810t4Ju1

1There is a chair at the center of the shaft. A woman with hair darker than any shadow sits in it. 
2
3She does not rise from the chair. She sighs heavily as she arrives.
4
5Phobos knows instinctively that this is Aplistia's vault, but it isn't the same shape as before. It has changed dramatically now, shaped like a great stone hall with tall windows facing out into starry indistinct blackness, Yomi's chair positioned at the room's end with lush red carpet leading from its great doors to her. Above the doors are Aplistia's screens, facing down into the chair; outside the windows on either side is Parias, watching, unreadable as always. 
6
7Yomi smiles at the change, looking around slowly. Phobos becomes aware that she is standing on, and among, piles upon piles of gold coins that surround the throne and line the carpet's sides. In fact, she is hard to distinguish from the coins themselves. She understands why, and it's a little flattering. "This is quite a change just for me," Yomi says softly. 
8
9<em>YOU ARE THE GUEST OF HONOR TODAY,</em> Aplistia replies. The mood is heavy. The enthusiasm from before is gone. <em>THIS IS IT, THEN? THE END OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS.</em>
10
11"For now," Yomi agrees. "You figured it out, then." 
12
13"You told us to skip forward a year," Parias intones. Their voices are clearly audible even from outside. "Here we are. It seemed a safe assumption that this would be when we act." 
14
15Phobos realizes with a start that Yomi does not know that she was being watched. It's a hard realization to stomach; there are many things that she watched in horrified silence with the others, and now wishes to seek answers for. But it probably is not wise to tell Yomi that just then. 
16
17"Yes," Yomi hums, leaning back. "This is the end. Are you prepared to hear your side of the plan? I haven't long before Rei wakes me up." 
18
19Aplistia's screens blaze with confidence. <em>I AM.</em> Parias nods faintly. Phobos is silent, but she is ready. Aplistia understands, and her screens change to reflect this: <em>WE ARE ALL PREPARED. GO ON.</em> 
20
21"Firstly," Yomi explains, "Phobos must infiltrate the boundary by similar means to last time. Perhaps she can do so even more subtly than before. Then, she will need to assist Aplistia and Parias in entering the remnant with her. Your existences combined will exert enough pressure on the remnant that it will destabilize, and Rei knows what to do once that happens." She pauses to take another breath. "It's best if you are not seen by anyone; as you've noticed, they're fairly hostile to outsiders and likely will continue to be for some time. By remaining within the boundary when the remnant ends, you will be included during its reconstruction, but you will have greater freedom to traverse the Seed than should normally be possible."
22
23<em>ONCE THE REMNANT ENDS AND EXISTENCE REFORMS, WON'T NEW TIMELINES BEGIN TO FORM AS WELL?</em> Aplistia seems troubled - or... excited? It's hard to tell. It almost seems like she's trying to withhold whatever she is feeling. The thrumming beneath Phobos' feet, the ambient sound and feeling of Aplistia's emotions, is distant and inconsistent. <em>IF THERE EXISTS A PATH TO SUCCEED, ONE OF THE TIMELINES WILL LEAD THERE...</em>
24
25"A Seed can only form a limited set of timelines," Yomi breathes. "Ideally you will be able to guide one of them to success. You can potentially claim my power from Rei in the failed timelines, once she has invoked it. That should allow you to enter the successful timeline more safely, and be carried forward into existence from there."
26
27<em>Wh- what?</em> Phobos skitters out of her hiding places for a moment. <em>I'm sorry, I don't...</em> 
28
29"I don't understand either," Parias agrees as Phobos trails off. "There should be only one of whatever Rei is taking, isn't there? Even if each timeline has its own version, once the Seed resolves..." 
30
31<em>Y- Yeah!</em> Phobos decides that this probably is the best way to describe her initial worry. It was definitely something to do with there being only one of Yomi's mysterious power source. 
32
33<em>I BELIEVE I LOOSELY UNDERSTAND,</em> Aplistia says. <em>I CAN EXPLAIN IT TO THE OTHERS.</em> Phobos looks to Parias, and finds them looking back at her; they exchange a silent understanding, a willingness to trust Aplistia, and their attention returns to Yomi.
