Bent World: Chapter 20 What Causes the Rifts?

Chapter 20

What Causes the Rifts?

We sat in the darkened vehicle, waiting for Auntie and Ceecee to come back. After the monolith, there needed to be a discussion, apparently. And this planet had never heard of child deaths from overheating in a vehicle.

Then again, this planet might have been so backwards that they thought if a child was incapable of surviving in such a condition, then they weren’t worth the effort of raising to completion. I didn’t know for certain, but I could only guess.

We watched the four major house leaders all speak amongst each other. It was clear that at one point House Jaupry accused Auntie of impropriety, a fact that was further accentuated by the holding up of three fingers. This no doubt referred to the fact that of all the families, the Andry house made out the most from this arrangement.

Not only did Auntie get marked as a Wayfarer, when she first tried to show how the process was performed. House Andry also had Pandaline, along with me, having the markings that were now more myth than fact, clearly blazing on our hands. Most of the ire seemed to be directed towards the perceived disparity of members, though it was also clear that the fact that I, a now confirmed true Pathfinder was also a note of contention.

No doubt, several arguments were being made on how the other families could acquire me in some type of land grab or cattle trade. Moving from being a prized male, to a much more desirable prized male with extra benefits. While I did have a few concerns, I knew for a fact that Auntie had my best intentions at heart. No wait, those are the thoughts of a fool. For the moment, I know Auntie realizes that my being under control and protection of house Andry is more beneficial to house Andry.

It is clear that while the other Doctors might also have lived exceptionally long lives, they cannot hold a candle to the way Auntie is able to outpace them at ever step. Even the way she controlled the narrative by going first, and then having Pandaline go next, even though she had to have known the rule of five to begin with.

The whole event had been enlightening, not only did it show me just how formidable Auntie was compared to the other houses, but it also showed me what to expect if I should ever get on Auntie’s bedside. So far, I have managed to avoid this precarious state, but it was always good to remember that you are only as safe as you are useful to those in power. The moment that you become more trouble than your potential future benefit, that is the moment you can expect to get excised.

We watched silently, knowing that even now we were likely being tested. I didn’t speak, knowing that my voice would likely give me away as being a male, while Pandaline didn’t speak, well I couldn’t tell why she didn’t speak. My first assumption was that it was something to do with her being royalty and me playing the role of a common urchin belonging to the family. At least, that is what I thought at first.

“What do you think they are doing?” Pandaline finally asked, as she blatantly stared out the window her head turned fully to get the best view possible. All while I stared stoically forward, only turning my eyes and watching the action from my peripheral vision.

I knew what was happening, it was clear. This was a power play. Then in what had to be one of the greatest power play moments, Auntie made a gesture to Ceecee, who had been carrying a large leather messenger bag over her left shoulder.

While I couldn’t place the need for such a bag before, its purpose readily became apparent now, for Auntie began handing out pairs of gloves. Gloves for each house’s Doctor, and driver. Then smaller gloves, likely intended for the heir apparent for the houses. Again, all a masterful powerplay that basically all but stated the other Doctors could pretend to have been made into Wayfarers as well, as long as they played along.

“Huh, is that what Doctor Andry did with that old textile factory that she demanded mother, I mean, Miss Andry purchase for the family?” Pandaline gasped out as she watched on in shock.

While I was not aware of the financial portion of the dealings of house Andry, I could very well see Auntie taking a year to prepare for such an event and to be in line to make as much of a profit as possible.

Hearing this, I wondered if Pandaline would offer more information, as such I spurred her on with an inquisitive but neutral, “hmm?”

At that, Pandaline looked at me, but my face was still covered by the layer of cloth and mask making my true features all but impossible to recognize even though I was now starting to feel like I was close to sweating through the cloth due to the hot car. A hot car without ventilation, fortunately my ability to withstand harsh conditions had greatly improved from all our constant training.

In fact, we were still going to train even after this, allegedly.

“I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but since you are the Pathfinder, I might as well say it. Doctor Andry and my mother, the head of house Andry have had a few arguments over budgetary items. A textile plant that had been converted into only producing religious gloves.” Pandaline stated as if her answer clearly defined everything needed to be shared about that.

While there was a lot I could infer from that statement, it did leave a lot to be desired. That said, again it just showed how far ahead Auntie was thinking compared to the rest of us. From my understanding, the other Doctors treated this excursion as the equivalent of an afterschool social club for the elite, one that was meant to cause the next generation of leaders to firmly have their power cemented by the time they began going into adulthood. All while Auntie was not looking at just making Pandaline more powerful but making the entire family more powerful for generations to come. At least, that is what I interpreted from her actions taken thus far, but trying to keep up with Auntie when I only see half of her moves is daunting.

Though I can now tell the fact that she has invested so much of her personal time into this venture means that she is willing to see it through to the end.

Quick movement.

I almost missed the moment that Pandaline began to tense up and suddenly jerk into her perfect posture while in her seat. Given how long we had been set to stew in the heat, and the way Pandaline looked both tense and faux regal, it was clear that she was doing something she wasn’t supposed to.

