Not asking how he figured out who i was figured it was obvious. As one of the Ingenious Coalitions one-hundred geniuses he's no doubt created his own means for identifying and locating kralscell's as well as potential anti-kralscell technologies.
That goes without saying especially since he's part of one of the top five geniuses and thus one of the smartest beings in the whole universe.
Even with the void veil that's naturally around me making it hard for most people to recognise me, let alone notice me if i decided to hide myself. It's no surprise he recognised me either with my notoriety.
"Myself and the [witch queen] would like to request your assistance with a project, [hell-king: eclipse clock behind burning fangs]."
"Please, call me Marchosias. And i see you're not one to waste time?" Putting aside his drink the werewolf disregarded the concern of his guard as he stepped closer. "I'm quite fond of direct people. I shall admit I am interested as you've mentioned the [witch queen's] name as well whose intellect is on par with my own despite not being in the hundred genius' list. As you've sought me out i can only assume this project involves tampering with temporal energies considering my field of study?"
"You'd be correct." Scanning the room with aether the multitude of werewolves within were now watching me. Waiting to pounce at the slightest provocation.
Made sense. Marchosias is more than just a god to them.
"Tell me firstly, how did you find me?" Marchosias inquired with a polite tone.
Crossing my arms as Thorn sat behind my feet watching my back. I casually said, "[witch queen] told me. Said something about hijacking the CGA's resources when they were looking for you originally. If you want the detailed version you'll have to ask her."
Growling behind me Thorn threatened the various werewolves trying to sneak up on us.
Lifting his hand Marchosias uttered a command, "leave the room. This is private business between your founder and his guest."
"But pack-father!" Marchosias' bodyguard requested. "He's the mad knight! You cannot expect us to just leave you alone with this insane-"
With a swing of his hands flaming claws Marchosias cut the head of his bodyguard before letting it slump across the floor leaking a puddle of blood.
Pulling out a handkerchief Marchosias said, "you think you know better than me, mutt? Failure worse than a runt. Take the body and clean this floor."
At Marchosias' command the aristocrat werwolves forgot their high class titles and all worked to quickly drag away the dead body of a werewolf. cleaning the blood at the same time before the door shut and now it was just me, him, and Thorn.
"Excuse my actions, Traveler. Perhaps I'm a little nervous after meeting one such as yourself brimming with... bloodthirst." Marchosias politely said.
"Clever bastard." Thorn scoffed as an annoyed compliment.
My plan was to kill al the werewolves in this building if he decided to be uncooperative. Then the whole city if he still refused. And then the planet if that still didn't work. But with the death of his bodyguard he already established that wouldn't work and removed any leverage i could use to bind him. With one death this devil made himself stand on equal footing with me, a kralscell, in this negotiation.
No wonder he's the third genius of the Ingenious Coalition. The fact he's a devil makes him that much more tricky to deal with.
"Now, who am i negotiating this arrangement with?" Marchosias asked.
"The [witch queen] and the kralscell that you think you can take advantage of." My words left my throat forcefully, exuding a weight that reminded Marchosias I was far outside his power class. "Do you, a fledgling eighth-ring-sequence exalted. Want to try your luck swindling me? Even with the [stigma] limiting me to your level it would only be a matter of time until i rip out your soul."
Chuckling lightly Marchosias took a step back. "Hehe. Quite the effective scare tactic, Traveler. Making it clear any life saving spells or artifacts i have would be worthless trying to help me escape you. Let's continue this conversation as simple negotiators trying to get benefits on both sides then. I will go with you right now to the [witch queen's] abode to properly discuss terms."
"Lose the trackers and maps your keeping hidden first." Thorn demanded on my behalf. "Anything you could use to send a distress signal for the CGA to receive."
"As luck would have it the only device i have on me is this pocket watch." Offering it to me Marchosias held no worry. "You can check it yourself if you like. Its a perpetual motion device with near no proper electrical charge within it."
Grabbing the pocket watch with my bandaged right hand I infused a single speck of aether into its material but unlike most technologies that would fry from the collision of aether disrupting the energy flow within it. the pocket watch continued just fine. Being the perfect balance of gears and weight while requiring his body heat to keep active.
"Should be fine." Keeping the pocket watch for now my bandaged right hand lowered while my offering my left hand forwards. "You might feel nauseous after the trip."
"I've always been curious what the time dilations of your [mach void] compared to the warp technologies developed by the first kralscell of invention." Grabbing my wrist with his hairy fingers the werewolf eagerly tightened in anticipation to the journey.
Aether gathered beneath us burning runes and asymmetrical shapes onto the floor with amber and silver lights. Greatly interesting Marchosias before light shot up from the floor firing us both through the void as i dragged him along. Flying through the white nothingness with black cracks running through Marchosias looked like he had a revelation as he experienced the lack of time and space.
Plummeting through a black cracks running in the void we returned to reality landing back in Sathuna's observatory.
"Incredible. Time in a place void of it lacks two-dimensional or one-dimensional form's showing the connection to space and reality. The influence of gravity upon time is even more prevalent than i first estimated. This experience has enlightened me greatly."
While Marchosias was lost in his thought's he didn't notice the multitude of sparks flying off from his clothes that were the technologies he tried to hide from me but had been fried by my aether just before going through the void.
"We've brought your helper." I announced. "Negotiation is your problem now."
"Thank you, Traveler." Atop a ladder Sathuna scribbled a final equation before floating down and being handed the pocket watch Marchosias gave me earlier. "Earl Marchosias. Its a pleasure to be in your company."
