Return to Remus

Beneath the Dragoneye Moons: Book Seven

———————

Selkie Myth

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Auri Anxiety I

Chapter 2 Auri Anxiety II

Chapter 3 Burning Brightly

Chapter 4 On the road to Arminium I

Chapter 4.5 Minor Interlude - Auri

Chapter 5 On the road to Arminium II

Chapter 6 Triumphant Return

Chapter 7 Artemis!!

Chapter 8 Family Reunion

Chapter 9 Reporting back I

Chapter 10 Reporting back II

Chapter 11 Reporting Back III

Chapter 12 Reporting Back IV

Chapter 13 Reporting back V

Chapter 14 The Endless To-do List I

Chapter 15 The Endless To-do List II

Chapter 16 The Endless To-do List III

Chapter 17 The Endless To-do List IV

Chapter 18 The Endless To-do List V

Chapter 19 Emperor Augustus

Chapter 20 Sentinel Smackdown

Chapter 21 Injustice II

Chapter 22 Negotiation Night I

Chapter 23 Negotiation Night II

Chapter 24 The Dawn of Change

Chapter 25 The White Dove once again

Chapter 26 The Triumph of Sentinel Dawn I

Chapter 27 The Triumph of Sentinel Dawn II

Chapter 28 Musings on the 3rd class I

Chapter 29 Musings on the third class II

Chapter 30 Three Curses

Chapter 31 The Most Dangerous Game I

Chapter 32 The Most Dangerous Game II

Chapter 33 Minor Interlude - Auri - Left Behind

Chapter 34 Moments before disaster

Chapter 35 The Midas Touch

Chapter 36 The Last Supper

Chapter 37 End of an Era

Chapter 38 Dawn of the Longest Day

Chapter 39 The Longest Day

Chapter 40 Minor Interlude - Night The Relentless Passage of Time

Chapter 41 Minor interlude - Julia Life goes on

This story started on Royal Road. Come read thousands of other novels today!

Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

Oathbound Healer

Adventures in the Argo

Ranger’s Dawn

Beyond the Wall

Journey to the Center of Pallos

Immortal Moments

Return to Remus

This is a work of fiction, and the views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author. Likewise, certain characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Return to Remus (Beneath the Dragoneye Moons, Book 7)

Copyright © 2020 Selkie Myth

All rights reserved.

This story is dedicated to my wonderful wife, Lauren, without whom this wouldn't be possible. Her endless love and support keeps me going.

This story is also dedicated to my beautiful daughter Flora, whose smiles light up my every day.

I would also like to acknowledge my beta readers, who put up with my endless typos, fix my mistakes, and help guide the story, so it can be the best story possible.

I'd like to thank all the other supportive authors and writing communities, and all the kind words they have.

Lastly, I'd like to thank Royal Road. My story and success wouldn't be possible without their website.

Thank you, to each and every one of you.

Chapter 1
Auri Anxiety I

I looked down at the little demanding hatchling, her voice much louder than her size would suggest.

"BRRPT! BRRPT!" She continued to demand, screaming for her needs to get met.

I smiled as I gently stroked her wet head, already feeling warm, loving emotions flow through me.

In this moment, it was all worth it. From Lun’Kat’s lair, through the wilderness with the elves, the shimagu, and now back at home, keeping the egg warm and safe had been worth every second, every hit I took while I chose to shield the egg - Auri - instead of me.

I had some minor alarm bells going off in the back of my head. Quite frankly, while the elves had been great at giving me an education on how to raise all sorts of creatures, I wasn’t prepared in the slightest. I didn’t have a home base arranged, I didn’t have a bed prepared - not for myself, let alone Auri! - I didn’t have a wide selection of foods.

Heck, the most important piece of the puzzle - knowing what I was hatching - was also missing! She [Long-Range Identify]’d as a [Hatchling], pure white of course, which meant she was highly intelligent. I wouldn’t be able to harm her without triggering [Oath]’s penalty. She’d [Identify] as an [Artisan] or something when she grew up, and not as a monster.

Which, long term, was great! She wasn’t going to be a bird brain. I’d gotten strong evidence that companions could communicate on a deeper level with each other, and a smart bird would be a much better conversationalist.

"Brrrpt!"

… if she could ever figure out a word beside "brpt".

Short term? I wasn’t thrilled. Not knowing what she was made figuring out what to feed her tricky.

The only thing that stopped panic from entirely overwhelming me was Wolfy. He was an expert on companions, and was on loan from Bossman. He’d mentioned going to get food, and the dude could move when he wanted to.

Moon - just the white wolf of the Moonmoon pair - came loping over a moment later, grinning the happy wolf grin with a basket in her mouth. I was suddenly reminded of Cordamo and Sasha.

Moonmoon were still wolves. They still had the instinct to hunt and kill, and it was woven into their very nature just as it was a part of Cordamo’s nature. I couldn’t blame them for that, anymore than I could blame myself for walking on two legs and devouring mangos whenever I saw them.

At the same time, I had to protect Auri. "Oops, I wasn’t careful enough and a wolf ate her" wouldn’t bring her back. I had insane healing, but that was predicated on my patient being alive enough to get healed. Chomp snap gulp was a dead bird, and my healing wouldn’t work there.

Not unless, like, she was eaten whole and surviving inside. Then I could slice Moonmoon up, grab Auri from the inside, then heal both of them up. Hurray for formative childhood trauma!

Focus.

I wrapped Auri in [Mantle of the Stars], leaving holes for her to breathe. With the amount of noise the ugly grey hatchling was making, she needed the air.

"Good boy, Moony." I petted the wolf in question as he arrived, dropping the basket at my feet. Moon looked happy at the scritches, his tongue lolling out.

"Can you scout around and guard?" I asked her, and she barked an affirmative. Or, at least, I assumed it was one.

I felt good. Managed to get Moon away from Auri - just in case - without viciously insulting her or anything. A small social win!

There was no time to waste. Wolfy had mentioned that minutes were critical in the early stage.

I expanded the shield to a full half-dome with some air holes, then I flipped open the basket that Moon had brought.

I blinked at the two coins on top of a few handfuls of unshucked wheat. How had Wolfy managed to find unshucked wheat in town, and bought it so fast? And what was with the money?

Focus.

That wasn’t important.

I sat down cross-legged, holding Auri in one hand, and picking out a single grain of wheat with the other. I started to bring it to her head, then froze.

The grain was bigger than her eye, and babies weren’t known for their good judgement, or their ability to chew things and not choke.

Auri was oblivious to my musings, and she saw the seed near her head. She grabbed onto the wheat with her beak, trying to wrestle the food away from me.

It’d be adorable if it wasn’t so dangerous. Sure, with my System-enhanced body, Auri had no chance of success, but the seed could easily choke the life out of her, snuff her out before her life had even begun.

No, I needed some way of mashing the seeds into a -

The coins!

Bless Wolfy. I might’ve been able to do it with my fingers, thinking about it, but the coins made it easier.

I held Auri with one hand away from me. The poor hungry baby bird was trying to get the little grain I was holding, entirely oblivious to the dangers of choking.

"BRRPT! BRRRPT!" She objected to being pulled away from the grain, straining against my hand to try and escape. I could feel her tiny little wings beating frantically inside my hand. She was so small, it was hard to contain her properly. There wasn’t a way to make a choke - her entire body was tiny - and if I squeezed too hard?

POP went the Auri.

Working quickly, I put a few grains between the two coins, and ground them together, turning the wheat into a really shitty flour.

I loved the hideous little ball of mess I was holding, but I was not going to regurgitate food for her. Nope. Nuh-uhn. Only if all else failed.

The other Moon, dark as night, showed up with a basket. I gave him a glance, then refocused on what I was currently doing.

I needed to pay attention to this. Any mistake here could spell disaster, either for Auri, or for our chance to bond.

I carefully tipped some of the "flour" into Auri’s open beak. It got all over, but importantly, some went down the hatch.

"Brrpt! BRRRPPT!!" She kept demanding more though. No surprise.

I flickered my shield, changing it from a half-dome - "full shield mode" - to an Auri-only holed sphere - "Auri protection bubble". Moon trotted over with his basket, and put it down.

"Good boy." I quickly gave him a scratch. Needed to pay attention to Auri, who was quite loudly demanding my tender care. "Can you find Wolfy and see if he needs you for anything else?"

I swear Moon tried to salute, then bounded off in that lupine way. The other Moon half-tackled him as he found his best friend, and the two tussled for half a second before remembering that, oops, they had jobs to do.

Heh. Goofballs.

I changed the shield back to full shield mode.

I flipped the basket open with my foot while I ground up a new set of wheat grains for Auri to eat.

"BRRRPT!"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. This would be so much easier if she wasn’t screaming in my ear non-stop like a broken klaxon.

I opened my eyes and checked on my loot.

My eyes widened as I saw holy mangos mixed in with a few other fruits, and a waterskin. I paused a moment, then refocused.

Baby bird. Needs food.

I dumped another mess of flour over Auri, wishing for a bowl. Then I could catch the spilled flour - it was in the majority - and retry it with Auri.

The baskets I had were no good for that. Too many nooks and crannies.

All the flour was incredibly dry though, and every living thing needed water.

"BRRPT!"

I hesitated a moment.

Right? I couldn’t think of anything that didn’t drink water. Even Lun’Kat seemed to have a great big pool of bathing/drinking water, and while the System seemed to allow creatures to bypass some biological needs at times, everything started with the System locked. The only thing giving me a moment’s pause was the explosion of fire that’d erupted when Auri hatched, along with the huge amount of heat needed to hatch her.

Well, that’s what [Hatchling Rearing] was for I guess. I grabbed the waterskin and gently brought it near Auri’s demanding beak.

The skill didn’t twig one way or another, and I half-shrugged to myself, tipping the waterskin over to give Auri a small drink.

My idea of a "small drink" was still a bit too much for the bird, who went silent as she tried to handle all the water. A disturbing gurgling noise came from her, as water splashed all around.

I frantically - carefully, if I made a mistake I could accidentally kill Auri, even before my System buffs came into play - held Auri upside down, helping the poor bird with her water woes.

Quickly enough she recovered.

"BRPT! BRPT! BRRRRRRRRRPT!" …and resumed demanding that I FEED HER! And flip her back up the right way.

I carefully rotated her back, and figured I’d try feeding her something else.

I grabbed a handful of blueberries - not the mango - and carefully juggled it and Auri.

I was a bit of a mess. I needed one hand to hold the berries, one to catch the juice, and one to hold Auri. That was one hand too many.

Inspiration struck. I flickered my shield, and made a complicated construct.

The full shield dome was still up, but part of it snaked over to where Auri and I were sitting down. I formed the end into a little funnel, right over my hand where Auri was.

I moved Auri out of the way.

"Brrpt! Brrrpt!"

I could try to feed the blueberries directly to Auri, but that seemed like a bad idea in a million ways. She was a baby. She didn’t have anything resembling common sense, and was entirely reliant on me to keep her safe and fed.

Which included making sure everything she ate was safe, and had no way of accidentally killing her or something. Blueberries were a perfect choking-sized fruit, and I didn’t trust myself to heimlich a baby bird successfully. Nor did I want to risk trying to heal Auri through whatever trauma would be needed to save her.

Like. "Hi Auri! I ripped out your throat minutes into meeting you!" wouldn’t be conducive towards a long and fruitful relationship.

I didn’t have a good way of turning the berries into juice, besides just popping them with my fingers. I didn’t even need stats to mash blueberries into a paste! I did have a modest amount of strength, but… they were blueberries.

"Brrpt! Brrrpt!" Auri was hurrying me along. Her crying was grating. I had to remind myself that she was a new, starving baby, and didn’t know any better.

I mashed a bunch on the edge of the funnel I’d made with [Mantle], letting the juices collect and start trickling down. I examined them closely, occasionally picking out a particularly large piece of mush that represented potential choking hazards, and as the trickles came together, I put Auri underneath.

She took a little sip of the juices, then practically glued herself to the funnel.

I made a mental note. Fruit juice - specifically blueberry - was a success!

It was possible that it was only the sweetness she was after, and it was actually terrible for her. I had to make some assumptions, and take some risks here. Birds often liked fruits. Auri liked the fruit. It was likely that whatever Auri was ate fruits.

My logic seemed sound.

I was quickly running out of blueberries though. Wolfy hadn’t sent a ton, opting for speed and a variety of things to send my way, versus quantity of any one thing. Like the wheat had been a bit of a bust.

Speaking of, didn’t birds need to eat rocks or something? For their gizzard?

I put that problem aside. I’d tackle it once I thought I could feed Auri successfully.

I looked at the fruit, and took a deep breath.

Time to make the Ultimate Sacrifice. Time to see if Auri and I were compatible on the deepest levels or not.

Time to see if Auri liked mangos.

A small part of me whispered that if Auri disliked mangos, there were more for me. I ruthlessly squashed that idea. If she didn’t like mangos, how close were we really? How well would we understand each other?

I grabbed the one mango, carefully positioned it over the funnel, and squeezed, putting all my strength into it, carefully controlling it with my dexterity.

The mango bulged and deformed as my fingers sank into it, precious, delicious ambrosia dripping down my fingers to the blueberry-stained funnel. It mixed with the first fruit, the blueberries tainting blessed perfection, before finishing its trip to Auri.

She went nuts.

"BRRPT! BRRPT! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPT!" She called out, half-gargling the mango juice.

YES! She liked mangos! More than that, it looked like she LOVED mangos!

"Auri, I see us having a long, long friendship together." I smiled at her.

"Brrrrrrpt!" She seemed to agree - although translating bird was hard - gargling more mango juice as she tried to talk and drink at the same time.

Hmmm. She needed some lessons. I thought back to mom, and did my best to channel her.

"Now, no talking with your mouth full." I used my best ‘motherly’ voice, cracking a smile.

[*ding!* [Hatchling Rearing] has leveled up! 88 -> 89!]

I’d be able to introduce mom to Auri soon! I couldn’t wait!

Oooh, maybe I’d wind her up a bit. "Hey Mom! I’m back! I had a fling with a hot dude, and now I’ve got a daughter!"

She’d flip. It’d be hilarious.

"Elaine! How’s it going?" Wolfy jogged over, Moonmoon at his heels. He drew short at the edge of my shield.

"Wolfy! Great! Thank you so much! She’s loving the fruits!"

He knocked on my shield, hefting a bag and a closed hand.

"Excellent! More supplies for you?" He somehow turned the statement into a question.

Also, he was looking at - oh damnit, I was still completely naked from when Auri hatched and burned everything.

"Tell me there’s a spare tunic in there."

"Brrrrpt!"

Wolfy nodded furiously.

"Also a spare tent and other camping supplies. Caught a bunch of insects on my way over."

Wolfy sat down next to me as I snapped my shield back up. With a few jerks of his head, Moonmoon went off to do something. Probably keep our campsite secure.

Bah. The reality of needing to camp again was just hitting me. It was extra-insulting that I was camping right next to the city walls - I was in the cleared area around them. Warm beds and real roofs were just a few meters away.

But nooo, Auri had to hatch in a baptism of fire, and it was too dangerous to let her in town. If she pulled that stunt off again, a large part of town would burn down.

My comfort wasn’t worth risking everyone’s lives. Downside of this whole Sentinel business.

The mango juice ran out, and I quickly changed, putting Auri down for the first time ever. In a [Mantle of the Stars] shield, but still.

"Brrpt?!" I ignored Auri’s complaint.

Insects were a good idea from Wolfy, although I wasn’t looking forward to mashing them up for Auri.

Oh right, the coins!

I juggled the insects, Auri, coins, and funnel while Wolfy got busy setting up a campsite. Bless having minions. How did I ever survive on my own without them?

I crushed up the bugs Wolfy had gotten. Spiders, flies, and other such nuisances, then pulling a face, poured them down the funnel. Auri happily ate them all.

I really, really hoped that she’d grow up quickly. I didn’t mind bugs too much - heck, I’d eaten extra-large spiders for months to survive - but there was something different about grinding them up, then pouring the guts around.

Auri gobbled up the last bits of food.

"Brrrrrrpt." She said, seemingly content. She then had a poop explosion, and pitched forward in her soiled egg, basically passing out to sleep.

Wolfy and I looked down, and I cracked a grin while he chuckled.

"Poor bird."

"Auri." I said. "Her name’s Auri."

"That’s a pretty name."

Chapter 2
Auri Anxiety II

"Thanks! I think Auri’s a pretty name as well! Can you acquire nest supplies?"

Wolfy whistled, and Moonmoon went scampering off.

"Can I touch?" Wolfy asked, and I looked at Auri’s sleeping form.

"She’s had a rough hatching… when she wakes up, sure!"

Wolfy and I traded a few stories of our respective adventures. He’d gotten in a rough fight against a heavyweight Ash mage-warrior, who used ashen limbs like an octopus to punch people. She’d left the fight after declaring it boring, chowing down on soup of all things.

"Had to call in a Sentinel."

"She left you all alive?" I asked, somewhat incredulously.

Wolfy nodded.

"Seemed to be after good fights, and nothing else."

Well, it took all sorts, and the normal people didn’t make it into our stories.

Meanwhile, I was able to expand on my elven adventures while Moonmoon brought us small sticks, the wolves practically tip-toeing to keep the delicate sticks and twigs from breaking. We soon assembled…

Well.

I wanted to call it a nest, but it was more of a gigantic mess.

"Can you do a supply run in town?" I asked Wolfly. "More fruits, and some cheap fabrics?"

Wolfy grinned.

"Sure! Anything to stay busy."

"So you don’t have to work the investigation?" I drily asked.

"Exactly! You know me so well!"

I rolled my eyes, but Wolfy got the stuff, letting me tend to - and protect - Auri.

"Let me grab a pinch of sand." Wolfy said after his latest supply run.

"Yeah, birds need some, and sand seems harmless if we’re wrong." I agreed.

Frankly, we only had a modest idea of what we were doing. For all I knew, birds didn’t need rocks for their gizzard until they were older, especially since we were doing the pre-digestion by mashing up Auri’s food for her.

It went alright, and Auri woke up again, brrrrrpting for more food.

I was pleased to see that mango seemed to be her favorite, but to be fair, we hadn’t exactly been able to provide her with a wide variety.

She woke up a few more times, but we were ready this time. Fruits were pre-squeezed into little pots, and bugs were already mashed. I kept offering water, and Auri managed to figure out how to drink.

She was inhaling food at a prodigious rate. Every hour or so she’d wake up, eat what seemed to be a quarter of her weight in food, then go back to sleep.

Night falling, and my own desire for sleep didn’t stop her in the slightest. Every time I started to drift off - "BRRRRRRPT!" came her demanding cries for food and attention.

Time started to blur weirdly. The sheer unchanging monotony of what I was doing, combined with the constantly interrupted sleep, and the never-ending vigilance quickly put me into a weird frame of mind.

"BRRRRRRPT!" Came Auri’s demanding cry in the middle of the night. I groaned as I rolled over, head pounding, and hit myself with a dose of [Sunrise]. I immediately woke up, and half-cursed myself.

[Sunrise] was great, but it also meant I wasn’t going to get back to sleep anytime soon. I’d drift off right as Auri was inclined to wake up and want more.

Wolfy, curse him eight different ways, just rolled over in his bedroll and pulled the blankets over his head. Practically sleeping like a baby.

Except no. The baby in the tent was the one sleeping terribly, and waking everyone else up.

I blearily grabbed Auri, grabbed a pot of mango juice, and sleepily put the two of them together. She drank her fill, and I put the mango juice back in Auri’s nest, and put Auri back where the mango juice belonged.

"Brrpt?!"

Hang on.

The mango juice shouldn’t be chirping.

I blinked, realizing my mistake, and swapped the two.

"Brrrpt! Brrrpt!" She happily cheeped at me, flapping her proto-wings in delight. I couldn’t help but smile.

"Brrrrpt!" She tumbled right out of the nest, proto-wings flapping in a vain attempt to grab some air.

I wasn’t sure on the timeline of when birds left the nest, but Auri was way too young, and, I suspected, something of an idiot. My hand flashed out, and carefully, gently, caught her on the way down.

"Brrrpt!!" Auri seemed to think me catching her was great fun.

"Now now. We’re trying to sleep. It’s sleep time." I put Auri back in the nest, and she promptly flung herself right back out.

"Bbbbbbbrrrpt!" She called out as she fell, wings flapping manically.

Of course I caught her, and gave her a half-evil eye.

She’s just a baby. She doesn’t know better. She’s not trying to be a pain. Don’t shake the baby. I repeated the mantra in my head.

I took the nest down from where we’d jerry-rigged a few sticks to make a small "tree", and put it on the ground. If Auri was going to be jumping out of her nest, I was going to make it a little safer.

Intellectually, I knew that one day she’d need to be jumping out of the nest and practicing flying herself. However, I worried. I didn’t think now was the time.

Auri promptly hopped out, and tried to eat a small pebble.

"No! That’s not food!" I quickly swept the choking-sized rock out of her way.

"Brrrpt!" I swear Auri was making an annoyed noise at me, as she continued to chase down the choking hazard.

On one hand, I wanted to let Auri listen to her instincts. She might need real rocks for her gizzard after all, damn the sand we poured down her throat.

On the other? That rock was too big to go down her throat. She was a bird-brained baby. I didn’t expect intelligent choices, and the elven lessons on "don’t let the baby companion kill themselves" was fresh on my mind. Auri was proving them correct once again.

I was feeling better about our chances as we successfully completed the first few days. However, Auri didn’t stop trying to kill herself. She started being able to walk around, and we’d let her, since keeping her permanently confined seemed like a poor choice for her development.

Naturally, she tried to throw herself under our feet when we walked around. At one point, she got to the edge of the water barrel, and threw herself in.

Fortunately I was constantly watching, and immediately rescued her as she flat-out sank.

"You have no talent for swimming do you?" I asked her rhetorically.

"BrRrRrRrRrRrrrrrrpt." Auri shivered, her r’s rolling. I carefully, carefully applied some Radiance to dry her off and heat her up, all too aware that a tiny twitch, a minor loss of self control, and BLAP no more Auri.

She also tried to throw herself in the fire, brrrrrrrrpting pitifully when I snagged her and stopped her attempts at self-immolation.

She did snuggle nicely into my hand after I caught her.

"Brrrrrpppppptttttttt." She contently chirped as I warmed her with Radiance after her latest attempt. I smiled at her.

I did get a pinch of campfire ashes for her, and she seemed to like playing with them, getting herself utterly filthy in the process. I could only laugh, roll my eyes, and clean her up after.

A week passed, and Auri grew. Molted downy feathers dried off, then slowly turned into colorful feathers. Her beak stayed thin, but it grew longer and longer, as her wings and tail filled in.

She looked exactly like a hummingbird. If it wasn’t for her tag being [Fledgeling], I’d assume she was one.

Well. That, and being in a place of honor in Lun’Kat’s lair, and hatching in an inferno of flames. She hadn’t shown too many indications of fire since then, but something was up. She was more than just a hummingbird, but what was the big question.

The other suggestion that something was up was Auri wasn’t doing too well. Auri was slowing down. She wasn’t moving as much, or as energetically.

It came to a head one day when Auri decided that blueberry juice wasn’t tasty anymore.

"Auri’s dying." I voiced my fears out loud. Wolfy frowned.

"Maybe? She’s not doing great." He hedged.

"Look, I’m the healer here. This is almost classic failure to thrive. Happens in human babies."

"Well, what’s the cure for human babies?"

I frowned.

"It’s either organic or non-organic."

"That means nothing to me."

I glared at Wolfy, who gave me his best wide-eyed innocent "oh me?" look. Moonmoon in the background giving the same look twisted my mouth into a wry smile.

"Ok. The simple version is: either it’s the wrong food or we’re feeding her wrong."

"Well, you’re the boss, but could it be something else instead?" Wolfy asked.

I held my hand out flat in front of me and wiggled it.

"Maybe? I’m not going to discount anything, but let’s try a few different things first. Can you get some honey? And while you’re at it…"

I listed off a few more things for Wolfy to grab. He made himself scarce, and for good measure, I blasted Auri with as much healing power as I could.

Honey could be bad for human babies, but the concerns were over infections. Right now, infection was waaaaaaaaaaaaay down on my list of potential problems, and I could always heal it.

No, with starvation being an issue I was going to throw everything I had at that problem, and handle secondary problems as they arose.

My efficiencies were terrible across the board, but Auri was tiny, and I had power and mana to spare. I healed a dragon for crying out loud, a slightly ill tiny bird was nothing.

Nothing happened though, so whatever was ailing the little grey bird wasn’t something my healing magic could tackle. I was more convinced that Auri’s problems were food and starvation related.

Wolfy was back in no time.

"Right, first thing. Auri looks like a hummingbird, so I’m going to try honey in water in various concentrations. Also going to try boiling off some of the water from the juices, then cooling them off to concentrate the sugar." I explained to Wolfy as I started carefully measuring out honey and sugar.

"Makes sense. Oh! By the way. Another Ranger team’s in town. They caught up to us while we were on break." Wolfy paused, looking uncharacteristically nervous.

I was a little focused on Auri and her issues.

"What is it? Spit it out." I demanded.

"Bossman’s hoping you’ll raid their coin stash instead of ours!" Wolfy quickly belted out. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, sure, no problem. Let me know when and where."

Wolfy looked relieved. Like I’d leave them hanging.

Bah.

I fed the various concentrations of honey to Auri, along with the concentrated fruit juice. To each of them, Auri only took a few sips, before giving me a sad "brpt."

I persisted for two more days, Auri slowly fading.

"I wish I knew what was wrong!" I cried out in frustration, wanting to throw something but not wanting to disturb Auri. She was sleeping in my hands. I wanted to keep her close, in case being near me helped somehow. I was also constantly pushing healing through her.

"I mean, let me help." Wolfy said. "Tell me what she is, and we’ll figure it out."

"I don’t know!" I cried out in frustration.

"Well, where did you get her?"

"I can’t - can’t - tell you." I gritted my teeth.

"Well… think about where you got her. What was it like?" Wolfly prompted me.

I was kinda mad, but at the same time, if it had been almost anyone else in the Ranger team, they wouldn’t feel free to prod me, and sometimes I needed prodding.

Where did I get her?

Easy. In a dragon’s lair. Part of her collection of eggs, from everywhere. Every creature under the sun.

She obviously wasn’t a dragon, and could be literally anything that Lun’Kat could get her hands on. Given that Lun’Kat was keeping fairies and angels as mood lighting, I didn’t think there were many creatures that could escape her.

Auri hatched from an egg, and was clearly related to birds, if not a bird herself. I’d been treating her like a bird. That train of thought seemed like a dead end.

Lun’Kat had massive collections of everything. Almost everything was well laid-out. Could I figure out her organizational system for the eggs, and figure out what Auri was from there?

Well, the bulk of the organization was moot. Auri had been snatched from the place of honor, from the nine eggs front and center of the egg collection.

Except they hadn’t been nine eggs had they? There’d been a unicorn foal there.

And a tree pot.

I was getting stuck on the sapling and the foal. There hadn’t been any other baby animals stuck in suspension in the egg collection. What made those special?

Well. Unicorns were special, and I could see why Lun’Kat would want one. But were unicorns so super extra rainbow special that they were the only creatures to get non-eggs?

And the sapling. How the hell had a sapling made the cut?

How could unicorns be extra special? What made them different from everything else, that a foal made the cut into the extra-special segment when nothing else did?

Actually - was that a question worth focusing on when I needed to fix Auri? Shouldn’t I be focusing on something else?

Eh… I had time to puzzle stuff out. If I got too far off track I’d circle back to Auri and the eggs I found her with.

Unicorns. What did I know about unicorns?

Well, a whole lot of Earth mythology, and not a ton else. I’d seen Asura during the Guardian battle against Lun’Kat, and all the magic she’d cast. I’d also seen Etalix, the dinosaur we venerated in Remus, along with Galeru, Yarok -

Wait.

Yurok, the Plague.

A treant.

A baby treant would look just like a sapling, wouldn’t it?

The sapling for Yurok.

The unicorn foal for Asura.

Did it work for the rest of the Guardians?

Let’s see…

There was the nearly see-through egg, with a dinosaur inside. It had a long, crocodile-like jaw, and seemed to be a shoo-in for Etalix if I wanted to stretch things that way. It was a bit weird that the spinosaurus eggs Aegion had gotten and we’d eaten hadn’t looked like that, but then again, they’d been unfertilized eggs, and we’d eaten yolk and white, and not a nearly-born baby dinosaur. That could explain the difference.

I had no idea about the Celestial egg. It was in a place of glory even among the frontrunners, but none of the Guardians I’d seen had Celestial vibes. It also wasn’t Lun’Kat’s egg.

One strike against the Guardian theory. I suppose some of the Guardians might not have shown up though? Or hadn’t shown up by the time I left? It was a bit of a stretch, but not a huge one. I was willing to keep entertaining the theory.

Next was the leathery egg with green lightning, and I remembered that snakes tended to have leathery eggs. Galeru was a master of green lightning, and I was starting to feel kind of dumb here. How had I missed this!?

I skipped the aquarium. Whatever came out of that was aquatic, and I hadn’t seen any deep-sea creatures. We’d kinda been in a mountain range.

I wasn’t going to discount high level sea creatures being able to get up and walk on land, but I was willing to give it a pass.

Although! I had seen something open up a portal, and a ton of water and sealife had exploded through! Score one point for "Not all the guardians were there" - there’d been that aborted message - and one point for "There’d clearly been an aquatic guardian that tried to show up!"

Then, if I made the quick assumption that the egg that looked like a two-in-one was Hebai, the Xuan Wu with the turtle’s body, and the snake instead of a tail…

There was one guardian left. One red, flame-related bird.

"You’re a phoenix." I whispered in awe at Auri.

"What’s that?" Wolfy asked. I ignored him. I was busy, my mind racing.

I knew what she needed now. I stared at the campfire, and chewed my lip as I hesitated, deep in thought.

If I was wrong, I was going to commit the biggest [Oath] violation possible. "Yeah I tossed a baby into a bonfire and let it burn alive" was a recipe for a major, major violation. "I thought I was helping!" was a tiny defense, and even in my mind I didn’t believe I’d get let off the hook.