Yet, either Auntie didn’t care, or just decided to let it slide for the moment.

Vrroom.

Up front a now gloved and somehow more regal looking Ceecee started up the car and I instantly felt relief settle over me. Even though it hadn’t been long enough to even partly clear out the swelling heat, the fact that the car was now moving and trying to combat the temperature was enough for me to relax ever so slightly.

No sooner did Auntie enter the family vehicle, than Auntie began handing out gloves for all of us to wear.

“Here put these on,” Auntie declared her tone brokering no room for argument. “Every time you get into this vehicle you both will be required to wear these. Only when we are going to a nearby rift will you be allowed to take them off. Even then, you will only be allowed to take them off so long as you give them to Ceecee or myself for safekeeping.”

Both Pandaline and I nodded, we were still in instructor mode, which meant Auntie spoke and we listened.

“Also know that we need to hurry to our next site. It is relatively close to this location, but due to time constraints we will let the adults power through to the rift. That is where we will do a few tests.” Auntie told the last part about tests while looking directly at me.

“Tests?” Pandaline asked, her tiny half gloved hands reaching up to cover her mouth. At least they tried to cover her mouth as a wire mesh to prevent gore and spatter from spraying into her face now prevented her hands from directly touching her mouth.

Fortunately, Auntie was in a generous mood for she didn’t correct Pandaline, at least not here. Though the look she gave Pandaline spoke volumes about possible future discipline that awaited her once she got back.

“Yes, we will be conducting a number of experiments on the rifts, first from this side, then when we all feel more comfortable, we will try our tests from the other side of the rifts.”

“From the other side?” Pandaline asked.

Swerve.

Thud, thud, thud.

Swerve.

As Pandaline called out, Ceecee who had apparently been eavesdropping on our conversation, had a momentary lapse and for a moment veered off the road. Fortunately, her enhanced senses let her regain control over the vehicle before we could have hit a particularly bad patch of road, but the damage had been done and Ceecee now drew the stern glare of Auntie. A stare that was enough for even Ceecee to tense up and visibly start to sweat, despite the AC that was now blasting wildly past her into our back chamber. Apparently, the concept of dual climate zones in vehicles haven’t become a thing here yet.

“Sorry, was just making sure the AC was getting back to you all,” Ceecee quickly recovered, as she fiddled with the nob, as if to explain that’s what she had been doing and not listening into the conversation being conducted at all.

Hmph.

A more powerful grunt of disappointment and disapproval I had never heard. So much emotion was in that one contemptuous noise that I was certain Ceecee would have put up the window between us. In fact, she tried to do just that. Fortunately, Auntie stopped her.

“Stop, it is unbearable enough back here as is,” Auntie declared, and like that the window went back down.

Phew.

I relaxed a little at that one conciliatory gesture. Unfortunately, my reprieve was short lived, as Auntie was already back in her instructor role.

“Yes, we will be doing a few tests from this side of a rift, getting acquainted with what a Pathfinder can do. Then when time permits, we will try to enter a rift and perform the same actions from the other side.” Auntie answered Pandaline’s question from earlier, as if nothing had happened to interrupt their earlier conversation.

“But why?” Pandaline found herself asking.

Since Auntie was clearly in the teaching mood, this was the perfect time to ask questions, which I couldn’t fault Pandaline for. Especially as she was asking all of the very same questions that I wanted to also know the answer to.

“Why do you think? You are getting to the point where you need to start being aware of the possible benefits from a rift. What do you think would come from going to the other side of a rift?”

“Exploration bonuses?” Pandaline asked more than answered.

These were words and concepts that made no sense to me. Again, these were likely answers that all women were taught to expect from a very young age, but for me it was all mumbo-jumbo.

Auntie just nodded her head, “yes, that is part of it, but what are some other things that might be found?”

“Power bonuses? Kill bonuses?” Pandaline spewed off even more terms that made absolutely no sense. Meanwhile, Auntie just nodded.

“Yes, if we are lucky, we might even be able to unlock class evolutions and evolutionary feats,” Auntie stated.

Gasps.

At this Pandaline both looked and sounded excited.

“You mean it? We can get some of the legendary power sets?” Pandaline asked.

“I don’t know, all I do know is that we will never know, unless we try.” Auntie replied.

As for me, I was completely lost. I would almost swear that these two were pulling my leg and making up things, but Pandaline didn’t seem like she would be that good of a liar. Also, Auntie never seemed to be the type to joke. Well, at least not joke about power. She did have the self-satisfied smirk occasionally, particularly when she out foxed an opponent, but she didn’t seem to be the type to set up an elaborate ruse for fun. There was also the fact that Ceecee seemed to be fully invested in this, which again just seemed to push the narrative that this was factual. Or worse, something that might not be true, but everyone believed it to be factual anyways.

I just sat there trying to take it all in, but not really being able to gleam much other than this System that was available to females seemed to be sentient in some way. That or it allowed the allocation of energy based on meeting certain key conditions? Again, it made no sense.

