The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere

Inner Sanctum | 4:27 PM | Second Day

She gave us a particular sort of smug look as she departed. It was a look which said, 'come now, little girls, and watch the mistress at work'. The kind of expression where you can just feel the adrenaline being pumped into your heart as your lizard brain urges you to punch them in the face.

Kam had talked about her presentation yesterday, hadn't she? Yeah, I could remember. It was about an artifice designed to put people into a short-lived state of suspended animation, which she'd hoped would appeal those wealthy enough to afford getting them customized. It was inherently controversial-- My gut told me that Zeno would like it, but Neferuaten wouldn't. Everyone else could go either way.

She skipped confidently to her position at the wooden table, which had fortunately been wiped down since Ophelia's effort, and gracefully cleared her throat.

"Members of the discretionary council, my humble thanks again for this invaluable opportunity!" she said. "Today, I hope to show you a potential method for buying time in cases of catastrophic injury that is both fully universal and automatic, without sacrificing convenience in the process. I hope I am able to meet your expectations!"

"Ohoh," Zeno said, faintly amused. "That's a bold claim." He glanced over to Neferuaten. "This one is the Chronomancer, isn't she?"

"Mm-hmm," she hummed.

He chuckled. "It wasn't long ago that their venerable order all but declared they wouldn't wipe their asses with our work. How the tables have turned, with one of their most promising scions coming right to our lap."

Durvasa glared at him disapprovingly, subtly clicking his tongue.

Many people would have interpreted this remark as passive-aggressive enough to deter further comment. Kamrusepa, though, was never one to shy away from a little conversational friction.

"I assure you, grandmaster," she said smoothly, "though every organization has its fair share of traditionalists, there are many in the order who have great respect for your work, and are eager to forge bonds academically, even if the study of longevity has not generally fallen within their remit."

The Order of Chronomancers was infamous for two things. The first was being very conservative about the direction of its scholarship - according to their charter, the discipline was only supposed to be used to serve the 'public good', though of course what exactly that meant depended on who was in charge during any given era. Generally speaking, though, it tended to come down to it's use being only acceptable for public works and saving lives in the most uncontroversial of circumstances. Grand and experimental endeavors were frowned upon, and research into combat applications was strictly forbidden.

The second was being extremely stingy and protective of their secrets. They'd formally shared their knowledge exactly once in their entire history, and that was as a means to stop the Mekhian army outright wiping them out at the end of the Tricenturial War. Gods, in Rhunbard, it was illegal to even teach Chronomancy outside of the order.

The reason for both of these, ostensibly, was the incredible potential for misuse the discipline posed. That was probably partially true, but there was no denying that the contemporary order was, by all accounts, a nightmarishly cliqueish and elitist organization. Which irritated many scholars for whom their research could have been incredibly useful, since they held a virtual monopoly.

Chronomancy was an immensely complicated field of study; arguably the most technically complicated discipline of all... And because the order always moved quickly to squash leaks and assimilate promising indepdendent scholars, that meant anyone who wanted to learn it outside of their ranks would be starting from scratch. The Institute for Temporal Studies, a Irencan-Mekhian venture, was the first which had really achieved success - but even it was centuries behind.

"We will see what happens, for sure," Zeno replied, seeming already to have grown tired with the tangent. "Regardless, that being the case, I assume you're talking about a artifice that can place people in some manner of temporally suspended animation. Such endeavours exist already, of course, yet--"

"Let the girl speak on her own terms, companion-legionary," Hamilcar said, his tone even. "They'll be time for this in the questioning stage."

The other man sighed, gesturing dismissively. "Very well."

Kamrusepa smiled. "Grandmaster Zeno--"

"Professor," he said. "If you must title me. I'm not one for Mekhian stylings."

"Professor Zeno is nevertheless correct," she corrected herself, without missing a beat. "The project I shall be demonstrating today is a new type of suspended animation artifice which I have informally titled the emergency stasis pin. Allow me to show you."

