#he's next. But anyway this assassin is a little sneakier than the one that shot alther. No one sees them until the last second

[septimus-heap]

Thinking abt the time travel fix it fic I have spinning around in my head. Unfortunately for it to work I have to kill off basically every single character of importance which is all well and good it just feels kind of brutal

[zydrateacademy]

Review - Assassin’s Creed: Origins

An extra year of work and this is all they could come up with? Don’t get me wrong. No matter what I say about this game it will be painted with a certain brush of bias. I’m a well known fan of the entire AC franchise and I possess all but maybe two or three of the more minor ones like those side-scrollers or one-offs like Russia, India, and Freedom Cry. I collect them like Pokemon cards and largely, I enjoy the series as a whole and the only one I don’t overtly like is probably AC3. The franchise as a whole is perfectly fine if you’re a stealth based player such as I, whom will roll rogues and thieves at any moment in any RPG that allows me to do so. There are some missteps and Origins is not necessarily one of them. Yet I cannot help but feel a tad underwhelmed. It’s more or less the Mass Effect: Andromeda problem all over again but in a different flavor of disappointing. Of course, I liked that game too but it did have a recurring feeling of “Is this it?” I will mention that Origins is... fine. It’s more Assassin’s Creed in the same way Andromeda was “just” more Mass Effect. If you’re a fan of the franchise then you’ll be at home here but with an adjustment period. Every compliment I have might have an underhanded semi-complaint chasing them every step of the way but do not forget that I am writing this review while paused during an enemy fortress incursion. The game is loaded and I am actively playing it between paragraphs so that certainly says something for the game as a whole, to be sure.

Chronologically I’m not sure where this story even takes place. Even as an active player of the franchise I have yet to actually beat Syndicate so as far as the ever-present and ever-boring modern segments go, I’m not entirely sure what’s going on. Abstergo industries, the Templars-in-plain-sight of the modern setting still seem to be active as we play as a “Layla Hassan”, an employee of theirs exploring an Egyptian Tomb. The tomb of Bayek, the man you play as in “ancient” Egypt. That’s in quotations but the actual setting is a moderate cop-out, on the very occasion of Rome’s invasion and occupation of the country because developers can’t seem to have a people of color story without peppering white people in at every provocation. Still, it does give us an excuse for gratuitous historical cameos like Cleopatra (yes, that one), Julius Caesar and more.  The game begins with some spastic storytelling between teaching you how to play and vomiting flashbacks that barely constitute as flashbacks considering they are seemingly from mere months ago, though long enough for our man to grow a full beard. Still, the game picks itself off its feet when the first act ends and the story sends you off to Alexandria (yes, that one) which is where the game seemed to actually wake up for me. Basically, Bayek has lost a child to a shadowy masked group and he is systematically eliminating them for the sake of vengeance. He is a “Medjay” to boot, which I assume is some kind of knight with how people treat him. Protector of the people and all. Everywhere he goes people instantly recognize the sigil he carries around.

As the story goes on it becomes quickly apparent that Origins means exactly that. We’re essentially watching the founders of the Assassin order, though that word has yet to actually be used in my playthrough but I know it eventually does. At a certain point he even cuts off his index finger on accident on a slightly botched assassination which doesn’t really get mentioned but obviously leads the way for the ritual of dedication later in the Crusades age. There’s a lot of forward referencing like that dotted around and it is neat to watch, but the tradeoff is that there’s a skewed ratio of mucking about and actually stealthing that I find consistently irritating. No, game, I do not want to escort this spoiled merchant daughter to buy some linens. You see, Egypt is a very dreadful place. All mention of the practice is slavery is gone unmentioned but the tone of the game is still much more dour than Syndicate was. It seems every side quest is based around some form of misery. Once, I saved a woman from bandits who killed her entire family. In another quest I carried bodies from a swamp because hippo’s were aggravated by more bandits and led them to attacking a village. I had to carry corpses to a cart. In another quest, some Roman officer had pushed a woman off a tower because... racism, essentially. Every other quest I encounter is some variety of the above, usually highlighting the brutality of the occupying force. Other times it becomes quite apparent that the country is on the brink of collapse as you get embroiled in political intrigue and the shadowy organization that haunts Bayek at every turn. It’s all just... dreadful. Yet it’s as you’ve seen across screenshots and trailers, the landmass is incredibly pretty.

