The Dignity of the Throne

The room had erupted into cautious sighs... and the telltale beep of a drained mana battery. Before anything else could go awry, John mentally shoved the disruptor cannon back into his inventory, vanishing it with an audible rush of air filling the void.

John's immediate priority was to quiet the Bitter Nines who, at least between Cidi, Hurk, and Miles, seemed most threatened. "That's my first time pulling that weapon out. I didn't think it'd be that huge or that easy to trigger, it was an accident, and it won't happen again." John quietly flicked cult of personality back on and watched, with a small measure of guilt, as most of the room seemed to light back up with his explanation.

"Ho ho! That was... quite the scare, John the Newman!" Hurk shouted with a nervous laugh.

"That was stupid and risky," Cidi chastised, "so don't... ever do that again."

“Definitely not the giant weapon I wanted to see from you,” Miles offered with a twitch of her brow.

Jesus, is she ever chill?!

Golgon the Fool, for his part, seemed as unperturbed now as he did just after the weapon was in his face. The old Ootuk somehow knew John's lack of intent... or at least, that’s what the Gamer guessed.

"Where... When... did you get that?" John met Tricia's eye and soon realized that even his aura could not extinguish the searching or accusatory stares he now received from his Earthling friends.

"Well, I completed one of my quests when Golgon handed me the key, and the rewards included a magical weapon… though until now it’s always been some fantasy gear, not cyberpunk guns or anything like that. Is it even technically magic…?”

"It is magical," Rave clarified, "or at least... it's magical the way all arcanotech tends to be.”

Tricia cringed at that. “‘Arcanotech?’ Magical technology is no more mysterious than that which has become mundane on Earth. The principles are simply more enlightened-”

“Hey, it’s a trade term, blondie; I didn’t make it up.”

“It remains woefully inaccurate-”

“So... arcanotech?” John interrupted.

"Mana-utilizing technology, yes," Tricia cautiously replied, "an understanding of mana and the world not yet tolerable by the masses on Earth, but far less rare in the Abyss and Abyssal circles. That is... as succinct a summary as can be made. But more importantly... that design is suspiciously Praxian."

“Forget suspiciously,” Travolta corrected, “that was definitely Praxian.”

"So who's Prax...ian?"

"Praxis," Tricia corrected, "is both a place and a sort of conglomerate... or a confederation of corporations, per my understanding. They are a collection of human-run corporations that specialize in mana-adapted technology as well as supply lines for certain major clients... including the Opekuny."

Rave's eyebrows raised at that. "I thought they kept the Order at arm's length, like most of us?"

Tricia nodded quietly. "I do not believe the Order is necessarily aware of our reliance on some of their materials, particularly their high-grade hologlass." Tricia gestured with her arm where the three crystals shined. "Even the projector I've cobbled together here is a pale imitation..."

“So they’re just a giant tech firm for mages?”

"Hah! I bet they’d love to hear that. They’re definitely a bigger deal than that… but more importantly, these aren't some glass lenses or knock-off media players we're talking about here. That was a Lambda Securities gun; my dad talked about some idiot’s attempt to sell a whole stock of L.S. equipment on the Auction and I’m pretty damn sure they all had that kind of look to them."

Tricia's eyes opened wide at that. "The Auction sells-?"

"Nope," Rave quickly replied.

Travolta chuckled darkly at that. "I remember that; Regan was having a fit over it landing on his plate, had me play full-time bodyguard in case anyone came after him or Rave. Who even knows what happened to the idiot who tried to put it up for sale, though; he took it down before anyone could put a serious bid, and I don’t think anyone heard any complaints from the user... or anything else, for that matter." The founding Collide member shook his head. "A whole fucking Praxian armory was up for bid with all kinds of bad shit... even the mech that cannon is supposed to be fired by."

Rave nodded. “I don’t remember much from the pictures, but that mech looked like a wicked bad time.”

"I think I'll be fine... But the fact is that neither Praxis nor Lambda Securities gave me this... the Game did." Unspoken was what ate at John: if his quest rewards weren't just random magical items plucked from imagination, where were they coming from? They're so sure of what it is that they even identified it correctly... so is it inspired by Praxis? Or is there a missing gun from some crazy Abyssal company's warehouse? "Does it matter that this one doesn't even have a serial number?"

Tricia stared side-long at John. "Why... do you know about that?"

"Says so on the item description, along with what rules that apparently breaks."

