Fuze: Waking From A Dream

Operator Record Waking From A Dream
He sinks deeper into the dream to escape the tragedy in front of him, completely oblivious to the fact that living in a dream is the greatest tragedy of all. Unlock conditions Raise Fuze to Elite 2 Level 1. Have at least 50% Trust with Fuze.

Characters
Doc? Ela Fuze Haggard Noble/Berman Townsfolk Blitz? Vissel
Backgrounds
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Summary: In a small Leithanian town, Fuze searches for help fixing a water tower from the only person who knows Originium circuitry. However, this unsteady relationship is primed to explode over their clashing personalities.
<Background 1>
[A noble walks to the door after hearing someone knock.]
Haggard Noble	... Name yourself, stranger.
[The person outside knocks again.]
???	...Fuze.
Haggard Noble	That accent... are you Ursine?
Fuze	You could say that.
Haggard Noble	What is it?
Fuze	The water tower is broken. I want to fix it.
Haggard Noble	Can't you fix it yourself? What does it have to do with me?
Fuze	The problem is with the pump's Originium circuit. I understand engineering, and you know Originium Arts.
[The noble opens the door.]
Haggard Noble	...A well-armed, masked Ursine? Here to fix a water tower in a Leithanien town?
Townsfolk	Mr. Berman...
Berman	Oh, it's you. What's with this man?
Townsfolk	Vissel and I were attacked by needleflies when fetching water from the river. Vissel got hurt, but we made it back alive thanks to Fuze here.
Berman	Vissel got hurt? Is it serious?
Townsfolk	He's still alive... that's all I can say. His granddaughter is by his side.
Berman	I see. Go on.
Townsfolk	We invited him into town, and that's when he saw the broken water tower. He tried to fix it and found that the problem was with the Originium circuit, not the mechanical components...
Berman	I see.
Townsfolk	I-I'll be going.
[The townsman leaves.]
Berman	So you asked him if he knew anyone who knew Originium Arts, and he brought you to me.
Fuze	(Nods) I'm hoping you can help your subjects.
Berman	I'm not their lord.
Fuze	He said the Baron built this water tower many years ago. I asked him where the Baron lived, and he brought me to you.
Berman	You heard him call me Mr. Berman, not Baron.
Fuze	Very well... Mr. Berman. This is a facility that makes people's lives better.
Berman	People used to go to the river to fetch water all the time. They managed just fine. Maybe it was the water tower's pumps that created a space for the needleflies to make their nest.
Fuze	All I know is that Vissel wouldn't be at death's door if the water tower was fixed earlier.
Berman	What difference does one death make?
Fuze	You think his death doesn't matter?
Berman	It's not just him. Him, me, this whole town, all of Leithanien... all of it is irreversibly moving towards decay and death. The difference between needlefly and old age is no more than the difference between arriving at your destination by burdenbeast or by foot.
Fuze	...Ridiculous.
Berman	Where are you going?
Fuze	To find others.
Berman	There's no one else in town who knows Originium circuits. Whoever brought you to me must have told you.
Fuze	Then I'll research it.
Berman	Why are you so stubborn about this? Over a bunch of people whom you've just met?
Fuze	It's not about who, but what. Goodbye.
Berman	Wait. I have a few books on this topic that I bought when I was young.
<Background fades out and in>
Fuze	You spent a lot of time looking for them.
Berman	It's not an easy thing, looking for books. "Originium Circuit Theory and Applications", from Victoria. Wasn't easy to find a book that wasn't in Leithanian at home.
[Berman gives Fuze the book.]
Berman	You must have question marks written all over your face behind that mask, Ursine. You don't know why I refuse to fix the water tower, but allow you to borrow my books.
Fuze	I have a theory.
Berman	Which is?
Fuze	You want to prove that fixing the water tower won't change anything.
Berman	It's not that complicated. I'm just curious.
Fuze	I thought you had completely lost interest.
Berman	Even a rock would be curious about why a heavily-armed foreigner wants to fix a water tower for your neighbor.
Fuze	Either I fix it or I don't. That's all there is to it.
Berman	No... what I'm curious is what this person has experienced, which has made him so stubborn about something that shouldn't have anything to do with him. Would you like to stay over for the night, Mr. Fuze? Perhaps we can have a chat over dinner.
Fuze	Thank you for the invitation, but I doubt we have much to talk about.
Berman	... I suppose you're right.
[Fuze leaves.]
Berman	...But I would still have liked to have a chat.
<Background black>
???	Shuhrat— What is it?
Fuze	Sorry. Got lost in thought.
<Background 2>
[Fuze is walking around outside of Blitz' quarters at Rhodes Island.]