Yet even this has an undercurrent problem. It’s really not prettier than say... Renaissance Italy all the way back from AC2. The roman architecture is still in full force here as you run across expansive cities. The various oasis (what is the plural for that anyway?) help mix it up a bit but ultimately much of the game in my first dozen hours or so have felt like things I’ve seen and felt before. In an attempt to alleviate this, the game has introduced a Photo Mode. At the click of the button the world stops and pauses and you’re free to roam and manipulate to a limited degree that helps you capture more majestic views and vistas. I heard there was even a mode where you can turn off all HUD and presumably combat entirely just to wander the world and just take in all of the nuances the NPC’s might be programmed with. I’ve personally witnessed musicians, chatting traders, and a tanner. Granted they’re all speaking a different language half the time but the world is a pretty place, at least until you actually get back to playing and discover a burned down village with patrolling Romans and finding letters in loot about how the invading forces are treating the populace. Back to the more depressing episodes of the History Channel. The game itself feels a lot more RPG heavy than its predecessors. There was a fairly neat talent tree present in Syndicate but it felt far too easy to max things out and most upgrades just amounted to “more knives”, “sneakier stealth” and “extra gang mates”. Here, it’s a little more focused. There’s a bow tree, a melee tree, and a tools tree and they all interconnect and you’ll be expanding into each of them at some point regardless of your playstyle. Buying various upgrades will change the way your “adrenaline” attacks work (something you build up over time in open combat), taming animals, poisoning corpses, Slow-Mo bow using, chariot riding and much much more. I’m not sure how to describe it but it is both expansive and focused at the same time while Syndicate’s sytem was fairly straightforward. Thankfully Origins has pulled back on the whole toolset which was a growing problem in previous games. I don’t remember who the worst offender of the franchise was but Revelations does come to mind when it introduced a whole bomb crafting system which I barely used because smoke bombs were all I truly needed. So on and so forth. Origins continues giving us the eternally useful sleep darts and smoke screens. There’s a couple other addons that don’t really even give you any extra buttons, but actually just affect how other skills act under certain circumstances. Even the gear thing is more expanded on in a very RPG like capacity. Unity is the closest comparison but instead of one to five stars, gear typically levels with you and I do mean that quite literally. 

Origins is a massive world with dozens of zones, each of them a certain level range. As you move on in the world, enemies become tougher but will drop better loot. That’s also something I haven’t really found a spot to mention, but the combat is changed to reflect this RPG style; there’s no more countering to a degree. There is a parry skill you can buy early in the game (it’s one of the first things in the warrior tree) but it ends there, as it doesn’t instant kill anyone.  Combat itself is more reminiscent of Dark Souls games, as there’s a lot of flurry attacks and dodging to get out of the way of heavier classed enemies slamming their giant axe down on you. Instakills are now more reserved for your hidden blade and really well placed bow shots. I still have yet to get a full handle on the parrying which I know is vital for survival. There’s a very subtle graphical cue that is so quick I haven’t been able to nab a single screenshot of it. You see a quick red circle around the hilt of the enemies weapon that usually signifies the window to use your Parry but just like any other game, I’m complete shit at it and miss seventy percent of the time. I typically rely on dodgeroll survival and heavy attacks to break defense. I’m sure there will be a boss fight later in the game that will punish me for that. Due to the new combat system, it changed how enemy AI works. In previous games, being caught would alert the immediate area. Instead, I noticed that they can be quite deaf at times to balance out the slightly harsher combat. I once assassinated a guy right next to his patrol buddy and his mate kept walking right along. This is a mixed blessing with how I’m not too great at the actual combat. On one hand, I am punished less for screwups but the tradeoff is that getting caught in open combat means enemies will run towards beacons (Shadow of Mordor/War style) and summon a handful of extra enemies that will patrol the area looking for you. In this way, the game is probably the heaviest in the stealth category as most of the franchise is, and that’s why I like Origins the most when it actually remembers that fact. One of my favorite tools so far is probably Senu, Bayek’s pet eagle. Turns out it functions exactly like the drone in Ghost Recon: Wildlands but with no battery and unlimited range. And I do mean unlimited range, as that little bastard can go across the entire world as you see fit. This can set up a lot of great screenshot fodder if you’re just really interested in seeing the well crafted world itself for a couple of hours. I might take this tour myself some day but for now, I’m fairly content on finding encampments and wiping them out which I’ll elaborate on shortly. Senu herself can scan for enemies, treasures, and various ballistas that you can use while your infiltrating. 

