Her gaze flared hot, and Val was shocked to feel the frustration, the fury of a dwarf ready for war. Then she closed her eyes, shaking her head, Val's alarm instantly turning to a desperate need to comfort.
"You don't mock, you really don't understand. I know that. I know that you care for me. Deeply. As I do you. No matter that we are two different races." She took a deep breath, and did her best to explain.
"Though stable on the surface in a low magic environment, Silbion is much less stable in areas of high magic resonance. The fact is that our world possesses an unusually potent electro-mana field that both protects us, nurtures us, and allows for the formation of fantastic life, exquisitely complex chemistry, and the sophisticated channeling of raw arcane energy which humans seem unusually adept at wielding." She smiled. "In pure form, liquid Silbion, if not kept in some sort of container, would slowly evaporate, even on the surface. One can also stabilize it with small amounts of Elementium."
Val frowned. "But isn't combining Elementium and Silbion what leads to the exothermic catalyzations? And doesn't Elementium render it worthless for anything else?"
Ava flashed her beautiful smile. "It all depends on the ratio, as I know you sense intuitively. Of course we don't mix them when they are actively being used, but for storage purposes, trace amounts of Elementium are actually ideal. And it is Elementium powder that turns violently unstable when a high concentration is added to Silbion in liquidized form. With no structure in place, no outlet for energies released, it all explodes. In low concentrations, it simply stabilizes the Silbion. What I did..." She lowered her head in shame. Val held her close, kissing her forehead, savoring her scent, earthy and deliciously feminine all at once. "Letting desperation lead me so close to peril. The Altersian crystals would only have averted catalyzations if the Silbion had been in trace quantities. But the gland contained several entire drops worth..."
"Ava, are saying that you have no Silbion stores left?"
She gave a bitter shake of her head. "The faulty automatons destroyed them, just like I almost destroyed us."
"What's done is done," Val soothed. "And all is well. My sweetheart is safe, and that makes me very happy." She squeezed him tight, smiling at his words.
Val savored that precious moment, knowing that what he would soon reveal would change everything between them. "You really are a genius, dear Ava. Poor Gregor. I sense that he is more clever than most humans with alchemical processes, but he despaired of ever separating Silbion and Elementium at all."
Ava nodded. "Most primitive alchemists know not the complex means of separating the elements. One needs talents such as those I developed over the years of my childhood." She blinked, gazing at Val with a smile. "Talents which are nothing compared to your own, most remarkable man that you are. The only other way to stabilize Silbion is inside the artifacts it is primarily gathered for. Of course, within living creatures, it is quite stable indeed. That is why Silbion rich plants were once grown and harvested by our people like any other crop, precious and difficult as it is to farm."
She shivered, gazing breathlessly up at the technological marvel of the multitiered growing assembly they now stood before, her soft hand touching his cheek. She smiled. "You are going to show me something wondrous, aren't you Val? I can almost taste it in your mind. Like a puzzle, for I cannot fathom what you could possibly do to save us at this point, only that you think you have the key."
His heart was pierced by her soft blue eyes. He cleared his throat, strangely nervous.
"Ava?"
"Yes?"
"How much Silbion do you need?"
She trembled, clenching her powerful hands together. Swallowing, as if nervous herself. She turned to the device, fingers caressing nobs upon a panel suddenly lit up with a dizzying array of blue symbols. "To get our quadrant fully operational, with sufficient potency that our reverberators will catalyze the Silee plants to convert harmonic radiations into fresh, steady Silbion stores..." She turned to Val with a hopeless look in her eyes. "We would need the Silbion equivalent of many thousands of those Deathspider sacks. Far, far more than we could ever hope to gather in our lifetime."
Val trembled. Was it really that simple? "Where would you deposit the Silbion? Would it be in purified form?"
She swallowed, somehow picking up his strange tension. "That would be best, Val. But that's impossible, this deep in the Underdark. Rather, our device would slowly diffuse it from the trace Elementium/Altersian crystals that we would use to stabilize it."
Val nodded. "But could it handle raw, undiluted Silbion? Would that hurt it?"
