#Bellum eventually reaches a breaking point though

[morimess]

FILL ME UP

POUR ME OUT

WASH HER NAME OUT OF MY MOUTH

I AM READY TO BE CLEAN

BURN MY LUNGS AND SHE WAS GONE

LONG BEFORE THE LIGHTS WENT ON

GOD I HOPE SHE'S DONE WITH ME

DO YOU BEG?

DO YOU PRAY?

TELL ME HOW YOU GET AWAY

FROM THE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD

I AM LOST

I'VE BEEN DONE

LONG BEFORE THE LIGHTS WENT ON

SOMEONE PLEASE PUT ME TO BED

Cause I-

I AM NOT WELL

[hollyhockash]

The Broken Clock (full quest set)

[a quest set about dealing with the depression associated with enormous guilt, and self-sabotaging in the process] [full Emptiness, Binding, and Shepherd arcs, but see description for significant caveats]

So. The premise of Glitch is that you are a Strategist retired from the Valde Bellum, the Excrucian War, and you're trying to make a life based on something, anything, else. But you were probably fighting said War, once, and if you were, you almost certainly did horrific things. I decided to tear open this subtext and make it text.

Glitch has quest sets, and their broad structure is similar to that in Chuubo's. There are, however, subtle differences in structure. So while you could probably lever a Chuubo's quest set into Glitch or vice versa, I thought it would be worth it to specifically write a set for this particular version of the system.

Also, the entire quest set is going to be in this post, because cutting it apart for posting seems pretty pointless.

The quests go as follows:

The Void Inside (20/35 XP) (Emptiness 1, Bindings 1, Shepherd 5)

The Past Rises (20/35 XP) (Emptiness 2, Bindings 2, Shepherd 2)

It Already Happened (30/45 XP) (Emptiness 3, Bindings 5, Shepherd 1)

Whose Knife Is It Anyway? (35/50 XP) (Emptiness 4, Bindings 3, Shepherd 4)

Instructions For Reassembly (20/30 XP) (Emptiness 5, Bindings 4, Shepherd 3)

Note that this quest set is about depression and self-sabotage/self-harm.

It is probably incredibly obvious that I am writing this from underneath an episode of crippling depression. I think this is a feature, not a bug.

This quest set takes cues from the True Lab sequence in Undertale, and the We Must Be Killers: Tales from District 2 fanfic series by lorata.

Do you know why Replay Value returns again and again to the topic of moral injury, of being forced to break or kill other people in order to survive, and trying to live with that fact? It’s not because of, as I thought at the time, the fact that the morality dimension of combat PTSD is underrepresented in fiction. It’s because -

There is just enough true horror I did that I cannot wholesale dismiss the guilt as brain lies. I was coerced to do these things under circumstances that nobody would consider me culpable, I wasn’t given a choice and was too terrified to disobey, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Even now, knowing full well that I am an adult and can just leave if this is visited upon me again, I am terrified that should someone ask me to do this again, I would buckle and fold.

...So it’s easier for me to think in terms of “terrible people should still be allowed recovery” than “I am not a terrible person.”

Arc Notes

Emptiness

The original, canonical order of the quest set.

The Void Inside - you’re trying to live a normal life and avoid any contact with the things in your past

The Past Rises - evidence piles up that no, this isn’t going to go away

It Already Happened - depression rises and swallows you whole

Whose Knife Is It Anyway? - you fight halfheartedly against some enemies because, unconsciously, you kind of want them to win

Instructions For Reassembly - you try to fix things

The thing about Emptiness is that there’s not really any more “cracking under the strain” that you can even do, anymore; far, far worse has already been visited on you. And so Emptiness 3 instead ends with you remembering something important you’d forgotten, and making a decision on how to deal with it.

Someone once asked what the point of being on a silver arc even is, because it doesn't involve "progressing" or "improving" in any visible fashion. I didn't have an answer then. I have an answer now. Emptiness arcs are the story of how you don't commit suicide. I suspect that the answer could be something less bleak, but right now that's all I have.

Bindings

The Void Inside - you’re struggling with whether you can ever live in normal society again, and it turns out that the answer is “no”

The Past Rises - you stop trying to push away your history, and try to engage with it; it’s terrifying to even face down the shape of things, but you have to know the scope of the problem before you can even try to fix it

Whose Knife Is It Anyway? - you’re being pursued by people who are trying to take revenge, and you think that if you let them succeed, maybe that’ll fix everything. Fortunately or unfortunately, they realize what you’re doing, and give up before you do.

Instructions For Reassembly - you decide that reparations are a thing you are going to have to do yourself, the hard way

It Already Happened - you are hit by the full force and scale of how much you once did, and realize that no amount of work on your part will make everything right

Bindings arcs are at least broadly similar to their Chuubo's counterparts. So there’s not much more for me to say.

Shepherd

It Already Happened - your life is a haze of gray helplessness

The Past Rises - some specific guilt manages to break out from underneath the depression

Instructions For Reassembly - you try to make up for what you’ve broken. You make it up to some people, but not enough.

Whose Knife Is It Anyway? - you put up a halfhearted fight

The Void Inside - you reach a new equilibrium, which is still depressed but at least slightly more functional

This is where the largest divergence from Chuubo’s arcs shows up. Shepherd 3 doesn’t end with you managing to put an old thing to rest. It ends with you nearly fixing things... only for that hope to be snatched away from under you.

The Void Inside (20/35 XP) (Emptiness 1, Bindings 1, Shepherd 5)

You try to be good. You do your best to be polite. You attempt to keep up with your bills and your laundry. And you try not to use your miraculous nature to facilitate this, because your powers only ever make things worse.

You're not an enemy of the world. So you won't do any more enemy-of-the-world things. Keep telling yourself that and it’ll work eventually, right?

...Right?

The Void Inside (35 XP)

Major goals (5 XP each):

a supernatural event gets in the way of you going to some sort of scheduled appointment

you pass out from exhaustion while trying to do an entirely ordinary thing (like standing in line at the DMV)

you leak your Bane/Curse out onto innocent people

Quest flavor (1 XP for yourself and 1 XP for the quest each):

tell someone that you don't need help even though you clearly do

drink lukewarm coffee

accidentally superglue yourself to something you were trying to fix

lie down with your face in a pillow

leave a note to someone else on the floor

try to pick up something far too heavy, or unwieldy, for one person to carry (like an enormous basket or a towering pile of books)

take painkillers

The Void Inside (simplified) (20 XP)

Major goals (5 XP each):

not doing some maintenance task that you kept putting off (cleaning the gutters, getting the car’s oil changed, etc.) leads to an entirely predictable disaster

you leak your Bane/Curse out onto innocent people

Quest flavor (1 XP for yourself and 1 XP for the quest each):

tell someone that you don't need help even though you clearly do

feed coins into a jammed vending machine

pick burrs/seeds off your clothing

stand in an empty elevator

The Past Rises (25/35 XP) (Emptiness 2, Bindings 2, Shepherd 2)

The remnants of your past intrude upon your life. Memories. Dreams. Glimpses in reflections. Physical reminders, maybe. And everyone can tell that something has gone terribly wrong. But you should be above this. You should be better than this.

