Kankri had a lot of time to think as he trudged up and down the stairs of the metal tower, grabbing as much scraps of metal as he could gather in his sylladex. His Tazerjets (remember those flying, laser-shooting printers from before?) and his knife gun were enough protection that he needed from Imps and the occasional Basilisk, and the lasers were useful in cutting out chunks of metal from the walls. The task itself was monotonous enough for his thoughts to drift and still keep working. The only sounds were his shoes touching the metal and the faint hum of the Tazerjets.
He thought of Porrim and of Aranea, and their roles in this game. Were they happy with them? Aranea seemed to be so. She had thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the background and occasionally providing explanations or assistance when needed. Thinking about how little work Aranea had actually done directly made Kankri begin to feel a bit resentful. Why did she have so little to do while he had so much? He was a Seer, seers were meant to fight as little as Sylphs were. Why did she get to stay around and watch all the action while he was on the front lines, working his nubby horns off?
But Kankri had long since trained his brain to prevent himself from getting triggered, so he calmed down and thought of Porrim. He was filled with pity for her; how cruel of the game to give her a role so typical of the submissive women that she had strived never to become! And yet, she seems to be accepting her role, Kankri thought. He wished he could be a Seer of Mind, not of Blood, so that he could have a good sense of what she was thinking. Obviously, he kept this to himself, but with the way Porrim had acquired a particularly rough kissmesis he felt he had every right to be concerned. What was even worse were the vague, short answers she would give when he asked her a question such as "What do you think of your role now?" Kankri couldn't shake the feeling her attitude didn't match her actions, but how could he tell? And would she really hide her true feelings on something from him, one of the people she trusted deeply?
It was strange how he and Porrim were: She despised roles given to her by society, while he embraced them as wholeheartededly as he could—unless the mentioning of said roles to others would trigger them. In one way, Kankri admired Porrim: while he often spoke of need for change and fairness, she was willing to take action.
He wanted to tell her that given the evidence (and he would give a long report compiling this "evidence") that it would be best for her to embrace the role given to her by the game. But she wouldn't listen.
. . . .
Porrim had a bit more difficulty gathering the metal, but if someone like Horuss said it had to do with her gender than she would do…Porrim stopped herself from having black fantasies about him.
Horuss. That wretched, chauvinist…! No more. She didn't want her mind to linger on him much longer. She had a job to do for him that her feelings didn't need to get in the way of.
A job. The thought hit her like a ton of bricks. Here she was, an allegedly independent woman, doing a task ordered to her by a man! And her kissmesis, the man that above all others would be willing and able to abuse her whenever he pleased! Porrim angrily grabbed her Penguin's Bane and stabbed it into a hunk of metal, skewering it and stowing it away in her sylladex like it had been a shish kebab.
No. She had to control her thoughts. She couldn't let her emotions get in control of her. What else was there to think about that was relevant?
Oh, yes. Her role. Working with frogs was one thing, but being labelled by the game as a "maid" was another. Why did she have a role that completely mismatched her while the others had roles perfectly suited to themselves? Horuss was a Page of Void, reflecting how he basically had no aspect to speak of that she knew about and was pretty pathetic in every way, except physically of course. Kankri was a Seer of Blood—perfect for him because he loved to stop people from getting triggered and hated violence. Now he could stop it from happening and have everyone be happy! And Aranea got to do nothing but sit around and hand out marshmallows all day! Why couldn't that have been her?
Porrim sighed and picked up more metal scraps. What would Kankri think of her if he was a Seer of Mind and could read her thoughts? He'd laugh at her, she thought. Everything she had despised and everything she hated seeing women have, she possessed. Angry and fussy over minor things? Check. Letting her emotions control her? Check. The whole battle with Horuss and Rufioh was proof of that. Getting a role meant to play into the stereotypes surrounding her gender and class? Check. Fulfilling stereotypes? Check.
She hated that about herself. She wanted to be an activist for the women that suffered under burdens imposed by others. She wanted to be stoic and calm and show that women could be calm and collective when men let anger and aggression run their minds. She wanted to show that womens' minds expanded far beyond the petty problems of their personal lives.
But, Porrim realized, she was none of these things. Was there any way to fight fate?
. . . .
Horuss punched his way through the various Imps, Basilisks, and even the occasional Ogre that he saw as he gathered metal for Rufioh's new body. It would be perfect; he thought: the ideal blend of both metal and musclebeasts, his two favorite things! Just the thought of Rufioh's lovely head on this masterpiece was enough to make him sweat.
But what if he didn't like it? Impossible! Surely Rufioh had acquired at least a small portion of his own obsessions from spending so much time with him! Right?
Upon approaching the top of his tower, Horuss looked down the spiral staircase. He couldn't see the bottom of the tower; it had no lights and went far down underground. All he could see was an inky blackness—a void—below.