I didn’t think I should be let off the hook.

At the same time - Auri needed something more. Perhaps her attempts at jumping into the campfire was more than baby bird silliness, like her attempts at drowning herself in the water barrel was, or nearly getting stepped on, or jumping out of the nest. Perhaps there’d been some instincts at work, a primal part of her that demanded fire.

She’d needed considerable heat to hatch in the first place. She hatched in a blazing inferno. I still didn’t have my hair fixed again after that.

Focus.

Everything about her had revolved around fire until now. I eyed her.

Her coloring hadn’t changed a bit as she’d grown up. Even now she looked like ashes and soot.

If I was wrong, Auri would die. Either way.

If I kept her ‘safe’, she might die because she needed flames.

If I exposed her to fire, she could die because of it. She was so tiny. So fragile. I could believe her life getting snuffed out before I had a chance to save her.

I made my choice.

Chapter 3
Burning Brightly

Cupping the sleepy, dazed Auri in my hand, I moved her right next to the fire.

I was going to take this slowly. Carefully.

If I was right - if Auri was a phoenix - my biggest concern was that the fire wasn’t big or hot enough. A simple wood fire, in a campsite out of the walls felt wrong. It lacked pomp. It lacked ceremony.

For a phoenix, she should be given a grand entrance to the town, a full triumph thrown for her. Put her on the highest altar in the biggest temple, then use divine flames to ignite her or something.

Well, I had to work with what I had.

The flames crackled around my hand, my healing restoring me faster than blisters and burns could manifest. Nothing was quite happening yet.

I needed to be able to pull her out in an instant if things went poorly, or if she showed signs of distress.

Except, not much was happening. The flames were just licking at her wingtip.

But… they weren’t catching on fire either. Not in the way dry feathers should be. And Auri wasn’t showing signs of distress.

So… maybe this was the right thing to do?

I moved Auri to the heart of the fire, opening my hand to better let the flames wash over her.

I frowned.

"Elaine, are you su-"

"Quiet." I ordered Wolfy. I needed to focus.

The tips of Auri’s wings flickered, and caught. With a stiff breeze at all of our backs, the little bird’s body seemed to suck in and "inhale" the entire fireplace, all of the flames vanishing into her body.

"What the -" Wolfy swore.

I looked at Auri, still lying limply on my hand. Unmoving.

But.

Deep within her sooty, ashen coat, I could see little embers. Tiny sparks, like a fire long burned out.

"More wood. More fire. Hurry!" I barked at Wolfy.

"This is the craziest shit." He muttered as he sprang into action.

Good old Rangers. Throw weird stuff at us, and we’re still capable of acting.

Wolfy quickly built a second fire, Moonmoon helping by dragging sticks over. He was slowed down by needing the start from scratch, our old fire not having any burning embers to kickstart a second fire.

Puzzled, I felt the firepit.

Even the ashes were cold.

I looked down at Auri, thoughts racing.

On one hand, it seemed like she needed a lot of fire.

On the other, she seemed to be on the brink of death.

Speed or size.

Speed or size.

Speed.

"Wolfy! After this fire, grab a few sticks, and start a bonfire. Large as you can manage."

"Yes Ma’am!" He yelled back, carefully feeding his small fire, working it larger.

Black Moon started to kick smaller sticks and twigs into a pile - the bonfire’s start.

Before long, Wolfy had gotten a roaring fire going, and was busy building up the bonfire to epic proportions.

I didn’t hesitate this time. I thrust Auri into the heart of the fire. My breath caught as nothing happened.

Was I too late? Too slow? Did I screw something up? Did-

As panic was starting to set in, the flames wrapped around Auri, her tiny body absorbing them.

Almost immediately her wings caught on fire, but she wasn’t moving. The rest of her was still predominantly dull and grey, although there were more sparks and embers "deep" inside of her.

"bbrrpt." A weak noise came from Auri, and my heart leapt into my throat.

It was working! She was doing better!

Wolfly was building up the bonfire, and I refrained from pacing. Refrained from yelling at him to hurry up - he was going as fast as he could.

I did help with some careful applications of Radiance, heating up wood, and starting small fires that grew quickly in the dry environment.

I practically stood in the fire, my healing fixing me up as quickly as I burned. I ignored the sparks that showered me, and the embers that landed on me.

Finally, I judged the fire to be large enough. I tossed Auri into the heart of the flames, believing from what I’d seen that it was the right thing to do.

The inferno raged around her for a moment, before condensing down into her tiny body.

My stomach clenched in fear as she went up like a candle, her entire body engulfed in flames.

Then the flames changed. From the bright yellow with occasional flickering orange of the campfire, the fire wrapped around Auri turned into a dozen different colors. The top of her wings turned white, followed by a blue layer, then a green layer, then finally, her ‘feathers’ morphed into a brilliant, glorious golden yellow.

Igniting her. lighting her primordial fire.

Auri woke up, and exploded up and out of the flames with a shriek of pure joy, a jubilant cry that pierced through us all.

"BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPTTTTT!" She triumphantly exclaimed, and she was flying.

Three weeks old and already in the air. She’d been looking hummingbird-like before, but the flames had completed her transformation and look, her wings rapidly buzzing back and forth, embers and sparks getting thrown off with every movement.

She was fire incarnate, her entire body alight.

No - she was fire and flames, a blazing beacon.

Her beak was a soft yellow, the flames impossibly solid, while the bulk of her body was coated in a ruby-red blaze. Her belly was the exception, glowing a vivid green. Her tail was a whole multitude, a luminous spectrum, defying the natural order of things as the flames started off red, then turned orange, then white, then blue at the end.

"Gods." Wolfy whispered, Moonmoon on either side of him, looking at Auri with interest, and more than a bit of fear.

"Is that Auri?"

"Yes." I whispered back, holding out a tentative hand towards her.

My heart was racing. I’d looked after Auri. I’d hatched her, fed her, and protected her. I’d almost screwed it up, but here she was, looking better than ever.

I didn’t think she needed me anymore.

Would she choose to stick around? Would the legendary phoenix deign to stay with a little human, in the heart of the dead zone?

Or would she fly away? Would she leave me without even a feather to remember her by?

"Brrrpt!" Auri zipped past my outstretched hand, right to my shoulder. She landed on it, perfect, like it was designed for her.

She was hot. She burned my shoulder.

I didn’t care in the slightest.

"Brrrpt! Brrrpt! Brrrrrrrrrrpt!" She nuzzled my ear and cheek from her perch, letting me know how happy she was to be there.

My heart swelled three sizes that moment, which would normally be a medical emergency.

"Brrrpt!"

I smiled.

"Love you too, you little troublemaker."

The last part came out as I noticed my tunic was catching fire, and the distinct, noxious odor of burning hair was filling the air again. Wolfy was continuing to eye me, and coughed nervously.

"Sentinel. You’re on fire."

"Yeah, I’m trying to figure out what to do about it." I calmly replied. "Tunic’s probably a bust already, annnnnnnnnnd I don’t see my hair making it all that long."

"Brrrrpt?" Auri sounded a little concerned, a little sad.

"Shh, no, it’s ok. You couldn’t help it." I stroked her head gently, her body strangely solid in spite of the flames.

She still felt like feathers.

"Brrrrpt…"

"No no, I like it! I’ve destroyed my own hair a bunch!" I tried to reassure the poor bird.

She was just a baby. Incredibly, ridiculously intelligent for a bird, apparently empathetic as hell, but still a baby. She could tell that I didn’t like my tunic and hair burning, but had no idea of the scale of the issue. She couldn’t tell if to her it was like being fed flour, a relatively minor annoyance, or like running out of mango juice, the Worst Thing Ever?

She didn’t exactly have a lot of life experience to understand the scale of, well, life.

I shucked off the burning tunic and tossed it to Wolfy, who stomped out the flames. The material was reusable, and there was little sense in letting it all burn.

"Brrpt!" Auri scolded Wolfy for his actions. Clearly, fire was sacred, and shouldn’t be extinguished.

"Now listen here you little troublemaker." I put on my best ‘mom voice.’ "Some people don’t like their stuff burning."

"Brrrpt?"

"Yes, really. Some people have nice things that they’d rather keep as they are."

"Brrpt! Brrpt!"

"No, burning them doesn’t improve them."

I wasn’t sure how I was understanding Auri - maybe I was making it all up? - but I felt like we were clicking. On the same wavelength.

It was good. It gave me a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling that had nothing to do with my crown of fire.

I wanted nice hair.

I gave up entirely on that dream for the foreseeable future. Auri would just burn it, and I wasn’t going to start yelling at her for wanting to cuddle with me. Not now, not when our relationship was so new and fresh.

I didn’t see a good way to put the fire out at this point, not without dunking my hair in water or something similar that could dislodge or harm Auri.

I knew nothing. I didn’t know if water was bad for her, I didn’t know if extinguishing the flames would kill her, heck, I didn’t even know if phoenixes died and were reborn, or if death was final.

… If they died and were reborn, White Dove//Black Crow was going to be so mad.

I shook my head and focused, back on the here and now.

"Wolfy, can you get my Mistweave outfit from that bag? And a jar of mango juice?"

Wolfy, bless him, jumped right into action. I reminded myself that he was a full Ranger, having passed through the same training that I had, and not only that, but he’d done a round and a half, and managed to keep himself and Moonmoon alive.

I brought the jar of mango juice up, intended to make a little funnel like before. Auri had other ideas. With a high-pitch flurry of wings, that sounded like a crackling fire, she launched herself from my shoulder, and hovered in front of the pot, greedily sucking down the ambrosia.

She drank far more than I’d believe possible - like, half her body by volume, was she burning it all up or something - then stopped. Still hovering, she nuzzled at the jar, "pushing" it towards me with her feeble strength and tiny mass.

"For me?" I asked.

"Brrrrpt!" Auri agreed.

Watching her, I carefully brought the jar of mango juice up to my lips, and took a big, obvious sip.

"Mmm! Delicious!"

"Brrrpt!"

"Can I know what’s going on now?" Wolfy asked.

Auri zipped back to my shoulder, and nuzzled against my cheek. I gently nuzzled her back.

"Well, I figured out what Auri was, and what she was missing."

"No. Really?" Wolfy’s sarcasm was thick enough to spread on toast. Even Moonmoon looked unimpressed with him.

"I mean, what more do you want?"

"To know what she is, for starters. Then how you knew about her, and what she needed. Anything you can give me, really."

Oh. Right.

Although I had said it earlier. Guess he hasn’t heard me properly.

"She’s a phoenix. A creature made of fire, powerful, and supposedly unkillable."

Wolfy looked between me and Auri. He sighed.

"Anyone else, I’d laugh, tell them the joke was funny, but no, really, what is she. You? Her?"

He shook his head.

"Damn. That is going to give me a crazy class at 256 that I’ll have to pass on. Never thought I’d see a phoenix. It’s like a story."

He shook his fist at the sky.

I snorted at his antics.

"Still… a phoenix. And I touched one. Wow." Wolfy was looking a little nervous at Auri. I gave him a grin, letting him know everything was fine.

"I gotta admit, seeing you as Sentinel feels a bit weird or unfair at times."

I nodded, not knowing where he was going with this.

"Like, we were in the same class together and everything. Then I see you standing there, on fire, and just not caring and it not affecting you at all, and I’m reminded why."

Oh right. Yeah.

I was still somewhat on fire.

I shrugged, my hair still billowing smoke.

"Meh. This is nothing. Getting decapitated? That was a mess!"

"You WHAT!?" Wolfy shouted.

"Brrrpt!"

I just gave him a manic grin.

Chapter 4
On the road to Arminium I

A few days after Auri ignited, I left Port Salona.

There wasn’t much of interest that happened, apart from Bossman and the rest of the Ranger team nearing the end of their investigation. Two squads of guards, with varying degrees of guilt, a single corrupt scribe, and a judge going senile seemed to be the score.

The scribe seemed to be the lynchpin of the operation. He was able to forge - well, forge was a bad word, since he was the one writing them out ‘for real’ anyways - documents that said a trial took place, and the verdict was whatever he decided it was. Generally harsh penalties for the loser.

The scheme was vaguely clever, in an evil way. The slaves were then often sold to a wealthy farmer, who needed extra farmhands or help around the house, keeping them away from the city and potential sources of justice. When the person being railroaded - always poor, and without connections or help to lean on - protested, the guards would cover each other.

If they made an appeal to the Rangers, and if the Rangers had enough time to investigate, they’d go to the courthouse. The paperwork - regardless of which scribe was looking things up - would always be in order. If, by some miracle, the Rangers went a step further and asked the judge about the case, the judge, not wanting to admit to the holes in his memory or declining faculties, would "remember" it happening.

At which point, why investigate further? Why hunt down the prosecutor in the case, who was harder to find than the judge at the jailhouse? Why look for any other collaborating evidence? Rangers were busy people, and multiple sources verifying that, yes, it was real?

It wasn’t like every single criminal ever claimed they were innocent, and appealed to the Rangers, hoping we’d screw up and let them go free. Our tolerance for looking into things depended on the team, how many complaints we got, and how busy we were.

Bossman and co’s problem at this point was unraveling just how long the scheme had been going on, trying to tease the fake trials from the real ones, and figure out how to "unwind" the dozens - hundreds? - of cases. How to resettle all the people back into lives and careers, and what compensation, if any, they could be given.

Selling the guilty into slavery could only generate so much coin, not nearly enough to cover all the costs.

The scribe was scheduled for public execution last I heard, which would reduce the pot of coins to cover the costs.

Their motive was, naturally, profit. The slaves were being sold "off the books" so to speak - in spite of them being on the books - and the guards and scribe were splitting the rather significant funds. Kind of like how the pirates were looking for slaves to sell.

The flesh industry was lucrative.

The governor was happy with us, and Bossman had reluctantly concluded that he was in the clear. The guards were effectively stealing from his coffer, and the governor’s [Penny Pincher] was delighted. We’d found the hole in his accounts! Balance to the balance sheets! Or some other nonsense that had him throwing us a "feast".

Leftovers from an extravaganza the governor had thrown the night before. Dude lived up to his class alright.

Honestly. Leftover fish.

I was glad to be out of the way of all that, and just as happy to be able to leave on my own timeline. Wolfy wasn’t happy that I was leaving before the investigation was completely finished - he was going to have to get back to it!

I had quickly stopped by the temple on my way out, thanking all the gods and goddesses for my safe return to Remus. I figured while I was there, I’d drop a whole wishlist of things I wanted, most of which were impossible. Eh. Might as well try, right?

Auri was a troublemaker and a half. I double-checked my gear one last time.

Oversized backpack filled with supplies - check.

Metal plating for said backpack - check. Fireproofing my stuff from Auri was a challenge!

Deception Ring - check. Set back to 200. It had given me trouble in the past, but so was displaying my true level. Heck, most levels came with a degree of trouble, and when push came to shove, I’d rather be under-estimated.

Three amphorae of clay corked fruit juice - check.

Mistweave - check. Auri would burn anything else, and think it was great fun.

Heavy-duty gloves intended for forge work - check. I could just grab Auri with my bare hands, but I didn’t like the smell of my own flesh cooking. Gave me horrible flashbacks.

"Ok Auri, we’re going to get going now. We’re going to my home! You’re going to meet my parents! And the other Sentinels! And Kallisto! And everyone else! It’s super exciting, right?"

"Brrrpt!" Auri agreed with me!

"If you let me carry you, we can be there SUPER FAST! Isn’t that cool?"

"Brrrrrpt." Auri fluttered in front of me, wings beating so quickly they tried to blur, throwing multi-colored sparks everywhere. It was only due to my crazy vitality that I could see them at all, although she’d be a menace if she invested in speed.

"Ok, yes, flying is the best thing ever."

"Brrrpt!" Auri zipped down to where I had a jug of mango juice at my waist, and tapped on it a few times.

"I just fed you!"

"BRPT! BRPT!"

I held back a sigh, and refrained from rolling my eyes.

"Auri, if you do nothing but fly, of course you’ll be starving! That’s what I’m trying to say!"

"BRrrrrrrpt" Auri trailed off sadly.

I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Fine." I uncorked the jug that not five minutes ago Auri had gotten a drink from, and tipped the bottle over just enough for the juice to be at the lip.

Auri hovered right next to it, embers landing on my hand as she drank her fill. After a few seconds, she stopped and zipped around me.

"Brrrpt! Brrrpt! BRUPT!"

That last one sounded like more of a burp than a cheep of joy.

"Ok, you’ve had your drink, now come here! And we can get going!"

"Brrrpt!" Auri just kept zipping around me, excited to simply fly.

It did give me a chuckle. We were like two birds of a feather in that respect. I knew how much fun flying was, and I didn’t want to put a damper on her enthusiasm.

Instead, I took the moment to study her flight, hoping to improve [Scintillating Ascent]. I was torn if it was helping or not. On one hand, Auri was a low-level baby bird.

On the other, she was a phoenix. I couldn’t think of too many creatures that were better to study. I didn’t have a great grasp on how [Scintillating Ascent] evolved yet, but I couldn’t imagine constantly studying Auri was a bad idea.

We walked along for quite some time. I was going super slowly - compared to how quickly I could walk, let alone run, but I was letting Auri set the pace.

After an hour I was starting to get impatient though. At this rate, it would literally take me a year to finish getting back home. I decided to try and get a proper move on.

"You don’t want to fly on my shoulder? I can go super fast and super high!" I tried to cajole Auri.

"BrPT!" Auri fiercely denied me.

I frowned at her.

"Ok, now listen here young miss. We need to get a move on, and your antics are slowing us down!"

I got out The Gloves.

"Sorry Auri, but we do need to get moving." I first caught her in my [Mantle], then closed the heavy-duty gloves around her. She struggled against the heavy gloves, not liking being trapped. Just like me…

I then took off, my wings interacting awkwardly and badly with the backpack I had on. I couldn’t properly flap them, which limited my speed.

Derp, right. I could just take it off, flip it around to make a front-pack, and go from there.

It was still a heck of a lot faster than nearly every other method of transportation I had available.

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpttttt… brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpppppppppttttttttt…." Auri was crying pitifully from where I was holding onto her, and my heart wavered.

Three minutes of her crying her little heart out later, and I yielded. I wanted to get home fast, yes, but not at the cost of our potential bond and relationship. If we had to get home the slow way, the slow way it was.

"Well, let’s go then."

"Brrpt!"

Chapter 4.5
Minor Interlude - Auri

6th day since Igniting.

Free! I was free! Freed from the crushing non-burning things. The things sick-mom put on her not-wings!

Nasty not-burning things. Mom had many many not-burning things.

Poor mom! Poor Elaine! She was SUPER SICK! All of her feathers were GONE! She had pretty wings of light-fire! I liked. They weren’t as pretty as me, but mom tried.

Free!

Free to fly around! Free to flit and weave, duck and dive! Free to explore the grand world around me! All the way from the ground that Elaine spent too much time walking on, all the way up to where trees started to have leaves!

Would you believe it, it looked like there was more above there? That trees grew endless leaves just for me to burn??

I zoomed around mom! Zoom! Zip! Pew! I let her know how happy I was!

"Thank you! Thank you! More juice?"

Mom bared her teeth. It meant she was happy! Yay happy mom! Yay happy! See, letting me fly was good! Everyone happy!

I flew to the edge of the world! The great shiny stone desert! Mom was walking across it. Go mom!

I helped! Lots of not-fire on the side of this "road" thing. Lots of leaves and sticks and - OOH!

Flower!

Yummy flower!

I buzzed over to the beautiful yellow flower, and took a sip of the nectar inside.

Mmmmm. Tasty!

Poor flower though. So sad. So droopy.

I help!

BURN!

It burned! Bright yellow, like the color of the flower! It was all ok now.

"Look at me! Look at me! Mom, I did it! I burned it! FIRE!"

"Auri, if you burn the flowers, how do you expect to get more nectar from them?" Mom made that big breathing noise. She did that a lot. More proof that she was sick.

Bug! Food! Tasty food! Whooof! Flames! Burn the bug! Cook it!

Zoof! Zap! Catch!

Yummy yummy in my tummy.

More things to burn! Whoosh! The flat green things burn! The long brown things are on fire.

Fire.

FIRE.

Glorious fire!

"Auri, stop burning everything. Come on, let’s go!" Mom said.

Stop… burning everything?

What?

No way mom was ok.

My stomach felt unhappy. I flew to mom’s bath in a bottle and pecked at it. Peck! Peck! Mom said to be polite. I was polite! Tap! Peck!

"Please?"

"Ok, but you should find your own. We don’t have unlimited amounts, not at the rate you drink at." Elaine grabbed the bath, and opened it up.

My eyes went as wide as a berry. Mom’s portable cave was endless. An endless sea of delicious liquid! It tizzied! It tittered! It was the SECOND BEST THING EVER!

Mom was the best thing ever! She needed to get better! No sick!

First though. Delicious liquid was tasty-yummy! Made my mouth happy! Stomach happy!

Drink with the mouth! Made the mouth happy!

Wait!!!

If I used my wings, would that make my wings happy? My feet? ALL OF ME!?

YES! It must!

I zipped into the cavern!

"No!" Mom cried out. I ignored her. Full-body happy time!

Strange that mom kept it dark, and didn’t keep some fire in here. Everywhere should have fire!

JUICE!

I dove right in! Splish splash! Straight into the-

WET! WET! COLD! WET!

MY FIRE!

Mom grabbed me, and immediately heated me back up. My flames flickered. My flames caught.

I lived.

"Th-th-thank you." I shivered out.

Mom was safe. I was going to stay with mom for a bit.

Elaine put me on the Podium of Adoration. All could see my beautiful flames from here! The reds! The oranges and blues, the greens and the whites, and best of all the purples and ulfires and jale!

The Podium wasn’t burnable today.

"Boo! BOO!" I let my displeasure be known.

"I know, you like that spot don’t you?" Mom answered back.

Bah. Mom didn’t always get me.

Mom also didn’t have her head-feathers. I did her a great favor! I turned them into fire! Good Auri! Good work!

"Brrrpt!" I cheeped happily at the memory.

Then mom’s burning-hair-feathers went away. EXTINGUISHED! Mom was super-duper sick. Her head should always be burning. Everything should be burning!

Then there was A Voice. A mysterious voice, a powerful voice, the Voice of Everything.

"Congratulations! You’ve survived your early weeks, and the System is now fully unlocked for you!"

"Congratulations! You’ve unlocked a number of General Skills! [Phoenix’s Perfection], [Alarm Call], [Begging], [Brrretty], [Large Appetite], [Preening], [Cute], [Flame Body], [Flying], [Presentation], [Adoration], [Vanity], [Understanding Mom], [Tough Feathers], [Baby Bird], [Precocious], [Incandescence], [Far Seeing], [Hovering], [Cutie Power], [Pointy Beak], [Mimic Mom], [Ponder], [Promethean Insight], [Adorable], [Flower Fascination]."

"Congratulations! You’ve earned your first class - [Feather of Flame] - Inferno!"

"Feather of Flame - A starter class for a phoenix, hatched by humans and elves working together."

"Your class - [Feather of Flame] - has advanced from level 1 to level 8!"

"What?" I asked the voice.

"You now have access to the System." It repeated. "For reaching level 8, you now have the ability to class up!"

"Can you tell me another way?" I asked, confused. Strange mystery words coming out of the air? It was confusing.

Flames erupted in front of me! Fire burn!

Ooooh. Eternally burning! Burning nothing, burning forever, good flames!

The flames made sense. The flames spoke of power - my power. They told me how to get stronger. How to make my flames burn bigger, hotter. How to make more fire. How to build an inferno.

And - AND - I could make it different! I could add more flames! Little sparks! Colorful embers!

I wanted EVERYTHING!

I only had 1, 2, 3… 4…counting was hard… 5… 6!

AND MORE!

MORE THAN 6 SPACES! Wow! It was like I could get EVERYTHING!

"Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Counting Hard or Hardly Counting?]"

Wow! Even more!

Ok!

I wanted THAT skill! And that skill! And those skills! YES!

Mom was the best! Flowers were the best!

I quickly filled in all the fires, making it the BIGGEST BESTEST FIRE EVER!

A glorious multi-colored flame was in the middle. I just knew what it did.

With some will, I went to the happy-fire-dreamland.

Flowers! Flowers everywhere! Glorious flowers stretching in front of me, almost all a blazing red color! The best color, the color of FIRE!

A few rare ones weren’t red. I buzzed over to them.

Zip! Zoop!

The after-burning color. Mom called it "grey". It had a small red spot of nectar in the middle.

Fwish! Fwoop!

Mom-wing color. "Yellow"? Orange nectar!

Swish! Swoop!

Dark burning color, with little spots of brown. Not-red nectar.

Buzzz!

Two flowers near each other. One evil water color. "Blue"? Almost-red nectar in the middle. Boo! Bad blue! Zoom to the other flower!

The other was the same color as the HUGE birds in the sky! The birds were weird! Always the same color, didn’t flap their wings.

Vroop! Vrisht!

Last weird flower! Charcoal color! Good color, color of burning things. Orange fire nectar spot.

Then a huge bird of flames came! Big wings! Huge beak! Great talons! Every color of fire!

I wanted to be just like her.

"Auri!" She said. "Hi! I’m your guide!"

I instantly knew what a guide was, and what she was for. The flower petals were the type of flames I’d get. The nectar inside was how strong the flames would be.

But why was red the weakest? Red should be the strongest!

Although…

Although….

Thinking hurt.

I was every color of fire. Yup yup. That was good. All was right with the world.

The nectar was… also every color.

So… red wasn’t the best fire color. It was just a fire color, like the rest of them.

All fire colors were equally good! They all burned things!

Hurray!

"Yay! Guide! What do I do?"

Knowledge flooded into me, information communicated by some arcane means.

"Whoaaaaaaaaaaaa." I looked at my guide in awe. "Cool! Do it again!"

She gave me an evil black-burning eye.

"Pick what you want." She said. "I can help you."

"BURN EVERYTHING! Oh, and have the BEST COLORS. Lots of fire. Make everyone look at me on the Podium of Adoration! Flames! Make mom better. She’s sick." I got sad thinking about that.

I then perked up.

"Wait! Mom’s awesome! She’ll totally figure out how to get better! Give me an INFERNO!"

I learned all the burning words quickly. I was very happy with myself.

Guide swished her great beautiful wings, and the field of flowers flew under us. A beautiful red fire poppy awaited me, with a single drop of yellow nectar.

I hovered in front of the flower, my wings giving off wonderful sparks of flame. Spread the joy! Spread the fire! Look at how pretty I am!

The petals were telling me things.

Zippiness: FWISH! SWOOP!

Fancy Flying: All the twirls!

Kindling: Lots and LOTS!

New Juice: Two mango’s worth.

Flame Size: HUGE!

Fire Control: Smol.

Eh, that wasn’t needed.

"This one!"

"Excellent choice. Light the flower on fire, and make your choice."

"NO!" I protested. "I want to burn ALL of them!"

"Just one."

I wasn’t going to let the guide tell ME what to do! I burned the first one, then quick as thinking, went to burn ALL THE FLOWERS!

They wanted to be burned! They needed to turn into beautiful flames, like me! They would go away when I was done!

No!

Bring me back!

BRING ME BACK!

~Elaine~

I was flying fast. Auri was finally somewhat cooperative - and by that she wasn’t actively resisting me - and I was taking the chance to haul. I figured at this point I could fly at high speeds while Auri was sleeping, and walk slowly while she was awake. Suboptimal, but it shouldn’t add too much time to my trip.

The colorful phoenix had, after much excitement, suddenly gotten the distinct glowing halo of colors that indicated that she was classing up.

I was a bit jealous. Roughly a month after hatching, and not only had the System unlocked for her, but she’d gotten to level 8? Lyra, after a whole 8 years, had only managed to get level 7! Level 8 in a month, when all Auri did was eat, sleep, and burn things, was absurd!

I felt Auri stirring, and I dropped back down to the road, landing heavily among some travelers. I glanced down at her, [Identify]ing her to see what happened.

"Brrrpt! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt!!" Auri flew out of my hands, circling around me, all excited.

My jaw dropped, and with my vitality, I was able to pick out small details in her eyes.

"You’re an Inferno [Mage] now!?"

This must be my comeuppance for when I took a Fire mage class with the Rangers. Karma was biting me in the ass for the prank I pulled on Julius and the rest way back when.

I looked at Auri, happily blowing off jets of Inferno around her, reveling in her new abilities.

I looked at the travelers on the road, giving Auri and I wary looks. at least no sword was being unsheathed, not that I could blame them. I’d be doing the same if a tiny monster landed in front of me and started throwing around Lightning or something.

I thought about Auri’s inclination to burn everything.

Oh boy. I was in for it now.

[Name: Aoife Auri Stentor]

[Race: Phoenix]

[Age:0]

[Mana: 720/720]

[Mana Regen: 667]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Pushing Power: 48]

[Fancy Flying: 32]

[Reactions and Reflexes: 41]

[Zippiness: 46]

[Kindling: 72]

[New Juice: 71]

[Flame Size: 76]

[Fire Control: 71]

[Class 1: [The Eternal Flame - Inferno : Lv 9]]

[Inferno Authority: 1]

[Phoenix Rebirth: 1]

[Inferno Manipulation: 1]

[Inferno Conjuration: 1]

[True Flames: 1]

[Burn Magic: 1]

[Domain of Fire: 1]

[Burning Quills: 1]

[Class 2: [Locked]]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[Class 3: [Locked]]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

General Skills

[Phoenix's Perfection: 1]

[Incandescence: 1]

[Adorable: 1]

[Precocious: 1]

[Flower Fascination: 1]

[Flying: 1]

[Preening: 1]

[Brrretty: 1]

Chapter 5
On the road to Arminium II

"Auri! NO!" I yelled, throwing up a [Mantle] to protect the poor farmer’s harvest from Auri’s attempts to ‘improve’ it.

I was fast enough. This time.

"Brrrpt! Brrrrrrrrrrrpt!!!" Auri complained at me, flitting around the protected cart.

"I’m so sorry." I told the poor farmer, who just narrowed his eyes at Auri.

"[Pest begone]" He pointed a finger at Auri, and a high-speed jet of water sprayed out of his finger.

