Bender of Worlds

by Isaac Hooke

  He hesitated a moment longer, then deactivated his shield and extended an arm toward the artifact. His gloved fingers didn’t distort and elongate upon approach, as they would have were this a lens with a preset work of the Dark stored inside. A good sign.

  He touched the surface with his glove. It felt solid to the touch.

  Nothing happened, so he flattened the rest of his glove against the surface. He felt it then: the warmth of the Dark Essence lurking just inside. The chaos of a forest in flames, and waiting to be unleashed.

  “It’s definitely made of Darcanium,” Tane said over the comm to Lyra and the others. He muted his external speakers, leaving the dweller out of the loop. “So far it hasn’t given me any memories.”

  And then the artifact, as well as the platform itself, vanished.

  Tane stood at the edge of a forest whose trees had strange bulb-shaped branches with leaves of purple and green needles. He no longer wore a spacesuit. Beside him loomed the dweller P’lotholemus, his teacher, clad in a protective suit of strange design, with pistons moving up and down atop the carapace’s rear portion.

  The blue tint tainting everything had lifted. And those trees, the dweller… they all seemed real, not blurry.

  Tane immediately felt at home. He was with his true master.

  “The Dark Essence must be wielded,” P’lotholemus was saying through a synthesizer in the carapace region of the environmental suit. Though the dweller’s words were sourced from multiple humans with different accents and dialects, the high and low octaves of the Umbra were gone.

  “Wielded,” the dweller emphasized. “That is the only way to shape the flames you see when you Siphon. It is not like the White Essence you have told me about, where you wheedle and coax a tiny sapling to grow into a fragile tree of frozen light. The Dark is more a warrior’s Essence, the chaotic flames held in place by the sheer force of will of the wielder. That chaos can be used to create, as the Builders do. Or to destroy.”

  “Like the Amaranth?” Tane found himself asking. It was not his voice, but Tiberius’.

  “Yes, like the Amaranth. They who fight with the Dark. They who destroy with it. You must learn to fight, too, if you wish to earn their respect. Builders are at the bottom of the societal hierarchy, almost as low as those who can’t Siphon at all. But the Amaranth, they are honored. Prove to them that you can best the greatest of them, and they will follow you.”

  “But I don’t want them to follow me,” Tane said.

  “If you wish to survive in the Umbra long term, you must,” P’lotholemus said. “Even with me at your side, you will be challenged. I guarantee you.”

  “You once told me that the Dark could only ever be used for good,” Tane said.

  “I told you this, yes,” P’lotholemus said.

  “But where is the good in using the chaos of the Dark to destroy?” Tane pressed.

  “Destruction can be good,” P’lotholemus told him.

  “How so?” Tane asked.

  “Destruction is part of the natural order of things,” P’lotholemus told him. “Birth and death occur constantly throughout the cosmos, at all scales, from microorganisms, to planets, to stars and galaxies themselves. Creation and destruction. How can that which is an integral part of the universe be evil?

  “Take the body. Did you know, sixty billion cells in your human body die per day? For dwellers, that number is four times as great. Sixty billion cells, destroyed to make way for the new cells that are always dividing in the great machine known as the body. Or how about forest fires?” The alien beckoned toward the bulbous trees behind Tane. “When forests burn down, dead trees and decaying plants return their nutrients to the soil. Dry underbrush and weeds are burned away so that sunlight can reach the forest floor and allow native species to grow. Life, from death.

  “Protecting your clan and your blood from an invading tribe by destroying them, that is also good. As is competing against other Amaranth in shows of strength to earn your place in the hierarchy.

  “But I digress from the lesson. You have learned to Siphon consistently. And yet, thus far, you have not actually done anything with the chaos you have summoned. You know that when you quench the flames, this directs and guides the new fires that emerge. To influence reality with the Dark Essence, you must douse the flames in certain patterns, quenching enough flames until an equilibrium is reached and a three-dimensional design remains.”

