Shenanigans

Winston put a biscuit into his mouth, chewing quietly. Suddenly, a thought arose in his mind, and with it a gleam in his eyes.

It was a sudden realization, stemmed from his intuition!

The ships are transporting such a large amount of suspendium along with a large amount of people.

If I can somehow get even 1000 people outside and save them, wouldn't that technically count as enhancing my talent towards the next sequence of the Error pathway, Prometheus?

As Winston understood from the name of the next sequence, the acting principle followed something along the lines of stealing something for the benefit of others. Though he couldn't be sure of it as acting always required experimentation.

However, by the Greek legends, Prometheus stole fire from the gods to give to humans, suffering by himself in the process. It stood to good reason that a sequence named after the legendary figure would follow through with his actions.

In the future, I wouldn't be able to move as freely due to the floors getting more congested with forces of the ten great families. Eventually, rumors might spread about my strength and the possibility of being suspected as an irregular is always there. Though at that point, I would be a faceless, a movement would be a lot easier, its better to enhance my talent to begin with.

Moving through with the acting of a higher sequence now itself ought to have great returns in the future. Not to mention the feedback I would recieve upon successfully completing the task would be enormous.

However... that's easier said than done.

Since the ships were carrying such a large assortment of goods, it was logical for Winston to assume that they had at least one ranker on board. And since the news of them had been revealed recently, it also seemed logical to conclude that reinforcements would arrive to strengthen the ships, meaning even more rankers to deal with. As strong as Winston was at the moment, he doubted he could take on a full fledged ranker.

Not to mention the foreign territory, the possibility of other forces intervening and the obvious unknown factors in the narrative made it all more difficult that it should be.

Naturally, it would not be an issue if Winston was of a higher sequence.

Indeed. If I was at sequence 6, I would not be too worried about it. Whatever. There's nothing that can be done.

Winston thought for a moment.

He walked around aimlessly through the hallways of their floor. As the biscuits in his hands vanished one after the other and an empty packet was left behind, he had decided on a course of action.

Popping his neck he headed back into his room. To attempt a divination.

~~~

A lone man walked along a seemingly deserted street. The desolate buildings on either side, couple with the slight drizzle that poured down from above shaded the scenery in a shadow of melancholy.

The man stood at a staggering 7 feet tall, a height not too rare in the tower. His skin was white as snow and his piercing red eyes shone with a baleful glare. He held a smile on his face and a black suitcase to his side.

Some beggars and ruffians walked along the sides, their numbers in the dozens throughout the entire walkway.

Everyone seemed to ignore him, as if he did not exist at all.

Eventually, he made his way to a dock with softly kissed the sea and at the base of which waves crashed into in rhythmic movements.

The man's smile widened perceptibly as he gazed out into the sky, seemingly looking through the thick overcast and into the unknown.

"What do you think?" He asked, seemingly to no one.

However, suddenly, from out of his trenchcoat, an elongated creature that looked eerily like a snake crawled out.

It's face was like a turtle while the elongated body held rough, turtle shell like scales.

Looking at the sky, the turtle spoke out with a hoarse voice.

"It's just clouds."

The man chuckled softly and extended his hand upwards, the one that held the suitcase.

The suitcase floated in the air as he opened it and took out a strange stone.

Then, closing the suitcase and holding it by his side again, he threw the rock ahead of him.

Ripple~

The sound of a ripple rang out in the air as the stone like object disappeared into the air.

Then, the air shimmered with a plethora of colours, and with it, a vision overlapped the air.

It was a gigantic ship that hovered above the clouds, at the bottom of which highly pressurized steam was getting ejected out of.

"And what of it?" The snake asked.

"I sense a disturbance with it. So we're here to check what it would be." He replied.

"Is it more important than the previous one?"

"Hmm. More or less. I suspect it might even be connected. Since every disturbance so far has originated from the same point."

The snake bobbed it's head up and down, nodding in understanding.

"I see." It said and retreated back into the trenchcoat, away from prying eyes.

The man shook his head and held down onto his top hat. Then, taking a single step forward, he let himself drop into the water.

Shaaaaa!

~~~

Winston found himself in a hazy dream.

He saw visions, scattered information from the spirit world travelling through his mind.

It was a surreal sensation every time he experienced it. Dream divination always left himself feeling as if he was floating. Floating and floating and free and floating. Like a will o wisp. Like a leaf in the wind. Like a fish in an endless ocean.

A large fleet of metallic battleships floated in front of his eyes, hovering above a gigantic ocean of clouds that poured down rain below. Below the ships was a tube through which pressurized steam was ejected down, which made the clouds that rained water below.

Then, suddenly, he zoomed further, somehow looking inside the ships. The labyrinthine structure of metallic paths and containers that floated in the air, with strange humanoid creatures prowling about. Of such strangeness was their visage that they seemed more like untamed beasts than any civilized creature; and of such ferociousness was their disposition that one could only ever associate them with the brutes that knew of nothing but violence.