My reflexes were great. I flickered the shield, changing it from protecting the cart from Auri’s attempts at pyromancy, to protecting Auri and the cart.

I wasn’t going to be paying out for another farmer’s harvest.

I got the evil eye from the farmer, which, I suppose was fair. From his point of view, some creature had zipped in, and was trying to burn a chunk of his harvest that he was bringing to market. He was simply trying to get rid of the pest - he literally had a skill for it - and I was randomly barging in and saving said nuisance.

And Auri was a nuisance and a half. Still loved her though.

The farmer opened his mouth, probably to yell at me. I curtailed all that by speaking super-duper fast.

"Sorry! Super sorry! Won’t happen again! No harm, no foul, right? Auri, let’s goooooo!"

I wrapped a protesting Auri in [Mantle], and hauled ass before the farmer could get a good yelling in. I just didn’t feel like listening to the same "you need to be more careful" or "you need to keep that bird under control" lecture for the 8th or 14th time, respectively.

Worse was the "That menace should be put down!"

It’d only happened once, but Auri had been super upset over it. We’d needed to find a nice tree for her to entirely burn down before she was happy again.

"Brrrpt! Brrrrrrrrrpt! BRPT!" Auri was protesting her treatment. She didn’t like being in the hamsterball.

"Aoife Auri Stentor." I gave her full name. She seemed to realize that meant she was in trouble, and she shrunk down a bit. "You are in a lot of trouble, young miss. You can’t just go around burning everything!" I tried to explain for… at least the 30th time, I’d lost count a while ago.

"Brrrrrrrrrpt!"

"No."

"Brpt!"

"No!"

"Brrrrpppt!"

I’d gotten over arguing with a bird a long time ago.

Hang on. My current methods weren’t working. I released Auri, and she flitted around me.

"Brpt! Brrrrpt!! Brpt!" She sang her song of joy, alighting on my shoulder and nuzzling my cheek.

"Yeah, you’re pretty awesome." I brought one finger up to stroke her along the beak, then over her head and down her back.

"BrRRRRRRRrrrPT!" Auri peeped in delight at the move, and I kept it up.

"Ok, you like burning things." I stated.

"Brrrpt." Auri was unimpressed with my amazing deductions.

"You like burning everything."

"Brpt!"

"How would you feel if I burned your flowers before you could?"

"BRRRRRRrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRppppppPPPPTTT!!" Auri’s outraged shriek, right next to my ear, made me wince.

"Auri, that was very loud. I don’t like it when you’re very loud in my ear. It hurts me when you do that." I slowly, patiently explained to her.

"Brrrrpt." Auri gave me an apology.

"Right. You dislike it when other people burn your stuff. That farmer is using what he’s bringing to make money, and with money, he can buy things like firewood, so he can burn it. You burning his stuff, means that he can’t burn it himself. That makes him sad."

"BRPT!" Auri sounded like Artemis had gotten ahold of her. I looked over at the bird sitting on my shoulder.

She was sitting there with a thousand-mile stare, eyes wide open as realizations crashed over her. Her mind was completely blown. I could practically see empathy developing as the idea of "other people want to and are allowed to burn things too" rocked her little world.

I walked in silence with her, getting further and further away from Deva. Nice to see the city again. Didn’t want to try taking a boat back to Ariminum, not after the pirate disaster last time.

Also. Auri, over a lot of water, with the only thing to burn being the BOAT?

Yeah. I could only see that ending in flames, screaming, a torrid romance, and a captain stoically going down with his boat.

Or ship. Whatever.

Plus, I suspected I was faster, even with Auri slowing me down.

I was super pleased with Auri finally seeming to figure out "don’t burn other people’s stuff", and I decided to play one of her favorite games.

I snagged a broken branch on the side of the road.

"Here! Burn this!" I suggested to Auri.

"Brpt!" She exclaimed as the wood went up in flames. I looked at the burning stick I was holding.

She’d gone for the "slow burn" this time, as opposed to the "incinerating pillar of fire".

Well, whatever made her happy.

A few days later, I turned a corner on a road, deep inside a forest, and cursed.

"Oh not this again." I complained at the numerous ‘fallen boulders’ on the road. "Honestly, every time I come back home from Deva, it’s [Pirates], [Thieves], or [Brigands]. Seriously!?" I threw my hands up in frustration. A voice chuckled from the woods, and the aforementioned [Brigands] emerged.

There were a lot of them. 26, all with the characteristic ex-military look to them. Right level range as well. Bunch of [Warriors] levels 160-230. Made me wonder if the Senate - or Emperor, I had no idea what the details of the current governorship was - had disbanded a number of armies, and some of the soldiers had decided to keep using violence to fill their stomachs.

"Well miss healer, if you’ve been robbed before, you know the drill." One of them said. "Your money or your life!"

I rolled my eyes at the bandit.

"Fine, fine. Three coins, and you all move the boulders out of my way." I proposed.

"Brpt!" Auri defiantly cheeped, flying off my shoulder and hovering protectively in front of me.

We all stared at the little bird. I facepalmed.

"Auri, yes, thank you for trying to protect me."

"Brrrrrpt!" Auri was making the most adorable threatening noises. She was trying to be fierce, but she was so SMALL AND CUTE!!

Oh no.

Oh NO!

That’s how most people saw ME.

That’s why I’d been offered the [Kitty has Claws] skill back with the dwarves!

"I mean, yes, you can burn the bad guys, but it’s a bad idea. They’re much stronger than you! You need to-"

Auri completely disregarded me, and threw as much fire as she could manage at one of the [Brigands].

Which was, quite frankly, a pathetic amount. I’d be surprised if she had 1000 mana points total, and it wasn’t like she was swimming in magic power to make her flames particularly impressive.

They splashed over one of the bandits, and they seemed to stick.

The former soldiers responded the way they were trained. Overwhelming violence to "solve" the problem, in this case, a hostile monster.

They… weren’t exactly wrong in their assessments or actions. I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt Auri, and it was trivial to reasonably assume that they’d be attacking me next.

There was no contest between my power level, and theirs. I was faster and tougher, and that was my pseudo-dump stats against their primary stats.

That was before my magic, of course.

I was sick and tired of killing. I didn’t need to kill right now, the disparity in levels, stats, and training was so large. [Bullet Time] wasn’t even activating, which was more than a bit obnoxious.

At the same time, I wasn’t going to take any risks with Auri.

I threw my shield around her, and launched dozens of Radiance beams, flickering them in and out of existence as quickly as I could imagine them. I aimed for their knees, elbows, hips, shoulders, and hands.

They were all [Warriors], and as much as I was calling them [Bandits] and [Brigands], truthfully they probably all had [Soldier of Remus] or [Legionnaire] variants. Classes and skills from the Formorian war.

Two by two they dropped, screaming and spasming as I blew through their joints, as I crippled each one in rapid-fire succession. My sixth-biggest concern was blow-through. Shooting bandit #8’s shoulder out had my Radiance beam go through bandit #19’s lung, and I’d be pissed if any of them died after I tried so hard to keep them alive.

Bandit #20 flashed silvery as I tried to destroy his knees, and my Radiance beams angled off wildly. Each one burned through bandits that were already on the ground, drilling new holes through their torsos.

I quickly evaluated them. No heart shots. Nothing that couldn’t wait a minute or two.

I moved on, dropping the rest of the [Brigands] while bandit #20 charged me with a roar, sword out. I finished dealing with the rest of them before #20 got to me, then moved.

He only had a short sword. The standard [Legionnaire] equipment of shields, spears, and their heavy armor was entirely missing. He was wielding it like a soldier did.

Like Rangers did.

Like every single one of my sparring partners over the long years did.

I knew the moves. I was familiar with the motions. I’d seen them, done them, tens of thousands of times.

I drew my knife, and twisted out of the way of his thrust, slicing lightly along his bicep as I passed by him.

Damn my low strength. I’d wanted to slice clean through his muscle and disable his arm, but no luck. I noticed that my arm twitched sympathetically in the same spot.

A reflection skill? Maybe?

It didn’t matter, my healing was too good.

I got a second slash across his back, abusing my high speed before he whirled on me, and thrust his sword at my belly.

I dodged this time, his arm going right past me. I brought my own hand and knife close.

I was in position for a textbook disarming, but part of the textbook disarming required a certain amount of strength relative to my opponent. I didn’t think I had that. I wasn’t quite so powerful that the stat I ignored entirely would be higher than a stat my opponent focused on.

Instead, I slashed at his wrist and delicate tendons, opening up his arm and forcing him to drop his sword. With one fluid motion, I continued the knife’s path upwards, to the brigand’s eye.

He stopped short as I held my blow, the tip of my knife touching his eyeball. The threat was clear, the result of the fight obvious.

I was so much better than him that I could afford mercy.

"Down." I snarled.

Everything had happened fast.

"Brrrpt!" Auri made a noise of protest at being trapped in my shield again, the poor bird’s stats so low that she didn’t even start to process what was happening until now. The fight was over, and her reflexes were just kicking in now for the start of it!

The highwayman dropped to his knees, and at my light tapping - a scratch or two on his eyeball wouldn’t kill him - he laid down belly-first on the ground.

"Now, do you really want to make this a full fight?" I asked the Mirror bandit, in an oh-too-sweet voice.

Internally, I was sweating bullets. A physical Mirror classer was one of my worst nightmares. My magic was almost entirely useless against them, and if I couldn’t run, I’d have to fight them hand to hand. I was not a hand to hand fighter. I had some training, I was alright at it, I had [Sentinel’s Superiority] - ok, fine, maybe I was OK at it. As demonstrated by the fight we’d just had.

I felt like I’d gotten lucky though, but I couldn’t pinpoint why. Maybe it was the sheer tyranny of stats, and that I hadn’t encountered a Mirror classer that was too powerful?

Plus, I could always just go for "Let’s both stab each other" then just heal whatever they did to me.

Only if I dramatically overpowered them though. Too easy to imagine a Mirror classer utterly outclassing me to the point where I couldn’t manage that.

"No." He squeaked out.

"Good!" I remained kneeling on him, looking around at the men who’d just tried to rob me. About a third were screaming and crying, and the rest were more sort of twitching, antipain skills stopping things from hurting. Didn’t mean they could use their arms with their shoulders and elbows burned through.

"Now, for the conversation I was hoping to have before this got ugly." I said from my new throne. "You all look like you used to be soldiers, right?"

One of the brigands tried to spit at me, having no chance at actually hitting me. It was more about the message.

I expertly sniped it out of the air with a precision blast of Radiance, leaving him cross-eyes at a brand-new scorch mark in front of him.

"Yes." One of them eventually admitted.

"It’s a sad day when soldiers have turned to banditry." I shook my head somewhat dramatically. "Anyways. Let me introduce myself. Hi. Sentinel Dawn here."

Loud groans and cries of dismay across all the robbers met my proclamation. They were soldiers. They were intimately familiar with Rangers, and by extension, Sentinels.

We were the best. Creatures more myth than reality, they’d probably only heard stories of us. Stories, where we grew bigger and stronger with each retelling, like the prize fish that got bigger every time the [Fisherman] described it.

My complete domination - seriously, one vs almost thirty? It was the sort of stuff from stories - made my announcement all the more believable. So did taking out my badge, and letting them all get a nice, long, good look at it.

"You can double check my level if you’d like." I let some mischief enter my voice, as I edited my level to 600.

"This is your fault!" One of the bandits flopped over towards a second one, trying to headbutt him. It looked like - and was as effective as - a fish out of water. Kinda funny though.

"Now. I’m in a decent mood. I’m back in Remus. I’m almost home. I really, really do not want to either murder you all, nor leave you out here to become dinosaur food."

I got some appreciative noises, and a few sycophantic ones.

"Oh great Sentinel! I’ll serve you to the end of my days!" One cried out. I gave him a flat stare.

"And have you hanging around me all the time? Ew. No."

Some of the other bandits - honestly there were too many to properly keep track - went with jeering and insulting the one bandit I’d insulted.

"Ha! Cadmus! You’re so ugly, even as a free slave you got rejected!"

Blah. Too many people trying to figure out how to get on my good side. I clapped my hands to get their attention.

"Ok! Thank you! Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to heal you all up. Then you’re all going to march back to Deva as quickly as you can, report to the local guard, and let them know that Sentinel Dawn has sentenced you all to three months of slavery. I’ll be checking back on you, to make sure you did it. You don’t want me to find out you haven’t. Any questions?"

Three months was the largest penalty I was willing to issue. Any longer, and the bandits would start to seriously consider their chances at just… running away, and taking their chances.

It wasn’t a great solution. It wasn’t even a good solution.

But nobody died today. The bandits would get off the road, leaving it safe for travelers. The local guard would become aware of them, and know their names and faces.

If I was extra-lucky, the few months in slavery would also get them to know people, and a new profession, and they could move onto more honest work. I was dreaming a bit with that last one, but hey, a girl could hope.

One of the soldiers - the one who got his lung hit - coughed.

"How are we supposed to get there?" He cried. "I can’t even breathe."

I rolled my eyes. He was being melodramatic.

"I’ll fix you up. I literally just said that. Did none of you see the [Healer] tag?"

Dumbass.

"What if we don’t all get there?"

Hmmm. The more questions I let them have, the less mysterious and scary I was, the higher the chance that this would all go sideways.

Time to do one of the [Drill Instructor]’s favorite tricks! They were all ex-army, they’d totally understand me.

"I’m so glad there are no more questions! I expect you all to get to Deva by nightfall!" I put on a fake-cheery voice, which hopefully had them all going ‘oh shit she’s being WAY TOO NICE.’

It wasn’t one of the official Ranger Academy lessons, but we’d all learned how the army worked. I was pulling from my memories of when the instructors had been scariest.

I got up, and lightly kicked Mirror bandit.

"Up you go! Run soldier, RUN! Run like the Formorians are out to get you! Run like there’s a mad Sentinel behind you who’ll change her mind and catch you! Run!"

"Brpt!" Auri ‘helped’ the soldier along by scolding him herself. It was a good effort.

I had my best "tone of command" voice, and it worked. I hated calling him a soldier - he’d clearly left, and was a bit of a disgrace to the name - but doing so touched something deep inside, triggered his memories and training, and he moved.

I gave him a bit of a headstart, then did the rest in one big group. I didn’t want them to get inured to my shouting.

I shook my head as I watched the last dust cloud settle.

"Good job Auri." I told my little troublemaker as I released her.

"Brrrpt!" She flew around me, complaining about her rough treatment. "BrrrrRRRRRRrrrrrRRRRRRRpt!"

"I needed to keep you safe." I explained as I grabbed one of the mango juice jars. I needed a stiff drink. Barring that, a sweet drink would do just fine.

"Brrrrrpt!"

"No. You can’t keep yourself safe yet, let alone me." I offered Auri the open jug. She took a sip, then hovered in front of me, all the colors of fire blazing in the afternoon light.

"Brpt! Brpt!" She protested.

I was still riled up from the fight, and I snapped a bit.

"Auri. You are a kid. You are a baby. You have no idea how big the world is. You don’t even have the slightest idea how dangerous it is. You attacked with everything you had, and the bad guy shrugged it off like it was nothing, because, right now, you’re not very strong. People and things can hurt you. They can hurt me. Be careful! Please! That’s all I want, is you to be safe and happy."

"Brpt…" Auri cheeped sadly. I felt my heart melt, and some of the stress left me. I patted my shoulder.

"Come on. Why don’t you take a break here? Show off a bit. Show me how colorful you can be! Show me how pretty you are!"

"Brpt!" Auri dashed over to my shoulder, and fanned her flaming wings out.

"Brpt!" She showed off one angle, then the next.

"Oooh, how pretty!" I cooed.

"Brpt!" Some of her flames flickered, changing color slightly.

"Wow! Amazing!"

"Brpt!"

We kept walking along, Auri showing off as I gushed over her.

In what felt like no time at all - less than a week, most of the distance covered by high-speed flying while Auri napped - I saw the gleaming walls of Ariminum break over the horizon.

Chapter 6
Triumphant Return

I broke out into a huge, silly smile as I saw the walls of Ariminum. Still gleaming white. Still with a little shanty town in front of it. Same old, same old.

The only big difference was the shanty town had grown, which was absolutely no surprise to me. People kept trying to expand, and the city had limited space. Even pillars and markings showed where new walls were being planned.

"Move it!" Someone rudely shoved me aside, passing me on the avenue.

"Jackass!" I yelled back. Could’ve just asked nicely. Sure, I’d been somewhat blocking one of the major roads - arguably the single busiest road in the Empire - but that didn’t excuse terrible manners.

"Brrpt!" Auri started to fly towards him, puffing her tiny chest out.

"Auri! No!" The little arsonist was going to try and burn the dude to pieces. I’d bet mangos on it.

"Brpt!" She protested as I snagged her with [Mantle]. Honestly, I don’t know how I’d manage Auri if I didn’t have [Mantle]. I’d probably need to go live in the wilderness for a dozen years or something, before she got her pyromaniacal tendencies under control.

For that matter, I was a little concerned about living with her in a city. I should get a nice room of hard to burn but still flammable stuff - like really wet wood - and let her go nuts.

"Yes, he wasn’t a nice person." I agreed with her.

"Brrrpt!"

"No, you can’t burn down every bad person."

"Brrpt??"

I stepped off the side of the busy road, massaging my eyes. How did I explain this to Auri?

"There are… ok, for now, let’s say there are two types of bad guys."

"Brpt."

"There are the SUPER DUPER BAD GUYS, and you burn them."

"Brrrpt!!!"

"Then there are the MEH bad guys, and you just ignore them or fly away."

"Brpt???"

"Because not everything is worth burning people over."

"Brpt! Brrrrrrrpt!!"

I facepalmed. Auri still seemed to think burning people or ‘turning people into fire’ was a good thing. How, exactly, she reconciled that with "burn the bad people" I wasn’t sure.

She honestly seemed to have one answer to every problem, and it was "fire".

"You can… make them more miserable by leaving them alone? They’re not worth your precious fire?"

I was reaching here. I didn’t quite know how to properly explain civilization and society, crime and punishment, along with the entire ethical and moral backbone that Auri needed to have. This parenting thing was hard, and I was additionally struggling with the sheer pace that Auri was growing and developing at, along with the massive firepower on the tips of her wings.

More and more I understood why the System was locked for kids, as miserable as those eight years had been for me. A toddler with [Fireball]?

That was basically Auri. On my todo list: Get a tutor for her. Someone with experience raising kids and teaching them. I was doing my best, but I knew I was stabbing blindly in the dark. I wasn’t so arrogant to think that I could just automatically do it all myself perfectly. People trained for this. People had classes in this.

Well, ok, not classes in "How to raise a baby phoenix", but close enough. [Nanny for troubled kids] had to be a class with some cross-applicability or something.

"Brpt…" Auri didn’t sound convinced.

"Let’s make a deal." I pleaded with her. "Don’t burn anyone or anything without asking me, and if you make it a whooooooole week, I’ll take you to a flower shop, buy all the flowers, and let you burn them. Deal?"

"Brpt? Brpt?? Brpt!"

I’d successfully explained "Buying" and "Selling" to Auri before.

"Ok, yes, and you can also sit on my shoulder that whole time. Just think! If you’re not lighting everyone on fire, then I can take you to busy, crowded markets! Then TONS and TONS of people can see how pretty you are!"

"Brrrrptttt!!!!!" Auri loved the idea. "Brpt?"

"A flower store sells allllll kinds of pretty, beautiful flowers! They’re lovely! They have hundreds and HUNDREDS of the best flowers from ALL OVER THE WORLD! Isn’t that super cool?"

Auri’s eyes went as wide as a blueberry, which on her tiny frame, was massive.

"Brrpt?!"

"Yes, a whole week. Seven days." I patiently explained to her.

"BrrrRRRRrrrrrrPT!"

"I know that seems like forever." I had to remind myself that she was only a few weeks old. "But it’ll be over in a flash! Plus, you’re going to meet my mom and dad soon!"

"Brrpt!!"

"Yeah! Let’s go!"

Auri successfully distracted and refocused, we got back on the road, joining the throngs of people making their way to the capital for one reason or another.

I smiled at the road, feelings of nostalgia welling up. I remembered the first time I went down this road, Julius teaching me how to be fast with [Rapidash]. How we’d blazed along the road, then turned around and headed back, with Julius running backwards the entire time.

How we’d lumbered up in the Ranger’s wagon, making it to their home. I hadn’t known it at the time, but it’d become my home as well.

How often I’d gone up this road, coming back home after visiting Artemis’s school. Shame it was a bit out of the way, but I wanted to get home-home first, THEN visit Artemis.

I couldn’t wait. I wanted to show her Auri, and tell her all the stories! Plus, Julius and Artemis were a thing, and I wanted to get all the sweet details from her!

Now, I was walking up the road one more time. My heart was pounding, and I entirely ignored everything that wasn’t the road. That wasn’t the next step.

I was less than an hour or two away from home. Away from hugging mom and dad. A year and a half, come down to this.

I wanted to just fly right in, blaze through everything and everyone, and make it right home.

It’d cause more than a bit of a mess, and there wasn’t a need to do it right now. I was still feeling a little awkward about Port Salona, and for all I knew, Sentinels were less exempt from various laws than we had been before. I wanted to get a pulse on things.

Before long, Auri and I were queued up in the long line before the main gates. Ariminum was surrounded on three sides by the Nostrum Sea, leaving one main entrance to the walled city. The road leading up to the gates were wide and kept clear, the shanty town not allowed to encroach on it. There were multiple sets of guards checking people and things over.

Still. There was a line.

A long line.

I played with Auri a bit as I listened to idle gossip.

"Want some juice?" I asked her, my hand already knowing the answer as I moved to uncork the amphora.

"Brpt!"

"Food prices are going down at last."

"Shame, I’d been hoping to get my harvest in while they were still up."

"Well, can’t rush nature."

I gave Auri a deep drink.

"Look! Mom, look! Look at the pretty bird! Can we go over and touch it?"

"She probably doesn’t want to be bothered."

"New play from The Bard is going to be in the theater tonight!"

"Bah, plays. I want to see the colosseum! Give me those [Gladiator] fights! I want to see blood! I want to see death! They keep trying to execute Spartacus and Artemis, and they keep beating all the gladiators sent after them! I’m probably going to miss them, the line is going so slowly."

My heart practically froze as I heard that.

Artemis wasn’t a super common name, but at the same time it wasn’t the rarest name. However, at the capital? Combat-capable enough to survive multiple rounds in the colosseum?

That sounded like Artemis.

I’d wanted to get into the city normally, but nooooo. One of my friends being at risk was a good enough reason to bend a few rules.

"Hey! You!" I pointed at one of the farmers hauling his goods.

"Me?" He pointed to himself, looking around.

"Five rods if you deliver this to Ranger HQ." I shucked my heavy backpack off, and heaved it into his cart. I quickly flashed my Sentinel badge, but I might’ve been too fast for him to see it properly.

"Hold on!" I called out to Auri as I wrapped her up in my shield. I bent my knees slightly, then jumped up, my colorful [Scintillating Ascent] wings snapping open.

"Brpt! Brpt!?" Auri thought my wings were OK, and wanted to know what we were doing.

"Friend might be in trouble." I answered her as I flew over the city walls, holding up my Sentinel badge. I let a subtle Radiance glow ennamate from me, shining as I blitzed through the sky.

I knew where the colosseum was. I’d been the entertainment of the day often enough in Ranger Academy, and the arena was huge.

A flicker of Lightning coming from the arena, and the roar of the crowd had me straining to fly faster, pushing my skill for all it was worth.

Then I cleared the walls of the Colosseum, and got a look at what was going on.

I absorbed the entire scene in an instant.

Without a doubt, it was Artemis in the center of the arena, fighting for her life. Nearly a dozen gladiator bodies were scattered around her. A few had the characteristic charmarks of Artemis’s Lightning strikes, while the rest had bright streaks of fresh blood radiating away from their corpses, Artemis having put a rock through them.

She was coated in her stone armor, and four gladiators were huddled inside a metal contraption, a decent distance away from her. Two more were warily circling her.

The gladiators inside the metal cage were two [Mages] and two [Rangers]. The gladiators circling Artemis were both [Warriors]. All were between level 150 and 200, and it made me wonder where the higher level gladiators were. A small, vindictive part of me hoped that Artemis had fought them all already, and was working her way through the entire supply of [Gladiators]. After all, while two [Gladiators] fighting each other usually didn’t go to the death, Artemis had no such restraints. Even when she completely overpowered her victim - errr - opponent.

Small burning rocks were scattered all over, billowing black smoke coming off the rocks. A strange Fire skill, working with Earth? Didn’t matter too much.

I grinned. It looked like they’d sent sixteen professional fighters after Artemis, and she was kicking their ass. That was the Artemis I knew!

I hovered for a quick moment, while deciding on my angle of attack, and how I was going to approach this. Option A was to just dive in, Radiance blazing, and kidnap Artemis from the center of the arena, then fly away.

The plan seemed inadvisable from a long-term solve-the-Artemis-in-the-colosseum problem, but it kept her safe for now.

I didn’t think she needed that much keeping safe, not from the bodies she was stacking up like firewood.

"The Lightning Reaper scores two more kills! The sixth time they’ve tried to execute her, and she demonstrates why she just will not go down! Give it up fooooooooooooooor ARTEMIS!"

The crowd roared, half in approval, half in anger. Either way, the stadium was packed. Artemis was making one hell of a name for herself, and given her victory in the face of overwhelming odds?

The fight stalled out for a moment, and four of the gates to the arena opened up. Three gladiators stepped through.

"Would you believe it?! They’re sending more fighters after the Lightning Reaper! Killed ten people so far, but it looks like they’re determined to take her out! But with how good she is, are the [Lanistae] just throwing away [Gladiators]?"

The commentator paused for a moment, seeing something I hadn’t.

"Spartacus refuses to enter the colosseum! He doesn’t like his chances here! I wouldn’t like them if I was in his sandals!! He’s chosen to live another day, versus fighting the LIGHTNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING REAPER!"

As the reinforcements dramatically entered the arena with various flourishes, one of the mages hiding in the metal cage took advantage of the moment of distraction to launch a barrage of devastating rocks at Artemis. Nearly all of them split around her, redirected towards the two gladiators trying to flank my favorite Lightning mage.

One of them had the reflexes - and a big enough shield - to defend himself, while the second one ate dozens of high-speed pointy rocks to the face, and dropped like a sack of potatoes. From his screaming and convulsing, Artemis hadn’t been lethal enough.

Annnnnnnd there went my plan on figuring out a better plan. Blasted [Oath]. I might be able to heal from where I was, but that’d just make more messes, and risk Artemis unnecessarily.

I regretted losing my sound-amplification gems in Ochi, but I could still make one hell of an entrance. Plus, the [Announcer] usually had amplification skills, and with just a tiny bit of luck and showmanship, I’d get boosted. Made sure I was showing off the right level as well.

I blasted light-only Radiance, detailing the Sentinel badge rotating around me as I dived down. Auri, from her hamsterball perch on my shoulder, shrieked as the ground rushed up at us.

"BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPT!"

The crowd roared as I descended, their voices pressing against me like a living thing. I flickered a heal at the downed gladiator, saving his life.

I blasted out dozens of [Kaleidoscope] butterflies, having a few hover near each gladiator, and a swarm interspersed on the field just in case.

I didn’t need to announce what they did. The butterflies were a clear threat. ‘Move, and something bad will happen.’

I landed hard next to Artemis in the center of the arena, bending my knees to take some of the impact.

I had no idea what to say. Not after so long. What did one say when they vanished for a year and a half, then suddenly reappeared in the midst of a life and death fight?

I said the first thing that popped into my mind.

"Yo. Long time, no see."

Did… did I just say yo!? Oh gods.

Artemis looked stunned. She just stared at me, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. The announcer and the crowd were going nuts. I ignored them. As long as the gladiators did nothing stupid, we were fine.

"Let’s get out of here." I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. Artemis hardened up, and nodded.

With a modest amount of Radiance, I melted right through the chain on Artemis. I noted that it was rooted in a stone pillar, and she would’ve been able to escape it herself, if she needed to.

I looked at her stone armor.

"You are way too heavy for me to fly out." I noted.

Artemis half-grinned, and gave a half-chuckle of despair.

"And I’m way too low on mana to fly out myself." She added.

"Let’s walk out? Damn anyone who tries to stop us?"

"Let’s."

Chapter 7
Artemis!!

Artemis kept her stone armor on as we too-casually walked across the arena. We were both keeping a wary eye on the various [Gladiators], wordlessly splitting up who was keeping an eye on which one.

The crowd was chanting, and the announcer was shouting with wild exuberance.

Artemis had trained me. I knew she was tuning out the noise just as much as I was. They weren’t part of the fight right here, right now. It was mostly useless background information, and paying attention to it could get us killed.

The only important part? The crowd seemed excited and pleased by what we were doing. Gave us a good shot of pulling it off.

I had full faith in my abilities. At the same time, arrogance and complacency killed. Sky was a great example.

My [Kaleidoscope] butterflies were still there. Still silently hovering, a glittering, golden minefield that no fighter wanted to walk through.

Not with my level.

Not with my proclamation of being a Sentinel.

This was one of those moments where I was grateful for the never-ending Sentinel propaganda.

Brawling had done a number on people watching the gladiator fights, and on the gladiators themselves. He was undefeated, and while he always dragged it out and made a great big show out of it - the fighters knew, in the back of their mind, that he was putting on a show, and wasn’t seriously fighting them.

Now a second Sentinel was around, and it was obvious that I wasn’t playing games. I wasn’t here to put on a show.

I wasn’t going to be extra-careful to keep my opponents alive.

I noticed Artemis was limping a bit, and I felt a flush rise up my cheeks. How had I forgotten to do something so simple, so basic?

Without a word, I pulsed a quick heal through Artemis, and we finished walking out of the arena, through the gates.

I dismissed my butterflies, all of them vanishing with a thought. It wouldn’t do me any good for them to fade one by one - it’d give away too much of what I could do, and how they worked. All of them disappearing at once when I walked through the gates?

Obviously controlled. Obviously powerful.

There was one [Retiarius] in the antechamber that led to the arena, his trident and net on the ground, his hands above his head. He was pressing himself against the wall, either trying to get out of our way, or melt into the stone.

