by nobody103
[Greetings,] Zorian sent telepathically. [I am Zorian Kazinski. I have come to trade.]
Aranean minds were still too strange for him to recognize their emotions easily, but he felt sure the aranea was thoroughly shocked when he spoke to her.
[You are Open?] the aranea asked after a few seconds.
[Yes,] Zorian confirmed. He decided not to mention the Cyorian aranea and his connection to them for now – for all he knew they might have been mortal enemies or something. [May I know who I am talking to?]
[I am Seeker of the Eight Universal Paths, of the Sword Divers Web,] the aranea sent. [You can simply call me Seeker.]
[Seeker then. I would like to start by apologizing for the way I attracted your attention, but I didn't know how else to contact you. I hope I haven't caused too much of a stir,] Zorian said. [I hope we can work with each other despite this somewhat rough start.]
[I'm afraid I am not qualified to negotiate on behalf of my web, so I cannot make any firm promises. My task was only to find you and report my findings to the web,] Seeker responded. Translation: she was supposed to trawl through Zorian's memories to see what his deal was, but him being psychic kind of made that impractical. [That said, I'm sure a small incident like this one can be easily smoothed over if you refrain from scaring us like this in the future. Just so I know what to report to the matriarch, what kind of trade are you proposing?]
[I want to trade for knowledge and training,] said Zorian. [Specifically, I want your help in learning how to wield my psychic abilities.]
[You already seem fairly proficient in them, though,] Seeker pointed out. She sent a weak psychic probe to worm its way through Zorian's defenses but promptly retracted it when Zorian harshly slapped it down. [Not many humans can use telepathy so smoothly, and even fewer would have noticed that probe.]
[You flatter me, but we both know I am but a rank beginner when it comes to mind arts,] Zorian said. [I wish to move beyond bare basics in the field. At the very least I want to get a better grasp on telepathic combat and develop memory manipulation abilities.]
Seeker produced a burst of uncertainty and surprise over the link that Zorian didn't quite know how to interpret. Some kind of aranean curse, maybe?
[You are certainly ambitious, young human,] Seeker said. [I hope you realize that this is not really a small thing you are asking for. I don't believe the leadership will be happy with that idea. What exactly do you offer in return?]
[I have a number of magical items that I believe would be very useful to aranea, including one that allows telepathic communication over vast distances. Since I am the inventor and maker of such devices, I am open to requests in regard to their modification to suit your needs better. Since I am also a capable mage in general, I can help you out in any task that would benefit from human-style magic. And finally, I have access to important news that I would rather not discuss at this time, and which I suspect would greatly interest you.]
There was a short pause as the aranea absorbed this, after which is responded with a note of tentative acceptance.
[I see,] Said Seeker. [As I said, I am not in the position to agree to any deals, but I shall present your case to the matriarch and we'll see the result. Is there anything else you wish for me to note?]
[Not really, no. I would like to know how I can contact you properly in the future, if you don't mind.]
Seeker was silent for a few moments before sending him a mental map of Korsa's lower sewers with three distinct locations marked with a tiny blue sun.
[You can contact us by going to any one of these three places, but please don't be impatient. It will probably take a couple of days before we're prepared to talk to you again and impatience isn't going to endear you to us.]
[Fair enough,] Zorian said. He had no intention of staying inside Korsa for days while they deliberated on whether to give him his time of the day or not, but fortunately he didn't have to. He could kill two birds with one stone by giving them means of contacting him wherever he may be, while also providing a tangible example of what he was offering to them.
He removed a large wooden disc out of his jacket and placed it on the ground before him.
[This is a telepathic relay,] Zorian told Seeker. [Anyone touching it will be able to get ahold of the person holding the matching pair, regardless of distance. In this particular case, that someone is me. I'm not going to be in Korsa for long so use this to contact me when you've reached your decision.]
