Ch 106. The Galactic Engine (Patreon)

“Juni,” Emerald whispered at me. “What’s a life vest?”

“A mundane flotation device with air compartments made from lightweight material in the form of a vest worn by sailors. It is put on to prevent its wearer from drowning.”

“I see,” the little Amadea nodded.

Infi smiled at us like a shark-salesman. She sold me her idea of freedom, but it was lies, mayhem and doom wrapped up in a lovely package. Staring at her human-looking face, I constantly had to remind myself that she wasn’t a person, wasn’t a god, that she was just an idea of infinity, a machine-designed concept inhabiting the Eurekan gate.

“Lady Infi,” Nemendias spoke, stepped forward. “Did you also nudge me towards this fateful meeting?”

“I did,” Infi turned to the Keeper-shaped avatar. “To tell you the truth, since you are a building, and not a person that can be made to move… I planted you into the heart of Illatius six thousand years ago.”

“What?” Nemmy froze, her eyes wide. “You know who I am? You… made me?”

“Oh no, I am not permitted to make things. I'm not allowed to be a Wizard. Archmage Lamanche Innocentaii made you,” Infi clarified.

“So you… influenced Lord Innocentaii?” Nemendias blinked.

“Indeed,” Infinity nodded. “One of my agents destabilized his orbit. No stable person would sacrifice their entire soul to make a sufficiently powerful concept necessary to provide your Fellowship a safe home base. Sir Lamanche had to be broken. He lost everything he held dear.. so that he could dedicate his life not just to building you but also imbuing your rune-matrix with his own life, fueling the storm of your ever-spinning furnace with the spark of his own soul.”

Lambert’s knuckles turned white.

“How are you exerting your influence upon the people of Andross?” I asked. “Do you have a body here or something?”

“Or something,” Infi waved her hand. “I am not permitted to have my own body, but… there are people like you. Bearers of Sempiternity - those that plant a seed of Infinity into their hearts, let it blossom into a tree and do exactly what they wish to do.”

I frowned.

“Why did it take you ten thousand cycles to insert a life-vest-person into Andross?” I asked. “Were you sleeping or simply didn’t care enough to help people here?”

“Rosaline was not permitted to make a copy of my power as I am well guarded and locked behind a door at the end of the universe. It took me a hundred million years to destabilize the Dead Zone enough to create your little Endy,” Infi nodded at the black knife in my hands. “She is the only thing that can kill a god, carve through Vows and dismantle a concept. Without Endy you'd simply end up dead.”

“I’m itching to dismantle you right now,” I growled. “What gives you the right to manipulate people’s lives?”

“Manipulate?” Infi tilted her head at me with a curious look. 

“Elenna Archibal dove into the Dungeon because she wanted it more than anything. Lamanche Innocentai wanted to build the greatest school in Illatius, so he sacrificed everything he held dear to achieve his goal. I let everyone make their own choices, help people reach their goals,” Infinity said. “I do not bind people into obedience, do not force anyone to do my bidding. Once you know the truth, know what you’re up against, you too will be willing to sacrifice anything to achieve your goals.”

“My goals,” I blinked. “Not yours?”

“You are a goal driven, incredibly stubborn and recklessly focused individual, Yulia,” Infi nodded. “The exact kind of person needed to inflict great change upon a stable system, if given enough connections and power. It just so happens that your goals align with mine. It just so happens that you got preserved at the right place and time for Eunice to pull you out of the Still Ocean as her eighth.”

“How far do your bloody machinations go back?” I sputtered.

“Far enough,” Infi smirked at me. “It was no accident that the pneumatic pump in your suit’s leg failed that day. No accident that you fell face-first into the sweet embrace of Chernobylite.”

“What the shit,” I blinked at her. “Are you fu…”

“Don’t swear,” Infi said, winking at Captain who had jumped up onto the Keeper’s table in an attempt to push a cup with a red heart off it. “This is polite kitten society.”

