According to the Architect's internal clock, they had been moving through the Shade for about an hour. They were getting into gradually less Real terrain; cavernous rooms turned to a mishmash of vague landscape-impressions prone to accidental phasing-through. It was the kind of pitch-black that infravision barely helped against, and though Rachise seemed strangely unbothered by it, they'd had to rely mostly on senses other than sight.
Still, between Rachise's innate connection to the Shade and their own solid grasp of metareal dimensional structure, the two of them were nonetheless proceeding at an acceptable rate. In temporal terms, they figured they were probably less than two hours away from making it back to a point from which they could reconnect to the City.
For a while, navigating the non-euclidean route they had to take required all of both the stranded immortals' concentrations. Whenever they'd communicated, it had been purely technical - mostly questions or warnings about the terrain.
Eventually, they'd settled into a default marching order. The Reaper had insisted she take point, which the Architect happily acquiesced to - it saved them the trouble of explaining it was the ideal order on account of the fact that they were taller.
As their minds got at least partially used to the nebulously higher-dimensional terrain, Rachise finally found the time to get bored again. She didn't really expect Ark to be much of a conversationalist, but she figured she didn't really have anything to do but try.
"So, how's things in Verredam?" She asked, idly twirling her scythe around.
"Hm?" The Architect absently replied, still looking ahead. "How should I know?"
"You... live there?" Rachise said, equally confused.
"Ah, of course. You mean in general, not... right this instant." They said, casting their luminous gaze on her. "You know, I haven't really spoken to anyone outside the Capital in the past decade."
She rolled her eyes at the Renewalist term for the city. "Yeah, I figured. Do you really think of it as 'The Capital'? Like, in your head?"
They nodded. "Of course. 'Verredam' is a mere name. 'Capital' is far more proximate to its intended function." Slowing down for a second, they pointed uphind. "That stalagtoid is shifting; we'd best not walk underhind it."
"Mhm." Rachise agreed. Ark was surprisingly decent at navigating the Shade, if a bit overly cautious. She didn't necessarily disagree to their preceding statement, either, but she'd always liked the sound of 'Verredam'.
"Of course, the old ducal house isn't coming back any time soon, either," The Architect continued, "and the Vigil knows it would only empower them to keep honoring the 'Verre-' part of their name."
"So that's why ol' Xavier looks so weak and cranky these days..." She mused. Seeing Ark's confusion, she elaborated: "Yeah, they chased him out of the Coalition, too. He lives in my demesne, now, together with his... well, not governor anymore. Thrall or husband or whatever."
They quizzically tilted their head. "Truly? Interesting." Aviticrats have made land claims with far less substance than 'the former ruler lives in my demesne'. Does she have her sights on my city? It would explain her apparent need to fight me.
Realizing they'd fallen silent, they added: "Give them my regards, won't you?"
She snickered. "They kind of hate your guts, Ark."
Ark nearly stopped walking in surprise. Their left heel sank a centimeter into the floor, so they kept going. "What? Why?"
"Cause you betrayed them! Obviously." Rachise stated. "What, did you honestly think they'd be okay with you palling around with the people who tried to put them to the pyre?"
They shook their head. A note of haughtiness crept into their voice. "I never swore loyalty to the Duke, let alone fealty. If he mistook the few favors I did him over the decades for loyalty, then that's his problem. And you can give him that, too, along with my regards!"
She clasped her gauntlets together excitedly at the prospect. "Oh, don't worry. I will!"
Noting Rachise's alien desire to upset a washed-up old aviticrat, they asked: "You... don't seem to think of him as a friend. Why let him live in your demesne?"
"Why? Because it amuses me, puppet. Plus, he still has his connections, and we have... mutual enemies." She concluded, dramatically narrowing her eyes at Ark.
"What? You mean... me?" They asked, sounding genuinely upset. "Listen, I can infer from your behavior and the scant few reliable records on your person that publicly defeating me would be metaphysiologically beneficial to you. But--"
"Ha! Not you, dummy!" She interrupted their long-winded assumption, mockingly pointing at them. In the process, she noticed a change in the 'atmosphere' of the Shade. "Watch out, doll - the matter around us is thickening. We should pick up the pace for a while."
"Very well. But who else could possibly be an enemy of both yourself and old Verrebrand?" Ark asked, raising an eyebrow. "And... are you deliberately switching up which word you're using to refer to me, or am I imagining things?"
"I'll explain once we're closer to our destination." She answered, stifling a laugh. Their monotonous voice had made it sound like both questions were equally important to them. "As for your other question: you're a complex, multi-faceted construct, Ark. Truly defying the doll-dummy-puppet trinary. I've got to see which one fits best each time."
Ark modulated a sigh. "As if it isn't bad enough--"
They blinked.
