Chapter 9 - Sidereals
Though I didn't know what I was doing, I spent some hours muddling about with the enormous device that Godchaser had referred to as I AM. Despite the fact that nothing inside of it was obviously broken, I found that I still could not coax it to respond to any commands that I gave. I discovered a strange connecting cable that caused Godchaser to shriek with delight. It was made to attach to her, and so I threw caution to the wind and let her plug herself into the enormous terminal. For a moment she was bobbing up and down with excitement, but then she fell still.
"Something wrong?" I wondered.
"Well, there is some information in here, but just your personal files. And I can't find I AM. It's gone." She explained.
"Was I AM a friend of yours?" I wondered.
"It was the biggest AI in Creation" She replied. "But... just because it's gone from here doesn't mean it's gone from everywhere." She tried to sound optimistic, but I doubted that she believed her own words.
"Are you crying?" I wondered.
"No." Godchaser lied.
"Well, we do have a lot of material and information here. Give me a little time and maybe I'll think of something?" I suggested.
"It wouldn't be the same. You didn't build I AM, Maker. Your rival built him. Her and the Sidereals." Godchaser explained.
"Sidereals? Is there anything they're not involved in?" I snorted. Then it occurred to me what Godchaser had actually said. "Wait, I have a rival?" I wondered.
"Oh, yes! You did, anyway. Tess." She replied, speaking that name as if it were something she loathed almost as much as the word "Anathema". "Ahah, there are some files left! I can take these! And ooh! It's a picture!"
"Show me!" I demanded.
"I, uh... I am a little busy, Maker. Tell I AM to show you Altessa Endymion." Godchaser replied.
"It can show me pictures?" I wondered.
"It can bring up any files it has." Godchaser admitted. "Which is not very many, since I am taking most of the useful ones right now." She explained.
"All right, I AM. Show me Altessa Endymion!" I ordered.
A life-sized image appeared in front of me, as real as if the woman was really standing in the center of the room only a few feet away from me. She was almost as tall as I was with deeply tanned skin, platinum blonde hair and bright green eyes. Dressed in very fine clothing, she wore a large number of strange artifacts all over her person, most notably a hearthstone amulet with a pinkish sphere inside it, a stone I knewI'd seen before. Of course, when I tried to touch her... she disappeared. But the fact that the I AM terminal could make a projection so realistic gave me an inspired idea.
"So this databank we're accessing works like you do, Godchaser?" I asked.
"If you mean that it's mostly broken and missing important data, you'd be right about that." She replied curtly.
"But it can record things too, and play them back?" I clarified.
"Oh, of course. Probably. That isn't very difficult." She admitted.
"I AM, show me myself!" I ordered.
The device hesitated for a moment and then a woman appeared standing across from me. She was dressed in a white cloak that knew had to be Godchaser and a stunning orichalcum circlet bearing the Twilight Caste symbol. She was beautiful in a rather harsh way, and her nose was even more pointed than mine was. It made her look stubborn. Without a doubt, I was staring at the same woman who'd tried to stop me in hearthstone room. I was looking at my past self.
"I AM needs a new picture." Godchaser observed.
"So give it one." I replied. "You can do that, can't you?"
"Of course!" Godchaser scoffed. The image of Perfect vanished and a life-size projection of me appeared in its place.
"You don't have more recent picture of me than that?" I pressed, staring at myself. I was dressed in monk's robes and my head was still shaved, but no one would have mistaken me for an Immaculate, not with the mark that was burning on my brow. Obviously the picture had been taken right after I'd Exalted... I wasn't yet covered in dirt or deer berries. There was an absolutely dumbfounded expression on my face.
I realized belatedly that I was looking at myself as Godchaser had first seen me.
"I like that one!" Godchaser retorted. "But if you want a different one, Maker... I have many more!"
The monk "me" vanished, Perfect reappeared.
I walked around her, and as I did, her eyes followed me. "You know, she looks like she could be my sister." I admitted.
Godchaser didn't respond, probably sorting through her collection of pictures. "Ah, here's a good one!" She exclaimed.
The image of Perfect faded and once again I was left looking at myself again... this time tied to a tree.
"You wicked machine!" I laughed despite myself. "Have you ever recorded me when I wasn't about to be killed?"
Godchaser did not respond, but she looked very smug.
"I AM, keep up the current image. And bring up the previous one also." I ordered.
The two projections glanced at one another... Perfect in her finery and myself tied to a tree. I studied them both.
"Have I always looked so much the same?" I pressed. It was impossible to ignore how strongly I resembled my previous incarnation. I looked more like her than either of my own parents.
"Always?" Godchaser echoed.
"I must have been reincarnated more than once before. It's been 1,500 years!" I reminded her.
"Maker, this is first time you've been back." Godchaser informed me.
"Why?" I pressed.
"I don't know. Sidereals?" Godchaser suggested.
"I like that word less every time you say it. And you still don't know what exactly they are, do you?" I asked.
When she did not respond, I turned to I AM. "I AM, what do you know about Sidereals?" I demanded.
A fragmented mess of Old Realm characters made of green light flooded the room, swirling across the floor with a force that scattered leaves and scraps of paper all around. When I looked closely at them, I saw that they were all variations of the same character, meaning "jade". When I tried to touch them, they rose up all around me in a circle, making a cage.
