Archive Ch.7

Half an hour later they finally arrived at the alleged resting place. It sat tucked away in a little nook at the end of an aisle, the endless books broken up by a little oasis of plush emerald-green chairs and a matching upholstered couch. They surrounded a small table made of the same lacquered wood as the shelves, unadorned but for a single brass lamp sitting upon it.

The second they arrived, Nic collapsed into the nearest seat, barely pausing to confirm that was allowed. It shocked Nic just how draining the act of walking in a straight line had turned out to be. His feet hurt, cramped muscles clawing at the back of his legs with a dull ache. Not a bad one but just enough that it felt like heaven as he sank into the cushion.

Jordi, by contrast, looked fine. He’d shown no sign that the walk here had been anything but a leisurely stroll, though leisurely to him qualified as a rather stiff pace for most other people. Not fast enough to be called a jog but Nic had been forced to sprint several times when he found himself falling behind.

Rather than sit, Jordi busied himself with Dewey, pulling two cups from within his compartments which he filled with water from the tank. He brought both over to Nic, passing one to him with a smile.

“Feet hurt?” he asked.

“Yes,” Nic replied. “Is that normal?”

Jordi nodded. “Hard floors and sharp corners play hells on everyone, especially if you’re not used to it.”

“You seem to be doing alright,” Nic observed.

“I’m used to it.”

Nic shrugged and downed half the contents of the cup in a single gulp. It tasted wonderful and he was pleasantly surprised to find it was cold. Jordi took a seat in another chair, tossing a packet on the table between them.

“Teriyaki, as requested.”

Nic nodded, picking it up and tearing the seal. A square of what looked and felt like boiled shoe leather slid out into his hand, an acrid smell immediately filling the air. Biting into it didn’t produce much better results, though mercifully it was merely bland rather than bad. Teriyaki certainly wouldn’t have been anywhere near his first choice of descriptor.

“You sure?” Nic asked.

Jordi shrugged. “Welcome to budget cuts.”

Nic sighed and took another bite of the alleged food. It still didn’t taste great, but it went down easily with the help of more water. Jordi pulled out his own packet of jerky, tearing it open and biting into it with much more eagerness. As he chewed, he reached into another pocket and pulled out the book they had retrieved. The latter he placed in his la and opened, idly flipping through the pages with one hand as he ate with the other.

“You planning to read the whole thing right now?” Nic asked.

“Tempting but no,” Jordi said, stopping to scan a page. “Should be easy to find the part that we’re after though.”

He trailed off, the book absorbing all his attention. Nic focused on finishing his snack, mostly out of habit rather than enjoyment. He’d just popped the last bite into his mouth when Jordi gave a chuckle, breaking the silence that had settled over the nook.

“What?” Nic asked through a mouthful of food. “Did we get the wrong one?”

Jordi didn’t answer and instead flipped back several pages before sliding it across the table.

“Start here,” Jordi said, tapping the top of a page. “You’ll see.”

Nic glanced several times between Jordi and the book, debating asking further questions but decided not to, sensing he’d had several more to add soon enough. Without further delay, he took up the book and began to read.

*

–period immediately following the Great Resurgence was marked by sudden and widespread upheaval as extra-universal forces took root across the world. These exo-entities, colloquially referred to as wild magics, took many and varied forms, all of them definitionally alien to the pre-Resurgence environment.

It is difficult to overstate the degree to which this change affected all levels of reality, from the familiar physical to the newly rediscovered metaphysical. Almost overnight entire landscapes were changed, oftentimes radically as native ecosystems found themselves swiftly overwhelmed by new arrivals. Entire species were rendered critically endangered or entirely extinct within days. Others underwent rapid and, in many cases, extensive mutation as those same forces influenced them on both the biological and metaphysical level, creating entirely new forms of life.

Humans were no exception to this chaos. Despite possessing a relatively technologically advanced civilization pre-Resurgence, they proved ill prepared for this strange new world. While some familiarity existed of certain entities with which humanity now shared a planet, these accounts were light on the practical details of living with them. This proved disastrous and many, many souls were lost in a very short period. While precise numbers are difficult to source, records being sparse and incomplete, but even the most conservative estimates theorize that humanity found itself reduced to as low as twenty to fifteen percent of its pre-Resurgence population.

