150. One Last Meeting Before the Departure

Once again, the summit of Carpal Tower became the meeting place for Elysia’s greatest minds.

Two Archetypes sat adjacent from one another along a lone, glamorous poker table. A pair of Beholders then followed, taking their seats beside their trusted Archetypes. Carpalis subtly gazed at Jury with her permanently affixed grin, bemused to be in the company of this generation’s newest Beholder.

“So young… One day old Junior Beholder. You can say that you’ve just recently hatched. Hehe. Get it? Your feathers?” Carpalis joked, eliciting a polite smirk from Jury as the table went awkwardly silent.

“Benevolent Carpalis! This isn’t the time to be making such hilarious jokes!” Magus announced, scanning the table where several other members joined them. “Members of our primitive Arbiter’s Council raise your hands!”

“Is that necessary?” Frost still played along, raising her hand to join both him and Carpalis.

Those two had definitely rehearsed this.

“We must feel the unity. Snap! Dear Ignis! Big and Small Frost! Moons of the Nexus. I trust that you’re also invigorated with enthusiasm!” Magus added as he magically shuffled a deck of playing cards midair. “History is being written as we speak. This is hereby the first official meeting between not only two Archetypes, but also multiple Beholders!”

“Three Archetypes.” Nav spoke. “The Archivist declares herself present.”

Hello, Archivist. Frost greeted.

“She says hello back. Are you ok?”

Better now. I wonder if she remembers anything new.

“Partially. She remembers charting the stars and as many things as possible in a decaying world. Enabled thanks to you from what she gathers.”

So she was like an archivist in the past life as well. Do you think I was something of an ‘Amalgam’ in mine?

“That is a possibility. Although Magus’ relationship with you and myself is entirely unknown.”

We won’t know until we subjugate a Hope Affinity Corrupted.

Magus cleared his throat as if sensing being spoken of.

“4 if the Director chose to stay. 5 if the Star Child decided to also come along.” His head then transformed into the star tarot card. “Now that I have your attention, and now that we are finally here at last – Allow us to address the elephant in the room!”

Carpalis then placed a beautiful ornament onto the center of the table for all to see.

Frost blankly blinked, smiling wryly at the elephant-shaped ornament.

“Oh! I get it! You got it too Sis!?” Ber suddenly exclaimed after a moment of silence, causing Carpalis and Magus to smugly react.

“0.2 seconds before you even said anything.” Cer folded her arms, proud of herself.

“Hah! That’s Cer for you! What about you Res!?” Ber shouted.

“Please just be quiet.” Res was understandably annoyed with the emergence of these dry jokes being brought up in what was supposed to be a meeting that rivalled the Arbiter’s Council.

“Apologies. Carpalis’ wonderful sense of humor has been rubbing on me lately. Very well. Without further delay – The Scarlet Logic, the Impuritas and the fallen Star; Iscario. Are we all in favor of clumping them together as enemies of the Nexus?” Magus presented the single most important case, and he received nods unanimously as well as thumbs up emojis from the Alter Frosts.

For some reason, they were still invited to the budget equivalent of a Round Table. There wasn’t any reason to since they knew everything that Frost did, but it did at least help add to the number of members. At least in Magus’ eyes.

Two playing cards were then presented to everyone as another 5 were left in the middle. Another mock poker game was about to begin. If it was anything like the last one, then Frost wondered if they’d be greeted with something meaningful again.

“Enemies of the Nexus or enemies of Frost?” Jury brought up an important distinction, since Frost was undoubtably their target.

However, Frost had to clarify.

“Both. But I think they want the Nexus more. I was still supposed to be stuck in the Black Forest. They had a plan until they realized that Iscario failed. They wanted to get rid of you as well, Carpalis. You can erase souls and permanently kill off Scarlet Logic members.”

Frost further explained that it was possible that the Impuritas were utilizing that technology, which was then confirmed by Carpalis.