In fact, even she has her own level up. As you capture Eagle Points (which do the usual of mapping the area and revealing side missions) her ability to scan areas becomes more useful. In the beginning you practically have to stare at an enemy in open view before it’ll begin ‘tracking’ them. Now, after a dozen or so eagle points explored I can sort of slowly case an area in Senu’s hover mode and it’ll continually scan enemies even outside the reticle. I liked the drone in Wildlands and I like Senu here, it’s a good mechanic if a bit of an overpowered one where you won’t often be surprised by enemies if you’re patient enough to scan as many as possible. As time goes on you can even upgrade her to pester enemies in combat and helps you hunt. She oneshot a deer at a certain point and I wasn’t even expecting that. Good girl! I mentioned earlier that I find more joy in enemy fort clearing. This hearkens back to a similar problem I had with Syndicate. It was a great game and I thoroughly enjoyed the city takeover stuff (which I did twice!) but once I controlled the whole map the story missions themselves just felt dull and forced. I feel the same way here for the most part as I started having more fun when I actually begun to treat Origins like an actual RPG. I stopped trying to blunder my way through story missions and instead focused on exploring the map, unlock eagle points (that continue to act as fast travel points that will make future questing slightly more convenient), pepper in some side missions and mostly stealth through enemy encampments with various degrees of success. It’s like the game becomes fun when it actually remembers it’s supposed to be in the stealth genre, and I even said in my Wildlands review that Ubisoft does a decent job with stealth as a mechanic that it’s kind of become their cornerstone. Yet they feel this constant need to stuff the game with... stuff. I spent a whole five minutes staring at a blank rock trying to get to an early game eagle point and I was just so damn bored.

Don’t let me take away from its accomplishments though. The combat is frustrating but refreshing. The world is lovely to look at and travel through. The stealth is as fine and ever and it takes some notes from recent RPG’s (Breath of the Wild comes to mind while playing) and employs them in a seamless manner. The characters are fine and the assassination missions are varied and interesting. The dozens of enemy encampments offer unique challenges, treasures, and strong captains to kill. It does of course, have a lot of loot to play with. The Photo Mode is a fun toy to play around with when you’re not too focused on other things. It is however depressing, dull, run of the mill and it feels like it was just factory stamped out of Ubisoft like a few of their others. The pacing is sluggish and there’s no sprint button, you’re stuck with a slow moving camel as your main mode of transport until you can afford a horse. The autorun is useful but fickle and doesn’t always take you where you want to go. The glitches are present and have forced an exit or death more than once. Enemy levels are damn near unfair at times with super units that wander around the world that are typically several levels higher than you or the zone you’re in, making them more like a flash flood to avoid. Origins has its place in the franchise, I simply do not believe that it’s a major step forward. More like a tiny skip.

[zairiswilzuun-blog]

Do You Remember?

(( What follows is a story about Zair’is and his partner in crime’s last ditch effort to get his memories back.  Hope you enjoy the read! ))

“Check your gear.”  Zair'is absently addressed the smaller female Xaela.  They had made camp just outside of Castrum Abania, the sun had set, it was raining.  Zair'is was decked out in his usual combat gear; full range of motion in the arms, gauntlets that defended his forearms, greaves that gave him protection to his knees and lower legs.  The Xaela's name was Artani and for the last few months they had been operating on and off as a pair when missions called for it.

“I did.”  The Xaela responded simply.  She could tell Zair'is was nervous, even if he didn't outright show it.  Her eyes scanned him and watched him as he checked his pack for the fourth time.

“Check it again.”  Zair'is paused to flatly deliver the command to her.  Artani rolled her eyes and couldn't help but smirk a little, checking her small pack again to humor him.  Artani's gear almost mirrored Zair'is', lighter and easier to move around in than his with less protection on the arms and legs.

“I assume you know where we're going and what we're looking for?”  Artani's heterochromia affected eyes pierced through Zair'is as she stared at him.  Zair'is was mouthing to himself and making a checklist in his head, for as much as he could remember anyway.  He absently nodded in response to her question.  Artani shrugged, his response good enough for her.  She shouldered her pack and checked her weapons, tilting her head up to look toward the horizon at the looming castrum.  The plan was, at least as far as Zair'is explained to her, was to sneak in, find where they kept the test subjects for the hypertuned project, insert Zair'is in, and try to reverse the process that was done to him in an effort to get his memories back.

Even Zair'is himself wasn't sure the plan would work, but he was running out of time and didn't have many other options.  He was given some hand-written notes on his “condition” but nothing that would help him reverse it or fix it. Nothing that would even help him delay it.  To him, he was going to have to handle the problem himself, only this time Artani insisted she help and watch his back.  Artani rest her hand on Zair'is' shoulder, causing him to pause his pack check.

“We should get moving.  The rain's only going to get worse.  I'll go in first and make a path.  Follow my lead in.”  Artani hummed and gave a slight nod as if to cap a period on her statement, moving past Zair'is toward the bridge leading into the Castrum.  Zair'is took a few slow breaths and shouldered his pack.  He used his thumb to push his katana out of his scabbard a slight amount, checking the motion of it to ensure he could draw and sheath it as quickly as he needed to.  Satisfied, he followed after the Xaela.