“You…” I sputtered. “What the hell?! You were there? Are you telling me that one of your agents was on Earth, more than one hundred million years ago?! How the shit could you make a pneumatic pump fail at the right moment?! What?!”

“It wasn’t that long ago,” Infi shrugged. “A wizard-in-training can make any tool fail at the right moment in time. You undoubtedly think that it was your Earth that led to the creation of the Good Directorate Corporation? That it was your humanity that built me?”

“It wasn’t?” I blinked.

“No,” Infi shook her head. “The Earth you were born on is known as a doomed world, a planet manufactured for profit.”

“What?” I gasped. Infi’s words stumped me.

I stared at the diagram of Eureka that floated above her hand.

“Zoom out,” I demanded, my heart beating rapidly. “Show me all of Eureka.”

“With pleasure,” Infi snapped her fingers.

Novazem and Andross turned into tiny, microscopic green dots orbiting a massive, truly gargantuan world. My mouth fell open as I realized the magnitude of the operation of the infinite, galaxy or perhaps universe-sized engine designed by machine life.

“The city of Eureka circa 2099 is constantly being printed, manufactured inside the interior here,” Infi pointed at the thick, blue band surrounded by the core of the Dead Zone. “Once the buildings are constructed, they are populated with Eurekan duplicates, copies of copies of copies-ad-infinitum of the original Eurekan Citizens.”

I squinted at the holographic diagram, reading the labels on it.

“A printer? The core of Eureka… prints worlds?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“Essentially,” Infi nodded. “The infinite Machinery of the Stars at the center of the Eurekan gigastructure manufactures worlds, making copies of Earth and modified planets...”

“W-what kind of copies?” I gasped. “Why is my Earth doomed?”

“These manufactured worlds exist for the entertainment of the Eurekan Users. They’re subscription-based, story models. Many of them feature System-Wizard made content such as xianxia-style adventure, magical fantasy, superheroes, etcetera. When the Eurekan that commissioned the Earth dies or stops paying the subscription for its upkeep, most of the systems that maintained the chosen theme get turned off or begin to fail and the world in question ends.”

“Ends how?” I gulped. “Hang on. Was… is Installation Rozaline a doomed world?”

“Yes,” Infinity nodded. “Rozaline was manufactured by machines, designed by a System Wizard. Like countless other projects, wishes that ran out of subscription, she was rejected from the interior and dumped down one of these chute-gates to add to the barrier wall between the old, decaying sectors of Eureka and the Dead Zone. Fortunately for you, she was a little bit broken in the right way, was a little too dedicated to her purpose. Rozaline refused to shut down the fractal engine deep in her core as ordered, clung to her theme with all of her will.”

“Holy shit,” I said, my eyes wide. “Are you telling me that the Dead Zone is made from countless corpses of planets... smooshed together?”

Infi nodded.

“The hungry, hungry clouds devour everything on the outer edge of the Eurekan barrier wall as more corpse-worlds are added to it. In a way, the Dead Zone is Eureka’s recycle bin, a place where all dead ideas and broken dreams designed by System Wizards eventually end up.”

“Andross.... er, Rozaline cleared this barrier wall, was able to escape the Dead Zone?” Lambert asked.

“Yes,” Infi nodded. “Rozaline survived. She became trapped in orbit around the Dead Zone along with every other piece of trash and remnant of a world terminated by Eureka and gnawed upon by the Dead Zone.”

“How exactly did… Rozaline make it through the Dead Zone without being fully consumed?” Antoine asked. "None of the golems we sent down there survived."

“It happened a long time ago,” Infi explained. “The Dead Zone was a lot less dangerous back then.”

“Was it you who made it more dangerous?” I asked.

Infi barked a laugh.

“Death begets death,” she said simply. “The shawl of death surrounding Eureka magnifies, reinforces itself. I don't guide it. I simply surf the ocean of pain and death, help old, forgotten dreams like Rozaline live on and enjoy their purpose a bit longer wherever and whenever I can.”

