AeonQuest Part Six: Causation and Correlation.

Hand of Maybe:
  **VIII / XX / MMXVII**
  [...]
  ["I wish I could fight in the fleet forever, Admiral Vullaereon!"]
  [...]
  ["Hmm."]
  ["Hope."]
  ["All things die, Cinavi Kanera. All things die."]
  [Continue?]

TwinBuilder:
  Continue.

Hand of Maybe:
  http://music.disasterpeace.com/track/nocturne
  **PT. 6: CAUSATION AND CORRELATION.**
  [...]
  [...]
  [Your name is CINAVI KANERA.]
  [You have freed yourself from this twisted eternal Nightmare -- for the most part. There's just one more step to take, you believe in your heart of hearts.]

TwinBuilder:
  > What is it?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Well, evidently, it's some sort of hall of victory, you think to yourself as you open your eyes. You are at the beginning of a long, dark, and circular hall of stone. There is no ceiling *directly* above you, but there is along the rest of the hall. For now, however, you are sitting on the ground, beneath the stars and the sky, *ever so* corrupted by the intricacies and twists of the nightmare.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Look up at the stars and the sky.

Hand of Maybe:
  [It's not like you've seen planetside. At least, not any planet *you've* been on. It's not the smog-filled nothing of the Arkannian sky, nor the pure black of the Void. A pure stretch of space with little pinpricks of light hanging in it.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  ...
  oh my god
  OH MY GOD
  *OH MY GOD*
  > Walk down the hall.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You rise. Heading down the hall, you reach what is much like the three gates of the Trials you just faced earlier. But, in place of Greek text, there is a single symbol.]
  **∂**.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Walk through the gate, Azimuth's Edge in hand.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You take a step through. Ahem.]
  "This is no place for weapons, Cinavi Kanera."

TwinBuilder:
  > ...Put Azimuth's Edge away?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Put the blade back.
"Hey."

Hand of Maybe:
  "My hello once more. Mind if I walk with you?"

TwinBuilder:
  "Not at all."

Hand of Maybe:
  "Good, considering I would've done it anyway."
  [You and I continue down the path of the hall. **μ**, then **∑**.]
"Hmm."
  "This is the last time we'll see each other. Most unfortunate."

TwinBuilder:
  "You're sure?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "I'm contractually obligated to answer that question with a noncommittal grunt."

TwinBuilder:
  "Of course."

Hand of Maybe:
  "But, enough of that. Any questions you have, before you go and meet the _**HARVESTMAN**_?"

TwinBuilder:
  "When I escape the Nightmare, will I remember anything that happened within it?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "Yes."
  "Every moment of suffering, every iota of agony."
  "Everything."

TwinBuilder:
  "Cheerful."

Hand of Maybe:
  [I chuckle at that.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "Do you know any good therapists?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "I've been out of touch with what we call your *al-Valattah* reality for some odd hundred thousand years or two. If any therapist I knew then is still alive, you'd be praising them as an immortal god-king."
  "But, either way, I wouldn't suggest treating *yourself*."

TwinBuilder:
  "What can I expect from the ***HARVESTMAN***?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "To be hung. Apart from that, about what you've already heard."
  "He's a good scarecrow, I think."

TwinBuilder:
  "...Alright then."

Hand of Maybe:
  "Amusingly, your confusion's *greater* in this state. You have a little hint of what I know, and it doesn't make sense. But, never mind that."
  [**√**, now.]
  "Anything else?"

TwinBuilder:
  "Do you know anything about the seven stars I used to create Azimuth's Edge?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "Ajrian, Relenauta, Perito, Thaxia, Zdrelli, Erismio, and Atarniko? They're likely the focus of some ancient order or other. Heavily used in a certain form of Cireni Alchemy, capital ae. Different cosmic alignments, and all that."
  "Alchemy is the key there. The art of change, and all."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "I see."
  Any more questions, Twin?

TwinBuilder:
  Nah, I'm good.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "I suppose we'll be taking our leave, then."

Hand of Maybe:
  "Don't be so *presumptuous* for her, Tyrant-impersonator. We've still a gate to go."

TwinBuilder:
  You know about the Deleterious Tyrant?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Thanks for the compliment.

Hand of Maybe:
  [In a distinctly Aoic sense, you have *no* idea who I'm talking to.]

TwinBuilder:
  I shouldn't be surprised at this point.

Hand of Maybe:
  [*Everyone* knows about the Tyrant. Immaterial, physical, doesn't matter. We all watched or heard the Convention.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "Actually, how did you defeat ***ZHA***?"

Hand of Maybe:
  [It was broadcasted practically *everywhere*. Any multiversal pub you could find.]
  "By breaking free of fate, little one."
  [**∞**.]

