Having two mental partitions at all times helps out with derailed plans immensely. One half was calming down Kayden and offering assurances while the other was throwing this new variable into the plan and simulating future actions.
In general, spiriting away Theo will lead to a more comprehensive missing person search, which might land me in legal problems down the line. The law does not enjoy it when children disappear, especially from rich families. However, with Kayden coming willingly, a few legal arguments could be made. I'll need to study some of the local laws more closely than usual, but this could be fine in the long run.
Currently, having Theo here means nothing new. The plan works the same with or without him hidden. Kaiser will probably suspect that his family is being targeted, perhaps his identity blown, so he may take different actions than if Purity only took the daughter she's been fighting for and running. Max could start turtling earlier than I would like, meaning this whole operation could become a long, drawn-out hunt, a game of cat and mouse. It might take months or even years to flush him out, an unacceptable timeline.
I could reveal my involvement by having Revere deliver a note, but that has the downside of showing my hand too early. It could lead to a serial manhunt if Max chose to go the civilian route and accuse me of kidnapping. With the pull he has as CEO of Medhall, there's a very real chance my side wouldn't be listened to, nevermind the possible breach of the Unwritten Rules giving me a stigma for the rest of my career.
If Kayden left a note, that would be a different story. Kayden can handle the fallout by hiding her civilian identity in the cabin. Max still can't let the fact that Purity is no longer around to counter Lung get out, so it will be Kayden that gets the blame here, meaning Purity could provide emergency assistance. Beyond him looking around more intently to reclaim his heir, he would most likely act the same as I previously predicted.
"Listen, Kayden. Could you write a note to Max? Addressed to Kaiser to make it more difficult for him to ask for outside help, please. Let him know you took Aster and Theo and fled the state. This way, he doesn't suspect either corporate or cape espionage and muck up the plan."
She looked a bit confused but left toward the office. I look over to Theo, who was nervously shifting his feet with excitement in his gaze.
"You're one of those heroes, aren't you?" He asked hopefully.
I gave a humble smile. "Not yet, but I'm working on it. If you need anything, let me know. I'll help out however I can." He nodded fervently.
"Kayden?" I heard an answering call from the office. "Call Revere when you're done and let him know where to put the note, I have quite a few things to work on in the tool shed. If you need any assistance, Revere can probably handle it, but if he can't, he can grab me in a flash."
Turning back to Theo, I give a nod of acknowledgment and head back out the door.
Halfway to the shed, my soul pulls me inwards.
The loom spins. Buzzing threads drift into view. They start gathering into structured formations before coasting into the room's frame. Weaving, the picture of a glossy green insect comes together. The color and gleam brought to mind spilled oil reflecting off asphalt. Its back legs had massive hollow shells, perfect to store fragrant samples of flowers in. The mundane Orchid Bee was a gorgeous bug. As the completed tapestry joined the others, a sort of radio static began to grow in volume, and new threads appeared with sluggish movements. There were unintelligible noises and voices hidden in the static, and as the strings merged, the new tapestry showed a glimmering blue ocean with a small sailboat gliding along the waves. On the boat's rails was a small snail, speaking the static. A Den Den Mushi. The knowledge and experience of an expert Hunter joined my other powers.
Blinking, I continue to the shed with a few tests in mind.
Line Break
Looking over the readings of several scans, I can only marvel at the artifact before me. Amazingly, the mirror, SCP-919, actually uses multiple forms of advanced physics and a few layers of an unknown magic system to create its "anomalous properties."
It has a very impressive link between the quantum and psionic fields around it, all of which are mystically tied into a mirror dimension. The result is a grafted personality of whatever enters the mirror's view. This grafted personality fissures and gets entangled with the psionic signature, creating only enough personality drift to start acting of its own accord. Then, there is an insidious magic programming that delivers hysteria, paranoia, and a directive to stay "alive" by any means. Leaving the area deletes the copy's mirrored body, thus an agonizing destruction of the psionic signature since it has nothing to anchor to. Quite interesting.
The reason the mirror doesn't work "properly" for me is that the Menagerie protects any instances of me from my summons, so the programming doesn't have any effect. Then, the fact the mirror is directly linked to my soul means the psionic signature has a place to go once the mirrored body is removed: my memories.