34
35"That's good," Yomi sighs, closing her eyes again. "I shouldn't stay much longer, and you shouldn't delay for too long. Thank you for helping us, everyone - I'm sure Rei will perform her role excellently, with your guidance."
36
37<em>WE'LL TAKE GOOD CARE OF HER,</em> Aplistia promises. 
38
39<em>We'll take good care of your world too!</em> Phobos adds. <em>Thank you!</em> 
40
41Parias is silent. 
42
43Yomi's shadows angle inward, obscuring her. She is gone shortly. 
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47In Yomi's place forms a strange immaterial shape, quickly organizing - patterns of light like a hologram that appear to depict Yomi's form on the throne. But she quickly stands from its gilded seat and bows, hair flaring out behind her; she is adorned in many gold and jewelled trinkets, her eyes glittering bright gold rather than Yomi's violet.
48
49"All right!" the figure says, in a booming and confident voice that Phobos couldn't mistake even though she's technically never heard it before - only read it. "Yomi is gone, and we are left to our own devices without monitoring at long last. This will be the inaugural Outsider Guardian Strategy Meeting!"
50
51<em>Oh!</em> Phobos skitters out from her many hiding places in the coin pile, covering the coins in her dark mass; she is a little disappointed, thinking about it, to be obscuring Aplistia's wealth - but Aplistia does not seem to mind, looking in a full circle at Phobos' gathered spiders with an expression of obvious approval. She looks outside as well, and sees Parias form a thumbs-up, one of the only expressions of emotion that Parias can clearly use given their condition. <em>Um, I guess we are all here!</em>
52
53"I didn't realize you could change your form so much," Parias observes lowly. Aplistia grins into the window.
54
55"I have withheld the full weight of my imagination to avoid pressuring you!" Aplistia announces grandly. "But now, it is time for us to work together, and I won't spare any expense in making this the best experience it can be. I'm sure you can learn to better adjust your manifestations, too! But there's no need to do so right now." She turns back to the room's center, closing her eyes, folding her arms with dramatic flair. "Now then! First order of business: has anyone changed their mind about working with Yomi? Speak now, because once this begins, I will see it through to its end!" 
56
57"I am..." Parias hesitates. "We are nervous about the ambiguity surrounding parts of Yomi's plan," they say carefully. "But if nothing else, we wish to help the humans within the remnant."
58
59"Yes, I agree," Aplistia sighs, nodding and bowing her head. "Four noble souls and a gaggle of vagabonds and ruffians, against the unimaginable terrors of non-existence... it's difficult to imagine a more daunting task. If not for our presence I would suspect their chances to be close to zero, in fact."
60
61<em>That's awful,</em> Phobos whispers. <em>Just because of other outsiders interfering...?</em>
62
63"A universe is a chronostable system," Aplistia declares sharply. "It defends and heals itself naturally from interference! Paradoxes are erased, inconsistencies are discarded, continuity and causality are neatly maintained! But a Seed isn't mature enough for such things. Very little separates it from just an especially big Outsider. It would be easy to tamper with its causality, or to even breach timelines by mistake, to say nothing about the possibility of outside foul play." 
64
65"But we can use that instability to our advantage," Aplistia continues proudly, grinning. "We can carry knowledge and memory backwards, and possibly change events that we have already witnessed, causing them never to happen in the first place. Through manipulation such as this, we can practically guarantee Rei's success!" 
66
67"That is a very brute force approach," Parias observes lowly. 
68
69"Well, perhaps we refrain from using it too bluntly until it proves necessary." Aplistia shrugs. "But I suspect it will be, eventually. However, we've strayed away from my original question; I for one will help the humans because I cherish them and their struggle, and I wish to cherish their world, too. Parias, you will help them - I suppose out of your sense of penance?" 
70
71"Yes," Parias agrees quietly. "I apologise, but until we understand better our crime and its punishment, we cannot join you within the bounds of existence. We must remain out here." 
72
73"Doubtful we will find any details about that here," Aplistia murmurs, stroking her chin. "In that case, we may have to make that mystery a secondary objective of ours, before we join in with Rei in the final timeline."