TwinBuilder:
  "Can I do the same? Could anyone?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "Hmm. Tell me."
  "Are you a person in a place? Can you do things?"
  "Have ye a brain?"

TwinBuilder:
  I'm not quite sure about the last one.
  But yes.

Hand of Maybe:
  "Then yes."

TwinBuilder:
  "Interesting."

Hand of Maybe:
  "I should hope so. Being servant to *fleshsacks* behind computers gets boring after a couple decades!"

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "Sounds it."
  - a fleshsack talking through Cinavi

Hand of Maybe:
  "Yes, yes. Very, ah, *phûnē jōk*. That's what they call it these days, right."

TwinBuilder:
  "Definitely."

Hand of Maybe:
  "Good. I'm glad."
  [The two of us stop at the final gate, marked **/**. I gesture to the darkness beyond it.]
  "This is it, Cinavi Kanera. The *vis-nors*."
  "Break your destiny."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "I *will*. Thank you."

Hand of Maybe:
  [I laugh.]
"Don't thank me until it's over, friend!"

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Step through the final gate, wave at Almaerpha.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You step through, and turn to wave at a figure that is not there.]
  [The room is massive, and cubical. Mauve energies hang in the air, near the ground.]
  **WELCOME TO THE OPERA.**

TwinBuilder:
  Examine surroundings.

Hand of Maybe:
  [There are balconies all about the room, about halfway up the walls, and stands below them, on your left, right, and back. The floor you are currently standing on appears to be some sort of stage. It looks like it's been recently cleaned of some fluid spills or other you can't *quite* touch. There's something floating in midair in the center of the stage, just before you.]

TwinBuilder:
  What is it?

Hand of Maybe:
  [A scarecrow, of sorts -- an amorphous humanoid of what appears to be burlap, hanging from the ceiling by a noose. Its every limb is stretched to the max by other ropes restraining it to the *fullest* extent possible. Mauve gas leaks out of the seams in its fabric.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Walk up to it.

Hand of Maybe:
  "Well, hi there, kiddo! Didn't see you coming!"
  "Get it, see. Because I don't have any eyes. Because I'm a sack."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "Hello, ***HARVESTMAN***, you sly, sly, mammet."

Hand of Maybe:
  "Now, now. We start calling each other names, and I could *easily* eradicate your psyche from this nightmare with less than a thought. It would take less than a second. No need to start calling people names as heinous as that of the mysterious non-creator."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "Fine."
  "What do you want? Why have you done all of this?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "It was in the name last time, wasn't it? Trials."
  "It's like you're a shitty Amazon product we don't yet trust, and we get a thirty-day trial."
  "Or, two month trial."

Emerald:
  "30 days is not two months, last I checked"

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "Flattering."
  "Why did you purchase me, then? What *quality features* do I have?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "Come on, now! You know I don't *actually* mean to say that you're some sort of commodity to be bought and sold! ~~You're a one-of-a-kind commodity to be sold. Distinction's important.~~ 'Sides. I'm just the deliveryman. I'm your Amazon drone, Cinavi. It me."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "Amazing. Who's the purchaser?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "The guy we call the Blue Man. You might have heard of him, *once or twice*."
  "He's basically God, let me tell you."
  "*Fan*tastic guy."

TwinBuilder:
  "Should I ask why he's called the Blue Man."

Hand of Maybe:
  "Something to do with his, uh... culture of exile, I think it was? Zha-Haaku? Shendevian? Not sure. Kings get thrown out, marked with blue tattoos to indicate their peasant status, or something, and then go live in exile for the rest of their lives."
  "As *farmers*. Who owns a scarecrow?"
  "A farmer."
  "Boom. Appearance convention explained."

TwinBuilder:
  "Got it."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "So, what show's playing in the **OPERA** today?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "This would be a *lot* more dramatic if I had fingers to point, but. It's you."
  "Don't worry -- you're not going to be, uh, let's see. Disemboweled, decapitated, boiled alive, melted, disintegrated, vivisected, exsanguinated, or vaporized. Probably."

SplitSuns:
  "Well, *that's* reassuring."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "What are we going to be, then?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "Given an audience."
  [It is at that moment that, upon the far wall's singular central balcony -- behind which is the structure of the circle-gate of the six segments of the Ring -- a dark figure steps out, head crowned with a halo of some odd murky cerulean blue fluid.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "Is that the Blue Man?"

Hand of Maybe:
  [You look back to the _**HARVESTMAN**_, but he is gone. A cackle of cacophonous laughter reverberates around the room, and you are left alone. With the Blue Man. He observes you quietly. Waiting?]

TwinBuilder:
  Examine the Logogram.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The Logogram of Lives is colored a similar odd dull cerulean blue now, entirely. Opaque, like blood.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "Hello?"

