Myth//OS - Chapter 87 (Patreon)

First thing in the morning, I headed out into the city and called a taxi to go to the Twisted Noodle. Neither Ivy nor Rowan wanted to come, so I left them back home. I snatched my Glass back and tossed Rowan my Warden one that I hardly used. Ivy—well, she surprisingly wanted to read books. What a weirdo.

That just left Willow. My only loyal Sentient Ebonshroud construct picked the form of a small black cat today. She was bundled up on my lap and lightly snoozing while I stroked her fur. Last night as a dog, she hadn’t managed to get the fur quite right. It still felt a little oozy. That wasn’t an issue anymore, and she felt incredibly soft like a little plushy.

“Yo, miss, we’s here,” the taxi driver, some kind of red skinned orc, called back to me as the taxi slid to a stop.

”Thanks.” I transferred nytes to the man, and carefully picked up Willow. She shifted around in my arms, though continued to peacefully sleep like a kitten. 

The bell rang overhead as I slipped into the restaurant. I expected to see the old rabbitkin behind the counter alongside the golem. Instead, I found Clover taking orders from a customer while the golem, Elion, did all the cooking behind her. Her dad was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh, Aylin!” The faunite waved to me cheerfully. The motion caused her lop ears to wave around her face like a set of windshield wipers. She leaned forward over the counter and stared at the orb of darkness in my arms. “Cute kitty! What’s her name?”

“Willow.” I adjusted slightly so I could hold her with just one arm. The cat’s eyes blinked open and glanced around for a moment before shutting so she could keep sleeping.

“I always wanted a cat… Dad would freak out if I brought one home.” She sighed sadly. “What can I get for you?”

”This?” I pulled the myth shard I got from the Sky Skipper rift out of my pocket, and put it down on the counter top.

The Mythek’s eyes widened, and she reached forward for the shard. Her hand pulled back at the last moment like she was afraid of being burned. “You just carry this kind of thing in your pocket?!”

Her excited shout drew the eyes and attention of several customers scattered around the store. It also startled Willow enough that she bolted up my arm and ducked onto my shoulder. I glanced over my other shoulder, and pocketed the shard. “Somewhere. Else?”

”Uh, y-yeah. Good idea.” The rabbitkin pulled off her apron, and tossed it onto a rack off to the side. “Man the shop, Elion!”

The rock golem grumbled lowly. It was a sound like rock grinding rock, which probably wasn’t far off given the nature of the creature made of moss and stone. The lone dandelion growing off the top of its head twitched almost as if in annoyance.

”You’re such a dear.” Clover didn’t bother with the golem any longer, and directly slid over the top of the counter. “C’mon, let's head to my shop.”

We walked back through the employee only halls to the mythek’s workshop. She paused at the door to do a retinal, fingerprint, and blood scan. The lock on the door only then opened up into an extremely long password that looked closer to a paragraph then a four-digit number like I was used to.

”And… done!” The door slid open, revealing her workshop. All that security probably wasn’t the worst idea, actually. No telling how many valuable things were hidden here just behind the facade of a noodle shop. “Shard?”

”Here.” I pulled it out and tossed it to her. Willow dropped back into my arms instantly like a splotch of ink dropping back into an inkwell.

”Woah!” She dove for the shard, and snatched it out of the air. “Don’t just throw this kinda thing around! What if it hit the ground and shattered?!”

”Make more weapons.” If it shattered into several pieces, she could make it into throwing knives, yep?

”That is so not how that works!” She bounced over to a bunch of machinery, and set the shard down carefully. “So you want another weapon, Aylin? Not armor or something?"

”Armor?” I was happy with my Ebonshroud as armor, but maybe it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to get something a bit stronger. I still viscerally remembered the lightning beam from the stag tearing apart my body. Although I was kinda numb to pain, that didn’t mean I couldn’t feel it at all.