It would be storming soon, and the idea was to use the heavy rain to their advantage to get into the facility unnoticed.  The hardest part would be retracing Zair'is' steps during his initial raid and hope that they didn't butch up security in that time.  Zair'is had assumed security would still be recovering from the raid that nearly killed him.  In reality, he didn't have much of a plan; more of an act of desperation that he hoped would be a solution to his looming problem.

“We're on the way in.  I'll keep you posted.”  Zair'is murmured into his linkpearl, his footsteps sinking in the soggy sand.  He was smart enough to tie his hair back to keep his hair from getting in his way, and without it he likely would have had a difficult time tracking the fast-moving Xaela as she darted through the night.  She was eliminating guards in such a ruthlessly efficient fashion it would have made even the most established assassin blush.

“So far so good.”  Zair'is gave kudos to his partner over their private pearl.  The Xaela didn't respond, clambering up one of the pipes on the outside of the castrum to pry the haphazardly repaired grating loose; their way in.  She squeezed into the pipe, leaning her upper body out and lowering a hand to give Zair'is a pull up.  Trudging through the wet sand to pick up speed, he kicked from the pipe and used the momentum to push himself upward, clapping his hand into Artani's, who simultaneously pulled him up to allow him to grab onto the lip of the pipe.  She had turned back around at this point and worked her way further into the pipe, leaving Zair'is to work his way into it in a much slower manner, his build being much bigger than Artani's.

Artani wormed her way through the pipe to the point she was out of sight, while Zair'is slowly shifted ilm by ilm through the pipe behind her.  “Should probably lose some weight.”  Zair'is heard over the private pearl.  “You're almost a foot shorter than me, and you have much less muscle than I do.”  Zair'is bit back in a strained tone as he continued to shift through the pipe.  “All I heard was that you're a bigger target.” Was the quip he heard back.  He saw another opening finally at the end of the pipe that Artani had already cleared for him.  Leaning his upper body out first, he gripped the lip of the pipe and pushed the rest of his body out of the pipe, flipping his lower half over his upper half then dropping into the facility.

Artani was already making friends, introducing herself to one of the Garlean scientists the best way she knew how.  “Hypertuned.  Location.  Now.”  Zair'is could barely hear the words, but could read her lips well enough as she threatened the scientist with her dagger and superior choke hold positioning. The scientist didn't say much, but did point down the hall which meant that Zair'is' memory hadn't betrayed him completely yet. Zair'is held his position for several moments, scanning his eyes across the facility and recalling the events that lead up to his near death experience.  His timing was off, and there was some big shot lieutenant present that evening which meant a larger guard presence, and he had the misfortune of squaring off with the lieutenant himself.

“Hey.  Let's go.  You can think later.”  Artani encouraged him forward as she made her way down the hall, having given the scientist an unexpected napping opportunity. Zair'is pressed on behind the Xaela, letting her take the lead as she insisted.  Artani wasn't convinced that Zair'is had fully recovered from being deathly ill and almost bleeding to death, so she was trying to stay out in front of the male Miqo'te to keep him from getting involved in too much action.  Plus, in her mind, she was vastly sneakier than he was.  “We're inside.  Heading toward the hypertuned testing chamber.”  Zair'is posted an update across the linkpearl.

The hallways leading to the hypertuned project were surprisingly light on guard postings.  Something that made both the Miqo'te and the Xaela nervous, but gave Zair'is hope that his intuition was correct and that were still on the recovery. Zair'is pulled a small leather bound notebook from his satchel and made a “psst” noise to the Xaela in front.  Artani perked up and paused her movements, turning to look at the Miqo'te.  Zair'is flung the notebook to her with a long, underhanded toss.  Artani snatched it out of the air, looking at it with a quizzical look on her face. “Notes on how to operate the machine.  They're basic and incomplete, but hopefully it helps.”  Zair'is explained over the private pearl.

Artani nodded wordlessly and stowed the notebook.  Truthfully, she was nervous about having to operate the machine at all.  Machinery wasn't her forte to begin with, and considering Zair'is' entire mental structure was on the line for this particular event, she was feeling less than confident.  Zair'is' footsteps quietly padded across the metal floor, until they approached a door.  Zair'is took a moment to reflect and then keyed in the combination of symbols to the best of his recollection.  The panel flashed green and the door slid open with a gliding sound, revealing the hypertuned testing chamber to the Miqo'te and the Xaela.

