Augmented Aspects: Chapter 168 Nothing Needs To Be Said (Patreon)

Chapter 168

Nothing Needs To Be Said

I awoke immediately, no slow gradual rise from the deepest depths of slumber. One second I was out, and the next my mind was fully awake, engaged, and pulling in details from miles around me.

There is always an adjustment period, part where my mind starts filtering out further away visual stimuli, to ultimately show me where I am currently.

Where am I?

Currently, I am under the covers of a patient table. My familiar, Zero, is passed out laying curled up over my feet. Like a long snake dog would. Feeling his weight, I realized a few things. First, my mind instantly tells me that I am laying down with my head facing towards the east, with my feet towards the west. I am on second floor of the Arcanarus Tower, and the tower itself has grown rapidly, as more and more residences and people have taken refuge in this city of the Crossroads.

While also being here, I feel the surge and pull of spirit energy running rampantly around and through me. I realize now that I can almost smell the different types of power, and this one particular fragrance smells like home.

The deeper I breathe, the more I feel a strange sense of calm wash over me.

Outside in the mortal realm, I feel constricted. I feel the need to constantly run, jump, and push myself and others as far as I can.

Here, I feel the sense of relaxation. I feel so isolated out here that I can almost feel that I can forget things. This is how I feel a cat would feel after consuming an adequate amount of catnip.

I am just calm.

Being here with Zero, I can feel his heartbeat on my legs. I can feel the way my energy flows through me, down my leg, into him, and then back into my other leg, circling once around my core, before repeating its process.

“Maybe I just need Zero to feel this calm.” I say to myself, speaking quietly so that I don’t disturb his slumber. He is so peaceful that I can’t help but feel his calm radiating from him into me.

“I’ve missed this,” I say, as I pass out once more, letting the worries of the day pass me by.

Darkness.

The images that I am able to comprehend and witness begin to wobble and wave out of focus for a moment.

“You’re back!”

A voice and intense weight press down on me as I am suddenly brought back to full wide-mind consciousness.

It takes me a second to realize that Zero is not only excited, but jumping off of me to stare me straight in the eyes.

As he stares at me, I realize he too now has three eyes.

“Did you?” I ask, peering at his third eye with my own third eye, that helps to limit everything I can see around me.

“Yes, we were eternally linked by the great one. As you progress so too do I.” Zero said, then tilted his head rapidly about to look me over. “You seem to have finally stabilized.”

“Stabilized?” I ask, trying to think back on what happened. I remember being in the desert, then here.

“Yes, for a moment your whole body was unstable. You were flickering in and out of consciousness, as you took on an almost golden hue. Fortunately, you…” At that Zero trailed off, suddenly realizing that he spoke too much.

“Fortunately, I what?” I ask.

Realizing that I wouldn’t let this go, Zero dropped onto my lap. One second, he was floating the way that certain spirit dragons do, then the next he curled up into a solid hundred-pound ball of coiled muscle right in my lap.

“Ooof.” I hiss, as his weight forces the air from my lungs.

Nuzzle, nuzzle.

Zero dug his long snout into my stomach and under my arm.

“Hey, that tickles.” I shot back, almost laughing from his squirming movements.

Sniff.

Zero takes in a deep smell of me that helps to calm his clearly racing heart. After three such breaths, he calms down, as if breathing into a paper bag, then once he is calm he uncoils his head from my arm and body and turns back to me.

Finally, after a long moment, he turned to me and began to speak.

“You almost ascended,” Zero stated, a note of sadness in his voice.

“I what now?” I asked.

“Ascended, moved on, whatever it is called when a spirit meets their final purpose, you almost did it,” Zero began, then pausing for a second to collect his thoughts he continued. “Fortunately, you had enough unfinished plans that you couldn’t ascend. That or your consciousness wouldn’t let you move on until you completed a few more tasks.”

Hearing this, I blinked all three eyes at Zero.

“All right, pretend I have no clue what you are talking about, and assume I can’t recall anything after arriving here.”

With that, Zero nods to himself, seemingly understanding of what I am going through.

“Okay, when you arrived, you were breaking apart. You had melded with an ancient form of magic, one that, I don’t know. I don’t think it was meant to still exist in this world, in this plane of existence.” Zero began.

“When you arrived you complained of tingling, and of losing consciousness. At which point I began trying to use not just my own healing but your own magic to heal you. The only problem was that there was nothing wrong with you. There was nothing to heal.”

Hearing this, I felt my breath catch, as I could feel Zero trembling from just recalling these events. With him being so close, I just held him.