“Mr. Fisher’s soul was but a fraction of the whole thing. No matter how small of a piece I nip, it will all follow.” Carpalis revealed. “It’s sad when you think about it. Did you know that they lose a small fragment of themselves each time they replicate?”

Carpalis told them to imagine a chiseled statue of any individual as she leaned over to the elephant and prodded it with a finger.

“The soul is like a statue. It weathers in time through natural causes. Hehe… or unnatural, like Beholders. But never to the extent of the Scarlet Logic. Imagine that each piece...”

She chiseled small chunks from the elephant, removing its ears and long snout, then its eyes.

“… represents a fragment a person carries through each cycle. A chunk is lost and a new one is taken from the greater whole at its tethered site until…”

She eventually removed all features of the elephant that made it an elephant, reducing it to a quadrupedal statue with no known resemblance to any creature.

“… they slowly start to lose their sense of self. The soul is the reflection of the body… hence why they change. In some instances…” Carpalis then slotted the broken pieces together, creating an abhorrent creature. “They mutate.”

“Is it like metempsychosis?” Jury brought up another interesting question, one that managed to surprise Frost as the others wondered just what the hell she was talking about.

Aside from Magus who was familiar with the term.

Frost briefly explained its meaning. Metempsychosis was the theory of a soul reinhabiting the body of a creature of the same species or something else entirely.

Reincarnation essentially.

Frost never thought about this concept until Jury brought it up, although, there were still a plethora of other plausible ways to explain their second life, or in Frost’s instance, a potential third.

Carpalis denied the possibility of a moving soul.

“Souls will remain in an inactive, invulnerable state after a person dies. It is why hauntings happen in sites of mass deaths… Hehe. Souls do not reinhabit bodies. Ahaha… I used to be called the Reaper long before I became a Beholder. Hmm? What with those looks? Haha… My soul devouring ability has nothing to do with my Faustian Bargain. You can say that my subspecies of Demon lineage has been… preyed upon in our endless wars with humans.”

“Do you think that your species were targeted?” Frost asked. Knowing how much the Scarlet Logic feared Carpalis for this ability, there was a possibility that her kind was also hunted for the same reason.

“People can be crueler than monsters.” Carpalis didn’t admit or deny it, rather, she avoided it entirely.

Frost felt a wave of sorrow wash over her as Carpalis placed her hand onto her cards.

She then grinned to herself.

“Mercy comes in countless forms. Salvation has its own plethora of interpretations.

Death by the Wandering Healers.

Rejuvenation of desires by ImpulseWorks.

A civil helping hand from Inflow Direct.

Purpose from the Scripts of Act X.

Hope by our promise of a better future… and weaponized wrath by the Scarlet Logic… Haha… Unity… is what we’re all missing. As the Amalgam, can I hope that you make amends to our fractured selves?”

“That’s the plan. I want everyone to be on the same page. If they knew that emotions created the Corrupted, then I wonder if they’d stop.”

Frost sighed then added:

“From what we know, the Impuritas mirrors an Atelier in some way. Blood Festival, or the Animals, bear similarities to your Atelier, just like the Crimson Hunger and the Scarlet Logic. The Sect of Gears and Act X are probably another pair… What happens now will be up to us and the Scarlet Logic. They’ve lost their chance at taking you down, so please take every precaution you can Carpalis. They might get desperate.”

“I’m sure they will… and I fear we are at the cusp of another Atelier war. ImpulseWorks will be a certain ally. They have their own grit with the Scarlet Logic… Haha…” Carpalis assured.

“Act X is another reliable ally. The Director has communicated with Beholder Marionette. Whether they’re aware of your presence is unknown, but I’m sure that fellow will be willing to unravel his tongue. He wouldn’t tell me the color of the sky if I asked!” Magus suddenly complained.

“The Archivist doesn’t remember this guy at all. But… interestingly, she thinks she may have heard ‘my’ voice before.”