"Godchaser? What's happening?" I whispered fearfully. She pulled free of I AM but did not swoop to my rescue. She only stared at the device.
"Jade Prison." She said in a voice that did not sound like her own.
That was when the power went out.
I was able to get the lights back on with only small amount of Essence and a few orders to my army of little mechanical spiders, but there was no response at all from I AM. Still uneasy after whatever it was she had witnessed, Godchaser admitted that she didn't know what the words "Jade Prison" meant or what they had to do with anything.
She did confess that they scared her very badly and made her think of Himitsu. I was not at all surprised. The more I learned about all of the things Sidereals meddled in, the more I became convinced that building Godchaser in order to hunt them down had been an act of compassion on the behalf of humanity.
With Godchaser's help, I removed her mangled teleportation circuit and left it on a work table so that I could fuss with it when I finished the fountain in Glassmaker's Row as I'd promised that I would.
Searching my manse, I found not only enough raw materials to last me several years but also an entire box full of ready-to-install parts labeled "water-purification machine". On my way out the door I picked up the ordinary tools I'd borrowed from Doctor Basha, sneaking a few extraordinary gems from my new collection into the bottom of the box. Since I was trying to maintain a low profile, I figured it was best to avoid anything that would attract too much attention... but I couldn't resist bringing along the little shape-changing moonsilver pliers I had discovered. While probably not necessary for finishing my fountain, I had discovered that they were the ideal tool for working on Godchaser.
"All right, let's go!" I decided. "We've got a fountain to finish!"
"But I'm still getting data! Godchaser argued, still hovering over I AM with a vacant expression on her face.
"You can finish later." I informed her. "We're coming right back here once that fountain is up and running. And I might need your help while I'm in the city. You can watch my back."
With that exact purpose in mind, I'd carefully made two little holes in the hood of my cloak. I could now turn Godchaser's mask around, hide it on the back of my head, and have her make sure that I wasn't being followed or observed.
"Okay!" Godchaser agreed, disconnecting from the terminal and hovering after me.
It did not take me as long to get out of my manse as it had taken me to get in. A few motes of Essence applied to the walls of the long stairwell caused the floor beneath my feet to move. I simply stood in one place and let the steps automatically ferry me all the way to the exit. As difficult as it was to close the doors and leave such a treasure trove behind, I had a promise to fulfill.
Though I didn't feel any particular loyalty to "Doctor Basha" or whoever he really was... there were plenty of other people were counting on me to repair the fountain. Clean water could help keep the spreading plague in check. Even if I was wandering into some sort of Sidereal trap, It was the right thing to do.
Seeing my manse and recognizing all of its glorious potential had burned the last of "The Wandering Monk" out of me. While I wasn't about to sit idly by when people were in danger, everything I'd one dreamt of suddenly seemed very small. I could do more than stop a dozen bandits in their tracks. With time and preparation, I could change the whole face of Nexus. And then, as I'd promised Doctor Basha... there was work to be done throughout Creation.
Having such an extraordinary hiding place would doubtless make all of my plans much easier to accomplish. According to Silvermane, a large number of foolish treasure hunters had apparently fallen victim to the multitude of traps within my manse... and now anyone with a sense of self-preservation gave the place a wide berth.
I hadn't seen any traps personally, but that was only because the door that I had entered through was not the one that others would think to use - but a secret escape shaft only accessible to someone who could put forth an extraordinary amount of Essence. The other ways in, of which there were several... were all designed to deter intruders.
Though I was somewhat disturbed by the bloody-mindedness of my predecessor, I had to admit that I didn't have a terrible amount of sympathy for someone who intended to rob me or kill me while I was asleep. More importantly, I suspected there were many things inside my workshop that did not belong in the hands anyone but me.
I still hadn't said anything to Godchaser about my epiphany, though I found myself smiling slightly every time she grumbled about my "stupid list" or said the words "Caste Mark" and then promptly apologized.
I knew that she'd start gloating if she heard me reciting my morning prayer and I didn't want her to get too excited because I was certain that there was still some sort of unresolved flaw in her hover circuit. Even after I'd removed all the slag connected to it, she was still moving erratically despite being full to the brim with Essence and gifted with a new hearthstone.
I'd given her the one the manse had just finished producing and taken her old one for myself. It seemed to be working well enough, and when I set it into a pendant and slipped it around my neck, I was pleased to discover that it provided me with a steady supply of lovely, warm, Essence. The feeling of wearing the stone was something akin to basking in the sun.
"Wait!" Godchaser demanded, floating after me. I reached for her and she settled around my shoulders, resuming her cloak-like appearance without coaxing.
"Too much walking!" She complained.
"What are you whining about, you stupid machine? I'm carrying you!" I reminded her.
"Yes, but walking is boring!" She protested. "Can't you just use sorcery?"
"No." I replied.
"Why not?" Godchaser demanded. "Because it makes you glow?" She taunted.
"I'm not a sorcerer." I corrected her. "A sorcerer casts spells on purpose. I've only ever cast them by accident."