The antechamber had two gates. One led to the sandy arena, filled with death and blood. The other was closed and barred, and led deeper into the colosseum.

Couldn’t give the sacrifices a chance to run away. Recalcitrant slaves would be poked with spears, "encouraged" to leave into the arena proper.

Between certain death by spear, and almost certain death in the arena, nearly everyone took the second. After all, people like Artemis demonstrated that it was possible to survive.

"Artemis?" I asked her, glancing at her. She was chewing her lip.

"Healy-bug. Don’t think I’ve got enough left in me to remove the gate."

Drat. I could melt through the gate, but it was a significant amount of mana. Radiance vs rock was heavily tilted in rock’s favor. Artemis was an Earth mage though, and could, with relative ease, get rid of the gate.

She looked at me, and cracked a smile.

"Then again, I’m with Sentinel Dawn, aren’t I? Don’t need to leave much in reserve."

Artemis pushed against the gate. Wall and all, it fell back into the corridor, cracking in half as it hit the wall.

"Brrrrpt!" Auri was impressed.

We carefully stepped through the gap, and just like that, we were winding through the interior of the colosseum.

I’d been here often enough during Ranger Academy ‘practice sessions’. I knew my way around.

I was burning with my desire to talk with Artemis, to catch up. I knew she felt the same way.

Damn the time and place. We both knew it was inappropriate. We were treating this like any other threat a Ranger needed to face.

I was keeping Auri in her little ball on my shoulder, ignoring her cries of protest. This wasn’t the time or the place to be letting her explore.

By and large, people scurried out of our way as we went through the hallways.

Well.

To be fair, they were getting out of Artemis’s way. In the poorly lit corridors, at a quick glance that didn’t properly evaluate my color, I just looked like a healer, escorting another fighter.

Artemis’s level, marred armor, reputation, and sheer fame had people making way for her, like some celebrity. We made good time, until we were almost at the exit.

A skinny, reedy man in a toga - clearly rich, because only someone with too much wealth could waddle around in something so impractical during a working day - was blocking our way with a few guards.

"Senator Enyo." Artemis muttered to me. "Technically owns my debt."

I flickered my eyes to her in recognition of what she said, and what it meant.

Short version. Artemis had - for some reason I couldn’t possibly imagine, she was a paragon of virtue - gotten in serious trouble with the law. The penalty for nearly everything was a fine of varying degrees, and slavery was Remus’s answer to someone who couldn’t pay off the fine.

Of course, someone had to actually pay that on the other end, and from the sound of it, Senator Enyo had snapped up Artemis.

The whole thing made my skin crawl.

Bonus though - if it was "only" someone who owned her debt, it meant high-level politics weren’t in play. I hadn’t stumbled into some grand conspiracy to bump off Artemis.

Probably. I’d take things one day at a time. One thing at a time.

"You!" He snapped at Artemis. "What are you doing?! Get back over here."

Artemis opened her mouth, and I cut her off with a subtle gesture.

Gods, I was fast. How had I become faster than Artemis?! When had that happened?!

I put my impending crisis off to the side.

"How much?" I asked. Enyo sneered at me.

"Not for sale." He smugly informed me.

"Brrrpt!" Auri shrieked at him.

"Now now, no burning the SUPER DUPER bad man." I absent-mindedly told Auri.

"Brpt!?!?"

"This time."

"BRRPT!!"

Auri fluttered helplessly against [Mantle], trying to get out there and FIGHT! Kill the bad man! Burn him to pieces!

As fun and convenient as that would be, it’d simply compound the mess.

I tapped my foot unhappily.

"That wasn’t an option." I said.

"Well, tough shit girly." Enyo replied.

Goddesses above, could you please send me someone to punch his face? He really needed a punch in the face.

"I am leaving with Artemis." I informed Enyo. "Either you’re getting a pile of coins from me, or you’re not. How many coins would you like?"

"You think you can just steal my slave?" Enyo was getting heated, his face an unhealthy red.

"If you phrase it like that, yes."

"And who are you to-"

"Sentinel Dawn. Now, you, and what army, will be stopping me?"

I shifted my focus to the guards, and before Enyo could stop me, addressed them.

"Healer-tagged, but I can melt through stone. Anyone’s eyeballs tougher than stone? Raise your hand!"

I lifted my hand in the air, giving them all a Look as I gave a quick demonstration with my Radiance. I melted a patch of stone in the ceiling between us, liquifying the stone in three seconds. There was dead silence, only punctuated by the steady drip, sizzle, drip, sizzle, drip, sizzle of molten stone hitting the floor.

"2000 rods." Enyo named a sky-high price, and I steeled my face. I wasn’t going to be dropping my jaw at something like this.

"Done." I snapped, before he could change his mind or something happened. "And don’t you dare give me shit over being a woman. I’m Sentinel Dawn. I can pay it."

A Sentinel, haggling with a Senator at the entrance to the colosseum? It was a bad look for everyone, but more so for me. He clearly had no shame.

I let a predator grin stretch over my face at Enyo’s shocked look, and a little thrill went through me. Instantly agreeing, as it turned out, was hitting him harder than anything else. He was realizing he could’ve asked for more, and it was killing him inside.

Yesssss.

"I demand delivery of the coins before I hand her over!" Enyo cried out.

Artemis and I glanced at each other, and gave him a flat stare.

"I’ll have it delivered in two days. Let’s go."

Artemis took the lead, and the guards parted for her. Enyo briefly looked like he’d try to be a pain in the ass one last time, but decided not to mess with the stone-coated Lightning Reaper.

He’d probably seen how many people she’d killed in the arena, and I had some sneaking suspicions how Artemis ended up in this position in the first place.

As we walked out into the busy boulevard connecting to the arena, Artemis let her stone armor fall off. She stretched in the sun, like a languid cat waking up from a nap.

I released Auri from [Mantle], hurriedly grabbing her as she determinedly flew back to the arena.

"Auri, NO! Not right now. We need to look after our friend first. Remember, flower shop. Floooowerrrr shooooooooop."

"Brrppt….." Auri flew back to my shoulder.

"This is Arte-"

I was interrupted by the woman in question.

"Whoa! Healy-bug! Thank you!" She finished her stretch, grabbed me in a hug, and twirled me around. "That was a bad spot of trouble you pulled me out of."

"Brrrpt!" Auri was flying around Artemis, clearly distressed that I was being manhandled.

"No, Auri, Artemis is nice! We like Artemis!"

"And who is this?" Artemis asked, cocking her head at Auri.

"Brrrpt!"

"Artemis, Auri, Auri, Artemis. Listen, why don’t we head back to my place, and talk there?"

I was all too aware that we were standing in the middle of the street, and traffic was diverting around us. It wasn’t exactly the best place to hold a conversation.

"Sure. Where to?" Artemis asked. She was probably dying to ask me a million questions. Her self-restraint was admirable. And a little suspicious.

Had Artemis been replaced by a doppelganger?

"My place! I just said that." I started walking down the road that I knew would lead to home, then paused. Realized one reason why Artemis would double-check the place.

"Hang on. My parents are still living there, right?"

My throat clenched up. This was the moment. I’d had a rock-solid belief this entire time that they were ok. They had to be ok! Nothing could hurt them, or cause them issues!

That belief had kept me going this entire time. It’d let me compartmentalize, put the worry about something I could do nothing about to the side, and let me focus on the various issues and problems I had in the moment. Getting distracted when sneaking around dragons, fighting spinosauruses, or dodging semi-orbital bombardments was a great way to end up dead.

However, all my fears and worries about my parents came rushing back. Had they been ok without me? Had dad being in the Praetorian Guard caused issues when Emperor Augustus had come to town? Had the guard resisted? Did mom need to go heal someone, and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Themis was probably fine, although if something happened to mom and dad he’d be in trouble.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, of course they are, why would they move?" Artemis flippantly answered. I gave her a stare, feeling some tears welling up.

It was too much. I whirled around and wrapped Artemis in a hug, buried my face in her filthy tunic, and let loose. Just, right there, middle of the street still.

"Shhh, shhh, it’s ok." Artemis hugged me back, one hand patting my back and the other stroking me like I still had hair, and not a charcoaly mess. "Everything’s fine."

"Brrpt! BrrrrrpT!!" Auri was making some concerned noises, flying around us. She then landed on my shoulder a few times, and started half-pecking me, half-trying to light me on fire.

Because, to Auri, lightning me on fire was a good thing that’d make everything better.

Phoenixes. Heh.

My crying turned into cry-laughter, and I broke free.

"We really should do this at home." I hiccuped in the middle.

"Brrrpt!"

The streets blurred together as Artemis and I hustled, only slowed down by Auri at first. We’d been in a town before, but nothing so big. Everything was NEW! Everything was SHINY!

Poor girl tuckered herself out, and with the earlier excitement with the colosseum? She fluttered into my hands, and practically passed out, nevermind the loud, crowded street.

In practically no time at all, we were at my home. The fancy, expensive house in the nice part of town that Night had semi-casually gifted me as a thank-you for not murdering Jaclyn.

I sprinted as we got close, leaving Artemis in the dust. I practically bulldozed the doors on my way in.

"MOM! DAD! I’M HOME!" I yelled as loudly as I could.

Silence. Drat.

I ran to the next room.

"I’m home! Where is everyone?!"

We didn’t do slaves. Not in my family. I’d put my foot down ages ago, and since I’d been bringing in the lion’s share of the money, and paying for people to do the cooking, cleaning, and other household tasks that slaves normally did? My parents were totally fine with it.

It mostly ignored the fact that there was almost no practical difference between the two. It was the spirit of the thing.

I bumped into a servant sweeping as I burst into another room - the first one I’d seen since getting back here. The place was weirdly empty, and it didn’t look like they were doing a great job with the cleaning. I kept spotting little bits here and there that were suboptimal, or hadn’t been done in awhile.

"Hey, where is everyone?" I asked him. Didn’t recognize him, must be new.

He gave me a strange look, which wasn’t entirely unfair. Strange person bursting into the house you’re looking after? Usually it was time to call the guards.

Strange person seems to be holding a fireball? Which is what a sleeping Auri in my hands kinda looked like.

DEFINITELY time to call the guards.

His eyes widened slightly, in that look I knew all too well. The "oh shit she’s WHAT level?!".

He bowed slightly to me.

"Pardon miss. The patriarch of the house is performing his duties at the Senate, and the matriarch is visiting a patient of hers."

Oh right. Middle of the working day. Derp. Of course mom and dad would be at their jobs. Themis was probably at guard training.

I did appreciate the servant’s canny way of implying that dad was a Senator. That was quick thinking on his part! It wasn’t true, but it was a clever dodge.

"Can you please go get them for me? Tell them I’m back! Elaine’s home!"

My name seemed to finally make something click. One of the minor benefits to daughters being named after their dads I guess?

He bowed again, this time more deeply, put away his broom, and left at a light jog.

I couldn’t wait!

I skipped back through the house, knowing exactly where I’d find Artemis.

Raiding the kitchen. Maging was hungry work, and she’d been in one hell of a fight.

I leaned on the door to the kitchen, watching Artemis eat an entire duck leg, just standing up there in the middle of the kitchen like a savage.

"You know, we have a dining room. And a table." I commented.

"Mrmph! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm." Artemis replied through a mouthful of duck. I rolled my eyes.

"Come! Sit! Mom will kill both of us if she catches you like that."

Artemis’s eyes bulged, and she started coughing as a bone went down the wrong pipe. I patted her back as we moved towards less lethal spoon territory.

The dining room was nice. Big room, big table, a dozen chairs, a water barrel in one corner for easy drinking, a few smaller "staging" tables along some walls, a lovely mosaic on one wall.

Artemis finally cleared her mouth, and longingly looked at the rest of the food she’d brought with her.

"When did you get back? Where were you? What happened? Is everything ok? When the fuck did you get so high level? Tell me everything about Auri! Wh-"

I held my hands up. Artemis seized the moment to stuff her mouth with more food, and started chewing.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold up. First, I’ve got a million people to tell the story to. Like MOM AND DAD. If I tell you now, I’ll need to repeat myself in like three minutes. I’ve been gone for ages, and I literally just got back. Like, literally now. I was in line at the gate when I heard about you, and I instantly rushed over. No, no, it’s your turn. Tell me everything that’s been going on. What happened to you?! What about the school?! How were you in the arena, and a slave?!"

"But I wanna eat." Artemis whined at me.

"Do both at the same time." I flippantly replied.

"Brrrrpt." Auri sleepily agreed with me.

"Alright, alright, so you left with the rest of the Sentinels, and we were all worried sick. Every Sentinel being called at once? Everyone coming back instantly getting redirected? Only an idiot would think it wasn’t anything super serious. We prayed every night for your safe return, then boom! News of the Formorians being defeated! Your letters came! They were more than a bit ominous, to say the least."

I chuckled at that. It had seemed like such a big deal then.

"Anyways, we more or less followed your advice,"

From Artemis’s tone? I was betting less.

"And - have you heard about Emperor Augustus?"

"Yeah, blah blah boring blah blah all hail blah." I answered, circling my hand to keep Artemis’s story going.

"Right. Well, since someone blabbed about Julius and I," Artemis’s tone suddenly got real heavy. Real sad.

Oh no.

OH NO.

Julius?!

"I’m going to skip to the relevant things. You got declared Missing in Action - Presumed Alive. Not to the general public of course, but your family knows, and naturally Julius told me. Maximus retired last Ranger Convocation, and joined the school. He’s fascinated by how people get trained up, and get skills. Just in time as well, otherwise things would be a lot worse."

I was furiously chewing the inside of my cheek. Worse?!

Also, nice to know that Maximus had survived so long. He was the last Ranger of the old Ranger Team 4 that I’d been a part of to keep… Ranger-ing, and I’d been somewhat worried about his survival.

I was delighted that he’d retired and joined Artemis’s school. Had to go visit and say hi.

Artemis took a deep sigh.

"Ok, so, I’m not the best person."

I gave an unladylike snort - not that I ever pretended to be a lady.

"But I’d like to think I’m a good person, and I do the right thing, regardless of what the letter of the law says."

Oh yeah. I could see where this was going.

"And, well, now and then, I fixed problems."

Godsdamnit Artemis, just how many people did you murder?!

"And you’re not a Ranger anymore."

Artemis nodded.

"And I’m not a Ranger anymore. Didn’t quite appreciate how much effort you all went through to keep me out of trouble. Or how much effort Julius spent getting me out of hotspots."

Artemis got a far-off look in her eyes.

This was sounding more and more ominous.

"And." My patience level was practically zero.

Or, technically, I didn’t have the skill [Patience]. Never been offered it. Weird.

"Well, I killed someone terrible." Artemis frankly admitted. "He was the patriarch of his family, and was careful with his abuses. By law, nothing could be done. So I fixed the problem, and the city’s a better place. I wasn’t sloppy, but got caught due to bad luck. I sat tight, assumed Julius would bail me out, and…"

Artemis teared up. She took a few deep breaths, and didn’t quite manage to get her composure back. Her voice cracked as she finished her story.

"... and he never did. He’s gone missing."

Chapter 8
Family Reunion

"Oh thank goodness." I collapsed back in my chair. Julius was only missing, not dead.

"Brrrpt!" Auri agreed, hopping onto the table. I quickly repositioned a plate to catch her.

Ooof. There went the rest of my food, but at least Auri was happy and distracted for the moment.

"Thank goodness?!" Artemis stood up so fast her chair hit the wall. "What do you mean, thank goodness?!"

"Brrrpt!" So much for keeping Auri distracted. She flew up, hovering protectively in front of me. "Brrpt! Brrpt!"

"I mean, the way you were talking about him, I was thinking he was dead!" I protested. "I got declared missing in action, and look at me now!"

Artemis looked vaguely embarrassed as she got her chair back. A mollified Auri went back to igniting my lunch.

"Oh right. Yeah. Gotta tell me more about that… fireball… of yours. Still, Ranger Commanders don’t exactly fall off the map, and he went missing near here. There aren’t exactly a lot of holes that he could’ve fallen into, and still be alive."

My mind whirled, thinking of possibilities. Not so much actual ideas, as much as reassuring Artemis. And myself.

"Could’ve…. Been secretly arrested?" I ventured tentatively.

Artemis snorted.

"You think I don’t have a long list of possibilities already?"

There was the sound of a door being violently opened from across the house.

"Elaine!?" Dad shouted with everything he had.

"DAD!"

I left Auri on the table, and sprinted through the house. Rooms blurred, and why did I agree to take a place so big?!

"DAD!" I yelled, seeing him.

"Elaine!"

He threw his arms out as I practically tackled him, grabbing me in a hug and twirling me around.

"We were so worried about you!" I could hear him crying.

My face was buried in his chest. I just nodded, tears running down my face.

"I’m home now." I said, doing my utter best to crush dad.

I had a BUNCH of strength now! Rawr! Feel my grip!

"Yeah… you are." Dad agreed, just continuing to hold me. As he rocked me, like I was a small kid again.

I curled up in his arms, and just let him, hoping my hug could convey all the emotions, all the feelings, I didn’t have the proper words for. Who cared that he was wearing his hard, formal Praetorian armor? He was still here. Still dad. Still fine.

"Elainus! Get your lazy ass over here!" Artemis shouted from across the house, breaking the moment.

"Artemis!?" Dad almost dropped me in shock.

"Oh yeah, she’s around." I said.

Dad squeezed me again.

"Cool your blasted impatient heels!" He roared. "My daughter’s back home at last!"

"Well, that’s your call, but your table’s on fire!" Artemis seemed positively gleeful at that.

"Fuck! Auri!" I wriggled free of dad’s hug, and sprinted back through the house.

"What!?" Dad… was quite a bit slower than I’d expect. Kinda made me sad.

I was all grown up, and faster than he was.

I made my way back to the dining room, annnnnnnnd yup. Auri had, for whatever reason, set half the table on fire.

Artemis, with her usual aplomb, had made a small earthen wall splitting the table in half, and was still eating on her non-burning side, practically ignoring the fire near her elbows.

"Aoife Auri Stentor! You put those flames out right now." I waved my finger at her.

"Brrpt! Brrrrrrrrpt!"

Auri flew up from the table, all of the flames seemingly following her, then getting sucked in and absorbed by her tiny body. She flew around me at what was high-speed for her, cheeping her happiness at seeing me again.

"Brrrpt! Brrrpt! Brrrrrrrrrrrpt!!"

I grinned at her.

"Yeah, I just needed to step over for a second! This is our home! Dad just came back!"

"Brrrpt!?!"

"Yes, I have a dad."

"Brrrpt!?!"

"Almost everyone has a mom and a dad, yes."

"Brrppt….?"

Oooof.

"I… don’t know about your dad." I admitted.

I didn’t want to admit that I wasn’t really her "mom", because for all practical purposes, I kinda was.

"Where’s the fire?!" Dad burst into the room, taking it in at a glance. Seeing the half-burned, half-perfect table, and Artemis continuing to eat, he came to the natural conclusion.

"Artemis! You didn’t need to set our table on fire! I was coming!"

She froze, a duck wing halfway to her mouth.

"I didn’t!" She protested, and I giggled. The long tradition of Artemis getting blamed for everything that went wrong when she was around continued.

"Yeah, ok." The corner of dad’s lips quirked, and I could tell he was having fun at her expense.

"Brrrpt!" Auri flew up in front of dad, and hovered in his face.

"Auri! Careful of your embers!"

"Brrrpt!" Auri protested. Dad leaned back, getting out of the danger zone.

"Whoa! Who’s this?"

"Dad, Auri. Auri, this is my dad." I said, making the introductions.

"Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Auri."

"Brrpt!" Auri decided she liked dad, and landed on his shoulder.

"Awww, so cute, she-"

Dad managed a few words before learning that Auri either didn’t have good control of her fire, or wanted to light him on fire.

I was pretty sure she was just being friendly…

Either way, the bit of tunic sticking out was now Auri’s favorite material.

"FIRE!" Dad yelled.

His reflexes were entirely understandable. He tried to shrug Auri off, while slapping the fire out - which had Auri directly in the line of fire.

A quick [Mantle] slowing - no, wait, stopping - his arm, and my own hand darted out to grab Auri.

Dad was doing a lot of yelling, Auri was crying a bunch, Artemis was shouting, it was pandemonium.

I took a few quick steps back as Auri protested in my hands, burning them as dad wildly slapped at his burning shoulder… and hair.

"Barrel!" Artemis pointed to the water barrel in the corner of the room. Dad ran over, and dunked himself in it.

I grimaced. Oooh, that was going to be a pain to replace.

"Brrrpt!! Brrrpt. Brrrpt." Auri was crying and complaining. The bad man didn’t like her fire, and liked the water more. This sucked! This…

"Ok, well, when I woke up this morning the last things I expected were to see Artemis free, my lovely daughter returned, and for me to get set on fire by her pet."

"BRRRRRRRRRPT!" Auri did NOT like being called a pet. She shot a burning quill at dad, and I intercepted it with a flicker of [Mantle].

Auri needed to grow up and mature before she leveled up too much. I couldn’t imagine the chaos and problems that would arise if I couldn’t quickly and easily overpower her in every way.

Dad gave Auri the side-eye, but didn’t say anything more about her. He wasn’t an idiot, he saw how protective I was being of her. He was also all too happy to see me home, and indulge me in every way.

"What’s next? Thousands of rods rain down from the sky?" Dad raised his arms and looked up, as if begging the heavens to open up and deposit money into his arms.

"That would destroy the entire house." Artemis pointed out between mouthfuls. Crisis averted, she was back at the trough. "Probably kill most everyone in the city as well."

Dad glared at Artemis. "Let me dream!"

"Of killing everyone? Welllll……." Artemis drew it out, letting dad know exactly what she thought of that.

"How’d you get free?" Dad was freely shucking off his armor and clothes, getting out of the wet, burned mess.

Artemis jerked her head over to me. “Elaine here just freed me."

"Brrrpt!" Auri wasn’t quite sure about this whole "freeing" and "slavery" thing - I hadn’t gotten to that part of her education yet - but she clearly approved of whatever I’d done, and Artemis being happy about it.

Dad’s shoulders slumped, tension bleeding out of them.

"Oh thank goodness. Wait, what? How? How much was it?"

"2000 rods." I answered.

Dad went white.

I paled as my heart thudded in my chest.

"Please tell me I didn’t screw things horribly money-wise."

Dad took a deep, bracing breath and shook his head.

"Probably not. Once we got your letter, we did what you suggested, and invested in the new town. Drained most of your savings. However, once you were declared missing in action? They stopped paying you."

My face must’ve been a sight. Why, I was going to storm right over to Ranger HQ and -

"Chill healy-bug!" Artemis spoke around a mouthful of food. "They’ll pay you everything once you show up."

Oh thank goodness.

"Elaine! Where’s my baby!? ELAINE!" Mom’s voice echoed through the house.

I wanted to sprint off and greet mom, just like I had dad.

I knew that Auri would cause even more trouble if I did.

Gritting my teeth and clenching my hands, I yelled back.

"Dining room!"

It killed me to wait. To hear mom’s slow - to my ear - footfalls going through the house.

"Come on Auri!" I said after a brief moment. "Let’s say hi to mom!"

"Brrrpt!"

I walked, mentally squashing the urge to curse Auri’s slow speed. She was just a baby. She was doing her best.

An eternity later - in a flash, a heartbeat - mom was there. Hugging me, holding me.

"My baby." She murmured into my ear. "My poor, sweet baby, home at last."

I was bawling.

"I’m here mom. All safe. Home. I love you. Thank you."

I didn’t know what I was thanking her for, just… yeah.

I was home again. There was nothing quite like a mother’s arms, a mother’s love. There wasn’t anything the same as the bond we had - except maybe my bond with Artemis.

She was holding me tightly, and I swear I felt all her worries melt away. The endless nights, laying awake, wondering if I was alive or dead. The times she was sure I’d died in the wilderness - what else could possibly stop me from coming home? Cursing herself for letting me have a dangerous job.

"You’re home now. You’re home. It’s all ok." She continued to murmur in my ear.

I just nodded, tears staining her tunic. Neither of us cared.

All that was gone now. Her only daughter was home, safe and sound.

"Brrrpt!" Auri interrupted our reunion. "Brrrpt! Brrrrpt!"

"Oh?" Mom kept hugging me, but popped her head up and looked around. "And who’s this cutie?"

"This is Auri!" I proudly told mom. "Found the egg, and hatched her myself! I hope we’ll become companions one day."

"Oh my! How wonderful to meet you Auri!"

"Brrrpt!!" Auri moved like she wanted to land on mom.

Mom was a healer, but was much more fragile than I was. I shifted myself, preparing to intercept.

"Now, you look a little hot to land right on me! One moment, little Auri." Mom disengaged, and I reluctantly let her go. A quick movement later, and mom had grabbed one of her famous wooden spoons from somewhere.

"Here! A perch for you!" Mom held the large spoon out - practically a ladle - and Auri buzzed over to it.

"Brrrpt!!" Auri landed, and, predictably, the top of the spoon where she was sitting burst into flames.

"Brrrpt!!!!" Auri crowed her delight.

Mom looked at her flaming spoon like she’d never seen it before, a maniacal grin crossing her face.

"Oooh, I like you Auri. I like you a lot. I think we’re going to do great things together."

That WAS MORE THAN A LITTLE OMINOUS. Mom!? What the heck?!

…. Maybe pyromania ran in the family. Was my love of fire inherited?!

Either way, I didn’t want to get walloped by a flaming spoon.

Mom waved the spoon around experimentally, embers popping off as Auri clutched the end.

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt!" Auri’s voice went in and out as she spun around wildly, laughing at the sensation. "Brrrrrrrpt!"

"Yeah, you like that don’t you?" Mom cooed at her.

I was starting to feel a little jealous.

"Let’s go sit with everyone else! Artemis is here!"

"Artemis!" Mom cried out. "You should’ve said something earlier!"

We bustled over to the dining room. Mom took one look at the table.

"Now listen here young miss." She addressed Auri, still sitting on her spoon. "We’ll have none of that nonsense here in this house."

"Brrrpt?!"

"No." Mom’s tone was Final.

"Brrrpt…"

Holy shit.

How had she done that?!

There was no way it was because of her experience with me. I had been a paragon of virtue growing up! I hadn’t gotten into that much mischief. Just the barrel incident. And the case of the crossed tunics. And that time when…

Nope. Wasn’t me. Not at all.

"Right. Food! Elainus, where are your clothes?! Go get dressed! Elaine’s back! Artemis is here and free! Then grab the nice bread from the kitchen on your way back. Artemis, plates, utensils, mugs for everyone. It’s not just you that needs to eat, you know. Get enough for everyone. I’ll be in the kitchen, seeing what you savages have left for me to cook. Chop chop!"

Artemis jumped at being called out.

"But I just got freed!" She whined. "This is the best place to eat!"

"And that’s no excuse for poor manners. Now go!" Mom waved her newest weapon at Artemis, who went cross-eyed trying to keep track of mom’s new flaming spoon.

"Yes Julia! Why doesn’t Elaine have to do anything?"

Mom and I sent identical glares Artemis’s way, for entirely different reasons. I was trying to figure out why Artemis was throwing me under the wagon.

"Elaine has practically come back from the dead. She can have a day off."

"Yeah, I’m really hard to kill. I can survive decapitation!"

Mom whirled on me. "Just how would you know that?"

"Uh…"

A few minutes of me trying to evade mom’s questions, and her relentless interrogation - combined with dad, who also wanted to know - and I confessed. All the training in the world was useless before loving parents.

"YOU WHAT!?" Mom shrieked at me, her volume drowning out anything anything else said. She pointed her new flaming spoon at me.

"Elaine. There will be no more decapitations, do you hear me? It’s strictly forbidden."

Well, geez. When you put it THAT way, thanks mom.

"Brrrpt!"

"I don’t need sass from you as well." I gave Auri a Look, who smugly let it slide off of her.

She had my mom - and her flaming spoon - on her side.

Auri and I sat like queens as activity swirled around us, everyone getting a lovely repast ready. Auri even had some nice fruit juice!

But best of all, mom had mangos in stock.

I slowly ate them, one at a time, splitting off a piece for Auri whenever she wanted some. Hey, I needed an appetizer! And it’d be bad for Auri to go hungry.

Dad was the first to sit down, and nodded at me.

"Julia always made sure we had some fresh ones in stock." He said. "No matter how we despaired at the odds of you making it home, she never gave up. No matter how tight money got, no matter the seasons, she always managed to find a fresh batch in the market."

My throat closed up as I tried to keep the tears from turning on again. I slowed way down, savoring each piece in my mouth until it practically dissolved, before going onto the next one.

Mangos were the best.

These? These were the best mangos I’d ever had.

That I ever would have.

Chapter 9
Reporting back I

Lunch crept into dinner with the family as I regaled them with stories of my adventures, my mission Beyond The Wall to lands strange and fantastical.

They got a heavily, heavily redacted version. I would’ve skipped the decapitation, if it hadn’t already slipped. No almost-starving in the Below Levels.

No dragon.

No shimagu massacre.

I wasn’t quite ready to open up about them all.

At one point, Themis came back, and quietly inserted himself at the table. He hadn’t been able to escape guard training, the downside of being a trainee. He listened, as enraptured as everyone else.

"After Auri hatched, I got slowed waaaaaaaay down." I leaned back in my chair, hands over my stomach. I swear I was going to pop with how much I’d eaten. "Couldn’t just fly right over."

"Brrrpt!" Auri cheerfully agreed. I gave her a side-eye, unsure if she was happy about slowing me down, or what.

"The trip would’ve been boring if it wasn’t for Auri attempting to light everything in sight on fire. The first time she lit a farmer’s harvest…"

I pinched the bridge of my nose at the memory.

"Brrrpt! Brrrpt! Brrrrrrrrrpt!"

"Oh, don’t sound so pleased with yourself." I managed to keep my tone playful.

"Sis. You’re talking to a bird." Themis pointed out.

I narrowed my eyes at the brat.

"And?"

"It’s kinda weird, you know?"

I shot Themis the unofficial one-fingered salute that every guard knew, and knew well.

"Had a run-in with two dozen bandits -"

Dad looked alarmed.

