By the time that they had arrived at a room with the word ‘Temple’ written on its door, the interior had already been neatly arranged. Within this temple were four statues, each one giving off a divine presence. Naturally, Thea and Nora could recognize the temples of Ryone, Leowynn, Ashley, and Tubrock. However, Chel did not immediately speak up.
Instead, she continued drawing on her notepad, seeming like she was creating diagrams for every single part of the device she wanted to make. Only after an hour had passed, when she neared the end of the notebook, did she look up. “Alright, everyone! Oh gods above, it’s me again! I’ve got a big job that only you four together can take care of, and it’s a real doozy!”
There was a moment of silence from the four statues, the sisters thinking that perhaps they did not hear the prayer. However, soon the wings of Ashley’s statue began to move, followed by the fingers of Tubrock’s, and the eyes of the two elves. The four statues animated, looking down at Chel with a curious expression.
“Oi, whatcha callin’ us like this for, lass?” Tubrock asked in a grumbling tone.
“Because we have guests. Anyways, I made something for all of you to look at! I need this device to be crafted as soon as possible. Leowynn and Ryone, you two can take the cost of it out of James’ account.”
As the four were still looking at her with curiosity, she rolled her eyes. “Long story short, I found the first relic that your boss led me towards. Problem is, it’s stuck between two blue supergiants and is forming a very delicate equilibrium between them. I take it out, the stars collide and bam, big black hole.”
“This thing stops that from happening. It turns your galactic threat into just another supernova. Couple hundred years, you’ll see some fireworks on Deckan. Otherwise, no problem. It’s either this, or I detonate one of the stars prematurely myself using an energy that can lower an object’s core temperature. But seeing as doing that on a star this size would literally kill this version of me, I filed that under ‘last resorts’.”
“James wouldn’t be happy about that.” Leowynn nodded her head knowingly, looking at the notebook. On the last page, Chel had created a list of the raw materials that she needed, which would be Leowynn’s first job. Additionally, Leowynn would need to imbue the final product with her divinity, making it reject any excess gravity from forming after the stars collide.
“Quite.” Chel nodded. “For the outer casing, I’ve detailed steps for our dwarven innovator here to create a supermetal. According to my notes, it will be able to withstand the temperature and heat of these two stars long enough for it to do its job.”
“Will we be able to get out fast enough?” Nora asked, glancing back towards the bridge. However, this time the answer came from Thea.
“Assuming that the collision happens naturally, we will have plenty of time. Although they appear to be close together, that is only from a relative perspective. If they maintain their rotation while drawing closer to one another, it could take days before they fully collide. Hours, at a minimum.”
Chel nodded her head. “Right now, we’re taking a gamble on what the exact domain of the object is. If it is something like Duality, as I suspect, then there is only one true star, with the other one having been created over millions of years by the relic. If it is something like Splitting, there is the chance that they may instantly merge without the presence of the relic. That’s why I’ve got to handle this swap carefully, while Traveler needs to be ready to depart as soon as we’re done.”
Ashley seemed to scan through the notebook, a trace of surprise in her eyes. “Most of these components don’t exist in any of our worlds.”
Chel chuckled at that. “That’s why I had to bring it to you. On a little bit of a time crunch, and can’t make everything I need by myself before we’re due back home. If you go by the steps I’ve written out, it shouldn’t cost any of you very much energy.”
The four began nodding, as the item truly didn’t require much divinity to set up. Perhaps the biggest burden would be on Tubrock for creating the outer shell. That said, she had already told them to take whatever payment was required out of James’ account.
With that in mind, the four of them quickly began working, forming the individual parts that Chel had listed. Once the parts were completed, Ashley used her powers to construct them, and Leowynn reinforced the item itself with her divinity. Finally, a sealed capsule appeared in front of Chel, roughly three meters long and perfectly smooth
Chel walked up to the device, looking it over and running her hand along it. “Thanks, everyone! This should do great! And, if it doesn’t… well, I tried my best? It’ll take a few dozen years before it does any real damage. By that time, we can have a better solution up and running. It’ll just be a lot bigger, and more expensive than this thing.”
As she said that, she took a deep breath, eyes focusing. “Okay, guys. This is the moment of truth. Traveler, get the portal to the domain ready and move us one Astronomical Unit away from the stars. Once you’re ready, let me know.”
There was a humm of acknowledgement from the ship as it began to move, Chel pushing her own senses to the limit, locking onto the artifact between the two stars as they were moving further and further away. “I’m ready, Chelsea.”
The moment that Traveler said that, her hands moved. One hand reached into a portal she opened next to herself, the other landing on the metal capsule. As soon as her hand touched the capsule, the entire thing vanished with a flash of blue light, replaced by a black crystal. “Punch it, Traveler!” She called out, withdrawing her hand and closing the portal.