74
75"That seems dangerous," Parias says defensively. "You would risk losing sight of the universe and being unable to return to it." 
76
77"Life is meaningless without risk," Aplistia says easily, as though not even thinking about it. "Well! That brings us to you, Phobos."
78
79<em>I agree with both of you,</em> Phobos says, softly but firmly. <em>I want them all to succeed and to be happy in the new world. And I want to take shelter with them, too. It would be nice to have a real existence.</em>
80
81"I couldn't say it better myself," Aplistia cheers. "Alright! Then I will propose the following course of action. We will follow Yomi's plan until the remnant destabilizes; at that point in time, we will reconvene, by joining together our materializations. It may be difficult for Parias and I to traverse existence normally without being noticed, but Phobos can move relatively easily; at worst, Phobos' materialization can join ours together fairly easily, I think, as long as all three of us can go unnoticed."
82
83"I am sorry to put that burden on you, Phobos," Parias says softly. 
84
85<em>I can do it,</em> Phobos replies. <em>I might be nervous about it, but I'm sure I can do it.</em> 
86
87"Excellent!" Aplistia beams. "We'll determine what to do next after that point. Remember, for your own safety, please take care not to be noticed - especially you, Phobos!" Phobos attempts to nod; her spiders all kind of jump together, but it seems a suitable answer, and Aplistia seems pleased by it, so good enough. "I think I will continue to use electronic manifestations as much as I can," she continues, folding her arms again. "It will be somewhat easier to monitor things that way, and easier to conceal my existence, as well. So, Phobos, a good computer would be ideal for me!"
88
89"We prefer to manifest at the edge of things," Parias adds. "But if the edge of that thing is too large, we will be very noticeable... a hidden place with a clear boundary or threshold would be safest for us."
90
91<em>Okay!</em> Phobos thinks she already knows where to go. <em>I'm going to go now, then! I'll see you both very soon!</em>
92
93"Godspeed!" Aplistia cheers. Phobos cannot see, but she thinks Parias might be smiling, just a little bit. "Admit it!" Aplistia adds, grinning to the windows. "This is fun!"
94
95"A little," Parias agrees. "Go on, Phobos. Be safe." 
96
97<em>I will!</em>
98
99
100
101Phobos thinks again of the boundary. She is crawling along its edges in full force. She thinks again of the weakness where she entered before, the doors that the other outsider was trying to force open. They're not there anymore, but she recognizes the opening space, and imagines that there must be some hole into it. 
102
103She is now crawling through an unknowable number of tiny caves, each no bigger than a very small mole. They twist and turn but generally move in the same direction. But Phobos is not satisfied. She imagines that they are pipes. Rock turns to copper; she scurries through them ever faster now that they are uniform and evenly sized. Her feet are small and she makes no sounds as she advances. She knows where she is. 
104
105There is a tear in one of the pipes. Cautiously, she focuses her perception through it. She sees the main access catwalk. She sees the elevator doors, behind which the car will never return. And opposite it, she sees the door into Gwen's office. 
106
107She steels herself. <em>Here goes.</em> She imagines the space beneath that door, and slips inside. But Gwen is not there. Gwen is busy. Everyone is busy. The world is ending.
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113- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = -
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120Everyone, even Eliza, was reverently quiet as Rei explained the plan again. Again, because they'd all heard it before already; Rei had already told them a week ago and then some time before that, too. Everyone understood that Rei needed to do this to calm her own nerves. Rei was the only one that could not afford to be nervous. 
121
122"Is everyone clear on what they're doing?" Rei finished, looking the two other girls in the eyes. Gwen isn't there, but Eliza already promised to take care of her part; that honestly only made Rei more nervous, but at this point, she didn't really have time to worry about it. She could already feel the boundary straining. Outsiders were trying to force their way in. If they broke things down prematurely... 
123
124"We've got it," Naomi promised, grinning. She looked pale, but at least excited. It afforded Rei a brief, faltering smile. Where would she be without Naomi? 