Despite teetering on the precipice, humanity proved itself a singularly resilient creature. After the initial wave of devastation, what populations remained quickly adapted to their new environment in a myriad of ways. Practiced magics saw rapid and widespread return across the world, the survivors learning to harness exo-entities and forces for their own use. Though varying wildly in form and expression, the most famous was undeniably the emergence of the techne.

Created by Dr. Lucas Sharpe, a pre-Resurgence engineer and physicist, it represented a fusion of new and old paradigms, employing technology to harness and control the wild magics ravaging the planet. While the precise circumstances behind its creation remain mysterious, with few if any accounts of the event known to exist, its efficacy is undeniable.

Travelling widely across the ravaged ruins of the old world, Sharpe spread his creation far and wide to any survivors he came across. The founding of many techne cities can be traced to this journey, including New Albion, Mantle, Vancor, Red Seven and of course Ronteele, oldest and largest of them all. While each founding is worthy of recounting in their own right, the specifics unfortunately fall outside the purview of this text and as such will only be touched upon as they become relevant to the events of the wider world.

Following the end of his journey, Sharpe all but disappeared from-

*

“Seriously?” Nic said. He lowered the book to look over at Jordi, finding him already shrugging, a knowing smile on his face.

“Happens a lot when you’re delving,” he said. “Sometimes you hit a dead end out of nowhere.”

     Nic blew out his lips in irritation. He’d known most of the history the book had been talking about, though that seemed to be more on account of how broad the text was rather than any in depth knowledge on his part. He knew about the Resurgence and Sharpe’s pilgrimage the same way everyone above the age of four in Ronteele did. What really got his ghost was that whatever genius had written the passage not only skipped over what they were looking for but had noted specifically they were doing it. Like they were reaching forward in time just to rub it in Nic’s face how unhelpful they were being.

“So, what now?” Nic asked, tossing the book back on the table. “Since this was a bust.”

“On the contrary,” Jordi said, picking the book straight back up again. “This was supremely helpful.”

Nic raised an eyebrow, watching as Jordi pulled a short plastic wand from his pocket and began waving it over the book. A dim blue glow shone from the end, the spot of light moving almost like liquid across the surface, though leaving no mark behind.

“Beg pardon?” Nic asked.

“Well think about it, what did we learn from this?”

“…Is this a trick question?”

Jordi chuckled, putting the wand back in his pocket.

“Cross my heart, it is not.”

Jordi rose from his seat and crossed to where Dewey sat. Reaching inside, he slid out a long metal box that Nic hadn’t noticed before, two rails holding it firmly in place. Pressing his hand to the top, a light blinked red several times before turning green and popping open. A small collection of books lay within, neatly arranged in a way didn’t quite seem possible for such a small space. A fact only strengthened when Jordi slid the new book into it without even the slightest struggle.

“Bringing it with us?” Nic asked.

“For the record, yeah. Need to cite our sources when I submit my summary.” He quickly closed the box and slid it back inside Dewey before turning to Nic. “Seriously though, what did we learn?”

“We learned,” Nic began, feeling like he was back at his lessons with Master Orlin. “We learned what we already knew: that Sharpe was the first one to cast spellcode.”

“And?” Jordi said in the infuriating tone of someone who was fishing for a specific answer.

“There’s an and?”

“There is.”

Nic muttered quietly as he thought about it, running the passage through his mind.

“And we know he used that code to help found the techne cities-”

“Keep going,” Jordi said. “Follow the thread.”

“So, it would track that he’d have to show off his new abilities to do that,” Nic continued, gaining. “Which means that if we can find an account of the very first city’s founding, there’s a good chance we’ll find the answer to our question.”

Jordi smiled, nodding with satisfaction.

“We’ll make a delver out of you yet.”

Jordi began to pack away their supplies, stowing everything back inside Dewey.

“So,” he continued. “What we’re looking for is a more focused history of the founding of the techne cities. Ronteele specifically but all the relevant texts are in the same area anyway so it’s the same difference.”

“And let me guess,” Nic said, his voice somewhere between amused and annoyed. “It’s just a quick little walk down the hall?”

“No unfortunately, it’s quite a way off,” Jordi said, sealing Dewey’s sides. “Hope you’re ready for a hike.”

For a moment Nic just stared at his companion, trying to calculate just how much distance would be required for Jordi to consider it a hike. Jordi never once broke his smile, patiently waiting for Nic to answer the question.     

“…Sure, why not?”

*

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