“You saved me?” I asked, trying to see if I could recall any of this.

“No, quite the opposite actually, you saved me. I am your familiar, if you die, I die. Our lives are permanently intertwined, as you go, so too do I. I never realized just how much of a burden that was on you. How much you feared hurting me through your own actions.”

“What, how do you…” I began.

“Know? I merged with you. I had to, it was the only way to help stabilize your body, while your mind and spirit fought to separate from your body. Or maybe it was a matter of merging your spirit and mind, as you were close to calling it. I could even see the fact that you had the chance. That is what I think you realized the shard that you had really was. The fragment of the Mirror of the Dead isn’t what anyone thinks, but rather it is a way to claim instant nirvana for those that want it. Had you but chosen, you would have been gone to the great beyond, leaving me and everyone else behind.” Zero stated.

As he spoke, I do remember a bit more coming to mind. I remember the constant stream of voices coming in, talking to me and just telling me to let go. While I had awakened a bloodline Trait earlier that allowed me to interact with points in the past, I do remember the voices calling out to me, telling me to just relax and forget about everything. It had been so peaceful.

At that revelation, I remember just how peaceful I felt when I first awoke here. How much I felt that everything was okay, so long as I was here. While I had originally attributed that to being here, in a place that had been my home for close to six months, I realize now that there might have been more to that sensation, at least the way Zero is telling me.

“Okay, I think I might know what you are talking about, but how did I save you?” I ask, still missing this part of the equation.

“You stayed. You were given the chance to move on, to reach the highest state of rest imaginable and you stayed here for me.” Zero said as a myriad of emotions flooded between our bond.

“I mean, yeah, of course.” I say, not wanting to ruin the moment with the fact that I now feel really guilty for only having him as a final thought. Though to be fair, it was the thought of wanting to apologize to Zero that led me here in the first place.

“I know I wasn’t your only reason, but I was the one factor that you wanted to solve before you truly moved on. I could feel the loss from having had so many goals and plans near their completion that you could almost forgive yourself for moving on. Most of those tasks you figure will likely succeed even without you, but you are wrong there. That said, I was the most important thing to you there for a moment. Actually, I was the most important thing to you in the moment that counted. When you were drifting away, trying to merge into the eternal nothingness, I felt it. It was your thoughts of me that pulled you back. The fact that you absolutely wanted to, no the fact that you needed to apologize to me that pulled you back. That forced your mind to separate from everything else and it was your overwhelming will that ultimately forced your body to stabilize and come back to me.” Zero said, as a tear ran down from his third eye, down his snout and then off to the side.

Silence.

We both paused as we thought about what was said. I of course broke the silence with the first question that came to mind.

“So I take it, that with you cozying up to me, and having felt my mind you have forgiven me?” I ask, hoping that I might have dodged a bullet here.

“What, with you, heck no,” Zero states emphatically.

I pause, looking at him in complete slack jawed shock. “What?”

“You heard me. If your need for me to forgive you is the only thing keeping you here, then no. Gods no. A million times no. I won’t forgive you. You are going to need to do a lot to make up the level of hurt you have heaped upon me. Maybe even take me to the end of the worlds and back, up to the top of this tower and beyond. You name it, and it won’t come close to me forgiving you.”

Chuckle.

Hearing Zero, I can’t help but laugh at him. “Oh thank Gods,” I say as I hug him tightly, realizing that I have traveling buddy back.

“What, I mean it.”

“I know.”

“And you can’t leave me behind, not again.”

“I won’t.”

“Well good then.”

“Yes, it is good then, now that I have you back.”

His little chicken claw legs wrapped around me, as I held him tight. With this hug, at this moment, I realized just how much I missed Zero. I also realized that I might miss some form of physical contact.

We stayed like that for a moment, just holding each other and letting our energies cycle between the two of us. Being this close, I could feel the warmth of his soul radiating into and through my own soul’s energy. It was a nice warm calming effect that let me realize just how cold I had been earlier. I had been devoid of this contact for so long that I forgot what it felt like. I forgot that I was actually missing something until now.

“So what do we do now?” Zero asked.

With that, I smiled widely to myself as I realized my next few steps that would need to be taken. “First we complete something that is pretty epic.”

“Together?”

“Oh yeah, want to be my plus one in the mortal realm?” I ask.

“Sure? But might I ask what we are doing?”

“We are going to claim some fertile lands, and hopefully get a major quest completion bonus in the process for being awesome.”

“Okay, but I thought you wanted me to go with you up the Arcanarus Tower?”