At this, she placed a small metal case upon the table in front of her, and popped it open. Because of the angle and the smaller size relative to Ophelia's rather, uh, impactful project, I couldn't see what it was at first, but fortunately, she held up to demonstrate clearly for the benefit of the audience. It was - as the name would suggest - a golden badge, about the size of her palm, in the shape of a shield that was also styled to vaguely resemble a clock.

Kamrusepa might've been ranked one position above me in our class, but in truth, our grades were pretty much identical most of the time - she had the edge on me when it came to practical work and essay-writing I was slightly better at theory and conventional testing, but there wasn't much in it. What tended to push her over the edge, though, was that she was really good at going the extra mile with aesthetics. It was amazing how far a fancy cover for a thesis went, or some good illustrations or diagrams, or... Well, things like this.

A prototype didn't need to be pretty, but of course hers would be. She was a natural showman.

"As I am sure you know, the primary factors holding back devices of this nature have been twofold: Firstly, the need for constant and fairly specific Divination to catch a potentially fatal injury in its earliest stage... And secondly, the sheer level of eris required for a stasis field which covers the entire body." She smiled widely. "I believe I have resolved both of those problems. But before I go into detail, a demostration."

She lifted up the final object she'd prepared - a small linen bag - and withdrew a porcelain doll around the side of the size of a baby, dressed a typical frilly dress. She clipped the badge to its body.

"Of course, this is an artifice with an active engraving, which means it needs to be periodically tuned by an arcanist to remain functional. This is a limitation regarding mass-adoption I've been forced to accept for the time being." More like forever. I doubted she had any long-term plans for this beyond impressing the order and possibly getting a buyer for the concept. "Nevertheless, the incantation - which you shall be free to review shortly - does allow for activation and deactivation at the wearers convenience. This may be done by simply pressing ones finger into the center of the face and holding it for a few seconds. Like so--"

A few moments after performing the gesture, there was a subtle shimmer of light from the device, and a disturbance in the air around the doll's form.

"It takes around four seconds for the device to properly attune to the body it is attached to. Though as ought to be be implicit by this demonstration, it will function with anything, not just a human being-- Though, there are of course far more optimal alternatives for inanimate objects." She giggled a little to herself. "But I digress."

She stepped back and, in a fluid motion, flipped the doll upside down and dropped it.

Naturally, the instant its head hit the floor, the porcelain started to shatter. But, true to Kamrusepa's claim, this process stopped from the moment the first crack began to form. Instead, the toy completely froze, the cloth of its dress hanging upright unnaturally, as if the whole thing had suddenly turned into a sculpture.

The eris usage was great enough that I could feel it when it happened, if subtly. Kam had to have done something pretty clever to cram that much into something so small.

I had to admit, though, I was starting to have a hard time keeping my attention focused, especially since I knew my presentation wouldn't be until right at the very end. I was bad at just sitting in a chair and listening to people talk, and while that was something I could suppress by taking diligent notes when it came to lectures, we weren't even expected to learn anything from this. It just felt like church.

"Oh, good. I was worried that wouldn't work for a second!" Kam said whimsically as she kneeled down, while there were some laughs from the crowd. "Now, then. As you can well see, the incantation has succeeded in halting temporal progression from the moment of injury. And..." She grabbed its side, slowly lifting it into the air. "...this enchantment will hold, even when moved and bent, making it simple to place the patient in a prudent position for medical intervention."

The spectators made impressed noises as she flattened the doll out and placed it back on the table. For the council's part, it looked as though they were still witholding judgement, although she'd definitely succeeded in at least making Linos, Neferuaten and Zeno curious.

"Now, some of you might have already doubts about the capacity for this to function with the complexity of human biology, and those are certainly valid concerns I'll address in a moment. But first, an explanations of the device's limitations." She gestured at pin. "Once the effect is taken hold, there is enough eris to sustain it for 2-5 minutes, depending on the size of the wearer. During this time, some forms of healing are possible - though the lack of bloodflow prohibits Biomancy and most conventional medicine. If it needs to be deactivated prematurely, one can do so by simply unhooking the pin. But first, I shall save the patient."

