Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

«I… what?» fumbled Zorian, trying to wrap his head around this new information. Just when he had thought he had things a little figured out, something like this happened. What the hell is being ‘open’ or ‘psychic’, then? Was she saying he was a full-blown telepath or something?

«You could be that with enough training, yes,» confirmed the matriarch. «I can teach you more about it… provided we come to some kind of mutually acceptable agreement about this time loop business.»

«And what exactly do you want from Zorian in that regard?» asked Kael suspiciously.

«Why, my dear Kael, the same thing you want from him as well,» the matriarch said with a hint of mockery. «I want in on this time loop.»

For a moment Zorian wondered what she was talking about, but then his eyes widened as he understood what she meant.

«You want to keep your memories with each restart? To loop around with me and Zach?» asked Zorian incredulously.

Kael shifted uncomfortably in his spot, refusing to look at him in the eye, while the aranea matriarch stared straight back at him without a hint of shame on her face.

«I… I guess I can see why you would want that,» said Zorian hesitantly. «I mean, I’m not too happy about my situation, but even I can see that I’m benefiting massively from it. But you seem to have gotten the wrong idea — both of you.» He glanced at Kael, but the morlock was still avoiding his eyes. He probably thought Zorian would be angry at him for wanting to ‘take advantage of him’, but Zorian wasn’t really angry. Just confused. «The thing is, I don’t know how to bring anyone into this loop. I don’t even know how the details of how I got sucked into it, much less how to replicate it. I can’t bring you into it.»

«We didn’t get the wrong idea, Zorian,» Kael sighed. «We’re not stupid. We know you can’t do it now. We know you won’t be able to do it by the time this time loop ends.» He gave the matriarch a weak glare. «Or at least I know. Maybe the great aranea matriarch knows something this poor flickermind doesn’t.»

«I agree with the morlock,» the matriarch said, refusing to rise to Kael’s provocation. «It is highly implausible that you’d be able to bring us into the time loop as you are now.»

«You’ve completely lost me at this point,» Zorian complained. «What do you want, then?»

«My idea was to store memory packets in your mind, allowing your soul to ferry them when the time resets itself,» the matriarch said nonchalantly. «It’s not quite as good as having your entire soul sent back, but it would be good enough for my purposes.»

«And I would agree to that… why?» asked Zorian suspiciously. That sounded like it would require some serious messing with his mind. Far more than he was comfortable with, in any case.

«I’m sure I can find something to tempt you with,» the matriarch said, punctuating her message with a mental shrug. «You need information about the loop that I have. You want to learn how to control your empathy. You need my help in countering the invaders. Need I go on?»

Zorian sighed and turned to Kael instead of answering her.

«I wanted to connect you with some people and have you figure out, with their help, how your connection with Zach works. Then you could apply that knowledge to bring me into the time loop,» said Kael. «It would probably take quite a few restarts, and I don’t have anything nearly as tempting as our esteemed matriarch over there, but on the other hand it is something that will definitely help you learn more about this time loop in the process.»

Left unsaid was that those people Kael wanted to connect him with were probably all necromancers and that having them mess around with his soul was every bit as dangerous as letting the aranea screw around with his mind, and possibly more so.

«I see,» sighed Zorian. «Well, I’ll set aside Kael’s proposal for now, since that’s not what we came here to discuss.»

«That’s fine with me,» Kael said quickly. «I still have a lot to think about in that regard.»

«Right,» said Zorian. «Then let’s move on to the details of the matriarch’s proposal. Just out of curiosity, do you have a name? If we’re going to do business, especially so sensitive, I’d like to know who exactly I’m talking to.»

The matriarch didn’t answer verbally. Instead, she sent a short burst of telepathy containing the same sort of psychedelic jumble of images and concepts that the less-skilled aranea bombarded him with in the initial greeting. Thankfully, this particular burst wasn’t painful, just confusing — probably because it was so relatively short. After mentally dissecting the chaotic message in his head, he realized this was the name he asked for. Translating the concepts into something appropriate for human communication proved a bit of a challenge, however.

«Spear of Resolve Striking Straight at the Heart of the Matter?» questioned Zorian curiously.