Covering the walls of the shed in gradation air mirrors, I get to work in two dimensions at once. In the mirror, my duplicate starts experimenting with black light, merging the concepts of cleanse and absorption in an attempt to boost my Paladin Cleanse spell. I summon up Wolf and start scanning him. Something tells me SCP-919 will be a fairly regular companion in the lab.
Line Break
I was pondering over the scan results of Wolf during the latest research session when I felt Revere give a sense of urgency. Equipping Medusa as armor, I project the feeling of readiness, and suddenly, I'm standing on a rooftop with a hastily summoned Wolf at my side and one of my mental partitions sorting through today's mirrored magecraft research. Looking over the edge, I see a living golem of trash and debris swatting at a fluttering red and black robe riding a floating chunk of reinforced concrete. Mush and Rune, then. Looking around, I notice multiple bodies, two of which are crushed into paste and the rest in varying states of injury.
"Revere, gather as many as you can off to the side, leave the remains and deceased for forensics, and heal anyone in critical condition. Wolf, guard them and make sure none of them try to escape or assist. With all my healing now tentatively approved, we can be a little flexible in terms of resulting injuries, but don't take it too far. Go."
While Wolf leaps off the three story building to the street below, Revere flashes to the casualties most damaged to administer aid. Returning my attention to the capes, I summon my bow-spear and gauntlets. Pulling on the taught steel wire, I flood the hardlight arrow with holy aura and release it at the flying piece of foundation. With a thunderous crack, the rubble breaks as a girlish scream rings out.
With a powerful kick off the roof, I catch the falling cloak. In silence, I land in front of Mush with Rune still screaming in my arms. The Nazi cape quiets, and the pile of refuse raises a trash bag fist. I twitch my finger with a quietly intoned Aria.
"The strings of Fate dance."
The garbage is instantly shredded and loses all mass and momentum, falling to the ground in sludge covered heaps by invisible and sharpened Fibers. The street is engulfed in silence. I decided to break it.
"You both have one chance to surrender now and remain unharmed. Choose to fight your arrest, and I will subdue you."
Rune squawks. "What?? Who the fuck do you think you are?? Don't you know who I am?! Do you really want to make an enemy of the mother fucking Empire, you random bitch!?"
Mush says nothing but takes a step back and slowly regathers his rotten mass. I drop the young Nazi on her ass, causing a grunt and further insults to be hurled my way. An unnecessary wrist flick, and she is suddenly trussed up like a poached boar. I step on her back to emphasize her predicament.
"I'm an aspiring hero. You and the rest of your gang are already my enemies for infecting this city with your hateful and idiotic ideals." I feel her quaking in either anger or fear, and she bites her tongue. I look up toward Mush.
"Your answer?"
He stays still for a moment before turning to run away. His entire trash body is then lifted into the air by Revere and slammed at my feet with a devastating thwump. Using more Fibers, I slice deep into his armor until I feel them tighten around flesh and tear him out of his golem. Suspended there in the air, with brown goop sloughing off his body, was a very pink man with extending tendrils for limbs.
With a sharp whistle and a point to the end of the broken street, I signal Wolf to investigate the area for any more villains or casualties.
I snag a burner phone out of a pocket and drag the two criminal capes over to the rest of the gangsters. Dialing the PRT hotline first, the ring is answered within the second.
"Parahuman Response Team hotline, what is the nature of your call?"
"Cape capture. This is Noah, the independent hero, I have both Mush and Rune tied up here on Sebastian Boulevard. There are several injured and two dead, unpowered gang members. Please send some troopers to assist in the transfer of custody."
It took a moment before the operator gave a confirmation and standing orders to remain at the scene to give my statement. Agreeing, I hang up. Wolf trots up to me and gives the all clear, so I wave Revere to continue his patrol. Not even a minute later, the rumbling forms of two motorcycles and three vans round the corner.
Hopping off his bike, Armsmaster pulls out a sleek halberd from the back of his ride. Meanwhile, Miss Militia gracefully dismounts and scans the situation with seasoned eyes. The vans spew four troopers each, and immediately, they spray confoam at the captured forms of Rune and Mush.
Armsmaster nods in acknowledgment, which I return.
"Noah, a surprise to see you so soon. Care to give a statement?" Knowing how he prefers it, I curtly summarize the incident.
