Edge Cases - 188 - Book 3: Chapter 53: Allies

Sev had a lot to deal with concerning whatever he’d just figured out about his memories — but Sylix was sitting on the ground, holding his head, and Sev felt a little responsible for that.

“Are you alright?” he asked. He cared, he really did, but he didn’t know how to deal with this. The way his memories were scrambled didn’t help. He would have helped past-Sylix in a different way, gathering him into his arms and allowing the lizardkin to cry into his shoulder.

Something told him this Sylix wouldn’t appreciate that.

“No!” Sylix snapped, and Sev didn’t blame him. “You just told me I could have saved him if I — if we had just —”

He broke off into a sob, burying his face into his arms. Sev sighed. He sat himself down next to the lizardkin, keeping a respectful distance; Sylix wasn’t nearly as close to him this time around, and he was pretty sure Sylix was actually older than him, too. What that meant Sev wasn’t sure.

But Sylix had been through a lot. That remained the same, across realities, across whatever it was had changed.

“I’m sorry,” Sev said. He didn’t meet Sylix’s eyes. “Maybe the way I did it was a little cruel.”

Sylix shook his head. He didn’t respond for a long moment, but when he did, it was quiet, his voice strained from the crying. “…I wouldn’t have believed you if you hadn’t done it like that.”

“I know.”

It had been a long time since they had last spoken. A long, long time, if he understood his own memories correctly, and he wasn’t sure he did. But there was a part of him that understood who this lizardkin was, and that part of him told him that the Sylix sitting in front of him was no different from the Sylix he’d known, once upon a time.

The only difference was that this version of Sylix had never grown up. Years of service to a military had done nothing for the more emotional side of him; he’d never really found any friends, never really found any value in any aspect of himself other than the part that killed.

But he’d never stopped wanting to.

“You should sign up for a spot with the Adventurer’s Guild,” Sev said. “They’d be happy to have someone like you.”

Sylix laughed, but it was a bitter laugh. “You think Elyra would let me go without consequences?”

“Would they be able to stop you?”

Sylix was silent at that.

The truth was that they couldn’t — Sev was certain. As much a master of illusions as he was, Sylix could escape just about any situation if he wanted to. Wisfield wouldn’t be able to find him even with their ability to read minds; Sylix had, after all, been working with the nobles for years. He no doubt had ways around their abilities already.

“I need time to think about it,” Sylix finally said. Sev inclined his head slightly, and didn’t protest when Sylix faded from sight.

It was sudden, but it wasn’t unexpected. Sylix retreated from conversations like that frequently, even the more well-adjusted version of him that Sev knew; he ran out of energy quickly when talking to others, and simply retreated when he was out of it.

In fact, if his memories were right, Sev knew exactly where Sylix had gone. He’d be at the top of the west Elyran clocktower, looking out over the city.

He wouldn’t go looking for him, though. If Sylix wanted to find them, he would.

Derivan approached him hesitantly. “You are certain he will not go after the rebels still?” he asked.

“He won’t,” Sev said. “Where do your senses say he’s headed?”

“West.” Derivan said. “Wrong direction.”

“Then he’s not going to capture them. He’s a lot of things, but for all that he’s an illusionist and tricks people in battle… He’s really bad at actually lying. Maybe that’s why he’s an illusionist.”

“Hm.” Derivan didn’t say anything for a moment; he seemed to consider his words carefully, and then he decided to broach the topic. “Sev, your memories…”

“They’re coming back,” Sev confirmed. He sighed. “…I don’t know if that’s a good thing. I’m still not sure what’s going on.”

“We should inform the others.”

“Yeah.”

Gathering back within the jewelry store was, thankfully, a simple matter. Helix’s reaction was not.

“You recruited them?” Helix sounded absolutely scandalized. Jakos was standing in a corner of the shop, picking his nose, and Misa had her arms folded and an eyebrow raised at Helix.

“What would you rather we do?” she asked.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not angry, but… do you know how illegal it is to recruit a kingdom’s Platinum?” Helix asked. “It’s basically a war crime! And everyone tries to do it anyway, and no one succeeds!”

Misa gave Helix a flat look, and even Vex looked puzzled. “Helix, you’re part of a rebellion intent on overthrowing the Elyran government,” Vex said. “I think we’ve thrown legality out of the window a long time ago.”

Helix folded his arms across his chest. “Yeah, well…”

He deflated a little. “How did you manage to recruit him?”

“She’s a good fighter.” Jakos jerked a thumb towards Misa. “She promised me a duel.”

Helix rubbed his temples. “Of course she did,” he muttered. “You know, not too long ago I would’ve liked fighting too…”

“Do you want to?” Jakos immediately looked eager.

