“Who is this?” Argrave questioned. “Where’s Induen?”

“Induen?” the voice repeated disbelievingly. “This… this is Elenore, your sister. Gods, what the hell happened to you?”

Argrave blinked, trying his best to adapt as quickly as he could. Things were still badly crossed in his head—he was certain Elenore had died in a swamp… or perhaps just outside of the Tower of the Gray Owl. Fortunately, he had the intellectual reasoning enough to recognize his memories might be faulty, damaged.

Elenore carried on as Argrave’s head spun. “Listen to me, very carefully. I’m trying to help you. Anneliese has her suspicions that the god of war is trying something. You need to… I don’t know,” he heard desperate panic in her voice—concern for him. Some memories realigned in Argrave’s heads as emotions dredged them up. His blind sister. His sister, who he loved dearly. He’d helped her once or twice, given her a new perspective, so to speak… but she’d helped him over a million times. He couldn’t forget that.

Elenore continued. “You need to retreat, or get to safety, or get to someone that can help you. Do you understand me? We can’t lose you. I can’t lose you. Just get out of there. Something’s wrong with you, wrong with your head. We can help.”

Argrave rose to his feet, his limbs functioning surprisingly well. “Can’t run. Not now. Tell Anneliese to get to safety, if necessary. If Galamon is trying something, I’m going to see what I might know about that. He has to be using Governor Ji Meng as his conduit. I’m going to look it up on the wiki, see what I can’t find.”

Argrave prepared to dive into the wiki he’d just made, searching for any clue about what the god of war might be up to. He only hoped it would be enough… but above all, hoped he could manage it in time.

" rel="up" itemprop="sameAs">##

Argrave woke up with a hand inside of his brain. It was mildly disconcerting, but not entirely novel.

In response, he raised his own hand up, wrapping it around the arm in question. There was an explosion of activity springing from his brain as various motor functions triggered countless knowledges that had been tied up with them. He was reminded of everything of deadly chemicals to the geography of ages back as he pushed the arm out of his head.

Trying his best to ignore the squelching sounds, he slowly pushed the Alchemist away. When his hand was out of Argrave’s brain, he heard a large thud. Presumably the man had fallen over. Argrave felt around, searching for his face. Fortunately, the Alchemist had the good judgment to place it near him. He lifted it back up, making sure it was oriented the right way, and lined it up so he could use it.

“Hey,” Argrave said once his mouth aligned with his throat again. “Law. Can one of your Justiciars hand me the scalpel in the Alchemist’s hand? After that, I need a mirror.”

Argrave took the offered scalpel with his free hand, and used one of the Justiciars’ shield as a mirror to reconnect his face back manually. It was definitely crude… no, more than just crude, it was hard to look at. But the finer details could come later.

“Is he dead?” questioned Law. “The Alchemist.”

Argrave looked at him. “He’s hard to kill. Physically, mentally, he’s badly broken. Might repair the damage on his own, given time. Given what happened to him… it might be best if we don’t let that happen. Not yet. Not before measures are taken to cure him. I want you to look after him. Can you do that?”

“I can,” confirmed Law.

With that settled, Argrave turned to the person he knew could set things straight: his sibling.

“Induen,” Argrave contacted his brother through their mental connection. “What did I miss?”

“Argrave?” A female’s voice came, rather alarmingly. “You bastard! What happened? Are you well?! You’ve been silent for—"

“Who is this?” Argrave questioned. “Where’s Induen?”

“Induen?” the voice repeated disbelievingly. “This… this is Elenore, your sister. Gods, what the hell happened to you?”

Argrave blinked, trying his best to adapt as quickly as he could. Things were still badly crossed in his head—he was certain Elenore had died in a swamp… or perhaps just outside of the Tower of the Gray Owl. Fortunately, he had the intellectual reasoning enough to recognize his memories might be faulty, damaged.

Elenore carried on as Argrave’s head spun. “Listen to me, very carefully. I’m trying to help you. Anneliese has her suspicions that the god of war is trying something. You need to… I don’t know,” he heard desperate panic in her voice—concern for him. Some memories realigned in Argrave’s heads as emotions dredged them up. His blind sister. His sister, who he loved dearly. He’d helped her once or twice, given her a new perspective, so to speak… but she’d helped him over a million times. He couldn’t forget that.

Elenore continued. “You need to retreat, or get to safety, or get to someone that can help you. Do you understand me? We can’t lose you. I can’t lose you. Just get out of there. Something’s wrong with you, wrong with your head. We can help.”

Argrave rose to his feet, his limbs functioning surprisingly well. “Can’t run. Not now. Tell Anneliese to get to safety, if necessary. If Galamon is trying something, I’m going to see what I might know about that. He has to be using Governor Ji Meng as his conduit. I’m going to look it up on the wiki, see what I can’t find.”