Fuze looks around him. It is the corridor of Rhodes Island. He would not call it familiar, but it is not unknown to him either. He has his hands around the back of his head, leaning against the wall outside Elias Kötz's quarters at Rhodes Island, waiting for "Blitz" to come out.
Blitz?	It'll be a little longer. I haven't gotten used to Rhodes Island razors yet.
Fuze	That's fine, Kötz.
Blitz?	Where were we? Oh, the festival we saw at Leithanien. There were a thousand casters at the festival. They stood silently like statues on the plaza before the opening ceremony. They were waiting for a single note from the concertmaster. The cue for them to raise their Arts Units in unison was so quiet it was almost inaudible ... Come on. A reaction would be nice, you know.
Fuze	It's hard for me to imagine it. Leithanian is too different from anything that I know. Imagine, one thousand robed, masked figures holding wands, standing on Registan Square...
Blitz?	Registan Square?
Fuze	The landmark of Samarkand. You should know.
Blitz?	I see. I'll continue. One thousand beams of Arts light shoot into the night sky. Colors clashed in the clouds and burst open, turning the entire sky into a colorful sea of flowers...
Fuze	Application of evocation-conversion Originium Arts?
Blitz?	You know Originium Arts?
Fuze	The result of extra lessons in Dossoles. Coal, oil, gas, even nuclear fusion... it's all been replaced by Originium. I had to learn from scratch— What is it?
Blitz?	Something wrong with the razor. One moment—
<Background 3>
[Fuze wakes up and accidentally turns the pages of the book.]
Fuze wakes with a start. He had fallen asleep on the desk, his faced buried in the book he was reading.
Fuze	Tsk... my back hurts. And my head's groggy... "Festive scene witnessed by the author while visiting Leithanien..." No wonder I was dreaming about it.
[Fuze picks up something that fell out of the book when he turned the pages.]
Fuze	Something fell out... a bookmark? I should return this with the book.
<Background 4>
Fuze	Press the switch there for me, please.
[The townsman presses the switch.]
Townsfolk	Not working.
Fuze	Looks like we need a few more books from Berman. Could you fetch them for me?
Townsfolk	I'm sorry, Mr. Fuze. Mr. Berman...
Fuze	What about him? Don't tell me he does illegal stuff in secret. You were really nervous the first time I visited him.
Townsfolk	No, not at all! He's not a bad person. It's just... well... we don't go there unless we really need to.
Fuze	...Fine, I'll go myself.
<Background 1>
Berman	Let me see... "Practical Manual of Home Appliances"? Isn't that a little too simple?
Fuze	Just because it's simple doesn't mean it can't help. I'll take this one.
Berman	Of course.
[Berman gives Fuze the book.]
Berman	I'm curious, though... why would there be an Ursine who knows machines, but not Originium circuits?
Fuze	That's not important right now.
Berman	Why don't we set the water tower aside for a moment and talk about our own lives?
Fuze	There's no need for that.
Berman	Well, I'll start if you don't want to... starting with that water tower. The water tower was the first step of the Baron's dream. He wanted to help the people here live better lives. He hoped this place could be a 'model town.' In the end, the only thing he achieved was tap water for the townsfolk. The Baron wanted to build a factory in town, get investments from bigwigs from the capital, make this place a center for the arts... but all his efforts ended up futile or unnoticed. His final attempt was the boldest, and it came closest to success. He wanted to move the entire town to a mobile platform. He had an agreement with a Vedunien factory, and paid a large amount up front— Then, Their Majesties visited their faithful Zwillingstürme.
Fuze	Is that your story?
Berman	...My father's. I was young then, still working on my university thesis about telepathic and perceptive Arts in Vedunien. At the end of it all, the only thing I could remember is blood. Blood of the common folk, of nobles, of the Gendarmerie, of the Kurfürsten, and of my teacher. I barely escaped with my life, clutching the charred thesis. The first thing my father asked when I came back was how I was doing. The second thing he asked was how the factory was doing... I need not tell you the answer.
Fuze	Your father died a broken man, and you never inherited his title.
Berman	I gave it up, because I realized it was all meaningless.
Fuze	...Do you know what the biggest difference between you and your father is?
Berman	I'm all ears.
Fuze	He at least managed to give the townspeople tap water. If we talk about the issue at hand, your neighbors will have running water from tubes again tomorrow.
Berman	Then let's assume your work here will be done. You'll leave, not pausing for a moment.
Fuze	I'm sure there are many people as stubborn as I am in Leithanien. You can see for yourself.
Berman	No. I only learned this recently. You're one of a kind.
Fuze	One of a kind?
