Chapter 276: Making connections (Patreon)

Still hovering in front of him, Kaitlynn withdraws her hand from Loudmouth’s, going pale as a sheet. “Lyrack showed you? We’re... we’re so sorry, Loudmouth.”

“You saw, and you still want to help us?” I ask softly.

Loudmouth sighs, sinking deeper into the plush chair. “Ah... Loudmouth admit, Loudmouth confused at first. Mister Lyrack very convincing, show many footage of Friends sneaking into village, killing Hoig. Said Blue Dragons not Loudmouth’s Friends.”

Kaitlynn bites her lip, most likely desperate to refute that statement, but finding it hard to justify under the circumstances.

I know I do.

“Loudmouth shocked,” he continues. “Not know what to think, what to believe. So later, when Mister Lyrack out to party, Loudmouth watch again. This time, start from beginning.”

I blink. “You saw the whole attack?”

“No,” Loudmouth replies, shaking his broad green head. “Loudmouth watch whole season.”

Oh, damn.

“Loudmouth saw lots and lots of humans,” he croaks. “Saw humans struggle, saw humans suffer, saw humans die. Saw Friends killing Hoig in sleep, but also saw Friends refuse to kill little Chewie, bury him after.”

Objective meaning fills in the blanks for me, telling me he’s talking about the little baby Hoig we came across, that ended up squished by wooden beams during the fight.

“And Loudmouth heard commentary from Peilor,” he croaks, a hint of anger creeping into his voice. “They make fun of Friends, and make fun of dying Hoig. Then Loudmouth understood. Friends not bad, Peilor bad! But Loudmouth still powerless, couldn’t leave, had to obey Mister Lyrack... But now Friends here, and Mister Lyrack gone! If Loudmouth can help, Loudmouth will, so... Loudmouth pick option three.”

It's silent for a moment, then Suri lets out a sigh. “Once again, I find myself amazed and appalled at my former wilful ignorance.”

Loudmouth turns to her, seeming confused.

“I was introduced to you as a new friend, however,” Suri chimes before she drops her humanoid conjuration. “You should know that I am a Peilor. Or the spirit of one, at the very least.”

“Ah,” Loudmouth croaks awkwardly. “No feel bad; Loudmouth sure New Friend can’t help it.”

“Can’t help being a Peilor, no I suppose not,” Suri chimes with a hint of amusement. “Still, I would like to formally apologise for the atrocities committed to your people by mine. And I want you to know that I’ve rarely met a being as noble and forgiving as you, and I would be honoured to be your friend.”

Loudmouth puffs his chest up, and Kaitlynn touches a hand to her own, looking very touched.

I clear my throat. “Much as I hate to break up this love-fest, I feel like we shouldn’t tempt fate any further. Since Loudmouth seems resolute in his choice... how are we going to do this?”

It’s silent for a moment.

“Mister Lyrack usually go home after performance?” Loudmouth offers. “Transfers to other host there, leaves Loudmouth in private area with Bulging-Eyes and Smooth-Cheeks for company.”

So he’s got his own space in Lyrack’s home too, huh? Man, Loudmouth really had it made.

“That sounds like an excellent first step,” Suri chimes. “There’ll be fewer prying eyes and ears there. The higher tiers are big on privacy.”

“Good,” I reply, as I float a little closer to Loudmouth, and study the yellow crystal still stuck in his forehead. It still looks just fine, at least. “And you think you can mimic the presence of Lavi and Qi of a Yang Peilor well enough to fool people, Suri?”

“I don’t need to. The Lavi and Qi are still there, dear,” Suri chimes haughtily. “What do you think that crystal’s made of?”

Huh. Right, Peilor are nothing more than Lavi-Qi crystals that have gained sentience. This crystal is pretty much a Peilor that’s just lacking... a spirit.

My eyes narrow. Wait... It can’t be that simple, can it?

I glance down at the jagged end of my chain, then back to the crystal.

“Anyway,” Suri chimes. “The main risk to our detection would be my connection to the conjuration I need to create that mimics Lyrack’s spirit, so I think... Emma, dear, what are you doing?”

Loudmouth goes cross-eyed as he looks up to where I’m trying to attach my broken chain to the crystal in his forehead.

I’m channelling a lot of Willpower into my chain, and I feel like it’s doing something, but actually trying to get it to attach to the crystal is like trying to force two equal magnetic poles together.

