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Adler never did understand the study of Dust. It was Arcanist nonsense, a concept with neither rhyme nor reason, something that disobeyed the rules of physics that he had spent so long committing to memory. Joining the Laplace Scientific Computing Centre and being introduced to Dust as a concept for Arcanist growth and power was beyond him; he was content to let it exist in the background and not affect his daily toings and froings.
Such things as Dust became irrelevant, until suddenly they weren't. Arcanist nonsense became very real. The things Adler had studied and committed to memory became meaningless. What was the point in all this knowledge if things happened as they may anyway? Come the second Storm, everything they knew was altered. Everything was changed. Everything they wanted to believe had to be questioned. No wonder he tried to drink himself into an early grave. Who wouldn't, when the world was tilted on an axis that nobody could see, feel, or touch?
Dust became a topic of conversation quite early on. First, it was Ulrich, eager to explore the capacity of Dust and what it could do for Arcanist development. Then, the new recruits. Medicine Pocket submitted more than one funding request to study Dust and how it reacted with Arcanist DNA. X made strange machines and devices that recorded the amount of Dust in the air. 'Enigma' sat in his office, watching as a different kind of dust built up around him, clogging up the air and turning everything into the same shade of grey as a cold, autumn afternoon in the middle of his little village.
Adler hated dust --- all forms of it. He hated the way it felt under his fingers and the way it felt in his brain. He couldn't hope to understand it, and he never coped well with that which he didn't understand.
Such was why he scoffed when Ulrich knocked on his office door one afternoon, offering up an opportunity to accompany him on a 'field trip' (Ulrich's words).
"Get out and shut the door, Ulrich," Adler said, not looking up from the half-completed crossword. His pen tapped erratically on the newspaper, although it stuttered to a halt when a large, round shadow covered his puzzle.
"Don't you have your team to torment? To what end must you disturb me also?"
"The Timekeeper's invitation is one of great importance for all senior researchers within the LSCC. I know you've decided you're destined for, ahem, different things, but you are still a senior researcher within the department, ergo, you are still a recipient of this invitation." Ulrich's unique way of mincing words and saying an excessive amount never ceased to amaze Adler, and all he could do was put his pen down and rub the tight space between his eyes in an attempt to soothe the irritation brewing in the back of his mind. Ulrich didn't notice; if he did, he didn't care.
"Besides, a human's insight into the tangible streams of Dust will be invaluable. Have you even left this office in the last two days?" Adler caught Ulrich's wrist before he could reach out and run his finger over a part of the desk that hadn't seen any action in quite some time.
"Ugh, ja, fine. If I come with you now, you will leave me alone afterwards?"
"I am unable to confirm at this stage --- we might have much to discuss after experiencing the Dust streams for ourselves." Ulrich's enthusiasm was visceral to the point that the ferrofluid that made up his self vibrated, spiking in the large amber tank that held him. It carried in his voice and even in the way that he tugged his wrist out of Adler's grip then strode towards the door. He was far more keen than Adler, who debated whether he could get away with reneging on the invitation immediately. Perhaps he could activate the keycode on his door, too... that way, he could avoid any more unnecessary, unwelcome visits.
Locating the Timekeeper was easy. Vertin's suitcase was a marvel in and of itself, and she always attracted a crowd whenever she paid a visit to the LSCC headquarters. Adler hadn't had that many encounters with her, but he had heard many positive things about her work in the field, and he had experienced it first hand recently. If nothing else, Madam Lucy spoke highly of the young Timekeeper, and even if Adler doubted everything else about that peculiar pile of metal, he couldn't deny that her judgement was usually spot on.
Vertin was just saying goodbye to another researcher when Adler and Ulrich approached. She smiled at them both. Adler smiled back. The interaction was superficial at best; Adler could see the exhaustion behind Vertin's eyes, and the weight that seemed to bare down on her appeared heavy. Her smile didn't leave her lips.