The Architect glared at her. "Ugh! I just noticed I've been thinking of myself as 'Ark' for the past... City knows how long!" I am-- I-- Designation proximate to function. Designation proximate to function!
Rachise stopped stifling her laughter.
The Architect had finally done it. They had persevered through what had to have been dozens of taunts, insults, and other assorted verbal prods, and Rachise had finally quietened down. In a minute or two, they would resume communications - on their own terms.
Ark! Ark! Listen to me already!
Her voice, albeit slightly distorted, resounded in their head. It ocurred to them they hadn't ever heard her telepathically before, save for the compulsion in the lecture hall. Shouldn't have blessed the night before the day was done... Of course she'd resort to compulsory telepathy. Nope - channel closed, message ignored.
On the outside, Rachise didn't even seem like she was paying attention. Before this could tempt them into commenting on it, the telepathic assault resumed.
Whatever! You win! But the path ahead is treacherous. Follow me at a greater distance. I'll clear it.
The Architect modulated a few irritated clicks. "You know, if there's something about the Shade you need to warn me of, I'm still listening for those purposes. No need to--"
"Whatever." Rachise said aloud. Why would I bother to keep them safe if they're going to be like this? I know where I'm going. She kept trudging ahead, full of determination. Shit, no, they're right, though. I definitely don't want to reemerge into Reality at my old demesne, so I'll need them to do... whatever it is they plan on doing, instead.
City's sake... Maybe I should apologize, if she's going to be sulking this hard. The Architect thought. Well, I'll wait until after whatever hazard she's intuited. Perhaps putting a few more meters between us will help both matters.
Rachise, for her part, was a bit lost in thought. What a strange situation I've managed to get myself into. I wonder what Destra's up to? I hope they managed to collect those other two servitors. Maybe we'll finally figure out how to put them in funny poses?
She noticed the distinct hum Ark produced had grown quieter, and turned her head to look at them. She had to keep turning it for a surprisingly long time: they'd fallen behind at least 10 meters. Not once have they deviated from the formation I told them to stick to, so far! Oh, if they get snatched up and get me stuck here--
As if in slow motion, Rachise saw a shadowfiend phase out of the loose memories behind Ark. Its morphic form clarified into a fairly standard maws-and-tendrils pattern. There was no time to waste.
Stand. Still. Low-thing. Ark! Jump torwards me!
"What?!" Ark yelped, out loud, as their body half-executed a command they had only half-understood. They slumped over. A shadowy tendril rose up from the ground to meet them - and phased harmlessly through their chest.
The shadowfiend hiss-warped in irritation. Its constituent memories were all fairly recent, yet somehow, none of them had featured this type of memory-agent. It looked like stone and moved like flesh, so - playing it safe - it had molded its body to impact-pierce an average of... WOOD.
It felt the prone creature now. It was not WOOD. It was new and interesting - full of parts that moved without undulating. Empty of LIVER TISSUE or EPITHELIUM. And yet: warm, aglow, brimming with memories it could add to itself. Much fresher than anything it could normally find in the Shade. So, it re-adapted and tried again.
Rachise readied Firmament-Flayer, imbuing into it as best she could that it should avoid Ark, and traced a spell that could cut through shadowmatter onto its blade. She'd closed the distance in just a second or two.
On the approach, she saw Ark deflect a second tendril coming for their chest. They rolled towards her, weaving a warding sigil just in time to fend off a dozen more aimed at their head. They pushed off the ground, intending to levitate out of the fiend's reach.
Having held a relatively steady concept of where the floor, ceiling, and overfloor were, and being in a rather stressful situation, they couldn't quite manage to deconceptualize gravity in time. The fiend enveloped them. Rachise rushed in, cutting through it with a combination of vigor and caution she was entirely un-used to. Part of her knew she was probably too late, at this point.
Foreign memory-jaws closed around the Architect's mind. The shadowfiend boarded them, intending to pick them apart quickly, before the short, wide one could damage its form too much.
Suddenly, the shadowfiend was gone. Rachise pulled her swing, but stayed alert. It might be hiding inside their lifeless form, ready to pop out.
She looked at Ark's limp body. Shit. For a moment, she felt angry - without them, she'd probably have to fight her way through gods-knew-how-many of Siegweiher's cronies. And if I couldn't even conclusively defeat one (1) Architect...
With some difficulty - divination wasn't her forté - she scanned the area. The fiend was well and truly gone. It was completely silent in the amorphous field - save for a droning hum she couldn't immediately place the origin of.
Wait! That's their arcane generator! If nothing else, this meant she could use their corpse as a convenient, portable power source. She put her scythe down next to them for a moment. Perhaps there was still one other thing she'd like to try.
Ark awoke to searing, blunt pain in their face, as if someone had hit them with a mace. 'Awoke'? 'Pain'? My, how quaint!