Berman	It's nothing. I wish you luck in your studies. And if you see Vissel's granddaughter, tell her to bring him over before it's too late.
Fuze	"Bring him over"? What do you mean?
Berman	Exactly that.
<Background 5>
???	This looks like a good place.
Fuze	It's really dark here.
Doc?	Looks like it's going to be a long time before we can go back to that place where everything doesn't run on Originium.
Fuze	I didn't know you were the kind to get homesick.
Doc?	Of course. You remember the day we first came?
Fuze	I remember. We were investigating the Magnethill No.2 site and ended up landing on Reynell's golf balls.
Doc?	Speaking of home, what was the name of that landmark in Samarkand... Registan Square？
Fuze	Yeah. The building with the blue dome. I can almost see the crowds on the square, the cars driving by, and the patterns on the three buildings…
<Background 3>
[Fuze wakes up.]
Fuze looks up from his book. Sleep seems to come to him anytime, anywhere now. He often falls asleep halfway through a draft, and has to chase the remnants of the dream out of his mind after waking up. The dreams were too clear, too real. Sometimes, he even wonders if Terra was just a really, really long dream after he hit his head at Magnethill No. 2.
Fuze	(Yawns) I can't sleep now. I need to go to the water tower... or borrow another book from Berman... What did he say about Vissel's granddaughter? Tell her to bring him over?
<Background 1>
Berman	Thank you for bringing Vissel over while he still draws breath. Where's his granddaughter?
Fuze	In bed. She's exhausted. Why do you have the townspeople send the dying to you? I asked around. People were hesitant at first, but they eventually told me that you've been doing this for a long time.
Berman	Let me guess... you suspect I'm taking advantage of the dead?
Fuze	I am a bit skeptical, assuming what you told me is true.
Berman	What do you mean?
Fuze	It's hard to believe someone so melancholy could be that bad. Especially when they can't put in the effort to do anything.
Berman	...Now you've offended me, Mr. Fuze. But that's fine.
Fuze	You haven't answered my question.
Berman	Then watch. You'll understand.
The sleepiness strikes again. Fuze bites on his tongue to prevent himself from falling asleep. Berman gazes down at the old man's clouded eyes, and places one end of his staff on the old man's forehead. The tip of the staff begins to glow.
Vissel	(Mumbled muttering) Levine, it's you... you came back... you really came back... No, don't apologize, no need to say anything... we'll go home. Here, an apple from the backyard... you wanted one when you left, but there wasn't any on the trees that year. I saved this one for you...
There is no apple on the old man's hand. Berman is the only person standing before him.
Fuze	Who's Levine?
Berman	Vissel's only son. He left the town more than a decade ago, after contracting Oripathy.
Fuze	What did you do to Vissel? Is he hallucinating?
Berman	Of course not. That's beyond my reach. All I can do is alleviate their pain, help them relax, cause them to dream when it's neither the time nor place to do so... a midday dream that I cannot interfere with.
Fuze	Sounds like a doctor administrating anesthetics to a patient in pain, except there's no syringe.
Berman	If that's how you understand it, it's not my place to say any more.
Fuze	Drug abuse ruins lives.
Berman	Is it abuse to let a dying person leave in peace? Shuhrat—
Fuze	...
Berman	This is the most meaningful thing that I can do for someone, Mr. Fuze.
Fuze	Perhaps Vissel wouldn't be dying if you had done something about the water tower earlier. You're the one drowning yourself in "medicine" instead of helping the dying.
Berman	Ha, me? I've seen too many tragedies. The more I see of them, the more I'm convinced that I'm right. Catastrophe, intrigue, war, Originium, even minor accidents... the life and will of man is ever fragile before them, like dust in the wind. And soon I'll be gone with the wind too.
[Berman reveals his abdomen to Fuze.]
Berman unbuttons his shirt and reveals the Originium crystal formations in his abdomen.
Berman	On the way back from Zwillingstürme, I found that I had a little black rock by the side of my ribs, one last parting gift from Vedunien. It has almost consumed me, and so I decided to commit a crime for the first and last time in my life.
Fuze	Crime?
Berman	There is a lot of complicated preparation to be done in order for my Arts to work on a healthy and uncooperative mind. I'm sorry for doing this to you. It began as curiosity about what this quiet man of action talks about in his sleep, so I did something to the book and bookmark that I lent you. Then, I heard you talk in your dream, about something beyond my wildest imagination... a blue sky, sky without a single trace of Originium. I don't expect to go with you to that place without Originium. I don't even expect to become friends with you. After all, you don't like people who don't talk about practical things, do you?
Fuze	...
Berman	And so, I must use my Arts... so that we can finish this last midday dream together. I'm sorry to make you stay with a dying patient in his final moments, but he has been alone for too long.