She flicked up her scepter, twirled it once, then spoke the incantation.

T i m e R e v e r s i n g

"...𒊌𒅎𒀉𒌫𒀊, 𒀭𒀉𒃶𒐊𒐊𒄀𒁍𒊹."

In an instant, the cracks on the doll reversed and disappeared outright. Then, she reached over and removed the pin from its chest. It slumped, suddenly back under influence of gravity, but otherwise remained unchanged.

Hamilcar nodded once, impressed.

"I hope you're not going to keep us in suspense about whatever trick you're using for its power source," Zeno said.

"Have no fear, professor. All shall be answered imminently." She looked extremely pleased with herself, obviously in her element now that she had the audience enraptured. "I invite the members of the council to inspect the artifice by hand while I explain the technology at work. Aruru, if you would?"

The golem stepped forward to take the object and pass it around the council members. Meanwhile, I tried very hard to suppress a yawn, contorting my lower face in the process.

"Now, it's here that I must confess to have kept a detail about this project from you up until this point. You see, there's actually a second component to it other than the pin - one you may be able to infer by simply examining it closely." She smiled slyly. "But for the sake of our audience, I've crafted some visual aids on my logic engine to assist in the explanation." She held up the device. "May I attune it to your own network?"

"Go right ahead," Hamilcar said.

She nodded, and pressed her hand against it while also touching one of the pillars. Sure enough, an image began to form within the artificial space, above where she was standing--

...but then something odd happened.

Instead of coalescing into something cohesive, the colors and light became blocky and started to break apart, producing a whining sound. Members of the audience started to look confused, and the smile on Kamrusepa's face vanished almost instantly, replaced by a tense dissatisfaction.

"...I take it this was not intentional, acolyte?" Hamilcar asked.

"No, grandmaster," she said, turning to regard him apologetically. "I'm terribly sorry - I was working on this at the logic engine in my bedroom here this morning, and the data must have become corrupted somehow when I was transferring it over. I did test it, so if you'd afford me just a few additional minutes, I can make a fresh transfer--"

Suddenly, I felt a rush of strange extrasensory pulses in my mind come without definition or logic, a textbook sign of shoddy or rushed logic scripting-- And judging by the flinch Ran made next to me, I wasn't the only one. A moment later, the blocks snapped sharply together, and began to coalesce into something coherent.

It was... A woman, though the corruption was so great that you couldn't really make out any features. She was of small build, with short hair, and was wearing a very peculiar dress that looked out of place with modern fashion, even more so than Fang's clothing. And though there were no colors and her face was an indistinct blob, something seemed vaguely off about the parts which could be made out. It was the uncanny valley again. Close to human, but not quite right.

It towered over us, its grey and white form reaching almost to the ceiling.

"Am I doing this properly?" a voice intoned along with the image, only seeming to half correspond to its movements, which were jarring and stiff, like images in a flipbook. It was so distorted it would've been impossible to recognize beyond gender, but it had a certain flippant tone to it that came through right away. "Ah, good, good."

"Acolyte," Hamilcar said to Kamrusepa, his tone growing more serious. "Please disconnect your logic engine."

"Of course," Kamrusepa said without hesitation, only to frown as she pressed her hand against it again. "It's not changing anything. It must have already got in the system somehow."

"Just turn the damn thing off, girl," Anna reprimanded her.

"I already did!" She snapped, then hesitated. "I already did, your ladyship!" she corrected.

"Members of the Conclave of the Universal Panacea!" the voice declared, becoming even more distorted when it rose in volume. "I come bearing a message for you on behalf of my mistress."

Without comment, Hamilcar shut down the entire transmission. The environment and the many spectators all vanished at once, leaving only the quiet hall and the humanoid figure, floating in the air above the central table.