"Hello, Mr Ulrich, Enigma," she said. Ah, Enigma... the pseudonym Adler had tried to make stick. Most people chose to ignore it, much to his chagrin. Hearing the nickname roll off this little girl's tongue now was almost unexpected.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Timekeeper. We're here about the suitcase. We received the report about the unusual Dust streams and were eager to see it first hand. The study of Dust is sorely underactioned," Ulrich said. Although Adler was content to let the globeheaded Awakened explain their reasoning for being there, he couldn't help but bristle at the insinuation that it was somehow Adler's fault that Dust wasn't studied. Signing off on research grants was most certainly not his responsibility!
Perhaps it was a good thing that he and Ulrich were currently not assigned to any projects together... even just being close to him was rubbing Adler up the wrong way.
"Eh?" A sharp jab to his ribs pulled Adler out of his self-imposed reverie, and he looked at Vertin. He fought the immature urge to shove Ulrich back and pray that his stupid tank shatters on the tiled floor.
"Ah, I, uh, I wasn't listening," he said, trying to inject his voice with enough apologeticness to sound sincere. Vertin didn't react positively or negatively, just (presumably) repeated what she had already said to Ulrich.
"The current environment within the suitcase is volatile for those unused to it. Humans and Awakened arcanists alike have reported feeling unwell. If you feel any sort of discomfort, please report to Mesmer Jr in the medical wing, and she can check over your health. Yenisei will meet you inside the suitcase; please follow her lead." Vertin spoke in such a rehearsed manner that Adler couldn't help but wonder if she was some kind of Lucy spawn; her script was so monotonous that it sounded robotic. No wonder Adler had tuned it out the first time. However, he had the awareness to not spout any of his thoughts this time, and instead he nodded diligently. Ulrich had a few other questions that Vertin answered with the patience of a saint, and then it was time for them to enter the suitcase.
'Plane-hopping', for lack of a better term, was a new experience for Adler, and it was embarrassing how wobbly he felt when he alighted in the Wilderness portion of Vertin's suitcase. A stranger's gloved hand reached out and grabbed his arm to steady him, and a that was foreign both in accent and familiarity washed over him.
"Steady, Mr Hofmann. It's normal to feel a little lightheaded while you find your feet." Adler didn't recognise the voice, but he could place the accent as Russian. He looked up, and another young lady looked back at him. She was pale, with piercing blue eyes and a look of impassive nonchalance on her face... he thought, anyway. His vision was swimming a little too much to make out any real details.
"You're faring better than your friend, here," she said with a gesture towards Ulrich, who was currently laying prostrated on the hard ground. Adler shook off who he could only assume was Yenisei and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, then teetered over towards Ulrich. He kicked the Awakened sharply in the sole of the foot, and Ulrich shot upright with a yelp, his ferrofluid spiking aggressively at the sudden shock and acclimation to his new environment.
"Researcher Hofmann, please refrain from kicking me!" Ulrich demanded as he pushed himself to his feet. Adler grunted. He regretted kicking the stupid hunk of metal too; his foot was smarting.
"Perhaps you will do better to not collapse then, eh?" Adler said. Behind him, the young lady cleared her throat. Despite his dry remarks, Adler still put out a hand, and despite his aggrieved retort, Ulrich still grabbed it and hauled himself upright.
"Ahem, sorry about that, Miss... ah! You must be Yenisei, correct? The Timekeeper advised us that you would be our escort during our time in the Wilderness," Ulrich said, stepping around Adler and speaking directly to Yenisei. The youngster nodded. With her hands clasped in front of her and her slightly distracted, faraway gaze coupled with her sharp tongue and strange sense of awareness, Adler found her to be quite the strange individual.
"That's right.”
