Crystal Cage 27

Loading the trainer had exhausted the last of Pelenel's will to resist falling into trance. Unwilling to disturb the elven man, Orison made his way to the master quarters. A faint sound of running water drew the young mage past a personal bathroom into an area with a waterfall shower and soaking tub that were alternatively too cold and too warm to be comfortable but Orison had to admit it had been some time since he had felt so thoroughly clean after he was finished using them.

Returning to the room with a solid metal platform that had once been the frame for a bed, the young mage laid out a bedroll with some extra padding and activated the trainer. Entrusting the sorting of new information to his sub-mind Orison let himself fall into trance as well. Under other circumstances, Orison wouldn't have been so hasty to stuff information into his head right before rest but he had wanted an opportunity to ask questions of the elven man in the morning had any came up.

Orison's decision had some unforeseen side effects. Pelenel hadn't had an opportunity to tell Orison that he had unlocked the partitioned space, for one. For another, writing peoples memories and experiences into your own mind while in trance made a person highly sensitive to them. It blurred the line between one's self identity and the individual's recorded memories, if only temporarily.

In case of Pelenel's training, it made little difference. The man was a master of emotional and recollection control. He shared not a single bit more than he had meant to. Had that been the only thing that Orison took in, it would have been a good thing overall.

A second set of memories belonged to a man who's sole purpose for recording them was to remind himself who he was. Each part was steeped in preserved emotional vividness. If it hadn't been filtered through Beta, it could have had unknown and lasting consequences for Orison. As it was, a slightly longer than four hour amount of time melted away and Orison came to confused as to who he was until reality reasserted itself.

At first, the young mage struggled to understand why his sub-mind would allow even what it had through but he realized it was because of experience. The man was a fourth step climber and a person deeply in love with life. The memories showed him a perspective on how to deal with lifetimes of emotional baggage.

It also showed how to do many things that would allow him to fit into different kinds of scenarios the young mage might find himself in as he climbed. There were even a few things he would be much better at than before he'd have been too embarrassed to seek guidance in. Most importantly there were a few things he'd never want to experience himself directly to practice, like surviving torture, enslavement and bouts of grief induced insanity.

That wasn't to say that there weren't some things that the young mage wished he could floss out of his brain but those horrifying and disturbing memories were tied to some of the most important lessons the more experienced climber's memories had to offer. Out of those, there were two pieces of information that he couldn't ignore now that he did know. The first was a piece of unfinished business Orison had become a part of and was on his way to discovering more about. The second was the current identity of the man who had some way of tricking Osomo into regurgitating him back out every time he died permanently.

Shaking off the disorientation, the young mage sent a message to Gan and Duran letting them know that he was awake and the master bath was free to use. Moments after leaving the room, someone shut and locked the door. Orison shrugged and finished walking to the kitchen.

As Orison entered, the first thing he noticed was the tornado aftermath on the counter closest to the pantry, the second was the colorful and overly vivid advice Gravat was giving to Duran. "Just remember, a wh*re will put a finger in your a** anytime you want but don't ask a girlfriend to do it until after the third time you've f***ed. You need to warm refined ladies up to that kind of sh*t."

Seeing that Duran wasn't only not embarrassed but seeming to enjoy the vulgar conversation, Orison decided he wasn't that interested in First Family cuisine and decided to eat some trail rations in the main room.

Before he'd managed to slip out of view, the blue man bellowed, "Hey pixie t*ts, you never told me you left any b******ds behind. I think I saw one of your candy a** grand-kids turning tail to hide from me."

With a sudden shot of adrenaline strong enough to make his vision buzz, Orison turned around with a saintly smile plastered onto his face and said, "Well, it sounds like we were both wrong about something. I thought I saw an over-sized frog sh*tting in the kitchen and lost my appetite."

Caught between amusement and anger, the blue man apparently decided on both as he laughed while throwing himself at Orison with full strength. The young mage's equipment was enough not to be too worried about taking an unarmed strike but the explosion of strength surging through Gravat's muscles would be enough to break his neck if hit in the face. In the second it would take for the blue man to reach him, Orison was presented two options. He could reactivate the questioning request which would trap Gravat in the transporter circle til the man died of thirst or he could pull out the best dirty trick Ruby taught him and hope that it was enough.

Unleashing some stored essence, Orison turned slightly blurry as he went from a low defensive crouch to backwards half-roll before spearing a heel into the blue man's crotch. The upwards force was enough to turn Gravat's forward rush into an air born somersault that landed the man on his back before he curled like a shrimp. Pushing through the pain of having a testicle ruptured, the man got back on his feet and glared death at Orison.

Gravat hissed, "I'll twist your head off for that, trap monkey."