Her smile was brilliant. "No, my lover. It would not hurt it at all." Wordlessly, she took the vile of filtered Silbion that Val had gathered, little more than a drop's worth, carefully depositing it in a clear, shimmering tube a couple twists of the dial brought forth. Val was impressed to see the tube's composition assured that even that tiny drop flowed down the channel without any resistance, nor could he sense any trace of loss or evaporation. Ava sighed, as if pleased with even that tiny boon.
"There. You can see the minute shift in stores. Even accounting for inevitable evaporation with the reverberators off-sync, this alone will give our tiny plot years of steady, fecund growth."
Val glanced at the tiny needle hovering near the very bottom of what looked like an exquisitely calibrated glass beaker, shaped almost like the top chamber of an hourglass. At the very top, just an inch below what must have been allowances for extra stores, was a shimmering blue dot. "I take it that filled full, your reverberators pop on and, well, it all becomes self-sufficient?"
Ava sighed, arm tightly squeezing Val to her side, head leaning on his shoulder. "Yes, dearest Val. Then our arborium could feed a quarter of what was once the mightiest city in all of Jordia, recycling waste with plenty left over for our mushroom farms." She sighed happily. "With dwarves to properly look after our repaired garden, it would last, well, forever."
Val gazed intently into Ava's eyes, whispering a heartfelt confession, the same words he had breathed upon her when she was softly asleep, and his heart was bare.
She trembled and began to tear up as Val then placed his finger upon the crystal tube, accessed his personal pocket dimension, gazing solemnly at the flow of Silbion trickling without resistance down the tube, and the strange glass beaker began to fill.
He kept his concentration, noting his reserves disappear milliliter by milliliter, and the massive bronze gold frame began to beep and hum strangely, soon reverberating with a soft blue glow, and somehow Val felt the massive surge of life-force flowing through the structure that was as much magical as utterly natural. He did not allow his concentration to lapse even when Ava broke down in sobs, whispering in a choked voice what he could only guess was a dwarven prayer.
Val swallowed as the stores rose up to the blue shimmering mark and just a bit past it, because a little reserve could never hurt, even as the massive arborium rung sonorous notes that somehow touched his soul, soft golden lights suddenly basking the structure as a whole.
Only then did Val stop, taking a deep, steadying breath, turning back to Ava, tears streaming freely down the most beautiful face Val had ever seen, gazing at him with a look that could only be called wonder.
"I'm not sure how to retract the tube, Ava, but I think it's full."
And he blinked, breathless, as a sobbing Ava knocked him to the ground, holding him so closely, crying and laughing and kissing him fiercely, passionately, her gaze pinning him, electrifying him, and he felt vibrant, proud, and so humbled to touch her heart, to be the hero he had always dreamed of being, yearned to be, drowning in her adoration, swept up in a tide of such sweetness that he knew he was in love, crying in her arms just as she cried in his, never feeling so happy, so connected as he did at that moment, making sweet love to the girl who had captured his heart, basked in the golden light of the arborium that spelled hope for an entire race.
Hidden quest: Will You Save My People? II complete! You have changed t
he fate of the lost colony! Doomed to a slow death from malnutrition and eventual starvation, for mushroom chambers can only go so far, you have given this tiny echo of a once great and world-spanning civilization the source of food and medicinal herbs desperately needed to bring their species back from the last dying embers of a once proud race. Of course, with only five surviving members and the only mature female carrying mixed offspring, their species' survival is still an uncertain thing at best!
Val shivered, feeling a taste, an echo of an entire people course through him. The faint memory of lost hopes and dreams and the blossoming of new hope now resonating through him, making him that much more than he had been, just moments before. He gazed in a moment of awe, not seeing Ava at all, lost in a sense of the character sheet of his soul, watching that brilliant silver-blue experience meter fill up well over halfway full to what could only be the next level.
Hidden quest line revealed! Will You Save my People? III! You can just tell from Ava's intent gaze that this was but one piece of the terrible, wonderful puzzle you have chosen to unveil. Do you have the courage to do what needs to be done to save an entire race from the brink?