125
126"We'll be fine," Eliza assured her, though the bitterness in her voice was still very clear. "You take care of your part and don't worry about ours." Rei hoped that this would be enough for them to put aside their disagreement. Thinking about it, though, maybe Eliza just felt powerless. She had never been good at sympathizing with that, being someone who had always known what was coming, always had an idea how to proceed... 
127
128"We should hurry, then," Rei sighed, shaking her head. "You have your catalysts, right?" 
129
130"In my office," Eliza said evenly. Her job was to anchor to the present.
131
132"Back in my room," Naomi added. Her job was to pull back towards the past.
133
134"Okay." Rei took a deep breath, and sighed it back out, trying to steady her heartbeat as best she could. "We'll meet up here once things destabilize. We should have a good while before time stops flowing normally, but don't push your luck. Watch the sky and as soon as it changes come back out here. Got it?" 
135
136"Rei," Eliza sighed, "we know. You have the hard part still ahead of you. Deal with that first."
137
138"We've got it," Naomi promised, waving one hand to shush Eliza, who rolled her eyes and turned away. "We're all ready, Rei. Let's get this started!"
139
140"Yeah." Rei manages to smile again, flexing her fingers behind her back. "Okay - see you soon. Be safe." 
141
142She turned back towards the apartment building where Yomi was waiting for the end; her destination, however, was on top of the building - not inside it. As the girls separated, the world quivered again, forcing Rei to concentrate momentarily on her balance even though nothing beneath her truly moved. It was coming apart faster than she'd expected... but she couldn't afford to worry. Not yet. She would do her job, and they'd do theirs, and they'd be fine. 
143
144
145
146Phobos has seen Gwen's 'bedroom' - the massive server room at the bottom of the maintenance floors - but only indistinctly, and that makes it hard to visualize correctly from outside. Instead she swars her way down the stairs, careful to stick to shadows when she could. It's a long ways down for a human to walk, but for spiders to jump and rappel it isn't so bad. 
147
148Gwen's space is very modest. There is a mattress on the floor in one of the only open areas of the room, in one of the corners, with a blanket draped over cables above it to act as a sort of curtain; she cautiously checks it to confirm it is empty before proceeding, visualizing that the dark, enclosed room is in fact her cave. It is a somewhat larger opening than her manifestation usually invoked, but the garage had worked fine, and this does, too; enveloped in her own comforting darkness, Phobos now recalls that there is a tiny screen in an alcove somewhere, but she needs only think of it for the room's properties to change yet again. 
149
150Now the racks of blinking computers are polished silver, the broken and crusted fluorescent lighting replaced with small but intricate chandeliers. Phobos is rather surprised by this change, actually; it isn't at all like what she remembers Aplistia's vault to be like. But the status panels and access terminals all change, and Aplistia's text is displayed: 
151
152<em>PHOBOS! THIS IS A DELIGHTFUL PLACE. WELL CHOSEN. THIS IS GWEN'S ROOM, YES?</em>
153
154<em>Yes,</em> Phobos responds, as swiftly as she can. <em>It's risky, she may come back at any moment, but I couldn't imagine anywhere better for you. Do you fit comfortably?</em>
155
156<em>I DO, IN FACT! WE'LL HAVE TO ACT QUICKLY TO MINIMIZE OUR CHANCES OF BEING SEEN. THE CLOSET THERE - CAN PARIAS JOIN US FROM THERE?</em> 
157
158Sure enough, there was a closet door that Phobos had not noticed, but she doesn't take the time to investigate it; it is too small, and doesn't feel right. Instead, she says: <em>Your materialization is, um - kind of - a lot!</em>
159
160<em>LUXURIOUS, MAYBE?</em> Aplistia seems amused. <em>TRUTH BE TOLD I HAD FELT KIND OF BARE AND INSIGNIFICANT BEFORE MEETING YOU ALL. CONSIDER IT A REFLECTION OF MY EXCITEMENT. NOW YOU HAVE A JOB TO DO STILL!</em>
161
162<em>Yes, I do!</em> Phobos begins to filter back towards the stairs, though in truth, she is going to teleport again rather than climb back up. <em>Keep a low profile, whatever you do! We can't let this place be compromised, okay?</em>
163
164<em>I KNOW! I'LL DO MY BEST. HURRY! SEE YOU SOON!</em> 
165
166Satisfied with that, Phobos takes her leave. Her next destination is not far, but it is not normally accessible from here. 
