Tread Lightly – Among Monsters And Men

All Ether can become more complicated just as the forces of the world can grow beyond our comprehension. Some things exist beyond our minds and eyes, like lightning and the tides. These forces likely have an explanation but are far beyond us to understand. But the opposite is also true. Things can be simplified and dumbed down endlessly so that no one man can comprehend. Even space. Even time. Even the Gods themselves should you reach far enough into the depths.

 

That is why seconds exist. Prowess in Ether is a spectrum, and far too many focus on one end, the growth to the mountain far above that is out of sight except for the very best. I have gone in the other direction. The descent to the dark below.

 

The path toward damnation is inlaid with virtue, yet the way to paradise begins in hell. But, be careful in how you use this perspective. Some things in the world naturally lean in a direction, and the bottom of the descent, the Sidir, is lonely. I walk this road alone and plead for anyone who does the same to be careful. The Dzil takes one high up, the Sidir down low.

 

- Remington Shaw

 

I finish the short journal in a matter of half an hour. The final words were three simple paragraphs on the last page. Every word this Remington wrote only makes me more curious. Who the hell was he? Sidir? That’s the Ijiraq word for valley or nadir. Did he? Wait... Dzil means mountain top in Comanche.

 

Sidir is a valley… Did he create a different kind of pinnacle skill? One that aims not for massive scale or complexity, but instead, as he said, one simplified so much that it achieved the same effect?

 

I wish I had asked Isaac about Remington now instead of anything else. This man is an enigma. But if I base his final words off some of his earlier, I can reason that he must have somehow modified his Power so much that it could work on a minuscule scale. Maybe he could speed up time in minimal areas for a fraction of a second. Oh my... that is terrifying.

 

If he could slow down the heart while simultaneously speeding up the rest of the body, could he make something die instantly? The difference between his fastest and slowest is a fold of sixty-four. So a single second for the heart pumping oxygen would be a full minute for the brain. I’m unsure of all the logistics, but would that not knock anyone out after just a few seconds?

 

He could go even further. Activate the skill in such small time frames around himself that it would make it seem like he’s teleporting by slowing down the area around him and speeding himself up. He’d almost be a God as long as his Power was still active. The only thing that could kill him would be his own weapon, time, for even he would age. But the journal came from the Underworld, so he must have been an undead. That means he wouldn’t age, so where is he? Wait, no, not necessarily. The Journal could have somehow been taken down or something throughout the years. Isaac never said they were all written down there, and within the text is no mention of the Underworld either.

 

I don’t know what happened to him, but a question lingers on the tip of my tongue.

 

Could I reach that level with my eyes?

 

Perhaps. Perhaps not. I’ll never know if I don’t try, however. But it all starts with exactly that, an attempt.

 

I have two eyes. One can be used for practice. Worst case, I’ll have to abandon this line of thought for later. Best case. I get it working. Even just a little bit. It doesn’t need to be Remington’s insane level of control. Just a little will do.

 

To this point, I move through the city carefully until I find a man alone in his through a window. I want to practice my eyes without anyone else seeing them. I sit on the ground and pull a bottle of alcohol from my bag to act like a drunkard. Then, I position myself to see inside the house and the man. From there, I test the concepts he spoke about, starting with something simpler. I’m not dumb enough to jump in and wager my eye on something I’ve never tried.

 

So, I start with Nightvision. A straightforward skill and something I am keenly aware of. I follow what he spoke about by sending Ether in waves of high and low speed and pressure instead of continuous, even streams. “From rivers of water to waves of light” were his words. I’m unsure what that all means, but I understand the concept.

 

“One must find the correct speed and strength to simplify. From there, you take a single cut of a wave and use that to activate the skill. To simplify further, find a higher speed and strength that works. The only limit is skill, not fortitude.”

 

Ether flows from my core into my eyes as I push it out safely in segments and waves instead of a full stream. That’s not very difficult. It’s like cutting off a stream when you’re taking a leak. Uncomfortable but not tricky. The speed he talks about is simply how long that wave lasts. A wavelength, if you will. What is difficult is finding the correct amount of Ether in each wave.

 

It’s like finding the perfect amount of gunpowder to put in a casing. At first, it seems to just be trial and hour. But after a while of practice, a sense begins to fall from failed attempts. Too much power? My eyes sting as the wave lasts too long, leaving too much Ether at a time. Not enough, and simply nothing happens. Slowly, I approach that perfect duo of speed and strength as my right eye waters like the sad drunkard on the side of the street that I appear to be.