"Alone? By yourself? Are you ok? They didn’t do anything too bad? Rob you too-"

I rolled my eyes as I interrupted him.

"DAD! I’m fine. Radiance mage, remember? Sentinel, remember?"

Dad didn’t look convinced.

"But there were so many more of them than you. How…?"

"You’re vastly underestimating Elaine’s class quality, and how the advantage just gets larger past 256." Artemis was acting the part of the wise sage, which was totally out of-

Wait.

No.

She’d been running a school for years now. In my mind, she was still Artemis, the totally cool Ranger, moving with thunder and fury.

She had another side - Artemis, the wise old teacher.

I shrugged.

"Yeah, it wasn’t any trouble. Mostly. One of them had a strong Mirror class, had to use my knife."

Everyone at the table winced. Even Themis, which brought a smile to my face.

He might just be a kid, but he wasn’t glorifying fighting. He didn’t think it was TOTALLY COOL that I’d "handled" someone with a knife. His training with the guards was going well - he had some idea of just how dangerous and deadly a knife fight was.

"Then I was here! Home! Annnnnnnnd yeah. That’s it. Questions?"

Everyone erupted with a dozen questions. I held up my hand.

Which did nothing.

"ENOUGH!" Dad roared, smacking the table hard enough that everything jumped. "One question at a time. One person at a time."

He hesitated a moment, then pointed to mom.

"Dearest, you can go first."

"What, I’m not the dearest?" Artemis teased dad.

"One of us stuck around and was comforting." Mom shot right back.

I blanched. Themis was just as grossed out.

"Oh gods please no."

"Immortality!" Mom jumped on what I thought was one of the biggest parts of the story. Granted, a few other things were tied with it, but… well, with the redacted version, it was the clear winner. "You can turn back the age for anyone? Can you put it in a gem? Can you-"

Dad lightly thumped the table with his fist, arbitrating the question-asking.

"Well. Any human, yes. I don’t think I can use it on pets. As for gems? That’s an interesting idea…"

My mind started to wander down a labyrinth of possibilities with storing [The Stars Never Fade] in Moonstones. I was interrupted by dad pointing at Artemis.

"Mmm. Elaine, lean over. I want to whisper my question." Artemis said. She got a round of glares.

"Hey! Wait-" Themis protested, but Artemis just caused a localized thunderclap, and leaned near me.

"Your level is way too high for what you said you did." She rapidly spoke, as everyone was shouting protests - myself included. "I’ve got some ideas of what had to have happened. Wanna talk about it later?"

The thunderclap finished echoing around the tiny room.

"Brrrpt! Brrrrrpt! BRRRPT!" Auri was crying, nuzzling up to my cheek.

"Artemis! No! Bad!" I scolded her, stroking Auri’s burning belly to try and calm her back down.

I kicked - nudged really, my kicks could actually hurt now - everyone under the table, hitting them with healing and fixing the damage Artemis had inflicted on everyone.

"Well?" She asked.

I hesitated. I… probably should talk about it with someone, yeah. I had to tell the Sentinels, but Artemis would be a comforting ear. I didn’t want to, but it was probably a good idea.

The elves had the right idea on long-term mental health. If I wasn’t careful, I’d end up a gibbering wreck. A powerful, Immortal gibbering wreck.

"Yes." I answered her.

"What was the question? I have to know!" Mom asked.

"Do you remember it’s supposed to be one at a time?" Dad interrupted. "What I want to know is the creature the Guardians were fighting. What can you tell me about it? And are you sure it’s the reason for the moons?" He asked.

"Ahem, yes. I remember, it’s supposed to be one at a time." I gave my best straight, serious face to dad.

I thought I was hilarious.

There was silence around the table, a pregnant pause as everyone waited on me to say something. Artemis finally broke it by cackling with laughter.

"Ooooh, Elainus, she’s got you there!"

The rest of us broke out into laughter while dad just sat there, going red in the face then sighing with defeat.

"Ok, ok, you got me. Elaine?" He prodded.

I was a generous daughter. I licked my lips as I tried to think of what to say.

"I… can’t say too much about the creature." I finally hedged. "And yes. The Mirage on the moons turned off when she took a powerful blow."

"Night of the Flickering Moons." Artemis muttered to herself. I started, then realized - of course, everyone must’ve seen it happen.

It must’ve caused a nearly world-wide phenomena. I was reminded of the sheer scale of Lun’Kat’s powers. An illusion of the scale of two moons, demonstrated the world around, as a casual flex.

Assuming it wasn’t more than that. Could she see through them? Could she launch attacks from them?

Gods. The idea was terrifying.

If I ever got a swollen head. If I ever thought I was powerful, or if I ever started to grow an ego?

I’d just look up at night, and remember. Get a reminder, smacked in my face, that I was nothing.

Dad nodded, and pointed to Themis.

"Son?" He asked.

"Cordamo sounds SO COOL! A super FLYING SNAKE?! That sounds totally badass. How can I find one?"

I shrugged.

"No idea. Go fish. Next question?"

Somehow, dad was up next.

"What were the guard procedures for defending against the orc commandos?"

He would be interested in that - it was his entire job to keep VIPs alive.

"Well…"

The questions continued, everyone wanted to know something, get clarity on one detail or another.

Finally, mom leaned forward.

"My turn! That Serondes didn’t sound all that great, but how was he? Decent at least?"

I had a moment of confusion, before realizing what mom was asking.

I’d faced dragons. Bandits. Slavers. Pirates. Formorians, earthquakes, angels, dwarves and more.

I’d rather re-do all of those than face mom asking about my sex life.

I sent a quick prayer to all the gods, asking them to open up the earth, and have it swallow me whole. Lun’kat, Remus is ready to be razed. Fairies, if you even exist, please whisk me away.

None of them answered.

None of them ever had, which is why I didn’t put much stock in praying to gods. They were fickle, and the only person who’d ever get me out of trouble was me.

"Auri!" I grabbed the bird, turned, and fled back to my room as my face turned into a temperature gauge, steadily getting redder.

How did those things work anyways?

The sound of my family laughing - kindly - chased me through the house.

It was late, and I was kinda tired. My family would be there again in the morning. No rush.

Did see bits here and there that were dirty though. Dad’s comment about a lack of money hit hard. The house was so big, mom and dad combined couldn’t quite keep on top of it.

I should see how my investments were doing, and maybe rearrange stuff. I didn’t want my parents to get screwed again. They deserved a life as long as they wanted. It was the least I could do for them.

For some reason I was feeling a bit skittish, a little jumpy. I made it back to my part of the house.

My section - mostly my room and my bath - had been kept lovingly perfect. Every inch swept, my bed perfectly made and the bath filled with clean water. With a sigh of relief, I stripped and sank gratefully into the cold water.

Mmmmm.

With a thought, and a hair too much Radiance, I warmed the pool up. Steam billowed off the pool, and I relaxed, closing my eyes, letting the heat soak into me.

Having some faith that Auri wouldn’t fly away and light the house on fire in the… two hours… I’d need to become clean again.

"Brrrpt!!?" Auri flew around, worried about me. She then landed on my forehead, keeping me "safe" from the Evil Water.

"I’m fine."

"Brrpt….?"

"No, really, I like the water."

"Brpt!!!"

"No, I’m not sick."

"Brpt. Brpt. Brpt."

I cracked open an eye, and decided a lecture on sass wasn’t needed. Auri was allowed to speak her mind.

I was hoping that’d foster a healthy relationship, which was needed for a companion bond.

"Brrpt brrpt brrrpt?"

Oh hm. What was mom talking about before?

A realization crashed over me.

Oh no.

OH NO.

I knew my responsibilities. I knew what I had to do.

I didn’t want to do it.

Ugh.

But Auri had unlocked her System after like, a month, and it’d taken another month to get here. If I extrapolated human lifespans to Auri - I honestly didn’t have a better measuring stick - we had to have an awkward conversation."

"Ok Auri, I think you should know about the birds and the bees…"

"Brpt?"

I started explaining. I thought it went well, but…

"Do you understand?"

"BBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Auri shrieked in outrage, and promptly exploded a chair into flames.

I facepalmed. Nope, she hadn’t gotten it at all.

"Auri, I didn’t mean you had to do all that with a bee!"

I was in my room, getting ready to sleep, when I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in!"

Dad entered.

"Hey kiddo! Got Auri a little something." He dragged in a metal stand.

"Brrpt?" Auri flitted over, and started hovering around it.

"For you!" Dad cheerfully told Auri, all while leaning away from her.

"Brrpt!"

"Where do you want it?"

I took a look. It was basically a birdstand. Solid base, thin metal pole, perch with a loop at the end.

"Right there." I pointed to an empty spot near my bed.

Dad dragged it over.

"Brrpt!" Auri landed on it, cheeping approval. "Brrpt?"

"Metal… is hard to burn." I hedged. I didn’t want to say impossible, because she’d take that as a challenge.

"Brrrpt!!"

She took what I said as a challenge anyways.

Flames erupted from Auri, as she tried to ignite the metal. However, her mana pool was still small, and she couldn’t make and sustain super hot flames.

"Ha!" Dad just had a good chuckle at that. "Tell you what. Auri, right?"

"Brpt."

"Burn that down, and I’ll let you pick and burn anything in the house!"

"Brpt!!"

"Cool, yeah?"

"Brpt!"

I looked at dad with horror, and he just winked at me.

Ugh.

Auri better not burn any of my stuff.

And I had my stuff back!

"Thanks dad!" I gave him a quick hug.

"Brrpt!" Auri was also happy, and wanted to show her affection in her own way.

"Bye!" Dad beat a hasty retreat, fortunately faster than the fiery menace.

Mom showed up a bit later with a small ceramic bowl of fruit juice, which perfectly fit into the loop on the perch.

"Brrrpt!" Auri was liking the service here. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Oh! I need to be up early. Can you make that happen?" I asked her.

Mom put her hands on her hips, and sighed. I knew the look well. "You’re an adult, and should be doing this yourself, not relying on me."

That’s not what she said though.

"For tomorrow? Of course! Anything for my baby."

I smiled at her.

"Thanks mom."

It did remind me - I had a bunch of habits that I needed to get back into. Waking up early was just the first of dozens of more "civilized" behaviors I needed to do again.

I finished getting ready for bed.

Auri’s soft red glow, combined with the flecks and specks of her other colors, lit the room like a comforting night light.

She even seemed to know that my bed wasn’t for her. Auri didn’t mind - she liked being tall and high up.

I slept like a baby, in my own bed.

Home, sweet home.

I woke up with a start as loud bangs echoed around me.

Attack!

I rolled off my bed, throwing my shield around Auri. I looked at the door, ready to shoot whoever came through, and -

Wait.

My door?

Shit.

Reality snapped back. I wasn’t under attack. There wasn’t a monster breaking into my room. Just someone knocking on my door, letting me know it was time to get up.

I shook my head, dropping my shield as I stood up.

"Brrpt! Brrrpt!!!" Auri was flying around, panicked and worried.

"We’re fine Auri. It’s ok. Just… a bad dream."

Close enough to the truth.

"Brrrpt."

It took me practically no time to get ready and leave. The only thing I needed was my badge. And my Mistweave, I wasn’t going to run through town naked.

I could’ve blitzed out the door if it wasn’t for Auri. She needed a morning drink, and dad had been kind enough to leave a jug out on the table for her. Auri instantly knew what was what, and vanished inside.

She’d gotten better at not dunking herself in juice. That had been bad.

There was a strange metal device on the table. After turning it over a few times in my hands, it clicked - it went on my shoulder, and could act as a perch for Auri!

I put it on - it was kinda awkward and unwieldy - and asked Auri "Wanna hop on?"

"Brrpt." Auri fluttered to my head, and I couldn’t suppress a sigh as the fuzzy bits of hair I had growing back went up in flames.

I was this close to getting a fireproof hair skill. They had to exist somewhere.

Why hadn’t I stuck with Fire and [Fire Resistance]?

I debated yelling goodbye as I left, but nah. People were still asleep.

I made it out onto the streets, the sun still not up. The roads were starting to get busy, and a few [Knockers] were up and about, knocking on doors and waking people up for the day.

Took all kinds to keep the world running. Mom had probably asked one to knock for us. Woke her up, then she woke me up.

I assumed. Hadn’t seen anyone this morning.

I made it to Ranger HQ without incident - although I’d gotten quite a few looks for a burning bird sitting on my head. So much for that perch. I noted that unless things had radically changed, I was really early for the daily Sentinel meeting.

With the Immortal vampire Night at the helm, running the show? The same Night that insisted on daily Sentinel meetings immediately after the Formorian threat was over?

There was no way the meetings weren’t at the same time.

I might as well visit the Quartermaster, and see about getting FUCKING PAID.

Nobody worked for free, and there were no words more enraging than "I’m sorry, due to a clerical error we haven’t paid you for the last YEAR AND A HALF."

A grin crept across my face. Prank time!

I made it to the Quartermaster’s window, and frowned. It was shut.

I banged on it a few times.

"Coming! Hold on." A grouchy voice echoed from behind. I folded my arms and tapped my foot.

The shutters opened, and one of the Quartermaster’s minions blinked owlishly at me.

"Sentinel Dawn?!" He cried out.

"In the flesh!" I couldn’t help it. I spun around, letting the Mistweave dress flare as Auri shrieked. "Back and alive!"

"Wow. Just. Um. WOW." He said.

My happy tone turned dark and threatening.

"Now. I believe I’m owed quite a bit of pay. Hmmmmm?"

"Brrpt! Brrrpt!"

"Um. Yes, of course you are. Just need the [Quartermaster] to get in to authorize it."

I gave him a glare, letting him sweat a bit.

Eh. Fair enough. Tired minions shouldn’t be allowed to dispense that much money in the middle of the night. Too easy to trick and rob.

"Fine. Are invisibility gems still easy to recharge?"

"Sentinel. All due respect, no, but we’ve got a [Flawless Camouflage] gem that’s become the new standard. Would you like one?"

I nodded.

"Please."

"Great! Also, when will you be turning in your gear for repair?"

Ooooooooh.

Mmmmmmm.

How did I break this to him?

Thank all the gods and goddesses it wasn’t THE [Quartermaster] that I needed to confess my sins to. Dude was scary.

"I have no gear."

"To repair?" The minion asked me.

I pulled a face.

"No - no gear. At all. Every last bit ended up destroyed - usually with me inside - lost, broken, burned, or otherwise not with me. Only managed to keep my Sentinel badge."

"Brrrpt!"

I glanced up.

"And Auri here."

He shrugged, which surprised me.

"Right, that makes it easy. We’d already struck all your gear from the inventory, now we can toss the backups."

That was a lot less ass-chewing than I expected. Then again - minion, not the actual [Quartermaster].

He handed me an Opal, and I signed a scroll acknowledging I’d gotten it.

I turned and headed towards the Sentinel’s meeting room, practically in the basement through the somewhat hidden wall. When nobody was around, I activated the gem, watching my arm change color, seamlessly matching against the wood and stone all around me.

As I tilted my head around, the colors I was seeing on my arm changed, to better reflect what was behind it.

Cool!

Magic was so much fun!

"BRRPT!?!?!?!" Auri shrieked in confusion. Where was I!? Where was she?! AHHHHH!

"Shhh, shh, Auri, I’m right here, it’s all ok."

"Brrrpt….?"

"We’re being sneaky! We’re going to surprise some friends!"

"Brrrpt!!"

I felt Auri settle down "lower" on my head, trying to maintain a low profile. Why did I bother with a shoulder perch…

Then again, a burning bird wasn’t exactly subtle. Auri was included with the skill, but…

I snuck around, making it to the Sentinel meeting before anyone else. I was going to wait for everyone to make it, then BOOM! Drop the camo, and SURPRISE! Sentinel Dawn is back!

Not the most professional of moves, but with my practical return from the dead, as far as they were concerned? Eh, I could get away with it.

"Ok Auri, we’ve gotta be quiet." I whispered to her. "I’ll let you know when it’s time."

"Brrpt." Auri was trying her best at being quiet.

I leaned against the wall, and waited.

Night was predictably the first to show up. He paused as he crossed the room, then whirled, charging at me.

Gods he was so fast.

I dropped the camo and started to put my hands up.

"Night! It’s me!" I yelled as he slammed into me, forearm across my neck.

"Who-" He hissed at me, then his eyes widened in realization.

"Sentinel Dawn!" He drew back, letting me breathe again.

"Brrpt! Brrrpt!" Auri was flashing her wings from on top of my head, fire brewing around her.

Night gave her a devastating glare.

"Silence, bird."

"brpt."

Night’s intimidation was successful. Auri withdrew into a tiny little scared ball.

"Night!" I scolded him. "She’s just a baby."

"Then she has little business here." Night observed. "On a different note. Dawn. Allow me the pleasure of being the first to welcome you back home. The survival rate of Sentinels who’ve been missing in action for greater than a year is abysmal, and I can not begin to express my pleasure that you have managed to beat the odds. Receiving your letter was a joy, although I do believe we need to have an extensive debrief."

I felt a warm glow go through me, and I gave Night a big, genuine smile.

"Thank you! I can’t tell you how happy I am to be alive myself. Long debrief, yup. By the way - how did you know I was there?"

Night gave me an amused look.

"You have the levels, but you lack in lived experience. The skill isn’t perfect. The sound in the room was wrong. Your bird emits too much heat. And a dozen other issues with your hiding. Please."

It took half a moment for the full implications of what Night was saying to hit me.

The blood drained from my face, and I felt my heart plunge. My knees grew weak, and I had to grab onto Night just to stay up.

"Dawn? What is the matter?"

I looked Night in the eyes. I tried to speak, and my words failed me. I licked my lips, and tried again, barely able to whisper out my confession.

"She knew."

Chapter 10
Reporting back II

My knees grew weak, and I grabbed Night’s shoulder to stay upright.

"She knew." I repeated, panic overwhelming me. My entire body was trembling, and everything was falling away.

"Brrpt?"

Everything except the lethal truth that was percolating through my mind, devouring every other thought I had.

I staggered over to a comfortable, fluffy armchair, and sank into it, staring off into nothing.

"Dawn? Sentinel Dawn? Are you alright?" Night asked me. I gave a tiny shake of my head, and ignored him.

And whatever else he was saying.

Lun’Kat had known. The entire time I’d been in her lair, she’d known I was there.

No wonder [Bullet Time] had been permanently active. Lun’Kat had been watching every step. Every movement, every errant twitch. One wrong move, and I would’ve gone KABLOOEY!

For some reason, she’d let me be. I couldn’t think of why she left me alone at first, alone in her lair, but I guess once I started healing her, I was worth keeping around.

I’d stolen from a dragon.

And she’d let me.

Wait.

She’d let me?

Which meant-

"DAWN!"

"Whoa! What!" I jumped, coming back to reality.

"Brrpt!" Auri was flapping her wings, trying to keep stable on my head.

"Your pet has successfully ignited the chair in which you are sitting. Please permit me to extinguish the fire before it spreads."

Night’s tone was less than amused.

I would be too, if someone barged into my space, spouted nonsense, then started lighting stuff on fire.

"Shit!" I jumped up.

With a wave of his hand, a fountain of blood erupted from Night, covering the chair, then vanishing like it’d never existed. The chair was left perfectly dry, although with a moderately sized char spot.

"Now. What is all this about ‘she knew?’" Night asked.

"I’ll tell you during the debrief." I said. "Works better if the story’s in chronological order."

Night nodded.

"I will trust your judgment then. Given the extended period of time that you have been away, I believe Ranger Command will also wish for you to give them a full report. Given the contents of the letter you have sent to us, I shall arrange for you to report later this morning."

I hesitated, chewing on my lip.

"Make it this afternoon, after lunch?" I asked. "My debrief is going to take some time, and if I have to get grilled by Command? I want to do it on a full stomach."

Night gave a slow smile.

"Most wise. As you wish. I shall return momentarily."

He left the room.

"Auri, please don’t light things on fire. Please." I begged her.

"Brrrpt!" She scolded me.

"Ok, you’re right. That one’s on me. I did put you onto the armchair."

I thought about it a moment.

"Hey, lemme teach you some interesting things about fires, and being inside. See, when you burn things, you make a lot of smoke, and you eat air! This can be bad if you want to keep people safe, but good if you’re dealing with SUPER DUPER bad guys."

"Brrrpt!" Auri liked where this lecture was going.

"Now, it’s important to remember…"

I gave Auri a lecture on the dangers of indoor fires. The purpose was to avoid accidentally suffocating everyone in Ranger HQ, but from the gleam in Auri’s eye I knew she was getting a second set of lessons.

How to best suffocate people out. [Oath] was ok with this, because my purpose, and guiding mission, was trying to teach her safety. Sometimes, when teaching ‘don’t hit this part of the body, because it’ll kill them’, the student absorbed ‘hit this part of the body, because it’ll kill them’.

The two were practically one and the same.

In another sense, I was teaching Auri how to use her Inside Voice - errr - Inside Warmth.

"There’s no way." Brawling exploded into the room with his normal vigor, unusually early. "I swear I heard Dawn."

"Brawling!" I got up from my chair and waved. "Hey!"

"DAWN!" He roared, and charged at me, bowling over sofas, chairs, and the little table in the middle of the room in his haste to get to me. "You’re alive!"

"Wait no-" I tried to slow him down.

"Brrpt!" Auri sounded her alarm, seeing the behemoth of the man charging at us.

Alas, Brawling was Brawling for a reason, and practically nothing could slow him down when he wanted to get from A to B. He grabbed me in a bear hug, twirling me around.

"I thought for sure you were dead! Then we got your letter! I was so happy, then yesterday I heard about the colosseum!"

"Brrrpt!" Auri thought I was under attack - not an unreasonable interpretation of the situation - and lit Brawling’s hair on fire.

"Oi!" He yelled at Auri, the force of his voice enough to make her flames ripple. "Don’t do that!"

He patted his hair out, which necessitated him dropping me. I staggered a step or two away, and Auri flew in between us to ‘protect’ me.

"Brrrpt!" Auri let Brawling know in no uncertain terms what she thought of him.

"Who’s this? Brave little bird. Not very smart though."

"BRRPT!"

I grabbed Auri before she could escalate the situation. Which she was remarkably good at.

"This is Auri!" I cheerfully told Brawling. "Auri, this is Brawling. We like Brawling. He's a good person, just a little eager at times."

"Aww, thank you Dawn!" Brawling looked a hair bashful.

"Dawn! You made it!" Ocean was the next one in.

"I did!"

"I am going to make so much money." He cackled as he rubbed his hands together. My jaw dropped in shock.

"No." I gasped.

"Ooooh yes."

I shot him an evil eye, still with a silly, happy grin on my face, and he held his hands up.

"Hold your horses! I bet you were alive! After seeing how you healed? I knew nothing could kill you."

I shuddered at the many, many close calls I’d had on the way back. Nothing could kill me? Oh, he had no idea.

"Yeah… but that means quite a few people were betting that I was dead."

He shrugged.

"This is a macabre business. Gotta find humor somewhere."

The smile vanished off my face.

I’d been a Sentinel for what, three years? And I’d already buried Magic, Sealing, Sky, and Katastrofi. That was before the countless Ranger casualties.

Fuck.

I needed to visit the Indomitable Wall after this. Forget my meeting with Ranger Command. They could wait.

Ocean clapped me on the shoulder.

"I can’t say how happy I am that one of my friends is back from the dead."

I was tearing up a bit, but I didn’t let it show.

"Before, or after you won a ton of money betting on me?"

Brawling just laughed.

In rapid succession, Hunting, Bulwark, Acquisition, Nature, and two new people I didn’t recognize showed up, along with Night back from scheduling the debrief.

Toxic, Destruction, and… it took me a moment to pull the memory, I’d only heard he gotten promoted, never met him - Maestrai weren’t here. My bet was some sort of mission called for Destruction and Toxic, and Maestrai was rapidly deploying them.

One by one I greeted them. Hugged them. Let them know how happy I was to be back.

All of them were delighted I’d returned. I was proof that we could beat impossible odds. I was hope, that if it ever happened to them, that they could fight their way out, and make it home.

"First of all. I anticipate that this meeting will take quite some time. I have already informed Ranger Academy that we shall not be appearing as usual, and that there is no need for concern. Second. Permit me the honor of introducing our new Sentinels." Night began, once we’d settled down. "After that, we shall see if there is any pressing business, then obtain a proper debrief from Sentinel Dawn. Objections?"

I hadn’t seen so many heads shake so fast.

"Right. First: Dawn, meet Sentinel Mirage."

"Heya!" Mirage was just a tiny bit taller than I was, and almost as skinny. I was small for a woman, which made him absolutely tiny. "Sentinel Mirage. Long-range sniper. I can put a metal slug through the center of a coin from roughly a mile and a half away, at high speed. Gale’s my second class, letting me ‘see’ the world around me, and reposition myself quickly."

Hang on.

"So why Mirage?" I asked. He chuckled.

"One of the smoke and mirrors you’re all such a fan of. See, nobody ever sees me when I’m working, right? I’m a Mirage. Makes everything think I’m an illusionist, so they use anti-illusion nonsense. Meanwhile, I’m two miles away, lining up my shot."

I barked a laugh at that. I don’t know why I expected anything less from the Sentinels. Smoke and mirrors, keeping us all alive. His eyes drifted to Auri, a questioning look on his face.

"Sentinel Dawn. Celestial healing and Radiance magic." I shook his hand. "I’m slow, I’m not particularly strong, my magical range is short, but I’m as hard to kill as a cockroach. Decapitation barely slows me down, but it doesn’t stop me."

I grinned, at the look on his face.

There was dead silence in the room.

"Oh right. That’s new."

"Brrrpt!"

The room practically exploded as everyone tried to get a word in, shouting questions and shoving each other.

It took Night and Ocean nearly fifteen minutes to restore order.

"Chill! I’ll get to that part of the story soon enough!" I said, the Sentinels unhappily settling back down in their chairs.

"Ahem. Dawn’s debrief will be shortly." Night coughed.

"Next, I would like to introduce Sent-"

All of the Sentinels interrupted Night at the same time, saying the exact same words.

"Senti-Null!" They roared in unison.

Night gritted his teeth.

"As I was saying, I would like to introduce Sent-"

"Senti-Null!"

Night threw up his hands in exasperation.

"We have a method of selecting titles, and a unified method of identification!"

"Yeah, but Night. Come on. Senti-Null’s a lot more fun." Ocean pointed out. "Plus, we all voted on it. Ten votes for Senti-Null, one for Sentinel Void."

Night looked like he wanted to put his head through a wall. I decided to help him.

"Sentinel Dawn. A pleasure to meet you, Senti-Null."

… help Night in his quest to put his head through the wall, that is.

Senti-Null was built like a runner, like someone who jogged marathons as his morning wake up.

"Senti-Null! The pleasure’s all mine. Void nullifier, Storm speedster. Specialize in killing mages."

That combo did seem particularly well-tailored to mage-killing, yeah. His build was extremely specialized, but in situations that called for his build? I imagined it was fantastic. Exactly what Sentinels were built for, in a way.

"I would love to test my healing against your nullification some day! I had a nasty run-in with one, and I’d like the practice."

He nodded.

"Would love to see how I stack up against a combat healer as well. You’re a rare breed."

"Brrrpt! Brrrpt!"

"Yes, thank you Auri." I glanced up at the bird.

"I take it we should cancel the Thunderbird egg order?" Hunting asked.

I looked him in the eye.

I wasn’t going to sugarcoat things for him because of Katastrofi, nor was I going to draw attention to it. It was what it was, and since he was here, seemingly alive and well, I wasn’t going to comment on it.

"Yes. I hope to bond with Auri here, and things seem to be going well."

Onto the to-do list. Cancel order.

I did hope Hunting would offer to help me with her though. I wasn’t going to ask.

We all settled back down.

"Now. I believe Dawn’s debrief will take a significant amount of time. Does anyone have pressing business that requires our attention before she begins?"

Senti-Null opened his mouth, then closed it, giving a tiny shake of his head.

"Right. Dawn, you have the floor."

"Ok! Settle in, this is one heck of a story. I’ll regularly pause for questions, but let me get to the pause."

"Brrpt!" Auri agreed.

Having told the story the night before, I knew just where to start. The Sentinels were getting the unedited, unredacted version.

Well.

Except for the intimate moments with Serondes. I was going to keep that private. Nobody needed a blow by blow of my sex life.

"It all started when Hunting and I met the dwarves." I began. "They knew about Formorians, but it’d been so long since they’d last seen one, the idiots on the wall thought we were Formorians."

"What was all that about the Void stuff?" Hunting asked.

"Shhhhh!" Ocean, Night, and Acquisition shushed him. Hunting settled down, grumbling.

"Turns out, they did not have their best and their brightest manning the wall. It was more like an out-of-the-way punishment for them, rather than anything important."

"That’s such bullshit!" Bulwark, usually calm and reserved, exploded. "We spend centuries battling Formorians, and it’s casual punishment duty for them!?"

"Shhh!" We all shushed him. Even Hunting joined in, getting a look of gleeful schadenfreude on his face.

"One rod fine for interrupting. Sentinel Dawn gets all proceeds." Ocean declared, and there were nods around the room.

"Brrrpt!"

"Same with you Auri. Not sure how you’ll make any money to pay me back though…"

"Brrpt!?!?"

Brawling gave a great big belly laugh, and I continued on.

"The dwarves had their own great civilization. They loved wood, in all its forms. Redwoods, pines, oaks - everything. They made their homes out of the stuff, their armor and weapons were wooden, their plates, bowls, cups, beds - everything was made out of wood. One of the nice perks was they could regrow their armor, buildings - anything really easily."

"One moment." Night interrupted. He ran off, air blasting through the room as he moved.

Holy.

Shit.

I was almost the same level as Night.

And he was still stupidly fast compared to me.

"Been saying that all along." Nature half-grumbled. We gave him a look.

"Night already interrupted. I’m just gliding off him. No penalty."

We all threw what was on hand at him, but he had a point.

"No penalty." Ocean agreed, as mugs and sofa cushions flew through the air.

I gave a brief shudder, as Night reappeared with a rod worth of coins. He put it down on the table in front of me, and tossed Ocean a scroll and quill.