"What on earth is going on...?" Mehit asked, now that we were no longer being watched and everyone could relax. (Well, 'relax', given the circumstances.)

"I don't know," I said, furrowing my brow in bemusement.

"It seems like someone snuck something in on her logic engine," Ran said, her eyes narrow. "Su. You remember yesterday morning? When she was leaving, right before we had lunch?"

I tried to think back.

Right, right. She'd said something about her logic engine being broken, hadn't she? And then had left to get a replacement. Had that been deliberate? A setup?

I turned back to face the figure, my eyes wide. I wasn't bored now-- I doubted anyone was. We all watched it in silence, our expressions ranging from curiosity to morbid anxiety.

"For too long, your hubris has gone unpunished! Your crimes are many, and of unspeakable severity," it said. "You are guilty of transgressions against the natural order, conspiracy against the will of the divine, and of the profanement of life itself! Twice our mistress has, in Her infinite grace, offered you clemency, and twice have you spurned this mercy without so much as a conciliatory gesture! But our mistress's love is great, and She does not wish to lay down punishment unless there exists no alternative. But mark these words: This shall be your third and final warning. Her will shall be denied no longer."

The voice was theatrical to the point of near-absurdity; it was almost evocative of a more overstated Kam, though considerably less professional. Something about it was making me uneasy, and not just the bizarre things it seemed to be saying. I bit my lip, feeling sweat starting to pool in my armpits.

"This is starting to freak me out," Ptolema said. Ophelia nodded along, looking as transfixed as I was.

"You shall be granted until the stroke of midnight to seek absolution!" it went on. "To attain it, there are three deeds demanded of you. FIrst, you shall lay this fel sanctum to waste, taking nothing with you as you abandon it save the clothes on your back! Second, you shall fall to your knees and prostrate yourself before Her glory from the break of dawn to high noon! Third, you shall make the traditional sacrifice of a black bull in the evening light, along with the proper rites! Do this, and turn your miserable lives towards virtue and godliness, and you may yet be afforded forgiveness."

At the circular table, Zeno scoffed, rolling his eyes, and Anna seemed disinterested. Neferuaten and Hamilcar watched it closely. While over at the boys side, Seth looked perplexed, Ezekiel annoyed, and Yantho--

Yantho looked actually afraid. His eyes were wide.

"But heed me, o' woeful fools who have long forsaken your oaths," it went on, the tone becoming grave. "Ignore this final commandment at your own peril. For should you do so, a terrible curse will fall upon you! One by one, you shall be cut down by Her unyielding wrath! Your most terrible nightmares shall be made manifest, and that which you hold dear will be stripped away, piece by piece, until nothing remains! Consider this well. Turn away from pride, and your vulgar defiance of the justice of the cosmos, or suffer the consequences!"

Then, the voice exhaled, and the head of the figure shifted to the side, jarringly shifting to casual, chipper tone. "That was pretty good! I really gave it my all, I think--"

And then it cut out, casting the room into sudden silence.

For a few moments, no one said anything. In fact, the room was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop.

But eventually, Zeno began to chuckle softly. "Well, we've had our fair share of threats from the public, but that was certainly the most dramatic in a while. Audacious, to say the least."

Linos chuckled along awkwardly, and then there was even a little from Durvasa and Neferuaten, as if they'd just been waiting for the ice to be broken.

"Hamilcar, is there any danger to our systems, from this?" Durvasa asked, his gaze intent.

The other man shook his head, though his eyes were distant, almost glazed over. Probably interfacing heavily with the logic bridges, trying to figure out what happened. "No. I configured the logic engines here to only accept audiovisual information, and this room is isolated from the rest of the sanctuary. It looks as though they used a simple request-flooding technique to stop the message from being terminated prematurely, but now that it's finished, there's nothing left to even exhume."

"I suppose we should've expected something to happen along these lines," Linos said, scratching his head. "Miss Tuon, this goes without saying, but you knew nothing of this, I presume?"