"Sure. I've had Revere doing patrols at night lately, so when he found the first cape fight either of us had seen since setting up shop here, he flashed me to the scene. I destroyed Rune's platform and tore Mush out of his trash armor before tying them both up. I had Wolf here check the perimeter for any other threats or possible casualties before sending Revere back on patrol."
He nods. "How did you destroy the platform?"
"I have a high weight bow and hardlight arrow generator that I can summon at will, so after loading a smite into the arrow, I loosed at the rubble she was using at the time."
He hums in appreciation. "Nice shot. Could you elaborate on how you dealt with Mush?"
"I used some wires to pull him through the trash golem and then tie him and Rune up." I wave a visible wire in the air for him to see before making it look like I reeled them into my gauntlets.
Armsmaster scratches his chin as he inspects my gauntlets from afar before nodding again. Multiple pings of urgency from my pheonix cause me to grimace.
"Armsmaster, Miss Militia, there's another emergency. Revere just let me know a big cape fight is starting. Grab my hand. We need to move quickly."
Armsmaster looks towards Miss Militia to nod his approval, and with contact made and Wolf leaning against my back, I send my readiness and flame to a new rooftop.
The first inspection shows the old Trainyard. We appeared on top of an old railway building, and below us was a hot zone. Massive steampunk themed power armor standing across from a clanging abomination of steel blades and hooks. Off to the side was a woman wearing a birdcage on her head and brandishing a pair of kamas maliciously. Hookwolf and Cricket were attacking a new Tinker on the block.
"How long can your power armor stand up to Hookwolf?" I ask Armsmaster. A stiffening of his shoulders and thin pursed lips tell me not as long as he'd like.
"I would say long enough, but with Cricket there as support, evasion will be difficult. No longer than fifteen minutes." I nod. That's about what I expected.
"Miss Militia, have you ever hit Cricket before? I've read that she has a Thinker rating stemming from extreme awareness."
"She does it with sound waves, and no." She was professional, but I could tell she didn't like admitting it.
"In that case, we should split up our focus here. You two can handle Hookwolf with this new Tinker's help, I'll deal with his support in Cricket. Does that work for you both?" They nod, servos straining and a massive anti-material rifle manifesting respectfully. I bring out my bow and pump a smite into the arrow.
"We can sync a pot shot on Hookwolf to start this, I would target Cricket, but I doubt I could hit her if you can't, Militia." She crinkles her eyes in what I assume to be a smirk and lines up her shot. I give a long low whistle to Wolf to guard the immediate area.
"On you, Armsmaster. Call it."
"Three, two, one!" He leaps at the steel wolf as a pair of sonic booms echo over the Trainyard.
I launch at Cricket even before Hookwolf gets blown through a brick wall. She whips her kama's scythe blade at my head the moment I'm in range. With a contortion I couldn't pull off without my snake Faunus transformation active, I slipped beneath the edge and leaned back with my spear lined up to clothesline her. With a speed I haven't seen outside of spars with Loki, she blocks the shaft of my weapon and gets launched several yards away, springing to her feet before I can capitalize.
Sprinting after her, she whips her kama's weight at me to keep distance, but I interrupt the chain with a weak Fiber, causing it to collapse uselessly. With a quick, controlled jab, I aim for her armpit to disable her. In a show of dexterous footwork, Cricket sidesteps. Stepping with her, I push my forward hand out to slash at her open chest, but she hops in a gaurd to use my energy to gain more distance. Gliding along the ground, there's a pause as we both study the other for weaknesses.
Her guard is practically nonexistent. The scythes are positioned only to get more speed in her swing. It seems her usual tactic is relying on her spatial awareness to dodge or escape reprisal while going for as many swift and devastating slashes as possible. Glancing at the minor wear on the clearly heavily utilized blades, I see that sentiment has led Cricket to only use these two kamas, and considering how long she's been in the game, they might not be nearly as sharp as they should be.
Rushing forward, I'm in her space in an instant. She flashes her kama to blind me and goes straight for the throat. I feel her body heat and pivot, shifting my spearhead into a blunt end. I feel her blade glance off my armor and my staff ram into her solar plexus. A ragged gasp, and I see her wide-eyed shock inside her cage. Pushing forward, I stagger her and slam an upward swing into her chin. She crumbles like a house of cards.
