Topic: Paradigm: Reflections

Atticus DArcstorm

Date: 2016-10-19 23:31 EST
Paradigm: Reflections

~ ~ ~

In order to exist, man must rebel, but rebellion must respect the limits that it discovers in itself - limits where minds meet, and in meeting, begin to exist. -Albert Camus

~ ~ ~

Horizon Research & Development. Spatial Distortion. Horizon Plane.

Atticus stood in the center of his Sanctum, opposite a mirror image of himself, and studied it. The resemblance in facial characteristics and overall body structure was uncanny. The mirror image, however, had it's own style of dress " or rather, had a much more common style of dress: it was wearing a three piece suit, the same blue as Atticus' robes; it's footwear was similar, but rather than Atticus' supple, black leather boots, it wore black wingtips; and rather than his silver badges of office decorating a lapel, the mirror image wore a metallic silver necktie. Despite the mirror image being as detailed as an actual person, there was some quality it was lacking " something unseen unless you were exceptionally close. While even the most minute mannerisms and micro expressions had been adopted by the mirror image, it was still somehow....flat. Atticus' stoic expression betrayed neither his slight sense of unease at the image, nor his solace in the realization that it was some sort of projected light.

"Are you satisfied?" the image asked.

"Not in the slightest," Atticus remarked, stepping backwards and sitting back into what looked somewhat like a large, silvery, metallic armchair recliner. He leaned onto one of the arms, index finger and thumb of his hand coming up to frame his jaw in an L shape as he continued to stare " as if his eyes alone could plumb the answers from the thing before him. "I find it oddly off putting that Lazarus and I could share such physical similitude-" he was cut off.

"I've already told you why, Atticus." the simulacrum gave a wan smile, "You share almost identical genetic-" now it was the duplicates turn to be interrupted.

"Almost, you say. Your 'genetics' are not a familiar concept to me; you are implying, however, that I am....a homunculus of some sort. A Golem; a vessel awaiting implantation by whatever soul you say I used to be. The adverb 'almost' further implies that as a vessel, I am somehow flawed.? His words were flat, without emotion or inflection, as he kept trying to assimilate what the image, the hologram, was trying to explain to him.

Atticus DArcstorm

Date: 2016-10-19 23:33 EST
"Souls," the hologram, Lazarus, rolled his eyes. "We change the programming a little with each upgrade," he strode forward towards Atticus, and upon reaching some invisible boundary leaned forward and studied the High Mage. just as the magus studied him. "Some of it's us, that's for sure," Lazarus voice fell to softer tones and he murmured, "the rest, well, we didn't forsee the Anomaly having any kind of sentience, never mind specifically targeting you and interfering with your source code. Dy'Hauc took us totally by surprise-" it seemed that neither of them could finish a complete thought.

"Jonas," the name was muttered, "What does he have to do with this" He's my age, not the hundreds of millennium you claim to be." The mutter came as Atticus laid back in the chair, relaxing completely as the metallic arms seemed to flow like water and move in to encompass him.

"I didn't say Jonas " I said Dy'Hauc. Jonas is just being used as a vessel. Not just in your time and place; he or some version of him is often used. We were never able to determine how the Anomaly-"

"Oblivion." Atticus stated.

"The Anomaly seduces him with such regularity." Lazarus rubbed his chin, then framed his jaw in a familiar L pattern with his index finger and thumb.

"It does not seek him out; he seeks it." Atticus's eyes were half closed as the chair " the liquid metal, metallic throne " molded around him. The near mirror imaged men held their gaze upon each other for a quiet moment until Lazarus spoke again.

"Simple nihilism?" Lazarus was bemused, "Could it have been that easy' If that's the case though, and his overwhelming predilection, there's no way of knowing if we could have prevented it." He continued to watch Atticus as the High Mage's eyes closed and he became more comfortable in the chair. "It's a weapon, you know. What's the opposite of Oblivion?" he posed rhetorically before answering, "It's existence. That's why it's so alarming when it encroaches upon the shores of a Nexus; each such crossroads is a gateway into countless numbers of universes, whether the inhabitants want it or not."

"And that is why we designed Paradigm." the High Mage's fingers probed the elasticity of the liquid metal of the arms of the chair beneath them.

Atticus DArcstorm

Date: 2016-10-19 23:35 EST
"We, now, is it?" Lazarus smirked. "The Machine Throne is addictive. Be careful of using it too much, don't burn yourself up before I've had a chance to be uploaded."

"According to you, it has always been 'we'. Your current residence is fine, for now. Arcfire, disable interface." Atticus was still laying back, eyes closed. The image of Lazarus immediately vanished as the spoke to the seemingly amorphous disembodied entity that was Arcfire.

"Apologies, sir." the disembodied voice of Arcfire sounded, "It appears as though Mr. Storm's assigned existence within the primordial 'stuff' that makes up the Horizon plane allow him a certain degree of leverage in-" like the two men earlier, Arcfire too, was interrupted.

"Ignoring being dismissed," Lazarus stated, his image returning again to the center of the chamber. "These things you call spells" Where I'm from " science, I wrote those, I can get around-"

Atticus was almost sinking into the chair, now. "Arcfire, Silence."

