The next few hours of journeying through the Shade had been mostly uneventful. When they'd conversed, it had mostly just been Rachise idly complaining about everyone she'd ever met (to varying amounts of agreement from Ark).
However, as the two of them neared their destination, Ark noticed her getting distracted more and more often - as if listening for something in the distance. The few glimpses of her face they'd gotten from their position triagonally behind her had, likewise, generally revealed quite a worried expression.
"Are you alright?" They asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" She testily answered.
"Your tail has been lashing back and forth quite vigorously for the past--"
She abruptly turned her head halfway to face them, vertigo momentarily overtaking her as she accidentally moved it on the half-extant fourth spacial axis. "What, and you're not on edge? Even a little bit?"
They thought on it for a bit. Normally, being stuck in an unusual situation such as this - without their exocortex, no less - would have had them wishing they were home so fervently that their reactor shut down. It helped that the only person they needed to talk to was someone whose opinion of them didn't particularly matter, in the grand scheme of things.
"Not really, actually." Ark finally decided. "Maybe it's because I know there's nothing to be done but what we're already doing. Plus, I don't know what's ahead, so there's nothing to prepare for, really."
Rachise's mood immediately brightened a bit. Sorrow pawned off is sorrow negated! "Right you are! Let's discuss our plans, then. How are you planning on getting us out of here, anyway?"
There was something ominous about the way her entire demeanor had suddenly changed. They cycled their vox. "Ah. Well, the place I'm getting us to has a massive, very accessible meta-leyline. So I'll just reconnect to the Eternal City, and then..." They waved their hand around in a gesture which seemed altogether less confident than they'd intended.
Her tail resumed twitching. "And... then?"
"We can access... Hm." They realized that this was where their cortex would have chimed in with a !! forbidden knowledge !! or something like that. "Reality. We'll metalocate back to Reality."
Having to take Ark at their word was bracing enough. Trusting their deity (?) was a bridge too far, entirely. "What the fuck is that 'Eternal City' of yours, anyway?"
They realized, now, that they didn't actually know off the top of this partition's head which parts of Eternity's development were confidential to whom. Occassionally appealing to 'Eternity' or 'the City' in public was fine; helpful, even. Anything beyond that was usually meant for them alone. On the other hand, they'd shared some of it with the Society in the past, out of necessity. Was it necessary to inform Rachise?
"I don't really think that's relevant to you." They finally stated.
"What?!" She replied. "I'm putting my fucking life in this thing's hands, Ark! I need to know how it's going to get us back to Reality, don't you think?"
It was a reasonable argument, they supposed. "Okay. Alright. So... you know how here, in the Shade, there's almost four spacial dimensions, right?"
Setting aside her irritation at the apparently irrelevant question, she nodded.
"This makes everything take up more room, because there's more information about it." They continued, demonstratively moving a finger proximally and distally on the fourth axis. They estimated it spanned a few light-minutes, this deep within the Shade. "What it looks like from all those new angles. What it can and can't do in that space. How all those new potential relative positions could interact, independent of--"
"Martyr's blood, I get it!" Rachise interjected. It's not that she was totally disinterested in the topic, but... "We're not in a lecture hall, Ark! Give me the key notes."
"Um. Right." Their vox produced a soft 'click' as they exited lecture mode. "So, anyway, the inverse is also true: a lower-dimensional object takes up less information-space. Plus, time intersects less when there's fewer dimensions, making it subjectively slower - another opposite of the Shade. So, getting to the point, the Eternal City is a, well, city that exists in such a lower-dimensional space: the Grid."
"Oh, I get it." Rachise nodded.
"You-- You do?" Ark replied, lenses refocusing on her in surprise.
"Uh, of course I do? I'm basically a genius." She said, crossing her arms triumphantly. "Whoever lives down there helps you. Which is worthwhile because they've got plenty of time to do so."
Ark was baffled. Baffled, but elated. "You've not only hit the nail on the head, but driven it basically fully into the wall! Of... knowledge."
"The... what?"
