Societal Solipsism - Prologue A: Duskside Query
Dawnside Quay, Rata Sum
83 Scion, 1329 AE
"Watch it! Last I checked, we weren't running on seawater!"
"If you ever want to see the surface after this, I suggest you reconsider your docking position."
"What genius' idea was it to fit so many charr ships in an asuran port? This is like using pre-dragonrise golemantic neural arrays in a modern-"
Beneath the dark sky of a new moon, voices volleyed back and forth between groups of testy asura working the harbour. Scraps of neon light poured from the luminescent crystals powering a small army of golems, illuminating the iron hulls of the semi-submerged ships lining both sides of the overstuffed pier. The more standard wooden ships that generally trafficked the area had all been relocated to Antidawn Anchorage in the west, their owners easily persuaded by large sums of gold. Redundantly, the same mysterious benefactors had issued whispered threats to ensure that even Antidawn would be unused that night.
The far northeastern edge of the dock, crowded against the rock walls rising up towards the basin above which the city cube of Rata Sum proper floated, was filled with stacks of wooden crates. These were enchanted against water damage and were to replace any crates that were damaged at sea. Any worker would have been intimately familiar with the crates and how to log their use: far less so with the charr and human huddled behind them, hidden from the watchful eyes on the dock's main stretch.
"Those are Iron Legion subs, only the Pact is authorized to be using that tech! Ready to admit that I was right?"
Even while whispering, charr voices were incredibly deep. It was only recently that spending time around Liberius had made comfortably parsing the deep, gravelly, rumble second nature for Hisoka. The Canthan sighed in response, "So, they're using something similar. Asura worked on the Pact's models too, maybe someone…leaked the designs?"
"Everyone knows it's never that simple with the Inquest," Liberius grumbled, brushing his mane out of his eyes, "this is just the tip of the iceberg."
"That's what you said about Gallowknot."
"Yeah, and I was right then, too!"
Hisoka rolled his eyes and turned his attention back towards the docks. The Inquest were being suspicious, but he would be a much richer man if he had a silver for every time that was the case. "Inquest moving cargo in the dead of night, under mysterious circumstances. What makes this time special?"
Liberius swished his eyes back and forth. They had already made sure that they would not be seen, of course, but habits were habits for a reason. "Promise not to tell anyone?"
"I never do."
"So, I was doing the usual, listening in on the stuff around me-"
"You mean eavesdropping."
"Intelligence gathering! And I overheard a couple of the little rats babbling about the Ring of Fire. I didn't hear much more, but that should be enough to tell you they're up to no good. Nothing good ever comes from there." Liberius shook his head, undoing any effort to keep the unruly strands of his mane from covering his eyes. "If they got the gate open…"
"Wasn't the Door of Komalie buried by a volcanic eruption centuries ago?" Hisoka asked, trying to get Liberius back on track. The charr was prone to getting carried away by his own thoughts.
"Sure, centuries ago. But the place is teeming with magic and has been reshaped by more eruptions. Did you know that the landscape has skulls? Skulls! They say it's the influence of being so close to the Realm of Torment."
"I'm honestly surprised they haven't been poking around there before now. Historically-important, magic-rich, island chain connected to a nightmarish god realm? That sounds right up their alley."
The charr animatedly nodded, taking only minimal care not to let the tips of his horns be seen over the stack of crates. "Exactly! Which is why it's so bad that they're looking at it now! The Aetherblades are still in the Mists-"
"Oh, not the Aetherblades again."
"-and the Inquest helped them out! We could be looking at a full-scale invasion from the Mists, if we let them build bases out there! An army of revenants, attuned to history's greatest-"
"Okay, okay, fine. Let's just say you're right — which I'm not — what do you plan to do about it, why are we sitting behind boxes?"
"I'm glad you asked," Liberius answered, shifting gears. He pulled his backpack off, opened the flap, and shoved a paw inside. When he pulled it back out, it was holding a small red servitor golem branded with the Inquest's symbol. He set it down on the ground, stuck his paw into one of the nearby crates, and grabbed a small crystal.
"You're going to need to explain this one, this isn't helping."