"The strings of Fate dance.
Castle walls glow with life."
My Aria is muttered to strengthen my Fibers to the level of steel and secure my prisoner skillfully.
Rolling to my feet, I look to see Armsmaster facing a much more diminished blender. I shift Venom back to a bow and greatly overload a smite arrow.
"I will be the beacon.
The darkest abyss hungers."
As the arrow glows with black light, I imbue as much of the concepts of purging light and devouring darkness as I could muster, before aiming just in front of the biggest heat source of Hookwolf.
"Armsmaster! Incoming!" With a shout, I loose the arrow.
BOOOM!!
The explosion was just enough to expose the smooth metal core, swords scattered about the abandoned railroad. With a fierce roar, a suddenly electrified halberd pierces the steel shell, and Hookwolf screams in agony, the Changer swiftly reverting to normal. All across his singed body were angry red electrical burns, his breathing rough but steady as he flopped to the ground.
Miss Militia slumps from her perch on the building, and Armsmaster leans on his halberd for support. Looking around, there were wide groves all around the place, and the newer Tinker's armor was utterly trashed, sitting up against a broken wall. Glancing at Armsy's armor made me wince in sympathy. The middle was cratered, dozens of gouges shredded the limbs, and the helmet had an impact point that looked like it came from a sniper round. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Wolf bleeding heavily from his flank as he leans against Miss Militia. Revere gives a triumphant cry from up above as a cape plummets from several feet onto gravel.
The other cape was Victor. He had a black breastplate that was covered in cracks and pock marks. Under that was a red shirt and black pants. On his face was a black domino mask. Just as Victor started to climb to his feet, he was driven into the dirt by a pheonix dive bomb. Once the dust settled, Revere could be seen preening his feathers while perched upon his victim's back.
It seems Cricket wasn't the only support Hookwolf brought with him. Makes me curious what the point of Rune's fight was if so much manpower was centralized here. Was Rune bait for the heroes? No, Rune is too useful as a mobile platform. She's never been seen alone up until now.
Rune is pretty young, though, so maybe they were holding her back from solo missions until she had more experience. It's possible this was her first assignment taken alone, but more likely, her others simply weren't out in the open, and this was, instead, her first order to go FUBAR.
She had a decent contingent of Empire thugs with her, so she might have been sent as backup for a territory grab. They were in Merchant territory, last I checked. Barely, but they were.
Miss Militia was conversing with what I can only assume to be Console when I jump up to her roof again. Placing a hand on Wolf's head, I give some scratches while I cast some Paladin healing on him. Three gunshot wounds, none were immediately fatal, but two of them would have been potentially lethal if I couldn't heal.
"He saved me, taking those shots for me. Thank you, both."
"Hmm? Oh, yes. He is quite the hero, isn't he? Although, judging by the damage Wolf took, it seems there's some unfortunate escalation the Nazis are pulling. These would have torn through you no problem."
Miss Militia winces, petting Wolf in thanks. The consummate professional that he was lolled his tongue out in a wide canine grin after I finished healing him.
Looking down below, I see Armsmaster doing some field repairs on his armor while the steam Tinker is keeping his distance. This could've been a whole lot worse, but it worked out in the end. I think back to the shot I made on Hookwolf to expose his core. The power in that arrow was pitifully inefficient, taking a massive chunk of my reserves for a paltry boost in destructive capability. I'm going to need to research better offensive applications of my elements, because that was just pathetic. Inspecting a few knifes that seem to have been close to the epicenter, I feel bare traces of mystery. A lot of research.
I'm not gonna lie, trying to explain SCP-919 was a ton of fun, and the little blurb that the spreadsheet mentioned made it a very entertaining challenge. Can't wait for the next SCP to roll around.
Eh? Eh? Get it? Roll around? Okay, I'll shut up now.
While I was baking, I left the PRT's official statement on in the background. I was correct in my assumptions that Rune was only there for a territory grab, but the Protectorate had actually concealed multiple encounters with Rune from the public eye. Reasons given were vague, but to me, it screams recruitment pitch. They seem to play soft with most younger parahumans, hiding their minor crimes, then once they get captured on some bigger offense, they could bring up the cases as leverage. If I had to guess, either Rune truly believes the racist dogma and goes to juvie, or she folds under the pressure and gets rebranded elsewhere in the country as a new Ward.