"Ahem." They enunciated. "Excellent intuition, truly. Is what I'm trying to say. Now," they continued, already dreading the answer, "are there any obstacles we should be prepared for?"
"And you too, probably. Just by proxy." Rachise finished. "Now, hold still for a second."
"H- hold on!" Ark protested. "Siegweiher is, well... a friend of an enemy. So they'll actually definitely try to kill me, too. But how is this going to help with that?!"
They gestured at themself with both functional arms. By way of a rather complex illusion, they currently looked like what they could only describe as a 'cursed doll'.
"I imaged you to be a shadowfiend I've magically bound to that shell. You know, as punishment for opposing me. We've been over this!" She insisted. "And I'll just give myself a touch of mundanity. Might not dissuade Siegweiher's army of assassins, but it'll make sure no one - shadowfiends included - will think we're out of place."
"Okay, no, yes, that part is fine. The 'mundanity' thing is good! It's a good spell." Ark said, looking at their ball-jointed hand. Their other functional arm was imaged into a weird chain-like tentacle, which they liked significantly less. "So why not just put that one on me, as well?"
"Because it's funny." She said, deadpan.
"You can't be serious. Also, it's not--"
She rolled her eyes. "Obviously that's not the onl- the reason! It's to intimidate any other shadowfiends. Like, 'woah, the Reaper captured that one, she's way too powerful and intelligent for us, please have mercy upon our feeble forms,' and so on and so forth."
"...fine." Ark conceded, vox producing an audibly strained noise. The illusion distorted it into something of a tortured wail. "I suppose I don't really have much of a say in the matter."
"Glad you're getting into character! There's a good doll." She said, grinning at them. Their willingness to go along with her - admittedly rather far-fetched - plan made her feel at ease; as if the situation was a lot less serious.
A puff of ethereal vapors left the thick bundle of binding chains around their waist. "Don't call me that." All of this was beneath their dignity, but they'd only realized that once they'd already agreed to most of it.
"Sorry, but I simply have to stick to 'doll' now." Rachise insisted, as if it were a fact on the same level of self-evidence as 'the sun is warm'. "Besides, you do have a say! You already talked me out of the leash, remember?"
Ark touched the area around their neck. Everything felt the same to them. "You didn't image a--"
"No, no. Of course not. Like you said, physical restraints on a magical binding shell wouldn't even make sense." She hastily replied, gesturing dismissively. She hoped she was managing to keep a straight face. It's more of a choker, anyway. So I'm not- I'm telling the truth.
Gods, I wish I had one of Destra's cameras with me.
"And beyond, no doubt." Ark added, sarcastically.
"Naturally." The sorceress in question agreed, puffing out her plated chest.
"That... well, never mind." They trailed off. Her (over?)confidence was reassuring, in a way. "I'll start attempting to ping my Spire."
"You're doing what to your what now?" She asked.
"Reconnecting to my home and conduit to Eternity." They said. Enlightenment stayed off her face. "My... wizard tower, if you will."
"Ohhh, your wizard tower!" She exclaimed. "Why didn't you just say so?"
"I don't know, it's a bit--"
"Shut it, puppet. I think there's a shadowfiend ahead." Rachise half-whispered at them. Switch to telepathy from here.
Right away. They agreed before they'd even consciously processed her request. Ugh. Are you truly incapable of telepathy without that--
She cut them off before they could finish their inane question. You already know the answer! Now get behind me. And act a bit more doll-like, won't you?
They changed their marching order, following Rachise. The other request gave them pause. Act... what? Like, more mechanically? Because dolls don't usually move of their own volition at all.
Yeah, yeah. 'Mechanically' is close enough. Just stop pretending to be human.
Sure thing. I guess. They thought, adjusting their gait to be a bit more lurching. The constant compulsions were starting to irritate them. Never thought I'd miss hearing that shrill voice of hers, but it certainly beats--
I heard that! My voice is not shrill! Rachise mentally protested. You're worse at telepathy than I am, you know? Close that shit off if you're going to be thinking nonsense thoughts!
