Chapter 28: The Old Wounds

Elmyra looked around the room from the Space of Uncertainty and appreciated the stillness of everything. She looked around to see Cellica looking directly at her, her body blurred into a cluster of potential motions that she would have been doing, and yet despite the tiny movements, she is still there for her. Elmyra turned the other way to look at Zel, and the same blurriness is there as the paths of light overlapped on top of each other.

However, she could see the eyes of the man she loves clearly.

I am truly fortunate to have these people around me...Elmyra thought, as she took a breath in with a renewed focus and began recreating the sensation first introduced by Zero when he forcibly lead her to activate the Dagger of Fate to such a ridiculous extent as she viewed the trajectories and fates of everything in the galaxy at once. This time, she is looking at way smaller things.

As she continued to move her consciousness further and further away from the room she's staying in, from the ship in the high orbit, from the gravity well of Olympus prime, from the inner orbits of the Olympus system...And there she is.

The trajectories of Olympus B, the new position of Olympus 2, the lack of Olympus 1, and now the impending fate of Olympus Prime...Elmyra is seeing all of them at once. Carefully examining each of the individual fates of teh celestial bodies closely, Elmyra prepared herself for the responsibility that will soon befall upon her. Then, Elmyra deactivated the artifact before the first hint of strain is here as she had planned.

You have to see the fates before you can touch the fates.

Elmyra exited from her very first activation, and looked towards Cellica with a confident nod as she realigned the holographic projections provided by the modelling unit in front of her to mirror the perspective she saw while in the Space of Uncertainty. After that, all she has to do is to recreate whatever the models have predicted for her slowly and gently.

Elmyra nodded towards Cellica once more after the realignment of the holographic map is done, and she spoke into her channel, 'She is ready.'

'Now, Sir Deva will begin projecting a planet sized mass at the location marked out on the map, and the introduction of this body should be pulling against Olympus Prime.' Cellica explained, as a black sphere appeared as a representation of Sir Deva's power on the holographic map, and a predicted trajectory of Olympus prime is shown, 'you just have to assist him, as the model is only based off his projection alone. He need your help. Your job is to both make sure the planet is travelling in the desired trajectory and make slight adjustments if necessary.'

'Alright alright.' Elmyra said, remembering the sensation she first felt when she was looking at the entire inner orbits of the Olympus Prime system and entered the Space of Uncertainty again, picking up exactly where she left off. The trajectory of Olympus Prime has drastically been changed now that Sir Deva has began the activation of his artifacts. The path of light that directly lead towards Olympus A has been budged ever so slightly. Elmyra quickly returned to the real world again and compared the two for a few times as she realigned the holographic map again to make sure that her perspectives aren't the only issue around.

Something doesn't look right. Elmyra went back and forth between real world and the Space of Uncertainty, as Olympus Prime has barely moved since the start of all this. However, the trajectory should have been changed by now, as Elmyra's powers also give her access to see information from the future, or as it is commonly referred to, see fate itself.

'The trajectory isn't changing as much.' Elmyra said, as she tried to make sure that's exactly what's happening multiple times. Her artifact flashes with every quick activation and deactivation, and Zel simply looked on from his position at her. He could never have turned his artifacts on and off nearly as quickly as that, as that skill alone is an important asset in Elmyra's artifact usage.

'You may make the first adjustment.' Cellica said, and a suggested altered trajectory is shown on the holographic map in front of her. It is perfectly laid out, and exactly as she saw it. Elmyra was quite surprised by this work, and she also felt a little exposed. Zero must have known how everything worked for her with the Dagger of Fate when he went inside her mind.

'I will make the first adjustment now.' Trying to shake away the unpleasant memories, Elmyra went back to work. She returned herself into the Space, and reached out to touch the path of light right in front of her.

A jolt of electricity ran through her body as her finger first touches the light before a ripping sensation that she has been all too familiar with stopped her in her tracks. Elmyra tried to fight back and regain the control of her body, but the fight was lost quick, fast and in a hurry as she was immediately thrown out of the Space of Uncertainty. Standing still like a statue in the room with heavy breaths, Elmyra stared blankly at the map in front o fher.

'Elmyra?' Cellica asked, 'are you okay?'

'...Yeah.....I am fine.' Elmyra swallowed hard and blurted out the response without even looking over towards Cellica before she forced her way back into the Space of Uncertainty. Time flows differently in the Space of Uncertainty, and that's why Cellica had no idea of all her struggles here, as everything is mere instants from her perspective.

That is also to her advantage, as Elmyra will figure out what the hell is going on. Let's try again.

Reaching out once more with her hand, Elmyra tried to move the trajectory again, and the same searing pain returned, pulling her fingers back with pain as if she is tearing open an old wound. She wanted to move the planet's trajectory, but she can't. Her hands started shaking all of a sudden, and the path of light connected to her fingers shook with it.

Horrified, Elmyra let go without making any final adjustments, as she could have single handedly destroyed Olympus Prime just now.