[I'm not bringing a possible bomb into the settlement,] Seeker said. [But I guess there is no harm in dragging it off to some forgotten corner where no one will stumble upon it until we come back for it again. Farewell, Zorian Kazinski. Events permitting, we shall meet again in a few days.]
✦ ✧ ✦
Zorian wasn't idle while the Sword Divers deliberated whether to accept his offer or not – he left Korsa to continue searching for more aranean colonies. Sadly, none of the other colonies were as easy to find as theirs, despite living beneath much smaller settlements. By the time the Sword Divers contacted him again eight days later, he only found one more colony. Illustrious Gem Collectors lived under a small village near Ticlin and, although perfectly friendly and polite, immediately informed him that they had an exclusive contract with the leaders of the village to only engage in trade with them and none else. Unfortunate. That said, they were perfectly willing to tell Zorian the locations of five other webs in their vicinity that might be more open to the idea, so that was still a win in his book.
Before Zorian had the chance to check out any of them, however, he finally received a call from the Sword Divers that they were ready to make a deal. At this point the restart only had a week and a half left in it, so Zorian doubted he would get much out of the agreement, but he went to meet with them regardless.
When he reached the designated meeting place, however, he found only two aranea waiting for him, which was very suspicious. His experience with the aranea, limited as it may be, told him there should have been a minimum of three – one negotiator and two guards. More realistically, it should have been even more of them. The Cyorian matriarch had been fond of carting at least four honor guards along with her, and that was when meeting with little old him that she knew for a fact was no threat to her. Illustrious Gem Collectors sent a total of eight aranea in their greeting party.
His suspicions were confirmed when the two aranea revealed they were just guides, meant to take him where the real meeting place was to take place. Zorian was instantly alarmed, and his paranoia was no assuaged in the least when the two aranea proceeded to lead him deep, deep into the Dungeon beneath Korsa. Too deep for his liking.
"Okay, we're stopping here. This is as far as I'm willing to go," said Zorian out loud, purposely not bothering to communicate with his guides telepathically. His voice resonated unnervingly in the large cavern they were in, and the two aranea flinched at the harsh sound of his voice.
[Please, be patient,] one of them said nervously. [We're not far from the meeting place. It will only take a little to reach it.]
"Well, then it shouldn't be too big of a problem for you to go fetch them and tell them to come here," Zorian said. "The exact place shouldn't matter much unless you are trying to lead me into an ambush."
The sudden stiffening of their bodies told Zorian everything he needed to know. He had just enough time to channel mana into the 'mind shield' spell inscribed on the medallion he wore under his shirt for the occasion before two mental attacks slammed into his newly-erected barrier like a pair of sledgehammers. He immediately fired an overpowered magic missile at one of the aranea in front of them, crushing her like a grape. Her mind instantly winked out and disappeared from his mind sense.
The other aranea, realizing it would never batter down his mental shield fast enough, jumped straight at him, fangs bared. It bounced back harmlessly off the shield he erected in front of himself. Zorian drew his spell rod out of his belt and pointed it at her.
"Why do this?" Z
orian asked her. "Tell me and maybe I won't just incinerate you on the spot?" Zorian asked her.
She didn't answer. After a second, Zorian realized with some embarrassment she couldn't, seeing how his mind was totally shielded from her at the moment. He dismissed the shield for the moment, but kept the spell rod trained at her.
[Please, I don't know anything!] she mentally whined. Zorian kept alert for any surprises she might send at him over the telepathic link, but she didn't even try. She seemed completely overcome with terror. [I was just supposed to lead you there, nobody told me the reasons! Please don't kill me, I don't want to die!]
Zorian growled before shoving the suddenly glowing spell rod at her. Her fear spiked for a moment and she let a terrified screech, curling upon itself in preparation for her demise… and then suddenly stopped when all that happened was a bubble of force springing into existence around her.
