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Inner Sanctum Loft | 9:05 AM | Third Day
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stale quality to the air the longer time passed. Linos had assured earlier that life support couldn''t be compromised, but whatever was originally being done to emulate the freshness of a natural atmosphere had clearly ground to a halt. "Every time we turn a corner, I feel like some monster is gonna lunge at us. Like we''re in a horror drama or something."
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barely do that."
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half-measure. It''s a damn nuisance."
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liked the idea of us all swinging firearms around.
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Were there other exceptions, then...? I''d need to clear that up later.
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Wow."
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nightmare when Zeno had insisted we get it up the stairs - which had been left in the hallway on account of not fitting through the door. "Try to be quick. Time isn''t exactly on our side."
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I will go, Yantho''s board transcribed, although his expression strongly indicated his desire to do the exact opposite.
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I won''t go all the way down. Just enough to be sure.
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I guess it wasn''t.
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big ones, but I was at least curious. And with both Anna and Linos here, there was a chance I''d actually get a truthful answer.
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Wow, I thought. I didn''t think it''d be that easy.
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abnormal personality trait. And if I were to tell you I can''t say it outright, that''d just make the atmosphere more uncomfortable, and make it clear there is a secret there. Which defeats the entire point."
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parents''. Plural." He furrowed his brow. "Their families were quite close both personally and professionally, and so both were involved in the project. They ran a business helping people who wanted to immigrate convert their assets for the other economic system - turning kakau into property, business stakes and luxury credit, and vice-versa."
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young."
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not sound like they were advocating for eugenics on the down-low, but apparently, Anna had no such compunctions.
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blatant security hole."
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It''s definitely her, the words read. I found these, too.
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Why a sword? I thought, right off the bat.
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I tried to examine the body a little, even though I didn''t really know what I should be looking for, he wrote. It did look like she''d impacted the ground from pretty high, but something was strange. There wasn''t any blood in the shaft itself, only at the bottom.
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Well, if she''d shot herself in the head right before falling, you''d think that the bleeding right after the fact would have scattered some drops around... Or on her chest. There wasn''t any there, either.
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I knew it. I shouldn''t have trusted Kamrusepa''s stupid reasoning. ''It doesn''t seem likely'' my ass.
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Anomaly-Divining Arcana, with a scope of at least the last three days, and a range of this room," I said. "Can you still spare the eris?"
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A n o m a l y - D i v i n i n g
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One incantation, cast... Yesterday morning, at 10:43? That was only an hour before Kam and I had discovered the room. Some kind of conjuration incantation... Simple, but still multi-elemental--
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Anomaly-Divining Arcana herself, apparently not trusting us, and Linos took her hand. "It''s true," she said, after a moment.
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Do you think she was murdered? Yantho asked. I could see his hands trembling a bit.
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to know, based on this." He let out a deep sigh. "When we get back underground and can cast again, I think we should do a more comprehensive investigation of both this letter, and the suicide note we found independently - I believe it''s in our archive at the moment, so it should be close to the security center anyway. Kamrusepa, you know the Form-Chronicling Arcana, don''t you?"
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It feels wrong to leave her body in that state, Yantho wrote, with a pained expression. I did what I could to give her some dignity, but...
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When we return and regain control of the sanctuary. It was a confidence that was clearly meant to be inspiring and reassuring, but just ended up seeming desperate in a way that was off-putting.
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really lousy shot. Like, shoot-your-own-eye-out bad. It''d be safer for me to grab a candlestick from somewhere and try to get ''em with the sharp end." They glanced behind them. "Unless it''d be okay if I took some of those grenades? I could work with grenades."
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side instead of the one in front - we set back off. The final stop we''d agreed to make had been Lilith''s room, in case that was where she and Mehit were holed up. It was one half of the compromise we''d agreed in lieu of searching the entire estate, the other being to leave some notes lying around informing them that we were here and where we were going, though leaving the details of our plan out. Some people were worried it would tip the killer off, but again, I couldn''t imagine they''d struggle to find us.
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not what she means," Kamrusepa said flatly.
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long painting, one of those ones you couldn''t view all at once, but had to turn your head as you took it in, as if you were really there...
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To Gilgamesh the Elders spoke, and they said this:
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"Gilgamesh, do not put your trust in your great strength alone.
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Train your mind to be sharp, and make each blow land true!
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The one who scouts ahead may save his comrade,
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The one who knows the path may protect his friend.
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Go in the wake of Enkidu,
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for he knows the road to the Cedar Forest,
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for he has known the bloodshed of the battlefield.
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Enkidu will protect you, his comrade and friend.
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And his body shall bear you back to your family.
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Enkidu! The wisdom of our Assembly shall entrust our king to you!
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And we expect him to be borne to us safely upon your return!"
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Gilgamesh then spoke to Enkidu, and he said:
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"Come my friend. Let us go to the temple of Elgamah,
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to Ninsun, the Great Queen;
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She who is without peer in wisdom.
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She will show us the path we must walk."
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