Val blinked, in the moment once more, gazing into the beautiful blue eyes of a girl he held in his arms. They smiled as one.
"Never, Val, even as some part of your soul teased and hinted at wondrous possibilities, did I think you were capable of this."
Val grinned, gazing up at the arborium in wonder. "So, how many people will this marvel be able to feed?"
"Many thousands, once it is at its peak." She sighed, eyes still filled with awe. "In about week it will be ready with its first dispensation, and the output will only grow with every harvest until it is at full capacity once more. Eventually, it will be sufficient to feed a quarter of what would have been our city's maximum population, with plenty to spare as needed."
Val nodded, swallowing. "And there are three others, elsewhere in the city."
"Yes, carefully positioned so should disaster fall near one, the others would be safe. But it had no defense against a simple design flaw allowing for minute Silbion loss that built up over centuries in so many of the vital support systems of our city." Adoration turned to a bitter mask of painful regret. "Our city, the jewel of our empire. Brilliant and new and built to the most exquisite specifications under one master plan, unlike any city that had come before." She sighed and shook her head. "The work of a true genius, but no genius is perfect, even under the most exacting and rigorous of applications. Not until all applications have been put through vigorous review. We had expected to need a few years to calibrate it to perfection."
She shuddered, holding Val close. "Then the Highlords struck, and only panic and desperation remained. With their hunters seeking out the last of us in earnest, we need to flee their strange, perceptive minds. Flee out of phase, our minds no longer flaring so brightly; as they put it, easy prey." Her eyes blazed hot and fierce. "Now I suspect that it didn't matter whether we had acquiesced to their Valorium demands or not. They had always intended our deaths, they who so badly feared the threat to their power that we could have become, once we saw all the possibilities of space travel firsthand."
Val nodded. "You understand, then."
Ava smiled. "I am no fool. I can sense their horrid logic, strange as I find the tactical concepts blazing so brightly in your mind. I gain such brilliant, terrible insights, whenever we make love."
Val flushed at that, Ava softly kissing his cheek. "Yes, Val. Even we are telepathic to some degree. It is part of how our language works. Ideas flow with our words and intentions, and there is no greater expression than when two people share the gifts of love and life itself. I know you are a trained killer, Val. One who understands all too well a Highlord's ruthless mindset. It is what your tribe forged you to be. And through you, after we communed so intensely, I can understand our shared enemy that much better. I understand because a desperate part of you is searching for a way to take them out, even now." She sighed, shaking her head. "But our affinities are so different from the Highlords. At least those of a thousand years ago, harnessing their gifts into sharp, killing knives of the mind." She shuddered. "But they could not strike what they could not see. And our jewel of a city was forced to endure the most intensive and grueling of all trials, where any error could reverberate unchecked, creating ever greater havoc, for a thousand years."
Fully clothed once more, she stroked his cheek, her gaze filled with both adoration and desperate hope. "Valor?"
"Yes?"
"How much Silbion do you have left?"
He closed his eyes, sensing his internal grid once more. "Exactly enough to fill five more beakers the dimensions of the one we had just filled."
Her eyes flared with desperate hope. She fell to her knees, gripping his hand. "Val! You have enough. You have enough to save us!"
Val gazed at her, comprehension dawning over him. "You're saying it's enough to repair the matrix containment unit you all were being kept in? Is it really enough to bring you all back?"
Her smile was a jewel in the silver-gold light. "It is, my love. To bring back some as we repair and rebuild, as we work desperately to secure more food, more security, to repair the tiny imperfections that are so close to triggering catastrophic cascades. We would be able to bring so many brilliant minds back in the here and now to recalibrate, repair, and eventually revive our city entire! Then at last we can awaken everyone, and our city will be alive once more. Our race will be alive and vibrant once more!"
It was a joyful, desperate shout, her eyes gazing so intently into his own.
He lifted her up, solid as she was, squeezing her tightly to him. "Then let's head to the matrix, and bring your people back."