With emotionless indifference, Orison replied, "If you try to attack me again, you'll die in a transporter security field. Once you're in, I couldn't even change my mind if I wanted to... By the way, I'm a duel mage type, not an adventurer."

Pelenel, who was ready to stop the blue man if Gravat had tried to attack again, switched to healing once he registered the look of frustrated defeat on the blue man's face. Duran, for his part, was already half in front of Orison as well.

While the elven man's high range heal took hold, erasing pain and putting things back into place, Gravat said, "You know I'd wipe the walls with you any other day. What's your highest degree?"

Orison snorted. "I wouldn't fight you any other day. Your temporary weakness is the only thing that saved your life... To answer your question, I'm a first degree summoner and artificer."

Gravat said, "Horsesh*t."

The young mage shrugged while he rummaged through the pantry for anything that might interest him.

Pelenel added helpfully, "He's a climber like me. You can't measure him by Osomo standards. It's quite possible he disdains the trainers as I do and only saw use in the trainings he chose."

In a half surly attempt to reconcile, Gravat said, "You've already broken my other money maker for the day. Give me a magic show. I'd like to see what a climber can do with a little beginner fluff."

With nothing else better to do while he waited for Gan to finish his personal business, Orison summoned out Titania and Oberon then had them put on a show. With the added knowledge he had gotten from the First Family's library, Orison had been actively having to resist his summoning models breaking and turning into weakened abilities. It wouldn't be much longer before he'd have to either let it happen or intentionally muddy his understanding.

Picking up on their readiness to transform, Pelenel asked, "Why do you resist their assimilation?"

Orison sighed. "Almost all of my main staple already have. If I let them go too, all I'll be left with are a large handful of weak tricks."

The elven man shook his head. "They are spirit based. As it is, your progress has far outstripped your comprehension. The minor amount of your blood's potency that you use for physical augment isn't enough. Until you have an adequate grasp of glamour and intent, you need an outlet to help alleviate the pressure... I won't make any guarantees but they should raise in usefulness, if not power, almost immediately."

Weighing the pros and cons, Orison decided to take his clansman's advice. With the deed done, it would take a day or two to see the results. For the time being, Orison lamented internally that he'd been downgraded to a second rate fighter. The plus side was that all the summoner magical know-how and theory finally had a core to latch onto. The time, effort and resources he had spent learning and improving his earth golem and Enbarr would have value again.

Once Theo rounded the corner, the young mage stopped goofing around and drew the Pythagorean formula on the table along with a brief explanation of the 'on, run code, off' style manual overrides he and Duran had ran into multiple times. Since Theo and their rescues would likely want to take a look around themselves, they now had a chance to pick up some of the things Orison and Duran didn't due to self given time restraint. The lure of easier and safer treasure also allowed them to shake off Theo, who was working himself up into trying to convince Orison in letting him stay on their team awhile longer.

As the rabbit man made nearly tearful parting conversation with Gan and Duran as if they'd been traveling companions for years, Pelenel had his own few words to share with Orison. "We'll be staying here until our restrictions are removed in a few more hours. If you haven't moved on in a couple of months, I have more to share and I'll be free of past commitments."

Orison nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

While Pelenel hit Orison's group with a round of rejuvenation and some kind of long term healing factor stimulation buff, Gravat gave Duran a parting piece of vulgar advice and a promise to return the favor of pulling him back from the dead.

Making their way out of the cavern and tunnels, Duran said, "Don't hate him. He's good where it matters."

Orison considered having a talk about how they didn't always have to like each other's friends but didn't feel up to it. Nodding at Duran, Orison turned inward to focus on processing the climber's memories. Gan's own mood was somewhat subdued as well, leaving a comfortable silence until they reached the surface.

After taking a breath of fresh air once they'd reached sunlight, Orison noted that there were even less people. After sharing a quick word with a guard near an emergency transporter someone had broken out from storage, he found out that some of the security team had decided to abandon post when they had spotted some kind of large flying creature.

Seeing that an opportunity had presented itself away from the eyes of powerful strangers that already knew more about his business than he was comfortable with, Orison decided to send a party invite to the oblivious climber's current incarnation. Once again, as if it was a reoccurring theme he couldn't shake, the young mage's message didn't make it through. He may not have the man's spiritual mark like he had used with Ivan but with that experience, Orison was able to replicate it using memories of the man's spiritual signature within the acquired memories.

Moments later, a soul faded human guardian Chosen appeared. The man had been worked over good a couple of times but other than significant bruising and signs of mild deprivation, the man was relatively in tact. Surprised by the sudden appearance, the guard by the emergency transporter was about to start asking questions when Orison pulled out some gold and fobbed it off as a companion that had been captured by semi intelligent creatures. Taking the bribe, the guard asked them to take the man elsewhere for recovery which Orison was all too happy in obliging.