"Ugh, Maker!" Godchaser groaned. "You are a sorcerer, and I don't care if you don't like me saying so! Your list is stupid. When we get home, I'll show you which book you need. You need to learn a spell called "Stormwind Rider". It's Emerald Circle, it's easy! Even a Dragonblood could do it!"
"Shh!" I ordered her. "Not another word out of you! Someone's coming!"
Godchaser fell silent. I slipped behind the closest tree and waited to see who was approaching on the road. There were a dozen soldiers on horseback, all dressed in the colors of the Ravenous Winds.
"How far are we from Nexus?" The first complained.
"A day." The second shrugged. "Probably less than that. Longer if it starts raining again." He glanced up at the black sky overhead.
"I tell you, this is a right royal mess that Talonlord Calil has put us into." The first sighed heavily. "This Cathak Loren of yours had better be as good as everyone says."
"Loren is extraordinary." The second smiled slightly. "You haven't met him yet, but you'll understand when you do. If he'd been better bred, he'd be his father's right hand in the Scarlet Legion. Really a shame when you think about it."
"Absolutely!" A familiar voice chimed in. "Greatest damn military genius the Realm has produced since the Roseblack and here he is, wasted on us!"
When I briefly poked my head out of my hiding place to see if it was Sam who had spoken as I feared it might be, I accidentally caught a twig on my cloak and snapped it.
The first soldier gave a low whistle – he didn't seem to hear me. One of the men behind him suddenly stopped. "Did you hear that, sir?" He wondered uneasily.
"I didn't hear anything." The first admitted.
The second paused. "These woods are filled with all kinds of spooks." He snorted. "Word has it that a mean old Anathema used to have a fortress not far from here. We can go see it if you'd like."
"Oh, I'll pass!" His companion laughed, sounding very uneasy.
"Nothing to see anyway. Just a bunch of barred doors in the side of a mountain and big orichalcum box that's impossible to open. Dunno what's in it. Probably something murderous. Or a toy of some kind." He sighed heavily. "Possibly both?"
"Yeah, demons are weird like that." Sam replied.
It was him!
I held my breath as the soldiers passed by and waited until I was sure they were gone. "Did you sense any Sidereals, Godchaser?' I asked when they had all ridden off.
"Um..." She paused.
"You're not sure?" I wondered.
"No, I'm just trying to count how many. Three, I think."
"Three Sidereals! All of them with the Ravenous Winds?" I exclaimed in disbelief. "What are they doing here?" I demanded.
"Well, Maker... I could be wrong, but I think they are probably looking for you." She replied.
"That's no good. All the more reason for us to get back to Nexus!" I replied.
"But aren't you worried about running into Doctor Basha? He might expect you to come finish the fountain!" Godchaser protested.
"Even if he is a Sidereal, he helped me when he didn't have to. I think I'm better off trusting him than those who've thrown in with that Wyld Hunt." I replied.
"I dunno. I like Sam. Especially when he calls you Copper... oh, the list!" Godchaser groaned. "Stupid list!"
After how many times she had repeated that sobriquet, I had added "Copper Spider" to Godchaser's "banned words" category. Of course, that had all been before Godchaser's hearthstone failed and I'd met Rhapsody. Sometimes it felt like no time at all had passed, and other times I was startled by how much Godchaser had really missed. "Damn the list!" I sighed heavily. "Sam is a Sidereal too?"
Truth be told, I had expected as much.
"Yes, almost certainly. Of the Sidereals I detected, one was a Chosen of Journeys. That's Sam." Godchaser nodded. "The soldier who was riding up near the Fanglord and complaining so much is a Chosen of Battles and the other is a Chosen of Secrets. I think."
"Secrets? Oh, wonderful!" I grimaced.
"Well, as I said when we were talking about Doctor Basha... not all Sidereals are like Himitsu. In fact, I thought Sam might be a Sidereal when he first met us, Maker... but I didn't want to alarm you." Godchaser admitted.
"What alarms me is that these damned sneaks are everywhere and neither you nor I nor anyone knows what they are or what they're doing – except that they work in some kind of bureaucratic capacity and most of them are corrupt! And the fact that no one can remember them is awfully convenient, especially with how they keep seeming to pop up wherever they can cause the most trouble! Honestly! Is anyone who likes me not a Sidereal?" I demanded.
"Rhapsody likes you." Godchaser replied. "I like you!"
"Rhapsody likes everyone, and you're biased!" I informed her, though just hearing Rhapsody's name made me worry for her. Godchaser did not seem as convinced as Kahn was that Rhapsody was dead and since I preferred to keep things optimistic myself, I decided to continue hoping too.
"Well, what about Matsu and Tick and Jing Wei?" Godchaser protested.
"Jing Wei threatened to throw me off his ship!" I reminded her.
"So? You always threaten to take me apart!" Godchaser reminded me. "Sometimes people say mean things when they love each other!"
"You're not helping, you stupid machine!" I smiled despite myself.
As fast as my legs would carry me, I made my way back to Silvermane's camp, wanting to warn him about the Sidereals that Godchaser had detected. When I arrived there, Kahn and all of his men were long gone. I spent the night in a ditch without daring to make a fire and as soon as the sun had risen, I hurried back to Nexus.
