2:00 IST, Fourth day, First month, 3079 PV | Bastion City Risia / A Random Bar
"I apologize for bothering you, Ascendent Kovon Ducker and companion. But it is a bit past closing time."
At these words I start to stir. I think Ray and I are in a bar somewhere in the Bastion City of Risia. Once again, it appears we have stayed out late drinking. It seems we got carried away and passed out on one of the couches…
Ray is currently sprawled across my lap, somehow comfortable even though her head is hanging off the edge of the armrest. I don't know how we got into this situation, and to be honest I am unsure of whether I wish to recall it. It seems that Ray doesn't have her augmentation kit configured to automatically purge the alcohol after a few hours of sleep.
Given her near comatose state, I gently lift her into my arms. I thank the barkeep and head out of the bar. They (an Arkan) give me a small nod and head back behind the bar, probably to prepare for opening.
I gently wrap Ray and I in inae and slowly ascend into the sky. I gently fly us towards the grand temple, where Initae said to meet once we were done. If she wasn't immortal I'd be worried about her getting mad at how long we took. But to a being that has lived for many billions of years, eight hours must seem inconsequential.
We arrive at the temple and I gently lower us down to the ground. Once again, upon our landing we make quite a scene. I suppose I might look like some old timey Knight carrying his lovely princess. Once the people have settled down, I enter the grand temple. I then proceed to lay Ray down on one of the seats. Shortly after, Initae appears.
"Ko, it took you two long enough! What the sekan did you get up to?" I don't know what the word sekan means, but I presume it is some sort of profanity.
"Oh nothing much, we mostly went bar hopping."
"Are you sure you just went bar hopping? You were on quite a long date just drinking…"
"Whatever you may or may not be alluding to did not happen. We simply passed on in a bar and lost track of time."
"Sure, dear friend, I guess I can roll with that. On to other business. We have a party to attend soon. Fear not, for I have attained locations for a couple voidliths that should make it possible to reach the destination sooner."
"Oh shoot, I completely forgot, the gala starts in like twenty hours. It's like twenty thousand light years away. Good thing you've been busy and found a way to shorten the journey to Castera."
"That I have, by adding about twenty three thousand lightyears to our trip, we should be able to reduce travel time from about two days to about ten hours."
"Geez, these voidliths sure are coming in handy. I can't wait to see you shift the battleship into the sanctum, it's gonna be so cool!"
"Me? No, Ko, you will shift the battleship by yourself."
"What! I just learned how to shift a single person, isn't stepping it up to a battleship a bit much?"
"You definitely have the Shifter affinity required. It's not that much different than a single person, you just have to control your bubble on a much larger scale. I believe in you. If for some reason you are unable to do it, I will step in and assist."
"Oh yeah, I just have to control a bubble to about five hundred times larger than anything I've made before. I can just casually learn to do that. No problemo."
"I think you are severely underestimating your abilities. You learned how to fly just by watching me briefly. Very few ascendent Gesir have the control to do that, let alone anyone else. And you learned to do it in a matter of moments."
"Well, when you put it like that I should give it a shot. So what's our actual itinerary look like?"
"Well first we head to the nearest Battleship-class voidlith, which is about one thousand light years away. This should take around two hours. Next, we travel through the Sanctum for about fifty thousand lightyears, this should take around an hour. Lastly, we travel from the voidlith to the Castera System, which is about two thousand light years away, which is about four hours."
"Woah, it's really weird hearing that it'll take half the time to travel fifty thousand lightyears compared to one thousand. Thus is the nature of sanctum travel I suppose."
"Indeed young one, it is fairly neat. The use of this plane allows for travel effectively fifty times faster. Imagine if we had to do it the normal way, we would be an entire day late!"
"Well, I guess we should head out. Umm, I don't suppose it's possible to use the Skier affinity to get a drunk person to wake the klack up is it?"
"Of course it is, although they will probably be barely conscious. Should be enough to get her to expel the poison though. Try imagining the presence you feel when the air is full of Inae. Imagine it as an aura that expands out from the PsiKit in your brain."
I do as instructed. Rather than just inae, it feels as though my entire consciousness is expanding outwards. It is a very strange sensation. Once I expand it far enough, I notice what I can infer is the presence of Initae and Ray's minds. Initae's feels like it is surrounded by a very solid barrier of Inae. While Ray's feels as though it is unprotected.
"I can sense that you have managed to do it! Now just speak the words in Ray's general direction while channeling Inae into your vocal cords. Then imagine the Inae carrying your words directly into Ray's mind."
I do as I am informed. It feels very strange, almost as though I am commanding reality itself to change. Which might be the general theory about how the Skier's power works. "Oh dear Ray, get your klacking klack up, purge the poison from your body, it's time to get going!"
Ray suddenly sits upright, I can hear a tiny noise, which must be her kit ejecting the alcohol. She seems to then quickly regain her composure and become her normal self. "Woah, that felt super strange. Ko! Did you mind controlling me, ooooh that's so cool. Oh, hello there transcendent, did you have fun while we kids were off?"
"I did indeed have fun, I figured out an itinerary that should allow us to reach the party venue within about ten hours, as opposed to two days. I also have a present for you, dear Ray."
"Ooo, parties! And Gifts! Gimme, you must know how I love both those things."
Initae then hands Ray a strange capsule, it seems to radiate a strong sense of aura off of it.
"Swallow this capsule, it is a mental shield that should make you resistant to most any Skier's abilities. It's my first time making one in a while, so hopefully it works."