What the hell? Elmyra wanted to scream out in anger, but instead all she felt is anguish and despair. She was ejected from the Space again, and found herself stumbling half a step back.

Zel stood up, concerned and worried, as Cellica raised a hand to prevent him from doing anything rash.

'Elmyra?' Cellica probed, and Elmyra shook her head before diving into the Space again. She cannot affort to act out right now! Not when billions of lives are at stake! Not when she has a chance to save people!

Ever since she has obtained the tiny Dagger of Fate, she has been using this power to do anything but save others. She killed, she wrecked, she threw people around like dolls, to move some asteroids out of the way. All of that is done when her artifact should be the best one when it comes to saving others! She cannot fail here, regardless of what the thing stopping her is.

'You can never run.' Suddenly, Zero voice popped into her head, the sound so visceral, clear and haunting and it immediately brought her back to the moment when her mind being assaulted and her body destroyed by the forceful activation of her artifacts. Is this an overload already? Elmyra wondered as she faced her pain head on, watching an entire galaxy is infinitely more demanding than watching over a single system, but changing the fates of a few is much easier than changing the fate of a planet...

Elmyra's knees collapsed as Zero's voice became louder and louder inside her mind.

'YOU CAN NEVER RUN!' He declared.

'SHUT UP!' Elmyra screamed, holding onto her head as she dropped to the ground.

Zel immediately got up and ran towards her, but she spun around without looking who that is and thrown him into the wall with her artifacts. As he groaned in pain after a loud bang and a crack formed in the wall, everything finally became clear again, and tear flooded down the side of Elmyra's face.

'Zel...? ZEL!' She screamed as she crawled towards the man that now lost his consciousness as his prosthetic hand is completely crushed by the collision. No...this doesn't have anything to do with Zero...this is all HER fault.

'Shit!' Zero cursed as he looked on at everything happening in the control room, 'Miss Uleric! What is going on?'

'I...Elmyra seemed to...she can't do it, for some reason...' Cellica was in awe for a split second before she also tended to Elmyra that's now become a complete mess of tears and cries as she held onto Zel.

'Shit.' Zero slammed his fist down onto the table, as his mind immediately went back to all of the damage he has done to her in his previous stunt. This has nothing to do with Elmyra...it is all his fault. Now, the planet won't be saved in time, and his goal will not be reached. After all of this, Geb 4 will have much more of a influence, despite the incomplete flow of people.

Brakagi may not have gotten what he wanted, but Zero would have lost nearly everything.

The bearers may have been able to reverse the physical trauma done by him, but the mental and spiritual trauma appeared to still be there, and it would have hidden it's ugly nature until a true maximum intent activation is performed. It is only when Elmyra is truly pushing herself that all of the trauma and pain come running back and haunting her.

Zero slammed his fist frustratingly into the table, punching a hole through it.

'Master? What's going on?' Lady Lily asked in their communications channel.

'Elmyra can't do it.' Zero said, 'the trauma is too much, and moving a planet's trajectory seemed to have brought it back.'

'Shit.'

'Should I increase the intensity of my projection?' Sir Deva's low masculine voice came through, though there is a slight hint of tremble in it, 'I can hold it for much much longer.'

'Hold it for now. Can you do that?' Zero asked, as he pulled back his fist that's underneath the table's surface. He turned and sprinted towards where the bearers are all staying. He is sure that they will need answers, and to be honest, he needs one too. But to get the answers all of them need, he will need Sir Deva to at least buy some time, regardless of the amount.

'...Master. I will not fail.' Sir Deva has finally spoke after a little while of silence almost as if hurt by Zero's words, though Zero know deep down that those words are exactly the ones he needed to hear to push him onto the next level. Knowing that he can trust his most powerful artifact user, Zero put everything towards the back of his head and prepared to face a corridor full of angry and confused artifact users.

'What is going on?!' Valerie's the first one that caught onto Zero as she reached out to and locked down Zero loosely in place. Her anger is apparent, as her very first reaction after seeing what Elmyra has done from outside of the room was that it is some trickery done by Zero in order to manipulate the poor girl, 'explain, senator.'

'I don't know...' Zero wanted to move forward, but he felt the immediate tug of his limbs and joint all around him as the space is loosely locked down. It appeared Valerie has gained yet another level of control where she doesn't necessarily lock down regions of space but rather hinders all movements, an impressive tool for capture and interrogation indeed now that he is thinking about it.

Um...is the space around him getting tighter? Zero wondered as he caught himself having more and more difficulty to breath as the beautiful angry girl walked ever closer to him with fire burning in her eyes.

'....but I have a theory!' Zero quickly while remaining relaxed in the trap as not to accidentally rip anything off.

Finally, the grasp loosened, and Zero dropped onto the floor. Valerie squatted down right in front of her and whispered into his ear.