"Absolutely not, sir," she said, firmly. "Forgive me-- My logic engine must have been switched out or tampered with under my nose. It is entirely my fault."

"It is not an ideal situation in terms of the publicity ramifications to have an interruption like this, especially one without any warning," Durvasa said in a measured tone, clasping his hands together. "But it's not as if anything about the scenario will come as much surprise to anyone remotely familiar with our reputation. If I'd known what it would be, I'd suggest it would almost be less impactful to have maintained the broadcast. Perhaps it would inspire sympathy for the public to see what we deal with on a regular basis."

"I agree with Durvasa, for once," Zeno said, with a smirk. "It would have been one thing to attempt if this were some attempt at public humiliation or blackmail, but a moralizing and over-the-top threat like that? The only reaction I could see from any third party would be laughter."

Wait, I thought to myself. Are they really not going to take this seriously at all? They're just going to move on?

I mean... Isn't what we just heard a really serious-sounding threat?

I looked to some of the others to gauge their reactions. Sacnicte didn't look too bothered, but it looked like everyone else shared my confusion, especially Lilith and Ptolema. Ran, as ever, was a little hard to read.

"How concerned do you think we should be about further action, do you think?" Neferuaten asked, as if reading my mind.

Zeno snorted. "What, do you think they somehow smuggled in a bomb, too? It's one thing to bring a little data in on a logic engine, but if I were her ladyship, I'd be insulted by your implication towards the quality of her runesmithing." He looked towards Anna. "What is it that you like to say? That you can't bring the blunt end of a toothbrush in here without you knowing of it."

"I do not believe I have ever uttered those words," Anna said coldly. "But it is the truth. The children could not have brought so much as a razor in here. I know every item they carried in their luggage, down to their smallclothes."

"Wow," Ptolema said quietly. "Creepy."

"Save for the one whose arrival I was not told to expect, of course," Anna continued, giving Neferuaten a grim look. "Though the records of that will be equally obtainable."

"Still, I find it difficult to imagine the motive for this if it wasn't a genuine warning of some sort," Neferuaten said, looking contemplative. "As Durvasa pointed out, the content was too ridiculous for the intent to be intimidation alone. To go to such lengths, for no clear end..."

"I agree with Neferuaten," Linos said, nodding emphatically. "This whole situation makes me a little uneasy, to be quite honest. Does anyone have any more specific ideas, as to the culprit?"

"Their use of language made it sound borderline religious," Zeno mused idly. "Much as I hate dealing with ideologues, it would be rather entertaining to have a full-blown cult after us. That's never happened before."

"...black bull..." I heard Ran muttering to herself, her face contorted in thought.

I looked to her. "What?"

"A black bull," she repeated, turning to face me with a grim look. "That's what the voice said needed to be sacrificed to satisfy its demands."

"What sort of point are you trying to make, idiot?" Lilith asked. She looked agitated by the situation, bopping one leg up and down repeatedly. Mehit looked at her with concern "No one here-- No one here is deaf. We all heard it."

"In the old Inotian religion," Ran went on, seeming to ignore the child completely, "...really old, before even the Platonic Reforms, they used to have specific animals you were meant to sacrifice to each of the gods on their holy days. For animals with black fur, and usually cattle specifically... It was the god of the dead."

"Wait," Ptolema said, frowning. "You're saying that whoever sent that message... The stuff they were saying about their 'mistress' the order had been doing transgressions to... They were talking about death? Like, scythe-and-black-cloak death?"

"Maybe," Ran replied. "The Inotian version was a male god, so it doesn't line up perfectly. But I can't think of anything better."

I bit my lip, frowning. "I guess if you want a persona that makes sense, to frame your threat against an organization that's trying to learn how to live forever... You might as well go all the way to the top," I said.

But even with those oh-so-rational words, I felt an uneasy chill. Because even though the council was acting like it, it wasn't as though the message had come across as zealous or full of rightous conviction, like you'd expect. Rather, outside of what was obviously playing it up for fun, the person delivering it hadn't even seemed that serious about it.