The other capes captured were attributed to "our diligent heroes choosing to guide a local independent to help keep the peace." They didn't even label me a hero, let alone say my name. Also, I was the one who called the shots and set the battle in motion, yet I was the one being guided? They might have never known about either fight in time if Revere wasn't playing taxi for us. The local PRT seems abnormally aggressive in their stance against all things parahuman. Combine this with the active hatred I encountered in the PRT HQ, and there seems to be a reason that the Protectorate is so outnumbered.
Sighing, I turn off the talking figurehead. The likelihood that I might learn anything regarding the local gangs' possible response to a high tier Mover in play is nonexistent with how much information is kept away from the public. I'll have to make blind guesswork instead of an informed hypothesis, which rankles something fierce. I start browsing the internet to hopefully calm down a bit.
Looking up local wicken shops for ritual and spell components, I jot the addresses down for later perusal.
It turns out that modern witches don't know anything about magical attunement in crystals and stones. Probably obvious, what with the fact there is no magic for them to base their lore on, but it annoys me a bunch that I can't just mooch off other people's successful research. I need to actually put in the work to find the various properties.
That being said, they have a very much impressive stock of ingredients and inspiration to purchase. It might take me weeks to sort out the mystical applications of them all, but at least I have somewhere to source them from. And with Massachusetts, homestate of the town of Salem, just a few hours away by car or few minutes away by pheonix, I can get the more esoteric reagents too.
"There's the conquering hero. How did it all go?" My browsing is interrupted by Thomas.
"It went well. I stopped one instance of cape violence and captured both villains involved on my own, then played a major role in a different incident that resulted in three more capes arrested. The PRT already released their official statement, too. Unfortunately, they seemed determined to give me as little credit for my work as possible." I reply.
Thomas scoffs. "Yeah, that sounds like the Public Relations Team to me. Gloryhounding rats, through and through. Don't worry. You'll get the recognition you deserve eventually."
I hum agreeably. "Anyway, with four Empire capes detained, Kaiser will need to be pretty aggressive at his gang's borders. The ABB has been awfully quiet on that front as of late. I'm certain that losing Hookwolf especially is going to change that. For a few days, it'll be the unpowered doing the fighting out there, so I'm going to be using the relatively safer conflict to dip some of my summons toes in violence. Swablu has been chomping at the bit to join the patrols."
"How sure are you that Kaiser won't try a bigger conflict now to save face?"
"Ugh, to be honest, I'm not very certain at all. I was hoping the PRT would have some assurances for the public that he wouldn't, but they've been infuriatingly silent on anything related to the Empire for a while now." I tilt my head as I continue thinking aloud.
"Realistically, it wouldn't be a good idea on Kaiser's part to risk anymore heavy hitters with Lung breathing down his neck, and his most violent supporter is behind bars. He needs Hookwolf back at the least, and Victor is too useful outside of combat to just give up entirely. If I were in his position, I'd be willing to burn a few moles to free the more important assets. Also, there's no telling who on his roster is directly linked to his backers, so he might have to break out certain members to keep his cape support."
Thomas rubs his beard with a groan. "Sounds like a clear enough path to take, but capes aren't exactly known to be rational. No offense."
I wave him off. "None taken. You're absolutely right."
The breakfast nook is quiet for a moment before the oven dings. Coating my hands in aura, I grab the trays out off the oven and set them on a rack to cool. Thomas scoffs playfully.
"Like I said, irrational."
I chuckle, ceeding his point.
Line Break
The Wards are back. This time, they had a chaperone in Miss Militia. As I brought out the muffins they ordered, I took a moment to appreciate the heroine's costume.
The military fatigues were a green and brown camouflage with plenty of pockets, each of which had something inside them, bulging their fabric outwards. Along her waist were three thin belts; one in a deep maroon, another in a dark navy blue, and the last a gunmetal grey. A forest green armored vest hung on her shoulders. She had a pair of tan fingerless gloves that were currently wrapped around a to-go cup. The iconic American flag bandana covered her lower face, only leaving her surprisingly expressive bottle-glass green eyes exposed.
"Here are the muffins. If you need anything, just give me a shout, I will be with you momentarily."