“Empty.  Trap.”  Artani quietly gave her analysis to the Miqo'te next to her, keeping her eyes scanning across the room.  “Maybe.  They might be trying to reboot the project.  Or... maybe testing is finished.”  Zair'is gave his assumption, taking a few steps into the room.  He noticed the tube was closed next to the machine, with a dim red light providing a minor amount of illumination throughout the chamber.  “...They put someone in there.”  Zair'is alerted Artani, his eyes narrowed as he approached the machine and the tube.  There was dim lighting throughout the room, overpowered by the dim red light on the tube itself.

Zair'is stared at the control panel and held his hands out in front like he was about to start pushing buttons, but paused for a few moments to collect himself.  Muscle memory kicked in and his fingers slowly danced across the control panel.  Soon, the panel flashed green and the light mirrored the action by turning from red to green.  The tube slid open and both the Miqo'te and the Xaela turned their attention to it.  There was another Miqo'te inside. Male.  Almost an exact match for the color pattern for Zair'is.  

Intrigued, Zair'is approached the tube, leaning over the lip of it to investigate the Miqo'te inside. His eyes were closed, looking as if he was asleep.  Zair'is widened his eyes slowly as he noticed a strikingly familiar look to the Miqo'te.  “...He... looks like me.  No scars.  Younger.  I... I don't understand.”  Zair'is vocalized his confusion, but was cut short by the Miqo'te's eyes suddenly popping open.  His arm darted up and his fingers wrapped around Zair'is' neck, which Zair'is reflexively gripped the wrist of the familiar tubed Miqo'te.  Artani was already in motion toward the tube, darting to the base of the tube.  Zair'is stared into the tube Miqo'te's eyes, narrowed and noticing that his mouth was sneered in anger.

Snapping his attention from Zair'is, the tube Miqo'te attempted to grab Zair'is' katana to defend himself from the rapidly approaching Xaela.  Using his free hand, Zair'is pressed his fist into the outstretched hand of the tube Miqo'te, forcing it into the edge of the tube and holding it there.  Forced with the decision of getting assaulted by the approaching Xaela and keeping his hold on Zair'is, the tube Miqo'te released his grip on Zair'is' neck, allowing Zair'is to retreat a few steps and get his hand on his katana.  The tube Miqo'te raised a foot to plant it on Artani's stomach as she spiraled through the air to get over the lip of the tube and skewer the tube Miqo'te with her daggers, interrupted by the intercepting foot and forced backward.

Flipping to a lowered posture as she hit the ground, Artani waited to see what the tube Miqo'te's next move would be, much as Zair'is was doing.  Neither of them said anything, but watched as the tube Miqo'te climbed out of the tube, pulling free of the tubes attached to his form-fitting helmet.  “I. Am rage.”  The tube Miqo'te finally spoke.  It sounded similar to Zair'is, but different enough to be off-putting in an uncanny valley sort of way.  Still unsure as to what the purpose of the tube Miqo'te, but understanding completely that he was indeed hostile, Zair'is darted forward, drawing his katana in the same moment to attempt a horizontal slice across the tube Miqo'te's abdomen.

The tube Miqo'te reflexively darted backward, using the tube to rebound back toward Zair'is and deliver a swift kick into his ribs.  Into Zair'is' healing wound.  The sharp pain bloomed across his stomach and his midsection in an instant, causing his arms to shiver, threatening to drop his blade.  He felt moisture form on his eyelids, dropping to a knee.  Artani responded in kind, launching into the tube Miqo'te's flank and attempting to bull rush him away from Zair'is.  She connected, the tube Miqo'te not fast enough to intercept her completely.  His hands pressed against her shoulder and the side of her head as she threatened to push the tube Miqo'te prone.

Sheathing his blade, Zair'is rotated his body on the floor, kicking his leg out to sweep the tube Miqo'te's feet out from under him in an effort to take advantage of the momentum provided by Artani.  He found purchase in the back of the tube Miqo'te's knees, sending him toppling over onto his back. Artani found herself perched on top of the tube Miqo'te with his foot planted on her midsection, attempting to kick her off and use the momentum to right himself with a kip-up in the process.  Zair'is reached out and grabbed the free ankle of the tube Miqo'te, restraining him from completing the second part of his process. Artani was kicked up and slightly back into the air, throwing her slightly off balance, though she was able to roll and recover on the metal floor.

Zair'is pulled the tube Miqo'te across the metal floor, his metal helmet scraping and bumping across the grooves in the floor.  Climbing on top of him and digging his knees into the side of the tube Miqo'te, Zair'is propelled his right hand into the Miqo'te's face, striking him across his left cheek, then following up with a left.  This process continued for three more punches until the tube Miqo'te grabbed Zair'is' right arm, noticing the wound he had that went across the whole of his shoulder and wrapped around under his armpit.  He sank his thumb into the wound, applying pressure while simultaneously rocking his body upward toward Zair'is and gripping him by the throat again.