  “So it is like the Branchworks of the White Essence after all,” Tane said. “Except instead of growing the sapling, you block out the fires to make the tree.”

  “No no no, you didn’t let me finish,” P’lotholemus said. “That is only the base pattern. Because thereafter, before the design will take in this reality, you must alter the intensity of the individual flames, and douse others, changing the pattern in the fourth dimension—time.”

  “What are you saying,” Tane said. “I have to create animations? Frame by frame? Like a digital flip book?”

  “I don’t know what a flip book is,” P’lotholemus said. “But yes, a frame-by-frame animation is perhaps an apt metaphor. You douse the flames in certain patterns with your mind, forcing the new fires to appear in different positions for each new frame of the timeline. It is infinitely more complex than the White Essence, from what you’ve told me.

  “That is why I say the Dark Essence must be wielded. The designs are not stationary things, and change with time. The simpler Essencework timelines can be completed in spans as short as fifteen standard seconds. The more complex take upwards of ten minutes or longer. This is why we often start the creation of a given Chaoswork well ahead of its intended use. Once created, the work can be held indefinitely for little stamina cost, and released at leisure. You may only hold in reserve as many as your current overall Dark Siphoning level.”

  The forest blinked out and Tane found himself standing on the grav tram platform once more. A notification appeared on his HUD.

  All Dark Siphoning Level 1 Essenceworks gained.

  New Dark Essencework learned.

  Night Vision. Level 1. (Dark Siphoning Level 1 required).

  New Dark Essencework learned.

  Melt Metal. Level 1. (Dark Siphoning Level 1 required).

  New Dark Essencework learned.

  Fingers of Ruin. Level 1. (Dark Siphoning Level 1 required).

  Attribute up. Intelligence +1. Current Intelligence: 13 (24 with Beam Hilt I, rings, and Nova Bracelet I equipped)

  “It says I just gained some new Essenceworks,” Tane said excitedly over the comm, once more excluding the dweller. He pulled up the skill list on his HUD and paged over to “White Essence Specific” tab. Nothing new. However there was a new tab, he noticed. “Dark Essence Specific.” He chose it and read the following.

  Dark Siphoning Level 1 Essenceworks.

  Builder:

  Night Vision. Grants you the ability to see in the dark. At higher levels, the ability lasts longer and you can see farther. Current range and duration: 20 meters, 10 minutes. Stamina drain: low. Creation time: 15 seconds.

  Amaranth:

  Melt Metal. With this ability, you can selectively melt away metal objects within the work’s area of effect, including weapons, while preserving the metal items of your companions. At higher levels, the area of effect increases, as does the size of the objects that can be melted. Works through energy shields. Current AOE: 3 meters. Stamina drain: medium. Creation time: 60 seconds.

  Fingers of Ruin. Sends dark fingers of unreality at a single opponent; black veins grow outward from the impact site and crack open to wound the target. At higher levels, the damage increases. Pierces energy shields. Stamina drain: medium. Creation time: 60 seconds.

  He noted that all of the abilities had a relatively high creation time, far longer than the mere seconds required to create something with the White Essence. To use them would require some strategic thinking on his part, especially considering that his current overall Dark Siphoning level was one, which me
ant he could only hold one fully created Dark Essencework in reserve.

  Night Vision was essentially the Dark equivalent of the White “Star Light,” in that it allowed one to see in the dark, albeit via a different mechanism. However Night Vision was probably the stealthier version, since it was entirely passive and didn’t emit photons like the White equivalent.

  “Care to share?” Lyra asked over the comm.

  Tane hesitated. He almost said yes, but then decided against it. “Eventually. I want to keep this knowledge to myself for now. Unless you care to share all the non-public Essenceworks you have?”

  Lyra didn’t answer.

  “That’s what I thought,” Tane said. “I’m going to try one of them.”