Argrave prepared to dive into the wiki he’d just made, searching for any clue about what the god of war might be up to. He only hoped it would be enough… but above all, hoped he could manage it in time.
chapter-592

“How many bits do we have to attach to movement?” Argrave complained, looking over Raven’s metaphorical shoulder as he worked. “I don’t want to literally ‘jog my memory.’ Could you imagine the looks I get if I wave my arms about every time someone asks me a question I need to think about?”

Argrave sat in his unusual chair, spinning around it while Raven worked hard.

“Focus on your own construction,” Raven criticized.

“I’ve been ready.” Argrave looked backward to his monitor, where the ‘hidden side of the wiki,’ as he called it, waited—the editing screen. “Just need the next bit of input from you.”

Raven caressed his forehead, then focused back on Argrave’s mindscape. It was difficult to gauge precisely how well things were going. Argrave certainly received and processed information incredibly quickly, but the ultimate conclusion to things could only be seen once they separated their minds. As he worked, there was a voice within him that beat hard against his chest. It spoke of how this was a pointless endeavor, how Raven could simply consume Argrave and potentiate him in his moment of weakness. Then… all that knowledge would be his.

But his rational mind of yet had the edge over the instincts. The instincts were swelling, gaining momentum, and it wouldn’t be long before that dam broke. He only hoped that Argrave, at the end of this all, would prove equal to the task of silencing the call of the Smiling Raven. Elsewise, Erlebnis’ gambit might pay off in a grander fashion that he had ever expected.

“We’ll link this segment to the color vermillion,” Raven declared, and Argrave moved his fingers to the mosaic with buttons he called a keyboard.

He changed some things, and the background on the monitor changed to that shade. “Vermillion. Pleasant shade. Let’s hope what’s on it is half as nice.”

Index
chapter-592

“Who is this?” Argrave questioned. “Where’s Induen?”

“Induen?” the voice repeated disbelievingly. “This… this is Elenore, your sister. Gods, what the hell happened to you?”

Argrave blinked, trying his best to adapt as quickly as he could. Things were still badly crossed in his head—he was certain Elenore had died in a swamp… or perhaps just outside of the Tower of the Gray Owl. Fortunately, he had the intellectual reasoning enough to recognize his memories might be faulty, damaged.

Elenore carried on as Argrave’s head spun. “Listen to me, very carefully. I’m trying to help you. Anneliese has her suspicions that the god of war is trying something. You need to… I don’t know,” he heard desperate panic in her voice—concern for him. Some memories realigned in Argrave’s heads as emotions dredged them up. His blind sister. His sister, who he loved dearly. He’d helped her once or twice, given her a new perspective, so to speak… but she’d helped him over a million times. He couldn’t forget that.

Elenore continued. “You need to retreat, or get to safety, or get to someone that can help you. Do you understand me? We can’t lose you. I can’t lose you. Just get out of there. Something’s wrong with you, wrong with your head. We can help.”

Argrave rose to his feet, his limbs functioning surprisingly well. “Can’t run. Not now. Tell Anneliese to get to safety, if necessary. If Galamon is trying something, I’m going to see what I might know about that. He has to be using Governor Ji Meng as his conduit. I’m going to look it up on the wiki, see what I can’t find.”

Argrave prepared to dive into the wiki he’d just made, searching for any clue about what the god of war might be up to. He only hoped it would be enough… but above all, hoped he could manage it in time.

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Argrave stood over Raven’s corpse in his mindscape. He’d wanted a weapon to incapacitate Raven, and in response, his mind had conjured a pinstripe suit and a handgun. Both were already gone, but Raven remained. His form in Argrave’s mindscape had perished from two gunshots.

Still… the Alchemist wasn’t dead. The fragment of his mind that he had sent over here was broken, but the rest of him would be whole and intact. Argrave had done his research before executing him. This would be an immeasurably heavy burden on the Alchemist, and one that he alone might not be able to recover from on his lonesome. He had sacrificed much to bring Argrave back from the brink. And the sum of his efforts?

Argrave looked at his desktop, where the wiki awaited him on its main page. He tried to draw upon any of Erlebnis knowledge, but none of it moved. It was locked within there, and only with an elaborate sequence could Argrave again get at it. Part magical, part mundane, Raven had managed to tame Erlebnis’ knowledge without being overwritten.

Well… not fully overwritten. It remained to be seen how much of what he remembered was accurate. Some wires were crossed. Argrave certainly wasn’t ready to jump back into a fight. But… he didn’t really have much a choice, did he? Argrave went to his computer, pulled back his chair, and sat down. He stared at Raven’s body for a moment.

Argrave would bring him back. He would fix what damage had been done. But for now… he would rest.

Argrave turned back to his desk and searched, ‘how do I get out of my midnscape?’ No results showed up, so he fixed the typo and sent the query again. He clicked the first result, scanned through the page that appeared, recalled his new memories…

And awoke.

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