They say the girl who had no feet could smile because she was luckier than someone who had no legs. And you keep asking yourself: why can’t you do that?

The Past Rises (35 XP)

Major goals (5 XP each):

someone shows up at your Sanctuary and forcibly drags you out of it

you panic and delete all the evidence of a problem rather than trying to solve it

one of your Treasures or Arcana visits you without notice, bearing a gift you didn’t ask for

Quest flavor (1 XP for yourself and 1 XP for the quest each):

try to drink from a glass of water that's already empty

listen to several voicemails and then don’t respond to any of them

are out of lotion, chapstick, or sunscreen

wake up with a piece of paper clutched in your hand

find wood that is too damp to burn

have a nightmare about hurting someone or something you care about

open a package or bag, only for the contents to spill and scatter everywhere

The Past Rises (simplified) (25 XP)

Major goals (5 XP each):

you are ill with a stomach flu, or a similar transient but extremely unpleasant condition

you open a container and find something completely different than the label said it had, usually something dangerous (i.e. a coffee can turns out to have a scorpion in it)

Quest flavor (1 XP for yourself and 1 XP for the quest each):

don't realize you're crying until somebody tells you

argue with a hallucination

repeatedly write and scribble out the same exact sentence

have a nightmare about hurting someone or something you care about

open a package or bag, only for the contents to spill and scatter everywhere

It Already Happened (30/45 XP) (Emptiness 3, Bindings 5, Shepherd 1)

You accept it now. You were a horror. You are a horror. The stain will never, ever wash out; the specter of the past crushes you underneath its weight. You wander blank-eyed through life. You can’t even cry anymore: that’s gone, too.

Nobody can save you, because you don’t let them. Because this is what you deserve.

It Already Happened (45 XP)

Major goals (5 XP each):

someone yells at you, and you accept it silently

you accidentally cut yourself and then stare at the blood welling up

you spend days in bed, too exhausted or depressed to get up

you descend into Infection State while alone

Quest flavor (1 XP for yourself and 1 XP for the quest each):

burn a candle all the way down to the stub

sit in a silent, dark room

shove a care package into the corner, unopened

run a finger over your scars, or other remnants of old injuries

eat instant noodles dry from the package

wander in a daze

throw something into an already overflowing trash can or dumpster

don't even try to leave for an appointment

It Already Happened (Simplified) (30 XP)

Major goals (5 XP each):

you visit a waterfall

you stick your hand into something that will obviously hurt you (like a bonfire, dry ice, or some sort of caustic chemical)

you descend into Infection State while alone

Quest flavor (1 XP for yourself and 1 XP for the quest each):

take pills that someone else presses into your hand, without looking at them or asking what they are

stand at a bus stop or train station, as buses and/or trains pass by without you

stare blankly at a huge stack of something

eat instant noodles dry from the package

suffer insomnia

try to read a book but can’t focus on the words

Whose Knife Is It Anyway? (35/50 XP) (Emptiness 4, Bindings 3, Shepherd 4)

The people you once wronged are here again. They (at least initially) want to beat you up. You, unfortunately, also want to beat yourself up. How long will it be until they, or you, realize that you're just using them as an instrument of self-harm?

Whose Knife Is It Anyway? (50 XP)

Major goals (5 XP each):

you let a pursuer catch up to you

you don't defend yourself against a crippling strike

you share a poisoned drink

someone who ought to be your enemy shows you unexpected kindness

an ally or friend tracks you down in some alien place and, angrily, asks you: what the hell were you thinking?

Quest flavor (1 XP for yourself and 1 XP for the quest each):

attack someone who should be on your side

sit with your back pressed up against a locked door

look around a bedroom or hotel room that is unfamiliar to you

are careless with a blade or scissors

receive a bouquet from someone you don't like and/or are afraid of

load and/or sharpen a weapon

hold paper to a flame and watch it burn

use antiseptic that burns and stings on a wound

hold a symbol or representation of your Bane in your hands

Whose Knife Is It Anyway? (simplified) (35 XP)

Major goals (5 XP each):

a blade is held against your throat

someone removes your heart, or something that could be reasonably defined as your heart, while you can't or don't object

someone who ought to be your enemy shows you unexpected kindness

Quest flavor (1 XP for yourself and 1 XP for the quest each):

sit with your back pressed up against a locked door

throw something at the wall in frustration

use antiseptic that burns and stings on a wound

sleep somewhere uncomfortable or inconvenient

continue to chew gum that has gone completely flavorless

pour water onto the ground

ignore and walk away from someone you recognize

Instructions For Reassembly (20/35 XP) (Emptiness 5, Bindings 4, Shepherd 3)

You try to fix what you broke. Or, at least, make reparations. It's not going to fix everything. But you do what you can.

Instructions For Reassembly (30 XP)

Major goals (5 XP each):

you deactivate some sort of security system

a Power visits you and gives you a task to complete

another Chancery member agrees with you that you are a monster, because everyone here is, and it is strangely comforting

Quest flavor (1 XP for yourself and 1 XP for the quest each):

suddenly find an ordinary thing inexplicably hilarious and start laughing helplessly

contemplate a bottle of medicine

look through a window at flowers outside

take out the trash

rake or sweep debris into a small pile in the corner

take a walk through a neighborhood you’ve never seen before

Instructions For Reassembly (simplified) (20 XP)

Major goals (5 XP each):

you visit someone whose life you saved

another Chancery member agrees with you that you are a monster, because everyone here is, and it is strangely comforting

Quest flavor (1 XP for yourself and 1 XP for the quest each):

bandage yourself

dump ashes into water

eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

take out the trash

[variantia]

❤️(Ayatsuri) 💙(Dmitri) 💛(Mother) 💚(Vesper)💜 (Any muse that you think needs more love)

Peer into my muse’s memories  //  accepting !

