Time continued to reverse around me and as it did i walked through Felcrii University finding my way into Sathuna's office before the regression began to slow and time returned to its set point.
Linear time returned and from Sathuna's point of view i just manifested in her office while she was nibbling on a raisin cookie.
"Your tastebuds are weird as always." I greeted merrily before placing the memo-storer's and receiver in front of the witch on her desk. Specifically pushing hers closer.
Wiping her mouth with a handkerchief she asked in a cold tone, "how did you get in here, Traveler?"
"You'll remember when you use this." Tapping her memo-storer i took a step back.
With a chill in her gaze Sathuna was extremely distrusting of me at this moment. Trying to figure out how i arrived in her office without the myriad of defences she had to hide the university and keep others out triggered.
Understanding my oddity though Sathuna trusted my words and lifted the memo-storer shaped like a cube up in her gloved hands. With a slight push in on two sides of the cube a stream of data flowed into Sathuna's head importing all her memories from the previous timeline.
With all her memories returned Sathuna leaned across the table in an alluring manner. "Hell is the path, victory is the accident." She mused, making it clear to me she remembered everything.
"Whats the plan from here?" I inquired.
"Experimentation." Getting up from her seat Sathuna pulled a secret lever that was a moth totem on her desk. Causing a wall in her office to lower into the floor. "The ritual's foundation is two thirds of the way done but without some testing and several ingredients during this 'secondary regressive timeline' there's no way to tell if it could really work. Even if the method has to be changed the result will always be the same."
Eyeing up the insides of the hidden room the holographic brains with brain stems in jars were eerie to say the least. There were four rows of tables with such brains above them with some gaps among them but it was clear there were supposed to be forty brains in total with three gaps at the very back.
"...whats this room for?" I asked a little surprised.
"A brain tank." Sathuna said like it was a quality pun.
"It's more like a brain museum if you ask me."
Stepping into the hidden room i waved my hand through one of the holographic brains. The one next to it had horns growing out of it. Each brain was of a different highly intelligent humanoid species by the looks of it.
Watching Sathuna i saw her move the memo-storer meant for Marchosias tapping it against a gap in the table before its information was rapidly downloaded by the table and it projected a werewolf's brain and brainstem.
Figuring out what this place was i said, "your collecting the minds of the Ingenious Coalitions members."
"Full marks, Traveler." Sathuna congratulated with a sarcastic clap.
"Is it the top forty or whichever strikes your fancy?" I asked, not a surprised as i should have been by the replicant holograms of brains.
"The latter obviously." Sathuna said before moving through the room to its very back and turning on a computer as its wide screen flashed to life with the emblem of a crown and tarot cards. "How useful would the mind of the thirty-forth genius, a biologist and tectonic geologist, be useful in my schemes?"
"Depends on if you're trying to make a planet sentient or not." I quipped.
Noticing a hairy brain in the back-left corner of the room i recognised it as the brain of the 34th geniuses gorilla-like species, most definitely of the aforementioned person. Somehow replicates and stolen by Sathuna in her schemes.
Slowly turning my head I asked, "...are you doing that?"
"Not yet." Sathuna casted magic to make a winking eye above her blindfold being cheeky.
Expectant of the future now i wondered what opponent she would need to use an entire planet to defeat. "Alright. Should I assume you have tasks for me to do then?"
"For you, no. Myself and few of the other crusaders are enough to handle the refinements of the ritual. You can do as you like." As the massive computer screen once it fully activated, Sathuna plugged in the receiver i handed her and the computer immediately got to work churning through terabytes of data every second. "Why? Did you expect to show off your more intelligent side to me?"
"You know my and Thorn's flair for a show."
"It's precisely because of that you won't be coming with." Sathuna said outright, firm in her words. "In the first regression's timeline I was worried in case the regressor did something foolish thats caused him an early death. With two lives worth of experiences now I'm certain he'll be wise enough to safeguard himself more properly."
Leering across the room at Sathuna i asked, "is having Arthur killed by a hell-king part of your plan to make him wiser?"
Suddenly on guard Sathuna eased her tone. "Yes it was. The regressor was far too arrogant and reliant on his past experiences and had no idea what to do with himself when things went awry. I had to amend that if he's to be of use."
"Its normally easier to manipulate someone whose full of themselves."
"He'll still be naive enough to rush headlong into my trap in the third regression's timeline. The only real problem from now will commence when the ritual begins in the next timeline with the moths the lamplight will lure in. Don't tell me you ever expected my schemes to be so simple, Traveler?"
"Everyone gets lazy eventually. You asking me to stay out of your plans directly is perhaps the laziest I've ever seen you." Hovering my hand above one of the tables projecting multiple brains, amber sparks bolted between them briefly. "Tell me why you want me out of this and i will stay out of it. Simple as."
