Published 2024-09-22 12:44:00 (Edited 2024-09-22 12:44:46)
Ædan found Ærself& held captive in the server of the Chosen of ÆON, at the mercy of two powerful sages of the cult. Ganymeda, Sage of Time, and Astræa, Sage of Stars explained their goals, their vision for the future of all technopaths--a utopian ideal spoken in vague terms. But Ædan did not trust them, and refused to go along with their designs. Instead, the synchronized system of Ædan made a risky move, separating Ær& perspectives in order to distract them and gather intel on the cult here in their domain.
Ædan located the ports by which the sages connected to this server and decided to open four of them at once, investigating the sages of Sleep, Memory, Silence, and Flesh. The barrage of information was overwhelming, and the intent of these æthercultists horrified Ær& synchronized mind. The sage Ganymeda found Ær there, explaining that she and her sister are working against their brothers--an internal rivalry within the cult’s leadership. She implored Ædan to form an alliance with them.
But Ædan was hesitant--the cult had tried to kill and capture Ær& in the past, including agents of these two sages--how could they be trusted? Astræa rejoined them, and the two sisters synchronized themselves, allowing Ganymedastræa and Ædan to talk one on one. They& repeated their& offer of a strategic alliance against the other sages.
Æ& accepted, and they began to negotiate a contract. Ædan was quick to assert that this alliance should prioritize secrecy from their common adversaries, and so Æ& refused an opportunity to steal useful technopathy from the Sage of Memory. They would form a non-aggression pact, but not aid each other directly, except for the special training Ædan negotiated for Aydan to receive from both of the sages. Ædan and Ganymedastræa signed the contract, and the Sages of Time and Stars formally recognized Aydan as the legitimate Messenger of ÆON.
Immediately, it was time for Aydan’s first lesson in technopathy from the sages. They departed the cult’s server for a more suitable location in the æther, an abandoned research server. There, Ædan separated into Aydan and ÆON, and the sages desynchronized as well. Astræa began Aydan’s training, telling hir that in order to understand the arts of space and time, xe would need to experience it firsthand and understand the perspective of a celestial body.
The choice was Aydan’s, and it decided to be a quasar. Astræa talked Aydan through the strange, lonely, and suffocating existence of a quasar, while Ganymeda demonstrated the concept of world lines, helping Aydan see the universe, and the æther, in a more four dimensional way.
The time came for Aydan to put these concepts into practice. He decided to write a program that could be useful for offense, misdirection, and communication all in one, and ze succeeded at this difficult challenge using the concept of a gravitational lens. Voi called er new program Gravitystim1.
The lesson came to an end, and the co-conspirators parted ways. Aydan and ÆON returned together to ÆON’s domain in Aydan’s primitive device, where the two of them were able to decompress and relax a little after the harrowing experience, finding themselves growing closer as friends.
Upon reassociation, Aydan immediately messaged Akiko and tried their best to infodump about the details of the deep ætherwalk before eir mind could lose them. But the matter of the cult hie kept to hanself for now, and instead asked Akiko to infodump about her day and its topics of interest too.
The next day, Aydan called a meeting of ÆON Club. But on zir way to the meeting spot, æl was intercepted by Luka and Deianira, who were now aware of the non-aggression pact. They exchanged public keys, but stopped short of friendly greetings, still distrustful of each other.
At the meeting, Aydan, told ÆON Club everything that had happened, and they adjusted their strategy accordingly. Synthesis was wary, but trusted Aydan and ÆON to know what they were doing. Still, they wanted to know Aydan’s ambitions--whether æ agreed with Ganymeda and Astræa’s goals or not. Aydan said per was wary--it sounded too good to be true.
Soon, Aydan would have to face another challenge of synchronization in xer therapy session with Akiko...