“I do, and this is how we will do it.” I answer.

“By going from the Arcanarus Tower, to the mortal realm?” He asks.

“Yes, exactly.”

“Where you will claim land in the mortal realm?”

“Yes, don’t worry it is not me that is claiming the land, it is my guild.”

With that Zero just looks at me with a puzzled look.

“Okay?”

“Good, then we are off.” I say, while using one of my newest Traits Positional Teleportation.

As soon as the portal between realms opens up, I push Zero through. Then using Positional Switch, I switch places with my First Simulacrum that is still out in the middle of the desert that I had absconded to, in order to survive the rapture.

“Now all we do is,” I began by reaching out, grabbing Zero and Teleporting away.

Poof.

I Teleport, on to realize that yes the Teleport that I have is still a self-only teleportation Trait.

“Right.”

Poof.

I appear back by a clearly distraught Zero.

“What happened?” Zero asks.

“Slight change of plans. I am going to put you back with the First Simulacrum, while I teleport back to base, where I will then call you back to be by my side, while I finish up a few tasks.” I admit.

“Why do you need to finish up these tasks. Just teleport me to the place where the second simulacrum is, and I will meet you there.” Zero answered.

“No, that won’t do. I’ll teleport you to her, but I will still call you by my side while I finish up my quests. You and I are a team. Just not a traveling team, currently.” I admit.

With that, Zero thinks to himself for a moment, before finally giving his reply. “Okay, I trust you. But you will still send me to your second simulacrum, where you can either call me back to be by your side, or we can begin our trip up tower together.”

With that, I pause and realize that part of his words are due to an inherent fear that I might leave him behind.

“Okay, that sounds like a plan. And again, I will be right back.” I state trying to reassure him.

“Okay, I trust you. Just go out and get the milk from the store and you’ll be right back.” Zero jokes.

“Haha.” I reply sarcastically.

With that Zero’s face drops as he does appear to relax slightly. “I do mean it though, I do trust you to come back.”

Relief.

With that tension that I didn’t even realize I had erased itself from my back and shoulders. “Thank you, and I mean it, I will be right back for you.”

“Oh, I know. So long as you don’t come across a new quest, or skill, or Trait, so long as you met your workout goals for the day, or don’t see anything shiny on your way, you will be right back.” Zero states.

“Hey,” I state, but then realize that I can’t really do much more than feign indignancy at the remark.

Zero for his part just floats there vertically with his claws balled up into fists and resting against his waist, while shaking his head from side to side.

“Okay, that might mostly be true.” I responded, before he could say anything more, I once again used Positional Teleportation, and let Zero go through.

With that, we both stared at the rip in space that separated this desert from the library that was on the two hundredth floor of the Arcanarus Tower. We both paused as we looked at the sight of my second simulacrum sitting at a table reading quietly to herself.

Sigh.

Seeing my simulacrum living my best life, I could only stare on in envy, while Zero stared on with fear and regret pulsing within his body.

Hug.

“Don’t worry, I mean it, I will be back.” I state, while hugging the dragon from behind.

Squirm.

Within a second the tiny dragon has spun around to wrap me up in his own embrace, “okay.”

Then we hold that for a moment, before my simulacrum shouts out. “Do you mind, you are letting all the desert in.”

With that I pause to see that yes, a cloud of dust is in fact going from the desert into the pristine faerie library on the other end of the portal.

Chuckle.

“All right, I guess I should get going.” Zero states, breaking free of my embrace before turning towards the portal.

“I guess you should.” I reply.

Then with that Zero enters the portal, while my second simulacrum gives me a quick wink of her third eye, before a giant gust of wind blows all the dust out of the portal, right into me.

Pfft.

I cough as I try to get the taste of blighted sand out from in between my teeth, “bleh.”

Then by the time I am done with my task the portal between realms has been closed, and I am once again alone in the middle of a desert.

Focusing on the surroundings around me, I try to figure out where exactly I am, only to realize that my first simulacrum decided to randomly start traveling in odd directions on her own. I think this, as I realize I have no clue of where I was, nor which direction I was facing when I switched positions with my first simulacrum. With that I need to quickly find where I am, and then try to find my way back to our base.

“Gods, why do I leave myself unsupervised.” I state, as I turn about and choose a direction at random and begin trying to find anything that resembles a landmark that I remember. “Stupid hidden bases out in the middle of nowhere.”

And like that, my attempt to finish up a few small tasks began with nothing but success. At least, that is what I am going to tell others once I finally get out of here.