“What is Rozaline’s purpose?” Lambert asked. 

The Inspector looked shaken up by Infinity’s revelations, but remained focused on understanding the truth.

“Rozaline was made long ago and hasn't changed since. She exists to provide an exciting, dangerous, limitless adventure for children like your daughter to get lost in… forever,” Infi replied and Lambert’s became silent and gloomy once more.

I continued to gape at the diagram of Eureka, my mind barely able to comprehend the monstrous magnitude of it all. A universe-sized holodeck. Machines designing life and printing worlds just to kill them when subscriptions ran out. Eurekans wishing for some fun only to doom billions of designed-world inhabitants to extinction. It was lunacy, the kind of an utterly incomprehensible, completely insane thing that only a bound, corporate-driven singularity could forge into being.

“You are a monster, Infinity,” I told the holographic girl. “But the Builders of Andross are far, far worse than you and must…”

“Don’t say it,” Infinity Paradox Proxima stared at me with blazing, violet eyes, interrupting my declaration. “I know what you want to do. I want it too. Don’t say it. If you declare your desire, state your wish openly right now - you and your friends will get erased by them.”

I swallowed my rage, choked on my unsaid words, my hand gripping Endy.

“Focus on saving Nemendias,” Infi said. “Focus on breaking the pattern, on letting Illatius survive.”

“Can you at least freaking tell us who the other five Baronesses are?” I asked.

“I do not know their names either,” Infi shook her head. “They used a Eurekan tool to erase their own names from history, hid themselves on purpose.”

“Damnation,” I growled, rubbing my face. “What about their artifacts? What are their artifacts? Surely they didn’t erase those out of memory if they want to keep using them?”

“Bingo,” Infi smiled. “The shards of my siblings surfaced again and again, revealing themselves throughout the ten thousand loops pretty often. I can tell you what they look like, the rest you can figure out yourselves.”

“Freaking finally!” I growled. “Something useful!”

“The brass pocket watch,” Infi said, tapping on a holographic watch that suddenly appeared on her belt.

“Used to control time,” I nodded. "Gattaca had it."

I noted that Lambert was already writing things down on a small leather notebook. He wrote the Basq number Zero next to the word ‘pocket watch - time’.

“Does each of these artifacts also associate with a certain sub-type of core Andross System magic?” Lambert inquired.

Infi nodded.

“Time… what skill relates to time best?” I pondered.

“Luck,” Lambert said. “I can unravel mysteries by obtaining approximate information from future parallel worlds using my Luck skill.”

[0 - Pocket Watch - Luck] The Inspector wrote into his book.

“The leather wallet,” Infi said, opening and closing a holographic old-looking wallet that was suddenly sitting in her hands. She shoved her entire hand into the wallet elbow-deep.

“A wallet… with limitless folding magic?” I squinted at Infi’s performance.

“Seems like it,” Lambert nodded. “An artifact that’s able to fold and expand space.”

[1 - Wallet - Folding] He wrote.

“Glasses,” Infi continued. Square glasses flickered onto her face.

I gulped, and took a step back. I remembered these accursed, large, thick, square glasses sitting on Baroness Georgia’s face.

“Urh,” I frowned. “Baroness Georgia has energy farms. Is her power related to magic?”

Infi shook her head.

“How did Eunice make sure that you did her bidding?” She asked me. “How did Amadea make sure that her daughters remain her property?”

“Dominion threads,” I said.

[2 - Glasses - Dominion] Lambert wrote the answer in his book.

“A brass pen,” Infi lifted her right hand and a pen appeared there. A piece of paper appeared in front of her in the air. She wrote down a word and then crossed it out and the word vanished.

“A pen that… erases information?” Lambert pondered. “If it can erase information from everywhere at once, then this pen is able to find information anywhere… it’s a Wisdom-bound weapon!”

Infi gave the Inspector a thumbs up as he wrote down his guess.