Just then Zorian felt two additional aranean signatures speeding towards him from the direction his two 'guides' had been leading him to. Then another, and another…
Shit. The two must have sent a warning to the main ambush force. He gave the surviving 'guide' a brief glare, causing her to curl up inside her force cage, and then started running towards the surface. He knew for a fact that humans were way faster than aranea so it should be possible to simply outrun the pursuers and-
There were eight more aranean minds in front of him, blocking off his path of retreat.
Zorian cursed his rotten luck and he skidded to a halt, trying to think of a way out of this. His mind shield wasn't going to last long against… 16 araneas!? No, 18, two were just slow runners apparently.
Six telepathic attacks slammed into his mind shield, failing to break it but causing him to stagger drunkenly as his vision swam and his balance went haywire. He wondered for a moment why only six of them had attacked his mind when so many more of them were in range before he remembered his talks with Novelty about telepathic combat. Battering down mental shields like this one too vigorously could easily destroy the mind underneath.
Seven attacks this time. His mind shield still held, but only just barely, and he collapsed on his knees in response regardless.
They weren't trying to kill him. Of course not – what would have been the point of that? No, they were aiming to capture…
Zorian almost lost consciousness as nine attacks slammed into his mental shield, crushed it like an egg and then ripped straight into his unprotected mind. The pain was excruciating, blanking out all thought and making it impossible to concentrate on anything. There was something he needed to do, he was sure, but for the life of him he couldn't remember what exactly it was…
He felt his muscles lock up as an alien mind seized his motor control away from him and started rooting in his head for facts and memories. He had to do… something… had to…
Suddenly an image flashed before him, of two necklaces hanging from his neck, one of them inscribed with the defensive spell that ultimately failed him and the other that contained…
His mind suddenly snapped back into place, his course of action clear. Activate the suicide rings, that's what he had to do. He felt the alien mind panic as it realized what he was going to do, and felt three more attacks rip through his thoughts. They were far weaker than the ones that broke through his shield, but his mind was unprotected now and they felt like hot knives driven into brain. He held onto the thought, though, the idea that he had to activate those rings no matter what. He forgot what the rings really did when the mental knives hit, forgot why they matter or where he was and what he was doing, but he still knew what he had to do. Had to… had to…
A weak, gentle pulse of mana poured into the rings around his neck and the world suddenly became awash in light and heat.
Then there was only darkness.
✦ ✧ ✦
Like many times before, Zorian woke up in his room back in Cyoria. However, there was no Kirielle jumping on him to wake him up this time, and it was late in the evening instead of early in the morning.
Also, he had a blinding headache. Can't forget about that part.
Suddenly the door cracked open and a familiar head peaked inside tentatively, as if afraid what it would find inside. Zorian squinted, his vision blurry without his glasses, and gave Kirielle a searching look.
Her eyes immediately widened in surprise for some reason. He reached out to her mind in order to understand what was going on and-
"Ow," he croaked painfully. Okay, apparently he wasn't supposed to do that.
"Mother! He's awake! He woke up! He woke up!" Kirielle shouted, thundering down the stairs. Zorian winced at the sound and tried to remember what happened. How the hell did he mess himself up this badly so early in the restart? The last things he remembered was…
Suddenly his memories came back rushing in, along with a fresh wave of pain, and he remembered everything. Well, not literally everything – his memories of everything after he confronted the 'guides' were fuzzy and jumbled out of order – but enough of it to understand what happened to him.
Those treacherous, motherfucking slimes!
"Zorian?"
Zorian jerked in surprise at his mother's voice, broken out of his recollection.
"Uh… I'm… sort of fine?" Zorian mumbled. "My head is killing me, but I don't think it's anything serious. Can you hand me my glasses?"
His vision cleared immensely with his glasses on, allowing him to see just how worried mother looked as she stared at him. He winced internally. He was pretty sure he knew what the problem was, but better feign ignorance…
"What happened to me?" he asked.