Words were bandied about like, “first time achievements.” And “exploration achievements,” which were somehow different than “exploration bonuses.”

I wanted to ask questions but ultimately thought better of it and eventually just let the girls who now excitedly bantering ideas were back and forth against each other talk. Passively I tried to listen to their conversation, but it was in one ear and out the other. Part of it was that I just had no frame of reference for whatever it was that they were saying. The other part was that it just seemed like a lot of speculation about something that might or might not exist.

Looking forward, I could see that Ceecee was also interested in the conversation going on, as she would occasionally stare back in the rearview mirror and try to watch what was happening. Fortunately, despite her lapse in attention, she did not run us off the road again on our way to our next stop.

Finally we stopped after a few more minutes.

This time we were among the first to arrive, as everyone seemed to follow us. As we exited, I began taking off my gloves and immediately handed them to Ceecee as had been our guidance. After I moved, I could see Pandaline mirroring my exact movement.

Sniff.

Then as had become a tradition, I took a deep breath and truly tried to smell the powers of the area. Yet as soon as I had, I instantly tensed up.

“You smelled it? The difference in strength?” Auntie asked, her voice loud enough so that the others who were also disembarking from their vehicles could also hear.

I nodded.

“Yes, as you may or may not be aware, we had to alter the plans for today. This rift was the only one nearby and needed to be closed. As we still wanted to press on, we felt that this would be a great experience, because we could see what our monolith provided markings could offer against a medium-high ranked rift. While also preventing this rift from spilling out into our ecosystem. It’s been a while, but we think with proper maintenance now, we can prevent echo-rifts from forming. Your job is to stay back here with Ceecee and let us work. Any questions?” Auntie stated, while pointing to Ceecee who gave a slight wave to us.

Again, there was a lot to unpack in that introductory speech. Echo-rifts was the term for cascading rifts that would form when a larger breach was not contained. These were bad and were seen as a sign of weakness over the ruling family who had been put in charge of the noted region where the first break happened. Everyone was responsible for breaks around the monolith for rifts there would easily cascade into every other territory, thus why every major house here had the obligation to stay and work together to address this rift.

I could see a few knowing glares pointing towards Auntie from the other Doctors. Doctors who were likely realized that by closing this larger than expected rift, Auntie being the one with this special Wayfarer marking would be credited with most of the work, despite her actual contributions to this battle. Again, all this proved was how cunning Auntie was, and how she would outplay her opponents especially when they seemed to let down their guard around her.

“Where is the breach?” Auntie asked.

I took an extra breath just to make sure, but I already knew. As I pointed with my left hand in a direction that was north by northwest of our current location. Then to my surprise, I saw a golden beam of light appearing on my hand like the needle of a compass pointing in the exact direction I was pointing.

Gasps.

Apparently, I was not the only one who witnessed the glowing golden light as others seemed to also witness it.

“See, the golden marker to the stars, a true sign of a full Pathfinder,” Auntie quoted, her words having that tone of righteous fervor that is reserved for zealots and true believers.

Silence.

Seeing as no one objected, Auntie then pushed on.

“What can you tell us about the powers being used?”

I took another smell to make sure, but felt an overwhelming cascade of scents being used.

Sneeze.

I sneezed on myself. Or at least that is what effectively happened as I sneezed from within my self contained mask, meaning all my mucus went right back to my face.

I shook my face, knowing that I had to fight back the urge to clean myself. Fortunately, the cloth I had been wearing absorbed most of the moisture, but now I could feel the snot rings on my face. An entirely unpleasant feeling. Shaking my head once, I focused on the smells and then detailed how I smelled no less than four main powers being used, all at a tier four or higher rating.

Of course, there was once again the power of shadow being used. At the sign for shadow, everyone tensed up. For a moment, I could see Auntie’s mind turning quickly as she no doubt debated whether to take me along, as I was one of the few who could apparently see the shadows covering monsters who used such powers. She debated this, and then quickly dismissed this idea.

“We will go with a scorched earth methodology all the way to the rift. We know that any form of damage will break the element of surprise provided by shadow users, so our methods will be to burn everything down and make our way to the objective. Once the area is secured, we will send a scout team back to meet up with Ceecee and the children. Then we will all go to the secured site, any questions?” Auntie spoke with such confidence that no one, not even the other Doctors dared argue against her plans. It was clear that she was a strategic genius, at least that is what I had gathered from everything I had learned about her thus far.

“Nothing heard, now Doctor Oteranski, Doctor Amherst to the front, you two will be our flame pillars, Drivers you will be our control. Doctor Jaupry, you are on look out, now let’s move. We have a rift to contain.”

Fwoosh!

And like that, a giant inferno of flames erupted upwards to the sky and began burning everything it touched in a singular straight line that all went off in the direction I had indicated.

We were all so enraptured by the giant glowing flames that erupted, that we all missed the moment when a smaller rift began to appear right behind us.

Only the sharp scream of Pandaline let me know that something had happened.

“AHH!”