”Yeah, totally!” She took my question as confirmation to make armor. “It’s so smart to grab armor. You have no idea how many people only get weapons, then get wiped in higher ranks.”

“…” Maybe I could give the armor to someone else? “Options?”

“Oh! Maybe an accessory? I don’t get to make those too often. Um…” She glanced at me. “I could totes do a naval piercing. Those are all the rage.”

That sounded deeply, deeply uncomfortable. “Pass.”

[Nighteye raises a paw! She thinks you’re missing out on an opportunity to start rocking crop tops!]

Ew, no. I lightly toyed with Willow’s paws. The small black cat purred contently in my arms. She must’ve stayed up last night and researched animals and their mannerisms. Not like the constructs even needed sleep in the first place.

Clover hit a button, and a capsule dropped over the shard. She backed away and leaned against a counter to let the machinery work. “How about we check the shard first? It might have a preferred equipment type?”

”Yep.” It didn’t really matter to me. I just wanted to get it out of the apartment and make it into something actually useful.

”’Kay! It’ll take me a couple hours.” The rabbitkin shuffled back off to the door. “Maybe a bit longer. Dad’s out today, so I have to run the shop too. Elion can’t do it all himself. I’ll call you?”

“Sure.” I followed her back out toward the noodle shop. 

She locked the door behind us, and this time activated some kind of additional security feature. Ether flickered across the hallway, and an illusion activated to completely hide the door. No one would find it unless they already knew where it was. “Just in case. It seriously sucks to have a client's shard stolen right from under my nose… that, uh, that hasn’t happened in a really long time, so don’t worry.”

“…” I wasn’t worried before she said something. I hadn’t even realized that was an issue, even. Now, though? 

At the front of the noodle shop, a line had already formed while we were in the back. Elion, the lumbering rock golem with surprising dexterity, was struggling to use the computer to take orders from the hungry customers. 

A woman in a corporate suit stood on the other side of the counter. “I want a number three. Oh, no noodles, though. And can I substitute the broth for miso?”

I glanced at the menu… so she wanted a side miso soup? Why go through all the complications? Elion likewise seemed to be frustrated by the order. He grumbled softly, and tried to click around with the mouse several times. Each click grew rougher and rougher until his rocky fingers punched right through the cheap plastic of the mouse.

”Again, Elion?” Clover sighed and slid across the counter. She shooed the golem away, and tossed the broken mouse into the trash. “One second customer. I’m deeply sorry for the delays.”

”Yeah, yeah, whatever.” The corpo just shook her head and got on her Glass.

“I’ll be right back.” Clover moved around to a cabinet and popped it open, revealing rows and rows of spare mice. She replaced the original, and started taking orders once more. 

I watched the chaos for a moment, and then slipped out of the restaurant to call a cab.

— — —

I pushed open the door into Lucia’s office at the top of Cernobog’s building. She’d sent me a message just as I was about to start gathering gear for a scouting mission into the Ashlands. I’d been busy, but I hadn’t forgotten the Arbiter’s job for me. It wasn’t an offer I could refuse, especially with the leverage the old dragon had on me.

”Aylin!” Lucia perked up behind her desk, and shut down a laptop. “Thanks for coming by.”

”No problem.” If she needed me, of course I’d stop by. I just… well, all this corporation stuff went right over my head, so I hadn’t been much help so far.

”Did you get a cat?” Lucia stood up, and moved over to me.

”Meow~” Willow jumped out of my arms, and moved over to Lucia to rub against her leg. I’d noticed a couple times since watching the slimes, but my memories and personality really rubbed off on them. 

“Heh, you’re such a cutie.” Lucia picked her up, and moved over to the couches on the side. “Didn’t take you for a pet owner. I thought Nivia was it.”

”Yep, well…” I shrugged. I didn’t really want a pet either, but she didn’t really count? I dunno. It would take a lot of getting used to with all three of the constructs.

