Chapter: 561 – Metaphysical Rusting Nonsense

Tala glanced toward Terry before returning her focus to those in front of her, after seeing that the terror bird was quite content, splayed out in the sun on his cushion, a bit of jerky hanging lazily from his mouth.

Even so, in that brief glance, Tala caught the glint of focus in the eye looking their way. I thought he was paying attention. I’m glad that he didn’t miss the show.

Alat snorted in her mind. -No one with any form of perception could have missed that show, Tala. I imagine that Master Jevin had to either heavily shield the rest of the city from it, or he must have communicated with officials to keep a panic from spreading.-

That’s… fair, yeah. She couldn’t imagine feeling something like that back when she was just a child, and obviously, this city had quite a few children, all of whom were worthy of keeping safe from such traumas.

Rane was still enjoying his tea and pastries, a small smile held in place across his lips. Even so, Tala could see the tightness in his eyes. He had not been expecting Master Jevin’s display, and it had shaken her husband a bit, but not so much as to truly rattle him.

As such, he was keeping himself under control, and she could practically see him processing all that had been revealed in the display.

In a way, Master Jevin’s Reforging was very much like what Rane hoped to achieve for himself, and her husband was not letting the insights laid before him go to waste.

Tala wouldn’t honestly be surprised if Rane spent the remainder of their time in that room in a sort of semi-meditation to process everything. Share the memory with him and Enar, please.

-Already done.-

Thank you.

-But of course.- Alat finished the rather routine mental dance before fading into the background of Tala’s mind once more.

Eskau Meallain was sitting rigidly, her teacup not even filled yet. As the focal point of the Reforged’s display, she was obviously the most affected.

Master Jevin, for his part, was calmly pouring himself another cup from one of the pots centered on the table before them.

When he finished, he glanced toward Tala. “Mistress? You wished to discuss Reforging, correct?”

Tala cleared her throat before giving a polite smile. “Yes, that’s right.”

He nodded once before gesturing toward her with one hand. “Well, then. Shall we begin?”

The next hours rehashed essentially all of what she’d discussed with Eskau Meallain, thus allowing Master Jevin to fill in a bit more depth on what would be required to achieve portions of what she was hoping and planning.

When the topic came up, Rane had a few questions on ‘simple’ human Reforging, mainly, he seemed to want reassurance that it was alright for him to not be radically altering his own form.

The Reforged smiled then. “If that is what you wish, it is what is required. I will warn you, some will tell you that you will be weaker for taking that path.”

Rane frowned, starting to nod, but Master Jevin continued.

“They are wrong.” He met Rane’s gaze, making sure the younger man heard him. “You must remember that Reforging is about physically becoming a true reflection of your mind, spirit, and soul. You lay a foundation for the final stages, and it has to be your foundation. If you follow someone else’s plans, you will never build in a way that suits you. Even if you succeed in Reforging, you’ll never advance again.”

A contemplative look swept across Rane’s face, and he gave a full, slow nod.

Eskau Meallain looked back and forth between the two men before huffing. “This is some metaphysical rusting nonsense if I’ve ever heard it. Power is power. Gain more power, concentrate it, and you will advance. That’s what matters.”

Master Jevin cocked an eyebrow. “First, your people’s entire method of advancement is conceptual, so calling this portion of our road ‘metaphysical nonsense’ is a bit silly. Second, and likely most importantly, you have been stuck at Hallowed for centuries.”

When her eyes widened, he gave a knowing smile.

“I read all the transcripts of your trials, Eskau. You have been unable to take the final steps because you lacked an understanding of ‘metaphysical rusting nonsense’ just like this.” He shrugged. “So, kindly keep your self-crippling blather to yourself.”

Her face flashed deep, angry red, then drained of all color as she clearly fought to keep herself in check. Finally, after a long moment, she seemed to settle into actually considering his words.

Master Jevin moved on even while the elf was still gathering herself, and gave a single decisive nod before turning back to Tala. “Now, where were we, Mistress?”

Nothing ground-breaking came up in the discussion, but Tala was able to confirm a lot of the things she’d been considering. Her road would not be easy, but it did seem possible.

The only hitch came when she described how she had the merging room and was studying it so that she could enact the magics herself. That came right after she mentioned that she’d be working with Mistress Holly to create a new inscription set that she could learn from in order to make her own schema for her various spellforms and magics.