I did not make it to the city's gates until several hours after sunset and I didn't run into Doctor Basha or anyone else I knew on Glassmaker's Row. It was the middle of the night when I arrived at my fountain, which was just what I had hoped for... less chance of anyone catching me at work. I applied myself diligently to the last meticulous adjustments that I needed to make and installed the small orichalcum gears that I'd found already forged in my manse.
Finding the box of parts labeled "Water Purification Machine" had been somewhat of a disappointment as I still had a very strong desire to fire up the plasma furnace. Such intense heat along with a significant amount of Essence was the only way to work large pieces of orichalcum and my fingers were itching to do something very big and dramatic.
Fortunately, the last necessary step to repairing my fountain was going to be a real challenge. I stared at the piece of messy paper that I'd scrawled my plans on, and then at the ancient book that I'd stuffed it into. The last thing I had to do was cast a spell. Though realistically I knew that I was capable of sorcery... the thought of consciously working it still left me feeling apprehensive. I would become obvious as soon as I began, and if the results of my efforts were too loud or too bright, I'd be sure to catch someone's attention.
Also, I had a distinct feeling that I was already being watched.
"Oh, Maker, look! It's Two!" Godchaser exclaimed suddenly. "Hello, Two!"
I pulled her mask down over my face and turned quickly to see what she was shouting about. On the rooftop behind me, silhouetted against the moon was figure dressed in a white cloak with an ivory mask obscuring his face.
If I hadn't known better, I might have suspected that I was looking in a mirror at my own reflection... or at least a reflection of Godchaser.
But the stranger who'd come to watch me work was wearing much nicer boots than I was and a pair of pristine white gloves.
I knew him immediately from the stories of my childhood.
He was the Emissary of Nexus.
Without hesitation, I leapt up onto the roof to meet him. With no one around to catch me, I couldn't resist the opportunity. Also, as Godchaser had recognized... The Emissary's infamous white cloak was her predecessor, the Ninefold Harmonic Essence Tracking and Teleportation Device second prototype or "Two" for short.
"Nice cloak." The Emissary observed, speaking in Old Realm.
"I should say the same. Who are you?" I replied, doing the same myself.
"I'm The Emissary." He replied.
"I guessed that much. But who are you really?" I pressed.
"Why should I tell you that?" He retorted.
"Because I made that cloak you're wearing. And I'd wager I'm probably the only person in Creation capable of fixing it." I informed him.
"Well, this one was stripped down centuries ago. It doesn't do anything fancy, not with how many parts it's missing." The Emissary laughed. "I purposefully disabled the independent personality and I know enough to keep the other functions running myself."
"Really?" I observed. "You must be very clever."
"Not quite as clever as you." He answered. "But I do try."
"So I suppose that there's no chance that you and I might sit down somewhere, remove our masks and have a nice little conversation?" I asked.
"No chance at all." The Emissary sighed heavily, crossing his arms and looking down on me. It was impossible to tell what expression he had on his face behind his mask, but it felt like a smirk. I was very glad to see that the ruler of Nexus was not the soulless monster that so many believed that he was. Though I was someone disappointed not to be able to actually see the face of someone just like me, I couldn't blame him for being cautious. I was just as much of a mystery to him as he was to me.
"I suspected that was the case. You don't have a problem with me working on your city, do you?" I wondered.
"No. I'm actually rather thankful. I've no talent for fixing things." He admitted.
"So I've noticed." I replied.
"I am a bit particular about sorcery, however. May I see what spell you were about to cast?" He asked.
I showed him the spell in my book.
"Oh, well that's fine." He shrugged, as if it were no great thing. I did not doubt that whoever he was, The Emissary was far more powerful than I was myself. More strangely still, although he was not willing to reveal his face, the two of us seemed to get along as if we'd known one another forever. "I suspected that it was just a little Emerald Circle muddling. But I am warning you now! No Adamant Circle sorcery within one hundred miles of this city!" He warned.
"Perish the thought!" I laughed uneasily. All I really knew of sorcery was that there were three circles, Emerald, Sapphire and Adamant... and that no one besides a Solar could cast a spell of the Adamant Circle, the most powerful sorcery in Creation. I'd been right in my initial assumption.
The Emissary was a Solar! If only anyone knew!
"Well, carry on then!" He sat on the rooftop
"You're going to watch?" I wondered, setting down my book.
"Oh my, are you self-conscious? But do continue! I've always wanted to see an old-school Devonian in action." He folded his white-gloved hands just under his chin.
"I'm not working sorcery with you up there looking down on me! It's obnoxious!" I informed him.
"Well, I suppose I shall just have to show you how we radical young Silurians get things done." He retorted, hopping down to the fountain and picking up my book. He glanced at it for a moment and then snorted disdainfully, cracking his knuckles.
I said nothing. I'd no idea what either of the words he'd used meant, except that Godchaser often used the word "Devonian" when she rambled on about sorcery. I gathered from the way the Emissary stood that he was about to cast the spell himself. Deciding to pretend that I was not as impressed as I actually was, I hopped back up onto the roof into the exact spot where he'd stood when his intention had been to watch me.
The Emissary glanced up at me. "Now that's no fair at all!" He put his hands on his hips.
"I suppose not. But do continue!" I replied.
