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Buildings began to materialize around Bastian. Eventually he was in some sort of two story barn. From up in the loft a voice rang out. "That you Bastian?"
"Yeah, whats going on?"
Suddenly Kins head appeared under a board, handing upside down.
"Sorry for the mess, ive been too busy to clean house, ill be down in a second."
Shortly, Kin slid over the side and, hanging from the very ledge he had appeared over, let himself fall down safely. He wiped his hands clean of dust, he had clearly been overworking himself, but he seemed unconcerned. For such an old soul, his youth had been invigorated back to life.
"Whats up?" Bastian inquired.
"I found the cypher." He replied excitedly, almost immediately he turned and grabbed a plank of wood, and took it to an unfinished wall. Holding it up to gaps in the wall he sized it up, trying to find its proper place.
"Slow down, what is a cypher?"
"A cypher is a mental tool used to store things. Its like a container, and a very diligent imperiomancer can use one to record almost every waking hour of his conscious. I figured out how to later and life and began to record everything, even tapping back into older unconscious memory and storing it."
The firmly shoved the plank into a piece and it seemed to fit perfectly without nails or anything else to hold it in position.
"My cypher survived the collapse, but it was compacted into a small fragment and lost in the chaos."
He stepped back and admired his progress. A small smirk on his face. "Its all coming together rather nicely. Here, I think you should see this."
Leading him through a small alleyway of buildings full of memory, he eventually came to a cellar with double doors. It opened with a creek and dust flew out when the doors swung out.
"Cmon, help me find the light, for some reason that part of my memory is broken, I can never remember where i put it."
The two descended into the darkness. It wasnt until they had walked a few paces and both turned around that Kin saw something which made him panic on the inside of his insides. It was as if there were crack inside Bastian. A faint slimmer of green light under his skin. A rare, but nonetheless unique symptom. But he keep his composure. Intentionally making his way to a wall, he put a hand to it and began to frantically send messages out.
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On the outside, Rueben had been keeping himself occupied, looking around the room. But when he finally looked back at the mask on Bastians face, he squinted to see the writing appearing on it.
"We arent alone in here.....
Unknown entity sharing mental space with Bastian....
... Its a projection.....will distract him while you backdoor into his mind...
open up a direct two way channel and we will lure him back in... use extreme prejudice"
Rueben, as quietly as possible, walked around behind Bastian, face buried in the mask and gently slide his hands on Bastians head.
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Kin could feel the door opening, but Bastian couldnt. As Bastian finally found the light and flipped it on, he looked around to see a basement full of old books.
"I thought memories were buildings in your mind..."
"They are, this is another form of raw data, not inherently memories, although the discovery of a particular piece of knowledge may hold link to memory."
As Kin looked around for a second, still stalling for time, he heard something he could barely make out the tail end of.
"..NIjkar' et onikisu nu'"
He wheeled around. "What did you say?" He stared at Bastian.
"I didnt say anything." Bastions face was of puzzlement.
"Kin, why am I here?"
Rueben voice tickled Kins ear "Front door is unlocked.... its weird over here, just a heads up."
"Kijir nu'klo Nijkar." Kins attention snapped back to Bastian, who had just been starring, but there was no doubt the voice originated from him.
He took a deep breath. "Bastion, I need to apologize in advance."
"What?"
"Im not one for playing dirty and invading the minds of my friends..."
"Kin, whats going on? Kin..." Were what a deaf man might read from Bastians lips, but as the world blurred, a twisted voice came from his mouth.
"Nijayre 'kut. 'miklo, cuntini mis'kilik.... Kin..."
"Sorry Bastian..."
With almost no warning, the wall was ripped open like some godlike force of wind stuck it. And the two were suddenly sucked into a blank blackness.
-@3_5&@3_#5--KKK:KK>KK-?[/]]]][__--- ][}{===-\\=
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-----------Kijit, 'ent eso----------------------
Kin collected himself quickly and stood up, looking at a sight he had not expected. He soon saw Rueben. Running to him and shouting over a hurricane-esq wind "NICE JOB, BUT YOU COULD BE MORE SUBTLE"
"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?" Chaos and blackness was all around. Chances are, such a blunt back door would give Bastion an internal concussion, but it shouldnt do any lasting damage.
Places and things were fading in and out of darkness. Buildings, tables, chairs etc.
"SOMETHING IS IN BASTIANS MIND AND IM PRETTY SURE HE DOESNT KNOW IT."
"SO WE ARE GOING TO THE SOURCE?"
"EXACTLY. BUT DO ME A FAVOR, IF HE GETS THE MASK OFF OF HIM...." In a moment of slight awkwardness, Kin was shouting for a second after the wind died down.
"If he gets the mask off,you need to get out and get it back on him, or I will be stuck here, and his mind isnt suited to sustain a symbiotic entity such as me and one of us will die after not long."
"Right." Rueben nodded. "So where do we start looking?"
"Chances are he recovered faster than we did, so he will have that advantage."
"Maybe a strong house? But then Bastian could sense it..."
"Unless...." Kin looked at Rueben for a second. They both felt it. They both realized at the same time that only when a strong box in ones mind is occupied does it become obvious. The entity wouldnt need a strong box until now if Bastian didnt know he was already there.
"Oh my god..." were the only words Kin could get out before Rueben was suddenly ripped from Bastians mind.
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Back on the outside the mask had been flung off. Bastian was not in control of himself, and with a strength not his own he grabbed Ruebens arm and threw him over his shoulder. With a thud, Rueben immediately aimed a kick at Bastian, knocking him backwards. Immediately back on his feet, Rueben looked first at Bastian, then at the mask, then back at Bastian. Bastians eyes were glazed over, and he was breathing heavily. Rueben suddenly made a dive for the mask, but Bastian was faster and kicked it away. He then grabbed Rueben and threw him through the window of the cabin and out onto the deck of the air ship.
Bastian looked down at the mask, then picked it up with a table cloth preventing direct contact. With a full swing he attempted to throw it off the airship, but Rueben managed to snatch it in mid air and quickly and securely strapped it to his face.