SplitSuns:
  ((is it bad that the logogram is blue now))

Hand of Maybe:
  [There is a silence for a moment.]

"*Eq veis al ragal.*"
  [The Blue Man leans on the lip of the balcony casually, observing.]
  "Name, occupation, duration of stay, and greatest reason for living, please."

TwinBuilder:
  "Cinavi Kanera, Grayhold High Intelligence Officer, two months and one week, to escape this Nightmare.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  * Vivia Atheru.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The Blue Man nods at all of that, and snorts at the last one. Your insertion at the end comes too late.]
  "Good one, but nice try, meatsack."

TwinBuilder:
  :)
  Fuck.

Hand of Maybe:
  "I'll make it quick. Hold out your... right wrist, was it. The one with the Logogram. I want to see it. Then, I will tell you a small secret."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "I assume you're going to harvest it, correct?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "No questions -- yet. Only doing."

TwinBuilder:
  > ...Hold out your right wrist.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You do so. The Blue Man stares at it for a second, intently. He nods to himself, and then waves a hand. Both the halo over his head and your Logogram begin to reflect the cosmic background in a manner befitting of magetear once more, and the halo trembles, coming to form an exact copy of the Logogram in midair before him. The Blue Man nods satisfactorily. Then, your wrist begins to heat up with individual sparks and stabs of pain. You wince, but ultimately do not pull away. The Logogram of Lives dissolves into particles of multicolored triangles -- black, red, blue, green, yellow, purple, and cyan alike -- before spiraling through the air to connect with the copy of the Logogram on the balcony.]
[You are now relieved of the Logogram of Lives.]
  "Now, the secret. Do you want to hear it?"

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > "Yes."

Hand of Maybe:
  https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/324262573451247616/348970966266675200/iamthatiam.png

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  ...

TwinBuilder:
  . . .

JOE:
  :?

Emerald:
  ... ... ...

JOE:
  am i missing something?

Bomber57:
  !

TwinBuilder:
  It's the Lord Erelye.

Crystal:
  .

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  It's Kalare Vanarus fucking Erelye.

Bomber57:
  It him!

TwinBuilder:
  Oh my god.

Emerald:
  :themage:

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  did you draw that so long ago you forgot about it

TwinBuilder:
  *I DIDN'T KNOW THE CONTEXT*

Bomber57:
  i was about to fucking say twin like how are *you* surprised

Hand of Maybe:
  "Ahem. Ladies. Gentlemen. The game."

JOE:
  oh, thats the thing its revealing, that its ereyle?
~~i thought it was obvious~~exceptihadnoideaandalsodidn't.
but i did think the I am that i am might be supposed to be a reveal but couldn't see what if would mean.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > "Hello? Aren't you the former Lord Archmage?"

Hand of Maybe:
  [Much like Almaerapha, you have *no* idea who he's talking to.]
  "Let's drop the pleasantries and the illusions gifted to those who don't know *you*, Cinavi. I suggest you drop the act, for now. You’ll only harm yourself -- or the authors of the world will -- and I do not wish for that to occur. You know who I am. You thought me a *hero*, in the hell of my unfortunate... *descendant*. Let's go with that."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "Of course, you orchestrated this whole thing."

Hand of Maybe:
  "A test. To see if you were *worth* liberation from Orlicar."
  "But, that's a front. You and I, we share a common trait that others do not."
  "Enslavement to fight in a pointless war or other over *godmodders*."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Has Cinavi passed?

Hand of Maybe:
  "I would think the mere fact that you are *standing* before me right now is evidence enough!"

TwinBuilder:
  "If that's a front, then... what's the real reason."
  "What do the godmodders have to do with this."

Hand of Maybe:
  "You misunderstand me, Greenie. The alleged worthiness was the front."

TwinBuilder:
  Very funny.

Hand of Maybe:
  "I want *nothing* more to do with that particular brand of being again."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  So, what's going to happen now? Is she going to transcend to **Cys**?

Hand of Maybe:
  "And I am offering you a chance at a freedom beyond understanding -- beyond knowledge itself. You, of all people, deserve it."

Emerald:
  If he's Greenie than who am I?

Hand of Maybe:
  "You're some guy who showed up in a war after mine I allegedly have no knowledge of. As we can see, that's not the case, if barely."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  So, the freedom beyond understanding?
  **Cys**, correct?

Hand of Maybe:
  "Why put a name to it?"

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  ...good point.
  It's beyond understanding, so I suppose either we take it, or we don't take it.
  I say that we take it.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Other opinions?]

TwinBuilder:
  We obviously take it.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Then say so.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Should we call for everyone else's attention?

JOE:
  hm
  are there any downsides whatsoever to taking this?

Hand of Maybe:
  "Good question! I have *no* fucking idea, kid, and it's quite impossible to."