As The Emissary cast his spell a faint, wavering golden light blossomed all around him. If I'd had any doubt that he and I were the same before, it vanished the moment he called up his Essence. The Spell did not take very long and when it was done it was practically invisible... not very impressive, not in comparison to Emerald Banishing, but it seemed to do what it was intended to.
I came down from my perch and reached into the fountain, scooping up a handful of crystal clear, clean water. "It works." I smiled slightly.
I turned to thank The Emissary, but he was already gone.
That was when I noticed that someone, The Emissary, no doubt, had already defaced my work!
Of course, when I saw what had been written on the side of my fountain, I found that I couldn't remain angry. It was a piece of Old Realm poetry. There was no signature, no evidence of who he was quoting, just the unmistakable symbol of Twilight Caste carved into the stone.
"You see many stars at night in the sky but find them not when the sun rises; can you say that there are no stars in the heaven of day?So,O man! Because you behold not God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God."
It was perfect.
I heard the sound of a door opening nearby.
Doctor Basha stared in horror as I turned to face him. Belatedly, I remembered my mask and took it off. Godchaser giggled.
"Oh, Veritas!" He paused, looking embarrassed. "I thought you were the Emissary!"
"We have do have similar taste in clothing." I admitted, smiling slightly. "But no... he just left."
"The Emissary was actually here, in Glassmaker's Row?" Doctor Basha blinked in disbelief.
"Don't act so surprised." I informed him. "I know you're a Sidereal."
"Ooh. Blasted paradox!" He grimaced. Almost immediately, Doctor Basha appeared to be thirty years younger and a foot taller with a long white braid of hair and a pair of fascinating silvery bracelets on his wrists, which were crafted to look like spiders. He adjusted his glasses and sighed heavily, his hands on his hips. "Dear Maidens, I suppose I should have known better than to try to a Resplendent Destiny on the legendary Godchaser!" He remarked dryly.
Godchaser giggled, sounding unforgivably smug.
"So who are you, really?" I pressed.
"Call me Sirus. Chosen of Serenity, as I'm sure you already know, and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Rivers and Waterworks." He bowed dramatically. "It's a pleasure to actually meet you."
"Ah. Waterworks. That explains why you were so interested in my fountain." I smiled slightly.
"Oh yes. Clean water is more important than most people realize in this ignorant age." He replied. "I'd love to discuss it further now that you have me unmasked, but I'm afraid that my time here is rather limited and I did distinctly see you conversing with The Emissary. It's unwise to trust him!" He reprimanded me.
"And I'm supposed to accept that warning coming from a Sidereal?" I frowned.
"You have a point." Doctor Basha... or rather, Sirus sighed heavily. "Well, hate us all you like for the mess we've made, but do keep in mind that the Bureau of Destiny is not a unified oppressive entity! Every Division is divided on many issues, even the Cerulean Lute... and we're supposed to be the serene ones! Those of us who are members of the Gold Faction do support you Solars, even if you don't know we exist." He finished.
"Yes, I've noticed that. But why is it that no one can remember you?" I demanded.
"Oh, I'm not permitted to share that information." He replied. "And my superiors are already bound to be upset about you bursting my very useful doctor disguise!"
"I broke your disguise because I knew you were a Sidereal?" I demanded. "What's paradox?"
"It would take me hours to explain and even then, you wouldn't understand." He sighed. "Suffice to say, it's meant to keep us on our best behavior."
"Hm." I observed. "I suppose something has to. Tell me, Sirus... do you know the name Himitsu?" I asked, throwing all caution to the wind.
The Sidereal paled. "Himitsu?" He pressed, as if he was sure he hadn't heard me correctly.
"Yes. That's the name that I know him by, anyway... though I've also heard him called "Iron Lotus" among other things. He's a Sidereal who's been following me around for more than five years." I prompted. "Is he a friend of yours?
"Absolutely not! Himitsu is an unrepentant scoundrel who ought to be audited a thousand times! He cannot be trusted at all!" Sirus informed me. "He'll almost certainly get you killed!"
"Tell me something I don't know." I snorted, unimpressed. I did notice that he'd said the word "audit" and thought immediately of Rhapsody... but if she and her Lunar friend were not already mixed up in some mess with Sidereals, I figured it would be dangerous to set any of them onto her trail.
"In fact, possibly the only person in all of Creation more dangerous than Himitsu is the man you were just meeting with." Sirus replied.
"The Emissary?" I wondered.
He nodded, a very grave expression on his face. "Deal with him at your own peril."
"Well then, before you ask... I've never met the Emissary before tonight and I certainly didn't summon him here. Apparently he heard about my project and came of his own accord. Wanted to see it finished, I suspect." I admitted.
"The device is fixed then?" Sirus asked.
"See for yourself." I gestured to the fountain. The Sidereal fell to his knees and put both his hands in the water, splashing it in the air like a child, an expression of absolute awe on his face.
"Veritas?" Sirus wondered.
Of course, I'd taken his moment of distraction as an opportunity to vanish myself, hopping back onto the roof where I'd met the Emissary. Sirus looked around for a moment, clearly trying to catch sight of me... or perhaps only to determine whether or not he was being watched himself. Content that no one of consequence could see him, he promptly disappeared as if he had never been.