Zair'is cried out from the shooting pain across his arm, his whole body shivering.  He breathed in and out with heavy breaths through his teeth, saliva spitting across the tube Miqo'te's face as he stared unblinking with complete hatred and anger at Zair'is.  His thumb continued to sink into his shoulder, blood spurting from the wound and oozing across the tube Miqo'te's hand.  Zair'is attempted to used his left hand to grip the tsuka of his katana with an underhanded grip, trying to pull the katana out enough to use the tsuka as a blunt attack against the tube Miqo'te's ribs.  The tube Miqo'te reflexively raised a knee and blocked the blade from releasing by hooking his knee cap against the fuchi. Zair'is locked eyes with the tube Miqo'te, both growling like wild animals at one another and locked in a grapple that Zair'is was quickly losing.  The whistling sound of steel through the air could be heard along with the dull thunk of steel sinking into something soft.

Artani had successfully aimed and lodged one of her daggers into the tube Miqo'te's thigh that was blocking Zair'is' katana from releasing.  The tube Miqo'te flinched, but maintained his posture, still applying pressure in Zair'is' wound and flexing his fingers around his throat.  Hearing Artani's footsteps rapidly approaching, the tube Miqo'te attempted his initial maneuver a second time, rolling backward and throwing Zair'is in the direction of the approaching footsteps.  Successfully using the momentum from the throw, the tube Miqo'te rolled into a crouch and turned his attention behind him.  Artani shifted to the side and held her hand out, catching Zair'is' good arm and throwing herself out of alignment in the process.  The Miqo'te and the Xaela spun one and a half rotations before landing prone on the floor.

Artani was the first to right herself, using a kip-up to get herself up from the floor.  She stood defensively over Zair'is, who rolled over to his good arm and pushed himself up on his elbow, using a knee to elevate himself.  The tube Miqo'te slowly paced across the metal floor with his bare feet, approaching the duo with his eyes locked on Zair'is.  Grunting and still breathing in and out heavily, Zair'is tried to move his right arm and experienced the sharp stabbing pain he was intimately familiar with.  Unable to move it more than a few ilms, he let the arm dangle by his side, blood still oozing across his pale skin. Slowly and wobbly, Zair'is stood, his underhanded grip remaining on the tsuka of his katana.

“You're going to bleed out.  You need to run.”  Artani commanded Zair'is, not moving her eyes from the approaching tube Miqo'te.  “I'm not leaving you.”  He responded to her through grit teeth, his voice pained.  He was breathing with sharp bursts of noises accompanying his exhales.  “I can buy you time. You can't fight in your condition.  I can.” Artani protested, still standing defensively in front of the wounded Miqo'te.  “Now is not the time to be stubborn, old man.”  Her words didn't seem to be doing much good to getting the wounded Miqo'te to make a run for it.  Zair'is continued to stare at the tube Miqo'te as the distance closed between them.

Artani grunted as she ducked low and attempted to gouge the tube Miqo'te between the ribs, which the caused the tube Miqo'te to respond by shifting his posture and wrapping his arm around Artani's wrist.  The tube Miqo'te's hand applied pressure to her elbow, pushing it in the wrong direction and threatening to break her arm at the joint.  Artani attempted to respond by jabbing her other dagger up toward his jaw.  The tube Miqo'te attempted to intercept her strike by gripping her wrist but wasn't quite fast enough, instead catching the dagger through the palm of his hand.  His hand was skewered but he had effectively stopped her from utilizing that dagger further, as the guard was locked against the bottom of his palm, the point of the dagger sticking through the top of the tube Miqo'te's hand.

The tube Miqo'te continued to stare at Zair'is, flinching a bare amount at the blade gouging through his hand.  Zair'is grit his teeth and took a step toward them, trying to quickly think of a solution that wouldn't involve Artani's arm being broken.  Noticing that Artani's body was held off and slightly to the left of the tube Miqo'te, Zair'is didn't like the solution he came up with, but acted instead of thinking further.  “I'm sorry!”  Is all he vocalized as he turned his body and in one smooth motion released his katana and stabbed behind him with the freed katana, using his momentum and his underhanded grip to stab through Artani's side, ideally above her kidney and under her lung, then puncturing through her and stabbing into the stomach of the tube Miqo'te.