Fury is a tool most often used to mask a lack of confidence. If you're filled with bluster and quick to shout about something, then that means you leave little room for the other person to examine your intent and conviction critically. Its a way of using physical and auditory presence to compensate for a lack of actual power.

But... On the other hand, when someone delivers a terrible message matter-of-factly, or even with a casual attitude... Then that can either mean two things. Either it's all just a joke that they're not taking seriously... Or they don't need to care about how they come across at all.

Because they know their words are backed by something tangible. Undeniable.

"Su," Ran said, looking at me critically. "You're making a funny expression."

I blinked. "Am I?" I attempted to smile, if only to diffuse the tension. "I'm just considering my own logic, I guess."

"This is really, really stupid," Lillith said, crossing her arms as her foot beat even faster. "And annoying. I hate this."

"Um, I'm sure that they know what they're doing, and it's nothing to worry about, Lili..." Ophelia said soothingly.

She scowled to herself, looking downward. This seemed to be bothering her even more than unexpected breaks from plans normally did.

Maybe I was worrying too much. After all, if the council members were taking it all so casually, that had to mean that they dealt with this kind of thing all the time, right?

Iwa, a friend of mine from when I was in tertiary school, used to have this really old oven at her house that would always make this gassy burning smell, which obviously freaked out anyone who came to visit. But whenever a new guest would get freaked out, she always just laughed it off, saying it was just a quirk from its age. And she'd been right-- Nothing ever happened. When in unfamiliar territory, it was sometimes smarter to trust those with experience over your own 'common sense'.

But didn't it sound an awful lot like the tone of that letter I'd found with Kam? I thought. Using religious terminology. Sins, absolution... And after the other letter, too...

I didn't like this. Something felt off.

...no, it wasn't just that 'something felt off'. It was that feeling of familiarity again, building slowly at the back of my mind since the strange message had played. But this time, it was more tangible, to the point that I could swear I was seeing flashes of... Something. Like my mind could just about touch what it was trying to grab, but couldn't quite reach far enough to close its grip around it.

Be rational, I thought. It was like Neferuaten said. Most of the time, deja vu was just the brain drawing associations with similar experiences one couldn't consciously recall. Over the course of the past two years, I'd been to a lot of similar events with more or less the same people, so it was inevitable that I'd had similar experiences. And stress leads to heightened mental activity. All the times I'd had these thoughts had been moments when I'd already been feeling bad.

I tried to calm myself down, taking deep breaths.

"What now, then?" Linos asked, placing his folded hands on the table.

"I see no reason not to simply resume," Zeno said, his tone casual. "In fact, the longer we wait, the more likely it is that we'll lose the audience."

"We should prepare a short statement, first," Durvasa said. "To make sure nothing of the matter is misunderstood. Hamilcar?"

"Very well," he said. "I believe the simplest course would, as you suggested, to simply be truthful. So I will inform them that there was an unexpected threat against our organization which would be inappropriate to broadcast, and leave it at that." He looked to Kamrusepa. "Acolyte, I'm afraid I must ask you to forgo whatever you had planned for this segment of your presentation, as I would be wary of any copies you might retrieve. Will you be able to proceed with only a spoken explanation?"

"Oh, yes, sir," she said, though she was obviously a little disappointed. "That should be no problem at all."

"So be it," he said, nodding. "In that case--"

"Ah, hey, sorry!" Fang spoke up again, over the boys stand. I hadn't been paying attention to them much, but glancing over, they looked about as put-off as we did. Theodoros in particular looked bad-- Seth seemed to be talking with him about something, though they both looked up in surprise as Fang stood. "Before you get to that, just so you know, I'm done. It's all ready."

"Ah, good," Hamilcar said. I thought I could see Anna subtly roll her eyes. "Then you may proceed with it after Kamrusepa has finished, as planned. I expect great things. Now, as I was saying--"

"Hey, actually." Fang said. "You might want to see it first, real quick?"