BELLUM.  I chose Webber for the last one !  under the cut bc is long and also D’s and Vesper’s have some triggers ! !

❤️- A happy memory that makes them smile

   Soft hums leave the puppet master’s lips as she finishes the final strokes of paint on her doll.  The marionette is small enough to fit in the palm of her hand, with details like one would expect from an expert artist.  She’s beautiful, with stark white porcelain for skin, pin-straight black hair that shines like a gemstone, and an intricate silvery outfit with dark trim.

   A simple melody plays from a music box in the background, a soundtrack to Ayatsuri’s delicate work.  Dark polished nails sweep gingerly through the doll’s hair ; her eyes roaming over every inch of her handiwork.          ❝  Oh, Tsukiko,  ❞   she coos.

   This is the first puppet she’s ever made completely on her own from scratch.  She fired and molded the porcelain, painstakingly laid every strand of hair, and spent countless hours sewing the dress.  They’re all things she’s practiced before, but now holding something that is entirely her own creation, with her time and taste and essence poured into it, is something unlike anything else.

          ❝  You’re perfect.  I can’t wait to make you a little friend.  ❞

-

💙- A sad memory that makes them cry

          ❝  Mother, please.  Let go.  ❞

   D has never been so relieved and regretful to say anything in his entire life.  Now Mina Harker has slipped away into a quiet death, and he will have to navigate the world without his mother.

   He sees the spark fade from her eyes, but she passes with a smile on her face.  Her twisted fingers are around his just as tightly as they have ever been ; when they go limp, he knows she is gone.  His mother was a light unto the world, and the world never appreciated her.  Everyone cast her away because of him.  Because of her son.  Because of what he is.  She suffered so much, especially now as her body was failing her, as she clung to her life only for her child.

   It wasn’t fair.  None of it.  And because he’s never gotten too close to anyone else, D has no frame of reference for this.  What is he supposed to do now that she’s gone ?  Why does he feel so empty ?  Why was she smiling ?  Why did she always let people say ugly things to her, and why did she forgive everyone, and why has she always treated him like he is the most important thing that exists ?

   Not for the first time in his life, but for the first time since he has learned to control his emotions, D breaks down in tears.  Crouched by his mother’s bed, with her lying lifeless under the sheets, so close and so far away, he feels more like a terrified little boy than he ever did in his youth.

   He doesn’t know how long he stays like this, lost in his own head as tears refuse to stop.  He thinks about every beautiful memory he has of Mina.  Every time she held him close or kissed his forehead or erased someone else’s awful words with a gentle lullaby.  Despitethe fact that that he was the greatest source of her own pain, she treated him like a precious thing.

   After a long while of thinking, he reaches a conclusion.

   Even though the world never appreciated her unrelenting kindness, he did.

   From this moment on, he will do his best to be someone who deserves it.

   If it’s the last thing he does with his pitiful life, he will make his mother proud.

   But for now, a wound has been ripped open in his heart, leaving it raw and angry and full of despair.  Before he makes his mother proud, he must heal.

   He’s sure it will take a long time.

   He’s not sure he will ever truly heal.

-

💛- A memory that makes them feel angry

   The fact that Greed left the group is only half of the reason that Mother feels fury burning inside her chest.

   The bigger reason is Envy’s reaction.

   Envy, the one of her children she’s always felt like she never had to worry about, Envy who claims they hold no real affection for their brothers and sister, is currently on a pseudo rampage contained mostly to their own room.  When she arrived back, it was them who toldher that Greed was gone ; in a screaming voice that sounded like it was going to tear their throat in two.  Now, they’re throwing things and breaking the few possessions they have and punching walls.

   Her other children have wisely decided to find reasons to suddenly be far, far away so that they can just leave Envy to their tantrum.  In the meantime, Mother has slipped away into the streets, disguised, to unleash her rage in a less violent manner.

   She doesn’t know where Greed has gone.  Her best guess would be that he’s gone somewhere with a lot of humans, maybe with a lot of wealth – because he’s predictable.  Because he’s always been fascinated by those two things in particular.

   Even as her eyes scan the crowd, she knows she won’t be going anywhere.  Looking for him would just be a waste of time.  It wouldn’t matter if she found him or not.  He won’t allow himself to be dragged back, and she can’t bring herself to incapacitate one of her children in order to force his return.  She’s perhaps cruel, but she’s not that cruel.

   Wherever he is, though, he should make no mistake.  His mother is furious with him to the point that her hands are shaking in anger.  Her eyes are sharp as she moves through the throng, and it’s a surprise that the streets don’t start to smoke wherever her feet touch.

   Greed will find himself in her arms once again, whether he likes it or not.  Whether he realizes yet that he will.  He can’t stay away ; they’re his family.

   That said, she thinks that the next time they meet, she will have to punish him before she permits herself to embrace him.  How dare he hurt his siblings like this.

-

💚- A memory that makes them feel guilty

   When Vesper wakes up, he’s lying on clouds so soft he knows he must be in heaven.

   For a few minutes as he tries to gain his bearings, he can’t remember anything.  Even the exact chunk of time that would explain why he was unconscious in the first place is missing.

   There’s noise and speech all around him, and as soon as he’s able to focus, he knows what this is.  It’s one of the judgment rooms that belong to the other angels.  There are screens forming every wall that are replaying his failure nonstop.

   The memories that flood his mind are those of an attempt to guide a woman toward happiness.  Someone who had just had a fight with her girlfriend, who was still angry.  Vesper can remember gently pressing his essence against this young lady, trying to influence her toward the best path.  If she could just talk to her girlfriend, now that a few days had passed, things might be better.  They might be able to make up and get back together.  They would be happy.

          ❝  Go, go,  ❞   he whispers on the screens, an encouraging smile on his tender features.  He remembers being so hopeful.  So careful.  And now this is coming from so many angles, he can’t stand it.          ❝  You can do it.  Just talk to her.  It’ll be okay.  ❞

   How could he have predicted that which the screens suddenly cut to ?  – The image of this woman lying on the sidewalk with a bullet in her head, fresh blood staining the stone, dead eyes staring through these screens at him.

   Another angel, full-blooded and pure, stares at him from outside the room, and when he lifts his head to look at her, tears streaking down his face, her eyes look at him coldly.

          ❝  You are a menace, Vesper.  LOOK WHAT YOU DID.  ❞

   And he cries harder, because she is right.

-

💜- A memory about one of their loved ones, happy or sad

   Even as young as Webber and Wendy are, they can still be useful to the rest of the survivors’ group.  Often, they are.

