Rememberings

Mental Note #3

Sub: MMNTM

Project: Magnifier continued.

Project Magnifier, entry five, day 26

Memorial PM6: I have been quite thoroughly confusticated. Regardless of my last, incredibly strong recall, my first action after returning to Plane One was to continue work on Project: Magnifier. However, I have encountered a problem in all of my smaller-scale tests thus far: the removal and movement of the confluence from the surrounding terrain. Plane Two’s ability to resist any attempt to remove large amounts of matter from it is both remarkable and very strong. I have attempted to assuage the issue by substituting matter from Plane One for that which Plane Two would be losing, and while this has lessened the issue somewhat, it has not nearly remedied the problem. This does give somewhat more weight to my theory that Plane Two is, in some way, alive, and able to make value judgements. As such, I have labeled this phenomenon “Planar Fervor,” or PrFr

Despite three days of constant trial and error, I have yet to make any appreciable progress towards mitigating PrFr. The idea of transporting the Confluence in small units has, of course, occurred to me. This method, while theoretically viable, is not realistically implementable. While I am well accomplished in spell casting, and the intricacies therein, I lack the raw power necessary to power so many systems, even given a large amount of time. I also came upon the idea of freeing the confluence before hand and distancing it from the plane’s surface before attempting to transport it. However, the sheer amount of explosives needed for such a venture renders this method both strangely attractive and frighteningly unaccomplishable. An alternative must be found.

Project: Magnifier, entry six, day 28

Memorial PM7: I have come to the conclusion that I need to prepare myself for bouts of recall any time I choose to manifest on Plane Two. Such events are becoming plainly consistent. I must also enhance my knowledge of the variety of substance viscosities on Plane Two, so as to avoid any more gravity-inspired injuries. I believe I have at least two viable systems for both. Regardless, I, as any good scientist ought, shall now detail the reason for these musings.

Whilst pondering the PrFr issue and surveying via Burnsighter, I perceived that one of my Co-habitants of Plane One had found it’s way onto Plane Two. In the brief glimpse allowed by the flyby, I saw the Plane One motive remove a sizable slab of stone from a nearby mountainside quickly and apparently without effort. Considering that my most recent stall in Project: Magnifier was doing precisely that, I was understandably intrigued. As such, I began monitoring the small interplanar tears that routinely appear throughout Plane One in anticipation of a Cohabitant exiting the plane. When one of the Plane One motives betook itself to do so, I recorded it’s position on Plane Two and started the flybys routine for a manifestation.

What I saw via my three Burnsighters was a grey-white expanse of rolling, wispy hills. I also saw no sign of the Plane One Motive. In hindsight, this ought to have been my first clue that all was not as it appeared. Heedless of this, and supposing that the Cohabitant would be easily located upon arrival, I proceeded to manifest upon what I thought to be the surface of Plane Two, strange white, floral groundcover notwithstanding.

I found myself swiftly dropping through the grey-white expanse. I came to the swift conclusion that what I had seen from Plane One was not, in fact, flora, but some form of airborne vapor. Having fallen entirely through said vapor, I became aware of what I recognized as the proper surface of Plane Two very, very far below me. I also noticed that I was both surrounded and being pelted by small particles of water. Whenever these particles came in contact with my skin, the produced a very uncomfortable stinging feeling. While I had noticed this phenomenon during my first manifestation on Plane Two, it had been significantly milder in the case of groundborne water. Whether this change was a result of the slight difference in chemical makeup or the varying velocities of the peculiar samples, I have yet to ascertain.

Whatever the exact cause of the feeling, it, combined with my sensation of falling, is what I believe to have been the trigger for my most recent memory recall. This bout was no less immersive than the last. It also appears to have been chronologically linked to my previous recall. It’s contents are as follows:

I was falling. I was falling, and I was burning. Strange purple lights flickered by me as I fell. Green light emanated from me, the witches’ fire still trying to burn through what remained of my limbs. There was so much pain, the vile magic eating away at my very soul. I may have lost consciousness during the fall, but there was no way to tell. The procession of Atralic lights continued ever onward as I fell farther and farther.

Finally the interplanar lights faded, and I beheld a massive, white island floating suspended in a grey void. I fell towards it, a green comet on my final descent. Delirious as I was, I braced what was left of my mind for the sudden, jarring end that my landing would bring.

