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RAN
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everything in the situation, especially in terms of the performative vibe that''d been in the background since we stepped into the elevator, was evidence that this was some kind of sleight of hand. We were meant to swallow the fucking ridiculous idea that Fang had somehow produced something physically impossible and get all worked up, like this was some cheap magic show, while whatever this was really about - whatever had really left everyone so shaken - went on in the background.
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can''t be iron," Theodoros objected, fiddling with his glasses. "The element can''t exist within the Mimikos outside of the human body. It''s one of the seven Fundamental Principles that can''t be altered even by the Power-- Everyone knows that."
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years back, when I was in my twenties, but had this in particular dropped off at my door nearly finished a couple months ago, with some notes about what it was and the connection to this conclave."
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lot of people, y''know? I can lose track."
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quiet, Ezekiel," Kamrusepa chided him. "It''s not as if you know anything about the situation." Theodoros, who I guess was the only other person here who had even a sliver of context, nodded strongly along with her.
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How exactly do you have a piece of iron in that thing, Fang? How does it work?"
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wrong, here," Fang said, scratching behind their head. "It is crazy. And at the time that I got it, I was pretty freaked out, and did kinda weigh my options... But in the end, I figured it wasn''t really my business to go off and do my own thing?" The tossed it back around, grasping the hilt again. "I mean, I don''t even know if this really is iron myself, you know? It does seem to fuck with the Power like nothing else I''ve seen before, but, hell, who knows."
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absurdity," he spat. "And you know it is, Neferuaten. You can sway everyone here with your poetic language if you wish, as you have always done, but it will not change reality." He shook his head. "I cannot believe this. After I finally thought you were seeing sense, when it came to the planning of this conclave."
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is iron, then it will not change the outcome. The Ironworkers built this as nothing more than an observatory. To imagine you can transform a telescope into a knife by merely sticking a point to its tip has always been a ridiculous notion, overflowing with a hubris only he could possess."
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every harm in the attempt," he said. "We don''t know what it will do. It could invite catastrophe."
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us," Durvasa hissed, looking pissed off. "We should never have kept this abominable thing operational out of... Whatever wrongheaded feelings possessed some of you, when we evicted him from the organization. I have lived in anxiety of an event like this-- Where someone could exploit that sentimentality to have you all make a terrible mistake, against every compromise we came to."
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why the inner circle at large, and especially Durvasa, apparently didn''t want this machine to work. They might''ve fallen out with... Your grandfather, and felt shitty about his work being vindicated, but I didn''t think what amounted to office politics would be enough to put them off what sounded like a huge breakthrough. And especially not to provoke a reaction like this.
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us to be here. As witnesses.
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why that would be important, though, I couldn''t tell you.
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emotional for the whole misadventure, even if he was subtle about it. All these long pauses, his weird attitude of reluctant responsibility.
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Research Tower | 7:09 AM | Third Day
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fuck was happening, while the others kept themselves preoccupied in various ways. Seth had produced a deck of cards, which hadn''t surprised me. He seemed like the type who''d always keep a deck of cards around.
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out when that happened so all the energy could be used properly, so it wasn''t like there was much to see." She looked downward, at the glass surface of flooring where we sat. "After that... They all came back up, looking a bit shaken. And we all got ushered out. And that was it."
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lost your memory at that point, remember? And we were short on time."
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nothing like the one I''d seen the previous day. There were similarities - it was still kinda top heavy, with a big forehead and a small chin, along with a short, upturned nose - but other than that, there was no similarity whatsoever. Far from looking elderly, she looked our age, or maybe even younger on account of her short height. Her skin was taut and clear - now a healthy shade of brown, on the darker end for an Ysaran - and her black hair, which had just a bit of a wave to it, fell smoothly down to her shoulders. Her green eyes, disturbingly dissonant when I''d seen them earlier, now looked pretty and utterly in place with the rest of her features.
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something major had happened. They were all pretty tight lipped, even Zeno, though he could obviously barely hold in how thrilled he was. And Anna seemed to be doing her best to stay away from the rest of the group, keep her hood down..." She placed a hand against the side of her head, leaning forward a bit. "Then, at dinner, they couldn''t keep it a secret any more. She took it down, and Hamilcar told us the machine worked. It''d reversed time."
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guess it made sense, when I thought about it. Everyone would have assumed I''d have known already, and now that I thought about it, there had barely been time to share a single word that wasn''t about the unfolding crisis from the moment I''d woken up in the wrong room.
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she was the killer, we were probably all fucked anyway. That was a level of lying that even I couldn''t compete with.
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everything. Even down to a lot of the minor details."
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very old - the shaft wrought of unartificed bronze and wood, and the symbol which crowned it, a stylized white-gold star which represented the word ''anu'' or ''that which is divine'' in Eme (??), was no longer distributed to arcanists in any position. It was one of the most important characters in casting, being the very first word spoken in all incantations, but had become controversial to use in symbology because of its association with the Rhunbardic Empire, and rulership by arcanists in general.
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No one here knows Balthazar, a voice in my head said. It would be better just to sacrifice him for Ophelia''s sake.
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