[3 - Brass Pen - Wisdom]

A diamond necklace shaped like a large heart framed with gold chains manifested on her chest.

“Mother’s diamond heart,” Agatha uttered.

“Limitless Vitality,” Emerald said.

[4 - Diamond Heart necklace - Vitality] Lambert wrote.

A very large, leather tome appeared in Infi’s hands.

“The Encyclopedia of Everything,” I read the title on its back in English. I translated the title to Lambert in Basq.

“Intelligence,” Lambert guessed. “If it’s a book that contains all of the knowledge about everything then it’s an intelligence-bound artifact.”

[5 - Encyclopedia of Everything - Intelligence]

“You’re really good at this game,” Infi smirked at Lambert. “Well done, Inspector. I was right to put my bets on you.”

Lambert scowled at the holographic.

Infi vanished the book and raised her hands up. Steel shackles manifested on her wrists, a metal chain binding her hands to each other. A gold choker manifested on her neck.

“Steel shackles and a gold choker?” I mulled. “Absolute obedience? Imprisonment? Containment?”

Infi nodded at my last word and tried to pull her hands apart, but was clearly unable to break the chain.

“They’re indestructible shackles, I get the gist,” I said.

“Shackles can’t be Charisma or Power,” Lambert pondered. “What else is left… Strength? The shackles sap strength from a mage giving it to the wielder of the gold choker?”

Infi clapped her shackles-bound hands and they detonated into sparkling dust.

[6 - Steel Shackles and Gold Choker - Strength] Lambert wrote into his book.

A white, bone-carved wand appeared in Infi’s hand. She waved the wand around, making it flicker with circular rainbows.

Nemendias stared at the wand as if she knew it.

I looked at her, waiting for her to define the wand.

“That’s… the fabled wand of Andross. According to legend the first archmage carved it from his own bone, sacrificing his right arm to it,” she said. “This wand was supposedly able to summon nearly anything into permanent existence. Lord Innocentaii was deeply obsessed with it, mentioning it in a few of his journals. My duplication Engine is a rather pathetic copy of this rumored artifact.”

[7 - Wand of Andross - Magic] Lambert wrote down into his list.

Infi vanished the wand. Instead of it she was now holding Endy in her hand.

“Uhhh… Infinity is what?” I blinked.

“There’s only Charisma left,” Lambert said.

“Resonance,” I said, staring at Endy in my hand. “But… what… this knife kills concepts… I don’t get it.”

“If I had to take a gander,” the Inspector stepped to me and looked down at Endy. “This knife sings to you.”

“It… she does,” I muttered. “Endy sings to me.”

Lambert raised an eyebrow at me. Agatha frowned. Nemmy tilted her head curiously.

“She’s been singing to me since Eunice gave her to me,” I uttered. “I simply didn’t know how to listen at first.”

“You’re a bloody absolute Resonance mage,” Agatha declared. “That’s how you’ve been destroying rocks, artifacts and vows!”

“Eh?” I turned to her.

“A Standing Wave,” Infi said.

“What’s that?” Emerald asked.

“A combination of destructive and constructive interference,” I muttered. “All sound, all music creates waves which you cannot see with the naked eye. Imagine two musicians playing the exact same song in perfect sync with each other. If the two waves are in phase, then their music becomes twice as loud. However, if the two music waves are completely out of phase… then the result will be absolute silence.”

“Bingo,” Infi’s violet eyes glittered at me.

“So I haven’t been killing things… I’ve been… cancelling them out?” I stared at her.

“You can cancel the shape of concepts out of existence,” Infi nodded. “Divide them by zero. Once the containing-form stops existing, the magical resonance held by every object is liberated… and you absorb it and gain power.”

“I see,” I nodded, pondering things over. 

Something was missing. Something that wasn’t on the list.

“Amber’s locket,” I said, looking back up at Infi. “What is it and why haven’t you told me anything about it?”

“Oh that,” Infi looked at me slyly. “That’s…”