"Guide, define opposing forces in context to 'Inertia'. Worth a try, at least."
An androgynous elf head phases through the ceiling and floats until it is looking at you from the same height your own head is at. It is made from that repulsive energy you already know, but for some reason you don't feel the push, like if the thing wasn't actually there. It opens its mouth, but you don't hear any sounds coming out of it, but rather, you hear a voice in your head:
"Searching database for "Opposing forces" and "Inertia"...
Accessing Researcher's notes...
Data found. Reproducing extract from "Lead Researcher's notes":Then, you begin to hear a voice inside your head with which you are not familiar with, but it was one which may have been recognized by those who had survived until now:
"...Now, I'd like to move to an even more interesting concept. The words that I'm going to speak of now seem to cause strictly different effects than the rest, if one could even say that they cause a real effect at all, as they seem to operate on a different plane of existence, or at least on an undiscovered scale. The forces, as I haven't found another way to define them, are definitely sentient entities, or maybe many sentient entities acting as one, it is hard to specify with the scarce data we have until this moment. The words in question seem to allow these forces to operate in the actual world, on our own plane of existence, but they do not interfere with it physically. Instead, they attempt to subjugate the psyche of every living being in a definite radius, and covert them to their "cause". The means used to do this are still unknown and require further investigation. The creatures who fail to resist the forces show several symptoms, including violence towards non-affected creatures, loss of individuality, loss of self-preservation instinct, an apparent higher understanding of the word system and its effects, including knowledge of words which the creature didn't have before, change in the sound frequency of speech, glowing marks of a specific color appearing in forehead and the rest of the body, and an important hatred towards creatures affected or belonging to the other opposing force. The violent behaviour seems to prioritize affected members of the other force, then neutral entities, and almost intuitively, creatures affected by the same force are friendly between them. All these effects make it obvious that these words should be long to the Red category, where I'm putting them under the "Material" classification, due to the lack of a better term to label them to this point. Possible commercial uses are related to the military market, but appear to be impractical, with the most prominent use being to cause internal dissent..."
There is a pause, and the voice speaks again, but it doesn't seem to be speaking in the same context:
"... the subject shows similar symptoms to the elf. The prolonged exposure to this force, has completely transformed the dwarf into a servant of this force's "cause". Any hope of the subject returning to having normal cognitive processes has been lost, but solitary confinement will remain as his treatment, due to the impossibility of engaging in normal communication with him. Human methods of disposal are under consideration..."
The voice of the guide fills your head again:
Reproducing extract from "Medical Department's notes":Now a female voice can be heard:
...psyche investigation didn't provide any meaningful insights. Both subjects have erratic and irrational thought patterns. The lack of coherence is common, with triggering factors appearing out of nowhere. The Lead Researcher has commented about a theory of his about how both subjects could be receiving orders from a yet not understood means. This could explain the randomness in their thoughts, but the evidence is still inconclusive... After a brief pause, the guide speaks again inside your head:
Reproducing extract from "Breach report":And the first voice is heard again:
"...The intruder proved a difficult to catch creature. Despite its humanoid form, it was exceedingly agile, and had an unnatural ability to dampen the forces applied against him, without any physical intervention. Now under containment and after examination, it can be concluded that the intruder was not under the effects of one of the opposing forces, but was an agent of it. Not only that, but it was perfectly capable of speech and intelligently answering our questions. Pulling information out of him proved difficult, so indirect means had to be used. The results were overwhelming. The creature appears to share to some degree a consciousness tied to one of the opposed forces, but still has some degree of individuality and self-preservation. The permanent character of its bond with the force could probably explain why it values itself more than its brainwashed counterparts. Between the plethora of threats, some useful information was gathered. To begin with, the "faction" it belongs to appears to be quite old in astronomical terms, but its age can't be made precise due to expressions used such as "since the beginning of time" or "old as the universe itself". The goal itself of the entity seems to be control, but for control's sake. It is highly capricious in appearance: it does not matter the outcome of the actions, as long as it (or maybe them) can determine the outcome, it does not matter. In fact, if the entire universe were to continue its current course, but there was not the other force to alter it, this force would have achieved its goal. These interesting results have leaded me to name this particular force "Inertia", because of its own nature: everything just has to continue as it is, no will other than theirs should be allowed to exist. This brings a nice point of differentiation towards..."
His voice slowly fades as the voice of the guide comes again into play:
Request completed. Anything else is required?The head stays floating, not showing even the slightest degree of emotion.
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Topic: Tribulations in Magic: The cavalry is... still preparing. (Read 333489 times)