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Chapter 17
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The crisp cold wind suddenly whipped against your face. You looked down, staring at the snow covering your ankles, wondering if it wouldn’t have been easier to simply move the boat down the mountain rather than moving the whole party up to it. The Chronicler floated at your side, dutifully writing away at his tome containing every action you ever took and every thought you ever… thought.
“There is a matter I wish to discuss before we embark,” The Chronicler interjected in your musings, not bothering to look up from his paper. “Before you took control of this place, The One To Trust made some mention of me being granted life.”
You looked up at your scribe. “I haven’t forgotten. But before we can attempt that, we need some way of reaching Ghid- The One To Trust. How can we do that?”
“I was honestly convinced you had a plan.” Jethryn commented, rubbing his arms from the cold. “Hey Sonus, would you mind heating up a little? I’m going to die of being cold before boss-brain here figures out his midlife crisis!”
“I don’t know why I missed you.” You murmured at your very dear friend as SON∩S glowed brighter, the snow around the group beginning to melt away into the rough, unwelcome rock of the mountaintop. “Chronicler, what can we do to find Ghid?”
“I know him only as The One To Trust, I am afraid.” The Chronicler replied, shrugging two of his shoulders. “Perhaps you should tell me who he is in greater detail.”
“Okay…” You closed your eyes. In your memories and thoughts you sought and sifted every appearance that Ghid had made, including his more recent ones in this strange land of possibility. You thought of every sinister expression, dubious act, and you thought- you commanded this world to show you this monster, this fiend, The One to Trust.
A wide brim walked out of the darkness, two blue eyes glowing underneath it. Diero’s grin was just as devious as ever, and for a moment your mind was filled with the horror that somehow your trusted ally, that rustic gunslinger, was the monster legends had been built off of.
His manner was menacing as he approached, as if he had no compunction about tearing your throat out. Then you could see the lines running from his wrists and ankles, high into the air, where from a shadowed perch law the bony hands of a thousand Ghids, all tugging and pulling the lines that kept Diero moving ever forward.
But a cord ran from the nest of Ghids, higher and higher into the air, as the rest of Diero and his puppet masters fell away, the other end adhered to a folded scrap of paper. Reluctantly, you reached for it, held it in both hands, and unfolded it-
'Tott is your master now.'
Your eyes opened.
Reaching forward, you wrote with your finger in the snow that remained.
The
One
To
Trust
“I’ve been such an idiot.” You sat down, looking at your handiwork while The Chronicler hovered behind you, looking at both the name Tott in the book and The One To Trust written on the ground, not quite getting the connection. “You summarized his name as an acronym and gave him something?”
“No.” You pressed your fingers to the bridge of your nose. “Tott. He’s someone I used to travel with, someone… He was Ghid the entire time. And I handed Diero over without the slightest consideration.”
Sensing the confused stares from everyone, you continued. “Diero is a Dreamer - a sort of genie-golem thing that can do literally anything you tell him to, as long as he eats it in written form. He was what my plan was hinging on, and I handed him directly over to Ghid.”
“He’s in Tott’s control, though. And I know Tott’s Ghid, but hear me out.” Jethryn commented, raising his hand in protest to your beginning to correct him. “Diero was assigned to Tott, so if you got rid of Tott, wouldn’t that make Diero free real estate again?”
“It’s a good enough plan for me now get off me.” The axle complained, as Jethryn was standing on him. He continued, not seeming to pity the pole’s plight. “I have a theory which revolves around just how powerful you are, but figure out your chronicler’s issue first.”
Slowly standing, you looked with some gravity towards your Chronicler, who flexed his hands before speaking. “You must will this book to write all on its own. If I stop writing, your story ends. So please, make it capable of penning the story for you.”
Without a word, you mentally commanded the parchment to accept ink without the need of a pen, and seamlessly the book filled in the words before the Chronicler’s pen could touch them. With another thought the clipper ship, which had been silently circling above the peak, swept down near your party and awaited your arrival.
“Only one last thing.” You stepped towards the Chronicler, as he flexed his now freed writing hand. “Everyne who lives is someone, and you’re not bound by Ghid’s will anymore. Who do you want to be?”
The Chronicler looked towards the clipper ship even as you recalled the strange persons you met who had crossed the bridge between fictional fantasy and the real world. SON∩S, who now floated silently beside you, had inhabited Jethryn’s dreamer, and the three metal giants whose cobalt swords had nearly killed Tott right then. If only… The trouble that would have saved.
“I know what I’d want.” The Chronicler looked down at the book, the page turning to begin anew. “And I’d like you to make it as tough as that fellow you thought of was. Barring any criminal activity… A ship must have a captain, and a Pirate Captain I’d like to be.”
“That’s dumb get off me.” The axle complained again. “I promise, I’ll start screaming in your ear if you don’t EEAAAUUUGGGHH!!”
It was unclear if the scream was caused by Jethryn deliberately stomping on the piece of metal, or the equal parts fascinating and repulsive transformation occurring before you. The Chronicler’s body warped and peeled, recycling pieces of itself over and over until a humanoid figure eventually emerged from the shifting mass - one with metallic skin, coat, and beard, a white glow in his beady eyes, and the same blue sheen reflecting off his feathered pirate hat.
“Don’t forget.” You took hold of the Chronicler’s shoulder. “You are not anything different from what you were a moment ago. Your actions, who you choose to be, will decide who you really are.”
“I appreciate your wisdom, Tomorrow.” the Chronicler replied, a gleam in his eye. “But today I am far different than ever before. I’m alive.”
With a whistle he beckoned the ship to his side and climbed aboard, beckoning the party to follow. “That rapscallion Ghid will only get so far against our combined forces! Let us be off, and leave this place behind- into the REAL world!” With SON∩S floating starboard, the ship ascended, turned, and flew towards the skyline, your crew safely aboard and anxious to turn Ghid’s head into a fine paste.
“Jethryn, now would be a good a time as any to tell me what you were thinking.” You leaned towards your friend as the rest of the party was distracted with the chance of being free. “If you’ve got a good plan to get to Ghid, now the time to help me save face.”
“HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE’S DOING!!” Jethryn shouted, pointing at you while most of those present turned around in confusion. “So anyway, my idea was to just insist that Ghid himself bring us to him. Or Tott, same thing.”
“But Ghid isn’t here.” You replied.
“That’s part of my theory.” Jethryn shrugged. “It won’t hurt to try, so tell that monster what for and let’s go home. I want to give his teeth a permanent imprint of my shoe.”
You once again closed your eyes. They opened as the whole world around you began to shake and quiver, and you pressed on, eyes open this time, as the sky itself seemed to rattle in protest of your notion. “Now! Everyone get ready!”
Off to the side, a terrible screaming hiss occurred, and a dark tear split open in the middle of the air itself. With a cheer from the Chronicler, the clipper ship spun its wheel and entered through the gap into the darkened sky beyond.
Below, an entire city beckoned the eyes of all on board. A massive canyon flanked it, stretching high above the rooftops. A massive tower floated starboard, and seeing a glass extension adhered to it, you jumped.
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