Die. Respawn. Repeat.

Chapter 16: Friend

I have a lot of questions, obviously, but it seems more important to answer the mantis Ahkelios' question.

"You're on Hestia 307B," I say, and then add, "I'm Ethan."

I assume he's asking about the planet, at least. I don't have a clue what the particular forest we're in is called, and I'd never asked...

I wince before I think about Tarin. I should head back to that village. Soon, I tell myself.

Part of me knows I'm just avoiding it.

"I see. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ethan!" The tiny mantis is remarkably cheerful. He ponders my response for a moment, and I take the opportunity to examine him.

He really does look like a copy of the corpse in miniature, as morbid as that is. Sans the bleeding and the critical wounds, of course. Even his eyes appear entirely intact, with not a shred of evidence to show that one of them's been gouged out. He looks younger, too, though I'm not exactly an expert on the age markers of his species. The insectoid plates are a little closer together, less defined.

I wonder, for an absurd moment, if I should be covering his eyes so he doesn't see his own corpse. I'm pretty sure it's him, anyway. He doesn't seem to have noticed it, but it's only a matter of time. It's still only half-buried, after all, and the dirt doesn't do much to cover up his body. It's not exactly easy to dig a grave with just a couple of conveniently shaped branches for tools.

His resemblance to a mantis is superficial, now that I can take a closer look. His head is similar, but the rest of his body is distinctly humanoid, with a tiny pair of extra arms poking out of the tiny sleeves on his tiny labcoat.

He's very small, is what I'm getting at.

"What's the last thing you remember?" I ask. It seems like the most pertinent question.

Ahkelios considers the question for a moment, putting a hand to his chin in a surprisingly human gesture. "...I'm not sure," he says eventually. "I know my name, and I know about the Interface and the Trials. The name you said Hestia 307B that sounds familiar. I don't remember much about my personal life. I feel like I should be more worried about that."

"Probably," I say, because what else do I say to that? "You know about the Interface?"

"Oh, yes!" Ahkelios gives me a sharp nod. "I know about the Interface, and about the Trials. I can help you, if you like. I think that's the point of me."

That's not as comforting as he apparently means it to be, judging by the look of pride on his face. I hesitate, considering my next question. "What exactly are you?"

"I'm a fragment," he says. "An incomplete copy. I can answer your questions about the Trial and the Interface better than the Interface itself can. I'd say you've lucked out, landing on that Fragment skill! Not many people get an assistant this early in their Trial."

"An assistant." My mouth feels dry. "Is there any way we can make you whole?"

"Why would you want that?" Ahkelios gives me a puzzled look. "I might not help you if you made me whole."

"Should be your own choice, shouldn't it?" I ask. I try not to let my anger bleed into my voice.

It's not his fault.

Ahkelios doesn't seem to notice either way. "If you want to do that," he says. "You'll have to keep upgrading Temporal Fragment. I'm sure you'll come across a solution eventually!"

It's not a complete answer. I can feel the thread of Firmament that ties him to me; I can cut it off with a snap, the same way I'd cut off any other skill I've been granted by the Interface. "What happens if I dismiss you?" I ask.

"I just go into a sort of hibernating state until you call on me again," Ahkelios says with a shrug. "Don't worry, it's not painful in any way!"

I grimace. I don't like this. It's foolish to reject help at this stage, I'm well aware, so I'm not planning on refusing his help, but...

There has to be a better option than blind acceptance.

"We're partners, okay?" I decide. "You're not my assistant. I don't like that label. Partners, until I get you back the memories you're missing, and you decide you want to do something else."

Ahkelios cocks his head. "I am rather bound to you, you know," he points out. "It's your skill sustaining me. Even if I chose to do something else..."

"We'll figure something out," I say with a sigh.

I don't like being put into this position. I think this is the best I can do, for now. "Can you answer some preliminary questions? Do you know how many points I need to bank for the various levels of skills?"

"Oh! Yes, I can help you with that. It took me a lot of loops to figure out, let me tell you." The mantis looks proud for a moment, before a momentary discomfort flashes across his face. "...Quite a lot of loops. Here, I'll draw a chart out for you."

He hops off my shoulder and onto the ground, and in a second, he's scratching into the dirt. I wonder for a moment if the translation function of the Interface works with something that's being physically carved into the world, but... I'm pretty sure the mantis is carving in English.

It's related to what that Firmament did to him, I'm sure. Or maybe it's tied to the way I injected my own Firmament, trying to protect what was left. I don't know if that helped, now, but I hope it did I don't know what he'd be like if I hadn't done that.

The chart he carves is more or less in line with my expectations, though I hadn't actually thought about how far the rankings would stretch.

Points: 1-10 : Rank F

Points: 11-25: Rank E

Points: 26-50: Rank D

Points: 51-100: Rank C

Points: 101-500: Rank B

Points: 501-1000: Rank A

Points: 1001-5000: Rank S

Points: 5001-10000: Rank SS

Points: 10001+: Rank SSS

"Every time you bank your points, there's a chance you'll get a skill ranked one rank higher than the chart says," Ahkelios tells me. "It threw me off for quite a while, but I'm pretty sure this is the baseline. The closer you are to the next threshold, the higher the chances. If you manage to land a critical roll, it upgrades again, so you have a chance to land a skill of up to two ranks higher in total."

