Couple of days have passed since Altair became part of the legion. She has majorly done nothing while she has stayed, but she has done some minor improvements here and there.
Now she is staying at Lud's office, sleeping on the couch while Lud is working. Zenith comes to bring some more paperwork to Lud, and while she is in there, she asks Lud "Does she actually do anything?" To which Lud answered "She gave me some minor tips here and there and I heard she improved the training regiments of a couple battalions somewhat. Other than that, she does this."
Zenith asks "Don't you think she is being a little… unproductive?" To which Lud was about to respond evasively, but Altair answered Zenith instead by saying "If you wanna know, I'm mainly ditching my duties with this visit and gaining some benefits by doing so. Don't worry, I won't hinder you lot too much."
Zenith says "You say that, but look how much food you have eaten." To which Altair says "I have nothing much to add to that one. Counter point though, I have improved your food situation."
Zenith comments by saying "By asking one of your people to help." To which Altair says "Details woman, details. We don't need to worry about those as long as it gives results. Though we ought to watch that we don't go too far with inhumane actions."
Zenith says "Says the one who suggested euthanizing the humans found in Rusteror." To which Altair says "You have to really nitpick about everything. What? Are you jealous that I spend more time with Lud than you?"
This made Zenith a little angry and she denied it by saying "I feel no such thing. You are just making our lord distracted with your actions and attire." Altair looks at her clothes, and sees that she is wearing only an oversized shirt, not remembering if she has any underwear on. Altair says "You young lad don't need to worry much about there being any distracting factors with my attire. Who would get excited by looking at a half naked granny."
Zenith says "One, that can be quite the distracting factor if you think of your regular grannies. And two, you look like a young adult in their prime. How old even are you?" To which Altair says "That's a secret."
Lud comments by saying "First it was Li. Then it was Elisia. And now it's you. Why do the ultra old ones refuse to give us an actual number of reference?" To which Altair says "At some point, you stop caring about those details. Besides, what would you do with that information? All you need to know is that I'm a very old person even by elven standards. But speaking of Elisia, I can bet that she is way older than me. Just a hunch though."
Zenith sighs and starts to leave the room while asking Lud "Do you need any tea or coffee?" To which Lud is about to answer, but Altair says "Make me tea. Don't make it too hot, my tongue is sensitive. Oh, and add a bit of honey if you have some."
Zenith stares at Altair for a moment, until she turns her head back at Lud, who then says "Coffee will be fine for me." And with that, Zenith leaves the room while saying "Understood. I'll come back shortly."
Once Zenith leaves, Altair goes back to sleep and Lud continues to work. Somewhere along the way, Altair says to Lud "How would you feel if we send you to Babylon 5 for some testing?" To which Lud asks "Testing? Why?" To which Altair says "We know that you all came from another world and that you resemble the species found in Lutah." Lud says "I follow so far."
Then Altair says "But we don't know how you were made material." And Lud says "And now I don't."
Altair says "We do know that the dread father made it possible somehow for you to exist in this world, but we don't know the details of how he did it. So far my hypothesis is that he used aether in some way and forced the unknown to this world to become known, that being, beings from foreign world."
Lud says "Why don't we just ask him?" To which Altair reacts by raising herself to a sitting position on the sofa, looks at Lud seriously and says "I know you have met him before, but we can't just call the father of the damned abyss to come up here."
Lud just says "Li can contact Maumar whenever, so I don't think it should be a problem." Altair rubs her forehead for a moment in frustration and says "Look. I don't think you have quite realized what kind of being Maumar is to the people of Lutah. He can quite literally unmake the world if he so chooses. That's why Ao had put her eye to look at the abyss in case Maumar decides to expand the reach of his abyss. He is a god damned counter god for fuck sake."
Lud stays silent for a moment, and then says "So… is that a no, or…" To which Altair sighs and proceeds to say "Fine. Do whatever you like. You are the king after all."
