bait it was, the Free Council and mages in general began to reject its use in favor of different technologies. A thing made difficult by the shift of human technology so as to have eezo as its main pillar. The mage Daneel Olivaw, an imminent scientist, respected member of the Free Council and a particularly vocal hater of element zero, quote: "They have their dammed Phlebonium, we have ours, we'll see who's left standing after the Reapers come for their stupid cycle."
Order Codex
Portable Direct Energy Weapon
The feat that is the development of portable DEW was accomplished by a cabal of mixed Adamantine Arrow and Free Council members, PulseLight, who spend thirty five years, condensed into five with Time magic, searching for a way to transform Guardian lasers from turret to man portable. With magic and science combined, they accomplished much more than what was expected. After having successfully miniaturized the Guardian laser focal arrays and mirrors system to the size of a firearm, the simplest part, they began working on the power problem. Using Kypris, they successfully built a battery the size of a magazine with enough power to generate several military level laser shots. Once linked to the miniaturized Guardian system, it was effectively a portable laser gun. Though, of course, there was still the heat problem and the team had had to get rid of the heat sink in order to reduce the system. This was the team's only defeat as the only solution they found was to build a system so that the humongous heat build-up was forced through an enchanted element that converted the heat into electricity for the system. It is still a gigantic improvement over the previous magic based laser weapon which required around ten spells to work. Once out of the time bubble, the cabal began selling the blueprint of the weapon. As a result, some highly specialized mages have established themselves as renound gunsmiths who, like the ones of old, offer extremely personalized weapons to those who can buy them. A cheaper version has also been developed with the conversion spell replaced by a fixed temperature mini heat sink, reducing the number of shots possible with each magazine/battery. Losing a DEW weapon to a Sleeper is a severe crime.
Order Codex
Kypris
Perfected copper, Kypris has a rich green colour and like its brethren tends to catch and hold the light, making it glow with an ocean-like depth. It is chemically inert, and can be drawn into wires and beaten into leaf. But most importantly, it offers up absolutely no electrical resistance whatsoever. Even when it is melted down, the electrons are led through its substance without a single joule being converted to heat.
"Hey, bon matin Elizabeth." - "Hey, good morning Elizabeth."
"Bonsoir Solomon." "Good evening Solomon."
"Oh."
"Oui. Bien que ce soit compréhensible vue comment vous nous avez garder éveillé que tu puisse penser ca." "Yes. Though seeing how you two kept us awake, I understand how you might think that."
"Dommage. Je commencais vraiment à aimer les rèves de Sha'ira." Alice murmured.
"Too bad, I was really starting to like Sha'ira's dreams."