Once they were close to the exit of the gully, Orison had Duran lay the man down and administer some healing after having the soul faded guardian take some of the medicines that they had recently acquired from the underground facility. Seeing that the guy was in a complex mood, probably not made any easier to digest by the identity of his rescuers, Orison let the man have some space to message a few contacts. The scrapped Fortune princess and bard he tagged along with were fine. They had made it out and away from the chaos of the royal court.

Once the man was recovered enough, he said, "Whatever part you had in this tragedy, is there anything you can do for Elise?"

Orison replied, "That's your Fortune princess girl that was with us in the Temple of Greed, right? In an indirect way, I already am. You'll understand soon enough."

The man sighed where he sat on a rock, burying his face in his hands. "You must think me a fool for running back again and again for more abuse. She's a lot more than she appears. I-"

Orison interrupted, "Was left behind while she ran off with the bard? Look, who you give your unrequited feelings to isn't that important to me. What is important is that YOU are more than you appear, even to yourself. But I have to say, you definitely have a 'type'. And as far as I can tell, it's not a good one to have."

The young mage chuckled as he handed the miniature trainer to the man. He explained to only activate the smallest of the three loaded segments. Looking a little wary, the man complied. Once dumbfounded confusion cleared to a more thoughtful variety, Orison convened with his party to cobble together the best equipment for the man as they could.

The young mage took back the trainer and handed the somewhat mismatched set to the man and said, " If you don't mind, I believe fetching you from prison, restoring a part of your memories and leading you to your conduit instead of claiming it for ourselves gives us enough credit to call you Danny instead of Daniel."

While Duran nodded in approval, Gan shot Orison a look that all but shouted 'Is that what we're doing?'

Danny smiled weakly, "I suppose it does but you'll have to excuse me for not really seeing myself as Daniel at the moment. This is all too surreal."

Orison flashed a mild look of sympathy at the man before he said, "There isn't much I can do about that but you'll have plenty of time to digest your new reality while we move. As it is, reaching Clay Barrows before we get too worn out is going to be a chore."

Danny mentally adjusted himself and nodded agreement. "I've always thought better on my feet anyway."

As they headed out, Orison handed the older guardian water and rations to consume along the way. After polishing off three portions of food and draining two canteens, Danny seemed to be quite a bit better off and finding mental equilibrium admirably. Being a man close to retirement as a Chosen and only having not breached the mid range of power due to the hazards of royal babysitting, he was quite knowledgeable.

Not even halfway through the first day, Gan was showing noticeable improvements on his ability to read dense jungle terrain and make the most out of his keen vision advantage. Duran was starting to show signs of getting the gist of second degree guardian training without having touched a trainer device and Orison was coordinating party formations with actions much more smoothly. To top it all off, Danny wasn't insistent or pushy in any way.

If there was anything to complain about, it was the nearly suicidal tendency the man had of jumping into the most dangerous spot to be. Of the mostly minor threats that the primates and giant snakes represented, there were two times the man got hurt taking a flung rock or fang puncture that could have been avoided altogether. Orison didn't really blame that on the man though. Danny was just too used to dragging dead weight.

While they took a midday breather, Orison had an aside with Danny. "I appreciate the enthusiasm. You've definitely got a bright future as an instructor if taking up the climb again isn't in you. But man, if you get yourself killed before we reach your conduit, I don't know if I have it in ME to go looking for you to go through this a second time. We might not even be able to."

Danny frowned, ordering his thoughts, then said, " None of you should be here. This area's too much for your current skill. I understand that your equipment's good and your team has better ability spread than most but if anything happens to your equipment or there's even the smallest of accidents, this trip is going to turn into a survival game. Those hits that Duran's letting his armor take now for clean kills could get HIM killed when we're further into the Deep Green. The borders between zones wave and we could pass into a top mid range area from a bottom one without realizing it."

Orison took a deep breath and let out some of his frustration on the exhale. "It speaks volumes that you recognize the inherent problems of our group and are willing to forgo something vital to you in order to keep us from endangering ourselves. The biggest problem that we're facing is that we're climbers, not trainer dependent Chosen. We HAVE to push our limits to raise them. That's especially true for Duran.

"You don't have to feel responsible for us. We are making this choice willingly and aware. I'm glad that you pointed out the equipment issue again, though. Intentionally taking hits is a bad habit to start. That should be a desperation call, not a go-to plan."

To give Danny and himself a little piece of mind, Orison informed his group that they were going to start treating every encounter as a threatening one, no matter how tame it looked. It would slow them down but Danny had hit the peg on one thing. They didn't have the luxury of treating this place casually. It could and quite possibly would get someone killed.