A powerful voice boomed through the garden. "It is not that simple, Valor Hunter. There is peril even here, in the most perfect of cities for anyone not a dwarf. And perhaps, for dwarves as well."
Ava trembled, momentarily gripping Val's hand so hard he winced, before she instinctively rose, turning to the sound of her grandfather's voice, bowing low, to the waist.
Val could taste her trepidation, mirroring her bow as best he could.
"Rise, Ava, daughter of my get. I will not strike dead the man who has claimed you, any more than I would smack the cheek of the gods who forged us, endless eons ago." He flashed a cold smile. "Even if he is a human, his heart is that of a dwarf. Rise, Valor Hunter, chosen of my granddaughter. For the gold in your heart and the iron in your will... I find you worthy, no matter your lack as a scholar. Today, I fear, we need heroes far more than scholars, and in that, at least, you shine like the brightest star in the night sky so long stolen from our grasp."
Valor swallowed, a flush creeping up his cheeks, feeling like a boy having dinner at his girlfriend's house, under the microscope, no matter the pretense. Only here was a man with the fierce gaze of a hardened warrior. One he recognized all too well. The subtle nod of approval was enough to light a fire in Val's soul, even as Ava leaned her head against his shoulder, clasping his hand as her grandfather spoke on.
"The city is for the most part dormant, deep in the long hibernation preceding death, and only now do we feel the first faint stirrings of hope. Yet like life brought to near-frozen limbs, the tingle of pain is often the first response, as opposed to the rapture of flesh finally healing before cold death could eat it entire." He sighed. "Even now our arborium catalyzes long dormant systems, Astmar and I doing all we can to induce harmony, having long ago deduced the catastrophic reverberations that nearly destroyed our city from within. If the matrix had waited even a few extra seasons to awaken us... it doesn't bear thinking about."
Val swallowed, gazing out at the ancient city of golden bronze towers, and he didn't think he was imagining the sight of the city coming more fully alive, additional lights flickering on, a soft hum now reverberating through the ground as well. Val thought he heard an increase in the clanking and tread of automatons as well.
Aril
ius seemed to sense his concern. "Fear not, Valor. Even as you brought our race from the brink of extinction, rejuvenating our arborium to the point that the golden lights will synergize perpetual replenishment of your gift, your blood has been imprinted. No automaton assigned to this quarter of the city will see you as a threat."
Valor flashed a pleased smile before it froze off his face. "But in the other quarters..."
"Yes," Arilius sighed. "Precisely. And for all that the arboriums are intact, much to my regret, the groves that had once thrived on the tiniest measure of the Silbion infused light have long since wilted to nothing. There is no way we can mark you as a helper, with no leaves of the groves remaining. Only within the dormant pods tightly sealed does life remain to blossom with the first touch of Silbion. And each of those three arboriums we must reach and catalyze, both to imprint your mark within the quarter, and to prepare for the needs of our tribe, as they emerge from the long sleep."
Ava frowned. "Were we not going to embrace a slow awakening?"
Astmar sighed, turning to Val. "Only by catalyzing the arboriums in each quarter can we assure that Val will survive the automatons. You must remember, the matrix is heavily guarded. And I fear several of the sentries may flip to battlemode should any but us approach the matrix, in any case. Assuming they haven't already. Depending upon how much Silbion Valor has access to, there may be insufficient reserves to assure safe sleep any longer."
Ava paled and swallowed. "You mean an emergency resuscitation? But most of our clan remembers only being at war with the humans, on the cusp of extinction! And even if we can catalyze all four of the arboriums, we will still have no way to feed them for an entire week, and we will be on short supplies for a full season at least!"
Tired eyes gazed into her own. "I know, my daughter. So much could go wrong. We would be sailing our ship upon treacherous, unpredictable waters. But if we do not..."
Ava trembled, head bowed. "All of those we care for will die in that failing matrix. It would be the end of our race. And our city could hold many tens of thousands, at full capacity. If all four arboriums are operational, we would have more than enough food to care for the ten thousand of us still in deep sleep. Eventually. But for a time, at least, our people would be near starving."
Endless Online: Oblivion's Promise Page 6