"Had?" He asked.

I scratched my chin nervously.

"Yes, had. I’m getting there."

Cha-ching.

"The dwarves at the wall decided, in their infinite wisdom, to send the problem of ‘oh gods we’re meeting a new civilization and there are weird new people’ up the food chain to their bosses. Which, to me, makes a lot of sense."

Rueful grins and nods went around the room. Nobody here wanted to be on the hook for that sort of mess. We were all people of action, practical problem solvers. Politics were for others.

Except poor Ocean.

"I’m… not the best with politics and diplomacy." I admitted.

"Pastos." Ocean buried his head in his hands. "Fucking Pastos."

Given how much of the aftermath Ocean had to deal with? Yeah, he was allowed to interrupt, penalty-free. He wrote his own name on the scroll anyways.

"I decided to go along with their plan of ‘send me to the dwarven capital so their leaders can meet me.’ It seemed like a good idea, and while I was agreeing with them, they couldn’t really complain about me."

Night opened his mouth, then closed it.

"Right. While I was at the wall, I learned a few important facts. First off. Remus seems to be, in its entirety, in something they called the ‘Dead Zone’, and the elves called ‘The Low Experience Zone.’ Either way, the effect’s the same. We all gain significantly reduced experience while living here. I got around 200 levels in a year and a half outside of the dead zone, while a lifetime living here got me roughly 300 levels. Granted, the activities I was up to outside the dead zone contributed significantly, but the point remains - we’ve all been getting half experience or less our entire lives."

Shock and horror was on every Sentinel’s face. Nobody interrupted after the bombshell.

"Brrpt!?!?"

"Yes Auri, even you."

"Brrrpt!!"

Yeah, yeah, I’ll try to fix it for her as soon as possible.

"It’s not all terrible. As a result, we’re getting significantly improved classes, since we spend so much time in each tier."

"Second. Void mages have a tendency to randomly explode, taking out entire cities as they do so."

Every eye turned towards Hunting, who was getting red in the face. I would be too, if I was accused of potentially annihilating cities.

"Questions?"

It was like the starting gun on a verbal race.

Everyone had dozens.

Chapter 11
Reporting Back III

Nearly all of the Sentinels were arguing and yelling, trying to get their questions heard. Ocean and Night were the only ones not shouting, Night as still as always, and Ocean rolling his eyes.

After four minutes of this, Ocean held up his hand, and a wave rippled through the air in the room, like a deep-sea pulse.

I didn’t know Ocean - the element - could do that!

Oddly, it seemed to "warp" around Auri. Interesting. Something to look into another day.

That did get people to shut up.

Night took a deep, pained breath.

"Senti-Null." I could see it physically hurting him to use that name. "Please make your way to the archives. Fetch the reports of the destruction of Eboracum, Tencteri, and Port Namnetus. They should be from roughly 2500, 3100, and 3800."

Holy what?! We had records going back that far?! Just what kind of shape were they in?

Night paused a moment.

"You may need to visit my personal residence, and request records from there. I apologize, but when looking up documentation of this age, I do not trust the average runner or guard to treat them with the proper care. Additionally, I do not require originals, merely the most recent copy that exists. Thank you."

Senti-Null didn’t look thrilled, but he was one of the most junior Sentinels, and a speedster to boot. Night or Brawling were both faster than he was, but had enough seniority on him.

At least, I assumed that was the logic.

Senti-Null took off, wind fluttering through the enclosed room. I was pretty sure he did that deliberately to screw with us.

"Right. The ‘dead zone’. What more can you tell us?"

"First off. The dwarf giving me the information did not come off as particularly intelligent, nor particularly competent. The information I have is somewhat flawed as a result, but I believe the basic premise is correct, given my experiences."

I paused for a moment, thinking and reorganizing my thoughts.

"The dwarves recounted part of their version of the Formorian War." I eventually settled on. "The Formorians were just as much of a menace to them, as they were to us. From what I understood, the dwarves pushed them back to the Dead Zone. However, once they got there? They didn’t care about the ground, the land, or any of it. The Dead Zone was too unappealing to them. It feels "icky" for lack of a better word. They built a wall, manned it, and went about their lives."

"But you said the dwarves thought you were Formorians." Nature interrupted.

"Eh, yeah. Given how impressive the walls themselves were, maybe the Formorians just gave up attacking them? I have no idea."

Bulwark looked a little sour at the idea.

"They were impressive." Hunting added in. "Much taller and thicker than anything we had, and the built-in defenses were something."

"They had Hunting scurrying away with his tail between his legs!" I cheerfully threw him under the wagon.

"I didn’t want to test myself against them." He agreed.

"Either way, the dwarves decided that the area we lived in was no good. For specifics - again, entirely unreliable - the dwarf said he thought we were getting half the experience that we should be getting, and that I’d ‘only’ lost 60 levels as a result."

There was no uproar this time. The bombshell had already been dropped on the Sentinels. Instead every eye turned towards Night.

The Immortal Night, living since creation. Who’d gotten roughly 5,000 years of experience stolen from him.

He elegantly put his head in his hand, and uttered a single word.

"Fuck."

There was dead silence at Night’s pronouncement of the situation, and I whole-heartedly agreed. Auri finally broke the silence.

"Brrrpt!"

Night stayed perfectly still, in command of the room by sheer presence alone. There was controlled anger there. Night hadn’t survived all this time by having poor control over his emotions and reactions. The fact that he wasn’t moving at all was the greatest sign of his emotions.

"Dawn. Do you have any further information on the Dead Zone?"

I gave a crisp nod.

"Potentially. The dwarves I met weren’t the cream of their crop, but they had staggeringly poor stats and combat capabilities for their level. After some further adventures of mine, I believe that the Dead Zone comes with a significant advantage. Namely, our class quality is several cuts above where it would normally be."

It was still Night’s show, and we all waited for him to speak.

"I can believe this to be the case. At first, I believed my class quality to be something of an aberration. A reward, at first, for surviving the creation of the world. Yet, as time passed, and humans lived their quick lives, it was exceedingly rare for humans to match or surpass the quality of classes that I have enjoyed so far."

He paused a moment, drumming his fingers.

"There is an interesting phenomenon that I have observed a few times. People get powerful classes in one of two ways. The first are the quick." He gave a slight nod of his head towards me. "Those who struggle and achieve much in a short timespan, pushing themselves to absurd lengths in situations most would not believe. The shooting stars, destined to burn brightly and quickly."

Ooof. That had started off so well.

"The second are the perfectionists, the masters. Those who hone their craft well, before moving onto the next stage. They are rewarded for the time and care they have devoted to their craft."

Night paused for a moment, even though none of this was exactly new to any of us Sentinels. However, his analysis on the situation was literally peerless, and we’d sit in silence for an hour if that meant we could hear what he had to say about it.

"I believe, unwittingly, that we have all been forced into the ‘master’ role. Half experience demands that we do twice as much, and the System recognizes our efforts as we select our class, even if it has chosen not to reward us with as much experience as we have earned."

Made sense. If I had to heal twice as many people, my achievements would be "Healed 10,000 people" instead of "Healed 5,000 people", and I’d seen how the System "slid" the quality of classes and the stats given already with [Ranger-Mage]. The higher [Ranger’s Lore] was, the better quality [Ranger-Mage] was.

Just seemed like it was a global effect on everything.

"Given my leveling pace outside of the Dead Zone, I can also guess that it might take more than half the experience. I’m not sure of a good way to verify it though, and some of my adventures, well…" I trailed off, not wanting to get ahead of myself.

"Any other questions?" I asked.

"I’ve got one." Bulwark jumped in. "Night, how much traveling have you done? Do you have any idea if the Dead Zone predates creation, or if it happened while you were around?"

"I thought myself well-traveled." Night began. "I am unsure of the extent of the world I have visited. At the very least, I have been to every corner of Remus. I have not been across the ocean to the north. Given the utter lack of mapmaking, and the ever-changing landmarks? I can not properly estimate. As for detecting the Dead Zone forming? It may be that it predates me. It may be that it came up, slowly and insidiously, without me becoming aware of it or its strength. It is not like we had formalized methods of detecting large-scale changes in strength or experience. We were more concerned with day to day survival at that time." Night drily pointed out.

"This sucks." Acquisition mentioned.

Ocean held up his hand.

"I move that we table the discussion of the Dead Zone for another time. Dawn has given us the information, and analysis at this stage detracts from her debrief."

"One last note." Acquisition butted in. "If I may?"

Ocean frowned, but nodded.

"Dawn. Did it occur to you at all that the dwarves might’ve been gently kidnapping you, to use as a bargaining chip in future negotiations with Remus?"

I pointed to him as my mouth dropped open.

"Brrpt?!"

I closed my mouth.

"Ummm. No. Whoops?"

I got half the Sentinels laughing at me, while the other half facepalmed, or showed their disgust at my naïvety in other ways.

"It’s ok Dawn!" Brawling called out. "I would’ve done the same!"

For some reason, Brawling putting me on his level wasn’t exactly comforting. I shot him a finger.

"Now, don’t copy me Auri, it’s bad form."

"Brrrpt."

Auri wasn’t impressed with my hypocrisy.

"I’m going to skip most of the trip, because it frankly doesn’t matter." I said. "Unless you want the breakdown of a riveting massacre of hellhounds attacking us, and a chupacabra stalking us. Nothing too interesting. The only thing of note before the trip ended was a stop we made."

I took a few deep, bracing breaths, then had a brainwave.

I didn’t need to say it.

I didn’t need to call them. Damn what the elves said, I wasn’t risking it.

Especially not with Night here. I didn’t think he’d react horribly - and I thought in a room surrounded by Sentinels I’d be safe - but why risk it?

"I need charcoal. And part of a scroll." I announced.

I got some confused looks, but in a moment I had the supplies.

I quickly wrote on the scroll.

"The Dragon Lun’Kat, the Stygian Deceiver."

"There are - were? - anyways - two types of dwarves. Well, probably more, but I’m going to divide them in two for this. The ‘Wood’ dwarves, and the ‘Metal’ dwarves. Clearly, I’d met with the Wood dwarves first. We stopped by a town, and the mayor threw a small feast to welcome us. There was a metal dwarf there. He was recruiting for a mission to rob…"

I held up my sign with a dramatic flourish.

A few of the Sentinels leaned forward, to better read what I’d written. Night sharply inhaled, and a few of them gasped as they processed the words I’d written. A few of them went pale.

You could hear a pin dr-

"Brrrrpt!!"

Auri snapped everyone out of it early.

"Holy gods above. They were going after a dra-" Mirage started to speak, but Hunting whirled and backhanded him before he could finish saying The Word.

Nobody else spoke.

"The fools." Night whispered.

I nodded.

"Yeah, which brings me to the end of the journey. Our trip was cut short when the idiots disturbed…"

I held the sign up, chuckling at the look on everyone’s face.

Yuuup. I didn’t have nearly enough reverence for dragons anymore, specifically Lun’Kat. I couldn’t tell if familiarity had bred contempt, or if I realized just how far below them I was, if I knew, deep down, just how boned I was if a dragon decided to kill me, that there was no point in being concerned.

Lun’Kat wanted me dead? I was dead. No amount of running, screaming, fighting, hiding, or healing would keep me alive. It was refreshing, really.

"I believe she was nesting, and the dwarves disturbed her. Or heck, it’s possible that something else entirely provoked her wrath. Either way," I held up the sign. "decided that the dwarves had to go."

I shuddered at the memory.

"Never say their name." I said with conviction, the memories of that night flashing through my mind like a horror show. "I don’t know if they can or can’t hear you, but She pulled down the sky on their entire nation."

I waited for a moment, letting the sheer scale and power sink in.

"As. Her. Opening. Move." I emphasized each word by smacking the back of my hand into my palm. "She repeatedly cast the skill, burning and razing the entire time, while casting a dozen skills just as powerful. No idea if it’ll matter, but I saw Celestial, Pyronox, and Mirage."

"Don’t write that down." Night said. "A report on her is one thing, detailing her capabilities? If word got back, she might decide to eliminate knowledge of what she is capable of doing."

Made sense.

I closed my eyes, lost again in the memory of that night.

"The Guardians came. Etalix, who has a statue in front of every temple."

"Praise the Storm." Bulwark muttered.

"Still alive…?" Night half-whispered under his breath.

"Brrpt!"

"Yurok, a great treant. Asura, the Destroyer, a unicorn. Ho-O, a phoenix. Galeru, the Rainbow. Hebei, a xuanwu. As well as long-range attacks from what I believe to be other Guardians, and a giant the size of a mountain."

I paused a moment, then held up the sign. "... fought them all, and won."

I didn’t give everyone a lot of time over that.

"That was the Night of the Flickering Moons." I held up the sign. This was getting obnoxious, but eh. I wasn’t going to say her name. "Took a powerful blow from the giant, causing what I believe to be the illusion on the moons to break. Of course, they were restored in short order, but…" I shrugged.

"You’re shitting me." Brawling said. "The moons are a skill?!"

"Silence." Night barked. "Nobody speaks until Dawn has significantly moved past this portion of her debrief. There will be no errors."

"We were dust in the wind." I was being a hair poetic, but the fight deserved it. Even the word "fight" seemed to be too weak for what happened. "Blown around by the capricious whims of those battling. The shattered deflection of the side-effect of a physical swing was enough to nearly kill us all, and not all of my escort made it. A single spore from Yurok took tens of thousands points of mana for me to heal. The treant was generating massive clouds of them, and that was the start. There was no concern for bystanders. There was no thought on collateral damage. There was no safe place to go. The world was on fire, Galeru had wrapped herself around the mountain, trapping us, and the battle was raging."

I let the imagery sink in for a moment. I’d told lots of stories, ever since I’d joined the Rangers. I didn’t have a skill for it anymore, but I had a bit of the flair still. A minor sense of timing and drama.

"The dwarves dove down an abandoned mine shaft, and I followed." I shrugged. "What else was there to do? At least by putting a few miles of rock between us and the fight, we had a shield against some of the attacks."

I saw two mouths open - "some of the attacks" having provoked a reaction - but discipline held. They didn’t say a word.

Not even Auri commented.

I think the scale of just how powerful the Guardians were was getting to them. Miles of rock wasn’t safety, it just changed things around.

"More of my escort died, and the Guardian’s battle shook the tunnels we were in. Passages broke, gravity reversed, and at one point we found a gigantic ice pillar in some of the tunnels, a stray attack penetrating deep."

Brawling wordlessly got up, and started banging his head against the wall.

"I won’t bore you too much with the tunnels. Slimes, orcs, a changeling of all things, starvation, and traps. Oh! I survived getting decapitated! Stripping my former body was weird."

Almost every head - mine included - snapped towards Night. He didn’t look amused, but after an expectant moment, waved his hand.

"Fine. You may ask. I know I have questions myself on the subject."

I should invest in earplugs. The room exploded in noise again.

"How?!" Mirage shouted first.

"Skills." I answered, and Acquisition good-naturedly punched him in the arm.

The interrogation continued for five minutes, but when it became clear that it was just an application of my skills, the Sentinels gave up.

They were all able to do crazy things in their own domain of expertise. My domain was healing, and most of the surprise was due to a lack of familiarity with high level healers.

"You mentioned a Changeling?" Ocean asked.

"Yeah. Killed and replaced a member of my escort. We thought he’d snapped, and totally lost it at first. I became suspicious, but, like, what was I to do?"

"Kill him and check the notification." Hunting pointed out like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I rolled my eyes at Hunting.

The Sentinels were interested in hearing everything about the Changeling. What he was like. What he did. What clued me into the fact that not everything was right. The murderous streak he went on, the hunt, capture, and confirmation.

"Hasn’t been a confirmed Changeling in decades." Hunting muttered. "Good to know what we’re up against. They pop up now and then, and this will be good for finding them next time."

"I thought Artemis got one?"

"Confirmed kills." Hunting emphasized.

Well, fine then. I moved on with my story.

"We got lucky, and found one of the underground dwarven cities after wandering around for a few weeks."

"They’re locked in some sort of total war with orcs, of all things. There were a number of high-level orc saboteurs and assassins hiding out in the dwarven city, causing as much damage and destruction as possible. Almost got me killed!" I said. Senti-Null quietly slipped back into the room.

"Anyways. I’m Sentinel Dawn. I was able to single-handedly change their casualty situation, which is where it got, well, ugly’s not quite the right word, but ugly." I said.

"Bit of a side note, but an important one. The dwarves have an interesting tactic for empowering themselves. With great skill and Skills, they replace some of their bones with metal implants, coated with Inscriptions. Said Inscriptions then provide them with a number of benefits, starting at their bones being hard to break, and moving on into a wide variety from there."

I had a few eyebrows raised at that. Senti-Null coughed lightly.

"Brought back the records you wanted. Night?" He politely handed some scrolls over to Night, who unrolled them and scanned over them.

Eboracum, Tencteri,

"Records indicate that Port Namnetus ‘sunk into the ocean’, the entire stretch of land that the city was on steeply dropping into the water. There were a number of survivors from the incident, who were able to report on what happened." Night finally said.

"However, the destruction of Eboracum and Tencteri differ from Port Namnetus’s fate. There was not a single soul nearby that we could find. People from far away reported what appeared to be a gigantic mushroom, made of fire, erupting from the city. Ranger teams that investigated simply found a charred, burned, flattened city." Night concluded. "Do you believe this to be an accurate representation of what Void mages do when they explode?"

"BrrRRRrrrRRRrrRpt!" Auri’s eyes were shining at the idea of making gigantic fireballs of that size. We ignored her.

I shrugged.

"I have no idea. It’s possible? That type and scale of devastation would align with the level of fear that I saw."

At the same time, it felt like there was something. Some distant connection. Something… about cities getting erased? There was some strange feeling from my old memories, and I had to wonder if something similar had happened on Earth, and all my knowledge of it had been wiped away.

With the lack of magic on Earth, if there were weapons capable of casually destroying cities? Maybe it was a good thing I ended up here… although I didn’t remember living in a state of fear of them…

Maybe that had also been erased?

My head was killing me. I stopped thinking about it.

"Most interesting. Sadly, our census data from the time period is lacking, and it was the rare census that collected classes. Carry on."

I moved on.

"I could try to copy some of the things I saw, but I have no idea how deep they went. I do know my healing simply erased most of them, at a cost. Questions?"

There were none, and I moved on.

"The dwarves didn’t want to let me go. Wanted me to hang around for a decade or two until their war was over. I had some objections to that."

Ocean and Night glanced at each other.

"We haven’t been officially told yet - I doubt we will ever get officially told, truth be told - but I think we’re in contact with those dwarves." Ocean said. "The Emperor has been sending out scouting parties, and I know at least one diplomatic party’s been sent towards the former front lines. Since Hunting had reported dwarves, I suspected them, but then the reports came in that they’d gotten wiped out, since last we’d heard, the entire area had been devastated by…"

Ocean nodded towards my scroll, his meaning clear.

"Unless you know of any other parties in the area?"

"Eh. There could be? I didn’t exactly get a great overview of the situation, and who lived where." I said.

"Questions?"

Nobody had any.

"Right. The dwarves wanted me to stick around, and they were nice about it. Fancy suit of armor and everything. Fancy apartment. Multiple rotations of guards, a near unlimited budget to shop around. However…"

I shrugged.

"I’m Sentinel Dawn. I belong here, with all of you, not down there."

There were cheers and whoops at that, and the Sentinels sitting next to me punched me in the arm. Night was smiling.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Dawn Sentinel] has leveled up to level 511->512 +3 Dexterity, +24 Speed, +24 Vitality, +170 Mana, +170 Mana Regen, +48 Magic power, +48 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Free Stat for being Human per level! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

Chapter 12
Reporting Back IV

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Dawn Sentinel] has leveled up to level 511->512 +3 Dexterity, +24 Speed, +24 Vitality, +170 Mana, +170 Mana Regen, +48 Magic power, +48 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Free Stat for being Human per level! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

I grinned as I saw the notification hovering in front of me. I slowly let the anticipation build as I scrolled through the rest of my notifications.

[*ding!* Congratulations! For achieving level 512, you’ve unlocked your 3rd class!]

[*ding! You’ve earned your third class - [Beloved of the Wind] - Wind]

Beloved of the Wind - A starter class for one who loves the wind and air, the breeze and gale, and whom is beloved and embraced in return.

HECK YES! My third class! At last! Also, [Beloved of the Wind]? That was great!

I didn’t need the stats at this point - if I squinted and looked really hard, I’d see a minor change - but maybe it was a springboard to better initial classes. I’d done a minor amount of thinking on my 3rd class, but eh. I was in no rush to figure it out.

I had eternity to select one, and as far as I was concerned, it was worth waiting.

The class had potential for cycling, but whatever I had during my first level 8 class-up would be permanent, in a sense. Whenever I reset, the level 8 classes would be the exact same as the first time I classed up. Only when I hit 32 would there start to be differences.

For once, I wasn’t in dire straits. I wasn’t at risk of dying anytime soon. I didn’t need a boost in power, and hell, a level 32 class wasn’t going to do anything for me. I’d need some time for the class and skills to build up to something usable.

No, it was worth doing some research. Talking with everyone. Getting ideas of other classes, and their requirements. Getting as many starter options as possible. I never knew when life would throw me a curveball, and I’d want to change my 3rd class to something else. I had doubts it’d happen, but why rush?

Heck, at a bare minimum, I should wait to bond with Auri. "Companion with a phoenix" should be worth a powerful class in and of itself!

"Dawn?" Night gently prodded, and I snapped back to reality.

"Whoops! Sorry!" I apologized. "I just got my 3rd class unlocked!"

"Brrrpt!!" Auri seemed to know how much this meant to me, even if she didn’t know how hard it was.

Brawling facepalmed. Hunting grinned. The other Sentinels gave various words of congratulations.

"Great news!"

"Another one!"

"Congratulations!"

"We’ve gotta throw her the same thing we did for everyone else."

A few heads turned towards Ocean.

"I’ll see what I can do." He commented neutrally. "I’m not making any promises, but I’ll see if the Emperor wants to cement a Triumph for hitting 512 as a tradition, or if he’ll decide it was a one-time thing for the first humans, or for winning the Formorian war, or what."

More bickering and arguing from the Sentinels, each one trying to explain why they thought it was a good idea.

I wanted to grumble about not wanting to be the focus of a bloody Triumph, buuuuuuuut I was back home. Playing the "look at how totally cool Sentinels are!" game was part of my job, and more importantly, it helped keep all of us alive.

Just like how Brawling’s reputation in the colosseum had helped me out when I nabbed Artemis, grinning and bearing a Triumph for a day could, I dunno, help bail Acquisition out of a tight spot one day. If nothing else, it’d raise the profile of Sentinels in the public’s mind, reminding them that we were here. We existed.

And we were the best.

Plus, I could probably inspire a ton of girls. Seeing a woman be the focus of a Triumph?

Yeah.

Auri would love it as well.

"Brrpt!" Not sure why Auri was chirping. No way she could be a mind reader.

Alright!

Operation "Triumph" was a go!

Not that I had any say in it.

"Ahem. Congratulations Dawn." Night politely but firmly cut through the discussion. "Now. Unless we wish to be here until nightfall, I believe Dawn should continue her debrief."

Right.

"Once it was clear the dwarves didn’t want me to leave, I started making small moves in preparation to escape, not knowing when my time would come. First…"

I went into a detailed analysis of my escape plan and execution, which interested most of the Sentinels. This was exactly the sort of problem, and analysis, that had all of us listening to mission reports.

Jobs for each Sentinel were few and far between - just a handful every year. We all had a massive wealth of experience getting to where we were, but not as much operating at the level we were at. Trading experiences, tips, and tricks like this was one of the main purposes of these debriefs.

[*ding!* [Beloved of the Wind] has leveled up! 1 -> 2! +3 Speed from your class per level! +1 Free Stat for being human! +1 Speed from your element!]

The joy of low-level classes - they leveled crazy fast. I bet I could sneeze and get a level! [Passionate Learning] was helping as well.

We got to the last part of my escape - the trident-trap.

My method of handling the trap was… unconventional.

"Dodge it. Or slap it out of the way." Brawling said.

"Blast it before it hits." Hunting added.

"Not step in the trap." Acquisition drily added.

"I would’ve died." Mirage seemed almost cheerful at the prospect. He was totally meeting White Dove one day.

"Moving on. From there, I’d escaped, but I was trapped in the tunnels. In order to properly escape pursuit, I went deep and long. Problem was, I had no idea how to navigate down there."

I shrugged.

"I got lost for a few months underground." I shuddered at the memory. "And no, I’m not going to teach underground wilderness survival. That’d be a complete waste of the Trainee’s time, and Rangers stay above ground. However, if anyone ends up down there, here’s what I found, and here’s what I did to survive…"

Another technical discussion. Surprisingly, Nature had quite a few insights into the situation and problem.

We were getting to the next part of my story, the one I was a bit concerned about. Specifically Night’s reaction to the whole thing.

However, in a room full of Sentinels? As I was telling the story? With my survivability?

I don’t think the rest of the Sentinels would let Night murder me in cold blood, not without stepping in. And I wasn’t easy to kill. I was like a cockroach. Night could kill me, given enough time - like, three minutes - but that was an eternity as fights went.

"Ended up getting chased by something called the [Inevitable Shluggoth]. Yellow on [Identify]. Looked like a persistence hunter, and it nearly ran me down. I tried a few different things to get away from it, but they didn’t seem to work. I was tiring, when I encountered..."

I paused for dramatic flourish, then pointed down at the scroll with her name while I said it.

"The lair of!"

Brawling gave a single big laugh. A few of the other Sentinels looked amused.

Ocean chuckled.

"Alright, alright, how did you get out?"

The grin I’d had on my face faded, then it came back in full force.

"Alright, alright, you got me. I found… THE LAIR OF-" I pointed down again, the grin on my face vanishing, going entirely serious.

"Brrrpt?!"

"I’m not fucking with you."

"Naturally, you entered." Night sounded… frustrated? Weary? I couldn’t quite tell, but hey, he hadn’t tried to murder me. Score one!

"She was hurt. Not dying, but in need of significant medical attention. I was oathbound to help her."

"She knew." Night echoed my words from earlier. I nodded my head.

Everyone was staring at me, most unnaturally still. There was no fidgeting, no coughs, no idle comments whispered to each other. I had the complete and total undivided attention of every member present.

"I thought I was stealthy. Used the invisibility gem. The sound-suppression gem. [Tracks-be-gone]. Realized as I got here that I’d been horribly naïve. She knew the entire time that I was there."

"What was it like?" Acquisition asked, greed in his eyes.

"Silence." Night hissed at us. "Dawn. I appreciate your candor. Please skip to the part where you left. To the rest. This is classified, and word should never leave this room, nor should it be written down. The fact that Dawn was permitted to leave the lair speaks to likely favorable disposition, but I do not believe there is much sense in potentially provoking powers that are capable of the feats Dawn described earlier."

"Skipping to leaving. I grabbed Auri - or rather, her egg - on my way out."

"Brrrpt!?"

[*ding!* [Beloved of the Wind] has leveled up! 2 -> 3! +3 Speed from your class per level! +1 Free Stat for being human! +1 Speed from your element!]

Night stood up, and left the room. We all silently stared after him as he slowly, carefully walked out of the room, leaving towards the wing that held our rooms at HQ.

None of us said a word as the rapid-fire sounds of things breaking echoed back through us, the size and speeds of the impacts sounding like gunshots in spite of the thick walls between us, and whatever destruction Night was performing.

The atmosphere was awkward. We just… sat there, as the sounds slowly faded.

"Man." Brawling eventually said. "I am not looking forward to cleaning that up."

"Brrrpt!"

Night came back, and sat down heavily.

"I apologize for my lack of control." He said. "Dawn. Let me reassure you, that, first and foremost, you are one of my Sentinels, and I shall do whatever is needed to protect you. To protect any and every Sentinel. With that being said. What kind of stupid, foolish, moronic, dull, ill-advised, ludicrous, naïve, senseless, short-sighted, rash, brainless, deficient, dense, half-baked idiotic simple-minded…."

Night went on for quite some time in that vein, slowly building up in volume. He had a few thousand years of collecting insults, and he was going through the entire list.

"... UNTHINKING THOUGHTS WERE GOING THROUGH YOUR HEAD!?"

He collapsed back down and sighed.

"But, as you so correctly pointed out - she knew. She knew, and she permitted you to leave. There is little value in analyzing such a situation. If the lords of existence want you to die, you die. If it amuses them to have you live, you live. I do not believe one would play such a long game, to let you go at that time and only now hunt you down. It would cost more effort than such a diversion provides in entertainment."

He waved a hand.

"Please, carry on."

"Right! I got close to a hundred levels for that little stunt,"

Night snorted, and Brawling looked crestfallen.

"A hundred levels for that?!" He half-wailed. "It took the entire Formorian war for me to get a hundred levels!"

Most of us shot evil looks at Brawling for the interruption. We’d all gone through insane trials to reach our levels.

"Anyways, that’s when I got my Immortality skill. I can - on a significant cooldown - turn back the clock on someone’s age, and make them young again."

My revelation wasn’t met with the reaction I expected.

"Like Night?" Ocean asked.

Mmmm.

Right.

Night could grant Immortality. I wasn’t sure why more Sentinels weren’t vampires… might be worth having a discussion with Night over it.

Maybe there were whole legions of former Sentinels-turned-vampires? That didn’t quite make sense…

Also, might be worth minimizing my ability in front of Night. Though after his earlier declaration, I wasn’t super worried about him bringing me harm, but still. I anticipated a long, long working relationship with him, and I thought it’d be nice for me to indicate he was the boss.

Or something.

Fuck politics and this interpersonal stuff with a rusty fork, but ARGH! I had to play, especially since I was going to be sticking around for awhile.

"Yeah, but l only make someone young again. Whoever I use this on keeps aging, just at a significantly reduced rate. Also, unlike Night, White Dove’s curse is random. I used it on a gnoll we met. Entirely lost his sense of smell. Both to smell, for others to smell him, and to ‘sniff out deals’. Nasty stuff."

"Dawn. I wish for us to meet this evening, to discuss the full implications of your ability. I believe I have some advice I can impart." Night said.

I gave him a curt nod.