Your voice or your witty way of talking?

“Yes.”

Haaah.

Their cards suddenly flipped all at once, as all 5 community cards were revealed in the order of clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades and finally a blank card.

“Hearts…”

“Red hearts.”

Jury and Res were given cards that only consisted of the heart suit.

“Diamond. Heh.”

“Brrrr.”

Cer and Snap possessed cards of the diamond suit.

“Spade. It doesn’t look like a shovel.” Ber said as Ignis touched the black arrow-tipped symbol.

“Clubs…” Carpalis uttered, as she, Magus and an invisible player, the Archivist, was given cards of the same suit.

As for Frost and her Alter Frosts…

Their cards were blank.

“Page. It’s from the tarot deck. A page in general represents a new stage, discovery, or a new beginning. But don’t be fooled! There could be a literal meaning behind a page.” Magus exclaimed.

“I’m sure there is, after I was touched by one.” Frost muttered, thinking back to the flames that spawned as a result…

And now her Conflagrator Profession, which allowed her to conjure flames.

Conflagrator

< All will be reduced to nothing by your cleansing flame >

This was ominous in itself, but when paired with the prophecy and her book, she had to wonder just what happened in the past. They knew it was of a dying world, that was then set alight.

Frost was not an idiot to fail to realize that she may have had a hand in its devastation, considering Jury also recalled her using fire magic when she was a man. But this also confused her.

As the Amalgam she was supposed to bring everything together. Why would she possess a Profession that sought to burn everything?

It made no sense.

She brought the up discrepancy and revealed that the book the Beholders had read was hers. Carpalis only continued smiling at her, then, she turned to an invisible window as if peering down at her cozy city.

“Do not forget who you are right now. Your thoughts are the same kind that claimed a very close friend… and my hand. Tell me Frost. Did you save countless from the Derma layer?” She asked.

Frost nodded.

“Then why do you think you will become a destroyer? Things like prophecies… are no more than speculation. They are parasites that deprave people of peripheries. And… haha… you have a Beholder to watch over you.”

Carpalis warmly comforted her, before she changed the topic and glanced over at Jury, tilting her head pleasantly.

“You’re now the youngest… but your technology has fused with you like you have been alive for generations. It’s strange as Beholders begin with their technologies externally, but you were essentially born with it. You look so perfect, nonetheless. The younger ones… are always the ones bringing forth new changes in our brazen world. Haha…”

100 years ago, it was Carpalis who introduced the concept of currency over might.

50 years ago, it was Galia who created the Hyperlinks and substantially increased communications with all relevant members.

30 to 25 years ago, it was Marionette who created the Scripts. What they entailed exactly was unknown.

And now, it was Jury’s turn for the next big change.

“Everyone you listed are among the youngest. They’re also the ones that aren’t consumed by their technologies, huh?” Frost brought up.

“That’s correct… Jury… I think you have a boundless future ahead. I am looking forward to your return to the Nexus Frost, and your contributions to making this world more palatable for us all.” Carpalis sincerely hoped as she gracefully pardoned herself from the table and bowed. “Until then… let’s not do anything to incite a war. Or destroy the city~”

They further discussed other potential allies. It was likely that certain Caldera Industries members would also be present after the catastrophic loss of one of their Express Trains. Their target for the most part was ImpulseWorks, with the first mission being the repair of Frost’s Coat of Prejudice, and the creation of further Corrupted Items with their help.

The exact location, however, was muddled. It was not like they could just walk up into ImpulseWorks’ city, even with Carpalis’ permission. Thankfully, that wouldn’t be required.

They just needed to locate Kissira, which would be made simple by the Triplets who had all sorts of connections with ImpulseWorks. Very… personal connections. And traumas, as it turned out.

With that being said, their first meeting had finally come to an end.

Tomorrow would mark the beginning of the next chapter in this grand theatrical.