choking-on-eternity

[choking-on-eternity]

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Take the role of a researcher's protector in the Mists. Engage in adventures in the fractals. Try to learn more about yourself. Get to know your lover. Vote in polls to determine your actions.

CoE is a fan work based on Guild Wars 2 lore. May contain headcanons. CW: death mentions (to be updated).

Hosted by @rostomanologist and @mystery-salad.

Art and writing by @rostomanologist. Characters by @rostomanologist and @mystery-salad. Guild Wars 2 by ArenaNet.

[choking-on-eternity]

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Your name is Octa.

You are a charr. You served for Ash Legion, were in the "elite" Star warband, helped it stay steady and strong. Fortunately, your guardian skills were more than helpful in that.

They called you Starhunter. You preferred Octa, though. Maybe, you prefer it now, too.

Perhaps, it was because of the detachment of your warband. Somehow you ended up serving krewes instead of legions.

Or this one particular asura. Ennyet. The one who claims to be your resurrector. You tend to believe her – there is no way you can feel this pain and still be alive and almost unhurt.

She didn't really talk about herself. Briefly, she reminded you your own name – turned out you forgot it almost completely. The same with biography. Yet somehow you remember all the terminology of the world around.

"You weren't the chatty kind," she admitted shyly. "That's all I know about you, aside from the fact you actually saved my life."

She was repeating this several times. Along with the "what would I do without you" exclamations. You scratched your head in answer. You don't know. You don't remember what you did.

Ennyet told you had yanked her out of a machine just in time - and sacrificed yourself for the explosion. It somehow had managed to not blow you to the smallest pieces, but you still had been "gruesomely bruised".

"It was awful to see you like that. As I came to senses, I knew what I must do."

"Scrape my brains outta floor?"

"Almost," she giggled, "but it wasn't necessary. I can see many of your parts regenerated, thanks the Alchemy. Its revelation... let's say, I could practice it right away."

"Huh."

She seemed nice, that Ennyet. You certainly don't regret saving her life, especially since she took you out of the other side after. You don't think you planned to die back then.

You thanked her, she thanked you, again. Sat in silence for a minute. Then you broke it.

"What's the revelation?" 

"Pardon me?"

"The revelation. You contacted this Alchemy of yours, right?"

"Ah, yes. Eternal Alchemy. You can say that. Though I wouldn't call it just a contact. A revelation, it is, and a greatest lesson of everything," she sighed.

"What did it teach?"

"The world itself."

Ennyet turned her head to you. Your eyes met, and you flinched a little. A weird sight: it felt like you looked at reflections of space, empty yet enigmatic, revealing nothing but two collapsing stars. These weren't the eyes of a living being. These were something celestial.

"Imagine all the smallest pieces of matter and information. Or these pieces so grand that they hold the whole cosmos and its eternity. And then all the connections between them. The Mists, Tyria, you and me, everything."

You obeyed, frowned, thinking, and grunted. Ennyet giggled again.

"Hard, right? Couldn't do it myself before the experiment. But now... now I don't even need to."

"You mean you now remember it or..?"

"I saw it all, Octa. I saw the whole cycle. All the variables. All the operations."

You scratched your head. "Doesn't really explain."

"It's because you have to see it yourself! Or at least have a guide. The second is actually possible, since I'm here, and you're with me!"

"Uh-huh."

"Besides, I saw the most important, the key cycle of life and death! How wonderful is that? The eternal connections between them, the possibility of replacing them with each other, the possibility of weaving the reality itself anew with that, the p–"

"Wait."

"Oh?"

"So that's how you resurrected me? You replaced my death with life or what?"

"Roughly speaking... I guess so, yes."

"Huh. And all of that thanks to the machine that conveniently exploded right into my face?"

"Don't forget about the years of research and calculations! And, well. The help of your fellow hirelings."

"What's with them?"

"They sacrificed themselves for the Alchemy."

"And you didn't resurrect them?"

"No. We had to enter the Mists after."

Her head drooped. You turned away a bit.

"They won't be forgotten."

"I don't remember them."

"We'll fix that," she said and turned, looking for something here and there. "I had a list somewhere..."

While she was ferreting, you finally noticed the scenery around. Myriads of stars were above, on the deep black sky, painted with the strokes of green, blue and red nebulae. They seemed to be under as well, as you were on a small island with nothing but you, Ennyet, and her lab equipment. Some particles of it were floating nearby. 

You decided to take a little walk to an edge of the island. It took you about twelve steps; when you reached it, you couldn't help but peek down the surface. Indeed, there was only the vast, vast space.

Your head started spinning. 

You stepped back and went to the other side. Peeked again: there were some more shores, though they looked desolate.

"Are these for experiments?"

"What?" Ennyet raised her head from the bags.

"The shores under us. They look like they can contain some specimens. And this surface," you tapped the ground with your foot, "is perfect for observation."

"I haven't thought about it yet. But let me see!" She ran to you, dropping everything, and you had to catch her – she could easily fall. 