"You wouldn't wake up," Mother said. "You scared Kirielle like you wouldn't believe – she came running down this morning, bawling her eyes out, saying she killed you. Well, you obviously weren't dead but nothing we did could shock you awake either. We summoned a doctor, but he couldn't find anything wrong with you. As far as he could tell, you just suddenly fell into a coma for no reason."
He nodded slowly. That sounded about right. The Sword Divers really did a number on h- wait, what was that first part?
"Killed me?" he asked incredulously.
"I didn't say that!" Kirielle protested, suddenly entering the room and carrying a bowl of soup in her hands. "Mother is just making things up! It's just that I… um…"
"Relax, Kiri," Zorian sighed. "There is no way you jumping on top of me could have caused this."
The silence that followed clued him in that he'd made some sort of mistake. What did he…?
Oh. Oh damn.
"How'd you know I did that?" asked Kirielle.
"Because… that's what you always do?" Zorian tried, his mind still a little fuzzy and unresponsive. Probably why he made that kind of stupid mistake in the first place. "Hey, how about that soup, huh? Is that for me?"
"Not always," Kirielle huffed sullenly, thrusting the bowl at him. Whew, one bullet dodged. Mother was still giving him suspicious looks, though…
Zorian considered things as he practically inhaled the bowl of soup in front of him (the aranea may have scoured his mind, but there was nothing wrong with his stomach and he had not eaten for an entire day). This whole restart was probably a bust. The headache was bound to stay with him for weeks, only gradually going away, and he would be pretty useless while it lasted. On top of that, he wasn't sure if mother would even let him go to the Academy after an episode like that, so it might be impossible to leave the house without flat out running away. It might be better to best to just spend the entire month recovering and making sure his attackers didn't saddle him with any nasty surprises or permanent consequences.
He glanced at mother and Kirielle, who were both still giving him concerned looks, as if expecting him to fall apart at any particular moment, and then the empty soup bowl in his hand.
"So," he said. "You wouldn't happen to have more of this stuff, would you?"
✦ ✧ ✦
Like he expected, mother didn't want to eve
n hear about him going back to the academy so soon after his inexplicable coma and insisted he remain at home to recover. However, she and father had arranged for their trip to Koth in three days' time, and she was clearly loath to delay it. Since the last thing Zorian wanted was to spend any more time around his parents than necessary (even though mother had been surprisingly nice to him at the moment, he knew the effect would wear off after a few days), he was fully on board with her going through with their original plans and leaving him alone at home to recover.
In the end, mother and father did not need too much convincing to leave for their extended visit to Daimen. Zorian just had to promise to stay home for at least a month before heading back to the academy, with neighbors occasionally checking up on him to make sure he was keeping to his end of the bargain. Oh, and take Kirielle off their hands, but he no longer considered that such a chore as he once did.
Interestingly, this was the first time since he got stuck in the time loop that he had spoken to his father again. It only took a single snide comment about his 'weak, fainting son' for him to remember why. If he was lucky, this would be the last restart he had to interact with the man.
The month passed in quiet recovery. Kirielle was initially enthusiastic about 'nursing him back to health', but it took her all of two days before she got bored of playing nurse and dumped all of the cooking and household chores in his lap. He was fine with it, really – she meant well, but he wasn't a big fan of burned steak and half-cooked eggs, which was just about the only thing she knew how to make. That seemed to signify to her that he was okay, though, because she began pestering him for magic lessons soon after. Not having anything better to do with him time, he agreed. She showed much more patience for that than she did for cooking, at least.
As the restart gradually dragged to its close, Zorian breathed a sigh of relief. The attack had no lasting consequences he could detect. The headaches were annoying, but thankfully subsided quickly. By the end of the third week, they were completely gone. He had no problems using his powers after the second week or so, and he noticed no holes in his memory – even the memories of the final attack had gradually un-jumbled themselves into a proper timeline by the end of the first week, although the very end was hard to interpret due to his less than coherent state at the time. The matriarch's memory package was thankfully still whole and intact, waiting for the day he was good enough to open it properly.