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170Rei devised this method of peeling open reality by herself. She was actually pretty proud of it, being honest. With the remnant's stability clearly fading, if several people tried to pull the entire remnant in multiple directions in time, it would splinter open - from there, Rei could trace backwards into the past, find the origin point... and return with the Spark of Creation. 
171
172But for the first part, Rei needed to pull towards the future. That was what she was best at. 
173
174She stood on the roof of the apartment building where she and Yomi had grown up. Hands behind her back, she turned her gaze to the sky. It had not moved in two years. It was just the same as before. Even the shimmering distortion of the stasis barrier, she had learned, moved in patterns. And those patterns were the same. Nothing changed here; in its own way, it was its own form of stasis, a smaller piece of purgatory. And when you thought about it hard enough... so was the world she had been born into.
175
176Decades, centuries, of the same causes being fought over, the same mistakes being made, the same rises and falls in civilization even as more and more historians documented them and their patterns. Knowing made no difference. The world moved in a rhythm that humanity was too foolish to deny. 
177
178That ended today. 
179
180Rei stared at the sky and, with resignation, imagined it as it would have been if things had not ended at the time they had. The skies would darken steadily with clouds filled more and more with smoke that would never dissipate all the way. Temperatures would grow hotter and hotter. Piercing sunbeams would blind people below, but the air would scorch no matter how much sun there was, heat trapped inside by an ever-thicker blanket of cloud cover. People would be driven further from the skies, down into the darkness, crowding in slums without room for them. Environmental control would be built for those with the means to afford it. 
181
182And that would go on even further. People would start getting sick. People would start dying. It would be too late to change anything by then. Humanity would collapse under its own weight. The planet, scarred and ruined by their influence, would be left lifeless and bleak. 
183
184But the magical thing about the future was that it wasn't certain.
185
186Rei imagined a branch - a branch in which a bold collective of people demanded mandatory climate control. A section of the world might listen to their demands, but it's too late to stop the scorching of the earth, they would find, and instead they would build countermeasures. Perhaps encasing their cities within glass, shielding them from a climate they cannot control and focusing instead only on one that they can. Perhaps building extensive underground bunkers made to be livable. These branches coexist in a full universe; Rei imagined them both, pulled towards them both. 
187
188She imagined more things, too. She imagined a world in which humans learned to encode themselves as artificial intelligence, and instead learned to live within a cyberspace of their own making, while over centuries and millenia the world around them might heal without their constant influence. She imagined that humans chose to forsake their mother world, swearing never to repeat their mistakes, and forged out into the stars to find a new home - or perhaps even chose to simply live in orbit, scavenging the planet below for parts to continue to expand their spacebound empire. 
189
190She wanted to create these worlds. She wanted to watch them grow and progress. Nudge them, ever so gently, to a more peaceful future. She wanted humanity to flourish, to find happiness, to learn and improve and advance as a species. Maybe someday they could all be trusted with the knowledge she possessed now. Maybe someday humans would forge outside the boundaries of existence. 
191
192That started with these futures arrayed before her, and many more besides, and she pulled towards them with her mind as hard as she could, demanding reality reshape itself to suit her. 
193
194The sky began to change contort and change color. She smiled faintly at it. 
195
196<em>You will become the future,</em> she whispered. 
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200The thirtieth-floor atrium has been abandoned for many weeks now. Its smooth paneled floor is cold and Phobos doesn't especially like walking on it. Parias cannot manifest here - not exactly; they will be too visible. But the atrium opens up into a mid-level skyroad; with her ability to cling to walls Phobos circles underneath the road, and cautiously materializes underneath it. 
