Remote Control

"That was close." Roko breathed a sigh of relief once he was sure he had gotten away from Corissa.

"I'll say. You need to be careful about that kind of stuff. Or at least take batter care of yourself so this stuff doesn't happen."

"Hahaha." Roko sighed, "...Anyway, where are you Helena?"

"Haha. Turn around."

Roko turned around and found no one. Turning around over and over again in circles, Roko still couldn't find Helena anywhere.

"Over here."

Roko looked up and found some sort of floating eyeball construct floating over him.

"Is this what you learned to do?"

"Yep!" The eyeball floated down to face level with a proud look in it's eye, "This is how Nasturtium sees apparently."

"So she's not actually blind then?"

"No, this spell isn't actually complete yet. Right now it only shows me things in thermal vision. I also can't move right now, I'm kind of stuck in a meditative state in its duration."

"Interesting. Can you cast any spells while it's up?"

"Not right now. If I get more practice with it, I might be able to stand while using this but it'll take a while for me to get to casting spells like Nasturtium. But even before that, I want to improve its vision. I should be able to get actual vision with modern magical techniques. That's the first problem but there's a lot more I need to work on."

"What's this spell called?"

"Drone. Don't worry about a miscast, I can't actually sustain more than one at the moment."

"How far away are you right now?"

"Only about 32 to 33 meters."

"So just about the edge of your range right now?"

"I've been trying to use this eyesight boosting magic that Momo kind of taught me but I haven't been able to get more than 60 meters. The problem now is getting my spells to actually fly that far."

"You've doubled your sight limit but haven't been able to actually fire that far huh?" Roko mused, "Perhaps some lessons on aerodynamics can help?"

"You want me to fire planes?"

"You have planes?"

"Ones that run on wind magic, yeah."

"That tracks." Roko said, "On that note, what if you learned to fire a different element than ice?"

"I figured you'd ask that." Helena's drone seemed to let out a sigh, "And I've thought about it too. Fire is difficult to throw long distances at a speedy rate and can't really make pinpoint shots. Water can be channeled to great speed and can punch through a surprising amount of materials but they lose form fast so sniping with them will be difficult. Wind...would be like shooting water in a pool. It'd just get consumed by the natural gales the farther it gets away from me. Earth doesn't have destabilization problems like the other ones but it's much, MUCH weightier than the others and can be harder to sharpen into a point."

"What about lightning?" Roko suggested.

"Hoooooo..." Helena sighed again, "Lightning...is the fastest and most accurate of the elements. It's even easy, conceptually, to focus the energy to punch through a lot of armors."

"...But…?"

"But it has no stopping power. It could electrocute a target but you'd have to continually feed it in order to really establish a tangible effect. If you focus it to deal damage over trying to stop someone, it'll pierce skin and armor for sure but I don't think it'll stop anybody, especially the weird monsters we always fight. The balance between distance and effect is also the reason why I don't think I'll be able to make non-lethal attacks with lightning."

"I see. So you've thought about this a lot." Roko nodded.

"I mean, I certainly wouldn't complain if I learned more elements." Helena laughed, "But some people are lucky to even learn more than two elements."

"Well..." Roko shifted through his vague memories, "There might be a way to improve your ice spells."

"Oh, do tell." Helena said, not even surprised at this point.

"There are different phases of ice." Roko said, "They're not all too different from each other but the key is the use of pressure to keep the water intact instead of just the cold. They're just kinda named Ice II, Ice III, Ice IV, all the way to like XIX. It's all ice but they exist in different pressures and temperature. They could make it easier for you to make certain shots."

"I've never heard of this." Helena chuckled, "You know some pretty random stuff. I don't even know where to begin with this one."

"You want me to come over and help you figure it out?"

"You're going to try and find me?" Helena said smugly, "Good luck. I could be anywhere."

"I mean, you're only about 30 meters away from this drone right? Also there's this mana string that's attached to it that I can follow."

"Drat, I've been trying to get rid of that."

"Yeah, that's very obviously giving away your position."

"It's not my fault, the spell came like this! Apparently Nasturtium rarely ever used this drone for covert purposes, only to help aim her spells in battle!"

"Well, I'm sure you'll refine it in no time. You seem to have picked up drone quite quickly already."

"That's because I had Nasturtium and Brook helping me out this time. They're both great teachers."

"What about Roland?"

"Oh he's here. You want to say hi Roland?!"

"Who is it?" Roland's voice came over faintly from the drone.

"Roko."

"Fuck that guy."

"Well, there goes that."

"Tell him he's getting closer to Eddie Valiant than Sam Spade."

After Helena relayed the message, Roko could hear Roland scoff, "Of course a normie like you would pull out The Maltese Falcon. How about you name someone from a film with actual meaning like Rick Blaine?"