"Oh! You transcribed the Notes on Shuori, ja?" Adlder interrupted with a click of his fingers as he finally realised why Yenise's name sounded familiar. Yenisei looked surprised as she turned her attention to Adler, and she nodded again. The faraway look in her eyes turned sharper for a moment, clarity welling in them like a freshwater spring.
"Yes, that's correct. I accompanied Madam Bessmert on her journey to the east, and completed the records on her behalf," she said. She gestured behind her, and both Adler and Ulrich followed the swoop of her hand to indicate the vast expanse of Wilderness behind her; Adler couldn't begin to focus on one particular spot to figure out exactly what was happening before him. The landmass seemed to change at the whims of a higher authority than any of them could see, and the water seemed to flow along with a current that simply didn't exist. It was a bizarre place, filled with bizarre things.
"---last Meimeng," Yenisei was saying. Adler shook his head as he pulled himself back into the present. What was she saying? What on earth was a Meimeng? Clearly he missed something, but it didn't seem to matter. Yenisei was turning, preparing to guide the two Laplace researchers into the depths of the Wilderness.
"You have travelled far and wide, correct?" Ulrich asked Yenisei. She hummed her assent, and Ulrich took that as an invitation to grill her on her exploits. Have you encountered many other arcane beings? Your divination techniques; is it tied in with your arcane skill, or is it something else? Have you ever encountered Dust streams on your travels? He had so many questions, most of which Adler ended up tuning out as he trudged along with the conversing duo, hanging back far enough that he didn't have to involve himself in the conversation. He took in his surroundings instead. The Wilderness was impressive. It almost reminded him of a boardgame; the environment seemed like it was built block by block, put together piece by piece and creating a jigsaw of mismashed environments that somehow turned into a cacophonous symphony. Trees grew together that had no business growing together, desert sand and arctic snow overlapped, and occasionally Adler caught sight of things that moved in not so natural ways.
Perhaps it was the fact that he spent the entire walk distracted, or he had built up a preconceived notion that these Dust streams weren't going to be all that they were made out to be by the LSCC researchers, but when Adler first caught sight of the golden auroras twisting and spiralling through the air, he was certain that his breath hitched in his throat.
The flow of arcane energy in the air was undeniable, and even Adler, as miserably human as human could be, found it quite mesmerising. The golden currents moved like waves taking on a mind of their own, twisting and turning in a way that could have almost been considered playful. From where they stood, the currents looked to flow somewhat low to the ground, and this was confirmed when Yenisei stepped up to the Dust. Ulrich followed suit without hesitation, and Adler reached out as though to grab him. He quickly caught himself before his fingers could make contact with his colleague's uniform sleeve --- why would he need to stop Ulrich from doing as he pleased? He couldn’t answer, at least not without having to do some serious introspection.
"The Dust streams are safe to interact with," Yenisei said. She removed one of her gloves and stored it safely in her pocket. Reaching out with an elegant hand, Yenisei’s fingers breached the stream of Dust, causing the flow of the golden particles to distort around her fingertips. Adler couldn't help but liken it to the natural flow of water; the way it moved was so fluid, so real.
Why did that revelation fill him with a sense of visceral unease? It felt like a heavy lump had settled in the back of his throat, and the weight of the Dust was keeping it there. Perhaps it was because this simply wasn't for him. Dust didn't apply to him, and looking upon something that was for arcanists just felt... wrong. Like he was looking through a window into a house that didn’t belong to him, or reading the journal of a person he’d never met before.
"Ja, I have seen enough," he said, the first thing he said in a long time. Yenisei looked surprised to hear him speak so dismissively. Ulrich didn't acknowledge him whatsoever, and Adler couldn't help but shift his attention to the ferrofluid as he approached the dust. The inky black liquid that harboured Ulrich's soul seemed to shift independently of the magnetic pulses that powered his body; it shifted in the yellow suspension fluid, separating into thick, viscous droplets that all seemed determined to bask in the streams of Dust.
