Tower of Ghenjei: An ICanon subplot

[NameIess]

Nameless groaned, struggling to sit up. "What happened? Did I get him?"

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

Just now, Ookla the BlowUpperOfStuff said:

Her heart swelled. “TAAron! You’re okay? You’re okay! How did you get out?” She felt rather confident that the large grin on her face had just stepped over the goofy threshold, but she didn’t care.

He smiled broadly as well. "Nameless and Wynn found me. The manipulator was there. I saw him. He looked like a normal guy, but when Nameless blasted him there was his big ball of black energy." His smile faded. "He, uh, hit Nameless, and-"

He what?

1 minute ago, Ookla the Untitled said:

Nameless groaned, struggling to sit up. "What happened? Did I get him?"

"You're awake! What do you remember?"

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

1 minute ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

He smiled broadly as well. "Nameless and Wynn found me. The manipulator was there. I saw him. He looked like a normal guy, but when Nameless blasted him there was his big ball of black energy." His smile faded. "He, uh, hit Nameless, and-"

He what?

"You're awake! What do you remember?"

Haly turned to Nameless, disappointed for an unnamable reason. “Hi.”

[NameIess]

5 minutes ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

"You're awake! What do you remember?"

"Not much. I was fighting that guy, and... I used balefire? Things are fuzzy after that." He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to remember. "Did the building collapse? Also, glad to see that you're okay Haly."

Edited December 5, 2022 by Ookla the Untitled

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

1 minute ago, Ookla the BlowUpperOfStuff said:

Haly turned to Nameless, disappointed for an unnamable reason. “Hi.”

 

1 minute ago, Ookla the Untitled said:

"Not much. I was fighting that guy, and... I used balefire? Things are fuzzy after that." He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to remember. "Did the building collapse?"

"Yeah, the guy turned into that energy ball thing and collapsed it on us. So you're okay now? You were acting pretty weird for a while there."

What is this energy ball?

TAAron looked surprised. "You're here, too, Tors? Great! Uh, I don't know. The manipulator looked pretty normal, although he was was able to make explosion-type things by snapping his fingers. Then, when Nameless hit him with the... balefire? He just turned into a ball of black energy and tried to kill us. It was definitely something."

Oh, no. That's bad. That's really, really bad.

The words only came to Haly's mind.

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

1 minute ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

 

"Yeah, the guy turned into that energy ball thing and collapsed it on us. So you're okay now? You were acting pretty weird for a while there."

What is this energy ball?

TAAron looked surprised. "You're here, too, Tors? Great! Uh, I don't know. The manipulator looked pretty normal, although he was was able to make explosion-type things by snapping his fingers. Then, when Nameless hit him with the... balefire? He just turned into a ball of black energy and tried to kill us. It was definitely something."

Oh, no. That's bad. That's really, really bad.

The words only came to Haly's mind.

Let me guess. It’s Malum.

Quote

I’ve gotta go for the night. Bye!

 

[NameIess]

Just now, Ookla the Inverted said:

"Yeah, the guy turned into that energy ball thing and collapsed it on us. So you're okay now? You were acting pretty weird for a while there."

Nameless grimaced. "Yeah, I'm fine. Aside from this headache. And the blurry vision. And... the thought of standing up makes me want to vomit. Other than that, I'm great!"

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

Just now, Ookla the BlowUpperOfStuff said:

Let me guess. It’s Malum.

Quote

Bye!

Yeah.

Just now, Ookla the Untitled said:

Nameless grimaced. "Yeah, I'm fine. Aside from this headache. And the blurry vision. And... the thought of standing up makes me want to vomit. Other than that, I'm great!"

"Ah. That does not seem very fine. So can you heal yourself, or do we need to get you to a doctor?"

[NameIess]

Just now, Ookla the Inverted said:

"Ah. That does not seem very fine. So can you heal yourself, or do we need to get you to a doctor?"

Nameless shook his head. "No, I can't heal myself. Can't touch the power right now, and even if I could, healing only works on others. I'll be alright though. It's just a little concussion."

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

1 minute ago, Ookla the Untitled said:

Nameless shook his head. "No, I can't heal myself. Can't touch the power right now, and even if I could, healing only works on others. I'll be alright though. It's just a little concussion."

"That's not alright, it's dangerous. We need to get you some help. I assume you can't travel interdimensionally right now so we can get back to the clinic, or wherever else there's medical care? Maybe Terra de Lumine, or something?"

[NameIess]

1 minute ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

"That's not alright, it's dangerous. We need to get you some help. I assume you can't travel interdimensionally right now so we can get back to the clinic, or wherever else there's medical care? Maybe Terra de Lumine, or something?"

Nameless shook his head, then winced. "I told you, I'll be fine. I've had concussions before."

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

2 minutes ago, Ookla the Untitled said:

Nameless shook his head, then winced. "I told you, I'll be fine. I've had concussions before."

"I don't care! It's serious. You could suffer more permanent or extreme damage if you go untreated."

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

Yeah.

"Ah. That does not seem very fine. So can you heal yourself, or do we need to get you to a doctor?"

That’s pretty not good. 

Haly decided she was hungry and wandered around searching for a burger joint.

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

Just now, Ookla the BlowUpperOfStuff said:

That’s pretty not good. 

Haly decided she was hungry and wandered around searching for a burger joint.

That's for sure. But what does that mean for Tristan?