Immediate silence filled the chamber, or rather, descended over Lazarus, despite his mouth continuing to open and close, along with an outraged look in his eyes.

"Now," Atticus voice, calm but cold, addressed Lazarus through pulses of energy between them, man to what was, perhaps, some ancient artificial intelligence. "Listen to me. You will not impose yourself on me, but I will take from you what I need; all the knowledge, the access to power, the history " alternative histories " that no one still living would believe, all these things I can have from the plane of Horizon itself, through Arcfire, which you so kindly claim to have created, or rather, 'we' created. I can have all this, and without your personality, your condescension, your ridiculous pride " see where that has gotten you. All you are is the memory of a ghost, forgotten by all, and haunting a machine. Provoke me one more time, ghost, and I will take even that from you."

Lazarus narrowed his eyes and held Atticus long in regard. "Really made you a cold one, didn't we. Oh well, maybe next round for me." The words never formed, though his mouth moved. The chair Atticus had been reclining in slowly raised back to a seated position, and as soon as the High Mages feet touched the floor, his eyes opened again.

He raised a hand and made a waving motion towards Lazarus. "Nullify." After a moment of voluntary silence, Lazarus finally spoke. "Thank you."

Not one for social niceties, Atticus merely nodded. "Now. Let's talk about Paradigm.?

Atticus DArcstorm

Date: 2016-11-01 02:02 EST
"It would be much easier if you'd just," Lazarus gestured to Atticus's wrist, where rode a bracer, seemingly crafted from electric blue light. "Accept it as a part of you, instead of as a thing."

"Artifact," Atticus corrected him. "Like Paradigm; not mere structures, or 'things' as you put it, not even 'mere' magic items, or enchanted baubles. Artifacts. I have placed considerable time and energy into creating-" he was cut off.

"More than you know," Lazarus almost snorted. "Listen, it's all in Arcfire. I'm just saying. Everything that's in me, is in it. Just-" Atticus was no more well mannered.

"Seven Artifacts. Some would call that an auspicious number."

"People who don't understand coincidence don't understand numbers." Lazarus was obvious in his attempt to test Atticus. He'd had little luck thus far.

"This is not Arcane Theory, Coincidence is irrelevant for the moment. Seven Artifacts, each with their own focus, yet built with a synergy towards each other. It was easy enough to suss out what their combined function was, when I considered using the Sphere model." Atticus had lost count of how many times the conversation had progressed this far. Lazarus refused to correct anything he said, but always let him know when he was wrong. "It creates a demiplane." He carefully watched Lazarus's face, as a single eyebrow raised in what Atticus had come to realize was skepticism. It was painfully familiar to his own expression for the same notion, and it also meant that what was said next determined the accuracy of his assertion.

"The Aegis and the Cage are protective wards against supernal and infernal agency, respectively; perhaps against the agencies of law and chaos as well." It was very close to the last tact he'd chosen, and he kept pushing. "The Looking Glass and The Pendulum " Space and Time, they fix the demiplane in reality, give it stability." The look on Lazarus face was becoming one of bemusement, and Atticus knew that he'd erred. "Where??

Atticus DArcstorm

Date: 2016-11-01 02:03 EST
"At demiplane, you f'ing chimp," Lazarus snapped. "Do you know the genetic similarity between a chimp an a man' Don't answer that, it's rhetorical. I was hoping by the time you got here, maybe it would have moved two per cent " in the same direction. I'm not sure what in hell happened, but I'm starting to think it regressed." He sighed, and raised a hand to his brow and rubbed it. It was a somewhat empty gesture, given that the holographic man had no real brow to rub. But it was indicative of his nonetheless apparent frustration.

When he spoke again, both his voice and tone were much softer, and as he began, there was almost a quiet plea between his words. "I am you, you are me. That's not my body, or your body, it's our body. You can't relegate me to Arcfire, I'm more than that Myriad " even if you can use it to manipulate me while I'm like....this." he gestured down towards himself, towards the light that made up his immaterial body. "We're the same. Or we were, and are supposed to be again. If it makes you feel any more comfortable with it, we're a little more like you every time. You're the 'evolved' state, not me. One way or another, you're going to do the things that you have to do. You just might not understand why; you can't understand your creations, why you're driven to make them, because you don't understand yourself. You can't understand yourself, because the part of you that's supposed to do that is locked away in a Repository of Knowledge on Horizon, and only accessible through Arcfire. That you've done that is the same as locking me in a cage. You know what happens to things when you lock them in cages and torment them, don't you?"

"Yes," if ever Atticus showed signs of his stoicism melting away, it was now; Lazarus's use of the cage in his example was a compelling argument. Caging animals was not something Atticus ever did for his own personal studies, but he knew those who had. Besides animals, he knew the effects of locking men in cages, or women; the latter case provided to him by a young, one time apprentice. He'd fallen in love with a woman he found in a cage, and by his own choice he had made that woman into his cage. "I do not wish to....end. That is what I foresee should I let you out."