”So.” Lucia patted the top of Willow’s head idly. “I’ve been caught up in the office lately. I haven’t slacking though! That, um, string magic stuff? Been practising it.”

Glad to see she hadn’t completely forgotten that she’d been picked by the OS. ”Ether Strings?” 

“Yeah.” She lifted a hand, and waved it through the air. Ether condensed into a tight string of magic that plinged quietly. The temperature in the office instantly plummeted. “Gotten the most use out of this one. I call it Portable AC.”

That… that wasn’t one from Serhymn. With the frequencies and ways of using Ether Strings entirely different from Serhymn’s string magic with the Weave, it wasn’t much of a surprise that there’d be new magics. “Others?”

”A few. I really wanted to talk about this though.” Lucia carefully set Willow off to the side, and summoned out two strings this time. Their sound almost seemed to synchronize for a moment, and then the string shattered just before the magic could be cast. “I remember you saying something about multiple strings, but I just can’t figure it out. The second string always destabilizes at the last moment.”

“…” I’d been trying so hard to figure out how to get them to synchronize in my free time, and here she was just doing it casually. I had a lifetime of experience using string magic behind me, too.

Although, after using Ether Strings here? It was so much harder than the original magic casting method had been. Back then, the Weave almost assisted and boosted a mage. In Bastion, it was like the training wheels had been stripped off entirely.

”What do you think?” Lucia did it one more time to show me.

”Hmm…” I watched the strings floating in the air for a moment. Back in Serhymn, aspiring mages would use lutes and lyres to practice their magic casting. It was like a wand for a mage here. I didn’t bother with them, but it might help here?

Ebonshroud flowed out of me into a simple lyre. I imbued the strings with Echoing Reinforcement, and handed the instrument over to Lucia. “Try this?”

”I don’t know how to play.” Although she said that, the girl accepted my instrument and held it awkwardly in her hands. “How do I hold this?”

I stood up and pulled her to her feet. Once she was up, I moved behind her and wrapped my arms around hers to guide her how to properly hold the instrument and play it. “Like this.”

”T-thanks.” Her ears flushed a heavy red, and she idly plucked at one of the strings. “Ready?”

”Yep.” I backed away a few steps, and moved around her front to watch her.

Lucia’s hands tightened on the Ebonshroud instrument. ”Okay. Three, two, one.”

Pling~! Plang!

The sound merged together, and ether bloomed around her. Earthen spikes formed out of midair, each tipped with a deadly edge. The spikes shot out like a shotgun all around the room. 

“…!” I formed a shield and ducked behind it just in time for one of the spikes to slam into me. The rest of the room wasn’t so lucky. The spikes skewered through absolutely everything—

“Your cat!” Lucia dropped the lyre and rushed to Willow, who’d taken a spike directly to the head. It lanced through her down into the couch, and totally split her head in two. The girl cradled her with tears pouring down her face. “I-I’m sooo sorry. I-I—a medic! Right, a medic!”

”Headshot?” Even if a medic came, there’d be nothing left to save.

“I don’t know!” Lucia started to panic more and more, completely overlooking the fact that there hadn’t been a single drop of blood spilled. Not like Willow had a drop of blood to spill in the first place. “What do we do?”

While Lucia panicked, Willow pulled off the spike. She lifted her paw and tapped Lucia’s hand lightly. A broken, shattered sound came from her. “Mriieow.”

”It’s like I can still hear her.” Lucia rubbed at her tear-filled eyes, and looked down at Willow—and froze.

There on her lap, Willow stood with an absolutely destroyed it. Tendrils of Ebonshroud swayed around like broken flesh trying to stitch itself back together. “Mrewo?

“Y-your cat.” Her eyes widened in disbelief, and she fell over backwards.

”Lucia?” I moved over to her and checked on her. She feinted. I looked down at Willow, and the cat just looked back up at me in equal confusion. Um… I guess we should start cleaning up?