Shadowbane

"... What did you say your name was, girl?" Yulong asked.

"I didn't tell you what my name was yet, but it's Reimia Velrune. And what's with your name? I expected a Kitsune with a name like Yulong, but you're clearly a Human."

"I made it up long ago." Yulong said as he picked up a keyboard on the table in front of him, placing it on his lap. The TV switched from his video game to the mainframe's database that everyone has to access when they want to make a query.

"You made up your own name? And you came up with Yulong of all names?"

"I used to argue with an old friend of mine quite often. The fool repeated the phrase 'You're wrong' so often that I changed my name to 'Yulong' on a whim one day. I know it's clever, so you don't need to confirm it audibly for brownie points."

... It's really not. Never in a million years would I have deduced a lame connection like that to someone's name, and his barely even forms the connection he was hoping for.

Articles popped up on the TV that had recently been updated with photos of someone. Photos of me.

"So you're the one who brought back those two emblems... Your story is far more plausible now."

Yulong leapt off the couch and placed the keyboard back on the table before motioning for me to follow him up the nearby stairs.

As we neared the top of the stairs I noticed there was far more up there than I had originally seen from below. Several tables, chemistry equipment, a full king sized bed, a couple of couches. It was a whole other room in of itself.

"Now then..." Yulong stopped next to one of the couches and looked at me, "I... Struggle, with Human interaction such as this, so I am not quite sure how to word this in a non-strange way---"

I cut him off, "You want to look at my memories, right? Don't worry, I specifically came here to show them to you."

Yulong stared at me for a bit in silence before finally smirking a little, "You are surprisingly agreeable, so far. A very rare occurrence for me... Now, if you will?" He motioned toward the couch.

As I laid down on the couch he pulled over a recliner until he was directly next to the couch. He then sat down on it and kicked it all the way back before reaching out his left hand toward me. "I am ready."

"You're not going to ask me anything beforehand? For all you know I was only there for a split second."

"No need. I thought the story about someone returning two emblems was embellished or misreported. 'Clearly it was just one emblem and it had to originally consisted of a full squad but only one of them managed to make it back' was my first thought upon reading the initial reports. But after seeing you and hearing you speak so casually about being in the Abyss... No, there is no need to hear anything. If you can claim emblems like they're nothing, then you could have easily been to the Abyss as well. And if you truly are here to trick me and kill me by trapping me inside your soul realm, then I'll take the loss. It's worth the gamble."

I don't know why he's so interested in the Abyss, but I'll leave that question for later. I can see his hand trembling right now after all. He's obviously dying to know what kind of memories I have of that realm.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him into my soul realm. Once we were inside he looked around and motioned toward the swamp around us, "And this is?"

"Lord Terra'ka's... Planet? Moon? I'm actually not sure. He's an Eldritch that's close to becoming an Old God. I've only been to his planet once but I loved the view, so I made my soul realm reflect it."

Yulong looked up at the night sky, "It appears to have no atmosphere, just like the western side of Caedrus."

"It only looks like that. There were plenty of people breathing just fine while we were there, so I don't know why there isn't a sky here."

I brought up the scene where I jumped through the Demon's portal to Veca.

"Hmm, I'm honestly not sure where to start with this. Me and my friends were there for quite a while trying to escape Veca, the moon where the Abyssal God and portal to their realm exists. Err, I say 'portal', but it's more like part of Veca is directly connected to another realm. The Abyssal Realm."

"Veca... I know all of the moon and planet names, and this one is no different. However, I know very little about Veca itself. You're saying it's the birthplace of the Abyss, and that it completely merged itself to another realm? But how would..." Yulong trailed off.

I fast-forwarded the memory to the room the God of the Abyss was in. "This is their God. Want to study him first, or do you want me to show you how the realms are merged?"

"... The realms, please." Yulong said as his eyes ran up and down the Abyssal God's arms, studying the runes.

I showed him the scene of me traveling to the Abyssal realm through the staircase multiple times, but all he ever said when I reached the bottom was, "Again." as he stared unblinkingly at the scene in front of him while rubbing his chin. Finally, after the fifth time he sighed and said, "There's nothing... Absolutely nothing to suggest you moved to another realm. You're there in Veca one second, and the next when you step into that desert area, you're suddenly in the Abyssal realm... How could two realms be merged so seamlessly?"

He continued, "The Demons would rule the universe if they could merge realms like this. The largest struggle they face is getting their proverbial foot in the door, and then they need to keep their corruption high in whatever area they congregate to so Eremnon and his Lords can create small doorways between the realms, but even those have their limits and constantly need to be recharged. Meanwhile, the Abyss is just... There."