   Today is a day for relaxing, however.  Although they could go forage or build some things, the adults are taking a break for the day, so the children decide to follow their example.

   Wendy is lying on the grass with her long hair splayed out behind her, arms crossed over her chest in a manner that would suggest she were a corpse in a coffin, and Abigail’s flower is resting comfortably on her stomach.  There’s a subtle chill in the air which indicates that while Abigail isn’t right here next to them, she’s not far away.  Webber sits next to his friend, quietly crafting something that there’s no real need for.

          ❝  What are you doing, Webber ?  ❞   Wendy eventually speaks up in that eerie, whispery voice of hers that makes adults nervous.          ❝  You’re making this rustling noise.  Is that actually you, or has                  some great, terrible beast finally come to ravage our camp-                  ground ?  ❞

   A gravelly buzz of a giggle leaves him, and he taps her shoulder.          ❝  No, of course not, silly !  I’m making something for you.  Sit up ;                  it’s all done !  ❞

   Once Wendy has taken her time in doing so, opening her eyes to blink at him, he reaches over and slides his creation onto her wrist.          ❝  There we go !  It’s a friendship bracelet.  Isn’t it lovely ?   ❞

          ❝  Oh.  ❞   That’s all she says for a moment, staring down at the bracelet.  It’s not very fancy, just made out of woven grass with some flowers for decoration, but it’s something he made specifically for her.  At last, she leans over and wraps her arms around him.  She doesn’teven seem to mind the feeling of the bristly spider fur.          ❝  Thank you, Webber.  I’ll never take it off.  ❞

   For the first time in a long time, he feels warm without being near the fire.

   It’s nice to have friends even if none of them know what exactly tomorrow will bring.

[thismountainhastigers]

Writing Assignment #2

Can war be just in the twenty-first century?

Before a discussion of any kind can happen, all associated parties must agree on what certain terms mean in order to lay them out and prevent any confusion further down the line. In this case, these relevant terms include what it means to be at war and what it means to be just. The Oxford English dictionary defines “war” as “a state of armed conflict between different countries; a state of competition or hostility between different people or groups.” It also defines “just” as “based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair; deserved or appropriate in the circumstances.” In both cases, I will be focusing on the latter definitions; armed conflicts between independent states are limited in number in this century, and I believe that it is our responses to war that say more about us as a species than whether we ought to be going to war at all. In this writing assignment, I will review how war intersects with my own position on its permissibility, human dignity, its costs and benefits, and its future in our society.

In Micah 6, the prophet addresses the peoples’ question on the best way to please their God. Rather than sacrifices and offerings, he lays out the three things that have been required of Israel since the beginning: “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Despite being the first thing listed, I have noticed that Christians today tend to overlook “doing justice,” especially in the context of a conflict, preferring a pacifist position and citing Jesus in Matthew 5:39 as their defense: “But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” C.S. Lewis offers two different interpretations of this verse in his 1940’s essay “Why I Am Not a Pacifist”: it may mean exactly as it says (i.e. Christians ought to be passive with regard to conflict) in any and all circumstances, or it may mean what it says with the expectation that the audience is intelligent enough to be aware of obvious exceptions (Lewis 1940). For example, if you are in the way of someone attempting to commit a crime and they try to injure you in order to remove you from their path, you are free (and possibly have an obligation) to keep them from doing so. Jesus’ statement therefore only applies in the same sense that we ought to be “slow to anger, slow to speak” (James 1:19) and not retaliate without thinking.

Once we realize that we are not forbidden from engaging in any form of conflict, the next step is to decide which conflicts are worth the solemn undertaking of war. Using the definition from earlier, when is it “appropriate for the circumstances”? From my own perspective, attempting something as serious as war requires the following three things: 1) a grave threat to either the lives or dignity of humans, 2) the exhaustion of all other diplomatic options, and 3) a feasible plan for righting the wrongs that led to the circumstances in 1) (i.e. in the aftermath, there must be a plan to prevent such things from happening again; war should at least be proactive if it has to happen). Just war theory, specifically jus ad bellum, includes the first two (having a moral cause and using war as a last resort) and adds the public declaration of war, the confidence that the side claiming a just reason can succeed, and proportionality.

The remaining principles of just war theory (jus in bello) asserts that war cannot be indiscriminate violence against noncombatants (proportionality again, this time with discrimination). It implies that not going to war incurs a greater cost than the potential loss of life on a battlefield. To me, it seems that to participate in a just war is to recognize that there are things that are more terrible than death or physical pain. I believe that the worst of such things is a loss or deprivation of the qualities that make us human. As always, first we must define such qualities, but unfortunately there is no dictionary that give us such a definition. (As succinct as Plato’s definition of man as a “featherless biped” is, the odds of war threatening our physical characteristics as a species are rather slim.) The qualities that are most critical to our identity are rooted in our intelligence, the thing that sets us apart from the rest of the world. These include decision-making, reasoning, and protecting the things that we care for the most. If some power infringes upon a person’s autonomy, or leaves them powerless to defend themselves or those closest to them, this is when someone sacrificing their life for a cause becomes worth the effort.

Having now covered war in general, we move on to war in our time. Organized conflict is a hallmark of our species, with such conflicts ranging from the Six Day War to the Hundred Year War, and casualties ranging from tens to tens of millions. Wars have often been turning points in history: politically, socially, and even scientifically—the Cold War saw our advancements in space travel, early research into nuclear power, and even the predecessor to the Internet. With such innovations in technology, wars can easily become extremely deadly to a large portion of the population without restraint and right judgment.

Since the alleged Russian intervention in the 2016 election, the idea that international conflicts may be moving out of land, sea, and air and into cyberspace has become a more pressing issue. 2017 has been identified as the start of a new era of cyber conflict, where those with the power to do so threaten to destabilize institutions and create chaos and uncertainty rather than conduct their activities in secret (Valeriano et al. 2017). Thus, the thing we stand to lose the most due to cyber warfare today is out interconnectedness. Trust is a fundamental part of any relationship, whether between two people or a population and its government, and many of the activities involved in cyberwarfare today are aiming at destroying that trust. Such levels of mistrust could grow to rival the psychological harm experienced by David Rohde when he lived in an area constantly under drone surveillance: a person may never know where the threat comes from or who it comes for (Rohde 2009).