[Berman casts his Arts.]
Berman points his wand at Fuze before he could react.
[Fuze faints.]
Fuze is overcome by sleepiness. He hears the flows of an undercurrent, pulling his drifting consciousness below the surface.
<Background 6>
???	Shuhrat! Wake up!
Fuze	*Cough,* *cough*...
???	Good, you're awake. Lucky for you, you saved yourself a bit of pain. Grab your gear. We're leaving.
[Fuze wakes up.]
Fuze	Where are we?
Ela	Magnethill No.2. The tremors have passed. You seem to have hit your head. There's nothing unusual in the labs. Doc and the others have already left. Investigation into any possible connections to Levi will have to wait until next time.
Fuze	Mm... hm.
<Background 7>
Ela	Do you have any vacation plans?
Fuze	Vacation?
Ela	You forgot that too? You really did hit your head hard, didn't you? I need some help picking out a good place to relax. How about Samarkand? I hear Registan Square is beautiful. A place where I can lie down for a whole day, thinking about nothing.
Fuze	Sure. But... wait... there's something I still need to do...
Ela	What is it?
Fuze	I don't know, but... Originium...
Ela	Originium? What's that? Did you have a dream while you were out cold?
Fuze	I mean... have you ever heard of Originium?
Ela	You can't expect other people to understand what happens in your dreams.
Fuze	Sorry... it's just that the word left an impression on me.
Ela	There's no point in dwelling on it. It's better to just focus on Registan Square. You should come with me.
Ela?	Your cas— I mean, scientists, the best ones—
Ela	No, it's nothing. I'm just happy that I'm visiting your homeland. A place with no catastrophe, no war, no tragedies.
Fuze	No... tragedies?
Ela?	Shuhrat? What is it?
Fuze	Do you remember Oregon?
Ela?	Shuhrat—
Fuze	Tell me, what do you think of Oregon?
Ela?	O-Oregon? A good place for artists, with nice museums, orchestras...
Fuze	What about Baghdad? Lebanon? Moscow?
Ela?	Shuhrat, listen...
Fuze	Did you think that without Originium—
Ela?	No, no!
Fuze	—Without Originium, there won't be any tragedies, Berman?
<Background 1>
Berman	(Forced smile) Of course not, Shuhrat. Perhaps it would all happen again, absent Originium. But don't be so hard on a dying patient's dream.
Fuze	Maybe you should go and see the places that I talked about. See what happened to my home without Originium.
Berman	There's no need. I take it that no less blood was spilled there than Vedunien that autumn.
Fuze	It's not the amount of bloodshed that matters.
Berman	Ha... you're one to talk now, Shuhrat. Go. The Arts have failed. You can no longer tell me what it looks like beneath that blue sky, nor can I experience it again through your narration. Go, before I turn to a pile of dust. Bring my first and final crime to a painless end. What is it? You wanted to talk to a man who achieved nothing?
Fuze	Perhaps there are less tragedies in this world... these lands... than you think.
Berman	Then what did I see in Vedunien? What did you see in the places that you talked about?
Fuze	Chaos. Chaos is just that. Sometimes it brings destruction and other times, it guides you through it. Chaos doesn't always end in tragedy, unless...
Berman	Unless no one takes action?
Fuze	...
Berman	Perhaps, Shuhrat. But it's too late. Too late. Does the soul linger after death?
Fuze	I know little about this topic.
Berman	It's fine. I'm just thinking... if it does, do you think my soul can visit the Samarkand of your memories, and see the blue dome above?
Fuze	If you wish... ...I'm not opposed to telling you how it looks, of my own volition.
Berman	Am I still worthy to hear it?
Fuze	Don't leave this world without achieving anything.
The haggard man's eyes go wide, then he laughs feebly.
Berman	Perhaps the reason that you don't like to talk is you're too smart. Smart people are good at offending others.
Fuze shrugs and begins to describe the plaza and the nearby buildings, in as much detail as possible. Berman raises his wand, and a lifelike model of Registan Square begins to form before the desk.
Fuze	...Looks just like it. Almost identical.
Berman	Good to hear. Where will you go?
Fuze	The water tower. I'll stay in town a little longer, finish what you could not.
Berman	Go. Take Vissel home. Let him spend his last moments with his granddaughter.
Fuze	I will. Goodbye.
Berman	...Take care.
[Fuze leaves.]
As the door locks behind Fuze, Berman raises his wand with what little strength he has left. There is no music, only the sound of doors and windows sealing. The wand falls to the ground, but Berman could no longer hear it. He feels the blue dome of the model, imagining the sky of the same color, the sky he hasn't, and won't be able to see.