'You know, seeing how all three of your top artifact users are away from the ship, now would have been a very good time to...you konw...' Valerie said, as she looked down at Zero.

'A typical approach that the Black Wolf would have taken, finishing the opponent when they are weakened.' Zero commented as he pressed both hands onto the ground, 'However, don't mistake a sign of cooperation for a sign of weakness.'

'...That's a good line.' Valerie admitted, reaching out a hand towards Zero, 'I will trust you. Now, let's save the planet.'

The rest of the groups all tended towards the unconscious Zel and the crying Elmyra while Zero and Valerie had their little exchange. And the hostility certainly remained after Zero returned. However, to his surprise, Valerie made a point for all to listen to Zero's explanation.

'I am sorry.' And to everybody else's surprise, Zero started off his explanation with yet another apology, 'but it looked like the trauma I reckless caused Elmyra still remained...and it meant she won't be able to finish this task.'

'Elmyra is stronger than you think.' Rydel shook his head and refuted that claim, but what he said only raised one of Zero's eyebrows.

'And here I thought you were one that was overprotective of her earlier.' Zero countered, 'a pointless argument. We need a change of plan, and we need it quickly.'

'Remind me why you want everything done quickly?' Valerie asked, turning around to face him.

'Because the earlier we act, the smaller amount of change we can apply to the planet's trajectory.' Zero said, 'the planet's vector will only have to be modified to a comparatively smaller extent if we were to start early. We don't need to interfere as long and as much. However, without Elmyra's power to alter trajectories...We need something else. All of Sir Deva's powers and the pseudo-Mass Projectors won't be enough here.'

'We won't be able to do anything in time if we don't do anything about the stupid shit that is the conservation of momentum!'

The conservation of momentum...a product of the Noether's theorem from the ancient times, which states that every continuous symmetry of a physical theory has an associated conserved quantity. If the theory's symmetry is invariance in space itself, momentum conversation occurs as a natural consequence of it. In principle, this very principle exists because the laws of physics is not supposed to be different depending on it's location in space, and yet the existence of these artifacts violates the laws of physics every time that they are used.

However, due to the lack of a understanding of the artifact-specific physics that governed what the artifacts can and cannot do, nobody can accurate pinpoint which artifact does exactly what, and just about every artifact users have figured out at this point that all of the powers that they have are a manifestation of the artifact's power rather than an extent of the artifact's power. And a higher understanding of the operating principles that each individual artifact runs on will allows the user to figure out more ways to utilize the artifacts, as the limits has always been that of the user rather than that of the artifacts. That's also rather ironic that each artifacts have its own principles of operation while their existence in itself is a violation of known physics.

Rydel looked down at his glove and thought back to the first time he activated this artifact.....how he picked up the droid that formed from the pillar and tossed it into the wall. Then, he thought about the bunch of experiments that he ran by himself, throwing and catching the rocks...Wait...

What is the basis which the Glove of Summoning is operating on? Rydel has always thought it was a sort of localized spatial manipulation, but that wouldn't have allowed him to give things a certain speed and velocity vector upon exit...

To do that, either he is offering a sort of momentum change, or he is violating the conservation of momentum every time he uses his artifact. And from the reaction from the crew he saved in the battle of the second orbital ring, their downward momentum was caught by him and negated before they were returned into the shuttle that Valerie was piloting.

But is it true? Is this merely wishful thinking, or is this actually what's been happening all this time? Even if all of that is wrong, Rydel's artifact will at least be able to move the planet out of the way, regardless of what momentum it has. However, another thing that Rydel's absolutely clear on is that the thing he warped will not have any velocity upon exit if he doesn't give it any speed. That could pose issues later down the road, but there is no time to worry about it now.

I guess it's time to find out. Rydel clenched his fist and met Valerie's slightly concerned gaze.

'Are you okay?' She asked.

'More than that.' Rydel said, taking a step forward in between Elmyra, Zel and, 'regarding the thing with momentum...I may be able to do something about that.'

'What?!' The entire group's reaction is evident enough that Rydel wasn't the only one surprised by his realization. This is one of those times where a certain thing has been occurring often underneath the surface, and yet nobody truly understands and appreciates the meaning of it before anyone laid everything out clearly out in the open. Rydel did just that after explaining his thought process.

'Are you sure?' Valerie asked, as she was the one that's the one who participated in Rydel's early experiment with warping living beings, but back then, Rydel insisted that she locked herself in a bubble of Lock Down before anything was done just in case anything unfortunate happens, meaning that by definition Valerie isn't moving to start with, and he certainly isn't one crazy enough to throw his girlfriend around like a ball.

'Experiment with me.' Before anyone else from the bearers spoke, Zero was the one to offer himself up, 'Catch me while I am in the move and alter my course.'

'Zero.....' Rydel said, now a little hesitant.

'Don't go soft on me now.' Zero said with a sly smile, 'My initial assessment of your powers is nothing more than a wacky accessory fitting for a failed magician. Prove me wrong.'