Chương 424: 424

Eliot scratched his chest, yawning, as he walked toward the kitchen. In walking to the kitchen, he walked by the living room where Isoko, Mark, and Sally were all talking about something that Eliot knew he should be a part of, but the gate had been damaged and about a hundred smaller requests were all 'Top priority! Right now!' and Eliot had been busy. But that conversation over there seemed important. What time was it anyway?

A glance at the wall, peering through the world and into the Castellan power that suffused the settlement. He learned a lot more than just the time." Ah, shit," Eliot said, stopping in his tracks in front of the fridge. Instead of cold water he grabbed a soda and then he plucked a bottle of high-quality no-sleep pills from the cabinet.

With a quick reach for an established protocol Eliot had already set up to scan everything in the house, constantly, Eliot saw that there were no tamperings with the pills, and just because Eliot was paranoid right now, he flicked a different protocol on, and then he Manipulated the scanners back to factory standard. The readout remained all-clear. No one had ever tried to poison anything in their house before… or at least not on purpose.

Most of the original issues with the settlement, like spreading parasites and whatever, were gone. But Eliot redid the scanners and otherwise every now and then, just to be sure. Eliot popped one of the pills, and then he had his clothes shift up from his room, onto his body, before he grabbed a screen off of the wall and turned his sight elsewhere. The world fell away into imagery and speed as Eliot directly Manipulated the latest news, compiled by Quark, into his brain.

It was like remembering something that he didn't truly remember. Kinda disorienting the first time he had ever done it, but now it was rote, and Eliot suddenly had a new pair of thoughts. Mark had done something. And also, 'Mark doing something' was becoming rote. Eliot felt weirdly floaty, like the world just didn't make sense anymore, as he walked into the living room and plopped down on his big seat.

Mark grinned at him, glad that he had showed up, but he didn't interrupt Isoko, who was excitedly going off about some Hero/Villain Program stuff toward Sally, and Sally was reluctantly agreeing without agreeing." I just don't see why we have to have some sort of… of crazy supervillain lair kind of… of whatever you're suggesting," Sally said, looking away. When she looked away, those who knew Sally knew that she had already lost the argument in her mind.

If Isoko kept pushing then Sally would just rebel, and Isoko knew that too, so Isoko sat back on the couch. Softer, Isoko said, "Maybe it doesn't have to be a supervillain lair for hopefuls. But we really should get back into the superhero business. It's a good look for us! It's less serious and a whole lot more poignant when we're out there on the shows instead of out there on news programs."" Would they even take us back if we did something like that?" Mark asked.

Isoko's demeanor crashed a little, the big question looming. She didn't know how to answer that. Eliot decided now was a good time to join the conversation. He asked, "Mark can really move around Bindings, huh? And you pulled Bindings out of fish? I didn't know fish even had Bindings… and actually, I'm rather sure they do not.

When I was in Citadel Hearthswell in Mexico City, a good chunk of training was focused on how to burn monsterized Bindings out of people and how to recognize monsterized Bindings, though they weren't called that until after I signed the Mage Society contract. After I did that they went over all the lessons again, and from a more solid basis of methodology." Eliot sat forward, asking, "I know fish do not have Bindings, Mark, so what are you actually doing out there?" Isoko and Sally looked unsure.

Mark easily said, "Addavein thinks that there's some sort of automatic translation happening between the dreams of fish and my dreamhouse when the fish comes into my dreamhouse. Empire witchery might be involved, too." Eliot was highly skeptical… but he thought for a moment, then said, "I don't know enough about all of that to make any judgments, so… I guess it could be true?" He asked, "The dreamhouse lets you fully manipulate anyone who enters it, doesn't it? Like your own private reality.

Like you're a god of your own dreamland?"" That's what Eria of the Central Spire said, so yes, I think that's exactly what's happening there. I certainly don't have anything special going on in the way of Skiller Powers, but there is a compounding effect between adamantium mana, Union transference, house capabilities, and whatever else might be happening to make it all happen." Mark was excited. Eliot was rapidly becoming less and less excited. Mark recognized that, slowly.

And then Eliot asked, "Is there contamination from the process?"

"… I'm not sure what you mean?" Mark asked, deflecting because he obviously didn't want to see the issue. Sally regained a great deal of that usual fire in her eyes, though, and Isoko winced. Eliot continued, "There's soul stuff happening here, Mark, between you and the fish. Those fish, those cows… Have you studied them, to see if they're different? I'm talking about Mind Control, or rather soul control.