“That... follows, from what I know of Praxis practices. The Opekuny advised me to never attempt to reverse-engineer or alter the make-up of any Praxis-originating equipment we happened to purchase. More importantly, I was to never attempt interference with their IDing of the same; though I never detected as much, there’s allegedly a serial number or pallet ID to everything we acquired. Praxis is vehemently opposed to the reverse-engineering or modification of their base designs, and so that numbering probably helps dissuade potential mods.” Tricia folded her arms as she considered John. “More to the point: they wouldn’t permit so much as a washing machine to leave their fabrication plants without some kind of traceable ID… nevermind what is likely a top-secret piece of military hardware.”

Travolta nodded at that. “It’s part of why the Auction is happy to oblige them in banning unauthorized sales; forget just having to deal with Praxis assassins or whatever, that tagging is hard to scrub, and not scrubbing it means there’s no more anonymity… not that anonymity counts for much these days.”

John looked to his inventory as the other members of Collide spoke and eyed the item with new suspicion.

"Dear Humans," Golgon suddenly interrupted, his voice cutting through the tightening circle of curious teens, "I believe John the Newman was going to address... a way to break through the barriers of pelos?"

Golgon was right, but John wasn't going to wait for a translation. "I think this gun I just showed everyone might be the weapon we need to shoot through the bridge gates. If it isn't, I have one other weapon I can try... but it's dangerous." Maybe too dangerous.

The wide eyes of Cidi and Golgon were more of a reaction than John expected. "Two weapons? If you have even one... then we may conquer the Peak in a single day's time!" the elder gleefully shouted.

Cidi wore her doubt on her sleeve, but closed her mouth tightly enough to hide the crease of how it extended across her face.

The conversation flowed from there as John let Rosa translate for the humans: John explained, albeit briefly, the sword he had received from Yarrick Dell. He didn't dare produce it; the memory of how it had killed its prior wielder was fresh enough in John's mind to not risk so much as an accidental unsheathing of the weapon (if that was even what caused its terrible effect!). They would test the weapons on a far-off bridge, recharge the siege cannon however it permitted and, if any of it worked, they’d finally go after the Peak with a hand-picked warband.

<John? Eheehee!> John could feel Lily's excited energy at the thought of calling him by his given name... as a wife would, John realized through Lily’s emotion.

Yes, Lily?

"Of course, our original accord shall suffice once the fighting is done, yes?" Golgon asked the Gamer.

"Of course."

<Is that the whole plan?>

Well, yeah. We don't know what to expect once we get inside except more Lawmen and whatever power the Peak has… but right now, it’s taking all this just to get inside.

"As for this ‘warband’... have you already chosen your warriors?"

<Okay, but does he know how far the Throne's dignity reaches?>

John tried not to show his reaction to Lily, lest he confuse Golgon. What do you mean?

Rosa's translation ended in a sea of hands being raised... including those Order knights who grew annoyed with waiting behind uselessly.

"It will only be a few of us," John cautiously explained. He'd have to find a way to convince them to stay and defend the base while they were gone.

<The dignity of a Throne can be fairly far-reaching, especially for older or more powerful Kingdoms, and you'll need to summon us all to help before you enter it!>

Alright, so far all I'm getting is that this 'Dignity' thing is some kind of area around the Throne? And why, what does it do to summons?

"You better be sure as shit that I'm going," Rave demanded.

"You guys saved me once already," John answered with an earnest smile, "so I hope you don't hold it against me if I take you up on that."

Travolta nodded, surprising the Gamer; the man hadn't been agreeable since they arrived. "If Rave's going, then I'm in too."

<Well, John, that's because you're not the King here and you're not an authorized agent of the King. So you can't do certain things within the Throne's dignity.>

"Obviously I'm coming along," Galley almost off-handedly declared.

"Naturally my expertise will be best used there as well," Tricia boasted.

Alright, like what? John did his best to portray confidence at each member of his group as he managed both conversations.

<Well, neither time nor reality may be bent therein, except in whatever way the barrier is meant to; one cannot call or dismiss beings from or into barriers, nor create barriers, nor influence the mind of the King unless the King desires it.> Before John could chew on exactly what Lily meant, she continued, <Of course, none of that will stop the King or his minions; that's the power of the sovereign, after all. It's why I'm hoping you become the King here, my love: I know you'll just love it when you have all that power!>

John's expression must have betrayed his thoughts, because Tricia seemed suddenly worried for him. "John...?"