"So, Rata Sum only deals with shipments that have these data crystals, right? They're pretty convenient: you can rewrite what's on them to quickly tell what's in any given crate, where it's supposed to go, you name it," Liberius explained, while he gave the crystal to the golem.
"But there's a reason the Black Citadel doesn't use them. Way too easy to hijack. All we've got to do is use these spare ones they keep lying around, swap it for one of the ones they're using, and their manifests'll show the crate as an error. Odds are, they'll dump it over here for now, and we can look through it," the charr continued, before pushing the golem on its way. Amidst all the other golems on the dock, this one was almost certain not to draw any attention.
While they waited, Hisoka whispered, "Why is this so important to you? It's not like they're going after you, or anything. Is this really about a Mists invasion? I mean, the Aetherblades have been out there for years without causing any real trouble."
Liberius' growl wasn't hard to hear over the waves lapping against the dock. "The Titans came from there, and I can't just sit by and let them stir that viper's nest again."
"But Abaddon's gone, the titans are just demons now. Nobody's pulling the strings anymore, and the High Legions have renounced them as gods anyway."
"Look, it's just…"
Silence fell again, interrupted only by the occasional irate outburst from the asura dockworkers. Neither spoke, bound as much by one another's hangups as their own.
The golem tottered back with the alternate crystal, breaking the moment.
"Why do you need the other crystal? Couldn't you just dump it into the water?" Hisoka asked.
This was met with a shrug and a mischevious twist in the corner of Liberius' lip. "Next time I won't need to steal an extra one."
Hisoka smiled, shook his head, and the two waited.
It took the dock workers some time to get to the crate in question: a small, square, metal affair on the periphery of the larger piles being loaded onto the submarine. After a few brief arguments, a golem carried the crate over and deposited it with the spares. The duo waited a few minutes before surreptitiously pulling the box behind the stack.
All it took to pry the box open was the swish of a claw, and the bulging of a few fur-covered muscles. The box's lid was quietly set down upon the dock's stonework, revealing a black, rubbery, cloth, wrapping the parcel's true package. Liberius grabbed it with less care than it deserved, tossed the cloth aside, and looked at the stone bar in his paw. Intrigued, the charr scraped his claw across the rune marking one cap of the cylinder and his face was illuminated as the display engaged. Neon light extended from one line on the cylinder until it had formed a rectangle, upon which were various documents.
Liberius' amber eyes ate the knowledge up greedily, sweeping across the information at his disposal. Excitedly, Liberius brought his thumb to the tablet, swiped it across, and-
[Enter Access Code]
The beep was met with a grunt, and a second futile attempt to move the screen's view.
"Look, that's not going to get you anywhere. At least you have—" Hisoka gestured at the information already on the screen. " —that. Anything useful?" Doubt had crept into his voice.
Liberius looked it over, properly taking in the words, "Just some equipment manifests…something ranting about Arah, that could be interesting, and 'draconeural interfacing', whatever that is. If we can get it to someone…" the charr trailed off, already planning several fragile steps ahead.
"Hello back there! It's quite alright, you can come out: you're no threat to us," cried the sweetly crooning voice from the other side of the crates.
Liberius looked at Hisoka apologetically, but the human just shook his head. He had agreed to come along after all, even if the errand was misguided. Still, Liberius shoved the closed rod into a pants pocket and went first, leaving Hisoka kneeling behind the stack of shipping containers. He was greeted by a widely-smiling asura with her arms held calmly behind her, and the bulk of a looming golem lending far more force to her otherwise pleasant demeanor.
"Good choice. Now, hand over the tablet, and you'll be free to enter intense questioning about the extent to which you understood the information you gleaned, and then spend the rest of your life in prison," the asura stated, with only a momentary glint of her teeth belying the glee she would get from sentencing him to indefinite jail-time.
In the face of such intense condescension, wasting more of her time was the very least Liberius could do. "…tablet?"
"Oh, of course! You're a charr, my mistake. The little stick? Hand it over. We saw your golem come back here. I'm assuming you were bright enough to get the box open, after all." The asura took a step to the side, never breaking character. Without verbal command, her golem raised its right arm and extended it forwards. "This you should be familiar with, though. Really, firearms adapted into the hands of golems are much more efficient than wielding them the old-fashioned way. You can keep the gunpowder supplies on hand, quite literally."