Sorry. I didn't mean that. Just a bit worn-down by... everything, right now. Ark quickly apologized, making sure to switch their thought-voice to be purely internal. They double-checked it by thinking the phrase "you're short" at her a few times.
Once they were sure all their channels were closed, they had to admit: it wasn't even really the compulsions that had them irritated. They could only use the metaleyline to return right to the core of their Spire, and through the old 'transitory' part of the Grid, no less. This meant they'd have to leave Rachise behind. She'd probably be fine, eventually, but it was an extremely rude thing to do.
Of course, it was ultimately up to them. This them, unadvised by any other. Without their exocortex, they felt at once more and less like a 'normal' 'person' than usual. Their other self would usually have kept their thoughts from wandering; kept one eye unblinkingly on their overarching goal. Now, the only thing they had to follow - with both eyes - was Rachise's swishing tail.
How did that quote go? "The surest way to defeat your enemy is to make her your friend?" Was that... Sun Tzu? No, it must've been... Must've been later. Wait, who the hell... For a moment, their vision lost all acuity. Nausea overcame them, but not the intense, fabricated nausea of Eternity's warnings. It was like the feeling of trying to envision non-existence; what it would be like to be dead.
set regentry DEFRAG_STATE to 00 06 01 16 00 00 01 01 | !! 0xb0000000016 write error !!
The feeling passed. Some kind of local backup protocol so old I can't even remember making it? Well, that can't be good. No wonder I've been having junk thoughts!
"--k. Ark! Listen to me already!" Rachise turned to them to say, pauldron scraping one of the dull-grey walls.
They focused back on their environment. It was a claustrophobic little alleyway going between a street and a small plaza, made bigger on the inside by the incipient fourth dimension. "Ah, we're talking out loud again. Yes? Why are we stopped?"
Rachise stopped nervously running her hand up and down her scythe. "What? The-- Alright, what's the last thing you heard me think at you?"
They tilted their head at her. "You were admonishing me for not closing my telepathic channels, if I recall."
"Oh, Martyr's fucking piss! You shut your telepathy off completely, you idiot!"
"I'm sensing that wasn't your intention."
"Why the fuck would I tell you not to listen to me?!" She said, clenching her fist.
They defensively held up their core body's good hand. "Listen, I only made that mistake because of your incessant telepathic compulsions. You're not making it any easier to think str--"
Rachise lunged at them, picking them up by the middle in a quick tackle. The lanky automaton was a lot heavier than she'd expected them to be - but not so heavy that she couldn't throw them a few meters. Before they could even respond, she flung them at the wall behind her.
They slammed into the wall with a heavy 'thwack', partially sliding down it and landing on their side. Their vox clipped slightly as they yelped, out of surprise more so than pain. "O- okay, okay! I get it. My mistake. I'm sorry."
Rachise normally wasn't very hard to read; not even for Ark. They couldn't quite place the way she was glaring down at them right now, however. They tried to right themself, so she'd at least have to glare up again, but somehow couldn't quite manage it.
"Get up." She commanded.
Their legs were strangely unresponsive.
She changed her stance ever so slightly.
"W- wait!" They yelped, forcibly straightening themself out along the wall. "Just hang on a second. I'm very sorry, alright? It is not in any way your fault. Would you like to reiterate whatever it was you tried to tell me while I wasn't listening?"
"Hm." She grunted. "Not really."
"Oh." They figured it must've been something important, to warrant this reaction.
Rachise clenched her jaw. Even through her illusion, she thought they seemed genuinely torn up. "Eurgh, don't be so pathetic about it! I wasn't anything... mission critical, so to speak. I'll tell you some other time."
reply from 1.6.1: 2/256 packages (~1%) after 96 266ms elapsed
"Well, alright. Although I am curious, now." Ark conceded. "I've good news, though: I'm finally getting through to the Spire. Sort of."
"What could you possibly mean by 'sort of'?" Rachise inquired, still a little annoyed.
"Um. It's taking "