It never came. Instead, my resting place was a pool of some dark, liquid. As I hit the surface and began to sink, I noted that what looked like a rib cage surrounded the edge of the pool. Is this someone’s blood? I wondered, not that it mattered.

As I sank deeper into the black, I felt the burning on my body and soul ease. It was replaced by something that still stung, but did not feel like it was spreading. I took some small comfort in this. I had been given the chance to die of naturally, instead of simply being consumed by dark magic. Then, through the remnants of my shattered link with my Cloak, I felt a presence brush my mind, vast, alien, circling like a shark, yet detached. I recognized in this other presence a feeling I myself shared. It was looking at me, not to consume me, but out of resigned curiosity. It new it’s end was coming, if it had not already come, and was simply waiting to pass completely into whatever was to come after.

Who are you? I asked it. I? It replied, I am the sovereign of the sky, the liege of the void, and the humbler of men… now humbled. Emperor. Disinterested as this vast conscience was toward me, I sensed it expected an answer, so I gave it one. Hail, Emperor. I am the servant of Oen, the delver of secrets, the hopeful savant… now hopeless. Seeker. At this, I felt Emperor stop his circling and focus on me intently. Hail, Seeker. You had hope once, a love of discovery and creation. I have never known a thing such as you. At this, Emperor paused, and I felt him wavering between his wish to simply fade and the small spark of curiosity he had gained from my mind. I think… I would like to create before I fade. Emperor thought. I would like to know what it feels like. Will you do this with me, Seeker? I did not know how I could help, but I felt that there could be no harm in trying. I do not think we can save ourselves, Seeker, but perhaps we can create something… new. If we are to do this, then you must rise. I doubted I could do anything of the sort, and found the suggestion almost comical. Then I felt Emperor’s alien strength flood into me, his vast conscience flow into my chest. Then came the almost furious command: Rise!

I rose, gasping, from the remains of Emperor’s body. His blood, made servant to what part of his mind lingered on, flowed over my desiccated frame, forming simple lungs, liquid muscles, and enhancing my one remaining eye. I clawed my way through massive bones, torn, black flesh, and over a massive, tattered wing. Seeker, there was once an object that gave me strength. There is only one such left, and to it, you must go. An image of a strange, revolving crystal appeared in my mind. I looked with my new eye towards, the place that Emperor’s memory told me it would be, and I saw it glimmering in the distance.

I don’t know how long I dragged myself along, Emperor urging me on all the way. I almost gave up when I was half way up the tower that the crystal rested on, my fluid fingers sticking to it’s smooth surface. Finally, my strength utterly spent, I reached the top. I gazed into the crystal, a geometric, tumbling thing that rested on a bed of fire, and was both terrified and excited. A few tentative wisps of magenta energy flowed from it into my improvised body. Emperor, sensing how near we were, let loose a roar that echoed out of my strange lungs, a sound of obstinance and victory, and I roared with him.

The crystal loosed a torrent of energy into me. I felt the body that Emperor made for me taking root, forming around the core of my being, becoming less of an improvisation and more a truly living thing. Emperor’s ecstasy blasted through me. We have done it, Seeker! We have created! I have only ever commanded death, but today I command… live!

That was when I really began.

My mind having returned to the present, I marveled at what I had learned. My earliest memory before my bouts of recall began was one concept, to live, echoing through my mind as I sat atop a tower of obsidian in Plane One. That singular thought was what had motivated me to begin my journey of exploration.

The next thing I noticed was that I was still falling.

The surface of plane one was uncomfortably close to me, and I was hurtling towards it at speeds that would undoubtedly undo everything Seeker and Emperor had worked so hard to create. I had no time to summon a Planar Pearl, so I had to improvise. I threw up a quick kinetic system to strengthen and reinforce my legs, layer upon layer, support upon support. A few short moments and one bone-shattering impact later, I found myself in the midst of my own modest impact crater.

Upon my first attempt at standing, I perceived that my leg bones had, regardless of my swiftly crafted kinetic system, both fractured into numerous pieces. I suppose that this was better than the alternative of total annihilation. That said, my temporary loss of the function of half of my limbs put a swift end to my Cohabitant-watching foray. In light of this, I summoned a Planar Pearl and returned to Plane One. At this moment, I am recuperating from my injuries. Project: Magnifier grows more intriguing every step forward I take.