Bindings make the person just as much as the person makes the Binding, and if you're changing the Binding, unwrapping it from a core memory and from the soul itself, and then putting something else into the space where the memory used to be, then you're mangling memories. You are changing the entity that you are Skilling. That's why Skillers are a profession with an extremely high level of oversight."

Lesser people would have balked at Eliot's harsh words, even though he had said them with as much of an even, non-judgmental tone as he could. Eliot certainly didn't think Mark was going to go out there and start truly hurting people, after all. But Eliot saw that Mark didn't see the possible damage to his own reputation, or to any of their reputations, that this Pandora's Box was threatening to imperil. People didn't like other people who messed around with other people's souls.

Necromancers who stuck to animals and whatever were one thing, but Necromancers who fucked around with humans? That was another thing entirely. True to himself, Mark didn't lash out. Mark asked, "How does Hearthswell deal with monsterization cleansing? Because it's kinda the same thing, right? Monsterization, burning out the monster with Castellan, Skilling, and this weird new thing I'm doing are all changing the Binding, which is a deep change in the person."

Eliot took a breath, and was glad that Mark went there instead of anywhere else he could have gone. Eliot said, "I don't know how the Skillers of Empire do it, but I know that no Castellan is allowed to touch a person's soul with Fire unless they have a lot of practice on monsters, and even then most people are not cleared for such an allowance, except in emergencies. In the Battle for Memphi, Hearthswell appeared to a lot of acolytes and commanded them to burn the monsters, which they did.

Most of the people did not survive that burning… and then they came back, so it was…" Eliot didn't want to remember the fields of burning bodies and the resurrecting people. It was a horror show. Mark never saw that, but Eliot had seen everything. Eliot came back to the moment, looked at Mark, and said, "Practice on some fish, or something. See if they actually live normal lives or if they've become 'humanized' or whatever, due to their brush with the mind of a human.

I don't know how it works for you at all, but one thing I was taught was to keep myself separate from the patient, and to burn away the problematic parts and to burn away anything that reached back, following my connection to their soul. Actually touching souls with another usually causes contamination in both directions." Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! Mark took Eliot's words to heart, thinking deeply.

And then Mark came out swinging in a completely different direction, catching Eliot off guard as he said, "That's why Outsiders are such a problem, aren't they. They contaminate and twist souls by their very presence, and their presence spreads fast and wide." Eliot groaned as Castellan Secrets flowed in the open air.

"Fucking hell, Mark." Mark kept hammering away, asking, "That's why some Outsiders, if you know of them, will come to you, because when you know about them their dream is inside of you, which is like them being there with you, which is why Castellan Fire works so well on them, and is indeed the only way to kill them. You gotta burn them out, and you gotta burn away whatever touches you, too."" I should have stayed in bed," Eliot said, staring at the ceiling now.

Mark wasn't worried nearly enough as he said, "I think having a house is like having a divine realm which is like having a System, which is why Nobody Important said that we couldn't turn the System off for even a moment, because then we'd be able to see those horrible things out there and they'd see us, and the contamination would spread and mutate us all," Mark said, "So it's good that you woke up. I don't think I'd understand the depth of the problem… but we're not going to go for the Reset Quest right now.

Not for years. Let's focus on the here and now." I need something to do between Gate Days, so I'm going to learn more of this Skiller stuff and help people become good monster hunters, at first. I'll have to make sure there's no contamination so I do want that fish tank… but later, Eliot. When we come back from the Winter Ball in Crytalis."

Mark said to Isoko, "And maybe we'll do some superhero stuff with some henchmen I elevate into 'villains', or something; whatever Crystal Tower needs so that we remain in their good graces." Mark said to Sally, "We'll have to go through the Chosen System and the organizations you're looking at, Sally." I hated it when I got that readout from the False Tutorial that I was going to Awaken to a basic Brawny. I know others have experienced the same feeling.

I don't want people to go to the demons, and I don't want people to go to Thrashtalon, but this world needs better defenders, and I want there to be another option besides the Chosen system, and besides the demons." I don't know how it'll happen, but I want to do this. I want to help people help themselves." Mark sat there, focused, eyes glancing from one person to the other. For a bare moment, Eliot felt like he was staring at a dragon. But there was no fear.