“Eh, it was just a thought,” I reply, backing off with a sheepish shrug. “I mean, you told me once that life in this Realm only requires Lavi, Qi, and Espir, right? I just figured I had all the ingredients here, so maybe...”

Suri stares at me. “Well, that would certainly make impersonating Lyrack a lot easier. However, even if it’s theoretically not entirely implausible to do as you attempted, you seem to have forgotten that as far as this Realm’s concerned, you’re Yin.”

“Oh, right,” I mutter, scratching the back of my head. “I guess if there’s anyone amongst us that could possess Lyrack’s crystal...”

I fall silent, and we both turn to Kaitlynn. Loudmouth glances back and forth between us, then turns to her as well.

Kaitlynn looks back wide-eyed. “Ehm... I guess I could try?”

As Kaitlynn hovers over Loudmouth’s head, frowning at where she’s attempting to feed the fraying white rope that sprouts from her belly button into Lyrack’s crystal, I lean over to whisper at Suri. “Are we sure this is safe?”

“That question did not appear to concern you when you were trying this yourself,” Suri replies dryly.

“I’m aware of my faults. Just answer me, please.”

“Well, think of it this way,” Suri chimes after a moment. “If she fails, there’s no harm done. If she succeeds, that’ll prove connections to bodies can be broken and re-established, so whatever it might do to her ought to be reversible.”

“Hmm. I guess.”

“Indeed. Worst-case scenario, she turns into a complete snob and starts looking down on you for being some mortal flesh-bag.”

I raise a brow at her. “What’s this now, self-deprecation? My, you are growing as a person, aren’t you?”

“Oh, you just watch me, dear,” Suri replies smugly. “Soon you won’t even be able to mock me, as I’ll be so enlightened, I’ll actually have the moral high ground.”

I scoff. “You underestimate my mocking abilities.”

“Wait,” Kaitlynn mutters, drawing my attention back to her. “I think I...”

Then, she vanishes.

“Aack!” Loudmouth croaks, nearly falling off his chair in fright.

“What happened, did she succeed?” I bring out in a rush, already moving closer to stare at the yellow crystal. “Kait, are you in there? Are you okay?”

A tense couple of seconds later, her disembodied voice rings forth from the direction of Loudmouth’s forehead. “Wow, this is so weird! Is this how you see the world, Suri?”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Suri chimes, sounding equal parts surprised and delighted. “I imagine so, Kaitlynn. I reckon it’ll take some getting used to.”

“I’ll say!” Kaitlynn replies. “And yeah, I’m fine, I think...”

“What’s it like?” I ask, curiously.

“It’s... kind of dizzying?” she replies. “There’s no real sense of, like, orientation, as if up and down mean nothing. You know, I don’t think I can really do it justice... you really ought to try for yourself!”

I frown. “Well, I’d love to, but we don’t exactly have any more dead Peilor lying around.”

“True...” she muses. “However, now that I’m thinking about it, do we even need dead Peilor? I mean, couldn’t you two just take over any crystal made of Lavi and Yin Qi?”

From the corner of my eye, I see Suri’s conjuration freeze in reaction, her eyes going wide.

Damn. Kaitlynn got a point, doesn’t she?

Technically speaking, Peilor are nothing but Lavi-Qi crystals that have gained sentience.

I glance around, my eyes falling on the various crystals embedded in the gold dots on the walls and hanging from the chandelier.

From what I can tell, most of them are simple energy crystals placed for nothing but decorative purposes.

However, those can’t store neutral Espir. Any crystal meant to fulfil a more complicated task—like the security sensors we came across earlier, or the ones above the automatic doors—would have to be a Lavi-Qi crystal.

“Loudmouth,” I ask thoughtfully. “Do you have access to something to watch shows on here?”

“Ah, of course!” he croaks boastfully. “Got projector crystals linked up to network in every room!”

He points at a small, facetted black crystal, mounted on the wall opposite the large vanity mirror.

Excited, I turn to Suri. “Would that be suitable? Are the network links going to be a problem?”

Suri blinks, still looking somewhat stunned by the rapid developments. “I... yes, I believe they would be fine, as long as they’re Yin. As for the installed Espir, for someone with your power, flushing that out would be child’s play. We’re really doing this, then?”