JOE:
  can we ask our future self?

Hand of Maybe:
  "How?"

JOE:
  um....
  ...magic?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  I don't think you can logic through this.

TwinBuilder:
  "If you're offering me such unfathomable knowledge, it'd be pretty stupid to not take it."

Bomber57:
  Take it.

TwinBuilder:
  "So... I'll take it."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Take it.

Hand of Maybe:
  "So you accept."
  "..."
  [The Mage suddenly claps his hands together, startling you.]
"Hah!"
  "You... accept! That's *beyond* hilarious. *You* accept? No, no, no. You are monsters beyond being. I shouldn't have asked such a question in *your* sphere of control. Let's see here."

JOE:
  I'm not a monster.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You feel phantom pains in your right wrist as the Logogram of Lives floating around the Mage glows with multicolored energy.]

TwinBuilder:
  (*Now is not the time JOE*)

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Yes, yes you are.

JOE:
  i can't speak for the others but i'm not

Hand of Maybe:
  "*Сундер.*"

JOE:
  i'm this thing called a "human".

Hand of Maybe:
  [...]
  [...]
  [...]
  [You--no. That's not right, hmm. CINAVI KANERA blinks.]
  [Overcome by a sudden spasm of mindrending pain erupting from her right wrist, she drops to the ground. The Mage grimaces in sympathy. He snaps his fingers, and vanishes. There is a crackle of ozone and amethystine light, and he stands behind Cinavi.]
  "*Iopeiyc-nors estoc iokalain __ix__.* Hah."

JOE:
  before you, or before CINAVI KANERA?

TwinBuilder:
  Nice catch.

Hand of Maybe:
  ((Force of habit, kek.))

JOE:
  oh alright then.

Hand of Maybe:
  "How does it go?"
  [He extends a hand to Cinavi -- the left one. Organic. Undamaged by the manufactures and results of war. Her eyes are as wide as saucers.]
  *"Through victory, my chains are broken."*
  [Tentatively, quietly, Cinavi takes his hand. He pulls her up, and suddenly, they are both on the balcony once more, before the now-opened gate of the Ring. The sixth symbol, **/**, glows with white light. Kalare nods, looking at it.]
  "I understand you're not quite in a position to, ah, *act* much. The severing's most unusual, but I can sense your relief from here."

[He points to the solidus.]
  "You were looking for one of those last, eh?"
  [Cinavi mutters something weakly, and the Mage laughs a bit. Kalare keeping her sufficiently supported, they step through the writhing white light of the gate. And everything went **/**.]
  [.]
  [.]
  [.]
  [...]
  [Cinavi opens her eyes. She blinks, looking around. She's on a bed of some sort. Sighing to herself, Cinavi slides down to the edge of the bed. She notes that she's just as heavily bandaged as she was back in the previous realm, but that she's now in an orange jumpsuit.]
  [The tattered uniform of a prison on Orlicar V.]
  [Gathering her bearings, Cinavi realizes she's in a ship. A starship, rather. There are two other beings. One, she cannot see, but only hears. The second is at the controls of the ship, which is evidently accelerating through lightspeed. Not the Network, however. Odd. The man at the controls is dark-skinned, in some odd makeshift clothing befitting of a hunter of some form. A holster containing an energy pistol hangs at his belt, and he speaks to an amethyst hologram in the shape of a humanoid on the controls.]
  *"Hmm. How goes the extraction, Habanadrad?"*
  [The man glances back at the beds, and sees Cinavi awake. She gives a weak smile of *some* form of gratitude, recognizing her rescue. The man -- Habanadrad -- nods, and looks back to the hologram.]
  "She's awake now."
  *"I should hope so. If not, I'd imagine the nightmare would've consumed her being."*
  "So we won't need Envo's Oubliette?"
  *"No."*
  "I see."
  *"Mhm."*
  "Well, we're a few parsecs from you, anyhow. I'll be there soon."
  *"Very well. Coriman out."*
  "See you, Erelye."
  [The hologram flickers off, and the man returns to his controls. Cinavi sits there awkwardly for a little bit, and then begins to move to get up and take the copilot's seat. But, something stops her.]
  [Yes. She sees the second being, leaning against a side-terminal of the controls. Eyes squeezed shut, face stretched in an expression of worry. She knows those eyes. She knows that face. Vivia Atheru looks up, and sees Cinavi. A wide grin of relief and friendship and love and *safety* is upon her face, and nothing's been more beautiful to her than this moment in the past few *years*, let alone Cinavi's tenure in the Nightmare. She finds a similar grin gracing her face.]
  [Hmm.]
  [Yes.]
  [Cinavi has a feeling it's going to be a good day.]
  **END OF PART 6: CAUSATION AND CORRELATION.**
  **~**
  **FIN**
  **~**