Just a light in the dark, illuminating the way forward once again. Eliot was the first to speak up, saying, "You know the risks, you know the threats… so okay." And then Eliot added, "I want you to figure out how to get me a house, too."" High on the list," Mark said, without missing a beat.

"Addavein and pretty much everyone in High Society is looking into it, too. That's part of the reason I was telling everyone about what I could do, as I did it. I don't know all of the secrets out there, but they do. So far, either no one knows about soulhomes and they're trying to find what they can find, or someone does know something, and everyone else is going to find that person for me." Eliot nodded a little… and then he said, "I've been looking, too, but… not quite so directly as that.

I didn't know that was part of the plot of releasing all this information? I thought it was like the Endless Daihoon videos, and people just needed to know." Isoko grinned.

"Look at you being all devious, Mark! I'm proud!" Mark scoffed, then said, "The Endless Daihoon video was so that no one could hide what happened to us out there; to give proof that we exist, and that we can change the world if we try.

This house stuff wasn't in that video, but you and Tartu wanted to know, and I wanted to know how it worked, and then one thing led to another and I got lessons from Reeni, and Addavein sends me videos now about experiments to try, and now I know why the System can't go down for even a moment. It's all connected. All knowledge is connected. Hiding this knowledge does no one any good at all, and does the opposite most of the time. People go to the demons for answers. Without the free trade of ideas then…"

Mark stopped himself, frowning.

"But Curtain Protocol exists for reasons, and knowledge makes monsters. It's all just so fucked up, guys. I want a better world than this one." Sally was suddenly focused as she said, "So we make a better world, one hero at a time." Isoko balked a little as she looked at Sally, asking, "You're okay now with HVP as the angle for all of this?" Sally said, "I still don't think superhero shows are the proper way to debut or handle this situation. Mark should only accept people who were accepted into the Chosen System."

Isoko countered, "The HVP vets everyone that comes into the Program, just like the Chosen system, but it's a lot softer, so a lot of people will go for it. And if we do this outside of the Chosen system, then Mark can instill non-Pantheonic Powers into people." Sally and Isoko got into it, talking about a Pantheon-backed system versus a HVP-backed system, and honestly Eliot thought that either of them would be fine.

Eliot spoke up, "The only concern I have with the Pantheon-backed system is that we have a lot of established protocols and capabilities with the Chosen-gifted Powers already out there, with most Chosen using a very small portion of the major set. All of the True Pantheonic Powers are too large to give to people not specifically Chosen by the gods, so if Mark solidifies those —which I think he shouldn't, from a pure security-focused standpoint— then what are we asking the gods for?

Are we asking them to Choose people, and then for those people to abandon them, and to take whatever Natural Power Mark gives them? That seems… icky, Sally. Like… morally abusive, or something." Sally looked a little crushed. Eliot hated when she looked like that, and especially when he was the one to cause that look, but… This was a big conversation, and Eliot wasn't sure he understood his own point of view right now, but he still had a POV.

Sally asked, "You're saying we should leave the gods out of it completely?"

"… I'm saying it's an emotional rollercoaster to involve the gods," Eliot answered.

"Maybe Drakarok would want to vet some people, and yeah, that should happen, but going through the actual Chosen System first seems… unwise— Okay! I realized what was bugging me. Bindings should not move as much as they would have to move if you had a person go through the Chosen System first. Burning away a bad Binding is not a good experience. Paladins that lose access to the Chosen system lose a grafted part of their soul, and that hurts." Eliot told Mark, "Sometimes paladins even die from being kicked out.

I'm not sure you could actually pull them apart without causing the same issue." Sally softly said, "Oh." Mark stood up, saying, "It's 4 AM. Let's end it there. We have 24 hours before we need to leave for the Winter Ball party in Crytalis. You all still want to go, right?" A round of 'yes' occurred, and soon Eliot was off for a work day at the factory where he made a bunch of complicated machines for other people's factories in the war district.

All the while, as he turned scrap and parts into working machines, as he answered emails, and as he spoke with some representatives of United Sapients on the phone, he thought about Mark's new capability. Eliot wanted a soulhouse, but he also wanted Resurrection. It was days like this that he deeply remembered the burning bodies of Memphi. … Maybe he should just learn necromancy. Maybe, if Mark pulled Necromancy out of a person and gave it to him… Eliot frowned at himself, and then he drowned himself in work.