This idea of cyber warfare—that a foreign power could cripple a nation by taking down our electronic infrastructure—first and foremost reminds me of Sherman’s March to the Sea in the American Civil War. Though the human casualties were minimal compared to the rest of the war, the Union troops carved such a deep, inescapable scar across Georgia that took years for the South to recover from (Groce 2014). The war was brought to civilians, who were left with no choice but to comply. Sherman’s March helped to bring an end to the Civil War, but it can be hard to say if it was in a just manner. The same could be said of a potential cyber war. If any and all “battles” take place purely in the cyber domain (i.e. no foreign power gains access to our weapons and turns them against us), there could be next to no direct loss of human life. However, the question is what becomes of human dignity. As the Internet of Things grows to include more and more (along with our dependency on it), a possible shutdown of everything online would put the burden of war almost entirely on the civilians, violating the principle of distinction in jus in bello. In a worst-case scenario described by The Economist in 2010, “Computer bugs bring down military e-mail systems; oil refineries and pipelines explode; air-traffic-control systems collapse; freight and metro trains derail; financial data are scrambled; the electrical grid goes down in the eastern United States; orbiting satellites spin out of control. Society soon breaks down as food becomes scarce and money runs out.” Without a clear, physical opposition, the same people could be left defenseless, deprived of the right to defend themselves.

As much as I would like to consider myself an optimist, I do not see war ever permanently abolished. It may never again reach the same levels of destruction as the two World Wars, but it will still be a part of society so long as there is inequality of any form that begets discontent and resentment. In such circumstances, it becomes too easy for those in power to take advantage of those who are not, leading to the buildup of resentment and eventual retaliation of those without power, if the disparity does not reach a level that requires outside intervention. David Cochran argues that because humanity has let go of its more violent habits in the past, such as slavery, we will eventually reach a point where we can end war altogether (Cochran 2016). However, while it is no longer a public institution, slavery is still very much active in the world today, with some saying there are more slaves now than at any other point in history (Hogenboom 2012). If we have swept slavery under the metaphorical rug, who can say that we will not do the same with war, especially if it becomes less and less visible? A world without war is an ideal to reach for, but I will put my faith it without a healthy degree of caution. In the meantime, I will have hope only that those involved can “do justice and love kindness” in the place where it can be hardest to do so.

References

Groce, W. Todd. “Rethinking Sherman's March.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 Nov. 2014, opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/rethinking-shermans-march/.

Hogenboom, Melissa. “A Tipping Point in the Fight against Slavery?” BBC News, BBC, 19 Oct. 2012, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19831913.

Lewis, Clive Staples. “Why I Am Not a Pacifist.” The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses. 1940.

Murphy, Matt. “War in the Fifth Domain.” The Economist, The Economist, 1 July 2010, www.economist.com/node/16478792.

Rohde, David. “7 Months, 10 Days in Captivity.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Oct. 2009, www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/world/asia/18hostage.html?pagewanted=all.

Valeriano, Brandon, et al. “Cyberwarfare Has Taken a New Turn. Yes, It's Time to Worry.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 13 July 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/07/13/cyber-warfare-has-taken-a-new-turn-yes-its-time-to-worry/?utm_term=.6c58bdd92e68.

[wandering-chronicler-blog]

The Wolf of Farore - Chapter 44

An Ongoing Zelda/Witcher Fusion Fic - Updates Sundays/Mondays for the foreseeable future.

War has come to The Kingdom of Hyrule.  The people cry for a savior as monsters and spirits stalk the once green fields of the provinces.  Famine grips the populace as the Gerudo Tribes and their blin allies strike along the borders.  Hope for peace begins to drown in the blood spilled in No Man’s Land.  But Hyrule doesn’t need another hero.  It needs a professional.

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CHAPTER 44:  PRE-DIVE

The escape had gone far smoother than anyone expected and the Tower of the Gods was almost a day behind them now.  All around them was just the ocean.  No signs of the platforms that Medli’s tribe used for their courier work or other ships. It was completely empty apart from the steamboat and frigate that moved together through the vastness.  They’d expected trouble from the escape as the other ship in Jolene’s small fleet had been lost to geozards and the mutants, but they met no resistance.  For the moment, he stood on the bridge next to the cannon, watching below as Medli demonstrated to Aryll some of her martial arts.  His sister had started to practice them as well and he could hear the rito correcting her as they went.  She stopped as Medli pulled a stick to mimic a sword and handed it to her.  A moment later, she demonstrated how to disarm an opponent with it.

 They were still a ways from their destination though, and he was sure there was more they could be doing to prepare.  Given the hour though, he reached up and squeezed the wolf around his neck.  Any other last pieces of information on what they were up against would be invaluable.  Especially given how she’d saved them a world of hurt when learning that the mutated corpses could become carriers.  He turned back to look to where they’d come, leaning against the rail and squeezing la little tighter.

 “Hey, you there, Mid?” he asked.

 There was a long pause before he heard her voice.  “...hang on...”

 He realized then the time differences between their worlds.  “I didn’t wake you did I?”

 “No.  I’ve been preparing for my trip to Lorule.  Got the okay from my father to check in.”

 He closed his eyes, focusing.  “Ah. Making sure something didn’t happen there like with the mask?”

 She appeared in his mind’s eye then.  “Yeah.” She ran a hand through her hair. He could make out a couple books and a bag too.  

  Her red eyes glanced in his direction.  “So. What’s up?” she asked.

 “We’re preparing our dive,” he said.  “We found Bellum’s tomb.  And its looking very dangerous.  Just because of the depths we’re going to.”

 “To say nothing of the fact it’s a god from before The Goddesses ordered your world.”

 “Yeah.”  He took a deep breath.  “Really nervous about it.  Good chance none of us will come back from it.”

 “Well, did find a couple other little things.  Least from one of our texts.”

“Oh?”

 She grabbed one of the books.  He saw papers sticking out of it she’d used to bookmark it and quickly skimmed through them before stopping on one page.  “Looks like your goddesses may have been partially involved.”  She pulled it up and showed it to him.  He recognized some of the symbols, even though he didn’t know any of the specifics of what they m eant.  Shad would’ve known, he was sure.  “Nayru specifically.”

 He nodded a little.  “Well, one old tale says she created the sea by weeping into it and submerging an entire continent.”

 “That could very well be part of the tale.  She used it to hide a prison buried under the rock so that something would remain there until the time was right.”

 Only one answer to what would be there given everything.  They both knew it.  “Bellum.”

“I don’t have enough to clearly tell you one way or the other what’s down there, but Bellum’s tomb could have been made by The Goddesses and sealed away by your sky and ocean spirits.  Hoping to keep him down there until eternity ends.”