Lud calls Li and tells him about the situation, to which Li promises to get on it. While they were waiting, Lud decided to ask Altair "Are you really sure it is fine for you, a member of the esteemed council, to basically become my underling, a person from another nation?" Altair goes back to lying down and says nonchalantly "It might have some repercussions, but that is for MY underling, namely my PR team, to deal with."
Lud asks "Then, what DO you do?" To which Altair says "I'm a celebrity." And Lud further inquiries "That does what?" And Altair says "Represents the aspect of freedom in star elf society."
Lud is silent for a while, but eventually he manages to say "Don't you feel bad for people under you?" To which Altair says "When you have lived as long as I, you just stop caring." To which Lud says "Did you ever care?" To which Altair says "I did try at one point, but since I made things difficult for other members of the council, I stopped bothering at some point. But if you are worried about them, don't be. They choose to follow me and they are always free to leave. I, of course, do some surveys that ask about the well being of my workers and if they have any complaints. I read them carefully and if I can, try to do something about them."
Lud is silent for a moment, but then he hears Altair say with great conviction "But if I ever feel like my underlings are being suppressed by people managing my guild, I will make sure to make retributions within my guild. No one at the Aquila guild should feel oppressed as long as I have anything to say about it."
Lud smiles a little and Altair senses this, so she raises back up to sit to look at him and say "What's with that face?" To which Lud says "Nothing. Just thought that you really care about them after all."
Altair makes a "humph" sound and goes to lie back down in a way that Lud doesn't see her face. However, Lud can almost see something different beneath Altair's shirt. He can't see if she is wearing anything beneath or not. He can't help but stare for a moment, until suddenly Maumar's face appears in the way to block the view.
Maumar says "You seem rather intrigued." Lud flusters for a moment and Altair turns around to see Maumar standing in the room. Lud, still flustered, says "Ma-Maumar? When did you…" To which Maumar says "I heard your inquiries and decided to drop by myself."
Altair stands up and says "You… you are the… so you really did come." To which Maumar turns around, looks at Altair and says "Child of Ao. I didn't expect to hear one of your kind would ask me answers directly."
Altair stares daggers at Maumar and Maumar looks at her with the same old look. Then Maumar says "I heard your inquiry, but I want to clarify, what is it that you wanted to ask me, child of stars… no, child of moons?"
Altair says in an angry tone "Don't you ever dare to call me that again, father of the end." To which Maumar says "Didn't realize that it had become something… inflammatory. My apologies, though you shouldn't look down at that title, as it is as important as the child of stars."
Altair says "I don't care about your opinions Maumar. Your words are something that may poison any mortal's ears." To this, Maumar says "I suppose this is what I have asked for. But enough about that. What is it that you wanted to know?"
Then Altair asks "How did you make it possible for the people of Elysium to become material?" To which Maumar says "The same way life was originally made. With the use of aether."
This made Altair more annoyed, so she says "You are a counter god. What would you know about the creation of mortal lives?" To which Maumar says "That is a story I cannot yet tell you."
Altair says "So you are avoiding to answer." And Maumar says "Counter god ought to be seen as the opposite of that of gods. I bear no will to change that way of thinking at the current time."
Altair says "So you are implying that you had something to do with the creation of Lutah?" To which Maumar says "I don't entirely know what they preach, but I should at least be given some credit for the way Lutah is what it is. But we are getting off track. People of Elysium were made similarly how life was originally made in Lutah back in its creation days."
Altair then says "But the memories of these people are foreign and there are forces that are comparable to that of the gods at work in Elysium. How is it possible to merge foreign objects to the system without consequences?" To this, Maumar says "It is quite complicated, but you seem to be mistaken about the fact that there isn't a pushback of them being here. There are some and I have dealt with them."
Altair says "You are still evading to answer in a way that gives me context." To which Maumar says "You might be second highest form a child of Ao can reach, but you aren't someone who can comprehend the intricacies that gods and I have to work with on a daily basis."
