The Bookwyrm

Partly. Really, rather than giving you a prompt, I wanted to let you come up with your own based on those songs, then incorporate parts of those songs into the piece. Unless you'd rather have me you a more detailed prompt?

Very true. Is it weird that I sneezed right when I saw this?

Welcome to the Shard! Indeed, we have a very unique community section. I hope you have fun here!

Bookwyrm was too busy falling unconscious to notice.

Bookwyrm looked over the treaty. He didn't understand much of it. The nature of these pocket dimensions makes a lot more sense to Calano and Emma. And Lark, I suppose. I'm not familiar with worlds of this type. He placed his copy of the treaty back in his desk, then stood up. He started walking towards the library.

Bookwyrm screamed in pain and collapsed.

I'm giving you another prompt based on music that I like. Neither of these are piano pieces, so I'm curious to see what you come up with. First song: Herald of the Change from the Dune (2021) soundtrack. You can listen to the whole song and take inspiration from all of it, but I'm mostly interested in the woodwind part at the very beginning. Second song: A Life Sent On from Xenoblade Chronicles 3. This song is played in world, and is used in a ceremony in which fallen soldiers are "sent off", their souls ferried away into what awaits after. It's mainly a flute piece. Instead of having you aim for a specific feel, I want you to listen to these songs and play something more along your own interpretation of them. (Also because I can't think of a good prompt that fits both these songs.)

Not again...Bookwyrm thought. Grimacing in pain, he began to heal himself with his Narration powers. He spun and summoned his Narrationblade, attempting to attack his assailant.

Bookwyrm's eyes widened. "Well, then," he said. "I suppose it's coming together."

Speaking of Eof, Bookwyrm was looking for him so he could tell him that they had found Esmerelda.

I'm putting this under Cosmere discussion, even though it only really pertains to stuff in the Stormlight Archive. First of all, thanks to @Ranryu for reminding me about the weird things spren do, which led to this theory. Brandon has said that all the planets in the Cosmere could one day develop faster than light (FTL) travel, though Scadrial is expected to achieve it first of all. This is really interesting to me. We can see how Scadrial, most likely with some applications of speed bubbles, access to the spiritual realm, and the handy technology of Ettmetal, could achieve this pretty soon. But what always interested me was the other planets. How could worlds like Roshar or Nalthis achieve FTL? Their magic systems don't really have anything that could be used in that way, and it seems incredibly far off. (Sel technically already has it (Aon Tia), they just need to work out some kinks and figure out how to use it offworld. Can't be widely applied at this point.) Now focusing on Roshar. I think, with many of the technological developments that are coming around as we read, it's safe to assume that Rosharan FTL will be fabrial based. And what do you need to power fabrials? Spren. In an interlude in Words of Radiance (I think it's WoR, anyway) we see a pair of ardents conduct some experiments on some flamespren. They find that once you define a specific value for a measurement of the spren, the spren has to stay that value in that specific measurement. This coincides exactly with our current understanding of quantum mechanics: particles exist in a fluid state, in multiple locations or states of being at once, until they're observed. After observation, they're stuck in the position or state they were observed in. I think it's safe to assume that other spren share this attribute, but right now, only flamespren are confirmed to have these strange quantum properties. And, unless I'm remembering wrong, flamespren are the most commonly used spren when creating conjoining fabrials. Conjoined fabrials are very handy, as we see with the Fourth Bridge in Rhythm of War. Using some clever tricks involving Aluminum, a latticework of conjoined fabrials are effectively able to create an airship. This kind of fabrial is probably the future of Rosharan transportation. Now here comes the long shot. My theory is that if a fabrial were to be created that somehow exploited the quantum properties of spren, they would be able to use that "multiple locations at once" function to effectively transport a vehicle using the fabrial to another location faster than the speed of light. I have no idea how you'd do that. You'd probably have to use some kind of trick to amplify very small scale effects to an incredibly large scale, and Aluminum to isolate variables and make sure your spaceship actually appears where you want it to be. It's a long way off, if it's even possible. But Brandon is hinting at something with those flamespren, and it seems likely that it's something along these lines. What do you think? Am I grasping at straws, or am I onto something? Tell me below!

This consultant was none other than Butt Venture.

Bookwyrm sighed again. Suddenly, pineapples.

Bookwyrm sighed. "Seriously. We need to stop destroying the Universe. You can't end infinity."

Bookwyrm opened his desk. Thanks! he sent. Bookwyrm pulled it out and began to leaf through it.

A mental message comes into Calano's and Emma's minds. Hey, this is Bookwyrm. Do you think I could have a copy of the treaty, at some point? I'd like to look over it.

So...yeah, in the coming years, we're going to get to see a lot of cool things. But...we're also going to see a lot of really scary things. So it's a good thing that these cool experiences are going to happen.

Yisten collapsed onto his knees as the Captain blew the last whistle. He panted, coughed. He felt tired, and sick, and nauseous. He wanted to throw up, or pass out, or both. He was drenched in sweat. At the start of the exercise, he had been hopeful. He had seemed to be in better shape than he had originally assumed. Rather than running at full speed at the start, he had run at a modest pace to preserve his energy. He'd been able to get out every push-up. Then it had kept going, on and on for what seemed like forever. Yisten had somewhat fallen into a trance; no thought, no emotion, just running. Then it had kept going. He was forced to slow his pace. Any amount of preserving his energy in the start had been completely futile. He had stopped counting push-ups, just doing as many as he felt like was enough, or more like just as many as he felt physically able to do. Now, he collapsed, and gasped for breath, let his body regain it's strength. Finally, he thought. It's- "Take a five minute break!" Yisten heard the Captain yell, though his voice sounded distant. "About seventy percent of you didn't make it." Yisten wondered if he was in that seventy percent, which he probably was. "So once you've caught your breath," the Captain continued, "we're doing it again." Again. That word haunted Yisten. I can't do this, one part of him said. I can't do this, day in, day out, for months and years. I can't make it. No, another part of him said. You have to keep going. What other choice is there? Think of the endpoint. Yisten mustered his strength, stood up, and went to find some much needed water.

This slightly more explicable entity was none other than Butt Venture.

"You said that last time. Oh, we also found Esmerelda."

511 g. This rule isn't a rule, but an apology, for adding so many rules as footnotes to rule 511. We're sorry, and will eventually get back on track.

Bookwyrm frowned. "Didn't we reach the conclusion that it was never about the cure?"

511 a. Magical forms of memorization come in handy for completing this step. If you do not have access to those, well...too bad.