The elves were a solid introduction to Immortality. However, I believed there literally wasn’t another person in the entire world who had a better grasp on ‘having the ability to grant Immortality while living amongst mortals’ than Night himself.

"I give up." Brawling stood up as he announced it.

"Brawling?" Ocean asked.

"I give up. I’m going out of this ‘Dead Zone’, and I’m going to punch things until I hit 512 and I become Immortal. See ya!"

"No, wa-" Ocean was too late. Brawling was gone.

"Peace." Night said. "Sentinel Brawling is all too aware of his responsibilities. He understands what will happen if he shirks them too long. Like Toxic, he shall be back momentarily."

Night inclined his head towards me.

"Why, look at Sentinel Dawn here. A year and a half, and her level has doubled."

He paused, looking around.

"A reminder, for those seated here. If any of you are so inclined, if the itch of adventure and the call of exploration come upon you, simply let us know. We shall work together to make it possible."

Yeah, no thanks. I’d had enough adventuring for many, many years.

I didn’t dare say a lifetime. I didn’t have an upper limit on that, which still blew my mind.

"Right. After exiting her lair, I had no idea where I was. In the slightest. I was more than a little lost. I figured I’d head north, pray that the ocean extended a bunch, and work from there. Does anyone have a better idea of what I could’ve done?"

"Brrpt!"

That wasn’t a good idea, but I wasn’t going to tell Auri that.

That launched a lively debate and discussion - "How to find your way back home when dropped in a random place on Pallos." Once that was done, I continued.

"Met up with some elves, of all people. They knew where the ‘Low Experience Zone’ was, and we agreed to travel together. Had a few interesting fights and adventures."

I briefly went over the hydra, centaurs, spinosaurus and trolls, none of which were particularly interesting. The mysterious voice also got a mention, but nobody had any ideas. I also skimmed over the gnolls, in favor of the last part.

I did spend some time on the level-changing ring I'd gotten.

"Got a gift, something called a Deception Ring. It lets me change my displayed level."

"That’s a high level [Thief] skill." Acquisition said.

"But can they change their level to anything?"

"Usually around 100 levels, which is enough."

I nodded.

"I’ve got the full spectrum of colors, from white at level 1, all the way to black at 4096. Here, let me give you a sample, along with where all the class ups and colors are…"

At the end of it, Ocean had a comment.

"I believe we should spread this information, courtesy of the Rangers and Sentinels. Thoughts?"

There were general noises of agreement. Why bother keeping the knowledge secret?

"This brings me to the most important, or maybe just the most directly relevant, part of the debrief." My playful happiness was gone. The Sentinels, hearing the change in my tone, sat up straighter.

"There is a race of creatures called shimagu. They’re small body-jacking parasites. Hard to detect. Hard to kill."

Hunting snorted at that. Which was fair enough, his speciality was killing stuff.

"Ok, not that hard to kill. Obnoxious though. The primary variant overwhelms the host, and forces the body to move however they want. The hosts are generally not a fan. When freed, they tend to react violently against the shimagu. Shimagu also take over dinosaurs. Generally, this first type seems to focus purely on the physical, and I saw no obvious active skill use from this group. I don’t understand why, but that’s my current observation."

I paused a moment, letting everyone soak the information in.

"The second type is cooperative. The host and the shimagu work in tandem, and let me tell you - six classes and six elements in a single body is nasty, especially when they all synergize. Questions?"

"We’ve prepared an extensive list." Ocean said. "I hope you’ll be willing to entertain us?"

"Naturally."

Ocean nodded to Hunting.

"Self defense against shimagu?" Hunting asked.

"They dislike mages and healers. Both can use skills on themselves to purge shimagu attempting to infect them."

"Right. I’m next." Nature said. "Can shimagu infect plants, trees, and the like? Or is it only flesh?"

"I’m unsure, but I only observed flesh. It would be highly unusual biologically if they were capable of both flesh body-jacking, and infesting trees."

"Brrpt!" Auri seemed relieved.

"I’m sure they can’t take over flames." I reached up and stroked her reassuringly.

Nature nodded in agreement.

The question and answer session about shimagu lasted forever. Probably over an hour, as everyone wanted as many details as possible.

My earlier letter had primed them. They’d had a few weeks to think on the topic, and came armed with a long list of questions.

"Getting to the last part of my journey, before I made it home."

I noticed a warble in my voice, and I looked down. My hands were trembling, and I interlocked my hands to stop them.

Sadness, despair, disgust, pride, and a hundred other emotions warred inside of me.

"I-" My voice cracked as my throat closed up. None of the Sentinels said anything.

They all had their own demons. There wasn’t one of us without horrors in our past, ugly things we’d done that kept us up at night.

"Brrrpt!" Ok, fine, there was one of us that was still pure and innocent. I’d do whatever I could to keep Auri that way.

"I entered Ochi." I managed to get out, failing to fight back the tears. "Shimagu-controlled. Entirely. Humans from Remus, controlled."

Metal pillars falling inches away from me. Explosions of stone. Screams of rage, brutal violence done with whatever implements were on hand. The twack of an ogre bashing in a skull with his bare hands. A kid crying, wanting his mom helped.

I hadn’t been able to help her. There’d been more people needed.

"Healing is instantly lethal to shimagu. At a small cost." I was crying now, just letting the tears go.

Trapped by the classer. Stone around my wrists and ankles, the invisible executioner lining up their shot. Saved by Awarthil, but not in my dreams.

Some nights I wondered if things would be ‘better’ if Awarthril hadn’t succeeded in saving me.

"High speed movement, plus area of effect on my heal. Excuse me."

I got up and left. None of the other Sentinels tried to stop me.

We all knew I’d be back to finish my report. I just…

Well. I needed a lot more than a few minutes to compose myself.

"Brrpt! Brrrrrrrrrrpt. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt!"

Auri was calming. Soothing. Knowing that I was upset and sad, without knowing why. She didn’t care. She nuzzled me, a dozen different bright colors of flame lighting up the room I’d escaped to, lighting up my soul.

"Yeah, you’re the best too, little troublemaker."

"Brrrpt!!"

Auri blasted my face with fire, and I laughed, mock-scolding her.

"Hey! There are better ways to dry my tears than scorching me!"

"Brrrpt!" Auri didn’t agree.

"Come here you."

"Brrpt!"

I cuddled Auri, bringing her close to my chest and "hugging" her tiny form.

"I’m ok Auri."

"Brrpt."

"No really. I’m just… sad about something I had to do."

"Brrrpt."

"There was no right thing. Everything was wrong."

"Brrrpt!!"

I rolled my eyes at her.

"Burning it all down doesn’t fix all problems."

"Brrrpt." Auri was skeptical.

"Right! Let’s go back and finish this. Then lunch, ok?"

"Brrpt!"

I headed back to the room, bolstered by Auri’s support.

"Sorry." I apologized as I got back. "Please no interruptions for this next part."

I took a deep breath, and got it all out in a single long rant without pause.

"Realized the city was shimagu-infested they were capturing humans from Remus on occasion I snapped and starting healing to death as many shimagu as I could including civilians nearly every free host chose violence afterwards multiple high level hostile shimagu elves fought we won escaped city 10,000 killed that’s all."

I shook my head, moving onto happier things.

"Was close enough to fly back to Remus, and hit Port Salona. Met up with Ranger Team 11. Encountered a fun spot of guard corruption."

"That’s going to be a mess." Bulwark nodded. A few murmurs of agreement went around the room.

"Auri here hatched then."

"Brrpt!" Auri preened and flew around, happy to be at the center of attention. She flashed her colorful wings around, hovering in the air and slowly rotating.

She loooooved the attention.

"Can you tell us more about Auri?" Hunting asked.

I was glad to see him taking an interest. Meant the Katastrofi injury was healing. I hoped.

"Oh yeah, she’s a phoenix. Possibly related to the Guardian Ho-O."

"At this point, I’m not even surprised." Ocean sighed. "Thank you for letting us know after Brawling left, otherwise he’d go looking for one of his own."

I chuckled at the mental image.

"Brrpt!" Auri objected somewhat to the idea. There was only ONE Auri, and she was it.

"From Port Salona, once Auri was old enough to travel, I made my way back home. And here I am. Questions?"

That’s when the real barrage of questions started, and my stomach grumbled as I handled them all.

Finally, Ocean called it.

"Right. It’s getting way too late, and we all have stuff to do. More questions tomorrow. Night, got anything else?"

He slowly shook his head.

"Sentinels. Dismissed."

[*ding!* [Beloved of the Wind] has leveled up! 3 -> 4! +3 Speed from your class per level! +1 Free Stat for being human! +1 Speed from your element!]

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 20]

[Mana: 578,460/578,460]

[Mana Regen: 434,358 (+517,177)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 199]

[Strength: 1,003]

[Dexterity: 1,826]

[Vitality: 14,214]

[Speed: 14,230]

[Mana: 57,846]

[Mana Regeneration: 57,947 (+51,718)]

[Magic Power: 22,777 (+428,208)]

[Magic Control: 22,777 (+428,208)]

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial: Lv 512]]

[Celestial Affinity: 472]

[Cosmic Presence: 300]

[The Stars Never Fade: 2]

[Center of the Universe: 450]

[Dance with the Heavens: 512]

[Wheel of Sun and Moon: 512]

[Mantle of the Stars: 469]

[Sunrise: 347]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 357]]

[Radiance Affinity: 357]

[Radiance Resistance: 357]

[Radiance Conjuration: 357]

[Solar Flare: 131]

[Nectar: 357]

[Sun's Heart: 357]

[Scintillating Ascent: 334]

[Kaleidoscope: 357]

[Class 3: [Beloved of the Wind - Wind: Lv 4]]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 375]

[Pristine Memories: 221]

[Hatchling Rearing: 92]

[Bullet Time: 512]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 376]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 512]

[Persistent Casting: 315]

[Passionate Learning: 380]

Chapter 13
Reporting back V

After Ocean dismissed us, Night was the only one to move.

I still wanted a minute to center myself after that debrief. No idea what everyone else was waiting for, usually it was a mad rush out of here once we were dismissed.

Night got up, and walked towards the door.

Once there, sensing we hadn’t moved, he glanced back.

"I believe Dawn has prior appointments. Attempting to ambush her with additional questions at this moment is a poor use of her time. She is not about to vanish off the face of the planet. Your inquiries can wait until tomorrow, at a minimum."

Moans and complaints came from the Sentinels, who got up and left. Most of them headed through the door leading to the ‘secret’ tunnel to Ranger Academy.

I shook my head.

Right. I had a meeting with Ranger Command in a few. I’d just told the entire story, and the other Sentinels were basically my friends. Telling them was easy-ish.

Telling Command?

Well, they were my bosses in every sense.

"Brrrpt!"

"Yeah, alright, food." I agreed with Auri.

We got up, and navigated our way out of Ranger HQ. A few enterprising food vendors had their usual stalls set up outside, feeding the masses of employees who worked there.

On one hand, a cafeteria would be nice, on the other, why bother? Tasty food was practically delivered to us. Open air food court with both variety and quality.

I grabbed a veggie wrap, paid the usurious price the vendor wanted - right, that was my complaint with them - and sourced some juice for Auri.

The dude was transfixed by her.

"One cup for Auri please!"

"Brrrpt!" Auri hovered over one of the ceramic cups the vendor had out on his stall.

"Remember Auri, we need to pay for the juice first, then you can drink it."

"Brrrpt." Auri let me know that she knew already, and to stop with the lectures and hurry up with the paying.

Felt like a hostage exchange.

"She’s gorgeous." The man said.

"Brrrpt!!" Auri got briefly distracted from her drink to zip around him.

I chuckled.

"Flattery is the way to her heart."

"Is she for sale?"

"Brrpt!?" Auri was confused as to this "selling Auri" concept.

Auri was near me, it was almost spring, and Ariminum was semi-tropical. Still, it felt chilly.

I briefly debated with myself going off on the fact that Auri [Identify]’d as a [Mage], and thus was obviously a person. Exceeeeeeept this was Remus, and being a person was no barrier to getting sold in most minds. I also risked getting dragged into one heck of a conversation.

"No." I curtly answered.

"Brrrpt! Brrrpt!" Auri made a few unhappy noises, and flew off down the street.

Fortunately, she wasn’t terribly fast, not compared to most people.

Unfortunately, she was still made of fire, and constantly shed sparks and embers.

A quick flex of will, and I nabbed Auri with [Mantle of the Stars].

"Brrrpt!"

"It’s ok. It’s ok. I’d never do anything like that." I comforted poor Auri.

"Brrrpt!"

"Yeah, you’re totally the best."

"Brrrpt…?"

Ooof. That question hit like a truck, and I wasn’t in the best mental spot after recounting Ochi.

Still. There was only one right answer.

"No, I don’t think I own you or anything."

"Brrpt?"

I chewed my lips, fighting back tears.

"Auri… you’re really, really young. And low leveled. I’m happy letting you fly away, and do your own thing. But not right now. You’re too little. You don’t know enough."

"BrrrpT!!"

The middle of the street was not the place to have this argument, and I was getting weird looks, talking with a level 16 [Mage] that was also a flaming hummingbird.

Auri leveled fast.

"Ok, I’ll make a deal with you."

"Brrrpt."

"If you can hurt me, or any of my friends from earlier, you can go exploring RIGHT NOW. Otherwise, wait a few months! I’ll teach you everything you need to know, then you can go off!"

Auri buzzed in front of me, her head tilting back and forth.

"Brrrpt!" She agreed.

I knew what she was thinking. The little troublemaker thought she could take on a Sentinel and win.

Well, that’s exactly why I wasn’t letting her go out and about. I was a great big momma bear, not letting anyone or anything touch Auri - but by the same token, Auri seemed to think the world was her playspace. She was utterly fearless, and didn’t seem to have the concept of "negative consequences can happen to me" down yet.

Either she needed to grow up a bit and figure it out, or I needed to gently teach the idea to her in a non-traumatizing way, while not letting her get into trouble that was too deep.

Parenting was haaaaaaaaaard.

Also, I’d gotten my lunch, and with a quick stop, Auri had gotten hers.

Time for a meeting with Ranger Command.

After that?

A meeting not on the schedule. A meeting I was dreading, but one that had to be done.

I’d rather rip my heart out of my chest and trample it, than go there, but I had to. I was compelled.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts.

"Ok Auri! Want to meet my bosses?"

"Brrrpt…"

"I mean, I can take you back home first."

I thought about Auri, unattended for a few hours at my house. I hastily added conditions, wanting to come home to a bed and not a smoldering crater.

For all I knew, while money was tight my parents had stopped paying off the local brigands - errr - fire company.

"We’d need to wait for mom to get back home first. She’s lots of fun, right?"

"Brrrpt!"

"But meeting my bosses? That’s a rare treat."

"Brrpt…"

I had a sudden brainwave. One of the dozens of ‘tricks’ that all girls were taught growing up. I’d done my best to studiously ignore them, not being that interested in having kids. Still, repetition made it stick.

Give a kid two "choices" that were both what you wanted. Auri was smart, but I think I could still outsmart her with experience, and take advantage of how naive she was.

"Do you want to meet Ranger Command with me now, or after another drink of juice?"

"Brrpt!"

"Ok! Let’s go meet them!"

The fact that I could easily trick her like this reinforced my decision that she still needed help and guidance at this stage in her life.

On one hand, it felt a little icky. But on the other, wasn’t that how parents raised their kids? She was an autonomous being, but also completely dependent on me.

This was hard.

Fortunately, I had a great distraction to put the entire thing out of my mind.

I navigated my way through the halls of Ranger HQ, making it to the great double doors of Ranger Command’s meeting room. I gave a brisk nod to the two guards at the door.

"Sentinel Dawn, here to report to Command."

One of them cracked the door open and peeked in.

"They’re ready for you."

I strode into the room, under the disapproving gaze of seven Ranger Commanders. Ocean was in the Sentinel seat, with that look on his face.

I knew him. It was his "oh gods I’m so bored but I need to look serious/like I’m paying attention" look.

Also, given how the Commanders were glaring at me - Whoops. Might’ve taken a bit longer of a lunch break and a chat with Auri than I thought.

"Sentinel Dawn, reporting." I saluted.

"What’s that?" One of the Commanders eyed Auri, who was busy flitting around the room, looking around at the various people.

Reading the notes the Commanders had. Wasn’t sure if she could read or not, but it looked like it. Something to add to my list of things to teach Auri - reading and writing.

"Auri. She recently hatched, and I’ve been looking after her."

"She shouldn’t be here."

I narrowed my eyes at the Commander. Welp, looked like I was going to get off on the wrong foot with them.

At this point though, what was the worst they could do to me? I’d need to seriously piss off a number of Commanders over an extended period of time to land in ‘real’ hot water, or utterly violate everything that being a Sentinel meant. I wasn’t doing the second, and I wasn’t willing to let people poke at Auri.

"Auri is a phoenix, and this is probably the only chance you have in your life to see one." I curtly informed the Commander.

That woke them up. This went from ‘another debrief’ to ‘there’s a phoenix here how!?’

"How-" One of the Commanders interrupted, only for a second one to interrupt and talk over him.

"Please begin from leaving for the Formorian War." He curtly ordered me.

Well, that was better than an argument starting. I immediately started before Command could get bogged down in another fight.

"One moment." Ocean interrupted. "There is one aspect of Dawn’s report which has been personally sealed by Night."

Four of the Commanders glared at Ocean. He stoically looked at each of them.

"I’ve heard the part in question. It is entirely irrelevant here, but could cause all manner of disaster if Dawn reported it."

I saw a wave of realization slowly spread.

"Ah."

"One of-"

"Hush. Most likely."

I gave a slow nod, which seemed to make the Commanders happy.

"It all began that fateful night…" I started my report, as two of the Commanders started to take notes.

This was going to take hours.

My estimate had been completely off. It took longer than that.

The only vaguely interesting part was that Ranger Command took an entirely different set of interests than the Sentinels. Where the Sentinels were interested in fights, tactics, and the story, Command was more interested in what lessons could be learned, extrapolated, and taught to the incoming Rangers.

It also meant I spent long periods of time just standing there, while the Commanders were arguing around me.

So. Much. Arguing. How did anything get done?

The only consolation was Ocean. We started playing rock-paper-scissors, using tiny, tiny hand motions to communicate what we were doing and what we were throwing. Helped alleviate some of the boredom. It also didn’t take so much focus that I couldn’t be aware of the Commanders asking me questions.

Fortunately, Auri had gotten bored and tired. The day had been exhausting for the little hummingbird-phoenix, and she was taking a nap on my shoulder.

The Commanders started to wrap up their discussion. Which was good, and bad.

Good, because they were reaching the end, and I was going to be free soon.

Which, to my great consternation, meant more work for me.

"Those for assigning Dawn to SERE training?" One of the Commanders asked.

I kept a poker face as I mentally cursed. Seven hands went up in the air. Ocean gave me a tiny shrug.

Not all was lost though.

[*ding!* [Beloved of the Wind] has leveled up! 7 -> 8! +3 Speed from your class per level! +1 Free Stat for being human! +1 Speed from your element!]

Well, that’d been easy enough. Now I just had to do some thinking on when I’d class up, and as what, but this really wasn’t the time or the place.

"Those for assigning Dawn to Wilderness Survival?" A second Commander proposed.

"Nature is far better suited than Dawn is." Another one pointed out.

Annnd there goes a whole argument. Back to the rock-paper-scissors with Ocean.

"All those in favor?"

Damnit. I missed what they were voting on!

Only one hand went up.

"Sentinel Nature remains the Wilderness Survival instructor." The Commander noted.

"With her healing, is Dawn a better flight teacher than Maestrai?" One of the Commanders wondered.

"Constantly evolving flight is unusual, but it’s also an interesting opportunity. She should be able to match any style, and help trainees evolve towards a style they desire."

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

"All those in favor of Dawn taking over flight lessons?"

Six hands went up.

Fuck.

The only reward for hard work was more hard work.

"On the shimagu." One of the Commanders said. "Dawn, what is your recommendation for keeping Ranger squads from potential invaders?"

"I’ve got a few." I quickly said, my mind racing with all the possibilities. "In rough order. A healer attached to teams would be able to handle any shimagu problems in the team, detect and destroy anyone the team comes into contact with that has a shimagu, and dramatically improve team survival rates. Barring that, a complicated set of rules regarding showing off active skills on a regular basis could work. With a few hundred gems, the right skill could be stored ahead of time and regularly used, although that’d be incredibly expensive. Also, I guess in theory I could be sent on rounds to check up on every team regularly and-"

Wait.

Fuck.

That was a terrible idea, and would completely screw me. So hard. My life would be non-stop on the road.

I was heavily biased. I knew what I wanted Command to pick, and this was my moment to shove for the solution I wanted. I wasn’t prepared at all, but I was going to give it my best.

Also, I needed them to NOT pick the ‘Dawn is permanently on the road" option.

"A set of rules and procedures is likely to cause resentment, grumbling, and most importantly, Rangers in the field just won’t do it."

"Sentinel Dawn. Are you suggesting that Rangers don’t follow every field procedure perfectly?"

It was one of the Senators. The rest of us gave him a look like he was a dumbass.

Sadly, he had the ego of a small sun, and didn’t wilt under everyone’s Look. However, his attempt at scoring some points or whatever fell flat.

"Yeah. We don’t." I answered slowly, like he was a small child.

"A healer with the squad, however, can not only secure the Rangers from shimagu threats, but can also handle a number of other issues. Poison. Miasma. Disease. Cuts. Infections. Injuries. A sufficiently powerful healer could also restore limbs, set broken bones, and more."

"Healers that can fight are incredibly rare." One of the Commanders commented.

"So forget that rule. Have them attached to the team, not part of the team. Eight Rangers, and a healer."

"Well…"

DAMNIT.

I ended up in another hours-long discussion. These talks were exhausting. Did they have a skill for this sort of thing!? [Gift of Gab] or something?!

Actually - the Commanders from the Senate were looking fresh and great. The Ranger Commanders were starting to look worn down.

Huh. I guess their base classes mattered. All of the Ranger Commanders were former Rangers, and still ID’d as [Warriors], [Mages], and [Leaders]. The Senators had a chance at 256 to grab classes aimed at, well, stupidly long meetings like this.

In the end, it came down to a vote, as always. The only question was what the vote was for.

It went in a bad direction. A horrible direction. The absolute worst.

"All those in favor of sending Sentinel Dawn and Commander Ajax to request additional funding from Emperor Augustus for adding healers to Ranger Teams, and for Dawn to be able to give detailed breakdown on the shimagu?"

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Five hands went up.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ocean must’ve seen my face.

He gave me a shit-eating grin.

Bastard. He knew it meant he wasn’t doing it.

"Any other business?"

Heads shook.

"Vote to end the meeting, and get dinner?"

I’d never seen a unanimous vote occur so fast.

I didn’t wait to get dismissed. I saluted, turned on my heel, and was out of there before anyone could come up with any more "good ideas".

Onto the next thing I had to do.

The Indomitable Wall.

Chapter 14
The Endless To-do List I

"Dawn!" Ocean hurried out of the room behind me.

"Ocean. What’s up?" I asked him as I paused.

"Let’s walk. Probably best if the Commanders don’t hear me." He gave me a roguish wink.

Ahh. One of those conversations.

"I’m heading off to the Indomitable Wall." I restarted my walk in that direction.

I clearly woke Auri up.

"Brrrpt?"

Her sleepy cheeps were so cute.

"Evening sleepyhead!"

"Brrrpt!"

Auri was determined to show me that she was not a sleepy head, and immediately took off from my shoulder, flying somewhat shakily.

"A phoenix." Ocean shook his head in disbelief. "How does she handle water?"

"Brrrpt!?!?!?!"

He snorted.

"Even I got that."

"What’s up?" I asked him, figuring we’d gotten some distance from the supernatural hearing of the Commanders.

"SERE Training and the like. You didn’t seem too enthusiastic."

I nodded.

"A year and change isn’t enough. I’m crazy busy as is, and SERE’s too important for a half-hearted amateur teacher to be training all the Rangers."

Ocean nodded.

"Agreed. That’s why we have Instructors. For the smaller things, or the specialized things? Us Sentinels are expected to be the ones teaching the class personally. Your medicine class. Your new flight class. It changes for the larger classes. You’re not expected to manage the entire thing on your own. Gods, it’s impossible to, especially something that important. Can’t give the proper feedback."

I digested what he said. It made way too much sense, especially with how many Instructors Ranger Academy had.

"In practice, you’re responsible for how the training works. If it goes poorly? You’ll be blamed. If it goes well? More of your friends come home."

Ouch. That was a gut punch and a half.

"What do you suggest?" I asked him.

"Work with the Instructors. Listen to them. Your job, especially on SERE, which has been a class since Ranger Academy started, is to fix problems. It’s not like your medicine class, which you made from scratch."

"What happened to that by the way?" I’d shown up, started the class, gotten a bunch of students, then vanished with nine months left on the course.

"It fell apart." Ocean bluntly told me. "We tried to get one of the Ranger’s healers to take over, but their view, knowledge, and approach was so different that it just didn’t work."

That was a bit concerning, but also made sense. My approach and knowledge was radically different from how other healers did things. It stood to reason that we wouldn’t be able to teach the same classes well.

Ah well, I was around now, and my Medical Manuscripts were still slowly spreading.

"Don’t tell me - you didn’t restart it this year."

Ocean gave me a Look.

"Dawn. Five weeks ago, everyone thought you were dead. You were still marked as ‘Missing in Action’ due to a formality. We wait ten years to declare a missing Ranger or Sentinel dead, and put their name on the wall. In practice, anything more than a few weeks is dead."

Ooof. Right.

"Of course we didn’t restart the medicine class. We’ll look into it for the next set of classes, assuming you don’t find yourself too busy with SERE and flying."

That was perfectly reasonable.

We were at the doors to the main arena at the center of HQ, which had the Indomitable Wall.

"Want privacy?" Ocean asked.

I mutely nodded, dread welling up inside of me.

Ocean clasped my shoulder with his hand.

"Good work Dawn."

What was that supposed to mean? Something about me staying alive?

Ocean turned and left.

I braced myself, and opened the doors.

The moons were half full, flooding the arena with light, even in the night. The stars twinkled high above, and the wall stood alone.

Proud.

Tall.

Indomitable.

Auri seemed to grasp the gravitas of the situation, and silently took off, making laps of the stands. The seats where crowds of people had watched Julius declare me Sentinel Dawn.

She was like a little mobile torch, illuminating things as she flew around.

With heavy footsteps, I walked down the stairs. Everything else blurred and fell away, leaving only the Wall in my sights.

The bottom lines were what interested me. The newest additions to the Wall.

I braced myself, and looked at the Sentinel section.

I thought I was ready.

I wasn’t.

Sentinel Magic.

Sentinel Sky.

Sentinel Sealing.

And no Katastrofi.

I cried freely as I traced my finger over the carving in the stone, feeling their names. Every straight line, every curve, engraved on the wall and now onto my finger.

I didn’t try to stop the hot tears from splashing against the floor beneath my feet.

My vision blurry, I moved onto the Rangers, mentally translating each of their names as I read them.

Lava. Dude who gave me lip when I’d led the practice fight against the Wood abelisaurus.

Levitator. He’d basically become a fully-fledged Metal mage at the end. His efficiency had dramatically improved.

Not enough. His name was now on the Wall. It didn’t even say how he’d died. Just that he’d been a Ranger in service to Remus, and had fallen.

Alchemist. Proper prior planning and all that, dozens of potent potions prepared hadn’t been enough. Probably ended up in one fight too many, too quickly.

Or had gotten picked off.

Or one of the many reagents he needed to handle had been too deadly.

Or - I’d drive myself nuts speculating.

Hidden Blade. Mirages to hide his weapons hadn’t kept him alive.

Mirror. "Anything you do to me I do to you" didn’t work so well against dumb monsters. Hopefully took out whatever had killed him, but that wasn’t much consolation to whoever he’d left behind.

Artillery Mage B. Dead.

Oozy. Dead.

Sniper. Dead.

Everywhere I looked, the name of another dead friend flashed out at me. Let me know that I’d never see them again. Never hear their stories, their laughter, their rough camaraderie.

Ranger life was harsh. Roughly half of all Rangers died each round, and the losses were disproportionately on the newer Rangers.

In other words, my classmates.

I counted.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

78

78 Rangers from my graduating Academy class.

In their first round.

They were dead. Gone. Ashes in the wind.

Like Lule.

Like Origen.

Like Lyra.

I was finally home. I was finally safe. I could relax my mental safeguards. I could unbox the emotions and feelings I’d been bottling up so long. I could de-compartmentalize, let myself properly feel.

I completely broke down.

What was the goddamn point of Immortality? Of living forever, and just watching the list of names increase endlessly?

Was this my life?

I cried and I cried, dissolving into a puddle of tears.

"Brrrpt!"

Auri had landed on me, and was busy "investigating" what was wrong.

"Brrrpt!!!"

Her cry of alarm was my only warning before a blazing inferno coated my head.

I’d given up on having hair for now, but apparently eyebrows were now denied to me as well.

"Brrpt! Brrpt! Brrrpt!" Auri flew around me, triumphantly crowing her success over the evil water that had almost dissolved me.

"Love you too, little troublemaker." I sniffled at her.

"Brrrpt!"

"Dawn. Would this be a poor time for me to interrupt?"

"BRRRPT!!!" Auri cried in alarm.

I jumped about a foot in the air, giving an undignified squawk, as Night stepped forward, out of the darkness like four feet away from me.

"Night! Gods! You scared me!"

I swear I saw a brief smile flit over Night’s face.

Did… did Night just prank me?!

That, more than anything, chased away some of the morose feelings that had been flooding through me.

I politely saluted Night.

"Sorry. Do you need something?"

Night didn’t immediately answer, stepping beside me to look at the Indomitable Wall. His eyes rapidly flickered over the names.

"Brrpt!"

Night didn’t say anything for a few moments, simply looking at the wall.

"It gets easier."

"What?" I said, kinda stupidly.

"Handling loss." He said. "The cruel knife of agonizing loss will never stop striking you as time goes by. You shall continue to make friends, and lose them over time."