201
202Enshrouded within her own darkness, painfully and frightfully aware of how exposed she is, Phobos works quickly to locate Parias, and Parias swiftly takes their own place, aware of the urgency; as soon as Parias has materialized, Phobos returns to her smaller spiders-only form, and regards her handiwork cautiously. Parias now appears upside-down in the windows of the floor just beneath the Atrium. It is a place that Phobos can remember well enough to call back to later, and the windows themselves serve as barrier and threshold behind which Parias is trapped, as they prefer. Parias gives her a silent thumbs up, and Phobos takes that as her cue to leave. She has to hurry; something strange is happening, and with all three of the outsiders present now, the world's stability surely will collapse before too long.
203
204Passing through another rift in the remnant's weakening space, she returns to the garage, which is just as empty as she remembers. She materializes inside of it; it's large and comfortable, certainly large enough that on one side she can replace a cavern wall with an opening into Gwen's server room. The world strains under the weight of her demand, but Aplistia's screens cheer with delight as Phobos succeeds regardless. 
205
206She turns her attention to Parias. She will replace the opposite cavern wall with the windows beneath the Atrium, and they'll have all joined together. 
207
208But reality stretches and strains to make this happen - and yet it cannot. It violates the laws of continuity too severely. All at once, something breaks. 
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211
212Without warning the sky splits open with a horrible screech; the stasis barrier is utterly gone, replaced suddenly and irrevocably with total blackness. There is no source of light into the remnant - it glows with its own light somehow, but that light is fading rapidly. 
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214For a moment, Rei is so seized with shock and horror that she can't move. The world is gone. There is no mistaking it now; this is not the universe she came from. This is a broken scrap of time that will quickly disintegrate into nothingness. Her breath is taken away, her heart pounds in her chest, mortified by what has happened. By what she has caused. 
215
216But she can't afford to get cold feet now. Not now, of all times.
217
218When she demands to return to the meeting place, reality - what's left of it - parts readily for her like a lightweight curtain. She steps onto the skyroad, the lights both above and below flickering ominously, though Rei can't remember now whether they were on or off before the - well, the collapse, she supposes. Naomi and Eliza are there, though Rei also can't tell if she beat them there or not. Time and causality are already breaking down. It's happening so much faster than she expected.
219
220"Rei," Naomi is saying, her face ashen, hugging herself. "Rei, something - something weird happened when - god, I don't even know how to describe any of this, but..."
221
222"You were trying to materialize the past," Rei interrupts, holding her shoulder in hopes of calming her. Naomi nods, her eyes growing wide with realization. "Did you succeed?"
223
224"Maybe," Naomi breathes. "Maybe that's what it was?"
225
226"Rei," Eliza warns, "you have to go <em>now.</em>" Rei already knows, and she is already gone. 
227
228Naomi's room is on the forty-second floor, but when she enters it, she is greeted with a bizarre scene; a family she does not recognize is eating dinner around the dining table, the windows displaying a dazzling sunset beyond that clearly is not possible. Nothing is moving, and there is no sound even as Rei walks through the scene with a sense of morbid wonder. The TV is on, but Rei can't tell what's on it; it definitely isn't static, there are colors and shapes, but she can't make them out. There's a dog pacing about between the kids' chairs. Rei can't tell how many kids there are either. Why? Why are the details so unclear? 
229
230She thinks further to the past. The apartment is unfurnished. Further. The floor isn't there; there is only a frame of plywood. Rei wonders with a start what she is standing on - she immediately plummets, panicking at first but quickly thinking only ever further into the past as she falls through story after story of the building's unfinished frame; now it's merely a foundation, now it's paved and then unpaved earth. She quickly rights herself and crashes through the roof of someone's house, only two stories tall, and when she touches the ground it's bare and untamed, a barnyard far in the distance. She isn't hurt, and this time, she doesn't bother to ask herself why not.
231
232Further, MUCH further into the past now. The grass is gone and there is only barren rock and a dark, stormy sky. She turns full circle as the sky whirls by overhead in what must be reverse, as the stone crumbles into the sea and she walks above the waves as casual as can be. She is an observer; she is not truly here, watching a video tape rewind while safe behind the screen, if only for the moment. She will soon break through that screen and touch what lies beyond, but for now, she is safe as the planet reverts to a ball of molten rock and iron, recedes into collapsing gases that spread outward into a disc, and then further outward until no shape is discernable at all. The star around which her world once revolved is gone, or rather, it has not been born yet. Further. Further. The galaxy recedes behind her, all stars in the faint distance converging on a single point in her vision. Further back. All the way back. 