"Woah!" TAAron grabbed her arm. "Where are you going? It's dangerous, I think."

[Ranryu she/her]

11 hours ago, Ookla the BlowUpperOfStuff said:

That’s pretty not good. 

Haly decided she was hungry and wandered around searching for a burger joint.

Wynn looked up from her frantic repairing of the scratches on her duel disk.

"You won't find any food here. Nothing is native to the End of Time. If you walk down the road to far, or enter any of the buildings, you'll either fall back into the Void or be eaten by space demons. Best not to go exploring."

12 hours ago, Ookla the Untitled said:

Nameless shook his head, then winced. "I told you, I'll be fine. I've had concussions before."

"I'm not inclined to believe that, based on how you were talking crazy just a short time ago. Maybe Spekkio could fix you up, but he'd just as soon kill you. The god of war can be hard to read sometimes."

[NameIess]

11 minutes ago, Ookla the Obstinate said:

"I'm not inclined to believe that, based on how you were talking crazy just a short time ago. Maybe Spekkio could fix you up, but he'd just as soon kill you. The god of war can be hard to read sometimes."

Nameless sighed. "All right. So you have a doctor somewhere that can heal me?"

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

12 minutes ago, Ookla the Untitled said:

Nameless sighed. "All right. So you have a doctor somewhere that can heal me?"

"Not in this dimension, apparently. We're in a bit of a conundrum here. We need to go to different dimension to heal you, but we need to heal you to go to a different dimension."

[NameIess]

Just now, Ookla the Inverted said:

"Not in this dimension, apparently. We're in a bit of a conundrum here. We need to go to different dimension to heal you, but we need to heal you to go to a different dimension."

"So basically we need to wait until I'm healed up enough to use the One Power?"

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

Just now, Ookla the Untitled said:

"So basically we need to wait until I'm healed up enough to use the One Power?"

"That's what you call it? Yeah, I guess so. The question is, will you heal? Concussion don't really... go away. At least as far as I'm aware.

"Do you know if there is any potential way to connect to the One Power without having to heal first? Like a magical boost of some sort?"

[NameIess]

Just now, Ookla the Inverted said:

"That's what you call it? Yeah, I guess so. The question is, will you heal? Concussion don't really... go away. At least as far as I'm aware.

"Do you know if there is any potential way to connect to the One Power without having to heal first? Like a magical boost of some sort?"

"Of course concussions heal. It just takes a bit. And no, I don't think there's any way to safely use the One Power in my current state. Even if I succeeded, I'd probably lose control and kill myself trying to make a portal to another dimension." Nameless sighed, lying back down. "I'll probably be recovered enough in a day or two."

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

3 minutes ago, Ookla the Untitled said:

"Of course concussions heal. It just takes a bit. And no, I don't think there's any way to safely use the One Power in my current state. Even if I succeeded, I'd probably lose control and kill myself trying to make a portal to another dimension." Nameless sighed, lying back down. "I'll probably be recovered enough in a day or two."

TAAron grunted, apparently frustrated. "Even if you recover completely, what do we do for a couple days? Just sit here? What if the manipulator guy comes back?"

[NameIess]

Just now, Ookla the Inverted said:

TAAron grunted, apparently frustrated. "Even if you recover completely, what do we do for a couple days? Just sit here? What if the manipulator guy comes back?"

Nameless shrugged. "Have any other ideas?"

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

3 minutes ago, Ookla the Untitled said:

Nameless shrugged. "Have any other ideas?"

"I guess not." He sat down, sighing. "That manipulator guy... he scares me. What was that you hit him with, anyway? Balefire? What does that do?"

[Ranryu she/her]

26 minutes ago, Ookla the Untitled said:

Nameless shrugged. "Have any other ideas?"

"What if we found a doctor and brought them here? Or got one to come here? Ranryu can send a signal to anyone sensitive enough to notice."

[NameIess]

Just now, Ookla the Inverted said:

"I guess not." He sat down, sighing. "That manipulator guy... he scares me. What was that you hit him with, anyway? Balefire? What does that do?"

Nameless was silent for a moment, thinking. "I'm not sure how to best describe it. Balefire erases threads from the Pattern. Obviously, that means it erases people and destroys any object or weave that it touches, but that's not all it does. When it removes  threads from the Pattern, it doesn't just 'cut' them, like killing someone or destroying something normally would. It burns the thread backwards, getting rid of it back in time, so to speak. That can have some... dangerous consequences. On a small scale, it can be positive. For example, I'm pretty sure that guy stabbed me right before I hit him with balefire. I hit him with it, and so his actions from just before he got hit never happened. On a large scale... the more powerful the balefire, the further back in time it burns the threads. Use too much, and you could destabilize or even destroy an entire dimension. In my world, when balefire was first discovered, it was used recklessly. Entire cities were destroyed with it before we realized what the consequences could be. They almost broke the Pattern itself. After that, well, use of balefire isn't exactly encouraged." Nameless grimaced. "I've not exactly been careful with balefire in the past, but it's especially dangerous to use when travelling dimensions. Not all universes are as stable as my homeworld or the clinic."

6 minutes ago, Ookla the Obstinate said:

"What if we found a doctor and brought them here? Or got one to come here? Ranryu can send a signal to anyone sensitive enough to notice."

"That would work. Do you think there's any doctors out there to get the signal?"