Colin's posts

Savra looked concerned, before looking at Ryker.

"Are you sure this place is safe?" they asked him.

"We'll find out." Ryker responded, still rubbing his head. "Normally places like this are notorious for salt and grease and fat, but we'll have to see." he said further.

Savra was then silent, before looking to Eke.

"I don't want anything to happen to you." they told her.

"I like sausage, but I've never had pancakes." they went on. "But I don't want to eat somewhere that will hurt you..."

Jake narrowed his eyes a bit.

"...I see." he said.

"Whether or not I trust you will now depend on my next question." he told her.

"I have my suspicions, but it's high time that you prove something to me. And if who I suspect made you, actually made you, then you'll know the answer I'm looking for." he reasoned.

He then paused, took a small breath, and exhaled it. He looked right at her, unblinking.

"What do your eyes see?" he asked.

"They see the code." Chloe responded quickly.

Jake just sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose again.

"Of course it's Lunet." he muttered. "Why am I not surprised?" he asked rhetorically. He then pressed the button to buzz her in.

"Just go on in." he told her. "I get the feeling I wouldn't be able to stop you if I didn't let you in anyway." he added in a minorly defeated tone, making a note to inquire about this with Lunet later.

"..." Jake was silent again, before he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Wait. Hold on." he said.

"I understood a few of those words. And some key ones, I believe." he continued.

"...you are... a... well... I can't believe it." he muttered.

"Now... WHO made you?" he asked her.

"Who could have created something like yourself?"

"..." Jake was silent for a moment.

"That answered my question, but told me NOTHING." he said.

"Your creators." he said.

"Who are they?" he asked.

"And what do you mean 'created'?" he asked her.

"WHAT are you?"

Now Jake was 100% on the defensive.

"How do you know who I am?" he asked.

"And WHAT I am?" he asked further.

"And how did you get this far?" he then asked her, his tongue darting out, and what he found startled him.

Chloe had NO mana.

None.

As she was looking for the lock, she heard a voice.

"We're closed." it said.

The one that had spoked it looked alarmed that she had gotten this far already, seeing as the lockdown barrier extended to the property, and would cause anyone with the slightest bit of mana to suddenly decide to turn back and 'remember' something they had 'forgotten'.

So he was on the defensive, to put it lightly.

"Come back later." he told her.

"...who ARE you, anyway?" he then asked.

"That's fine." Ilias responded.

He then led her to the lab he'd been using, and ushered her over to the table that had the notes that Angela had given him. She then noticed he'd been piecing it all together on one of the whiteboards.

"This is amazing stuff." he said.

"These equations are brilliant, but I need YOUR help to completely bridge them together into a fully working solution." he told her.

"If you can help me do that, then we can save those whose souls are separated from their bodies."

She was standing right next to an intercom system, and she heard it buzz. But before she could answer it, she heard Ilias call out.

"DON'T!" he yelled.

"The system's on the fritz! Don't touch!" he yelled further.

She then started walking towards him, and he sighed when she was close enough.

"Dunno if it's coincidence or part of the attack." he muttered.

"Seems you're doing well, considering." he then commented.

"......." there was silence on the other end for a moment.

"Fair..." Zeke admitted.

"I hate to admit it, but... fair." he muttered.

"Regardless, I'm still going to do all I can... and then some... to get Liv back, safe and sound." he said further.

"I refuse to let Encrae have her way with our daughter!"

"....good." Zeke responded.

"At least SOMETHING good is happening." he went on.

She could tell he was angry, and that it was taking all of his concerted effort and willpower to not just run out into the world to try and find Vanessa. But he was doing it. For her.

"Let me know when it ends." he told her.

"...damn it." he then cursed.

"This is all my fault. It had to have happened when I stepped out for an hour. I thought she'd be fine." he went on, now sounding angry and near tears.

That last part did it.

Zeke was all ready to go alone full tilt into danger... but her last words caused him to just sigh deeply.

"...fine." he said.

"For YOU." he told her.

"I'm going to see if Dad or any of my aunts or uncles can help." he then said.

"Doubt it, though..." he growled.

"And I'll see if Mom has any ideas." he then added.

A flurry of emotions ran through Zeke's mind.

And most of them were anger-adjacent.

"...I'll kill her." he said.

"I'll find her and kill her." he repeated.

"I will bring Liv back myself, alongside Encrae's shredded corpse."

"Ah, wait!" Nate said, but she was already gone.

"Damn it, she shouldn't be up and about!" he growled.

Meanwhile, Zeke was sitting in one of the chairs in the home he and Angela shared, and sighed.

"Oh?" he asked.

"All right..." he muttered.

"Spill." he told her.

"How 'not good' IS it?"

Nate watched her go, and was silent for a moment.

"...hm." he mumbled.

He then turned and went back to Gem, sighing quietly.

"Seems that there is now irrefutable proof." he told her.

"I heard Dr. Edwards confirm that the mana is, indeed, Liv's." he confirmed.

"...but there's something else in it, it seems..."