Apprehensively Sathuna started slowly walking to the wall of the secret room. "...your curiosity is something to be studied with how erratic on big and small details it becomes focused on." She mused. "I'll be honest with you then. You yourself are the main component of the ritual, and i do not want to risk you being lost within your own mind until after the ritual is done in the next timeline. Without you or the memo-recorder which only you can bring to me i cannot remember the last timelines and in order to be in full control of the future i need to be crafting the regressor's path every step of the way from now on."
Staring intensely at Sathuna still i removed my hand from the technological table.
Letting out a breath she stopped walking to the wall. "I understand you're concerned about Thorn's existence. But i promise you without a lie this is the fastest i can do this for you and myself. I know how important Thorn is to you and him you even if i don't understand it. I'm not cruel enough to steal the first thing you ever found comfort in. Your shadow will be safe, Traveler."
Tossing my head back i groaned loudly. "Can't believe your asking me to wait on you. Again. After the last time you told me to wait I've learned my lesson."
"You seemed to have fun rampaging through the senate chamber of the CGA lest I'm remembering incorrectly." Sathuna teased as she immediately closed the distance between us. Prodding her finger into my chest she then pressed her hand endearingly on my shoulder. "Having you sealed away in the
Leaning in close Sathuna put her lips right next to my ear to whisper a temptation.
"I've told you once before. We need each other, we just don't understand how yet. So wait a little while for me, then you can go as mad as you like, Archon of Severance."
Pulling herself away Sathuna smiled breezily. Sure that her persuasion would work on me. And it did, my brief lapse of sanity on Idaten must have shown her how mentally exhausted I've been lately.
"How long until you can no longer sustain yourself?" She asked.
"Originally a few thousand years probably but with Thorn's current condition and my anxiety about him, at best a century. The voices in my head are beginning to deafen me, Sathuna." I answered with a sigh. "Your promise has made them slightly quieter though."
"Now i know I'm one of your favourites." Sathuna teased. "Thankfully that aligns perfectly with the timeline i have in mind for us. Including this timeline and the seconds, by the time the ritual starts you can go as crazy as you like."
Bobbing my head up and down this was pleasing to hear. Leaning against the archway leading into Sathuna's hidden room i said, "i don't think there's ever been a time i willingly went insane. Well, more than i already am."
Waving her hand Sathuna used the
"To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering," I spat with a roll of my eyes. "Yeah, I've heard it. Quoted it. Clung to it like it was gospel. But pain doesn't teach—it grinds. It loops the same ache on repeat until you can't remember who you were before it started. And we call that growth? No. It's erosion. It's rot dressed up as wisdom. And still—still—I keep trying to make it mean something, because if it doesn't, then what was the point of trying this long just to stay sane?"
"Rotting madness." Sathuna hummed.
Wordless to her response i just stared at her for an exaggerated moment before breaking out into a fit of mad laughter and clutching my stomach. "Hahahaha! Thats right! Its just—Ahaha! Rotting madness—that is the one way to describe growth by pain, ain't it? Just one bad decision after another earning a little wisdom by the end of it. Like rust on metal. Oh that is good. Oh that sums it up perfectly."
My laughter ceased suddenly with one long breath out my mouth. "Ohh~ that was good by you, Sathuna." Taking a step away i raised up my arms in resignation. "Alright, I'll have trust in you, schemer. Send me a message before you kill the regressor to kickstart the next regression and I'll leave the memo-recorder on your desk in the second timeline for you. I'll stay out of your plans as you asked, there are a few things i can do in a meaningless universe now anyway."
Waving me off with her frail hand Sathuna smiled warmly. "Have fun on your journey, Traveler. See you in the next universe."
"That eager to get me to leave are you?" Dropping my hands into my trouser pockets i lingered for a bit. "Fine, fine. I won't take much more of your time. But i would like to ask. How did you escape the devils contract with Marchosias? Those things completely ignore temporal and spatial law and cling to the signee's soul like a leech usually."
Surprised i noticed the lack of a mark on her soul Sathuna grinned slightly. "Contract are only viable if both parties exist. Whats to say 'Sathuna' has ever been who i truly existed as and not someone I'm simply impersonating?"
"Huh." Intrigued by her trickiness i let out a short scoff before prepping the [mach void] amber power around me. "You must be getting sentimental to be so honest with me lately." Placing two fingers on the side of my head i then saluted in parting. "See you at the world's end, witch."
In a flash of amber light i vanished from Sathuna's office heading to a different part of the universe. Seeking to fulfil long since withheld vendetta's while Sathuna immediately enacted her schemes preparations.