"There's no way you just called me a normie and then name dropped the guy from CASA-FUCKING-BLANCA."

"Yeah yeah, you keep watching your little detective movies, buddy. Real Film Noir is too much for a kid like you."

"You do know the entire Film Noir genre is tied closely with classic detective stories right? Hell, you called yourself hardboiled! That's a detective trope!"

"Look, all I'm saying is you probably can't even name a film that doesn't star Humphrey Bogart."

"Double Indemnity. And Casablanca stars Humphrey Bogart too you hack!"

"Okay buddy, keep naming detective films. It's almost 9 o'clock, let's get you to bed before school, okay?"

"You only like Casablanca because of the romance drama don't you?"

"NO!"

"You totally do!"

"Nuh uh! Casablanca's a classic!"

"Okay dude. If you're really into classic film noirs with deep meaning then how about you explain the plot of Citizen Kane to me?"

"How about you come over here and make me?!"

"I'm not going to put myself through the torture that is your company so you can explain a film that you've definitely never seen."

"Oh yeah, cause you've been pulling out the real deep cut films. What are you gonna name next, Dick Tracy?!"

"Do you even hear yourself? Does this drone come with a chat log? You haven't named an actual film noir yourself beyond Casablanca. Let's hear what you've been watching Mr. Gatekeeper of Film Noir."

"How about you come over here and I'll turn your whole world black and white so you can experience film noir for yourself?!"

"No no, I'm still waiting on that film recommendation from you, pal! At this rate I'm expecting you to name Cyberpunk 2077, you poser!"

"Oh that is it you little-"

In the background, Roko could hear Brook saying, "Shouldn't you stop them?"

"Nah, this is way more fun." Helena answered.

Roko wandered the streets of the Tree Cradle. Having caught up with everyone in his party, there was no longer anything left for him to do...other than satisfy his curiosity. Walking up to the base of the enormous tree at the center of this subspace, Roko could see a case of stairs built into the side of its trunk. Nobody seemed to be around, memory or not, to stop him. Apparently Enlil left to go have a lunch break for a bit so even she couldn't stop Roko from peaking into the inner workings of this obviously important tree. Still, every step up the stairs felt heavy and Roko's paranoia that somebody would show up to stop him grew as he climbed. But no one ever did so when Roko made it to the top of the somewhat short set of steps, he paused once more at the door inside and when he finally managed to steel himself, he stepped in.

The insides of this tree was a system of tunnels. Not dissimilar to the ones the orcs had used back in their camp's cave though this was more clearly designed than the random twisting and winding of a cave system. The tunnels were mostly uniform and neat with bark covering the walls and simple lanterns periodically running across the halls. The rooms Roko could see were also perfectly square or rectangular like a proper home though the furnishings ranged more from a dining hall to a meeting room to a library. There was even a bedroom that held two bunkbeds that held the royal guard's luggage. Something that Roko assumed from the sight of the last guard, Zinnia. The silent soldier was sitting on a bed just looking down at the ground. Roko wasn't sure if he wanted to approach the unsociable guard. However, Roko still found himself opening the door and sitting down on the bed across from Zinnia. He didn't know what to say but according to Enlil, he should be able to talk to him.

"So..." Roko started thoughtlessly, "You're Zinnia right?"

Zinnia didn't answer.

"Member of the Hyssop Circle?"

No reply.

"Hmm."

There wasn't anybody around to relay Roko's question to the memory but Enlil said they should still be able to read his intentions. But they also can't respond in a way unnatural to the memory's environment. If there was nobody around to relay Roko's question to him then...

"Mind showing me what you're working on?"

Roko asked but he wasn't really sure what to expect. He only figured that someone like this wouldn't just be sitting around blankly. Whatever he did expect, he sure didn't expect for the room to suddenly get lit up in a wide swath of magical circles. Archeomancy designs that seemed to be completely different from each other. While Roko's understanding of the field wasn't advanced enough for him to actually understand what each design was for, he could tell there were multiple iterations for similar purposes. Roko wanted to analyze and scan each one to dissect its construction more but he knew that would only end up clogging his brain with information which he couldn't afford to do while still on this historical trip to the past. What's more, some of these designs were obviously incomplete, nonfunctional or unstable. Roko could tell that much even if he couldn't determine which each of the design fell under. Still, for someone who was barely able to string a circle together, the sight of so many designs being worked on at the same time was astounding.

"Who are you showing off to?"

Roko stood up as the elf king suddenly walked into the room. For a moment Roko thought the king could see him but the king's gaze was on Zinnia before he looked around at all the magic seals around him.