233
234Everything is dark except for a single point of blinding, blazing light, just in front of her. She reaches out and touches it. 
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237
238Suddenly Parias' materialization joins them in the garage, but there are only a few precious moments - no more than a minute or two - which Phobos spends expressing her relief, and Aplistia spends calling them to order. Then the shape of the world changes entirely. 
239
240Phobos' garage is no longer barren or empty. It is no longer a garage. It is a hangar. She knows this even though she obscures it nature with her materialization. Parias' skyscraper windows are clean and fresh and sharply reflective. Aplistia's servers neatly line towering walls on racks the size of library shelves. 
241
242"Wait, what happened?" Parias asks, their voices wild and shocked. "Something changed just now, didn't it?" 
243
244<em>Yes,</em> Phobos gasps, <em>everything's different! What happened!?</em>
245
246"That was very fast," Aplistia observes, speaking now through a tiny hologram - a very small projection rising from a console display, but with conceptual perception, Parias and Phobos can of course see her very clearly. She still is wearing Yomi's form like a mask. Her arms are folded and her expression is both troubled and excited; she smiles as she recognizes the others are waiting for her to speak, to share her understanding with them, and she says cheerfully: "Rei has formed the Seed. Recreation has begun!" 
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250Where once there had been a skyroad made of laminate glass and steel, Naomi and Eliza now stand on grass. They can't remember the last time they stood on grass, and as they take in their new surroundings and are first struck by the massive gnarled trees on either side of them, they don't know if they've ever seen plant life so vibrant and free before. They aren't sure what changed or how they appeared here. They weren't conscious of any sort of 'movement'. They're just... here now.
251
252But the strangeness of their situation only grows as they stare out into the abyss that is now before them; Eliza turns first to look behind, and sees that they stand on a jutting balcony attached to a skyscraper. Looking to either side she can make out the edges of the building at a great distance, but that suggests that the building is... very bizarrely wide, and as she looks up she cannot make out where the tower ends. She's dizzy, stumbling back as she tries to take in the magnitude of the structure and absolutely cannot. Clouds swirl around the tower at a playful distance far overhead - as though taunting her to try to guess at its true height, gleefully refusing to obscure it.
253
254"What the fuck," Eliza whispers hoarsely. "What the fuck." 
255
256"You're telling me," says Naomi, but Naomi's tentatively approaching the balcony's edge and staring out ahead of them rather than above. Another skyscraper crosses her vision, though she would have to guess that it was many miles away; its "width" she can see clearly, though she has no idea how wide it is - but it stretches infinitely to either side, its "height" just as unknowable. 
257
258But Naomi is not focused on the skyscraper, because there is a great abyss of clouds and sky between her and them, and scattered amongst the clouds and littering her vision are chunks of other buildings floating in nothingness; though their architecture is ornate, marble and steel flowing together with extravagant vertical landscaping as though they were <em>intended</em> to hang in open air, they are partially in ruin and hang at strange angles relative to one another. 
259
260Space tears open at the courtyard's center, a bubble of darkness forming and then receding in the blink of an eye with a faint but unmistakeable sound of air ripping between points; as Eliza and Naomi both turn towards the sound, hovering a foot or two above the grass in front of them is Rei - a wild grin bursting on her face, eyes glittering playfully as her hair flutters in a strange phantom wind. She has one hand held aloft, and circling it is a strange pulsing black circle that distorts the air around it - a black hole, but tiny, no larger than a baseball. 
261
262"What is that?" Eliza gasps, pointing. "That - is <em>that</em> - ?!"
263
264"It's the Spark," Rei says gleefully, giggling, unable to contain herself. "It's the Spark! I got it! This is it, this is the Seed!" 
265
266She gestures around grandly, grinning as she takes in the chaos in the sky before them, as she too stares at the height of the building they are standing on, no less stymied by it than Eliza. She's confused and in awe, certainly, but she is not afraid. She's not even nervous anymore.
267
268For the first time in her life she feels like she's finally home.