I brought the scene back to the God. "Perhaps you'll figure something out through him or that building over there."

Yulong smiled, "I must admit, I've never been more intrigued by a single building in all my life. It could not possibly stand out more if it tried. So if you will, please take me there. I have images of these runes and the God stored in my memories now, so there's no need to stare at them any longer. Not now anyway."

I showed him the girl who ambushed me at the entrance, and went through the entire 'tour' with him. For the most part he was silent, only motioning toward me with his left hand when he wanted me to continue. We actually would have been done here in no time at all if it wasn't for the fact that he needed to see me flipping through the books page by page at normal speed.

Once that was done I showed him bits and pieces of what took place before we reached that point. He found the Tengu and Arkaios' full resets interesting, but he was far more interested in the Abyss, so I showed him what took place both times I was in their realm. And lastly for good measure I showed him what I found through the Abyssal portal in Victoria's room (her mirror).

"... That was far more than I could have ever hoped for. I found you intriguing before, but now I must admit, I cannot tell if you frighten me, or if I'm blessed to witness the embryo stage of someone who eventually ascends to Godhood."

"Godhood?!"

"Yes? Why does this surprise you? While the, how do I say this... 'Taunt effect', your ether carriers emanate is indeed a massive negative, it can also be seen as a positive under the right conditions."

"I didn't expect you to bring up the ether carriers of all things... But are you talking about how I could use them to pull in more monsters for consumption? I tried that several times on Mother at the instigation of a few people there, and the Tengu Lord. It worked... Until it didn't. A powerful Eldritch from hundreds of miles away caught my scent and hunted us for months thanks to that little stunt I pulled. The carriers are just too much of a risk."

"But have you tried creating them from something other than bones?"

"I've tried creating summons out of many things, so yes, only bones work."

Yulong folded his arms across his chest, "Return us to your creators tombstone."

I brought the memory back to the tower where the Necromancer God had enshrined its own corpse.

Yulong raised his hands out to his sides and spun around, "Do you not feel that?"

"It's the same energy I give off, I know that. But isn't that just latent aura? Although, hmm..."

The ability to create summons won't work without bones, and over time I figured out why. It's because the bones retain a certain level of soul residual for a long time after their owner died. However...

"I've tried it with armor and meshes I've made in the past. It didn't work."

Still though, it couldn't hurt try it... All I need to do is make a building like this one and try to inject the carrier ability into it, and I know how to make it after spending time in my creator's obelisk (or tombstone).

I changed the scenery to that of the fields outside of Termia. They were simple, flat, and wide open. The perfect spot to try and build something.

I sat down and began to pull blood out of my arm. To my right I could see Yulong lay down in the grass and close his eyes.

"By the way, why are you interested in the Abyss? And what information do you even have on them?"

"I believe they are related to Arcadia or the machines in some way."

I channeled into my core, creating more blood as it streamed out of my arm, forming into a large rectangle in front of me. "And you 'believe' this, because...? If anything, wouldn't it be the Demons? Your continent is rife with their corruption after all."

"Conjecture, although I must admit that information did come from a very reliable source..." He continued, "And I believe the Abyss plays some role in everything here because of the logs. The mainframe may have locked up most of the information, but there were some old logs on personal consoles that were left behind. One of them describes the fear they felt when the 'Creatures from below' had approached his family. The logs said the creatures spoke in a tongue that reverberated in their skulls and made them feel sick... Sound familiar?"

That definitely sounds like the Abyss... So they might've been here in Caedrus long ago, huh?

"Makes me even more curious of that mirror they placed on the western side of Caedrus---Oh, Yulong, is it normal to find the Xerath here?"

"It happens sometimes. Why?"

I created my usual TV and placed it in front of him. The memory of my fight with the machine near Inoue's emblem was inserted into it.

While he watched that I focused on the building, but it was going slow. Very slow.

I guess I'll have to speed it up just to see if it works, but this is the maximum speed I can create it in real time, which means that even if this works I'll need months to make one of these in the real world. Although, once the first one is done the next tower would be completed much faster since I'll have Liches building it with me. They'll be powered by the first tower, and then from there... I think I'm beginning to understand what he meant by Godhood if this works. The only issue is that an ether carrier in the form of a tower would draw attention from half the fucking planet.

I increased the 'speed' at which I was creating the building to one hundred times while a had another TV appear that was keeping track of the amount of days that were actually passing if it was done in real time. Still too slow.