What compelled him he did not know, but Horuss suddenly jumped off the top floor and let himself fall headfirst down between the spiraling staircases of the tower. Extinquishsprite seemed to emerge from nowhere, spraying a tall mountain of foam to break his fall as he finally landed at the bottom.
Whoa there, Horuss! Hold your horses! What possessed you to take such a tumble as that?! Sawbuck demanded.
"8==l I seek answers, Sawbuck. Answers you could not possibly know of. Answers that I must find myself. As a Void player, I find it necessary to 100k first to the great void of darkness this tower holds. Hopefully I can gain some knowledge here, and in a short amount of time stampede back up to reconstruct Horuss."
Well, all right, then. But please tell me next time you intend to do this! And don't forget about Rufioh!
"8===D I assure you, Sawbuck, such a thing is not possible for me to forget." As he looked into the void, all he could see was nothing. But perhaps this nothingness was an answer in and of itself…it required further study, a thing that Horuss was usually not fond of doing.
But he'd make an e%ception in this case.
. . . .
Aranea rode on Nelly, wandering through the villages of her world. She had never taken such time to look at them before, but now that she did she could see that her consorts consisted mostly of little pink creatures. They were shorter than the ones Cronus had on his planet, and they had pointy ears and lived in the various hollow trees, tree stumps, and even in little burrows underground. They all seemed to like wearing pointy hats as well. She had tried to ask them for directions to Horuss' gate, but the only answers they gave her were in the form of riddles. There had been much more of them since she had cleared the fog and turned god-tier, but for the most part they just went about their business and only noticed Aranea when spoken to. Some of them expressed their thanks, but again it was in the form of a really tough riddle.
Because of this strange community that seemed to pay her little notice Aranea felt rather isolated, although a little less so than she had been before, back when she had realized that her duty was not to be cooped up in her hive. So just as other trolls were doing at this time, she let her mind wander.
Although she lay back on Aranea and looked at the clouds in her planet's atmosphere. She tried to imagine shapes and think up a whimsical story with them, as Clover probably would have done, but she couldn't think of anything. She was feeling too anxious and filled with guilt to be like Clover.
What would Porrim and Kankri say about her having done so little? Would they be resentful and jealous of her easy success? Or would they be mad that she had left her post? Was now an important time for her to be back at her hive?
But now it was too late to go back; she and Nelly had already journeyed too far already. So she sent a message on her tablet to Kankri and Porrim:
Hey, I'm coming to help you guys! I'm soooooooo sorry that I've 8een so worthless to you, and know I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you! 8ut I need you guys to get me up to speed! I've 8een…distracted l8ly. So what's going on?
By the time she had sent this message Aranea had figured out where the gate to Horuss' world was based on all the vague riddles given by the consorts, who she had this strange feeling were called "gnomes". The directions had taken her and Nelly to a forest full of various winding paths, but thanks to Aranea's discernment she knew where Horuss' gate was. Aranea told Nelly which path to go down, constantly checking her tablet to see if either Porrim or Kankri had replied. Nothing yet so far.
Aranea finally approached Horuss' gate in a clearing in the forest. She dismounted Nelly but still suggested that Nelly go in with her, in case she needed the backup. But as she was about to enter the gate, Aranea was intrigued by what she noticed about the clearing.
There were other dirt paths leading to the gate, other than the one she had taken, the one she had been sure was the right one, at least according to the gnomes. But how could that be? None of the gnomes had mentioned multiple paths, and although their riddles seemed to differ in content they didn't seem to contradict each other. They just told different hints about the same puzzle. But why would any of them leave the part about the multiple paths out? Surely it was important to the riddle, or maybe they just wanted her to take a specific path…even though others led to the gate. What was the point of that?
Aranea traced the path from the gate as far into the woods as she could go. But about a few paces in she noticed that the dirt path ended. It didn't begin at the entrance to the woods, so she had never seen it. After some more exploration, Aranea found that all the other paths leading to the gate besides the one she had taken had the same result: they all ended abruptly deep in the woods.
"What am I supposed to make of this, Clover?" Aranea asked aloud, hoping he would respond. "Does it even mean anything?"
Oooh, dear Aranea…there are so many things you can do, but only one thing does what you want, exactly the way you want it. I'm sorry I can't tell you more.
Aranea shrugged and went through the gate with Nelly, Clover's words etching themselves into her brain.
. . . .
Damara took off her spiked heels as she quietly made her way to Horuss' hive, careful not to make a sound. After searching around the hive for a suitable hiding place, she finally found one: his closet full of old, discarded robots.
It was time for phase 2 of her revenge…
AN: I'm going to try and explore as many POVs as possible in some of these next few chapters, while others will focus on just a few characters like I usually do. It's sort of a preparation for what I plan to do in that Felt update…which I can confidently say will arrive at Chapter 50!
