Aetheral Space

Memory is water, and water is memory.

It bolsters and sustains. It nurtures and creates. Without it, you're barely anything at all. And, of course…

…if you're not careful, you can drown in it.

The recollection confined to a distant cavern began slowly to trickle free, through tiny gaps in rock and thought, small and slow at first but faster faster faster… until it wasn't a trickle at all. Water is not so easily denied. It drowns mountains.

The rocks began to crack.

Ash del Duran dashed out of the room, already heading for the Seat of Man, and Gretchen Hail stepped up onto the table in his place -- crossbow still trained on Morgan Nacht.

"He used that thing on you, didn't he?" she asked casually. "Black Timer. If you ask me, it's ridiculous that that isn't an Aether ability, but the world's a strange place."

Morgan glared along the length of the table at her. Frozen in place by Black Timer's threat of death, that was all he could do. Three unwise steps, and his heart would explode in his chest. That was all the leeway he had right now.

He took a deep breath. The air felt thin, like he was climbing a mountain.

"You're not going with them?" he asked, throat dry. "I thought that was your mission. I thought you were here for Muzazi."

"Were you not listening?" Gretchen raised an eyebrow. "They can handle Muzazi on their own… but you and I have unfinished business, Morgan Nacht."

"How's that?"

She smirked. "You really have to ask?"

"Yeah," Morgan nodded. "I really have to ask. I've got unfinished business with you, sure… you killed my friend. I want you dead more than anyone else. But what's your business with me?"

The smirk on her lips twitched a little. "You're… a loose end. I'm a meticulous sort of person. After Muzazi's dead, we don't want you still running around starting shit."

"You don't sound convinced."

"Well, you don't need to worry about it!" she raised the crossbow, pointing it at Morgan's head. "You won't be around for whatever happens next."

Morgan looked down at the weapon. "Another Armament?" he asked.

"What else would it be?" Gretchen reached into her pocket and pulled out a thin, curved dagger with her other hand. "Oh, look! Here's another one. Don't worry -- I've come prepared for whatever tricks you might pull."

Morgan tensed up, readying himself. "Is that eye an Aether Armament too?"

Gretchen blinked.

"Huh?"

Morgan frowned at Gretchen's obvious confusion. "Your left eye turned green. You, uh… you didn't know?"

"No it hasn't," Gretchen narrowed her eyes into a glare -- a gold-and-green glare.

Indeed, her left eye had changed. Instead of a Pugnant gold, it glimmered with a vibrant shade of green, like Gretchen had suddenly developed heterochromia within the last few minutes. She really didn't know?

"It has," Morgan insisted, leaning forward without taking another step.

With the hand behind his back, he began to prepare what he needed. He didn't understand what was going on, but if he could stall for time, he could still find a way out of this. If he could just get a chance…

Slowly, Gretchen turned the blade in her hand, so that she could see her reflection in its sheen. Her eyes widened as she saw what had happened to them. When she spoke, it was barely a murmur.

"What the he --"

F! A! L!

Morgan pulled his hand out from behind his back and hurled a sphere of solid Fog towards Gretchen -- a sphere that erupted into a hungry fireball as it scorched its way through the air. Caught off-guard, Gretchen threw herself to the side -- off the table -- and the fireball flew past her, slamming into the wall and sending flames spraying all throughout the room. They set upon the wallpapers and curtains with eager viciousness.

"Bastard!" Gretchen screamed as she landed on the floor. Picking herself up as quickly as she could, she raised her crossbow and fired three screaming shots in Morgan's direction.

The projectiles couldn't be called simple arrows. As they flew, they spread out wings of gold, looking more like birds than bolts. Cyclopean red eyes focused on Morgan, locking on to their target.

With one hand, Morgan Nacht wielded his sabre. In the other, he forged a sword of solid Fog.

And he danced.

Sparks and bloody water flew in every direction as he repelled the winged arrows, again and again and again, shattering them like pottery after a few clashes. Gretchen wasn't just standing there and watching, though. After taking a swig of a red potion from out of her Aether, she was already replacing her crossbow with a bulky shotgun-like contraption, sighting lasers spread out like a web from the barrel -- a true doohickey.

She licked her lips, and those lasers began to converge, slowly but surely uniting at a point right between Morgan Nacht's forehead.

Gretchen took a deep breath…

P!

…and Morgan Nacht stepped forward.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Thump.

What a fool. Clearly, MorganNacht hadn't judged his distances correctly. Given the distance between him and Gretchen right now, his heart would pop out of his chest before he even made it halfway. He'd lost himself to the panic and fear of a battle to the death.

So little time left in the world, and he'd wasted one of the few steps left to him.

Thump.

And another. Even as the lasers continued to converge, readying the killshot, MorganNacht continued to charge forward. There was a curiously blank look in his eyes as he moved, though. The eyes of a doll. Was he feeling okay?

Given the difference in strength between MorganNacht and AshdelDuran, he couldn't have much of a countdown left. If Gretchen understood Black Timer correctly, then the idiot was probably at the end of his lifeline. She wouldn't even need to pull the trigger.

