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Retcons (Geneforge Short Story)


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...Or, "Whatever the heck happened to..."

Enjoy.

 

The Lifecrafter Jeraldus hurriedly pulled on his cloak. Even in the middle of summer, the Burwood fort tended toward the chilly side, and hasty constructions near the dormitories had established a permanent draft. Heading out to his farsight cubicle - a privilege enjoyed by the larger forts from captured Shaper equipment - he encountered a servile and prospective embroiled in a heated argument.

"Excuse me," Jeraldus interjected, "But what exactly is going on?"

The unhappy servile paused his diatribe for a minute. "This... prospective is trying to pretend that Sucia Island, the true birthplace of the rebellion, never even existed!"

"It's just a myth!" the prospective shot back.

"Hold on for a minute," Jeraldus replied, now somewhat perplexed. "How could it have already become a myth when it was rediscovered only, what, fifty years ago? I imagine that the Shaper who ended up on it is even still alive, discounting the possibilities of the war."

"Oh really? Then where is it, exactly?"

"It's about fifty miles off the east-" he began, and then angrily finished, "Have you never looked at a bloody map?"

"Besides," the prospective interrupted, "You claim that something can't become a myth in only fifty years, but what about that so-called other continent?"

Drat.

"Erm... what other continent is this?" the servile asked.

"You see, the Shapers claimed that there's another continent to which their precious empire extends, but when war breaks out, what happens? Nothing, it's not there."

"I think you may be going a little bit too far with that." Jeraldus replied.

"Come on, you know how High Councilor Bush was."

"Just stop."

"Also," the servile added, "You know how badly things can go wrong with magic. It's conceivable that this continent was devastated by some kind of catastrophe."

"An entire continent? Come on, what's going to be able to destroy an entire continent?"

At this moment, a large group could be heard approaching the mouth of the corridor. As the three paused their conversation, a full squad of elite rebel soldiers walked by, escorting an inactive Unbound. An awkward silence ensued.

"Now, if you want to talk about making stuff up, how about that nonsense about Ghaldring being the first shaping drakon? Does nobody remember Eass?"

"Didn't the Shapers wipe out everyone in the Drypeak mountains? How would you even know?"

"You know that the Shapers are hardly thorough when it really comes down to it. Loads of Takers survived. You can't start a rebellion very effectively with just two people, you know."

"Hrm." the prospective grunted. "Okay, but, something else has been bugging me. How many Shapers are on their council?"

"Seven."

"Are you sure? I could have sworn it was..."

"SEVEN."

Another awkward silence fell. The servile was the one to break it this time.

"Just a quick question... whatever happened to Khyryk?"

"He... uh..." Jeraldus fell silent for a minute, trying to gather some kind of information. "I have no clue, actually. He just sort of... disappeared after that Northforge business. Although, didn't he die on the Ashen Isles?"

"Who knows. I heard that all they found was unidentifiable chunky salsa."

"Maybe if we ever meet that one Shaper who saved the rebellion back then, we can ask him. I think his name was..." Jeraldus fell silent again. "Dangit."

"Now, what I really don't get is, if Sucia Island was the point of origin for the-"

"NO!" Jeraldus and the servile both screamed. "No spoilers of the 'great secret'."

"...we're the only ones here."

"You know what? I give up." Jeraldus' hands began to glow. "Let's just retcon this conversation."

 

Jeraldus reached his farsight cubicle as early as ever, and began to issue new orders to the creations under his command. It was demanding work, to be sure, but he had the good fortune to never seem to end up in stressful situations otherwise.

 

~Fin

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