Altair asks "What do you mean by second highest? Ninth is the highest form a star elf can be." To this, Maumar responded by staying quiet for a moment, until he finally said "I see. My mistake. It seems that I was confused by something in the past. But my point still stands. You aren't a godly being who can understand the work we must do."
Then Altair says "Fine. But can you at least explain how they are so god damned powerful?" To which Maumar answers "I simply matched their strength compared to their original world. And since they were on such a high level, the result would be obvious."
Altair asks "Doesn't it mess with the balance of power a bit?" To which Maumar asks back "Are you insinuating that it was a wrong move for me to summon them? I had a feeling that you were quite fond of them." And Altair says "I didn't… I'm only asking if… Nevermind."
Then Lud decides to join in the conversation by saying "Altair, you told me earlier that Maumar means much more to the people of Lutah than you think I thought, but yet you are standing there with only a t-shirt and hopefully a pair of underwear. Don't you think it's a… little weird?" Altair says "I don't really care much about looks. I…" But Maumar interrupts her by saying "What is wrong with her attire? She is wearing as much as I am. A cloth around their body and nothing else."
Lud says "Nothing else? You mean that she…" To which Altair looks down at her crotch area casually and says "No wonder it feels a bit breezy." Then she looks back at Maumar and says "Never mind that. Why aren't you wearing anything underneath?" Maumar says "There is nothing to cover. I appear humanoid, but I can choose whether or not I have any private parts. The cloth is just a habit of mine. By the way, it used to be black. Same for my hair. Also my skin was a little darker than it is now. I wouldn't say I was brown per say, but I definitely had some color in me. And a red spot on my forehead. And a cane. I miss that cane."
Then Altair says "Yeah, whatever, but why did you have to ruin the mystery for little Lud there?" This makes Maumar tilt his head in confusion and make him say "I don't follow what you mean. Could you elaborate?"
Altair says "Sometimes, when a woman is wearing a skirt or something that can reveal their lower part and have it just out of view, the intrigue of whether or not the woman is wearing anything or not makes it all the better. Now that it is concrete that I don't have panties, the mystery is ruined."
Maumar stops tilting his head, puts his hand near his mouth in a thinking mode and says "Is that how it is for mortals? Truly fascinating."
Lud then says "I think you shouldn't think too much about that. But on another note, I've been thinking. If you created the people of Elysium in accordance with the game, then where does the Mythril tower fit?" Altair comments "Yeah, I also think it doesn't quite match up. As far as my intelligence knows, the tower of Mythril almost destroyed the world when it was summoned, with the key word being "summoned". You might be able to create something that powerful, but as far as I know, you still have things you want to do in Lutah, so you wouldn't risk destroying it. So here is the question, what are you hiding?"
Maumar is silent for a moment with his eyes closed, until he opens them back up and says "Are either of you familiar with the concept of tulpa?" Lud says "No, I'm not." And Altair says "Vaguely."
Then Maumar explains "In simple terms, tulpas are things or beings created by the sheer power of will. If someone believes hard enough that something exists, then it may be created as a thought-form."
Lud says "I get now what tulpas are, but what does that have to do with the mythril tower?" And Maumar says "If someone believes something is real hard enough then it can become reality. And now the question is, how far does that go? An object? A machine? A living being? A building? A street? A town? A country? A continent? A planet? A solar system? A galaxy? A universe?"
Altair says "You are being ridiculous. There is no being that is capable of believing in such a great detail that they can create an entire universe, let alone have the energy to pull it off." Maumar says "I may have created the bodies of the people of Elysium, but their beings, I did not."
Altair says "You aren't making sense. You are implying that there was someone who could think of an entire world into existence." And Maumar counters "When a mortal gets deep in full-dive technology, the sense of reality can become jumbled up. Once artificial creations made of ones and zeros may turn into a certain type of sense of reality."
Altair says "So you say that someone thought of the game that they played as real and were able to make a world with sheer willpower alone?" To which Maumar says "Not entirely." And Altair digs further "Elaborate."
