The Aspiring Archivist

"Who is Nearim? Are you... contacting us through something?'

What is a Belowplace? "Woah. Is he okay?" TAAron turned to Nameless. "Are you okay? Do you know how we can get out of here and to this tower thing?"

That's very elaborate. Does he usually do this?

The first half is fine, the second very obscure. Had to look it up. 7/10

Theodore considered briefly. "No, I don't believe so. Just about all of our realm has been explored, not counting the demon caves, which were sealed after the Mors Daemonum. The only other places there really are are the Forest, the Plains, the Lake, and the Capital. Past that it's just... void."

"Nameless... that's an odd name, isn't it? Oh, and who are you?" He indicated Theodore, who was standing by, mouth agape. Mell was also near, sharpening her knife and watching with interest. "I am Theodore... I treated you." He pointed at the bandage. "You were in pretty bad shape."

"Alright, that seems a bit tight. How long will it take while we are actually in the tower? And what's going on with him?" He pointed to the unmoving @Nameless. I'm not sure. His soul seems relatively stable now. Not in good condition, but not changing much.

"Soul... fixed? It's broken? That seems bad."

"My... quest? I suppose you can come, but I don't know what it is. And for my name... I don't really have a cool idea. I think I'll just go with Tristan. I like that name for some reason." Oh. Oh, that's quite something.

Are you sure about this, Haly? He's gone full amnesiac. We should be helping him recover. This is a sign of increased soul damage, probably from the pewter stuff you mentioned earlier. "Well, nice to meet you. I guess I'll have to come up with a name, then."

"I..." He looked confused. "Don't know. That doesn't seem normal. Should I know?"

He looked at her blankly. "Who is TAAron? Oh, excuse me, I should've asked your name first. Do you live here?" Uh-oh.

"Hey, what am I doing here? Who are you guys?" TAAron stood up, looking confused but not distressed. "This room is cool." He looked down at himself. "Woah! I'm all bandaged up! No wonder I feel so woozy."

I stop tapping Atium and return to a not-baby age and then tap Zinc, giving me enough reaction time to snatch the sandwich before Cinnamon ate it.

While Cinnamon is temporarily concussed, I switch out the sandwich without him noticing and enter the Earth's mantle, using the massive amounts of superheated rock as a defense for my secret sandwich base.

I compress the universe temporarily until Sequence is right next to me, steal the sandwich, and then let it expand again so Sequence gets launched back out to the edge of space.

Thoughtful Book Dude sat in the library, sipping tea. He was beginning his 90th book of the year, and was thoroughly enjoying it. This one was about the ramifications of organized crime. He turned the page and gaped, taken aback. Someone had poured ink all over the pages! He couldn't imagine who would have done it or why. Really, he was just trying to enjoy himself. He set the book aside for later disposal and picked up a new one. Another history of the Lord Ruler and his Final Empire. Thoughtful Book Dude sighed, and began reading.

From behind TAAron, Theodore asked, "You wish to return to... wherever you came from?" "Yes, that was the idea." "I'm sorry to say that that may be impossible, sir. Edmund wished to do the same at first, but ultimately failed. I do not, of course, mean to discourage you from trying, but it has proven impossible with any sort of magical capability we have here." "Ah. Well I'm sure we can..." TAAron trailed off, his eyes going unfocused. When they snapped back to attention. He jolted backwards, falling to the floor. Woah! What is happening? I'll try to hold him together... TAAron began moving less suddenly, eventually sitting unmoving against the doorframe.

"Interesting. Well, I guess we should find Tors and start figuring out how to get out of here." Tors, you there? Yup. You okay, then? Yeah, I'm alright. Do you know how we could get out of this place? No idea.

"Fine. Well then, what was the whole situation with the water? Do you know? The room almost started to flood!"

TAAron frowned, sensing her doubt. "If you would rather not, that's a good thing. Because I don't want you to endanger yourself by going."

"We'll need to get back to the clinic and find @Nameless. Assuming you're still sure you want to come, that is."

"Yeah. My ribcage and stuff is still pretty messed up, but I'm not dying anymore." He stared at her intently. "What's wrong? There's still something wrong, I can tell. You couldn't have done anything, Haly. Even he couldn't do anything at that point." TAAron indicated the doctor behind him.

About ten minutes passed. Then, Haly began hearing noises outside of the room, muffled by the walls. "No, you can't—" TAAron's voice. "I'm going to." "Please, sit down. You aren't stable yet." "I don't care! I'm fine, see?" "I don't know how you can manage that, but there is still no excuse—" The door into the room Haly was in opened, revealing a freshly bandaged and clearly in pain TAAron. Behind him, Theodore grumbled about medical protocol. "I'm sorry, Haly. I wish you hadn't been there. But, I'm fine now, alright? Nothing is wrong. You didn't do anything wrong."

Burning what? Could it be helping him at all? Unable to do much else, TAAron reached out to Tors mentally. Tors! Tell her that I said I'll be fine. I'm not letting go. Tors repeated the words to Haly. Experimentally, TAAron began letting up on his pewter burn, from a full flare down to just a fast burn. The soul-pain diminished slightly, but more importantly, it felt like he had healed physically, at least a bit. He recalled something the doctor person had said earlier. Something about operating? Just barely finding the willpower to speak, he yelled towards the doctor. "Do it now!" Theodore faltered, looking surprised. "I don't think—" "Do it!" Sighing worriedly, the man spent about thirty seconds preparing tools and sanitizing. When he finally finished, he went over to TAAron, cut off a piece of his shirt to expose bare skin beneath, and began to work.