Chapter 37: If Time Could Slow Down Again?

A younger Scarlet’s first instinct would have been to press no.

It was the answer with the most easily imagined consequences. ‘Everything stays the same.’ Scarlet had had enough of the unknown for multiple lifetimes.

A younger Scarlet was naïve. The Scarlet of today understood that no was only the default safe option so long as ‘the same’ was good. No was rarely a ‘cautious’ choice so long as you were working with partial information.

[Foreign psionic energy detected. Signature active.]

This wasn’t the first time magic had been used on her, but it was the first time her trait had reacted to any kind of energy this way.

Perhaps the Historian would be able to help her make sense of more than just her stats.

[Primordial Psion protocol: Would you like to subsume?]
[Yes | No]

Still, subsume was such a strong word. And what would happen to her if she did? Would they be able to tell?

One part of her mind went through implications, calculations, and courses of action. The other part of her mind just understood.

This wasn’t like when she understood a programming concept, or when the Guide decided to be temporarily useful. Instead, it was like rediscovering an old memory. One she’s more than certain she’d never gained.

She didn’t know if she trusted it completely yet, but according to this weird new intuition, somehow her trait was holding onto some of that foreign energy, and not just folding it in with her own, but completely subordinating it. Depending on the quality and strength of the sample, it would eventually be rendered completely harmless to her.

It would also help her decipher fragments of the memories the energy held, which was about as clear as she understood it as well. All she knew was she’d be getting more information.

According to the System, the signature was still active. Connected to a living source. That had implications she didn’t yet fully understand, but she had a feeling she would if she selected yes.

Scarlet looked at the two vulpians.

Just which one did the energy belong to, and what would she learn from subsuming it?

[Yes]

The moment Scarlet selected ‘yes’ warmth moved through her. It spread slowly from her sternum outward, as if someone had poured warm water into her veins, starting with her extremities. It spread slowly inwards from her fingers and toes in a mildly distracting, if pleasant, manner. She looked down at herself quickly. Thankfully no visible process was being displayed, at least not that she could see. (The ‘memory’ could be trusted!) She did wonder how long the whole thing would take, though.

[Process in progress. Time remaining: 02:21:08]

She had an instinctive sense that it would take a couple hours. Her Interface was happy to provide her with a concrete answer in the form of another countdown timer. This one was for the completion of this ‘subsuming’ process the protocol activated. Scarlet went very still. There were things happening in the background of her consciousness.

A flicker of impression brushed the edge of her mind. Not a memory exactly, or at least, not hers. A construct was being formed. Then layered. Then revised again. That was… her? On the stone floor? Then there was what looked to be an infirmary, both familiar and alien. A few beds were in use. All of them occupied by vulpians that looked similar to the Historian. Again, that construct, though closer to the first version that had been used on her. Then the impression faded. Another alien infirmary, this time no other vulpians were present. The construct reappeared, though, this time much less complex.

Then it was gone. The impressions vanished.

Well. That was certainly something. The Historian proceeded to gaze at Scarlet for an uncomfortable amount of time. They looked at each other for several brief moments, the Historian scrutinizing and Scarlet with a blank expression. She knew some type of a link would be created and wanted to know if the historian could sense it. Despite it being one-way, the power differential between them was nothing to scoff at. Who knew what detection powers he had.

The Historian, meanwhile, was interacting with one of his Skills, actively tracking the fluctuations in expected history, or ‘the future’ as the less enlightened liked to call it. Something related to this girl had just seriously shifted. Perhaps the skill would advance while she was here. Truly, truly, she was a boon. One that might see his purpose in the Tower fulfilled, as well as some unexpected growth.

She looked down at the vial still in her hand, then back up. She had some decisions to make. Obviously, she was staying. Besides training and information on the wider Network, she still had a quest and a trial to finish, and a portal world to clear. Still.

“Why did you render me unconscious, and what did you do to me while I was out?” She asked.

The question had not been made with any edge. Scarlet truly wanted to know. While the Historian seemed unperturbed, Scarlet could sense the downturn of Tareth’s already abysmal attitude.

“Excellent question,” the Historian said. “That was a psychological construct,” he said as he pointed at the no-longer-glowing circle of inscriptions on the floor. Huh, Scarlet thought, those looked slightly different than they did before. Curious.

“What do you mean by that?” Scarlet asked.

The Historian winced slightly, then glanced toward the floor markings and the tablet in his hand, so fast, even Scarlet’s advanced perception couldn’t catch it before he returned his attention to her.

“It is quite exciting, because itself technically does not interact with your physical body. All the benefits of sensation and experience without the terrible negative drawbacks of literally crushing you under waves increased physical pressure,” he said, and Tareth winced. “Of course, it can only be done in very specific contexts for individuals of a certain strength and power level, but what happens to you goes outside of recorded parameters.”

“So, I was not supposed to collapse?”

“Well, you might have, just not like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I suspect you had a somewhat unique interaction.” At the word unique, Scarlet felt his control over his emotions lapse for a moment. Through the brief glimpse she got of the surface emotions Scarlet could tell; the vulpian was ecstatic.

“Was it even a strength test?”

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“In a manner of speaking,” he said, then continued based off her look. “It did test strength of Will.”

“Willpower then, and you couldn’t tell me?” She asked.

“Well, I could have, but it would not have worked as intended.” He shrugged. She took a moment to think over a few things.

“It was all in my head.” she said partially to herself, though that concept struck a chord. “How does that work?

“Your experience of it was real. The formation is meant to interact with you on a physiological level. You were simply responding to perceived stimuli, and you endured it admirably.”

“So, none of that physically happened,” she said slowly, looking over at the formation with new eyes as ideas formed in her head.

“Just because it wasn’t happening to your physical vessel doesn’t mean it wasn’t real.” He was looking at her very seriously as she said this, an underlying meaning there that she could only faintly detect. Thoughts fizzed around her head, but she forced herself to move on.