One muffin was suddenly warped off the platter.
"Yoink!"
"Hey, I ordered the lemon poppyseed!"
"This is the corn muffin, idiot!"
As the kids started bickering, I saw the gentle happiness in Miss Militia's eyes. She radiated an almost maternal energy as she wrangled the kids with seemingly practiced ease.
Stepping back, I think about how infrequently the Wards have outings like these, and I almost stumbled when I came up blank. I mean, surely there are some events where the kids are allowed to be kids, right? They all have trigger events, so obviously, they need times like this where they can both be themselves and use their powers freely. They probably just rent entire places to secure more privacy, right?
"So, tentative thoughts on Noah?" My empowered ears catch Gallant directing the conversation away from ragging on each other. Normally, I consciously filter out the words of any customers, heroes or not, but I can't help but be intrigued.
"Well, I dunno. Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed he isn't just joining the Wards. Like, is it because he has something to hide? Maybe he is a wet Tinker, and he is trying to escape judgment or whatever." That is not what I was hoping to hear from Vista. It actually hurts a bit, especially because she is my favorite Ward.
"I took a look at the scans. None of his creations have any sign of Tinker influence beside the exotic powers, and they all had markers in their genetics that evolution loves to leave behind. They also showed little to no commonality with mundane creatures, so he didn't modify any mundane creatures or create the flesh from scratch. I don't know his situation, so I'm going to be optimistic for now." Kid Win, you have made my day.
"Optimism? In Brockton Bay? Okay, bud. Let's see where that takes you." Clockblocker, please, let me be happy over here.
"Well, what do you think?"
"Personally, I can almost agree with him. Looking at the Bay, you don't see the federal agencies working as intended. But like, how will he change that from the outside? I think he'll see that he can't keep going like he is and join up eventually, but until then, he'll be having a rough time of it." Logical, I guess. I'm not really trying to change things at that level, though. I have bigger enemies to focus on than local corruption. Besides, I think taking out Kaiser and Lung will solve more internal problems than they think.
"But we're trying to help!"
"I know, Vista, but if Noah really is a local, what has the PRT done for him lately?" Not much.
"Hmph!"
"What about you, oh fearless leader?"
Gallant sighs. "I'm feeling mixed. On one hand, his power means he already has a team to support him, and he's shown to be competent at the least. On the other hand, that means he doesn't really have a need to join the Wards besides getting a bit of legitimacy behind him, at least for recruitment purposes. With how powerful this recent battle has shown him to be, and that pheonix of his making containment difficult, the upper brass won't be happy without a leash on him." Oh, that's not good.
"Alright, that's enough. Let's not talk about this any further in such a public place. He is a hero, at least for now, so speculations are best left to the think tank." Miss Militia stifles the topic, but I heard enough to get an idea of why the PRT hasn't given any response on what Kaiser will do next. They're focusing on how to deal with me.
The rest of the kids mumble their agreement and launch into a debate about an app game they all play. I head over to the counter to think but get distracted by the Menagerie. I follow the tug inwards.
The loom spins. There's a warm breeze that feels like a heartfelt welcome, and glittery streamers peacefully swirl toward the loom's frame. The tapestry weaves into a picturesque view of a valley ravaged by war. On the beaten ground is an ever changing creature mostly shaped like a dragon, broken and bruised with decaying land beneath its snout. Standing tall is a mighty stallion with a cream body and a raven mane. It was a war horse, and the lethal wounds it bore testified as such. A pillar of light was engulfing it, and a herd of unicorns watched in awe. This was the ascension of Marblehoof the Alicorn.
As the power of the Menagerie rattled the not-room, a specific tapestry fell from its place. It moved toward the pieces depicting Pokémon. The Hullbreaker was changing, becoming something greater. The bright lures covering its body receded, leaving glowing spots dotting its long flank. The colors shifted, the light blue bioluminescence warming to a soft orange, and the deep midnight blue scales lightened fractionally to a navy hue. With a potent dose of Dimensional Adaptation, Hullbreaker has become Deeplore: The Deep Sea Pokémon, and the (one of a kind) evolved form of Huntail.