 Though going that deep and into the unknown was something particularly worrying, he was sure that at least he might be okay now and that they had some small thing in their favor against the old god now.  “Alright.”

 “There’s something there too.  Something keeping his servants from opening the door to his cell, but most of these texts don’t have a whole lot to go on.”

 “Oh?”

 She furrowed her brow as she flipped through the book some more, eventually putting it aside and taking another one.  “They’re deliberately cryptic.  Why I can’t reason with something this important.”

 “Heh.”

 She glanced up at him. “What?”

 “Twins say the same thing with some of their research.  Especially about The Inquisition.”

 “Aaah.”  She gave an understanding nod before looking back down at the page and the paper she’d stuffed in it.  “There’s a note here though that...”  For a brief moment she looked surprised then.

 Suddenly, she vanished from his sight.  The magic was still working though, he could feel it in his charm.    “Mid?” he asked.  There was no response though.  He let go of the charm for a moment before looking back down at his sister and Medli.  They were practicing kicks now as Medli played the instructor for Aryll.  He was glad she was getting along so well with everyone.  Maybe it would be okay to bring her along.  He bowed his head a little then, looking back to the stern of the ship. The life of a Chosen was brutal and though many a tale painted them as great as The Hero, he knew all too well that they were still very much mortal.  Their mutations, a secret to the world apart from those few in power, did let them perform legendary feats, but there was a host of things that came with it. Before his mind could dig further into it, his charm shook.  He reached for it and closed his eyes again.  Midna appeared once more, this time, eyes narrowed and a scowl on her face.  One he had seen her wear countless times during The Conjunction.

  “You okay?” he asked

 “Zant’s here.” She said plainly.

 “Oh.  You have to go?”

 She shook her head, sitting back down and slouching in her seat.  “He’s not even supposed to be here today.  One of the new servants let him and his entourage in.”

 “Aaah.  And now he’s demanding to speak with you.”

 “Yep.  I have a couple people delaying him right now.   Though I don’t know how long that’ll last.”

 “Know what he wants?”

 Her gaze scared him a little at the look in her eye.  Though he’d seen it before, it still was something that scared him.  She was clearly unhappy with the events that had occurred.  “Yeah.  Me.”

 “Ah.”  From what little she’d told him on him, he assumed whatever had happened in their past was something that had caused her to loathe him.  At that moment though, he immediately realized she’d always disliked him as long as he’d known her.  Or at least as long as...  “.. oh.”  Midna glared at him.  She figured out what he had just learned as well.  He saw her lip curl down and her gritting her teeth.  Link held up a hand to her then and shook his head.   “Say no more.  I won’t pry.  But if you want to vent I won’t tell a soul.”

  The sneer faded as she closed her eyes with what sounded like a forced chuckle.  “You’re too noble for your own good sometimes, y’know that?” she asked.

 “Didn’t you want me showing you more chivalry?” he replied, a slight smirk on his own lips.  

 It was her turnt o smirk back at him.  “Wasn’t expecting it to show up right then with that Griffin.  And be remarkably difficult to tell the difference between that and your usual noble idiocy.”  The smirk turned into a sweet smile as the mischief left her for now.  “Thanks though.  Seriously.”

 “Of course, Mid. 

 She sighed a little and sat back up in her chair, tugging down the vest she wore.  “It’s...  Kind of a touchy topic.”

 “So how about to one less touchy?”

 “Yeah”  Midna’s eyes glanced over the book again  “Like old gods at the bottom of the ocean.”

 Her bluntness made Link chuckle.  “Like that.  So.  That note you mentioned before Zany Zant so rudely interrupted us.”

 That got a small snicker out of her.  “Uh...  ah.”  She began to skim the book again, looking for where she’d left off.  “It looks like for some of it that the prison designed follows the same laws of Nayru.  So.  This could’ve been during The Ordering.”

 “Anything specific?”

 “That no divine hand or ones touched by divine hands could open it,” she said, not even looking up.

 Given what he knew about mythology and legends in their world, virtually everything had been made by divine hands.  “If that’s the case someone or something has opened it enough that Bellum is trying to change the world.”

 “I have a theory on that actually.  But it’s a lot of speculation.”  She closed the book then.

 “What is it?”

 “The Conjunction put cracks in the prison.  And it has allowed Bellum’s influence to leak out. But he can’t break the prison to free himself.  Because he’s a ‘divine being’ or counts as one at least as far as I can tell by these texts.”

 “But his servants can still carry out his will.  Use the slime to give him a better look at things, which is his influence leaking out of it.  Given a physical form and mutagenic properties like The Malice of Demise.”

 “Exactly.”

 Guilt washed over him then, much as he’d learned with some of the creatures twisted by The Twilight energies during The Conjunction and then again when him and Midna had encountered the refugees turned into shadow beasts .  He always hated these instances. “So those geozards could be as much victims of his mutagens as the pirates were.”

 “Definitely possible.”

  He shook his head, focusing on her theory.  “So...  why The Conjunction?” he asked.

 “Mmm.”  Midna tilted her head and looked at the ceiling.  “If I were a goddess...”  She stopped when she heard Link stifle a snicker and gave him a look of mock annoyance.  It vanished as quickly as it had appeared and was replaced with a smirk.  ”If,” she continued, pointing a finger at him.  “And if there was a being I couldn’t kill, like Bellum, I’d try and trap him somewhere he could do no harm to my followers or plans.”  Her brow furrowed as she looked down at the desk and bit her lower lip.  “Which might mean making an entire little pocket dimension to stuff him in.  We have theories on how to do that even.”

 “Mmm?”

 “Making new realities.  But with our current understanding of magic, they’d be literally the size of a needle point and flash out of existence faster than the blink of an eye.  To say nothing of just how much magic would be needed to do even that in the first place.” She paused for a moment as he nodded, at least understanding some of it.  “But for a divine being, they could easily and have laws applied to it like Nayru did to your world.”

 He could see where she was getting.  “And then The Conjunction happens and the worlds collide.  The prison gets cracked just enough the inmate can peak out and try to influence things In your world.”

 “Yep.  And so Bellum starts whispering to anyone who will listen and people fall under his influence.”

 “Yep.”

  “Huh...”

 “What?”

 “Didn’t know they taught transdimensional magic and theory in The Twilight.”

 She laughed at little at it.  “I had to track down a couple people after The Conjunction. People far smarter and with more time on their hands than me.  One of them helped me get the stuff together on how our worlds are still pretty connected.” She glanced to her right then.  “I hope you have a good plan for sealing up whatever cracks are in that tomb.  ‘cause I haven’t found anything that suggests how you could.”