All she had to do was look on, in this moment frozen to infinity, and watch MorganNacht fall.

Thump.

She frowned.

He wasn't falling.

Thumpthumpthumpthumpthump.

With a cry of surprise, Gretchen raised her Galagagun up, barely managing to block MorganNacht's downward strike. Life flared back into the New Moon's eyes as he pushed down, teeth gritted in exertion as they struggled against each other.

"You should be dead…!" she hissed.

"It worked!" Morgan gasped, as if he couldn't quite believe it himself. "It worked!"

P.

When Morgan had first started his training, he'd imagined he'd develop such ridiculous powers later on, like the ones his teacher so casually tossed out. P would be for Phoenix, perhaps, bringing him back to life stronger -- or maybe just Power, pushing his physical strength into the absurd. He'd hoped that, by this point in the alphabet, he'd be just one step below Wu Ming.

But he was not Wu Ming. He was Morgan Nacht -- and he had to make do with what he had.

Puppet.

Black Timer's countdown progressed each time his body underwent the functions required to take a step forward. If those functions didn't take place, there would be no problem. If those functions didn't take place, he could move without worrying about advancing the countdown.

Hence, Puppet.

It was an advancement of the principle by which Morgan pulled himself around with Fog. Rather than moving around using his actual nerves, he was controlling his body directly with his Aether, tugging his body parts around like a ragdoll. That way, he could keep fighting without worrying about triggering Black Timer.

Of course, it wasn't without risk.

Strictly speaking, Puppet was the ability to force his body to carry out a series of pre-programmed movements. The key there was 'pre-programmed'. Once Morgan activated Puppet, he couldn't deactivate it halfway through moving. If he programmed Puppet to have him run across the room, he couldn't just stop if a wall suddenly appeared in his way. He'd have no choice but to run into full speed -- and for even more fun, his full speed under Puppet was quite a bit faster.

It was a good thing that Gretchen hadn't just moved to dodge his pre-programmed attack, but that wasn't what Morgan was concerned about right now. What he was thinking about… was what he was looking at, and what he had heard. That green eye, and that 'we'.

As the two of them struggled against each other, Morgan asked the question.

"Ionir…?"

Water is memory, and memory is water.

WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND

Gretchen gasped, suddenly and involuntarily, as if suddenly pulled up out of a deep lake. A migraine like a hammer slammed against the inside of her skull. Her hands trembled as they held onto her gun -- and Morgan took advantage, pushing harder against her block, driving her smaller frame towards the floor. Wood creaked beneath her as she held her ground as best she could.

Ridiculous. Truly ridiculous.

"Ionir?" she laughed, eyes wide. "Are you being serious? We already killed that thing, you idiot."

Morgan didn't respond to that. He just opened his mouth and called out again:

"Ionir! Are you in there?! Say something! You can hear me, can't you?!"

WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND

Gretchen screamed as something beat against the inside of her head, like someone was taking their fists to the bark there. No, not bark, bone! Bone, bone, bone, bone, bone!

"When I was dying…" Morgan breathed, tears in his eyes. "You became part of me, and you saved me! So… so when you were dying… you became part of Gretchen, and you saved yourself! That's it! That's it, isn't it?!"

What the hell was he even talking about? Idiot, fool, moron, fucking idiot. MorganNacht didn't know what he was talking about. Nothing like that had ever happened. What was he even basing it on? A slip of the tongue? A single green eye? Because of the Aether Armament she'd used back on Azum-Ha, her appearance was now based partially on her self-image, but her self-image hadn't changed! There was no reason she'd think of herself with green eyes. No reason at all. Stupid moron. It hated him. No, she hated him. He didn't know what he was talking about. She needed him dead. She needed him gone.

morgan nacht was nothing but an eyesore.

"IONIR!"

WATER IS MEMORY AND MEMORY IS WATER AND WATER IS MEMORY

Breaking free of their clash with a shriek of agony, Gretchen pointed her gun down towards the floor beneath Morgan's feet and blasted it apart with a single frenzied shot. Morgan plummeted out of sight, falling down into the next floor. There was a satisfying thump from down below.

But still, his words echoed.

IONIR IONIR IONIR IONIR IONIR

Pain drove a green dagger into Gretchen's mind, and she retched, spraying vomit across the floor. When she looked down at it, it was nothing but twigs and leaves and mulch. When she blinked, it was nothing but bile. Her orange Wisdom crackled around it.

This was some new ability of morgan nacht's. That was how his Wisdom abilities worked -- he had a whole damn alphabet of powers he was constantly developing. He'd developed some new ability that was messing with her head now. P for Psychic or something like that. Well, it wouldn't work.

She wasn't going to just stand there and let that happen.

She reached up and wiped the sweat from her brow with a trembling branch, breathing heavily. No matter what kind of Wisdom ability this was, if she destroyed the user, the ability would disappear too. She had an endless arsenal of weapons, while morgan nacht had a few footsteps left in his lifespan.

This wouldn't be a big deal.

Still wheezing, GRETCHEN HAIL cocked its shotgun.