That was an impressive trick! Without waiting to see if the Sidereal would reappear, I took off running off into the night.
When I made it back to my manse two days later, I found more trouble waiting for me. The door on top of the hill was ajar and when I put my hands on the hearthstone pedestal in the central control room, I detected a strange disturbance, some kind of unfamiliar Essence at work. Very quietly, I crept down the stairs but did not use the main entrance to my workshop. Godchaser guided me to a secret passage that began in the hearthstone room and let out on the airship dock some forty feet above the floor. Hiding behind the first warbird, I evaluated the intruders.
There were three of them, and they were all glowing from the Essence they'd expended. The first was an angry-looking man dressed in utilitarian clothing... surrounded by a red aura with the symbol of Mars burning on his brow. Beside him was a boyish-looking woman, similarly dressed who was smoking something... tobacco or opium, I couldn't be sure of which. She had a blue aura, but I couldn't see her face with the way her bright green hair tumbled over her eyes. Sitting across from the two of them in my chair was a blond woman dressed in a very nice black and gold kimono who was glowing green. Her nose was in a book and she wore a little pair of golden glasses that made her look very much like my childhood history tutor... the first woman I'd decided that I was in love with. I would have found very attractive if had not realized immediately what she was.
"Sidereals!" Godchaser yelped.
There were Sidereals in my manse!
I stayed where I was and watched them, almost holding my breath.
"Someone's beaten us here." The blue Sidereal observed, glancing from my open tool cabinet to the bucket and pile of rags I'd been using to clean I AM's console and the floor. "Do you think it might be Perfect?"
"That's impossible!" The angry red Sidereal scoffed. "No Solars survived the war! Perfect's been dead for 1,500 years. And even if she has reincarnated like everyone says, she can't have been here already! It took all of our personal Essence to get through those doors! And even if you subtract what we put into the Harmonic Adapter..." He fell silent, glancing at each of the women. Neither of them seemed convinced.
"But what if she's not a brand-new Solar?" The blue Sidereal protested. "What if Perfect Mechanical Soul is really back? I've heard the stories! That bitch makes Paradox like nobody's business! You can't hide from her!"
"Estelle, Perfect isn't coming to kill us!" The red Sidereal surveyed my manse with a disinterested snort. "Although frankly, I am a little disappointed that The Godchaser raiment isn't here. I've heard that Chejop Kejak would give an undisclosed favor to get his hands on it."
"Well, I don't know about that." The green Sidereal sighed heavily, flipping through her voluminous pages of notes. "Himitsu said..."
"Himitsu is going to get us all killed! Sure, maybe he used to be Kejak's right hand man, but that was a long time ago and nobody knows who he works for now!" The red Sidereal snapped. "Think about it! Where is Sam?" He prompted.
The two women glanced at one another but did not respond. They both looked worried.
"See my point now? Sam goes to meet with Himitsu and he doesn't come back. We don't get any notice, no new orders... and he's just gone?" He snorted. "He's probably dead!"
"Well, if we are all about to be killed, I want it to go on record and say that it was not my idea to go after the frickin' Godchaser!" The blue Sidereal protested. "We've already got enough trouble with Shadowsbane and The Faeslayer! If the three of them join forces with The Emissary, it'll be The Three Circles Society all over again, and I'm handing in my resignation to the Bureau!"
"You can't resign from the Bureau of Destiny!" The green Sidereal protested.
"Which is why it's the worst job in the world." The blue Sidereal replied, lighting up to smoke some more. I was beginning to suspect that she never really stopped. Not that I blamed her. From the sound of things, the Sidereals were even more disorganized and disillusioned than Sirus had implied.
The green Sidereal took something out of her pocket and slowly approached I AM. She attached it to a connection cable and waited, surveying the sea of numbers and glyphs that suddenly flooded the room.
"Well?" The red Sidereal put his hands on his hips.
"It's got some kind of encryption on it. A new one." She observed.
"Of course it does! Fucking Twilights!" The red Sidereal rolled his eyes.
Godchaser smirked. I didn't say anything, but I would congratulate her for whatever it was that she'd done once the Sidereals were gone.
"Well, would you leave something like this alone?" The green Sidereal pressed.
"What kind of question is that?" The red Sidereal demanded.
"If you didn't know anything, wouldn't you try to find out what had happened?" She clarified.
"No. Because I'm not stupid!" The red Sidereal replied.
The green Sidereal sighed. "I don't think it has anything to do with being stupid. It's about not knowing enough to be afraid. These new Solars are all really ignorant. And that's our fault in a way, isn't it? So why are we stealing more information from them? If they don't know where they went wrong, won't they be more inclined to repeat their past mistakes?"
"Damnit, Whisper!" The red Sidereal snapped. "You may be our field supervisor, but I've had enough of your Gold Faction bullshit! I don't care what you personally think of Solars! All I care about is whether or not I'm going to have to kill one today!"
"You're missing the point, Jonah! We shouldn't be doing this!" Whisper looked ready to cry. "It's wrong! It's not part of our orders!"
"Calm down, Whisper! Jonah's just frustrated. And we can't all be Chosen of Battles, sifu." The blue Sidereal scolded, "Since Sam disappeared you've been ripping into Whisper nonstop and that's not helping this situation at all!" The blue Sidereal reprimanded him.