"Excellent craftsman shift as always." The king nodded, "I apologize for always asking you to help out with my magical projects. This one is particularly difficult so your talents are appreciated."

Zinnia just nodded.

"Heh. No need to be so tight lipped around me. Though you've always been like this now haven't you?"

"..." Roko glared at the king. From the journal, this was the figure that created dark elves and ruined the lives of normal elves. This king seemed kind enough, almost normal even. But Roko knew better than to trust him. And he knew he didn't need to ask him anything. He wasn't sure if Enlil was even able to get the king's spirit and even if he could get the truth now, they were going to live through the truth later. And yet, Roko opened his mouth, "What are you up to?"

A brief silence held Roko's breath hostage until he heard Zinnia speak up, "Will this really help our race?"

The king smiled softly, "All I do is in service to elvenkind. We elves have served as the Interminable War's foundation. But a war must have a victor and we must ensure our world triumphs. Only then will we, and all life on earth, finally have peace."

Roko gulped. He was processing that statement when Zinnia spoke up again,

"What is peace?"

"Haha. Surely you've heard of it from the humans. It's what every one of them strives for. You must've experienced it yourself to some extent. Come, I'll explain it to you as we go around the village."

Roko watched as the king and his charge left the tree hollow. He wasn't quite sure what to think of the things he learned. Those enchantments that Zinnia was working on. The king's talk of war and peace. Whatever this Interminable War was, it seems like they were too far away to discover much about that. But it seems to be some sort of world war from the sound of things. It didn't seem like this war was all quite that relevant to the creation of dark elves but-

"Hey guys, I'm back." Enlil's voice suddenly cut off Roko's thoughts as her voice boomed over the entire subspace, "You guys get your questions out of the way yet?"

"I mean, I guess." Helena's voice came from out of nowhere, "I've got the basics down I think. I just need to work on the details."

"I've got a handle on the Venatio Lupum swordstyle so I think I'm good." Momo's voice came next.

"Whoa, I can hear you guys too?!" Helena exclaimed.

"Yeah, I created a sort of spatial chatroom so you can all converse from all across the subspace."

"Wow, you're really good at all this spatial magic stuff aren't you?" Brook said.

"Spatial magic becomes easier to do when you've created your own subspace." Enlil replied as she stretched her arms, "Anyway, are you all good?"

"I'm good." Kaguya said.

"I'm good too." Corissa added.

"Roko?" Enlil asked.

"Hm?" Roko blinked, "Oh. Yeah, we can move on."

"Okay good. Cause if you guys wanted more time, I was just going to fast forward time for you all."

"Is...there any side effects to that?"

"I mean, you guys would end up way older than when you arrived."

"That's...scary..."

"That's what you get for putting yourself in someone else's subspace without the caster inside."

"Wait, are we just leaving our lives entirely up to you?" Reaumur asked.

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?"

"I mean, it sounds really dangerous without any safeguards in place."

"The safeguards are there to prevent the subspace from collapsing without my knowledge or control. Honestly, I think it's fine. If you're going to allow your barbers to get up close to your eyes and throat with sharp instruments, you should be fine with subjecting yourself to a wise sage's subspace."

"I...don't think those are quite the equivalent comparisons..."

"It's too late to back out now." Kaguya said, "All we can do now is get things over as soon as we can."

"I guess you're right..."

"Alright, so I'm going to fast forward to the spirit's next point of interest...which is only a day or two away from right now."

"Should we gather up?"

"I mean, I could just warp you all together once the memory's set to the next event."

"Thanks Enlil! You're the best!"

"By the way Roko, where are you?" Reaumur asked.

"Inside the Tree Cradle."

"Aw what?!"

"Boooooo!"

"Roko, you know we're going to go in there together eventually!"

"Oh shut up, I didn't even go that far in." Roko rolled his eyes at no one in particular.

"Teacher, Roko trying to read ahead without the rest of us!"

"I've never been to school, but isn't it good for teachers to have an enthusiastic student?" Enlil asked.

"You've never been to school?"

"I was home schooled."

"Oh. Well that makes sense. As a teacher, you've got to worry about the health of the entire class, not just the talented individuals!"

"Talented individual? Where?"

"Oh cool is that Roland? Can we kick him from the call?" Roko scoffed.

"I'll kick you from the call! You ain't got jack over me!"

"You really don't have anything over me either."

"I've got a fedora."

"That's really harming your case more than it's helping it."

"And I'm not autistic you freaking reta-"

"Oh no, what's that, I'm going through a tunnel, I can't hear you anymore. Enlil, do the thing."

"Hey, I can still hear you, you fuc-" Roland shouted as the mist covered up everyone's surroundings, cutting the irate knight off.