"Sure thing Mrs. Transcendent. Thank you for this o so powerful gift. Who knows what Ko would have me do."
"Hey, stop acting like I would make you do something bad."
"Well, from that statement I know you've thought of at least three things you'd have me do that aren't necessarily bad, but I likely wouldn't do of my free will."
"Oh cmon, you trust me dont ya?"
"I trust you with my life, but not my mind. Who knows what kinda things you are thinking about."
With that statement that painfully stabs me in the heart, she swallows the capsule. Though, I can't say she is entirely wrong for that belief. Near instantly I notice a shift in the aura around her mind. It's as though her mind has hardened, similar to Initae but not quite as dense.
"Aright Mrs. Transcendent and Ko, let's get going. I can't wait for this party, we are going to make such a fashion statement. It's been a while since I've seen you in a proper tailored suit Ko!"
"Well then, let's head back then, I am quite intrigued by what type of outfit you two have chosen. Personally, I think I'm just going to go with my starlight gown, it tends to make quite an impression."
"Ah yes, if you wore that again, I'm sure every eye that's not on us will be on you."
"Wait a starlight gown? As in a gown made of literal starlight? I wanna see, you've gotta show me!"
"Yes, a literal gown made of stars. I also have some extra stars that I usually dot in my hair for style. I'll be glad to show you while we travel!"
"Eeek! Cmon, let's get going, Ko, stop standing there with that smile on your face, you look like an idiot."
The three of us then proceed to head back to the ship. During our journey through the voidlith, I successfully manage to transport both Ray and Initae, as preparation for shifting an entire battleship. We then proceed to get on the shipy doo (still the best ship name ever) and fly back to the Clak.
Once we return, the crew greets us warmly. Initae inputs the coordinates to the nearest velocity and we start to accelerate.
Cal:"Attention crew, acceleration to hyperspace in nine minutes thirty seconds, please brace yourself."
After the nine minute charge-up time, we jump into hyperspace. True to her word, we dropped out of hyperspace after about two hours. During the journey, I believe Ray and Initae are engaging in some sisterly bonding over party attire.
Once we exit hyperspace, they both appear on the bridge. They seem to have grown closer. Which is good, I think Ray has had some issues with Initae.
"Alright Ko, another lesson time. You may have noticed that we are currently in the middle of nowhere. In order to access the voidliths you need to pierce the veil using the Veilkey in your PsiKit. This should be very simple, you just have to project some amount of inae through your brain and towards the voidlith, which should be dead ahead."
I once again do as instructed. I channel a tiny amount of inae out into the area in front of the ship. After a few moments, reality slightly shakes and a massive hole opens up in space. Although it is not like a vortex. Rather it looks like a curtain has parted, this must be the Veil in its proper glory. A revolutionary technology that can be used to completely hide parts of space from detection or interference without a VeilKey to pierce them. Genius.
"Great job! Now Mrs Pilot please fly us into the veil towards the large structure."
As we enter the veil, it is immediately noticeable. A gigantic voidlith. It must have a diameter of fifteen hundred meters. Its length appears to be about fifty kilometers long. This must be one of the legendary battleship-class voidliths. Capable of accelerating an entire battleship to near the speed of light, thus making voidshifting it far easier.
Ray:"Woah, that thing is massive. It's also quite beautiful, almost as if it is a natural fixture in the galaxy. And you're saying that our Dear Ko is going to use that thing to shift this entire ship? That's crazy."
Ko:"Well, I'm going to give it a try."
We approach the voidlith, Initae seems to send out some sort of signal with the comms system. Shortly afterwards, the voidlith begins to glow with Inae.
"Alright Ko, it's just like accelerating people, you just need to gather far more Inae. I believe in you, go for it. Also, by the way, the voidlith on Risia took sixteen medium affinity Gesir to power. This bad boy takes over one hundred high affinity Gesir. Of course, I could power it by myself if I so wished."
"Well, here goes nothing."
Similar to the smaller voidlith, I begin to gather the special shifter-type Inae into a tiny point within my body. As the ship begins accelerating into the voidlith, I gather as much as I possibly can. Once we reach about 75% I throw the ball of highly concentrated Inae through the massive PsiCore. It works! A vortex large enough for the entire ship forms and we pass through it.
"Congratulations Lil Ko. You are now one of the two hundred thousand wielders currently capable of shifting an entire battleship. Such a feat alone would normally automatically qualify you to be of visionary rank, but you are already an ascendent so no need! Now, just like before, surround the ship in a bubble and carry us into the sanctum."
Just after performing one nigh-impossible feat, I start performing another nigh-impossible feat. It takes me several minutes, but I manage to surround the Clak in a thin layer of raw inae. I then guide us through the void and into the sanctum.
"Well done Ko! I knew you could do it."
"Yipee, I did it!" I say very weakly, then I proceed to faint.
I suppose bringing it on will have to wait until I recover.
End of Chapter 23
A/N: Woah, you're still here dear reader? It is I, the author. Thank you for attending my rambling session. Doubly thanks for continuing to read my ever growing novel! In this chapter Ko manages to manage not just one but two new feats with Inae! Not only does he influence Ray's mind, but he manages to voidshift an entire klacking battleship! What can't this guy do? (The answer is a lot, he is a worthless piece of junk NEET after all!)
As always, if you're still enjoying the story, be sure to follow/favourite/review/comment a fun joke, it is always appreciated! Until the next time, dear reader.
Cathrix