She was so tiny in your arms.

"Thank you..." she whispered and looked down. "Yes, these look like a good place. Need a few portals for navigation, though."

"And fences."

"And fences."

She laughed. You smirked and put her down.

"What is this place, anyways?"

"The Mists! Well, one particular part of it. Rather small, I must say. I like to call it The Pocket."

"Have you been there before?"

"Not really. Maybe, for a short time. This one was an unstable structure, and, to be honest, this is my first actually successful attempt to enter it. But since the Alchemy is on our good side, it's safe to assume we can enter and re-enter it anytime."

"That's a long definition of residence."

"Perhaps!" She giggled again. "I don't wish to come back to Rata Sum in near future, anyway."

"What, are you a Mists' citizen now?"

"No, but we're here to explore them, aren't we? We have all the instruments now, and we can always come back."

"Didn't your machine explode?"

"It did, but it was to look into the Alchemy, let's put it like that. Which is more of a concept, and what I saw... It was the embodiment of all processes there. The Mists, however, consist of very much palpable spaces. We can visit them, we can touch them, we can explore and experience them, so we don't really need the machine anymore. What we need, however..."

"Portals to navigate."

"Indeed."

"We could use a mesmer for that."

"Not necessary. Mesmers travel through space mostly, even though some can also jump through time. We need to traverse through both. Which is totally possible! I used to work with Dessa's research, she is all about fractals... Borrowed some ideas, too."

"And?"

"And while you were snoozing, I created a prototype. Used some already existing portal technologies, added chronometers and position sensors, glued a Mists-bound signal receiver..."

"Uh."

"...linked some of the signals just for a test, mostly from the Thaumanova fractal, and... Oh, wait."

She ran to one of the tables, took a small, neat device and jumped back to you, holding it in the air proudly.

"And voilà! A mobile portal generator. Since most of them are stationary. Take a look!"

She took your paw and put the device into it. It was a small octahedron divided into two pyramids; a little strip of light was shining between them. You could see some dim glyphs, a few buttons, but you didn't really get how to use it. Probably only other asura would understand such a gadget.

"Do you like it?"

"It's... impressive," you muttered. "How does it work?"

Ennyet cheered up even more, took a breath...

"Briefly," you added.

"Oh."

You gave her the generator back. She twisted it in her hand and hummed, thinking.

"Briefly, you say... Huh. Imagine the Mists as an elaborate tapestry. Every tapestry is embroidered with threads, right? You can see them. I saw them. Especially you can see them if they are a bit damaged, look out from the whole tapestry. You pull these threads and they move, revealing their exact position in it."

"Okay..."

"If we talk about the Mists... The generator finds and takes hold of these threads, so we can safely pull them. Then it creates a portal, using a small damage in the fabric of reality of this place, and we can jump there."

"How do we know which thread we jump on?"

"We choose them! As this good boy is aligned to Thaumanova fractal right now, we can see coordinates and exact time of the moment we are visiting. Think of it like the length and color of a thread. Here we have, for example, two threads. We don't know exactly what is happening there yet, only the measures. One is red and long..."

"And the other is yellow and short."

"Apparently. One might be rather safe for us, away from the center of catastrophe, and the other could be the exact moment of explosion. So there is a choice. And we can see what we chose."

Ennyet turned one of the sides of the device. It hummed quietly, glowing in two said colors, and started to float above her fingers.

She looked at you, excited and eager.

[choking-on-eternity]

Wake up.

Wake up, dearest.

Something gently pats your muzzle. Something... very small.

You open one eye.

"You're here! With me!"

A soft, jolly voice greets you. It seems vaguely familiar, yet you can't understand why.

"Ah, what a relief!"

You open the other eye. Squint. Frown a bit. Someone's small body is sitting on you. You barely remember what kind of a creature this is.

An asura. A very, very happy asura.

You try to greet them back, but all they can hear is a squeak, followed by a quiet groan of pain. You suddenly feel everything aching, as if something blew away right in front of you, bursting your chest and limbs apart, tearing up your face...

It gets a bit harder to breathe. Not because of the weight – your companion was too light, - but of the memory. Perhaps, the only one memory you feel you have.

Something definitely has exploded here.

"Oh my," the asura jumps off you, "you're probably experiencing some phantom pain.'

You grunt weakly.

"Don't worry. It'll pass. Your wounds are healed."

They hug you with their little arms and give you a light peck.

"I made sure of it."

You sigh. Something's buzzing in your head, but you can't exactly realize what. Feels like you forgot all the words... It is hard to even understand what the little one is babbling about. But you bet you feel safe with them. At least for now. 

They say you need some rest. They are going to bring you something. Give you water. Try to cover you with something resembling a bug-sized blanket. Find some food.

You don't really listen, though. Your body feels heavy, immovable; even though you're not dying right now, all your lifepower, it seems, is enough only to breathe. You really, really want to sleep.

And it's not like you can resist.

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