Zeno snorted out a laugh. "What would be the point of that, girl? The whole purpose of the endeavor is for you to show us the damn things." He clicked his tongue. "You do understand that, don't you? I hope you haven't let your reputation go so far to your head that you never cultivated basic sense."

Neferuaten sighed softly to herself, folding her arms. A strange, satisfied smile was forming on her face, like she was watching the timer of a well-cooked meal slowly tick down to zero.

"I mean, I was just thinking that it might be a good idea to run it past you first," Fang replied, ignoring the obviously shitty part of Zeno's remark. "In case you didn't think it's suitable for the broadcast as part of the public aspect of this whole thing. I kinda explained it in the message morning, but it doesn't seem like it's worked its way down the chain?"

"If you haven't brought a project you feel comfortable showing us, Acolyte, then it would be better for you not to participate at all," Durvasa said, pulling no punches. "This is an event intended to display your competence. We are not here to coddle you."

"Uh, let's not go too far, now, Durvasa..." Linos said warily. "We want to keep everyone involved, right? We don't want people going away from this telling everyone the wrong things. I think that's more important than keeping strictly to the rules."

"It is not just this, boy. Their behavior has been unacceptable from the advent," Anna said, her words sharp. "Regardless of their talents, I have personally lost patience." She turned to Fang, her foggy eyes intent from under her hood. "Explain yourself."

"Phew, this is a tricky misunderstanding," Fang said awkwardly. "I think you've got this the wrong way 'round."

"What are you talking about?" Durvasa asked sternly.

For Hamilcar, though, it looked like some shoe had to have dropped. I noticed him tense, his fingers curling tightly.

"I guess it is my fault," they mused, flicking their eyes upward, folding one leg over the other. "For sitting on the fence until the last minute, y'know. You shouldn't go after a bear unless you're willing to walk into its den. And for getting involved in something so personal to begin with-- Though, I guess that part couldn't be helped, huh?"

Crrk. I felt a sharp twinge in my mind, like something had snapped mentally out of place.

"I'll ask you one more time, Acolyte," Durvasa said, now clearly annoyed. "Get to your point."

"Right, right! Sorry," they said holding up their hands . "Well, I guess it'll be easier if I just show you." They bent down, reaching into their bag.

I wondered what it would be, to deserve this much fuss--

But then... Suddenly, I knew what it would be. As clear as day.

Fang will withdraw an item that looks like a sheathed blade, but covered in small pieces of strange, silver-white machinery. As soon as the inner circle sees it, they will react with shock and panic. Someone - in 87% of scenarios, Zeno, but sometimes Hamilcar, Anna or even Linos - will demand what they're doing with it and where they got it. Fang will explain that they were entrusted with the task of completing it by a departed member of the order, though they won't say who. Later, I will learn this was my grandfather, but that won't be until half way through the night.

After this, the conclave will demand they hand the item over, but Fang will only do this under the condition they stall the conference until they've led everyone down to the sublevel to reveal its purpose. Kamrusepa will get upset and refuse to go. We'll travel to an elevator that goes deeper in the facility, and... And then...

As suddenly as it came, the stream of knowledge started to dry up and fall apart, giving way to a discordant mess of broken scenes and incomprehensible conversations. But it wasn't like waking up from a dream - I could still recall all of it clearly, down to every superficial detail. I could 'remember' the specifics of what would happen in the conversation. Of Kam's expression when she'd get upset. Of an idle comment Seth would make about the speed of the elevator.

It wasn't something that could be called a fantasy, or a daydream, of a trick of the mind. It couldn't be dismissed as my mind cutting corners or filling in gaps.

As absurd as it sounded... It could only be called one thing.

A prophecy.

What... Just happened?

Only an instant had passed. Fang was still rummaging in the bag while everyone watched expectantly. They seemed to grab something.

It's not going to be the sheath, every logical part of my brain said.

Something like that couldn't really happen. It's absurd. Impossible.