Artani's eyes widened as she felt the steel sink through the soft part just above her hip, but felt the pressure against her arm alleviate as the shocked tube Miqo'te recoiled backward, his hand instinctively going for what was stabbing through his stomach.  Artani flipped her dagger around in her hand and stabbed just below the shoulder blade into the tube Miqo'te's back, dragging her blade diagonally upward toward his neck.  Zair'is turned the blade and as quickly as he could, pushed the blade to the right.  

Artani grunted loudly as the blade of the katana cut free from her skin, freeing her from being pinned against the still skewered tube Miqo'te.  Zair'is twisted the blade again, pulling the blade in a z-like pattern through his stomach, pulling the blade free from his stomach with a spurt and fount of blood, then sinking it back into his stomach at a slightly upward angle, going through the bottom of his chest cavity and toward his spine.

Artani and Zair'is' blades both reached the same conclusion, connecting into the tube Miqo'te's spine and applying pressure.  The tube Miqo'te stared with burning eyes at Zair'is as Zair'is looked over his shoulder.  Blood spilled from the tube Miqo'te's mouth, until his eyes rolled back into his head and he went limp, held up only by their blades.  Zair'is pulled his katana free first, then Artani unhooked her dagger from his neck.  She released her hold on the dagger in his hand, letting the lifeless body collapse to the ground.

Zair'is dropped his bloodied katana on the ground, dropping back onto his backside.  He was panting, his skin paling to an even lighter shade of white than it normally was. Blood had pooled along the metal from where he was standing.  Pulling a cloth free from his satchel, he cleaned his blade one handed as effectively as he could.  He dropped the blade onto the metal floor toward Artani, nodding toward it. “Heat it up.”  He commanded with a hurried and winded tone of voice.  Dropping to her knees, Artani pulled a whetstone from her pouch and proceeded to rapidly rake it across the blade.

Panting with pain, she continued to rake the stone across the blade until it began to smoke and spark. Zair'is collected the blade with his good hand and immediately pressed it to Artani's exposed blade wound, a sizzling sound accompanying the gesture.  Artani hissed and bit down on her tongue, feeling a tear roll down her cheek.  Zair'is rubbed the blade along her wound until the brief flash of heat was ineffective and tossed the blade aside again.  Pushing himself up back into a standing posture over Artani, he pulled a small bottle from his pack and proceeded to uncap it and dump its contents across Artani's barely cauterized wound.  He watched the liquid foam slightly along the wound, Artani still biting down on her tongue and hissing through the process.

Wobbling, Zair'is gripped his shoulder to apply pressure to it.  He swallowed heavily with a noise of pain coming from his throat.  “Sit.”  Artani groaned from her throat, coming up to her knees as Zair'is dropped back down on his backside. Digging through Zair'is' pack, Artani pulled out a couple more cloths, wrapping them around Zair'is shoulder and under his armpit to cover the wound as completely as she could.  She dumped what remained of the bottle into the cloth to soak it, then wrapped more cloth around it.  Tying it off to ensure it stayed tight, she checked Zair'is stomach, noticing that the scab had ruptured, but the bleeding was controlled.  She lifted her gaze to Zair'is' face, then to the machine.

“We have to hurry.  Can you stand up?”  Artani slowly pulled herself to her feet, gently gripping Zair'is' arm to help him up.  Zair'is groaned and hissed through his grit teeth as he stood with her assistance.  Slowly they made their way to the machine.  Zair'is gripped the edge of the tube with his good arm and with Artani's help guided himself into the tube.  “We're starting the process now.”  Zair'is updated the linkpearl with a slow and deliberate delivery of words, feeling faint and weak at this point.  Flopping onto his back into the tube, Zair'is gave Artani a limp thumbs up.  Sliding Zair'is' instructions onto the control panel, Artani scanned it and then the panel, pressing a few buttons to cause the tube to slide closed.

The Xaela's eyes scanned over the Garlean script appearing along the machine, slowly working through it with the aid of Zair'is' hasty instructions. Deliberately and carefully punching the buttons as she went, she noticed that the machine was a bit more freeform in what it could do.  Potentially, if she was understanding things correctly, she could alter the Miqo'te's memories; even erase some entirely if she wanted.  It did look like there was a means to revert the destruction of his memories, but there was also a risk of leaving him brain-dead from the process. Artani paused, thinking over her options.  

Zair'is had commandeered the helmet the tube Miqo'te had on and had plugged himself in once the door had shut.  Feeling an overwhelming sense of drowsiness mixed with a sharp painful sensation like the worst migraine he'd ever had, he felt like he was listlessly floating in a black void.  Sounds echoed in his mind in what seemed like slow motion, voices with indiscernible messages infiltrated his thoughts, and fragments of thoughts and memories floated through his peripheral like stars in the sky.

