"V..V..Very well then doctor." Siren stammered before fainting.
Several hours pass as Artemis with surgical focus repairs the gynoid assassin that he has come to know and love as Siren Coratania. Working in tandem with the nanosuretical machines Artemis laces his artistic prowess into her broken body. Siren, the first of her kind to enter into the Holoverse, the universe from which all Artificial Inteligence resides, has been working for Artemis sometime.
* * * * * *
Graven conjured a sharp edged stone and,using a vine, attached it to a long branch.
"Alot of good that's going to do you against anything lurking here."
"If I can't be prepared the least I can do is present the illusion of it." Graven said, laughing for the first time in a long time.
"Suit yourself, I am sure whatever animal kills you will be incredibly inconvenienced by the wound you give it as it's eating you alive."
Again he laughed, half-heartedly this time. His laughter, the crunching leaves and snapping twigs drowning out any noises from the forest. Graven had been in an etherforest once before when he was younger with his father, but that time seemed ages ago and now he found himself an infant in an unforgiving and ominous territory.
Three days in passed in the forest without incident until Graven stumbled upon a clearing centered by a gargantuan tree. The tree stood over ten stories high with a massive sphere of vines taking the place of the normal blood red leavs from a normal etherean tree. Like every other tree in an forest were veins of glowing red ether running all along the dark blue bark tree, the lifeblood of all things Ether dependent. As if this sphere were not odd enough the vines moved. The entire tree was in a perpetual state of transition. Always there were vines being tied and untied, tangled and untangled.
"I think this is an interesting place to make base camp Axis. It's certainly the most interesting thing we've seen so far and the area seems safe enough."
"It's a fragment of Forge itself...the force of creation. This is not possible. It is the era of Order, of purpose. It is not time for this to be here and yet there it stands. Alas this is the work of my forebearer Fracture. Forge's chain is not supposed to be in play for a millenia and the chain is supposed to be the strongest of the three... Unbreakable... If this is here it means that Forge's chain has been compromised. I agree this is the place to make base camp. I must investigate."
"What does all this mean?"
"Nevermind that. This is my ordeal. Set up camp."
Over the next several days Graven used a combination of stonecalling, the art of crafting stones from runic signs, and branches to make a rough shelter at the base of the Sphere tree. Each day Axis would try to teach him how to listen to the forest, to feel it's lifeforce, it's vibrations. Learning came slow to Graven and even the humblest of life runes were nearly impossible to learn without killing the beasts themselves or disecting the plantlife, both of which Graven refused to do.
"It will take an eternity if you keep refusing to get your hands dirty."
"I can't help it, I feel some connection to these lifeforms. Something deep inside I cannot deny."
"You don't listen and yet you can hear...perhaps there will be no need for carnage after all, though it will take a few more years." Axis found himself humbled by the speed at which Graven's instincts were adapting, far beyond his own comprehension.
"A few more years?...I'm not sure whether to be insulted or honored by that comment."
"Let's just say that you possess instincts beyond what I expected, perhaps that was why you were chosen. Don't let it go to your head, you still have ages to go, life is not some stone to be cast about."
Months go by as Axis begins to teach Graven how to extrapolate the three dimensional alphabet from what only reveals two dimensions using the call of each animal or the arcs of each plant. The level of intricacy involved far transcends the rocks, slabs, crystals and boulders of the cave and Graven finds himself offput and frustrated by his slow progress.
"What was that you said about me being 'beyond expectations,' and yet here I toil day by day with little to show for it. At least with the stones I could study without them hiding or panicking by my mere presence. Every day is a constant pursuit. I can't focus like this."
"Kill one. Rip the life from it's ether and you will find the pursuit much less...chaotic."
As if for the first time Taeran considers Axis's proposal."No...No...Taeran taught me that life was to be respected, something cherished, not merely an empty vessel to be cracked open."
"Then I expect your complaining to wane and your patience to procreate."
For the moment the two were so busy bickering between each other they didn't notice the adolescent etherian playing in the stream before them. Suddenly quiet, Graven scrutinized the child before him who was seemingly unaware of his presence. The child played in the stream as if lost in some daydream and so carefully and with trepidation graven approached.
"Young one...young one." He beckoned but go no response and so began to close the distance.
"You there...young one...etherhil (the name for adolescent's in Gravens tribe)," Graven continued to call softly until he was upon the child. Finally he reached out and touched the child on the shoulder.
The child exploded into action, running at high speed in a manner more feral then bipedal before stopping on a branch. Turning around to look Graven dead in the eyes she turned once more and ran doggedly into the forest. Graven paused.
"Don't just stand there, after her!"
As if prodded by axis's call Graven sprints in pursuit. Graven finds a hard time dodging the branches and roots but the child seems to have no time weaving over and through the surrounding plant life. The pursuit ensues for many minutes before finally Graven trips upon the root of a large tree and into the clearing ahead, hitting his head upon a rock the size of a fist. The child stops and just before Graven succombs to darkness he sees three more forms approaching with the child sitting calmly in the background scrutinizing the fallen etherian.
Once again Graven is ripped from reality and into darkness. This time things are different. All things are in motion. The four masks have transcending their plaques and are now floating in orbit around the obelisk center to the four. Suddenly a voice tears the silence.
"My children you were born not of my will but of my heart and so it is bittersweet that I set you free. Here I stand ready to unshackle creation, set loose abrasion, set forth purpose and release chaos. The solemn silent silver sea will no longer swallow eternity and a new delineated universe will rage forth upon the hub of time.
With each word a crack forms on the obelisk and is alit by the following. Soon the entire obelisk is alight with cracking spitting forth blazing light and fire.
"Though bound by time you will set loose your wills upon all creation and chains will be the instrument of your influence. Forge your chain of steel shall never falter. Order your chain of iron will give all purpose. Entropy your rusted chain shall wittle the weakness from creation. Fracture your chain will shatter and you shall endure no reign over the sovereignty of time. You alone will play fate to all ages, denying all clairvoyance."
As each chain is mentioned so to are the links set ablaze with the will of the creator. Finally Fractures chain shatters in cataclysmic seizure. The four masks eight eyes burn bright assaulting Graven's eyes awakening him once more to reality. Graven is startled that upon waking the four masks place themselves on the four forms, one on each etherian, standing over him.
"Greetings Graven, it has been a long time my friend."
Blinking and clearing his eyes with his palms Graven is confronted by a friendly, familiar face.
"Abnagn is that you?"
"None other friend."
"But how...all these long years we thought you were dead."
"Not dead but exiled by Iboga."
"That's impossible I remember...I remember back to the days in lectern
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