Yet, here they prowled along with such sleekness and quiet that they seemed to be almost fearful. The entire vision was scattered and broken, appearing increasingly odd.

This was the result of blindly attempting a divination. Without any information, it was nothing short of a miracle that Winston was even able to get a response in the first place. Divination was all about association of information. It couldn't be attempted without any anchorage.

The only reason he was even able to get a response was that information flowed uniformly throughout the 'spirit world' that was shinsu. There was nothing to block that information because it existed because of Winston's divination in the first place. He drew out information that was transported directly to him.

Unlike the world of Lord of Mysteries where the spirit world was chaotic and non uniform, shinsu was far better in terms of conduction of information and performing divination.

Once again, it was proved to be a source of power with limitless potential.

The labyrinthine inside of the ship was memorized by Winston at a single glance, courtesy of improved memory provided by the Fool Pathway.

Then, he broke out of the hazy dream.

Hooooo~

He inhaled sharply as he got up.

His eyes were a mix of quiet contemplation and annoyance, yet no other expression could be seen on his face. It was completely blank.

He sat around for a few minute, completely still.

Then, suddenly, a gleam appeared in his eyes and he smiled.

"Time for some experimentation."

~~~

"What are you thinking?" A feminine voice came from behind Amon.

He looked back from the sunset, finding a green skinned girl staring at him. In her hands, she held a soft drink.

"Just staring at the sunset." Amon smiled sweetly at her.

Anaak nodded and sat down beside him. The sand beneath her shifted slightly as her tail swept through it.

The crimson hue made by the sun shone through the sky, covering the environment with an orange glow.

Both of them sat in silence for a moment, quietly watching the scenery.

Suddenly, Amon spoke.

"Ms. Anaak. Do you enjoy watching the sunset?"

Anaak turned her eye towards him.

She paused for a moment before she said, "Every evening, me and my mom used to sit outside of the house to watch the sunset."

She turned her head, taking a sip from the drink.

"What about you?"

Amon smiled softly.

"I don't remember much about my parents anymore... it was a long time ago..."

Anaak continued to stare at him.

"I remember my dad was tough on me. Though my mom always saved me from his beatings." Amon chuckled softly. "He wanted me to be a better man. Someone stronger. But now that I look back at it, he just wanted the best for me."

Anaak stilled for a moment, then, she looked up at the sky.

"He was a cook, my dad." She continued. "My mom loved his cooking. Every other day, he would make chicken pies. We all ate it together. My mom used to fight him quite a lot though."

"That sounds nice." Amon closed his eyes for a moment.

At that time, he felt something on his cheek.

Opening his eyes, he saw Anaak pushing the soft drink can onto him.

"Here you go." She said.

Amon took a hold of the can, looking at her in puzzlement.

Anaak shook her head and got up from the ground with a smile.

"Be back before dinner." She said, walking off.

Amon looked at her back as she walked farther and farther, his face a mix of puzzlement and slight surprise.

He took a look at the soft drink, then back at Anaak.

With a sigh, he took a sip from the can.

~~~

Winston sat in his room which was darkened through the curtains that blocked all light from the sunset. The only source of illumination in the dimly lit room was the group of candles lying on the ritual altar and an ominous blue ball of water that floated above.

Winston had his eyes closed and his hands stretched out, manipulating the baang before him, filling it further and further with shinsu. On his skin glistened a transparent bluish aura- the Diffusion Boundary.

Softly, he called out.

"Traveller from the further beyond.

"The thief of Science.

"He who dreams to rule over History.

"The entity called Winston Heath."

Then, moving on from the reciting of honorific names, he said, "I beseech you. Bestow a part of you to this conduit I hold.

"Provide a projection of your soul and essence, share it with me through this conduit.

"I ask you for your astral form that contains a shread of your power.

"I give you, Cerulean Tide, a weapon of ignition that belongs to you."

"I give you the suspendium coin, a trinket that belongs to you."

"Heed my call."

As Winston finished, faint whispers began to fill the air around him, echoing through his ears and into the unknown infinity. In his eyes, the shinsu all around turned chaotic and heavier, getting dragged towards the large baang he had created in front.

Then, something clicked.

Suddenly, he felt as if his astral projection had travelled, not completely, but it did still.

It was something of the sort that mimicked watching two different movies on two different screens. Focus was incredibly inefficient.

And just then, he felt his spirituality reserve get cleaved in half. The shinsu ball before him trembled and bubbled, tumbling around in the air as if life that suddenly been injected into it and it pranced around aimlessly like a headless chicken.

As it happened, Winston finished up the ritual and got up.

His eyes flashed with a plethora of colours that glowed eerily in the dark.

The shinsu ball before him, just now that floated silently began to morph. An illusory air began to fill it and appear in his eyes as a man.

It was another Winston Heath.

Winston chuckled. Then, he burst out into laughter.

The Winston that stood before him too burst out into a fit of cheerfulness, both of them displaying nearly identical features and antics.

~~~

~~~

A/N: Noice.

Throw some stones. Cheers~