Maumar then explains "There was a certain young individual, whose reality was grim and short, but in that short life, he found solace in a false reality made by mortal hand. They were one of the people who I made contact with in order to gain what I have been searching for for so long, but they refused. Instead, they offered an idea. Just like how Lutah was created with the use of aether, with the power stored in the abyss and this person's willpower, we created a tulpa of significant scale to house an entire world full of history and power of their own. World of fiction made reality."
Altair says in astonishment "You mean, you made an entire world with the power that was stored in the abyss? You created the world where Elysium and its people came from, just like that as if you were a god?" And Maumar says "That is the full potential of aether when the mind is strong enough. I meagerly offered the person all the aether that was available and let them lose. All else is history."
Lud says "So… you created a world that may have existed longer than this one?" To which Maumar explains with simple "Thinking time as linear is a bane of mortals." And then he extended his hand as he said "Creation doesn't have to be the beginning."
Altair starts to think deeply as she makes a thinking pose, and Lud is trying to process the information with the best of his abilities as he sits back in his chair.
Altair then says after a while "So you are saying, that if there is enough aether and a willpower strong enough, a mere mortal could even create a god if they so want to?" To which Maumar says "It is possible in theory." Altair picks on it and responds "In theory, huh. What happened to the person who created that world?" And Maumar answers "They used all of their being into creating it. All of them in all kinds of timelines, born to observe a single video game and its every aspect, only to die an early death when enough has been gathered and end up in front of me and restart the cycle. They gave birth to themselves in a sense."
Altair then says "You wouldn't say that that person was Lud's brother Adam?" To which Maumar says "I'll leave it up to the interpretation."
Altair then mutters "Well now I have a reason to make a report if there ever was one. This vacation sure has given me plenty." Maumar comments "Nothing beats a good vacation that somehow ends up benefiting you from many different angles."
Lud is barely holding his thoughts together after all they talked about, but then Zenith comes into his office with the tea, coffee and a cup of mysterious substance. She gives the tea to Altair, the coffee to Lud and the mysterious substance to Maumar. Lud asks "What did you give to him? Also, how did you know he was coming?" And Zenith says "I simply saw the cup appear on the tray, felt like it had to be there for a reason and so I brought it up here. I didn't know that Maumar was here, but I now think it must be some sort of trick he has pulled up again."
Lud looks at Maumar and asks "Wanna comment on that?" And Maumar responded with "I have nothing."
Then Lud asks "What is in that?" To which Maumar comments "The liquidation of the feeling when you forgot your car keys and phone on a locked car when you came to get something from your home that you forgot before you left to work and now you know that you are going to be late." Altair makes a comment saying "So basically liquid despair" And Maumar says "Oh there are much more feelings in this than despair. There is panic, desperation, disappointment, anger to self and the world and some other feelings."
Lud says "At this point I'm not even gonna ask how, but why?" And Maumar says "When you are as drained as me, you take whatever you can get."
Lud further asks "But why not happy things?" And Maumar says "Negative feelings are often stronger."
Altair just casually sips her tea and makes a small squeal noise and says to Zenith "That's some good tea right there. Just the right amount of heat and the condensation of honey." Lud just thinks to himself "She is just going to ignore what Maumar and I talked about."
While holding her cup of tea, Altair asks Maumar "What does it actually taste like?" To which Maumar says "I no longer have a sense of taste, so I can't answer."
Altair gets closer to Maumar and says "Let me taste a little." Maumar just hands his cup to Altair, who then proceeds to take a sip. She then spits it right out and says "Yep, tastes like shit. Maybe even literally." She hands the cup back to Maumar, who then drinks from it like it is nothing.
All enjoy their drinks for a moment and Zenith leaves somewhere along the way. Altair then asks Maumar "Can you tell us why oripleaters have been tampering with memoweb for a while now?" Maumar takes a sip of his drink and then says "If I recall, they do so to make sure no information about Elysium reaches other realms."