"Any idea what the conditions for getting one of those are?" I ask, raising an eyebrow slightly.

Ahkelios shrugs. "Not a clue!" he says, remarkably cheerful for his words. "Either I never figured it out or I just don't have those memories."

"Doesn't explain how I got Temporal Echo," I mutter to myself, trying to ignore the casual reference to his incomplete-ness. At Ahkelios' slightly confused look, I explain what landed me the skill. He lets out a thoughtful hum.

"Firmament skills are a little stranger than the others, but I haven't seen them break the ranking that egregiously," he says. "There could be a really, really small chance of getting a skill two ranks higher, but the odds of you hitting that twice and with the same skill are... low."

"Did you ever get a skill like Temporal Echo?" I ask.

"Not that I remember," Ahkelios says with a shake of his head. "My Firmament skills were mostly built around a Sword concept. Lots of cutting."

"Got tired of the forest?" I can't help but ask, and Ahkelios surprises me by laughing.

"Like you wouldn't believe!" he says, and then he pauses, a strange look settling across his face. I feel our bond shifting slightly the Firmament I've injected into it hums, like it's responding to something.

I hold back a small sigh of relief. It looks like what I did is helping preserve a little bit of Ahkelios. Maybe with time, we can repair the fragment and turn it into something more complete.

"A Sword concept, huh?" I say. "Do Firmament skills typically revolve around concepts?"

"Somewhat." Ahkelios drums his fingers on his thigh. "The Interface gives you skills related to what you're doing, but it's intelligent about it. The more you tie yourself to a concept, the more likely you are to get skills related to that concept. It's a way to give yourself a consistent build, instead of just getting abilities at random."

"We're in a pretty unique situation, though," I point out. "Time loop and all."

"And yet, it's a Trial," Ahkelios says. He makes a face I don't recognize, and for the first time, I feel a flash of distaste flicker through our bond. "The Integrators don't like giving us much time to relax and gather power. I think... I think I was on the verge of discovering something..."

The mantis trails off, and I watch him, suddenly alarmed. The Firmament powering him is flickering I'm beginning to feel a bit lightheaded from Firmament use, but I'm doing my best to keep a hold of the bond. "I don't think the Integrators have as much control over the Interface as they claim," he mutters, the words almost too soft for me to hear. He glances over to that half-buried corpse. "I wish I remembered how I died..."

"...Are you okay? What do you mean?" I ask, but the bond begins to flicker even more, and Ahkelios blinks at me.

"Did I say something?" he asks. "I apologize. I'm afraid I'm still a little disoriented from my summoning."

I sigh.

It doesn't seem useful to keep pushing, and I don't want to cause any more distress than necessary. "I'll talk to you later," I say, as kindly as I can, and Ahkelios beams at me in a disconcertingly friendly manner.

"Of course!" he says. "Any time."

I let go of the skill, and let out a groan of relief as the pressure of holding on to that Firmament vanishes.

I still don't know exactly what kind of skill Temporal Fragment is. It's clearly doing more than just giving me a link to my own past it seems like it's giving me a link to the past in general. If Ahkelios is right, then by upgrading it I might be able to create a stronger link, and give him back his original personality.

I wonder, for a moment, if that would be a cruel thing to do.

He's failed the Trial. I don't know when he failed the Trial; given that his appearances have been inconsistent, I have to assume that it's not recent. Something's triggering the appearance of his final loop. Maybe it's a hidden function of Temporal Fragment, but if that's the case, I don't know what the trigger condition is.

It might not even just be him.

But if I bring him back... he'll have to deal with the loss of his people. His planet, if the Integrators are telling the truth. Keeping him as he is doesn't feel right either, though, and not summoning him at all...

I frown.

Maybe the best thing I can do is ask.

I spend the next hour sitting there, staring at the sky and letting my Firmament recover. It takes about half an hour for me to feel mostly normal again, and I spend the next half hour finishing up with Ahkelios' grave. Even if I have a piece of him with me, it feels disrespectful to leave his corpse as it is.

And then I call him up again, because I've thought about things a little more, and I'm not quite satisfied with how I left it.

"Hey," I say. Ahkelios brightens as he sees me.

"Hello!" he says. "You called me up again quite quickly! Was there something you forgot?"

"Yes," I say. "Do you actually want to be here?"

"What do you mean?" he frowns.

"Do you want me to summon you?" I clarify. "I could use every bit of help I can get, but you're bound in a way that's... not right. I don't want to be doing this against your will."

"I'm a resource! You should use every resource you have"

"Don't call yourself that."

My voice is tight with anger, and Ahkelios freezes. I feel our bond resonate again, and something seems to settle over him; I don't know what it is, but the next response he gives me is far more measured.

"...I am, as I said, incomplete," he says. "But I have some understanding of who I am. Who I was. I loved life, I think. Even if I'm incomplete even if this is all I am I think I'd rather be than not."

"Okay," I say, letting out a small breath of relief. "Good. I'm... glad."

I'll have to remember to bring him out even when I don't have any questions. I doubt that's going to be a problem, honestly. I've only been around for eleven loops, and it already feels painfully lonely. Anger can only take me so far.

"I got some rest, so I can keep you out for a while," I say. "But I do have a question before we leave. The last feature on the Interface I unlocked was a Hotspot Tracker. Do you know what that is?"

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