 

And after almost an hour, when the sun starts to fall, I succeed. My vision begins to alternate between the gray light of Nightvision that allows one to see in the dark and the regular colorful sight of the sunset. The alternation is only every second or so, but that’s progress. If I can increase this further, it would allow me to see in the dark using less Ether, the small snippets acting as if I were blinking rapidly. But, of course, I could still see fine if the blinks were fast enough.

 

I try to improve on it and do as Remington said. I up the speed, or I guess, lower the wavelength. The strength is the density or power within the wave. The periods of flowing Ether shrink even further as it becomes difficult to do so quickly. It’s like flexing a muscle I didn’t know I had. But again, after another hour or so, I find another perfect medium that allows Nightvision to alternate every half second or so.

 

That is the point at which Golden Eye would have several uses. If I really push it, I can go back in time with it between one and four or so seconds. Alternating its use by half-seconds? That’s between two and eight usages. A double in flexibility and usefulness.

 

I do one last practice before I head to the mansion. This one is to slightly change the skill’s effect as Remington did. When the Ether touches the destination, I twist it with my will, forcing it to act as I want. He said he uses a combination of clockwise and counterclockwise twists to achieve the range and manipulation of his ability.

 

So, my Ether enters my eye for Nightvision, and I try to twist the Ether within the eye. A burst of pain comes immediately, making me close my eyes. Still, as I do, I see half of my vision with focused Nightvision, allowing me to see even into the depths of the water below the city streets. The other half is as normal as usual. I wipe at my eyes which are undoubtedly bloodshot, but still, progress is there.

 

I check my watch and see that time is running out. Who knows when Kai might return? I’ve been lucky so far, but I can’t waste more time. Remington is right; lost time is lost forever.

 

I prepare myself with a deep breath as I look through the glass of the house in front of me that I am sitting across from like a drunkard. The man in front is drinking by himself, tossing a ball at the wall of his house, and catching it repeatedly. It’s boring to me, but that’s the nature of those poor without power. They have to find things like this to entertain themselves. They can’t afford to drink, party, or even hunt alone. Sadly, being manual labor for the more wealthy or powerful is a fate for those like the man in front of me.

 

Then, I start to flow Ether toward my eye as the Golden Eye calls for. Each skill is unique in how they work, and the skill from my Absolution is no different. The principles behind it are beyond me, but it is engrained instinctively into me. Because of that, there is no issue with using it. But I am careful not to use too much Ether at first, shooting a single wave of low-density Ether at a time into my eyes in the incomprehensible swirling pattern of Golden Eye.

 

Nothing happens at first; the strength is not enough to activate the skill, so I push it a bit further. Still nothing. A bit further, then. Still nothing. I inch slowly and slowly at the same easy-to-make wavelength as before. After a while, an anomaly occurs in my vision. I’m sitting still, so nothing happens to me, but the man in the house throwing the ball, bored out of his mind, is hit in the face with the ball as he stutters back in time half a second back.

 

And the instant after, my eye flares with pain, fatigue, and blurriness. I can still make out the guy in the building, but it is hard. I have to squint to see him clearly. None of this reduces my enthusiasm for growing, however. On the contrary, I’m ecstatic and immediately try again, this time twisting the Ether clockwise as I move just a tad.

 

This one hurts bad, but I push through it. And this time, the skill works differently, as I can vaguely see that nothing happened to the man, but I’m shunted back half a second. My vision turns ever blurrier with deep stinging pain in my eye, but I know what’s happening now. Clockwise for myself, counterclockwise must only affect the other person.

 

Remington Shaw is a fucking genius. How have I never heard of this man? To develop a whole new way of manipulating Ether and improving skills is, honestly, Godlike. Remington Shaw... Perhaps, is this the name of the First? No. It can’t be. I’ve seen the way he writes. The handwriting is different from Wyatt’s book. Who else could it be? I don’t know, but I will find out. A man such as he deserves to be known by the world.

 

I use my left eye one last time to affirm my thoughts, twisting the Ether counterclockwise as I feel utterly unaffected by the timeshift. However, the man inside is not as the ball slams into his face again. I hold back a laugh as I stand with one incredibly blurry eye. It probably only has one use left of Golden Eye. Wait, is that even Golden Eye? No. It’s different enough. It’s Glitch now. I like the sound of that. Golden, eye, and watch together in my own strange word.

 

Thinking of Isaac, I rip off some cloth and fashion an eyepatch as I walk toward Kai’s mansion.

 

I’ll save this last use of Glitch for later, but the disorientation of a blurry eye that can only see right before me and a perfect vision in the other is too much. So, the eyepatch has to cover my left eye for now.