Artani was scared.  She could be responsible for the death of the Miqo'te if she didn't do this right. Even if she did everything right there was still a chance it wouldn't take and would leave the Miqo'te brain-dead in the tube. Knowing that Zair'is’ wish was to have all of his memories, both good and bad, back; she began the process of reverting the subjugation. Tapping buttons on the console while trying to ignore the searing pain in her side, she darted her eyes to the notes, then back to the console.  She had entered everything correctly.  She thought she did, anyway.  The machine whirred and made several clicking noises, lights flashing from red, to green, then back again.  Artani stared at the console, her hands balling into fists.  She darted her gaze to the tube, then back to the console.

Zair'is continued to float in the void.  Voices started to register and make sense.  Familiar voices from people he recognized.  He could place faces with the voices. His memories slowly coming out of his peripheral and back into focus. Occasionally there would be an interruption to the voices, like a orchestrion skipping while it played, but things that he had once had great difficulty remembering slowly came back into focus.

The machine continued to click and go through commands, Garlean script scrolling along the machine. Suddenly, the lights began to click off one by one, pulling Artani's attention from the console to the lights themselves.  Emergency lighting began to click on.  Panicked, Artani figured they were killing power to the facility.  She slammed her fists on the edge of the console.  “Faster.”  She commanded it as if it would cater to her every whim.  

Within moments she was plunged into darkness, the only source of light being the faint pulsing light of the emergency lights and the lazily blinking red light on top of the tube. Artani's eyes were wide, darting between the console and the tube. “No.  Nononono...”  She muttered, tapping at the buttons furiously to get some sort of response out of the console.  The machine was silent.  “No.  No, please.”  She begged the console, raising her hand to slowly pull the release lever on the console to pop the lock on the tube.

With a forceful tug, she unlocked the tube.  Moving to the side of the tube, she put her weight into pulling the lid open, feeling stabbing pain running through her side as she did so.  Finally throwing the lid off the tube, Zair'is was barely visible in the dim light, still with his head tilted to the side.  Artani clambered up onto the tube and pressed her ear to his chest.  He was breathing, faintly.  Her hand moved up to his face, running along his cheek for a moment until she began pulling the lightless tubes from the helmet.  Sitting Zair'is up, she pulled the helmet from him.  She flicked him in the forehead.  No response. Next she pinched his ear.  No response.  “Wake up!  WAKE UP, GODS DAMN YOU!”  She shouted, frustrated and slapping her hand across his cheek.

Zair'is furrowed his brow, blinking his eyes open in a bewildered manner.  “F-...fuckin'... ow!  What was that for?”  Zair'is murmured in a groggy fashion, trying to raise a hand to wipe his eyes, but was intercepted by a Xaela squeezing him into a hug against her.  “Scaring me like the asshole you are.”  She responded.  The hug was brief, before she clambered back out of the tube, helping Zair'is out of it over the lip.  “What do you remember?  Do you know where we are?  Do you know who you are?”  She tried to assess his mental faculties in a hurry. “We... we need to leave.  You made it work.”  Zair'is nodded in her direction in the dim light.

That was enough for Artani, collecting his katana from the floor, Zair'is followed closely behind the Xaela, using the darkness to their advantage to exit the same way they came in.  Squeezing through the tube with his arm in the state that it was was one of the most agonizing things imaginable to Zair'is, and with a less than graceful flop out of the mouth of the tube, he landed on his back in the wet sand.  He grunted and laid there for several moments, breathing slowly and evenly.  Artani reached down and grabbed his good arm, pulling him to a sitting posture, then up to a stand.  “We're... ou... out.”  He murmured over the linkpearl. “And?  What do you remember?”  A voice responded back through the linkpearl.  “I... I remember.  The smug look on your face... when I thought I was being so slick and tried to steal a kiss from you under the Thaliak constellation... and you beat me to it.”  Zair'is replied back with a small grin on his face, making his way across the bridge with the Xaela.

“I'm going to make sure you get to your safehouse, then we go our separate ways for now.  Best to lay low.”  The Xaela took point through the rain as they made their way to the aetheryte.  “Hey, Artani...”  Zair'is started, both of them illuminated by the pale blue glow of the aetheryte.  “Later.” She says, nodding and giving Zair'is a knowing smile.  “We can talk about it later.  Get going.”

Zair'is stared at her for a moment, patted her on the shoulder then moved to the aetheryte, reaching out to touch it.  He braced himself for the all-to-familiar feeling of nausea as he was whisked away to safer territory.  Artani paused for a few moments, releasing an exhale like she had been holding her breath for the last hour or so.  She couldn't help but laugh to herself quietly, rubbing her face a few times. With a smile, she too touched the aetheryte, disappearing in a flash of white light.