They opened their eyes. A gauntleted hand collided with their head - quite violently and painfully, as if slapping them - and a familiar face came into view.
"Ow." They said. "Stop that."
The familiar face - Rachise - was weary, yet triumphant. "Ha! I know Ark doesn't feel pain. Undo this farce, you puny little fiend!"
"I don't-- Oh, right. My nociceptor map must have gotten reset during..." They racked their mind. There was a span of several seconds that was a complete and utter mystery to them, but they could piece together the gist of it.
'Something-scepter map reset' does sound like a phrase they would say. And if the fiend had subsumed them, it probably wouldn't just be, like, lying there. Letting me hit it in the face. On the other hand, the light behind their eyes used to be green, and now it's grey. Hm. She decided to keep grilling them. "Alright, then. Tell me who you are, where you live, what you do..."
"I am Ark-- I am the Architect. I live in the Capital. I am the Architect of the Eternal City." They shook their head. Something still felt strange - like they were forgetting something, or like a weight had been lifted from them. "You can keep calling me Ark, if you wish."
"Didn't need your permission, but okay. What's your favorite color? Favorite animal? Favorite food?"
"Grey. Moth. Coffee." They answered, mostly on autopilot, confusedly adding: "But I... don't consume. Anything."
Not really a color, not a real animal, and a drink. Well, no shadowfiend would answer so poorly, I guess. Rachise nodded. "Alright, get up. Before the overfloor sinks over you." She got up and held out a hand to them.
"Ah, thank you." They said, grabbing her hand and shakily righting themself. "I'm sure without your interference I would've been-- Ow! No need to squeeze so hard!" They pulled their arm back as soon as they could without falling over.
"Just checking if the 'pain' thing still works." Rachise said, clearly enjoying herself. "What the hell did you do to that fiend, anyway, that scared it off so quickly?"
"Hm? Oh, I don't remember, to be honest." Ark nonchalantly replied, tapping a finger against their head. "'Scared off' isn't the term I'd use, anyway. The standard protocol for shadowfiends entering your memories is to compress them as if they were memories, so I figure I must have done that. It would explain the few seconds I can't remember."
"Com... press?" Rachise echoed. "What, so it's still in there?!"
"Yes, but don't worry - it's no longer animate. I doubt I will ever be fully able to restore it, but I shall preserve it nonetheless." Their eyes lost focus for a moment. "For posterity."
People held stranger beliefs, she supposed. Ark didn't exactly strike her as the religious type, though. "Is it Posterity or Eternity?" She inquired.
"Good one." They replied, smiling ever so slightly.
It ocurred to Rachise that this was the first time she'd seen them smile. It was also the first time their expression had been even remotely genuine.
She was so taken aback that she completely forgot to be offended by what she'd otherwise have perceived as mockery. Her grip on her scythe tightened. "No, I-- Look, just... If you're a weird death cultist, you have to tell me."
"Quite the opposite!" They exclaimed. "Well, concerning the 'death' and 'cultist' parts, at any rate. I suppose I'm quite far removed from most people's idea of normalcy."
"Tcheah, you can say that again." She mumbled.
Ark ignored her. "Eternity is at once my patron and my project; nothing to deify. Posterity, if you were being genuine, is just a hobby of mine."
"Of course I wasn't being genuine, dummy!" Rachise lied.
A few seconds elapsed. Ark seemed lost in thought.
Rachise tapped her hoof impatiently on a less-unstable part of the ground. "Well? Anything else you want to tell me?"
"No." They succinctly answered. Before she could protest, they said: "I have already told you as much as I've ever told even my closest associates. Really, you needn't know any more." Their inflection seemed to imply that they were doing her a favor, somehow.
"Fine." She eventually conceded. As nosy as the Reaper was, she felt like this probably wasn't the time and place to press the issue. I'll just force it out of them later. When we're back in Reality...
"I mean, do you have any deep-seated goals or ideals you'd feel comfortable telling me about?" They prodded.
"I said fine! Tch." She turned triagonally, intent to move on. "Come on. If you fall behind again, I'm not rescuing you a second time!"
"Hm. That shadowfiend pretended to be you, telepathically. We should agree on a password, in case either of us are ever in doubt--"
Rachise cut them off with a thought. You will recognize my telepathy.
An alien desire to answer in the affirmative manifested in their head. Without their rig's instantaneous mental support, they were having trouble dismissing it.
Fortunately, that meant they'd probably have agreed to the statement, regardless. Yes, I suppose it's quite recognizable. Still - how about 'Posterity', for the password?
Fine. If I try to make it something funnier, you'll probably be able to undo the compulsion anyway.
Yes, I probably would. They agreed, nodding despite the fact that Rachise wasn't looking at them. Purely to themself, they thought: Hm. Not sure I would have started either of those sentences with 'yes', ordinarily.