  He filled his mind with chaos and touched the Dark Essence as his alien master had taught him. Molten heat seared throughout his being and ethereal flames burst into existence around him. He knew now that those flames weren’t restricted to a single plane, but rather existed within a three-dimensional cube centered upon him, with some burning beyond the platform underneath him, and others above the station ceiling above. When he glanced at those surfaces in turn, he could still see the flames beyond, burning subtly dimmer.

  The fires were sourced from the heat-containing core of the moon itself. In his universe, he could anchor himself to different sources to access the Dark, as long as those sources were gravity wells with certain features: for planets and moons, the inner core had to be a geodynamo. In the case of a star, the conditions necessary for thermonuclear fusion had to be present. The friction produced by this heat energy in the Umbra as it emanated away from the gravity well and to the surface of the celestial object in question gave rise to the Dark Essence.

  Tane attempted to form the work responsible for Night Vision. He began to douse the flames around him, including those fires that were above and below the floor and ceiling. As he smothered them, more erupted into existence, and he doused them, too, until finally he had achieved an equilibrium: all of the burning flames were in the necessary starting positions for Night Vision. Then Tane began the frame-by-frame chaos timeline.

  He selectively doused certain flames and forced new ones to appear in certain positions, forming the different frames of the animation. It was an infinitely more complex operation than the creation of a White Essence Branchwork, because the flames had to be doused in the correct order, and at the right time.

  The animated pattern that formed reminded him of fireworks playing in reverse, starting out fully-exploded, and then reverting to two tiny dots of flame in front of him.

  When he finished the work fifteen intense seconds later, those two dots settled on his face, and the dim light from the ceiling glow panels suddenly seemed very bright; he had to shield his eyes against the glow. He increased the opacity of his faceplate to compensate. He didn’t think there was a way to deactivate an effect like Night Vision once it set into this reality: he’d have to wait until it expired on its own.

  He slumped only slightly inside his suit. Despite the intensity of his concentration, the stamina drain hadn’t been too bad overall. That was something he had seen before when working with the Dark. Then again, it could have also been due to all the Endurance bonuses his gear bestowed. He considered equipping his beam hilt for an added boost but decided he didn’t need it.

  “So it worked?” Jed asked over the comm.

  “I think so,” Tane replied. He could tell from the Volur’s tone that Jed wanted him to share what the work did. Tane almost did, if only to brag, but once more decided to hold back.

  Knowledge is power.

  “I’m trying another one,” Tane promptly announced.

  He tried Fingers of Ruin next.

  Thirty seconds in, Sinive said: “Well?”

  Tane didn’t reply.

  After another thirty seconds, he finished, and held the work in reserve: the final pattern shrunk down to a small globe of flame that floated in front of him, visible to his eyes only. He definitely felt the weariness on that one.

  He released the Dark Essence, because to hold onto it meant having to continually douse the flames around him, and he was getting tired of doing that. The flaming globe remained active in front of him, the Essencework contained therein waiting to be unleashed. When he rotated in place, the globe followed him.

  “Since you’re moving, I assume it worked?” Lyra asked.

  “I believe so,” Tane answered.

  “What do you see?” Lyra pressed.

  “The Dark works differently than the White,” Tane said, in an attempt to deflect the question.

  “We figured that much out, Engineer,” Jed said. “But different in what way?”

  Tane smiled faintly. What harm was there in telling them? Lyra and Jed probably already knew, and were simply testing him. No doubt the Volur and TSN had captured dwellers at some point, and interrogated them to reveal their secrets.

  “It takes a long time to create a Dark work,” Tane said. “When you finish, you can release the Dark Essence and hold the work in reserve. I’m holding onto one of them right now. It looks like a translucent, flaming sphere that follows me around.”

  “You’re not currently Siphoning?” Lyra asked.

  “No,” Tane replied.

  “Interesting,” Lyra said. “How long can you hold onto that particular work?”

  “Indefinitely, as far as I know,” Tane said.

  “Can you dismiss it?” Jed said. “Or does the effect have to be unleashed?”