Lifting his head after Sathuna's greeting. The werewolf devil was about to reply before noticing the blackboard's on half the observatory's wall's were riddled and filled with equations. All relating to the creation of the ritual to bypass the universal regressions caused by Arthur Moonleaf to allow one to retain their memory of the previous timeline.
"What a fascinating research project you are working on, [witch queen]. But you appear to have made some errors in this principle here and the counterflow equation here." Marchosias said immediately going into his scholarly mode.
"My own attainment on the quantum mechanics of time laws are limited." Sathuna said humbly. "Thus why i asked Traveler to bring you here to assist. I hope your insight can assist in this arduous pursuit."
"What you've done thus far is already very impressive, madam. We can discuss the contract later. Right now I'm eager to get the foundation of this... dimensional ritual, is it? Trying to translate temporal sciences into mystic science for a spell to preserve one's own consciousness using a device as the medium?"
"Yes. Its impressive you managed to understand that much with a simple look at my effort." Sathuna complimented with a light clap. Turning to me as Marchosias fixed some errors, Sathuna said, "Clara just took a break. You'll find her outside, Traveler."
Appearing beside me on a desk in his raven form. Thorn huffed, "he really is obsessed with anything to do with time to not even realise he's our prisoner now."
Turning around on my heel i fled the observatory before being forced to hear more complex nerd talk neither i or Thorn wanted to be a part of.
Opening the door outside the observatory i stepped into the sunlight before Thorn flew out over my shoulder. Shutting the door behind me i wondered how long those two would take to create the ritual. Its not something they could do in a few years after all.
"Ah, Strife!" Calling me and waving her arms wildly from her table. Clara beckoned me over wearing a hood over her burgundy head of hair with cute cat ears sewn atop it.
"Thats a cute hoodie you're wearing, Clara." I said before joining at her table. Staring at her meal of shepherds pie with a strong scent of lamb coming from it. "When'd you get here?"
"Thanks. Hehe. I arrived a couple of days ago. Though technically only an hour ago." Clara said as she adjusted her hair to flow out the hoodie. "Sathuna sped up the perceived time around this observatory after you left apparently. Ah, how's your beanie by the way? Is the sound dampening hurting your ears at all?"
"Its doing just fine." Pulling my pink beanie off from atop my head i placed it down on the table. "Save's me having to use aether to block my eardrums, I'm thankful as always. You can give it a check if you like."
Placing down her fork full of shepherds pie Clara picked up the beanie feeling the material and having a look at the inside. At the same time she chewed the piece of shepherds pie in her mouth before swallowing it to say, "all looks alright. But make sure to be careful with it, Strife. This is still only the prototype and making the finished version is a lot harder than i thought it would be."
"Its alright. Take your time and enjoy yourself." Lifting up the fork from Clara's plate i gathered some of the shepherds pie on it before pointing it at her.
"You don't need to do this, Strife. I'm not a child." Clara pouted.
"I know. Regardless its what I wanna do." Shedding a soft grin i made it clear I wasn't backing down.
Through her embarrassment Clara munched on the fork eating the cottage pie on it with a red face before I placed the fork back down and simply observed her eat.
Getting indigestion Clara patted her chest and took a sip of her drink before relaxing back into the chair. Gazing out across the planet from the observatory's patio she then saw the forested beauty of the planet we're on, Felcrii, and the magic university bathing in the sun's light.
"Sathuna told me about the regressions." Clara said suddenly. "It reminds me a little bit about Kimaris' life story. You know? Living the same years on repeat endlessly. Did you... in hell. Did you ever go through something similar?"
Meeting Clara's pitying gaze under her hood i nodded after a moment. "Yes. You'd be hard pressed to find a form of mental torture hell's nine floors didn't inflict on me. The same can even be said for physical tortures but it gave up quickly after the floor of gluttony. What brought this subject up?"
"I'm just worried about you. Big boss. You know, like everyone in the
Not responding with any words i already knew any comfort i tried to provide would be a lie. What Clara said was nothing but the truth after all. I'm a prisoner to my insanity and it never lets me rest in any meaningful way. All I've managed in the last sixty-thousand-years was to barely maintain my sense of self.
I'm like a ruin filled with cracks and missing half its structure. Capable of collapsing at any moment, but with no way of telling when or to what.
How I've been hallucinating the white room of hell more frequently because of my episodes of insanity only solidifies that.
"I'll get by. I just need to keep myself distracted. Like always."
Gripping her hands above the table Clara couldn't hide her anxiety. "We've only known each other for a short while compared to the other
"I'm all I've ever been. Even if you don't agree with it." I replied firmly." The sum total of my decisions and mistakes. Nothing more and nothing less." Reaching my hand across the table i patted the cute hood of Clara's hoodie. "No matter how much i lose myself to insanity that will always be the case."
"Okay..." hiding her face from me Clara hid the few tears leaking from her eyes. Wiping them against her sleeves as she painfully lifted her crying face with a forced smile to say, "i really wish there comes a day i could meet the real you."
This whole conversation seemed odd. Like i wasn't really talking to Clara and she wasn't really talking to me. It was more like she was talking to someone who didn't even recognise her, and vice versa.
Wiping the last of her tears from her face Clara got up from the table. "I'll get back to helping Sathuna now. My break dragged on a little longer than intended." Quickly leaving Clara rushed past me heading back into the observatory.
Now sat alone the more i thought about Clara's words the more an itchy feeling at the back of my mind grew. An itch that was pulling at my mind trying to take me somewhere that wasn't here. It was like she was talking to a hospital patient who had no idea they were a patient.
But that's impossible, right?
With that simple declaration the itch vanished from my mind along with its pull.