Returning to Earth Bet, I feel conflicted. Marblehoof is undoubtedly now my physically strongest summon, but to think of him as just another summon feels wrong. I tend to treat my creatures very well, but I still treat them as mine for the most part. Having any sapient being, let alone one as eloquent as Marblehoof, at my beck and call feels derogatory. I felt a bit of this with Gearbreak, but his mental immaturity made it a problem for future Noah. Well, the future is now, and I am still not pleased with the moral conundrum.
I'll need to speak with Marblehoof as soon as possible. Hearing his thoughts on this will go a long way to solving my personal dilemma.
"Excuse me? Can we have some croissants?"
I smirk a bit. It seems that they will once again eat a sample of the entire menu.
Line Break
Stepping through the portal, the vivid sun blinds me momentarily. A cool breeze glides by as my vision clears, and I see a now familiar sight of Revere tending to the odd piñata based ecosystem. Despite my initial misgivings, the bizarre critters have started to grow on me, and they all absolutely adore my summons.
Well, barring the Lavalantula, but I don't blame them for that. I really tried to instill a sense of morality into him, but the best I could get was that civilians were to be protected. Everything else is prey. As I pick up the Whirlm that was just about to crash into my leg, I head to the only barren clearing in the area: the training grounds.
With no particular energy for dramatics, I summon Marblehoof.
Immediately, the magic in the air shuddered as a cream colored stallion appeared. The lingering winds caught the onyx mane in a majestic wave, the sun glinting upon his copper horn. Feathered wings stretched, and the garden gasped a mighty breath. Ice blue shards gazed back at me, and I smiled.
Bowing ever so slightly, I welcomed the alicorn before me. "Lord Marblehoof, it is a pleasure to meet you. I assume you are aware of the circumstances?"
He nods. "I am indeed, young Keeper. Although the finer details are muddled, I do indeed have a measure of the situation at hand. I will fight beside you as brother or aid you as confidante, if you so need."
"I'm glad to have your assistance. Before I get to explaining, I would like to hear your thoughts on the morality of possessing a sapient being like yourself as a summon."
He thought a moment. "Although you may control me to an extant many could find chaffing, I don't doubt in your character. I may have misgivings for others to have the reigns, so to speak, but you, I trust beyond all others. Within your soul, I have more knowledge of who you are than I bet even you possess, and I can say with utmost certainty that you will not abuse your position as Keeper. How it must feel to be in control, I do not know. I would implore you to liken this relationship to a dear friend, for that is how I hope it will develop."
I ponder on his words a bit and take them to heart. I'll be considering this conversation for weeks, if not longer, but for now, I will act according to Marblehoof's wishes.
"Let me shine a light on those finer details, then."
Line Break
"Truly a complex manner of affairs. My insight might not be very beneficial, but if you do inquire my opinion, I would say you have made good decisions thus far. You prove to be a model hero in my eyes, striving to do justly with whatever means you can muster. As long as you stay true to yourself, my horn bends to you, sir."
I can not believe how much that relieved my worries. Coming from a real, bonafide hero, one with story and song written about his exploits, it unshackled the weight of self-doubt I've been feeling. Only now, with a lighter heart, do I realize how much I was worrying that I had made too many mistakes at some point that I couldn't see.
"Thank you, but hold your head high. Your people may not be here, but they still see too much greatness in you for you to lower yourself. As do I."
After unsummoning him, I breathe a sigh. He has an aura fit for royalty, that's for sure. The public will love him.
Next on the agenda: Triton's changes.
Another flex of will and a thirteen meter Deeplore materialized. The orange glow produced ominous shadows throughout the clearing. Large dark eyes glitter with a sharp bloodlust. The energy coiled within taught muscles and sharp scales flowed with a patient malice. For a brief moment, primal fear flickered in the back of my mind, but it was swiftly crushed.
I look Triton in the eye, and he respectfully averts his gaze. There is no change in his perspective, I am his trainer, just as I have always been. I reach out and give his shortened snout an affectionate rub. He leans into it, accepting and calm.
"Oh, Ariel is gonna be very happy with this."
The oblivious lug tilts his head in confusion. Poor Ariel is going to need a hammer to get through this thick skull.
"Let's test your new limits, Triton."
This chapter gave me issues like none other. To be honest, I still don't like where it ended up, but I can't think of any way to improve it from here. The following posts will be Triton's changes and Marblehoof's lore, as well as the next list of rolls.