  “I can’t dismiss it,” Tane said.

  “Well then, let’s see what happens when you release it,” Jed said.

  Tane could have held onto the globe indefinitely, if only to hide it from them. But given the description of the Essencework, he believed Fingers of Ruin was something the dwellers had used against him before, on Remus, so it wasn’t like he was revealing some unknown power to Jed and Lyra. Besides, he wanted to see the effects for himself.

  Tane turned to face the far wall of the platform and then focused on the flaming sphere. It vanished and the Dark Essencework set in this reality: a single dark smear of unreality erupted from his chest area and darted toward the wall. It moved about as fast as a thrown ball, slightly slower than an Essence Missile, and smashed into the concrete surface. A dark vein spread a short distance across the impact site, and the concrete cracked open along its length.

  “Nasty,” Sinive said over the comm. “I wouldn’t want to be hit with one of those.”

  “No,” Tane said. “And that’s only level one. Imagine what level four or higher would do.”

  “No thanks,” Sinive said. “You imagine.”

  Tane decided he’d try the final work, Melt Metal, later when he was alone, in part because he didn’t want to accidentally destroy everyone’s weapons, and also because he wished to keep it a secret.

  On his HUD there was a new tab next to “Dark Essence Specific” that listed the remaining Dark Siphoning Essenceworks for levels two through seven, along with the locations of the Dark Artifacts that would teach him each level. He noticed that the locations spanned three different planets in three separate systems. Two of the planets had multiple artifacts.

  That makes gathering them easier.

  Tane loved the fact he could attain all the works for each level at the same time. Even if he had to travel to a few locations on three different planets to get them, it was better than the Branchwork purchasing system the Volur had set up.

  Why can’t the White Essence work this way?

  But he already knew why. The Branchworks were regulated by the Volur. They wouldn’t want to give anyone a full brain dump of skills for free. There’d be no profit in that. They wanted the more capable Essenceworkers to swear their undying allegiance to the Volur, first of all. And second of all, they wanted everyone, Volur or casual Essenceworker, to pay for each Branchwork update as they went. After all, they had to make their income somehow: they charged a license fee on all sales made through P
eddler of the Esoteric shops.

  A terrible system all around, but one that wouldn’t change as long as the Volur were entrenched in their power, and propped up by the TSN.

  “I also have locations for other Dark Artifacts,” Tane said over the comm.

  “On this planet, or other worlds?” Sinive asked.

  “Three other planets,” Tane said. “Three different systems.”

  “Ah, and you expect to drag us to all these different planets so you can get free Essencework upgrades?” Sinive asked.

  “I’m not sure I can, actually,” Tane said. He turned toward the alien corpse and activated his external speakers. “Regarding the other Dark Artifacts out there: do I need the associated level in Dark Siphoning to learn the Essenceworks beneath it? Or can I just touch the artifact and receive the memories regardless of my overall level, and just can’t use them until I later advance?”

  “You must match each level, yes,” G’allanthamas said through the voice synthesizer of his dead mate. “Otherwise, the memories will not take. You may have seen this when you touched the artifact Tiberius left in your universe, if you did so before you were ready, with some memories fleeting while others remained.”

  Tane knew exactly what the dweller was referring to. Tane had learned how to send his Essence Sight traveling far afield, and the ability had faded soon after he had repelled the fleet. With the original dark artifact gone, that ability might be forever lost to him: while floating in the Umbra with Jed, Tane had asked the Volur if he knew how to send Essence Sight traveling like that, but Jed had said he’d never heard of such a thing.

  Tane skimmed over the different works associated with each level. They were all grouped into Builder and Amaranth abilities. He saw some works that were duplicates of those found in the publicly available White Essence list, such as Deflect and Disrupt, and the different distortion tunnel variations—though they required a Dark experience level one higher than their White Essence equivalents. The downside was that the Dark Essence versions required so much time to create, though that was balanced out by less stamina drain, plus the ability to hold created works in reserve.