“No,” Helix replied flatly. “You’d kick my ass. My combat spells don’t match up to a Platinum.”

“Bah,” Jakos said. “Misa isn’t Platinum either, and she did just fine.”

“All three of my brother’s friends are abnormal for their level,” Helix said dryly. He shook his head and tried to move on. “More importantly, we need to figure out what to do next. Whatever Wisfield’s done has basically completely halted our attempts to evacuate the city — we’re attacked on sight. I don’t even know how they’re identifying us.”

“Same way they’re controlling everyone,” Sev said. “The Elyran zeitgeist knows, and so does everyone that’s a part of it. The only way we’re going to stop all this is by getting to the source, and the source is with Wisfield.”

“Are we breaking into the Wisfield estate, then?” Jakos asked. He was leaning against the wall of the shop, tossing a dagger around in his hand; where he’d gotten the dagger no one knew. “That sounds fun! I know all the best routes.”

“Are the best routes the ones that keep us hidden, or the ones that have the most fighting?” Misa asked.

“The ones that have the most fighting, obviously.”

Misa sighed. “Can you please take us to the worst routes.”

“You guys aren’t any fun.” Jakos pouted. “I guess it wouldn’t be much of a challenge, anyway. Fine.”

“We can’t portal in directly?” Misa asked, and Derivan shook his head.

“If we knew where to go within the estate, we could,” he said. “But we will need to search. I can get us close, but Jakos’ guidance will still be crucial.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Misa grumbled.

Sev hesitated. Derivan was giving him a look, like he was waiting for him to say something — and he knew he should. But he didn’t understand what was in his own head yet. Small pieces of memories were coming back, but none of it was anything he expected.

He still didn’t remember anything of Earth. Instead, he remembered more and more bits and pieces of people that he’d never met — places that he’d never been.

He didn’t understand.

“There’s something I need to talk about,” Sev started, and then sighed. “But… maybe not yet. I don’t understand it myself just yet. Give me a bit of time to figure it out, and then we’ll talk about it.”

“Wanna give us a quick overview?” Misa asked. “You know, just so this doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass.”

Sev snorted. Misa was grinning at him, a small, knowing grin, and he couldn’t help but grin back. “I’m remembering,” he said. “But none of my memories make any sense. It’s all stuff that I’m pretty sure never happened — stuff that couldn’t have happened. I remember places that I don’t think exist. So… yeah.”

“Huh,” Misa said. “Anything important?”

“If there were, I would’ve said already,” Sev said dryly, but he cast his mind through his memories to be sure. “Nothing. Just what I remembered with Sylix, and you already know how that turned out.”

“Just checking.” Misa grinned. “Don’t want you to remember something crucial at the last minute, like you secretly knowing who this half-formed Elyran demigod is or something.”

“Oh my gods,” Sev said. “I know who the Elyran demigod is.”

Misa stared at him. “…Do you really?”

“No, but I’ve been waiting to make that joke for the past five hours.”

The fact that the Wisfield estate was this large was, in Sev’s opinion, disgusting. It took them less time to wander through the streets of Elyra itself, though that was in large part because the streets were organized. The Wisfield estate was an absolute maze of rooms and corridors and nonsensical entrances, some of which were located in the ceiling.

There was a part of Sev that felt that this was absolutely overboard, and another part of him that wanted to get a castle that was something like this.

The way you were supposed to navigate — because Sev had pointed out early on that anyone trying to make their way through this place would be completely lost — was by using the mindstones that Wisfield left scattered all over the place. Approved guests could touch the mindstones and receive a set of directions towards their destination.

It seemed far too convoluted for the purposes of having a guest over, but evidently it worked for security, because they didn’t encounter a single security guard. Part of that was Jakos leading them along the “worst routes”, but the other part of that was just that they didn’t employ that many guards.

Whatever the case, they were getting close. Sev knew that because he could feel the strength of control he had over the divine domain decreasing — every so often, he had to pull the radius of his own control in closer around himself. The influence of this god was stronger here, and while that was dangerous, it also gave them a direction to go in.

Even if they did have to pack in closer and closer.

It was obvious, though, when they finally found the spot. The familiar doors of the Vault loomed over them, high over their heads, and Misa stared at it, her face pale.

“I thought they couldn’t open this,” she said.

“I thought they couldn’t, either.” Vex stared up at the doors. “…You should open them. It doesn’t make sense. The Vault was just one thing, right? There aren’t multiple versions of it. It’s stable across all Shifts, all realities. It shouldn’t even be here.”

“It is,” Derivan confirmed.

“So how did they get it here? How did they get in?”