“Heck yes,” I reply with a grin, already moving in.

Time to see what being a Peilor is like.

Even with Kaitlynn’s coaching, I’m having some difficulty with bonding to the crystal in the wall.

It doesn’t exactly help that Suri succeeded almost in a single try, and has already freed her new body from the wall in Loudmouth’s little boudoir.

I try not to glare at her as she comes floating past, hovering under the effect of Spatial Energy and moving through feelers of Aether that she controls through Lavi manipulation.

Seriously, what do the Peilor even need hosts for?!

Interestingly, she’s turned her new body a familiar shade of cyan.

Apparently, newly born Peilor are all either black or white—the respective colours of Yin and Yang Lavi-Qi crystals. In due time they personalise their looks, however, by mixing in certain energies into their crystal lattice.

For example, Kaitlynn’s yellow crystal is coloured mainly with Radiation Energy of a Radiance-improving Purpose. Suri’s cyan, on the other hand, apparently comes from a mix of mainly Cold and Inverse Spatial Energy.

With a groan, I stop trying to force the jagged end of my chain into the still pitch-black crystal in front of me.

“So, what’s holding you back?” Kaitlynn asks softly, hovering next to me in spiritform, her white rope still visibly tying her to Lyrack’s crystal.

I huff out a breath, crossing my arms across my chest. “If I knew that, I probably would have figured out how to do this by now. Maybe it’s just too late for me, maybe I’ve just been dead for too long.”

Kaitlynn shakes her head. “I don’t believe that, and I don’t think you do either. Come on, dig deeper. I know you can do it.”

Frowning, I turn back to the crystal. “Honestly, I’m stumped. I assumed this would simply be a question of belief, of visualising the connection taking form, becoming One, and then using my Willpower to make it happen—I mean, that worked for you—but it’s just not happening.”

“If you’ll indulge me, I may have a theory,” Suri chimes, as she comes floating over.

Of course she does.

“Well, go on then,” I say with a sigh. “Enlighten me, please.”

“I believe you’re self-sabotaging,” she replies. “I think, deep down, you dislike the Peilor too much, and that’s keeping you from accepting the idea of—in a sense—becoming one.”

I frown, considering her words. Am I unconsciously holding back? I guess I could see that being a problem with what I’m trying to do here...

Suri seems to take my silence for agreement.

“I suppose I can see why,” she chimes, a little subdued. “I wished things were different, but I do understand it. I suppose, me saying I wished to be your friend may have been a little... premature.”

“What? Suri, no, that’s not... I don’t hate you,” I say earnestly. “I don’t even think I hate your people, to be honest. I mean, I resent what’s been done to us, obviously, and I—I loathe Peilor society, but, like...”

I trail off for a moment, trying to fit to words what I feel. Kaitlynn puts an encouraging hand on my shoulder, biting down on her bottom lip with shining eyes, and seemingly trying very hard to stop herself from disturbing my thought process by reacting to what I’ve said.

“I think people—all people, human, Peilor, Hoig, and whatever else is out there—should be judged on an individual basis,” I finally state, looking straight at Suri. “And not just be viewed as an example of some group they represent. And as far as I’m concerned, from what I’ve seen... you’re a good person.”

“Thank you, dear,” Suri chimes after a moment. “I believe you’re a good person as well.”

I clear my throat and look away, nodding awkwardly.

Kaitlynn—whose eyes still have a suspicious shine to them—takes pity on me. “I suppose the question still remains then, what’s stopping you from forming that connection?”

I furrow my brows. While I meant what I said earlier, I still feel like Suri hit upon something with her self-sabotage theory.

“I think it’s... my pride,” I say after a moment. “I think Suri got it partially right, it’s the idea of becoming a Peilor that I don’t like. However, it’s not because I hate them, but because needing to become one in order to defeat them feels like... ugh, admitting they’re, like superior, in some way.”

“Well, having a problem with that actually does sound more like you,” Suri chimes with a hint of amusement.

I take a deep breath, ignoring her. “However, I guess that’s something I’ll just have to get over, because this is the hand we’ve been dealt, and there’s no way I’m giving up. And if I can’t defeat Starmother using my own body, I’ll just have to friggin’ out-Peilor her.”

And with that, I grab hold of the jagged end of my chain, and jam it into the crystal.

Author's note:

And, did you see this coming? Be honest now. ;)