Altair takes a sip of her tea and then asks "For what reason though?" And Maumar answers "There is a certain someone who I don't want to find out about Elysium yet. I managed to convince them to not look into the middle realm for a while, but the information that goes to other realms regarding Elysium is capable of reaching their ears. And since we are on the topic, I have a favor to ask of you."
Altair gets interested and asks "A counter god asking for a favor? My my, how interesting this trip has become. What is it that you want?" Maumar tells Altair "I want you to make sure that information about Elysium doesn't reach places that also reach other realms."
Altair gets a sinister aura as she says "You… You are asking me… the advocate for freedom… to censor people's voices? To limit their freedom of speech?" Maumar says "It is what I ask of you, but you are free to refuse."
Altair then chuckles and says "For what fucking reason should I do that? Does it have to do with those minions of yours?" And Maumar says "Correct. Oriapleaters can develop a taste for certain types of aether. Once they can't get what they like, they will try to find it depending on the level of addiction they have. That hunt can make some of the oriapleaters go straight to the source of the memoria behind the taste, this being, people or a person."
Altair says "So you are saying, that once you have no need to make oriapleaters devour aether regarding Elysium, they might come here and harm people. Am I getting this right?" To which Maumar says "Correct. More precisely, they will come after Ludwig Freigner since the aether that passes him is most foreign. That doesn't leave the rest of the people here out of their range though."
Altair says "So if I don't want oriapleaters to come here, I do you a favor. But let me ask you this, does that mean that I can ask anything of you when the time comes?" And Maumar answers "As long as it doesn't have to do with Ludwig Freigner, I'm fine with many things."
Then Altair says "I… I need to talk to some people first to see if we can actually do it. But why don't you just control the oriapleaters yourself when they come here?" Maumar says "To put it into perspective, it is like telling your ill body not to be ill. You can act on it and take medicine, but that is all you can do."
Then Altair asks "How do you make the oriapleaters eat the memories regarding Elysium from other realms?" To which Maumar answers "The same allegory can be used. When your heart rate increases or decreases, you can only control your breathing and not fully control your heart beat. Certain parts of one's body are out of one's control."
Altair says "I think I get it now, but don't think that we are going to go easy on you in that favor you will owe us." Maumar nods and says "I do what I can" and drinks the rest of his drink.
Maumar asks Altair "How is Ao these days?" To which Altair answers "You just expect me to know the answer to that?" To which Maumar responds with "I suppose it is too soon for gods to get out of their holes and interact with the world they created more."
Then Altair drinks most of what is left of her tea and asks Maumar "I have a question that I've been wondering about for a while now. What is the connection between you and the gods?" Maumar answers with "The aether in you tells me that you mean to ask what is my connection with Ao specifically." Altair says "I expected no less from the counter god. So what is your answer?"
Maumar looks away for a moment and stares at a painting in the room that depicts a moon with shadows of two people on it together. Then he gives an answer "Longing." Altair asks "What?" And Maumar says "What Ao feels for me, is… most likely… longing. That is why she made TzuluzT. Or that is what I think."
Altair says "I asked about your connection with her. As far as the star elves know, you came from nowhere and began devouring the aether to summon your hoard. I never understood how you are so familiar with the gods even though you came from nowhere. Answer me." Maumar looks at Altair and says "There are certain things that need their own time to arrive. You may find your answer tomorrow. You might find it in an hour. You might find it after a year. You might find it after a thousand years. But the time for the answer is not now."
Then Maumar looks at the painting again and says "I think that should be enough for today." And just pops out of the room. Altair says "That mother fucker. Fine then. Keep your secrets. When I decided to come here, I expected many things. Talking face to face with Maumar wasn't one of them."
Then Lud says "I think that Maumar may have told Li something about it, so maybe you should go ask him sometime?" Altair says "Thanks. I need to talk to that fellow about other stuff as well, but since that abyssal fucker asked me to do him a favor, things have gotten more complicated." Then Altair drinks the rest of her tea and goes in front of Lud's table. She places the tea cup on that table and says "Now, I need to make a really annoying phone call."