Thorn and Bone II

  FADABIDA

  “Never heard of it,” Blu sniffed.

  “Make up your mind,” I snapped.

  “They have several other names for it." Aerix began to count on their fingers. "The First Universe, The New Labyrinth, The Underlier, or The Dimensional Archive. Whatever you call it, it’s a dangerous giga-realm overseen by Cetfilorus."

  “The Celestial of Memory?” asked Sablune.

  “And Literature, and Order,” added Aerix.

  I rolled my eyes. “Some order she imposed with us getting stuck here. Real organized.”

  “Being stuck here will deconstruct a person piece by piece by stealing their memories. This is especially true for normies.” Aerix mimicked ripping something apart with their hands.

  “How would normies get here anyway?” Blu shook his head in disbelief. “It’s not like they have Concept Energy they can use to fling themselves between dimensions.”

  “Any reason it wants to rip us to shreds? Or is it just for fun?” I didn’t exactly have a manual on celestial motives and behavior.

  “In order to maintain something unobserved, you must have memory of it, correct? So, if this place didn’t overwrite itself into everything within, the reverse could happen, people changing the image of a place with their own memories.”

  “So, can’t Cetfilorus cut it off,” Blu yawned. “Or better yet, destroy it, I see no purpose for it.”

  I stepped on his foot. “Not everything is about you, dickweed.”

  “Memories and ideas are all connected, this place is built on past memories of Celestials, some of which probably come from Earth and our reality. Cutting it off at the source could destroy the entire Index, something they most likely hold dear given that it is their memories. I can’t confirm the intentions of Celestials from the eyes of a mere mortal.”

  “So, any Idea where to go from here?” Blu tugged his shirt a few times.

  Aerix takes my hand, lightly squeezes it, and begins following the Echo of Darkness through winding walls and halls. "Blu, do you know where our weapons were transported to?" I asked quietly.

  "I have an idea of where they could be," he said, looking around corners every few steps or so. “This place has several levels, each containing a different environment and variants of demoryns, right?"

  “As far as I know. The kind we ran into is called a snatcher, something that absorbs what’s around it to maintain presence. That one was staticky because not much in this Index has any substance.”

  I nodded. "So, you think they're on a different level somewhere, I get it. Even if that is the case, how would we even know which level to look in?"

  Aerix took on a thoughtful look, "I believe due to the nature of Verestia we are in the first allocation right now which is the least memory dense. We got here through a tear in reality, so, the only reasonable way to get from the first area into the second is by triggering another Crystal Shift. Since it’s the closest to travel to, I bet our weapons are in the next Index.”

  “How would you recommend we replicate something like that?” I ask doubtfully.

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  “I can run a few tests with Lapis and see what we come up with; we can’t try what we did last time; it could kill him. It expended a remarkable amount of Concept Energy, though.” Aerix plucks a crystal off their sunhat, still in Blu’s possession, and sits down, turning the crystal to its original color. “For now, I would take the time to look for food and supplies, I'll destroy some of the lights in the ceiling so Blu can get you back here if need be.”

  Blu reaches down, pulling a blade from his boot. Attached to it is a rope, which he unravels from his lower leg: a rope dart, an assassin's weapon. "Give Aerix one of your daggers unless they have weapons of their own," he says, swinging the rope dart and piercing a ceiling light with it. “This is gonna be fun.” He smiles, after tossing the hat back to Aerix.

  I tossed my dagger to Aerix, who caught it without looking, and they stuck it into the floor. I glance at Blu, who yanks on his rope. A bulb comes flying from in front of him. He slams his foot through it as it comes near, shattering the thin material as his blade falls to the ground.

  “Oh, wow, you’re so strong,” I mocked him, unable to help it. He turned to glare at me. What an odd dynamic we had. Fighting for years, but always there for each other—a bond that existed even longer than my engagement to Aerix.

  “The hell are you looking at?” Blu said sharply.

  “Just thinking, that’s all,” I said, moving past him after quickly resting my hand on his shoulder, to which he said, “don’t touch me,” rubbing his shirt. “You have dirty gardener hands.”

  I kicked him in the shin. Then heard him scoff and run after me, “Could you not.”

  “Not what? Be an ass like you?” I teased, opening a locker to look through.

  “No one can be an ass like me,” said Blu in false contempt. “I’m far too talented.” He knocked open the locker adjacent to my own and began rummaging through it, occasionally dumping boxes of junk food on the ground.

  “Idiot.”

  A silence passes between us until Blu speaks up. “So, I did a thing.”

  “Oh, did you now?” I say lightly, “Do you want to elaborate, or are you going to keep hitting me with amusingly vague answers?”

  “Remember when I said I was looking for a Path?”

  Oh no.

  “Yeah…” I venture.

  “I took the one you said I shouldn’t.”

  I slam my locker shut. “YOU WHAT!?”

  “Shush, please, before you attract more creatures. I don’t need to be choked by something again. My wife does it enough,” Blu joked, placing his findings at his feet.

  I glared at him. This was not something to joke around about.

  “I told you not to; it was stupid,” I scolded him, shaking him by his shoulder, “How many times did I say, ‘you should become a Walker for another Celestial.’”

  “Okay but if I’m a Scion of Rift and have the option to walk the path of another celestial. Why would I not pick one that helps avert the stigma of Echoes of Darkness being known as liars and snakes?”

  “Right, but as a Reaper I can have things like immortality. What do you get from your Path besides that?”

  “You only get that from killing one Sinner a day, so it’s not like you just HAVE immortality. Loylia’s Path at least gives me an edge because I bear proof that I can’t lie. Mortalius can’t give me anything I want that I can’t get from somewhere else,” he countered. “Also don’t you have to reap for thirty years before you retain immortality?”

  I looked at the mark on his wrist; it was a tall triangle with two wavy lines positioned horizontally on either side. It stood for truth cutting through lies.

  “I still don’t see why you didn’t try something else. The Reapers are famous and have one of the greatest reputations out of all the Paths,” I tried to persuade him, baring the single blood drop emblem on my wrist.

  He gave me a suspicious look. “That’s a bit much.”

  “Okay, maybe not the best reputation, but we’re up there,” I said breathlessly, summoning a basket made of ribs around the food Blu collected on the floor.

  “Don’t you get sent to Ossauris for missing your quota? That’s not as bad as our punishment.”

  I blinked at him. It’s all I could do when presented with his twisted logic. “You literally get incinerated and I go to hell. What… are you talking about?”

  “Right.”

  “Our punishment isn’t permanent. It lasts twenty-four hours, doubles each time we miss it, and we can subside the next tier of punishment by reaping extra sinners. You can even quit after twenty years.”

  “Right.”

  “Explain to me how getting lit up like a firecracker is better than that,” I demanded.

  “Personal preference. I don’t care to end up in the rings of Ossauris because I didn’t off a guy.”

  “Sablune, you literally kill people. Like… It’s your job…”

  He takes the basket and shuts the door of his locker. He starts off to another nearby locker with his back to me. He turns to look at me, pausing for a moment, before he opens his mouth to say something and decides against it.

  "What?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

  "I was just gonna say, I already kill for money, no need to do it for anything else. I don't want my entire life devoted to taking lives, especially for the Celestial of Nightmares, Lust, and the dead." he closed his eyes, shivering at the thought.

  "Loser.”

  "I can’t leave anyway. Truth Walking is a lifetime commitment," Blu said a little wistfully.

  “Well, in that case, here’s a little advice. Even though you can’t tell lies, remember that the worst lies are the ones you tell yourself.”

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