 “So, this could all just be for nothing.”  He took a deep breath then.  “But we have to try.”

 “You do have a plan, right?”

 “Mikau is working on it with the frost bombs we recovered, I think.”

 She nodded a little.  “If you can make it red ice with the alchemy, it won’t melt down there.  Real patch job but it should at least buy the world time.  Close it off enough that you should be fine for a while.”

 “Yeah.”

  She glanced to her side then before sighing.  “Aaaand I’m out of time.”

 “No more distraction?”

 “Yeah.”  She closed the book.  ““I won’t be available for a few days too, so really make sure you don’t do something stupid.”

 Link chuckled a little. “Well, you know me.”

 “Heh.  You still owe me for all this extra work.  And I expect you to pay in full.”  The smirk was back on her face.

 “Alright.”

 Midna composed herself, taking a deep breath and sitting up straight.  “Good.”

 “Good luck with your trip.”

 “Thanks.”  She smiled at him.  “You too.  See you later.”  She vanished from his sight then and he let go of the charm.

The waves beat against the bow of Linebeck’s ship as they traveled.  Black smoke billowed out of the stack in the back as Link sat on the floor with his back to one of the many crates that had been loaded in the hold. Knowing what was coming, he prepared himself mentally and practiced his breathing.  Deep dives had not been something he’d been formally trained in, but he had done it before.  Just not to the depth that Mikau had mentioned as they left for what was ominously named ‘The Dreamer’s Tomb.’  Before him were the elixirs he’d picked up in Windfall and another one the zora had given him and Aveil.  He remembered what the zora had said about it and picked up two other vials.  One was another Kaepora’s Vigil, while the other was a Red Ice.  He pulled another bottle from the bags he had next to him.  It was empty and particularly large, but was meant for mixing. He uncorked both of the smaller bottles and poured them into the larger one.  Once done, he mixed the one Mikau had given him, using a stick to get the last of it out and stirred it together.  After a minute, he placed it on top of his lantern and lit it to ensure it would mix properly.

 Across on the other side of the hold was Aveil.  She was essentially doing the same thing, muttering a prayer in her native tongue as she poured the syrupy blue mix into a larger bottle.  It had been the first time as well he’d seen her out of her armor. She was in leather pants and was wearing a white shirt much like the one he had, but cut more for a woman.  The sleeves were rolled up and her left wrist was wrapped in a couple bandages to help keep her from injuring her sprained wrist any further.  He noticed numerous scars along what skin was showing on her arms.  They weren’t as bad as his, but from their talks, it sounded like the desert viper’s preferred prey was the kind that wouldn’t leave scars if it managed even to land a single blow.  He’d only encountered moldorms when working with Shad in the desert and was amazed that she’d been able to kill things like the lanmolas she’d mentioned back on Windfall.

She inhaled sharply, holding the bottle to her nose that held the now pitch black liquid in it. Aveil placed it on her lantern to heat it to finish the mixing and looked over to Link.  “Amazing how similar our rituals are too,” she said.

 “You said it,” Link answered.  He looked to the scabbards that held his swords next to the bag.  “So, you never met a Chosen before me?”

 “Nope.”  Aveil carefully unsheathed one of her scimitars and produced a whetstone.  “Heard stories here and there, but nothing that could be said to be true.  You guys usually stick to Hyrule.”

 “Explains why we never heard of your sisters either.  We’re both so focused on our regions and the troubles there.”  

 “Speak for yourself. The Vipers were independent.  Not agents of Ganondorf.  At least until the war started to get worse…”

 Link instantly looked up at her.  His muscles tensed and he felt his fingers coiling around the grip of his arming sword on the floor next to him.

 “Technically we still are…” She ran the whetstone along the scimitar to sharpen it.  “We’ve been forced to take some contracts from The United Tribes though.  You know all about the counter invasion I’m sure.” Aveil let out a sigh as she continued sharpening her blade.  “You’d be surprised at what you do when your entire culture is at stake.”

 He picked up the longsword then and pulled it from its scabbard.  “I was on the Northern Front.  Against the blins.  I’d heard though that an incursion was successful though.  Captured a couple forts even.”   Link inspected the weapon carefully again before getting a vial of oils to treat the blade.  “The Chosen were meant to prevent a conflict like this.”

 “Prevent it how though?” She was watching him closely with her gold eyes.  The sound of the blade being sharpened echoed in the hold.  They heard voices and the pirates working with Linebeck discussing things.

 “Depends on who you ask.” Link started to rub the oil along the blade with a cloth.  He worked it carefully to make sure the blade was treated right.  “Some would say that we should’ve attacked the second Ganondorf proved himself a threat and could’ve united your people.  Others would say we would have waited until later when the invasion started…”

 “And you?”

 He slowly ran the cloth along further and shook his head.  “I’d have liked if we could have found a solution that’d prevented a war and avoided any bloodshed.  I was standing guard in some of the negotiations before the war.  Seeing the diplomats trying to find something but…” Link shook his head again.  “I wanted to grab them and just shout at them to find something to avoid the slaughter that was going to come.”

 “Did you?”

 Link shook his head.  “I didn’t realize just how bad it was.  How much our people hate one another…”  He ran the cloth back up the blade again.  “I got reassigned just after Ganondorf arrived to try and work through the negotiations.”

 “Tarey Town Summit?”

 “That was it.”  He coughed a little.  “I’m guessing too then you heard about the trouble.”

 “Only a little. Someone tried to kill the Labrynnan Empress?”

 “Yep.  Prevented it, but it didn’t do well for negotiations I heard.”  Link inspected the blade carefully then, watching the reflection.  He could make out his face almost in the silver diamonds along its flat sides.  “I was sent off to help oversee work with an archeological dig on the northern end of the Haunted Wasteland.”

 Aveil’s face lost its color and she stopped sharpening her blade.  “That was Arbiter territory…”

 “Yeah.  A storm had revealed some ruins and we wanted to take a look since a couple zuna traders had talked about it bearing marks of the Royal Family and the Sheikah.  Was there… Six months before The Conjunction.”

 “That mess with the monsters.”  She started sharpening her blade again.  “That was pretty profitable for us.  Talk of a swamp that could be found if you went in the right caves…”

 “Lorule.”

 “Huh?”

 “It’s…”  He tilted his head and looked at the ceiling.  “It’s another world.”

 “Really?”  She sounded disbelieving.