 

My steps carry me to the main entrance of the mansion confidently. Lanterns light up the dark wooden roads of Carnal Hiern as it is a bit more empty. Only a few people walk here or there, and a single guard now stands at the road leading to the mansion.

 

The plan, frankly, is easy with Glitch. Just run through and get the guards with it that look at me. Then, they’ll not only forget anything they saw, but I’ll be able to run past them if I’m quiet enough. I just have to be so subtle they don’t turn around and hear me. There is a restriction, though. I can’t use the skill until I go blind. If I do that, well, I’m fucked.

 

I prepare a bit as I force Ether into my body in a more regular fashion. Accelerate is first, enhancing my calves and feet for speed. Stealth is second. The skills quiet all my movements by a large margin and will hopefully be enough so that I’m not heard as I move past.

 

I glance at the guard as I walk past him, and out of nowhere, I burst with the speed of a demon right past him, Accelerate carrying me beyond what should be humanly possible. The man instantly turns around in a panic to chase me, but I twist my head and the wave of Ether in my eye counterclockwise to look at him.

 

The man instantly shifts backward in time and acts as though nothing happened. I continue with this mad dash even as the guard at the table spots me. He stands up and points his gun at me that was on the table, but I do the same to him as the previous man. However, this man is slightly more resistant as he’s a higher Sigil and doesn’t go as far back in time. But that doesn’t stop me as I slide past him and, with Fanfire, snatch the gun from the table. He goes to draw his second gun in a panic, and I open the door to the mansion as he does so.

 

Instead of shooting and alerting everyone, I pull down my eyepatch and look at him with a nigh-blind eye. Another Glitch, and I’m through the door undetected as I step through before he can spot me. Or, more accurately, I removed the detections. I almost collapse as I step through the door, but I hear the man outside standing up from the door closing. I quickly look around with Deadeye’s Gaze forcing it to enhance the blurry vision of my right eye.

 

I ignore the musty smell of the swamp mingling with the sweet scent of aging wood and search the room. The room is vast, with high ceilings and tall windows that let in dim light. The walls are lined with bookshelves and cabinets filled with trinkets and antiques. A large chandelier with lit candles hangs from the ceiling, casting an eerie glow across the room.

 

In the center of the room, a grand staircase spirals up to the next floor. The stairs are lined with intricately carved banisters and are wide enough to accommodate several people at once.

 

I scan the room, searching for a place to hide. Finally, my eyes settle on a large wooden cabinet with its doors slightly ajar. I make my way to it carefully to look for anyone inside the room, but there is no one. So, I take a speedy peek inside. The cabinet is spacious enough for me to crouch in and stocked with various old bottles and jars. I slip in just as I hear the door open. A slightly high-pitched voice comes out that doesn’t fit the stature of the man using it.

 

“Hello? Myra, ma’am, did you take my gun?”

 

Through a small gap in the cabinet, I see the man looking around the room with his gun drawn. No one and nothing replies to him. Finally, he seems weirded out and tries again.

 

“Miss? Are you playing a prank on me? I thought Kai told you to stop. It’s hard to do my job with you being like this. Just come on out. I need my gun.”

 

The man moves through the mansion with a sigh toward the stairs. I follow his movement with my eyes as I hold my breath to not be spotted. I also check the pistol I took from him, a nine-shot revolver. Interesting. It even has a Sigil. Unfortunately, the Colt only has a 3rd Sigil within its frame, so my interest falls, but it’s better than nothing.

 

I leave the cabinet when I lose sight of the man and hear his footsteps above, his voice calling out for Myra. A deep sigh of relief comes from me. I made it in. Just two more steps. Get to her. And get her to help me. If I have to threaten her, I will, but I hope I don’t have to.

 

My feet are careful and slow as I retrace the guard’s footsteps through the sizeable wooden mansion. Oddly, no one is inside, no maids or butlers, but I ignore that. When I hear his footsteps coming back, I quietly slip into a side room and Listen to his passing grumble.

 

“She’s gotta stop doing this shit. Who cares if she’s a Grimes and can get me another gun. I can’t keep her safe if she’s pulling this shit all the time and won’t even let me in her room. Woman’s got a child now. These games need to end. Fuck, Kai. Just finish up soon. You and your damn hunts...”

 

I learn something new from the man airing his grievances to the world. Myra has a child. I did not know that. At all. The news is pretty big, but why it was hushed makes sense. The child of a Pillar cannot be known, or they may be targeted. I wait in this dark side room until I hear the closing of the door downstairs and slip past him, heading toward where he came from, a large double door encrusted with marble. Definitely Myra and Kai’s room.

 

Taking a deep breath, I push it open, gun drawing and blurry eye roaming for the Pillar’s wife.