After increasing it to one thousand times faster, the building was completed in a couple of minutes. I looked over at the TV and it said that ninety-one days had passed. So it'll take me three months to make the first one... Normally whatever I have to deal with requires immediate attention, so I can't imagine a time when I'll have three months to prepare, but you never know I suppose.

I told the tower to turn into an ether carrier, and the tower responded. Soon after that I saw large blackish ethereal sacks growing inside the tower (it was back to normal speed at this point). It wasn't long before I could feel the immense amount of ether radiating from the tower, and while I was happy, I felt it needed to be tuned before it was ready for creation in the real world.

Yulong walked up next to me and exhaled, "Captivating... Disgusting... So many different emotions I feel looking at this amalgamation of horror and sleek marblework. Nevertheless, I believe I'm leaning towards 'disgusting'."

It's not marble, but I suppose it does look like that.

"I don't like that the inside is filled with those disgusting sacks. Yes, I agree it's disgusting. Before I make this tower out there I'll need to figure out a way to make it so it remains a tower that I can actually use as well. Or I suppose I can make it so only the room where my creator was is actually empty. I shouldn't need the stairs."

"Residing in it is an option, yes. But you can't stay there forever." Yulong said as he ran his finger along the outside walls.

Right... It's going to be attacked so it'll need automated defenses. Summons, basically, but I'll have to figure all of this out another time.

"Yulong---Actually, what's your real name? I know you just gave me some amazing inspiration here, and I really do appreciate it, but that name is......"

"Yulong." He said promptly without turning around.

"... Fine. So, 'Yulong', do you think it's possible to translate the books inside the Abyssal Museum?"

"I do not know, but I'm going to try. And..." Yulong scratched the back of his head while looking away from me, "Ahh, ahem. Yes, what I wanted to say was thank you for showing me your memories. It was also nice having someone to talk about the Abyss with. My only friend has been quite busy for a few years now, and he doesn't share my fervor in uncovering our history. And don't even get me started on the rest of these tools. They're only interested in one-upping the other clans or their own family members---"

As Yulong complained about the clans I looked at the tower. Even now I was having a hard time believing it was real, so the impact of how ridiculous it was hadn't quite hit me yet.

"Hey, Yulong. Where is the rest of your clan? They out on a mission? I expected a clan house to be filled with people."

"... They normally are, but I'm all that's left now. Four bad missions and a couple of 'accidents' is all it took. Now it's my duty to repopulate the clan or die off and let someone else take the 'Napoleon' name. And the hounds are already at the door. I know they're just waiting for me to leave the safety of my home, which will lead to: 'Oh no! The young master of the Napoleon house suddenly fell and cracked his head open!!'"

Yulong Napoleon? Just when I thought it couldn't sound any more ridiculous.

"Yulong, you said you want to know the history here?"

"Out with it. You're obviously going somewhere with this, so just say it next time." Yulong said.

"Well, the emblems were just a trial run. I'm actually aiming for something else."

I picked up on it while I was showing him different aspects of my Abyssal memories, but Yulong is very good at hiding his emotions. Except I could tell that he was unbelievably excited almost the entire time we were in my soul realm. And while he had time to calm down as I created the tower, he was already back to his overly-excited self again.

He put one palm over his face and chuckled, "Invisibility in its purest form sure is something else... But I am not jealous, as I wish for a different set of abilities. Although, I cannot deny the sheer strength and survivability your powers grant." He continued, "And don't worry. I won't speak about your invisibility to anyone. You can even place a curse of silence upon me if you so desire. I know how to cast it, but it might be difficult to cast it on myself."

"It's fine, just focus on translating those books. I'm dying to know what's in them... And I'll be heading out when the Leviathan arrives in a week. I plan on using it for the return trip as well unless something goes terribly wrong, so I'll be gone for quite a while. But remind me please, how long does it take for the Leviathan to do a full lap around Caedrus?"

"Sixty-five days. Can you really---Never mind. Obviously you can survive out there alone for that long." Yulong said with the first genuine smile I had seen on his face.

After that I said my goodbyes to Yulong and made my way toward Bertram's bar. Along the way a few groups stopped me and asked for pictures, while one of the groups invited me back to their place where I'd be an 'esteemed guest' at their party, but I declined.

I've seen what noble parties look like after all. Sex, drugs, and then more sex. I still remember when Viktor had me following one of the Xelba nobles, which ended up with me stuck in a corner of the room watching one of those parties for half a day... Although it did help me understand that I needed to be more discerning when it came to understanding other people.

I had a crush on one of the cities noble girls who seemed so different from the others. She was really nice to me and appeared so pure no matter which angle I looked at her from, but no one was happier or more proactive than her at that party...