"Estelle, don't defend the Goldie!" The red Sidereal, Jonah, snapped. "Let's just do what we came for and get out of here."
"Yeah, before the Godchaser latches onto our Essence and paradoxes us all back to Yu Shan!" The blue Sidereal rolled her eyes.
Godchaser grinned very broadly and I knew that she had already identified each of them... which meant that even if they donned one of their exceptional disguises she would know what - and who they really were.
The thought made me very smug. Whisper watched the small device she had connected to I AM for a moment and then unplugged it.
"Maker, they're taking all our data!" Godchaser hissed. "Do something!"
"Shh! Godchaser, they can't know you're here! It's you they're looking for!" I waited until the Sidereals started fighting with one another again and then took off Godchaser, rolling her up and tossing her in the open hatch of the nearest warbird. She peeked out almost immediately and stared at me in confusion.
"Stay put!" I warned. "No matter what!"
Seeing that my uninvited guests were about to leave, I leapt down from my perch and stopped Jonah in front of the exit. He blinked in surprise.
"Going somewhere?" I demanded, crossing my arms and glaring at him.
"We were just leaving." Estelle tugged on Jonah's arm. He only brushed her away.
"Oh no, I don't think so! Not until you explain what you are doing here!" As Jonah tried to sidestep me to get himself in a more advantageous position, I caught his wrist. He easily evaded my grasp and tried to retaliate with a move I knew very well. I countered him.
"Snake Style." The red Sidereal observed. "I wasn't expecting that." He admitted.
"I wasn't expecting to come home to three Sidereals myself. Today is full of surprises! So you're a Chosen of Battles? What exactly does that mean?" I asked.
"None of your business." Jonah replied.
"Wrong answer." I attempted to wrestle him to the ground, but he swept my feet out from under me. As I tried to jump up, he caught me with an extremely forceful palm strike that sent me skidding across the floor on my back. For a moment I couldn't breath and I began to realize that I hadn't really thought things through.
I couldn't necessarily subdue three Sidereals as easily as I could a handful of Snow Owls or bandit monks. They were Exalts, at least as strong as a Dragonblooded and possibly even stronger than me. Possibly? No, most definitely - Jonah in particular! Whatever bureaucratic body they worked for had sent the three of them out expecting that they might run into me! I was definitely in over my head!
"Not bad." Jonah admitted, cracking his knuckles. "But you won't beat me with just Snake Style." He seized me by the collar.
Without looking down, I fumbled around on the table behind me for anything I might use as a weapon. When my fingertips brushed a teleportation circuit, I knew I had what I needed. "Then I suppose it's a good thing I've got some other tricks up my sleeve!" I shot back.
I fueled the circuit with as much Essence as I dared and gasped for breath as the world around me exploded into fragments of light. One moment I was on the floor in Jonah's grasp, the next I was falling into one of my bookshelves from two floors up. As I scrambled to my feet and dodged several heavy tomes, I saw that one of the volumes that had nearly landed on my head was marked with three circles in gold on its white leather cover.
It was a spellbook!
That moment was clearly fortuitous, and so I seized it. With my head still spinning from my reckless teleportation, I wasn't sure that I would succeed at whatever I attempted, but I was prepared to try sorcery... so I supposed that had to count for something. I threw open the book and stared at the title of the spell.
The Ravenous Fire.
That sounded promising. I evaluated the instructions for a moment and blinked in surprise as I suddenly realized that sorcery was like mathematics! I'd never expected it to be so easy! The incantation rolled off my tongue effortlessly. It took me a moment to realize that what I was doing was reshaping the fundamental laws of Creation to conform to my will. That was when the spellcasting actually became a little scary... but I was already too far along to stop.
The Sidereals didn't see me until it was already too late. Fire poured from my fingertips like dragon's breath and went where mind told it to, burning leaves and rubble but avoiding anything important as it chased the horrified Sidereals out of my manse.
Their shouts and screams assured me that they'd escaped, but only by the skin of their teeth. I didn't really want to hurt them, but I did want to make sure they got the message that I wasn't someone to be trifled with. When I was sure they were gone, I casually went back down to the floor and picked up the green Sidereal's little device which was completely incinerated.
"Well, whatever they wanted to steal... they didn't get it." I observed.
Godchaser cautiously hovered down from where I had left her. She examined I AM for a moment and then spent a long silent moment staring at the burnt stick. "Not steal, sabotage." Godchaser paused. "Maker, I think there's something the Sidereals don't want us to know."
"Beyond the fact that they exist?" I hazarded a guess.
"That is annoying, isn't it?" Godchaser replied with a snort. "I wish I remembered more."
"There wasn't anything in the data you retrieved from I AM?" I pressed.
"No!" She sighed in defeat. "And I am getting very frustrated!"
"You're not the only one." I paused. "I do think Kahn might know something. But he obviously doesn't want his men to hear it, so we'll have to get him alone." I admitted.
"Ah!" Godchaser exclaimed. "Do you want me to find him for you then? I can track the bracelet you made him!" She volunteered.
"No, we're not leaving here just yet." I glanced at my reflection in the glass of I AM's enormous screen. After the Spell I'd just cast, I was burning very brightly. There was no way I'd make it anywhere as I was.