Master Jevin paused, regarding her for a long, long moment. “I see.” He took a sip of his tea, then sighed. “I will be interested to see how you progress.”

Tala was sure that he wasn’t saying something that a part of him wanted to, but she trusted him enough not to press the issue. “I’ll keep you in the loop then.” She hesitated, then decided to just point out the obvious. “I noticed that you are still linked with the tree.”

He nodded, a knowing smile growing on his lips. “I am.”

“How? It’s clearly not you, but it is? How are you Reforged into two separate entities?”

“Well, first of all, the tree never had a true consciousness, so it had very little effect on the results of my Reforging in that sense. It has powerful instincts and magics, but as for a will? That’s essentially non-existent.”

She grunted, frowning. “I think I understand. So the bond didn’t influence how your human body had to be, but it did dictate how the tree would be.”

“Yes, exactly. After millennia of being Fused, one to another, I couldn’t have severed from the tree any more than I could have remade this body with six arms. It wouldn’t have been me.”

Tala frowned, trying to understand. “So… it’s like a spouse?”

That made the man laugh. “No, not at all. The tree lacks a soul so there is no such soulbond between us. Even to say ‘us’ or ‘we’ is not really accurate. I am this tree. When Makinaven is abandoned in the coming decades, I will not be leaving a partner behind. I will be leaving a piece of myself behind like never before. It will not be a simple bit of equipment remaining here. That alone will result in a shift in the war. Most of the power I have available here will be devoted to keeping the tree intact and inviolate, but I will have some with which to sow some chaos.”

That made Eskau Meallain smile, briefly drawing her out of her contemplations. “An agent behind enemy lines, eh? That’s a wise use of strength.”

-We should run our idea by him. You know, of drawing all the Leshkin generals in?-

Yeah, but not now. We’ve still got more than a century.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

-Fine, fine.-

He gave the elf a tightlipped smile at the compliment, then turned back to Tala. “My Reforging resulted in this dual, parallel form, because it is how I genuinely see myself. I am human.” He gestured to himself. “And I am this tree which shelters my people and holds back the Leshkin.”

He gestured around them, and Tala gave a slow nod. “I think I understand…”

He arched an eyebrow. “Really?”

She hesitated for only a moment before sighing. “No… I feel like I have a bit more of an idea than I did before, but it still seems odd to me.”

He chuckled. “That’s actually to be expected. It’s my Reforging. It doesn’t have to make sense to you. The underlying principles stand for any Reforging Archons, and logic and existence still must be followed.”

She frowned. “Logic? How so?”

“You can’t be a twelve legged biped.” He hesitated. “At least not generally speaking. You couldn’t be a fully human cat, nor a gateless Reforged. You cannot contradict yourself. Does that make sense?”

Tala found herself nodding, her frown quickly fading. “Oh, I suppose so. It comes down to actually understanding who I believe I am—who I want to be—defining that clearly, and then ensuring that my Reforging hits that mark?”

“Exactly.” He smiled, clearly glad that she was following his point. “That is an excellent way of describing the overarching principles.”

Rane pulled out an Archive Slate and began taking notes, clearly making various lists as he occasionally looked up and to the right in order to consider and organize his thoughts.

Eskau Meallain leaned forward, then, causing Master Jevin to hesitate. “Yes?”

“So, it truly is entirely dependent on the person? What if I believed myself to be—or desired to be—a dog?”

He gave a little smile. “Well, then you would have to find a way to remake yourself into a dog, otherwise your attempt to Reforge would fail… assuming you were gated, of course.”

“Of course.” She hmmed to herself. “So, the setting—and inculcating—of realistic goals for and expectations of oneself would be critical for anyone you thought might one day Reforge.”

“Precisely.”

The elf leaned back, frowning. “Wouldn’t you then run into the issue of stifling the creativity or potential of some? If the emphasis is realism and possibility, then couldn’t you be teaching people they can’t do exactly what they would need to? Aren’t Reforged in your society so rare as to be the extreme exception? Even your Paragons are like finding a diamond in a dung heap…” She hesitated then grimaced. “No offense intended.”

Master Jevin grunted, but otherwise didn’t react.

After a short pause, Eskau Meallain continued. “It should be ‘impossible’ for anyone to Reforge by the odds.”