"There she is! About damn time, girl. We've been waiting ages for you to visit." Bertram said from his rocking chair.

Irvine laughed from his chair and shook his head, "Ignore him, he's just being impatient for someone else." My Uncle then typed something into his console and a few moments later Nia came running out of the bar and hugged my legs.

"Big sis, look! I can walk again!!"

Luna was on her shoulder looking up at me with a proud look on her face.

I thought about picking her up but I wasn't sure if that'd be awkward for a girl her age so I rubbed her hair instead and smiled.

"I'm glad for you cutie... Seriously, good work, Luna."

Luna flew into my chest and a familiar feeling soon took hold in my core.

{I didn't want to say it out loud, but it's bad, Rei... That curse was super strong! And it was a uh, I forget the word, but it goes through parents to their offspring. So, you know...}

In other words, she got it from her mother. I had a feeling that was the case, since it was far more unlikely that someone managed to stealthily placed a powerful curse on two different people without anyone noticing. But now it becomes a question of whether we should even bring this up to her. For now I'll ask these two.

"Nia, can you wait inside for a moment? I'll be in to eat in a little bit and then we'll play the pinball machine again, okay?"

"Okay! D-Don't take too long though!" She said before running back inside. I saw her fall down and slide along the ground before the door closed, but she was laughing instead of crying.

"Alright you two, has Luna told you what she found yet?"

Irvine nodded, "A bloodline curse, and I know why you're bringing this up, but there's no point in asking her. That stupid girl wouldn't tell me why she was cursed and it's why we---"

"Bah, don't go crying about that shit again." Bertram looked at me, "I don't know who cursed my little girl either, and she won't let the fairy cure her, but that one makes sense. She acquired an ability that lets her see without her eyes. Sounds fucked up eh? But it works! And she can see all sorts of shit. Much better than before so yeah, she's fine as is."

"... To be fair, Bertram. Even if she's fine with it, it's not about just her. I'm sure you understand why Uncle Irvine wants to know who was responsible for his daughter being cursed."

"God damn right I understand! I want to kill the fucker too, but she won't tell us who it was, so that's that."

Irvine sighed, "Don't even bother, Hime. He believes in complete autonomy, and he raised his daughter to have the same values. And also, he believes Nia should be the one to find out the truth when she's older. Can you believe that shit? They really expect me to just drop it... It's really pissing me off the more I think about it again."

Just out of curiosity, but were you able to discern anything related to the curse bearer through the curse itself?

{No. That's like, really rare you know? It needs to be a curse they're channeling mana into, or something...}

Hmm, that sounds about right. I remember that's how I located Nisha after she warped me with that trap ability of hers. I could tell which direction she was in, while also being able to somewhat discern how far away she was.

"Now enough about that horseshit, I want to talk about those two machines." Bertram said, and I immediately knew which machines he was referring to.

"Can we talk about the Inoue one first? I'd really like for someone to explain to me what the hell happened. Arkaios was pulling me back and that abomination cut the connection while warping in front of me. And I think it goes without saying, but without a veil like mine, most people won't even be able to move when its eyes lock onto them."

Irvine tapped the side of his chair for a moment before responding, "I don't think anyone is going to have a sufficient explanation for you. But the best suits will be able to block curses up to a certain point, so they won't be helpless until the suit can no longer keep up." He looked at Bertram, "What do you think, old man?"

"Shit, even if the suits block all of the curses, the real problem is the fuckers speed and power! The Tyranium suits could withstand a few hits like the one it landed on her, but what about the poor sobs inside the suits? An impact like that would turn their insides to mush, which means they'd need a lot of mana to survive. We have people like that of course, but..." Bertram stood up and turned toward the bar's entrance, "God damnit... Seeing that fight made me think about how lucky I was to make a living by killing simple machines like Lobbers and Warriors..."

Irvine nodded, "We all grow up here hearing about the 'scary' machines in the dead zone, and the few images or videos of them that exist were proof of that, but your fight was on another level, Hime. Our mechs would fair a lot better against that machine you fought, but what about the other machines? That one felt like it was designed to fight people, but that's just one of many. The dead zone is probably full of machines that are designed in a way that'd make them deadly to our mechs. And there's that one that can shut down all communications. It goes without saying that it might even shut down power armor and mechs as well. And if that happens..."

They'd all die, obviously. But so long as the machines stay over there in the dead zone then the people here have nothing to worry about.

.............

... But if they did come here, then I really don't know how Arcadia would survive. It'd be a massacre no matter how I look at it.