"You are glowing a lot." Godchaser observed. "And I heard lots of shouting from where you put me inside the warbird. What did you do? Did you cast a spell?"
"Yes." I replied.
"Oh, good!" She exclaimed. "Which one?"
"The Ravenous Fire." I replied.
"Ah! Useful! Could you cast it again?" She pressed.
I hesitated "Yes." I admitted.
"And you know what that means, don't you?" Godchaser smirked. "Because before you said..."
"Yes!" I groaned. "I'm a sorcerer! Are you happy now?"
"Hee!" Godchaser giggled. "You just used one of the words on your stupid list!"
I'd completely forgotten that "sorcerer" had been on my list as well.
"Keep gloating and I will dismantle you!" I warned, waving a wrench at her. Godchaser swooped behind the nearest work table.
"Eeep!" She shrieked with enviable melodrama.
I put my hands on my hips and stared up at the sliver of sunlight that cut through my broken roof. As soon as I had a reasonable supply of food and water, I knew that nothing short of the end of time would convince me to leave my manse. Even if I did have to chase Sidereals out every day, it would be entirely worth it. I was home. And I had so many ideas!
When I finished fixing all that I could in Glassmaker's Row I'd start work in Tellnaught or Harlotry. I'd rebuild Nexus from the ground up. Kahn would help me. Doctor Basha, "Sirus"... whoever he was, he'd help me too. The Emissary... well, he wouldn't exactly help me, but I could tell he definitely approved of my work. And sooner or later, I'd convince him to tell me the story of how he'd acquired "Two".
I was done being "Recluse", hiding under wagons and avoiding the critical gaze of those saw me only as a monumental failure, an arrogant mere mortal who'd dared to reach too high. I casually scrawled my surname in chalk across the floor, the same flamboyant characters I'd always used to sign my work when I'd been employed by the wealthiest and most powerful Dynasts in the Realm. But as I evaluated that familiar signature, I realized that just as I was no longer "Recluse" - I wasn't "Master Ilumio" either.
I scrubbed out the chalk lines with my shoe and then drew a large circle with a line directly through its center. "Godchaser, what do you think?"
She hovered over to where I sat on the floor and stared at my work in bewilderment. "What is it?"
"It's my new signature." I replied, thinking of how the Emissary had marked my fountain.
"But it's nothing! It just looks like your Caste Mark!" She protested.
"I know." Now when thatstarted appearing on public works throughout the city... I imagined it would turn a few heads!
"Oops!" Godchaser exclaimed. "I'm sorry. I said "Caste Mark". I know that's on your list."
"It's all right." I laughed.
"Maker?" Godchaser wavered slightly, as if she weren't entirely convinced that I was being serious.
"We need to have a talk, you and I. I've been meaning to tell something you for a long time now... but I haven't had the chance. Things have been too busy, and until we made it back here you weren't able to stay awake for very long. Godchaser, I want you to throw away your list." I finished.
"Okay!" Godchaser agreed readily. "No more stupid list!" Not much of a chore for her, it seemed.
"And now we're going to make a new list." I paused.
Her face fell. "Awww!" She protested.
"This list is for me. And you'll like it!" I smiled slightly. "You'd better start recording. I'm only going to say this once!"
I was still glowing very brightly from the Essence I'd expended and in a way, that seemed particularly appropriate.
"I, Veritas Ilumio, in the interests of living up to the ostentatious name given to me by my long-suffering, dearly departed parents and also in the interests of better serving the whole of Creation as is now my responsibility... am making a list. My faithful Godchaser will record this list as a testament to the sincerity of my intentions, and she may play it back to me, in whole or in part, whenever I violate one of the four rules that I am about to lay down for myself."
"First and foremost, Godchaser has never steered me wrong. I will make more effort to heed her warnings, and because I am thankful for her loyal service, I will no longer threaten to dismantle her... more than once a week."
"Ooh! That's unfair!" Godchaser protested.
"Second. I am never going to hurt anyone I don't have to. But I am going to go well out of my way to inconvenience certain Sidereals who seem to think that they can't be held accountable for whatever it is that they're doing!"
"Hah! Much better! I support that rule!" Godchaser giggled.
"Keep listening, I'm not done yet! Third. Everything I do, I do because it's right." I vowed. "I'm not going to throw my life away, but I'm not hiding either. If something needs fixing, I'm going to fix it. And if that means that more than a few people are going to find out what I am... well, that's what it means. If I'm hunted and hated for doing what the Unconquered Sun wants me to do, I don't care. It's entirely worth it."
Godchaser stared at me incredulously, obviously wondering if I'd really said what she thought I had.
"Last but not least, I will thoroughly purge certain ugly words from my vocabulary! I will never again refer to myself as a demon, damned, monster, Unclean or Anathema! If I require a descriptive term, I have plenty of more accurate ones to choose from. I may call myself Solar Exalted, Twilight Caste, a Copper Spider... or Godchaser's Maker."
The moment I finished my list, I finally discovered the flaw in Godchaser's re-engineered "hover" function.
With an incoherent exclamation of joy, she whizzed up into the air and got herself stuck in the ceiling.
It took me more than three hours to get her down.