Page 1 of Guiding Reason
1
COLDIS
This is ChannelPulse. We advise viewers that some of the footage is quite graphic. What you see here is the Battle of Starlit Stage and how it started. The attackers were well-organized Guardian insurrectionists, and here they can be seen turning their power against regulars, who were simply there to make the day memorable for everyone.
These are some of the scenes that played out during the battle. We don’t know when the insurrectionists killed our Op-AI, but we assume around this time.
Here, highlighted, is the illusion work done by Guardian Vin of Argentea’s Team Three. He hid the ice slides Champion Shoda used to bring in these brave protectors, and—
There! Guardian Senlas catches his Conduit. The ChannelPulse Conduits agree that Conduit Orrey looks like he is exhausted from channeling a powerful S-classer like Guardian Senlas, and maybe that’s true, but as you can see, the Guardian’s power is immense with his imprinted near.
The insurrectionists never stood a chance from the moment these two touched.
(Footage streamed by ChannelPulse shortly after the Battle of Starlit Stage.)
The clinic bed was comfortable, and yet comfort was no help to Col at all. Even though he had nothing left in it, his stomach was misbehaving, potentially betraying him again every moment now. The brightly lit room in the clinic didn’t help.It’s only afternoon. Who needs their rooms lit in the afternoon?
Col tucked in his chin, feeling less like gagging that way, and focused on a spot on the ceiling near the corner of the room.I’m fine. The dizziness is all in my head.
“Should I get you anything? Something to drink? Or would you like to brush your teeth?” Hyran asked.
The corner Col had chosen was the one closest to where Hyran made a turn in his constant pacing. Even if it hadn’t been, there was no way of ignoring the Guardian.
At some point he’d sat in the chair by the window, but then the physician had come in and set a nurse to bandage Col’s head while she hooked Col up to the IV with the acute concussion medication, of which she had determined he needed a high dose. From the moment the needle had gone into Col’s arm, Hyran had been pacing.
“Are you saying my breath stinks, Guardian Hyran?” Col put as much attitude into the words as he could, which wasn’t much.He wasn’t even sure Hyran deserved any. He wasn’t sure he didn’t.
“No, of course not. But having thrown up myself, I remember I’d wanted a toothbrush after.”
And fuck him, but Col couldn’t argue with that logic. The taste of bile still lingered on his tongue.I threw up everything. Was the fight still raging then, or was Senny already flying with my little brother and impressing everyone with his power?
Col closed his eyes, found that it made the dizziness worse. He looked at Hyran, who was at least less bright than the walls. “Well, since you’re kind enough to offer.”
Hyran nodded. “I’ll…I’ll hurry back.”
The Guardian looked at Col as if he wanted to say more. He didn’t. Moving fast, though not as fast as he could, he left, sliding the door shut behind himself with a quiet thud.
He imprinted on me, Col thought.He really fucking imprinted on me. I am no longer the Conduit I was. I have been imprinted on.
He was feeling sick, his throat constricting, but then remembered he needed to breathe, so he tried that. It helped somewhat.
With the Ferrean Op-AI dead as of earlier that day during the attack on Starlit Stage, the imprinting wasn’t an immediate concern. Still, there was no way the Municipal AI had missed it when the lot of them, following Orrey’s crazy plan, had teamed up with the protectors outside the Ferrean Grounds. And Col knew the Municipal AI would pass the information on to the Argentean Op-AI, who had decided it would take over some of the functions the dead Op-AI had filled for the time being, with Col as the main liaison.
Cold crept up Col’s chest and settled around his heart.He can make me stay here. I’ll have to. There is no way I can go home if my Guardian won’t come with me.
A memory of snowflakes caught in long black hair grabbed Col out of nowhere. He shivered, bunched the clean sheets Hyran had straightened about half a dozen times in his fists.
The door slid open, but it wasn’t Hyran who entered. Instead, Orrey walked in, still wearing his torn dress. He’d washed the soot and dirt off his face at least, though the makeup still lingered around his eyes. Senlas had given Orrey his jacket, and Orrey vanished in it, being Conduit-sized. The simple gesture made Col smile.They are good for one another. They are what every Conduit wants.
“How’re you feeling?” Orrey asked and went to sit on Col’s bed.
“Like I partied with Taros for a week straight. Do I look terrible?”
Orrey smiled and shook his head. “You look like you went on a mission and completed it well, which you did.” He pointed at the bandage around Col’s head. “Are you not getting stem cell treatment for the cut?”
“They can’t. There’s some reason, basically the stem cell treatment and the concussion meds don’t work well together, and this”—Col lifted his arm with the IV—“took priority.”
“Oh. Well, I don’t think it hurts your looks. But”—He leaned in—“about Hyran.”