 “Really.”  Link looked back to her.  “That entire event with the monsters was our world colliding with the space between dimensions and a parallel to our own.”

 “You must’ve been there then.”

 “Yep.”  He finished with the oil and inspected the blade carefully again.  Each of the goron glyphs were incredibly clear now.  He held his wolf charm tightly and moved it carefully along the blade. It vibrated as it got close. There was magic, but he couldn’t tell any specifics.  “We called that entire thing The Conjunction.  Worked with some people to try and close every door we could find.”

 “Given how vast the world is, that must’ve taken months.”

 “Almost a year.  But we did it.”  He put the longsword back in its scabbard and started treating his arming sword.  “Y’know, I’m a bit surprised we’re not at each other’s throats after what you said. Working for The Ganon.”

 “We’re hunters.”  She ran the whetstone along a little more before inspecting the edge of her sword.  “We’re about as far from normal as you can get.  What with the enhancements seared into our bones and spending most of our childhoods being turned into killers of the world’s filth.” Aveil winced a little as she twisted her wrist in a way that wouldn’t have if it wasn’t injured.

 “You going to be okay?”

 Her gaze glanced up at him. “I’m fine.”  Aveil looked back at her wrist then.  “A potion won’t fix that.  It needs time.”  She inspected the bandage before looking back at him.  “Going to put us at a disadvantage, but we don’t have a choice here. Do or die time.”

 “The water at that depth is going to help a little I think.  Mikau said it’d be near freezing apart from some of the thermal vents.”

 “Been that deep before?”

 He shook his head.  “Not that deep.  But deeper than when we looked at the platform the other day.” The elixir on the lantern began to bubble and white steam started to rise out of it.  With a thick cloth, Link removed the bottle from the lantern and placed it on the floor.  “So… Do we have any idea really of what exactly Bellum is going to look like or its abilities?”

 “Well, we know the statues Linebeck picked up were squidlike.  If they were anything like the idols of the Sand Goddess or your Golden Goddesses, we could assume that Bellum’s avatars or greatest servants are like that.  Or could be like the phantom we encountered.”

 “And we don’t have anything that can scratch a phantom…”  He let out a sigh as he oiled the arming sword.  “So our goal is going to be I think more to contain this thing.  Seal it in its tomb.”

 “Which is what the frost bombs are going to be for.”

 “Yeah.  Sounded like Mikau wanted to make some undersea glacier there…  Or at least use it to damage the tomb and hold it together so that when it finally did thaw it’d make the entire place collapse in on top of him and leave him even more trapped than he already is.”

 “Mmm…”  Her eyes widened and a small smile played across her lips.  “What if he’s preparing it?”

 “Preparing how?  I’d guess with some sort of alchemy?”

 “He said he was an agent for the zoras out of Great Bay in Termina.  They could have others.  He’s been sent ahead to help prepare and clear the way.  Make sure any witches or sorcerers that come along later can do their work in peace without Bellum causing problems.”

 “That’s a pretty solid plan, actually.  Was something they taught the mages in the tower back home.”

 “Your order had mages?”

 He nodded.  “Yeah.  Yours didn’t?”

 “Sort of.”

 “Ah.”

 “Most of the time we’d have tribal witches for help with magic.  Would be worked out in the contracts usually.”  She sheathed her scimitar then and leaned back against the ship’s hull.  “There were a few times though we’d have liked to have had our own witches to do our work…  Let me tell you.  Especially when it came to setting traps for things like tracking the stalks of a desert manhandla.  Oh.  Or finding the nest of one of the thousand-year moldaraches and then holding its claws and stinger away so we can kill it quickly.”  They felt the boat dip then and rise.  There was a creaking sound as someone came down the stairs.  Link glanced over to see Medli there.  She was soaking wet and looked ready to collapse.

  “You okay?” Link asked her.

 “Just exhausted from flying between the ships,” she said.  The rito stumbled a little before collapsing over the crate Linebeck used as a bed.  “Mikau said he’d be over shortly to make sure you were ready for the dive.”

 “We’re just waiting on him now,” Aveil said.  She picked up her glass bottle with the mixture in it and eyed it carefully.

 “Drink it before you go down.  So you’ll have the most time before it works through your system and can get back up. You don’t want a case of the bends.”

 “It’s actually supposed to prevent that,” Link said.  “Mikau said it would allow us to adapt to the pressure differences like a zora does between the layers.”

 “I figured, but…  What about the time until it is worked through your body?  What would happen if it ran out when you were still at a lower level?”

 “Shouldn’t.  It should last at least two days with how thick it is.” He picked up the bottle again.  “…I’m still not going to drink this until I’m in the water though.”  Link looked back at Medli as she lay over the box.  “I don’t want Aryll to see the change.”

 “Is it that toxic?”

 “Looks it,” Aveil said. “Someone without our enhancements drinks it, they’ll be throwing up their stomach.  And lungs…  And liver…”

 “Geez.  I know that those things can be nasty but.”

 “Be happy you’ve never seen an idiot highwayman drink a venomblood potion,” Link said.

 “There’s gotta be a story behind that,” Aveil said.

 “If there is I don’t think I want to hear it,” Medli said.  “You two need anything to eat or things to prepare for the dive?”

 Link shook his head.  “Just that if we fail that we have some plan in place and word to get help.”  He looked right at Medli then.   “And… And please keep an eye on my sister.”

 “I will.”

 “Thank you.”  He slowly got to his feet then.  “Mikau say how long it would be until we reached the point to dive?”

 “Couple more hours Linebeck says.”  She eyed the black mixture in the bottle.  “So, you have the one he gave you.  What other two did you mix in?”

 “Kaepora’s Vigil and Red Ice.”

 “I can guess what the red ice does,” Aveil started, “but what does the other one do?”

 “Endurance.  Keeps me awake.  And if it’s that dark down there, it’ll be hard to see.  So it lets me see in the dark.”

 “Sounds like the ones I mixed too.”  She glanced at her armor that was hanging on a rack next to Link’s.  “That thing doesn’t have a lot of insulation, so it’s going to be really cold down there.  Then again, Termina’s waters are a lot warmer than out here.”

 “I’m more worried about the pressure.  Even with the potion.  Going to the bottom of a lake or as deep as we went for the platform was one thing. But this…”  He shook his head and looked to Medli.  “When I went for the freighter, it was deep enough I was feeling the weight of the water on top of me.  I can’t imagine what it’s going to be that far down.  Hope the armor can take it.”

 “Hope so too,” Medli said.