"You're using guns? Why not just stick with lasers?" Liberius asked, genuinely curious: wasting time was only his secondary priority.
This was met with a shrug. "Our boss wanted us to broaden our horizons. So, we are! Now then, the rod?"
There was no use beating around the bush. Liberius gave his reflection, rippling in the dockside waters, a brief sigh and held the rod out. "Yeah, I have it. Didn't see anything interesting, though."
"We'll be the judges of that. Or, more accurately, our judges will. Now, hand it over."
Liberius thrust his paw out over the water. "That cloth was waterproof, right? So you don't want this thing getting wet."
Placidity rolled off the asura's face like rain slicking off an enchanted coat. "Says the one without a massive gun. Trust me, the information on that tablet isn't so critical that your threat holds any weight."
"I'm not feeling very trusting. If it weren't important, you'd just shoot." Liberius smirked, puffing his chest out.
"Interesting hypothesis, charr. TURMIN-8? Shoot him."
Liberius closed his eyes, heard an explosion, and felt heat blast his face. After a few moments, he felt that death was going on far longer than he had expected and was quite a bit less painful, so he opened his eyes to look at the burning dock.
The place where the gunpowder-filled golem had once stood was now a crater in the stonework, filling rapidly with metal-tainted water. The nearest sub had taken a hit to the back of its hull and was swiftly sinking. Clouds of smoke struggled to move freely against the barrier of blue shimmering light hanging in the air by the dancing, sparking, pieces of golem energy cores. Purple crystalline fragments popped on the stone dock and sizzled upon making contact with the water. A loud pop from below shot scalding steam up into the air as another unstable piece exploded.
Hisoka grabbed Liberius' arm and pulled him towards the stairs leading to the asura gate. "Come on! We've got to get out of here, they're hardly paying attention to us now."
Liberius' combat instincts kicked in, and he rushed towards the gate, holding Hisoka by the hand. The human struggled to keep up but managed not to trip on the way, which he considered a success. The pair made it through the gate unaccosted: luckily for them, some mysterious benefactors had ensured the docks would be unused that night, so there was very little foot traffic anywhere near the other side of the gate.
"Quick work with the Wall of Reflection, there," Liberius complimented.
Hisoka straightened his shirt and brushed a bit of stray stone scrap from his sleeve. "It's all in the timing, really. That and the will to protect."
Liberius felt like his chest was about to explode. Wordlessly, he placed his paws on Hisoka's shoulders, dipped his head, and kissed him for several seconds.
"Not that that wasn't lovely," Hisoka panted after several seconds, for reasons unrelated to smoke inhalation, "but we should probably make ourselves scarce."
Liberius nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, let's do that. There's a place I know in Lion's Arch…"
~~~
Interlude: Logan Thackeray
Seraph Headquarters, Divinity's Reach
45 Zephyr, 1330 AE
Logan looked up from his desk and the belongings he had been pulling from it, at the sound of footsteps on the stairs leading up from the jail cells. Marta stepped into view, yawned, and made to step out of the office.
"Just a moment, if you would." Logan requested.
Marta stepped before the desk, position somewhat casual. Logan had generally been kind, barring a few exceptions after run-ins with a former guild mate. Her thoughts went to the cheap paper in her hands, trying to recall what he had said of those meetings.
"With this new position, I just wanted to take the time to commend your service. You have consistently been…Marta, what's that you're holding?" he asked, unable to ignore her eyes flicking down to what she was holding.
"Oh, this? I picked it up from an asura vendor in the Eastern Commons. It's, um…" her voice trailed off as her cheeks turned red.
Logan Thackeray took the rolled up magazine from Marta and set it upon his desk. It was thin, only thirty pages or so, and the paper felt cheap. The colouration was far from ideal, but it did what it needed to do. In a title font squished against the top of the page, it proclaimed itself 'Talk of Tyria', but this played second fiddle to the real highlight of the piece: illustrated images of himself and Rytlock, above which had been written 'THE PASSION THAT TORE DESTINY'S EDGE APART - AND PUT IT BACK TOGETHER?"
Logan said nothing. By the fifth minute, Marta considered herself excused, and let herself out of the office.