Chel had no intention of staying to discover at which speed the stars collided. Even the smallest chance that they would merge immediately meant that they had to leave right away. And with her command, Traveler rushed into the portal that he had created. Once more, they were within the golden mist.
Chel let out a long sigh, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow as the sisters rushed over. Although everything appeared to have gone smoothly, they were still concerned for her. “Are you alright?” Thea asked, looking down at the smaller kitsune.
After looking at the crystal, Chel flashed her a thumbs-up. Then, she quickly verified which domain the relic possessed, letting out a long groan. “Well, that’s going to lead to some trouble down the road.”
“Why?” Nora asked curiously, glancing towards the crystal herself.
“It’s the Mimicry domain. Whoever gets their hands on that power is going to be one hell of a tricky opponent to fight.” Saying that, she leaned back, lying against the cool floor. “Hey, Traveler?”
“Yes, Chelsea?” Traveler responded quickly, curious what commands she had for it.
“You did awesome. Keep up the good work.” With her mind finally calming down, Chel closed her eyes with a wide grin.
I watched the small device appear between the two stars, finding it hard to believe that such a miniscule thing could stop the formation of a black hole. However, it wasn’t going to be something that I could immediately witness myself. After all, the stars were not merging right away. Or rather, they weren’t merging at all.
As soon as the crystal was removed, one of the two stars vanished from existence, having only been a mirrored replica of the other. Like Chel had originally said, there was only one star in that system. The way they orbited around one another, though, made me think that the object had established them as some form of contained structure. Within the area of the twin stars, there were truly two stars, causing the effect that we saw. However, to the outside world, there was only the gravity and heat from a single celestial body.
I felt slightly let down that there would be no giant bang when the stars collided. Still, this showed me again what sort of things I could expect from these items. And perhaps the reason why no monsters had attacked to consume it was because of the phantom star it had created. At close range, it indeed gave off power that could rival a god due to that.
“Do we have anything on their other destination?” I asked curiously, looking for any sort of spoilers that could be provided.
Aurivy simply rolled her eyes with a knowing grin. “You’ll see it when they get there, just like the rest of us. I’m doing my best to not look at that location for now. Worst case scenario, I pull them out and we all enjoy a good sandwich.”
I gave a faint nod, accepting that I couldn’t get my spoilers just yet. Besides, who wants to have the ending ruined for them? Okay, maybe they want it, but they’ll regret it afterwards.
Keenan lurked high in a tree, his eyes scanning the ground below him. His intuition told him that something was passing through this place. Something that did not belong in the jungle. His clawed hands dug into the branch he was crouched on, pupils narrowing like a beast’s.
Far below, in this forest hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement, a person was walking. A felyn man in his late teens, if his appearance were to be believed. His yellow robes were spotless, his hand clutching a staff as he walked. Oddly, his eyes seemed to be closed, as if he were blind.
He walked up to the tree where Keenan was lurking, and tapped his staff against it. Once, twice, thrice, after which he spoke. “Would you mind coming down? I’m a bit lost, you see.”
Keenan stared at the man for several moments, not sure what he should be thinking. In his mind, he imagined attacking from several different angles, clawing at his eyes or throat, or going straight for his heart. However, in each imagined scenario, the attacks seemed to miss inexplicably. As if he simply couldn’t imagine himself landing a strike on this seemingly normal man.
The robed figure waited, smiling upwards for roughly five minutes before lowering his head. As if he had never done anything at all, he walked away. He was still leaning on his staff with every step, and Keenan noticed that he appeared to be avoiding the normal path for monsters.
Equal parts wary and intrigued, he followed the figure from the treetops, making sure to stay just out of view any time he turned his head. Although his eyes were closed, that did not necessarily mean anything. Especially not with some of the monsters Keenan had seen.
A few minutes later, the figure stopped, turning and walking to another tree. Once again, he tapped his staff against it three times before calling out above. “Would you mind coming down? I’m a bit lost, you see.” He repeated the same words he said before, but this time Keenan was truly confused. He made sure that he wasn’t at the tree the man approached, looking over at it to see if anything else was there.
After confirming that that tree was empty as well, Keenan glanced down again. The man kept looking up, waiting, just as he had before. Was he crazy? Why would he come all the way to this forest, so far removed from civilization, just to randomly tap on trees and speak to nothing at all?
Keenan followed the man again, curious about his true intentions. After he left this tree, the process repeated itself. Three knocks, then calling out above himself. Wait a few minutes, and leave. He appeared to be operating on a set cycle, never disturbed when he wasn’t answered. As if he knew that he would get his answer sooner or later, and was only pretending that each tree was the first one he approached.