Sovereignty... Would his Eye of the King even work? With a name like that... was it self-explanatory? He couldn't neutralize the commandments set by Vantage...

<Oh! That's a good parallel: the dignity is like a universal commandment, one that promises the reality the King makes of his Kingdom!>

Promises the reality...?

<The gem reflects the King who plants it, shapes the Throne, and through it shapes the world. All across a Kingdom, the King's desire is made real... but nowhere so absolutely, so infallibly, as at the heart of the world.> Lily's voice had come into John's head with a low, reverent tone that seemed to hush even the conversation she wasn't a part of... until, with a gleeful whisper, she added, <And soon it'll be ours! Yours! Yours, of course! And then I'll be promoted for sure!>

Promoted...?

<I DID NOT MEAN TO TRANSMIT THAT.>

“John, is everything alright?”

The Gamer nodded dumbly before whispering, “Anyone here happen to know what a… Throne’s ‘dignity’ might be, or how big it would be here?”

Blank stares came from all those present, including every member of the Bitter Nines and every human… except one, albeit not the one John expected.

“‘Dignity’? W-Who even uses language that o-old…?”

John turned in surprise to see the Abyssal reporter suddenly step towards the lot of them from wherever she had hid herself earlier. The others seemed equally surprised to see her say so much as a word, much less answer John’s strange question. Yui began to wither as she felt the stares on her, but John urged her on, “Apparently a succubus that talks like everyone should know what that is.”

“Anyone who’s dealt with barriers does, j-just… no o-o-o-one uses that language anymore. Now we-we just call it… the a… ‘absolute territory.’”

“Oh!” came the collective response from the more knowledgeable humans.

“…Those energy fields from Helium Exodus Presbytelion-?” John looked around and quickly caught on that Yui wasn’t suddenly referencing the 90’s anime.

“I’m hardly an expert on illusion barriers, but even I’ve never… ahem,” Tricia cleared her throat, clearly flustered, “the absolute territory of a Kingdom, more importantly, is something I am familiar with. It is essentially a hardened reality emanating from the anchor of a permanent barrier,” Tricia explained, “in which the rules of the barrier are rendered more powerfully than anywhere else. It is a kind of perfected form of the world meant to be reflected outward as the Kingdom expands over time, and it reflects why the Kingdom’s apparent design becomes more flux and creative at the outermost edges of its defined space.”

“You can still mess around in there,” Rave added, “like use spells and fight… but things get harder the closer you get to it… at least, that’s what Jimmie told us when we went into one about a year ago.”

Travolta and Galley just shrugged in agreement; they had nothing to add.

“So… will I be able to open portals in there?”

A long pause… but Rave and Tricia just exchanged worried glances as they considered it.

“O-O-Of course not.” Yui’s voice was almost mocking despite how it shook with her stuttering. “Spatial or temporal m-m-magic v-violates the most b-b-basic rules! No p-portals, no b-barriers, no speeding up or slowing d-d-down unless the o-owner w-wants it! It won’t-” Yui glanced about the room… and suddenly felt the downer energy she had cast over those who understood. “… I-I mean… i-it shouldn’t…”

“On one hand, your magic has broken many traditional expectations of limitations and ‘rules,’” Tricia hesitantly opined, “but then, the device at the Brighton Manor did keep you from…”

The humans fell silent… and the Bitter Nines, left only with John’s confusing half of the conversation, had nothing to say.

“Alright… so I can’t use my tunnels, I probably can’t cancel magical effects with my Eye, and if I had time magic… actually, I sort of do, but I guess that wouldn’t even… Hell, can I even hurt the Peak in there?”

“K-Kingdoms are p-permanent… so only th-their rules are absolute. The King can define those rules b-but cannot become a part of them, if that, uh… if that makes s-sense?.”

John looked down at his hand, still soft and human as it was… but upon it, he opened his list of minions, of the army he could call that didn’t have the handicap he would once they got there… and slowly, his confident smile grew back.

Even if his damage and versatility were minimized… so what? He had that original power, the thing that made him an object of interest to Tricia, the Order, and perhaps yet more unseen foes: he was a summoner, and he had a coterie of powerful Abyssal allies to bring to bear. With all the might he had invested into his most potent minions, and with the help of all these allies... was he even really the **** one here? “Right… I almost forgot.” John made a fist before sweeping the room with his bold eyes and words. “Kingdoms are permanent…”