"Do you not want to touch it? It's safe for humans... or at least none of the humans who have come into contact have suffered any adverse effects that we know of," Yenisei said. Adler shook his head, certain with his decision, but his eyes followed Ulrich anyway. Dust wasn’t for him and he was mightily uncomfortable with this whole excursion, but he couldn’t seem to look away from the way Ulrich was suddenly so transfixed on the golden aurora before him.
It wasn’t just Ulrich, either. Adler caught movement further down the streams; other Arcanists that he didn’t recognise interacted with the Dust streams, and there was one arcanist that he did recognise, a young girl with a heavy parka coat and a loaded suitcase that overflowed with papers. She sat on the ground in front of the current, simply looking up at it. Her face was sad. Adler felt a little bit bad for her.
“Oh, this is certainly quite fascinating,” Ulrich said. His voice pulled Adler back. He was immersed in the Dust stream now. The infinitesimally small particles adjusted their course to move around him, then rushed to fill the space in front of him so that their path was never altered for long. It was almost like there was a specific route it followed. Like butterflies emerging from their cocoons and following the migratory compass ingrained into them during their transformation.
“I did not expect it to be so… warm.” Ulrich’s voice took a strange turn now, one that made Adler raise an eyebrow in regrettably genuine interest. The Awakened’s voice was all programming, so for the Dust to have such an impact on it was certainly a curious phenomenon. Not only that, but the ferrofluid seemed to be completely separated now, the amber carrier fluid looking cloudy with iron particles and globs of oil that didn’t mix with the water in Ulrich’s tank. Ulrich himself stretched out his hands, letting the dust roll over his fingers.
“The arcane nature of Dust is one of pure energy. It’s warm because it moves, it lives,” Yenisei said. Adler pulled his attention away from Ulrich and looked at the young arcanist as she let her fingers trail through the surface of the Dust stream again. She showed much more restraint than Ulrich, who was utterly engulfed by now.
“How do you know this?” Adler said. Try as he might, his latent curiosity got the better of him.
“That is just how it is,” Yenisei responded. Her voice, previously as cool as a freshwater spring, was slightly warmer now.
“It has the same properties as water… in that it sustains life. Without Dust, where would we be? It carries everything for us. More skilled diviners than I can read the currents and tell the stories that the streams keep hidden.” It sounded crazy to Adler, but Yenisei seemed so sincere that he had a hard time coming up with a reason to refute her. Perhaps Ulrich would provide a distraction.
No, Adler thought after looking at him again. Ulrich was in a state of rapture. He stood utterly still, letting the Dust roll over his entire form. Adler has never seen him look so deformed, in the most literal sense of the word.
“Will you really not touch it?” Yenisei asked softly now, looking up at Adler. Perhaps his face said something that he didn’t, but he vehemently shook his head and waved an insouciant hand towards Ulrich.
“Nein. Make sure he gets out of there in one piece, I have little desire to explain to Madam Lucy how he has melted. How can I leave?”
Yenisei looked at Adler for a long moment, but Adler didn’t meet her gaze. He instead turned his back on the current of living gold and decided that he’d had enough. Eventually she gave him the guidance he needed to depart from the suitcase and provided an assurance that she would get Ulrich out in one piece, and Adler returned to his office.
He didn’t feel any different when he sat back down at his desk and looked at his unfinished crossword. He didn’t think he did, anyway. Witnessing the Dust streams for himself was… unpleasant. He still had a hard pit in his stomach, and when he blinked, the brief black-out from reality was tinged in gold and unfairly beautiful. When he picked up his pen and started working through the next couple of clues, he had to ignore the sense of dissatisfaction that replaced the hard lump.
The Dust was strange and unusual, and Adler had never felt anything like it, but for some reason he felt ever so slightly regretful that he left it without at least attempting to understand what had hypnotised his colleague and enraptured the Arcanist population enough that they turned the Wilderness into some kind of tourist destination… or the final stop of a pilgrimage.