Isn't it?

My whole body tensed up, my lips feeling dry and my breath short. I watched as I saw what looked like a leather object, long and vaguely angular, start to be pulled out--

"Wait, Acolyte," Hamilcar interrupted, his voice suddenly terse. "Stop."

Fang stopped, looking up with confusion.

He rose to his feet. "Aruru, I'm declaring a thirty minute recess. The council must confer privately about a pertinent matter which has just occurred to me."

"Yes, master Hamilcar," it said, lowering its head, and then addressed the room at large. "A 30 minute recess to the conclave has been declared. If you wish, you may exit the chamber, though please try and return within the allotted time, so as to not cause any delays."

"What are you doing, Hamilcar?" Durvasa asked, a little annoyed. "What's the meaning of this?"

"What, indeed," Anna said coldly.

"Children," he said to our group, as if he hadn't even heard the two of them. "I apologize, but I must ask you to leave the conference hall for the time being. You will be summoned back once matters have been resolved."

"Once matters have been resolved," Zeno echoed sardonically, brushing his fingers through his beard in frustration. "Once what has been resolved, exactly?"

"We're in the middle of a landmark event, Hamilcar," Linos said, his tone gentle, but still one of obvious disapproval. "It's not going to look good if we suddenly cut it off for half an hour. Whatever this is, can't you put it aside for now?"

"Quite," Zeno said. "This isn't the time for one of your little moments."

Maybe Hamilcar didn't command quite as much respect as I'd assumed.

"Hey, uh-- Did I have something to do with this?" Fang asked. They looked pretty taken aback by this turn of events, their aloof confidence from a moment earlier a little diminished. "I can just not do it, if it's a big problem I mean-- Don't even worry about it."

"You alone shall stay for a few more moments, to aid in establishing something, acolyte," Hamilcar told them. He was raising his voice a bit, now, trying to exert something like an aura of authority. "Aruru, escort the rest of them out. Stewards, I must ask you to leave as well."

Sacnicte sighed, rising lazily to her feet. "Could at least ask me to show them out directly instead of the walking broomstick," she muttered.

"All guests of the Conclave, please descend from the stands and follow me," the golem instructed.

The strangeness of the situation aside, one by one, the rest of us moved to follow Sacnicte's example, standing and beginning to descend.

"This is turning into a disgraceful farce," Anna said, lowering her head as if to disguise the scowl forming behind her hood.

"What about my presentation?" Kamrusepa asked, a little desperation in her tone. "Er-- Our presentations, rather?"

"We'll try to resolve whatever this is as soon as possible, miss Tuon," Neferuaten said, with a warm expression. "Why don't you try and think about how to adapt it, with the missing component? I'm sure you can come up with something interesting."

"Well... I suppose I can try something..." she said, obviously discouraged.

The golem began to usher us towards the door from the moment we reached the floor, something of the urgency in Hamilcar's behavior seemingly conveyed to it. It led us towards the rear door leading to the main hall, before moving to the other side and doing the same with the boys.

"Honestly, I'm kinda glad to be out of there after what happened, but... What the heck is going on...?" Ptolema said, looking baffled. Mehit, to the side of her, seemed to be particularly unhappy with how chaotic this was all turning out. She took deep breaths, clasping her daughters hand tightly.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it seems like a real fucking mess," Ran said.

"Y-Yeah..." I said, only half mentally present.

My eyes kept going back to Fang, and the bag, even after it was quickly put down and we begun to move down the hall, the door pulled open before us as we were unceremoniously ejected.

It had felt so real, but it hadn't happened that way at all.

"You look like shit, Su," Ran pointed out, probably correctly. I realized that I'd been scratching at my scalp and rubbing my face quite a lot without even having really noticed over the past few minutes, and had probably ruined my hair and makeup. And starting to walk had made me notice that I felt physically sick, in that visceral way where you're lightheaded and can feel the strength draining out of you.

"I think I might be losing my mind," I said.