He paused a moment, and shook his head.

"I apologize. It has been some time since I last needed to have this discussion. As your report mentioned, you have had some experience with Immortal matters with trolls and elves."

The way Night stressed elves made me think he didn’t like them that much.

Or maybe he was jealous? The elves weren’t that old, and all of them significantly stronger than Night was. They’d managed companions, where Night had failed.

Didn’t matter.

"My experiences are somewhat different." Night said, then paused.

One of those long pauses that seemed to stretch into eternity. All night even.

"Brrrpt."

"Brrrpt."

"Brrrpt."

"Brrrpt."

"Brrrpt."

"Brrrpt."

Auri was driving me up the wall. Pun intended.

Before we got into what was sure to be a lengthy conversation, I wanted to sidetrack briefly. I had a relatively quick question that I knew Night could answer.

"What’s going on with Commander Julius?"

"Ah. You’ve been informed. Commander Julius left on a routine inspection roughly four months ago with the usual minor escort of guards. He seemed to simply disappear en route, and there has not been a single trace of him, or his escort, ever since. Sentinel Hunting was tasked with tracking him down. He reported that, for some reason unknown to us, Julius and his escort left the road, and the trail abruptly ends. No evidence of a fight. No abduction, or trap. Indeed, Hunting maintains that they didn’t even fly away. They simply vanished." Night said with distaste.

I stayed silent, waiting to see if Night had anything to add.

"I would believe they had been disintegrated, if there weren’t even traces of that occurring. It is most vexing." Night sounded frustrated, and I didn’t blame him.

"What’s being done now?" I asked. "Any ideas?"

"The site is regularly surveilled by our own guards, or occasionally Trainees on an excursion who need the practice. Two birds with a single stone, as it may be. Apart from that, Ocean and Acquisition both are pursuing investigations in their respective domains, as well as the other Commanders playing politics to investigate. After all, the threat came after one of them, and any threat that would target a Commander, could easily target them. As for my own thoughts? The balance of power in the Ranger Command has shifted. Commander Julius being declared Missing, Presumed Alive, means that we shall not fill his seat for some time, as technically we can function with seven Commanders. Yet, the balance of power has tilted towards the Senate, and the Sentinels have been entirely diminished. I do not believe that the Senate has the ability to stop biting themselves long enough to conspire against us, not without leakage, but the Emperor…"

Night shook his head.

"I apologize. The Indomitable Wall tends to make me natter on. I have no evidence that the Emperor was involved, nor does it seem like any skill was used. Simply analyzing who benefits points to him, as it does a dozen other figures. Why, in some respects, it might have simply been a way to strike at Artemis, who is eminently lethal on her own. There are hundreds of possibilities, and in the end, I simply do not know."

The last part was said with immense frustration. Night kept his hands off of things, unless it came down to the few things he DID care about - and the Sentinels were one of them. Whatever hit Julius might easily be an indirect attack on the Sentinels.

Still, if Hunting couldn’t figure it out, or trace the track?

Yikes. I’m not sure what I could do.

A long pause stretched between us.

Night seemed to come to some decision, and changed the subject entirely.

"The concept of mortality and Immortality didn’t exist at Creation." He finally said. "Indeed, it took me nearly 300 years to realize that people could die of old age. Nobody succeeded in living that long before."

Night didn’t say it, but I could imagine. A feral world, with no traces or vestiges of civilization. People living and fighting in small tribes. No tradition to lean on. No tried and true methods. Night, low level and leveling slowly the entire time. Worse than teenage me, lower level than most kids, and somehow surviving a brutal world for 300 years. As a start.

Night was more and more impressive the longer I thought about him.

No knowledge base that said "the red berries are poisonous, don’t eat them."

No concept of "working in a team produces better results."

Nothing.

Not even "Getting older slows you down."

"I believed I had survived as long as I had due to being careful." Night admitted. "Practicing my craft. Honing myself to perfection. Never slacking. Never permitting myself a moment of weakness or relaxation. And, truth be told, the first woman to die of old age had never been particularly healthy."

Night half-shrugged, and let another silence permeate the arena.

Well.

Almost silence.

"Brrrpt!"

"Brrrpt!"

"Brrrpt!"

"Brrrpt!"

"Brrrpt!"

"Only once a measure of safety and stability had been achieved did we learn that humans had a time limit - and vampires did not. The curse of White Dove became clear in that moment."

He paused a moment, but it wasn't one of his long ones. Thank goodness.

"I hated seeing my friends die. Time began to flit past me. Night after night I stood guard at the fire, the hours blurring together. ‘Why should time steal them away?’ I thought. I had been careful, until that moment, not to turn too many humans to vampires. After all, it was clear that I was weaker than the average human. It was clear that I had numerous weaknesses, and my strengths had not been given time to properly manifest. It was an unusual lot who had chosen to accept my gift and my curse. I believed at the time - why shouldn’t I extend my gift to those who were nearing the end of their life? Permit them to live longer."

Another pause. Another gathering of ancient memories.

Heck, my head was full of memories, and I had less than 40 years worth of memories rattling around.

Night was pushing 5,000 years of memories, and from the sound of it, few days of his life had been boring.

"It was one of my larger, earlier mistakes. To compress nearly 200 years into a few sentences, it was the cause of the first vampire civil war, and the tribe effectively self-destructed. Only a few of us were left in the end, absorbed into another clan. One that was willing to look past the fact that I had, unwittingly, destroyed my own people once."

Night regretfully shook his head.

"I survived. I learned. One of the other progenitors attempted a similar project, selecting the mightiest warriors and mages to turn into vampires. His experience was... similar. Hence, I have not turned large numbers of Sentinels or Rangers, in spite of all my affection for you all."

He put his hand on the wall, and bowed forward. I could see small muscles in his hand spasming.

"One thing you do not need to concern yourself with is propagation. A friend, a lover, you elect to keep by your side for eternity can not, in turn, make more Immortals, unlike us vampires. We must be exceptionally careful. We have had too many issues with vampires who get it in their head that they could turn who they will. Each time has been ruthlessly crushed, but not without… casualties."

I was reminded that Night wasn’t just a guiding hand. He was the premier assassin in Remus. He wanted someone dead? They died. His relatively low level for his age wasn’t due to a lack of trying, or challenges, or anything other than the System disfavoring vampires heavily, for some reason.

If Night told me that his class qualities were all black? I’d believe him. Thousands of years to rack up achievements wasn’t anything to sneeze at, and he’d never stopped fighting.

My first Immortal rule: Don’t get on Night’s wrong side.

"All of this to say. You have gotten the rarest of skills. The first source that can grant Immortality outside of the Progenitors. I implore you to use caution and forethought when using your abilities. I will be happy to discuss implications and ramifications of anyone you wish to… renew. I will be happy to provide detailed backgrounds if requested. Guidance, if needed. After all."

He paused a moment, mostly for dramatic effect.

Auri ruined it entirely.

"Brrrpt!"

Good girl.

"You are one of the Sentinels, one of the protectors of Remus. I will support you, however needed, and I trust you shall do the same in return."

I slowly nodded at Night.

"Gotcha."

I wasn’t exactly a great [Speechwriter] or anything. What else was there to say? He’d given me a ton to think about.

We stood in silence, as I digested his words.

The elves had hammered home just how rare and valuable a skill I had, but were looking at this from the wrong angle in many ways. They were Immortals, discussing what it was like to be in Immortal society, and raising others into their hallowed ranks.

Night’s take was from an Immortal living in mortal society. Many of the problems and implications were the same, but the slant was different. The melody of the song was the same, but the words only rhymed.

"Another aspect to keep in mind are goals. I do not know which goal you have pursued until now, nor which goals you currently have. However, I have known more than one vampire to lose themselves in hedonism, and entirely forget the passage of time because they have no goals. They have no objective to strive towards. Without a constraint, without the omnipresent pressure of time pushing them forwards, they believe they will ‘do it tomorrow’, and a century passes before they are aware."

Night shook his head, at the sheer waste of his gift. The waste of the most precious thing any of us had to spend - time.

"Brrrpt?"

Time was a limited currency. Usually.

I’d just gotten an unlimited amount, and yeah. I could see the temptation to squander it. To think "Oh, I can do that later."

Because I could.

But if I did?

I never would.

What Night was saying about goals was hitting extra-hard. I’d been stumbling around life, trying to make goals and constantly having them derailed on me. My most successful completed goal to date was Ranger Academy.

And arguably getting back home.

Still, I got his point.

What was I going to do with myself now? What did I want?

Well, I wanted-

"Now, you can pursue multiple goals at once." Night said.

Whoops. I’d spent so much time ruminating that I’d eaten up the entirety of Night’s pause between words.

"Short term goals, paired with long term goals. I, personally, have a few that I’m willing to share. The eradication of the Formorians was my most recent large goal that I completed. The continuation of Remus. The preservation of the Sentinels, or a similar group. Keeping the number of vampires under control. These are simply a few of my objectives. For yourself? If I may offer my humble advice, look at yourself. Look at the world around you. Ask yourself what is important to you. What is worth preserving. What is wrong, and requires changing."

That was all good advice. I’d need to do serious thinking on it, not just come up with stuff off the cuff.

Argh. I was getting a very, very long to-do list of "things to think about." I should try to get dedicated thinking time in my schedule.

Maybe in a nice meadow, where Auri could go nuts burning stuff. Goals. Immortality. My 3rd class. Auri.

And I thought I’d get some peace and relaxation once I made it back home. HA!

Even if all my Sentinel work was off my plate, I’d still have a ton of work.

The worst part of it?

All of the work was exclusive to me. It wasn’t like I needed to do laundry, and I could just pay someone to do it for me. No, everything on my list was something that I had to handle personally.

"I wish I could stay and discuss this further with you. Unfortunately, I have other duties at this time." Night said. "I would like to extend an offer to you. One I nearly extended before, but chose not to. You have managed to acquire an Immortality skill, and not only that, one you can grant to others. You have yet to be cursed by White Dove. It seems foolish to me to roll the dice on a curse, and to use a most valuable skill slot on a skill that does not need to be there."

Hang on. HANG ON. Was Night offering-

"Normally, I demand total obedience from those I turn. However, for you, I shall make an exception. You will be granted the rights and privileges of a progenitor, allowed to carve out your own slice of Remus and the greater world, and none of us shall interfere."

He paused a moment.

Yup. He was definitely offering-

"Sentinel Dawn. Elaine. Would you like to become a vampire?"

"Brrrpt!?!?"

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 20]

[Mana: 578,460/578,460]

[Mana Regen: 434,358 (+517,177)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 195]

[Strength: 1,003]

[Dexterity: 1,826]

[Vitality: 14,214]

[Speed: 14,214]

[Mana: 57,846]

[Mana Regeneration: 57,947 (+51,718)]

[Magic Power: 22,777 (+428,208)]

[Magic Control: 22,777 (+428,208)]

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial: Lv 512]]

[Celestial Affinity: 472]

[Cosmic Presence: 300]

[The Stars Never Fade: 2]

[Center of the Universe: 450]

[Dance with the Heavens: 512]

[Wheel of Sun and Moon: 512]

[Mantle of the Stars: 469]

[Sunrise: 347]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 357]]

[Radiance Affinity: 357]

[Radiance Resistance: 357]

[Radiance Conjuration: 357]

[Solar Flare: 131]

[Nectar: 357]

[Sun's Heart: 357]

[Scintillating Ascent: 334]

[Kaleidoscope: 357]

[Class 3: [Beloved of the Wind - Wind: Lv 8]]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

[: ]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 375]

[Pristine Memories: 221]

[Hatchling Rearing: 92]

[Bullet Time: 512]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 376]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 512]

[Persistent Casting: 315]

[Passionate Learning: 380]

Chapter 15
The Endless To-do List II

Night’s offer crashed over me, and I blinked, trying to process it.

"Do not make a decision now, or lightly. It is one you shall have to live with for eternity. Think on it. Meditate. Discuss it with your friends and family. Take a decade to decide. After all, that is simply a drop in the vast ocean of time that you now have before you. And now, I apologize, but I simply must leave."

With a gust of wind, Night dashed out of the arena, onto his next task.

He’d given me a lot to think about.

"Brrpt!?"

"Night’s a vampire."

"Brrrrpt???"

"They dislike sunlight, drink blood, and live a long time."

"Brrpt!?!?"

"No, that doesn’t sound very fun does it? Plus, how would I play with you during the day?"

"Brrrpt!"

It sounded cruel, but I wasn’t going to pass on Night’s offer simply due to a 15-second conversation with a bird I’d met two months ago. However, I was leaning no.

Like, how could I be Dawn, and allergic to sunlight?

Actually, that sounded kinda funny.

With that being said, Night had brought up some excellent points. The biggest one?

I didn’t need to figure it out now.

It went right to the bottom of my "to think about" list.

I then looked over my "to think about" list, and adjusted it to be next to "Figure out my 3rd class".

Goals. End slavery?

Sentinel duties - fieldwork.

Sentinel duties - training. New classes, medicine next round.

3rd Class. When to upgrade, what to take.

Vampire offer.

Meet with the Emperor. This one was half to-think, half to-do.

Figure out Auri’s education and future.

My to-do list was almost as bad.

Check I’ve been paid.

Pay off Artemis’s debt.

Visit Autumn.

Visit Albina.

Visit Kallisto.

Visit Artemis’s School.

Prepare with Ajax for our meeting with the Emperor.

Meet with the Rangers currently overseeing SERE training.

Make a nice home for Auri.

Figure out what happened with Julius. Hang on, I COULD outsource this one!

Find a tutor for Auri. Both knowledge and Fire.

Playtime with Auri.

Check on the Medical Manuscripts

Spend time with family.

However, first thing first - sleep. The day was over, and I didn’t need to solve the world’s woes - or even my own - tonight.

"Ok Auri! You’ve been the bestest little bird all day today!"

"Brrrpt!" Auri flew around me, happily declaring that, yes, she was.

"I want to get you a special treat for how good you’ve been!"

"Brrrrptttt!!!"

"Tomorrow, let’s go to the marketplace! It’s a GREAT BIG SQUARE full of people! I’m going to put you way high up, and THOUSANDS of people will be able to admire you!!"

"BRRRRRRRRRRPPPPTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!! BRRRRRRRRRRPPPPTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!! BRRRRRRRRR-"

My hand flashed out as Auri suddenly tumbled from the sky, catching her before she crashed.

"Auri? AURI!?"

"brrrrpt…." she gently cooed at me.

My worries vanished in a flash, and I rolled my eyes.

She’d passed out from sheer excitement.

I gave her a smile.

"Alright, little troublemaker, let’s get you home. Nice big bottle of juice and a big nap. Doesn’t that sound nice after an exhausting day?"

"Brrrpt…" I swear she was falling asleep already.

I smiled, turned, and headed home.

A nice dinner - too late for a full family dinner - and a jug of mango juice for Auri, and I was off to dreamland.

The morning came quickly enough, and I popped down to the Sentinel’s room for our daily meeting.

There was no business that anyone needed to do, and Night dismissed the meeting in short order. He immediately withdrew, leaving me alone with the rest of the Sentinels.

The unmoving Sentinels.

"Dawn! Quick question!"

"You busy?"

"I’m wondering about this one part of your trip…"

Three of the Sentinels immediately tried to get my attention, glaring at each other. The rest of them were sitting, eyeing me like a fresh deal at the market.

Not a comfortable spot.

I was sworn to do no harm. However, Sentinels were tough. They also tended to pull their punches in a brawl, because harming teammates was a no-go.

Hence, I wasn’t going to violate my [Oath] with what I was going to do next.

"Winner of the brawl gets to ask me questions."

I skipped out of the resulting mess. The winner could find me, and ask me questions while we walked.

I had no doubts that a Sentinel could find me. My money was on Hunting winning anyways.

First stop of the day - the Quartermaster.

"Heya!" I happily bounded up to the grump.

"Dawn. Glad you’re alive. How much are you going to cost me this time?"

Wow. He was delighted to see me! Given how much angry muttering I usually got from him.

"You probably already heard, but I need an entire new set of everything." I apologized to him. "Only managed to keep my Sentinel badge with me."

He eyed my Mistweave and grunted.

"That’s fine. Below usual operational costs for Sentinels in that timeframe, although not nearly as effective."

Ouch.

"Anyways. Same sizes?"

I poked my belly.

"Same sizes!"

"Brrrpt!"

"Anything for your bird?"

"Officially? No. Unofficially? If you’ve got spare stuff that needs burning, she’d be delighted."

"Brrrpt!!"

"Lemme see what I can do."

"Thanks! Also, this is important - have I gotten paid yet? Kinda need the money today."

I got an extremely unfair judgemental look from the Quartermaster.

"Yeah. 60 rods a week. Your contribution to the Pastos fund is 1 rod a week. You were missing in action 73 weeks. 4,307 rods got delivered yesterday. Next payday’s in 4 days. Anything else?"

"No, thank you."

"Fine. Shoo. Don’t go almost dying again."

He stomped off into the back, muttering just loudly enough for me to hear.

"Damn kids these days spending all their money within hours of getting home. No self control. No discipline. No head for money or finance. Why, if I…"

I looked at Auri and shrugged.

"Brrpt."

She agreed with me.

Money secured - blessedly, more than the 2,000 rods needed for Artemis’s freedom, holy shit they paid me well - I was off to my next stop.

The Senate.

I looked up at the imposing marble pillars, the hallowed building that dictated the fate of Remus.

Well. Less so than before. Still was unsure on this whole Emperor business.

"Auri, listen carefully to me."

"Brrrpt!" She was a little antsy. It’d been all "no burning this" and "no burning that" for a few days now, and while she still wanted her flower shop, there was just so much to burn. She’d shown SO MUCH self control, and honestly, I was getting a little worried that she was going to blow her tiny top off, and just see how much she could light on fire before I caught her.

The answer was "not much", but Auri would do it.

And Auri throwing around huge pillars - fine, cute and small, but same issue - of flame in THE FREAKING SENATE?

Bad news all around.

I didn’t want to hamsterball Auri, not when it wasn’t absolutely needed.

Well. Time to abuse my station and status a bit.

"Sentinel Dawn." I approached one of the [Praetorian Guards] outside the Senate doors. One of them saluted.

"Sentinel. What can we do for you?"

"I’m looking for Praetorian Elainus. If you wouldn’t mind…?"

I managed to pull off the trick of having my question sound exactly like an order. A polite order, but still an order.

Some saluting, shuffling, and waiting around later, and…

"Dad!"

"Hey kiddo!"

We gave each other a hug - entirely uncaring about his hard armor with some sharp bits to it - and separated.

The guards had enough discipline not to make disgusted noises, but I could imagine what they were thinking.

‘We have to stand around all day, and he gets to hang out with his kid.’

Life just wasn’t fair sometimes.

"Off to the temple?" He asked me.

"Yup!"

"Brrrpt!"

My finances were in a strange place. Technically, dad owned everything. Stupid shitty way Remus was set up. Practically, the temple knew me, and knew that I was allowed to access the family’s account.

Also practically? It’d been over a year since I last showed up, I hadn’t been since I returned to Remus, and I was going to ask for a LOT of money to get moved around.

Someone possibly unknown, asking to access an account and move around multiple years salaries for even wealthy families?

There was a tiny chance it’d go off without a hitch, a large chance they’d kick me out, and a small chance it’d escalate. What was more likely, a pint-sized Sentinel with a level and a badge, or a high-level [Rogue] with an intricate disguise and level-spoofing skill?

Either way, today was the deadline I’d agreed on to pay off Artemis’s debt. Sure, I could probably extend it, but why make life hard on myself?

Hence. Grabbing dad.

"How’s work?"

"Same old, same old." He sighed. "Everyone thinks they’re just as important as always, and are just as convinced that the latest meeting over bamboo shoots or dye ratios is the Most Important Thing Ever, and that spies and saboteurs are around every corner."

He rolled his eyes.

"Brrrpt!?!" Auri was alarmed by this prospect.

"No, it’s fine, it’s all in their head." I reassured her.

"Brrrpt?!!?!?!?!?"

I facepalmed.

"There are no tiny spies in the Senator’s heads." I patiently explained to Auri.

"Brrrpt? Brrrpt?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Auri had been around for the conversation about the shimagu afterall, and was doubting my sudden reversal on ‘tiny spies in heads’.

"Hey dad, Auri wants to know more about being a guard, and spies." I told him.

He looked somewhat doubtfully at Auri, who was tilting her head back and forth at him.

"Eh, why not. Ok, so guards protect people, and enforce the law. We…"

I smiled, preserving the memory of dad carefully explaining stuff to a tiny, multi-colored flaming phoenix in the middle of the road, as we carefully navigated our way to the temple.

"Can you manage things from here?" I asked my dad as we reached the front of the temple.

"Sure. You in a rush or something?" He asked me.

I gave a tiny tilt of my head towards Auri.

"I think she needs to burn off some energy, and if she decides to inside the temple…"

I left the rest unsaid.

"Brrrpt!"

Auri seemed to think that was a GREAT idea.

Which was the problem.

"Ah, yeah, I can manage this. Swing by for lunch?"

I briefly flitted through what I had to do for the day.

"I think I’ll be busy. Sorry. I’ll be home for dinner for sure!" I reassured him.

"Alright kiddo. Come here, give me a hug." He said, opening his arms. I happily complied.

"We were so worried, you know?" He murmured into my… well, I didn’t have hair at this point, THANKS AURI. That was on the to-do list, but not as important.

I hugged dad back.

"Well, I’m home now. Safe and sound."

We let the moment linger a bit, people stepping around us.

"Brrrpt!" Auri let me know she was getting bored, breaking the moment.

"Have a good day!"

"Yeah! You too! 2000 rods? Senator Enyo, right?"

"Yup."

"Ok, I’ve got this. Don’t get in too much trouble, and your mom will be sad if you miss dinner again."

With a wave, I saw him off.

"Ok! Auri time! Burn something, or go to the market and have people admire you?"

"Brrrpt!!!"

"Let’s go!"

[*ding!* [Hatchling Rearing] has leveled up! 92 -> 93]

I had a few options.

The cheapest would be to find a [Smith] or [Charcoal Burner], or people who needed a fire and let Auri do her thing.

I was entirely unschooled in how they worked, but I suspected they needed things burned a very particular way, and Auri, well…

Auri could burn it the way they wanted, but probably just wanted to burn things the way she wanted to. An artist, working in flames instead of paints, refusing to be tied down by constraints.

Oh! I should totally get the [Sculptor] I’d asked to make busts of various Sentinels to do Auri! She’d LOVE that.

There was trash, but given that most trash was handled by throwing it into the sewers, it wasn’t super viable. Plus, nobody wanted large trash fires near where they lived, and Auri, as adorable as she was, didn’t have the stats or power to do large-scale burns.

Yet.

She would one day, and I could only pray that she had enough self-control by then.

I didn’t want to think of my options with "highly destructive pyromaniac with no self-control."

Which left "buying something for Auri to burn", and that was easy.

Wood.

"Wanna fly out of town?" I asked Auri.

"Brrrpt! Brrrpt."

I chuckled at her.

"Alright, we’ll do it your way."

I snapped my wings open. Every luminous hue of the rainbow shimmered across the span of my wings, glimmering gold edging them. A faint sense of the vastness of space, of the stars and constellations were visible in them.

I took a few experimental flaps, mostly showing off.

"Brrrpt!!" Auri approved of my lightshow, as she gamely flew up and out.

With a lazy flap of my wings, I caught up with her.

Auri was a bird. Flying was second nature to her, part of the very fiber of her being.

She was also patterned after a hummingbird, which weren’t known for their great high-speed long-distance flight. Fantastic at zipping around. Wings that beat at 10-80 times a second - before speed kicked in! Amazing at hovering, unparalleled agility.

Not great at straight-line flight.

Sometimes, there was no beating the tyranny of stats.

I carefully, slowly flew next to Auri. I didn’t want to insult her by hovering while she was flying her fastest, nor did I want to blaze ahead and make her feel weak and powerless.

More importantly, I didn’t want to be away from her when she ran out of energy, and needed a juice refill. Auri was a tough little bird. She’d throw herself at the problem until her body literally gave out on her. She hadn’t learned to properly pace herself.

When her little wings gave out after a half-dozen districts and a hundred streets, I was there to catch her.

"Brpt. Brpt. Brpt. Brpt." Auri panted in my hand, as I one-handedly opened the jug of mango juice I always carried with me.

Bless my high dexterity. I once again cursed the naive girl I’d been before 14, who thought physical stats were kinda dumb.

Noooo.

They were infinitely useful in everyday life.

"Drink up!"

"Brrrpt…!" Auri gave me a tired, thankful cheep, then proceeded to try and drown herself in mango juice.

A little more intelligently this time - she didn’t actually dunk her entire body.

Still, her drinks were deep enough I swear I heard her going glug glug glug glug, in spite of her tiny size.

She recovered quickly enough.

"Brrrpt! Brrrrrrrrrrpt!"

"I honestly have no idea what you’d do without me, no."

"Brrrpt."

"Don’t you sass me."

"BRRRPT!"

"We’re getting wood for you to burn!"

"brpt." Auri’s ‘whoops’ cheep was tiny, and Very Remorseful.

"Fast or SUPER FAST?" I asked Auri.

I’d never imply her flying was anything other than fast.

"BRrrrrrrrrpttt!"

"Ok! Let’s go!"

Auri flew up to my shoulder - her favorite place - and "fluffed down", bracing herself.

It wouldn’t be nearly enough, but she wanted to try and stay on, and feel the wind in her… flames?

Either way, I made a neat little [Mantle] construct to keep her in place, and zipped off.

I didn’t know where a handy sawmill was, or even where the local lumberjacks were located. Didn’t need to. Half an hour of flying around, and I spotted large piles of logs near a heavily wooded area. Didn’t take a genius to work it out.

We flew down, and after some quick negotiations I had what I wanted. Half-a-tree now, and to be delivered daily to my home.

Sadly, I thought I’d get a minor discount for wanting "the worst" wood, but alas. Firewood was still in demand. Not all baths were heated with magic, nor was all food cooked with skills.

In no time at all, we had a nice fresh log in an out-of-the-way area.

"Ok Auri! All yours!" I gestured at the log.

Auri didn’t need to be told twice.

"Brrrrrrrrppppppptttt!!!!!!!!" Auri flew over, flames erupting from every part of her body.

The half-tree caught, but Auri quickly ran out of juice - errr - mana. The wood was still somewhat green, and slowly the flames petered out.

"Brrrpt, BrrrrRRppt!" Auri puffed out her little chest proudly.

Hah! The little pyro probably thought she deserved a reward. She certainly did look inordinately pleased with herself… Even though she’d barely torched a fraction of it.

I was reminded that Fire wasn’t exactly a top-tier mage element, and while Auri had a ton of advantages, and was naturally made out of fire, she was also still only level 19, with one class. There wasn’t exactly a lot of firepower behind her flames.

Although… I did some quick mental math. She had a LOT more fire and power than I’d expect out of someone level 19. More like level 70, with a second class.

Huh. I needed to keep an eye on that.

"Don’t leave that there!" One of the [Lumberjacks] yelled at us.

Yeah, buying wood, burning half of it, then leaving it wasn’t great.

"Auri, do you want to burn it any more?"

"Brrrpt!"

"Alrighty then."

After about half an hour of Auri recharging her mana, and exploding it all over the log, she’d had enough. About half the log was left, the entire top half charred, and the bottom half drier than when we’d started.

Auri hadn’t been defeated by a lack of willpower, or a lack of mana. No, she’d been defeated by the powerful urge to take a nap.

Too much excitement. Too much fun. It was like letting a kid run and run and run and run until they tripped, and fell asleep right where they landed.

She wasn’t crashing that hard.

I eyed the log, and figured I’d just clean it up.

"Hey Auri, watch this!"

"brrrpt…." Was her sleepy reply.

With a flash of Radiance, I annihilated the remaining log.

I turned to Auri, sitting on my shoulder, and grinned.

My little light show woke Auri RIGHT up. She turned towards me, her beak comically dropping open.

"BRRRRPPPTTTT!??!??!??!?!??!?!"

Chapter 16
The Endless To-do List III

Teaching was a two-way street. Most of the knowledge went from the teacher to the student, but most teachers learned from their students as well. If nothing else, teaching material to a student allowed the teacher to understand it better.

With all that said, I wasn’t perfect. I was half making stuff up as I went along with raising Auri, [Hatchling Rearing] doing the majority of the lifting. It wasn’t a powerful skill, nor was it high level, and there was the added twist of Auri being terrifyingly intelligent. The skill also seemed focused on the ‘rearing a hatchling bird’ part of it, and less so on the ‘and she’s smart enough to need ethics talks.’ I had an unfortunate wealth of "how to raise kids" hammered into my head, thanks to my upbringing, but there was a difference between the theory, and the practice.

I’d been trying to tell Auri about stats, skills, levels, and that in the grand scheme of things, she wasn’t very strong. I didn’t know how well she knew her numbers yet. She had some of them down, but easily got confused.

Still. Months old. Numbers.

However, my effortless removal of any problems had kinda defeated the message that she wasn’t very strong, and the world was dangerous. "I can burn mom, mom can burn anyone, therefore, I can burn anyone." Was her current thinking.

Showing Auri that I could effortlessly annihilate a log that she’d spent half an hour working on seemed to finally get the message across. ‘I operate on a different level than you do.’

Shame [Sentinel’s Superiority] was capped. I’m sure I’d get a level of it for flexing on a phoenix.

"That was nothing." I couldn’t keep the smugness out of my voice.

Auri’s beak opened and closed soundlessly.

"Hey, a few hundred more levels, and you’ll be able to do that!"

"Brrrpt!!"

Auri started to fly around me, remembered she was tired, and basically dive-bombed my hands for her nap.

I smiled as I looked down at her sleeping form. With one finger, I carefully stroked her.

"One day, you’ll be big and strong, burning everything you want." I whispered to her.

She snuggled into my hand a bit deeper, making herself more comfortable.

She was the best.

I opened up my wings and took flight.

Figured while I was out of the city, I’d go see how Artemis’s school was doing.

It only took a few minutes of flying to find the school. It helped that it was in the same spot, and had grown quite a bit. Ugly buildings were still scattered around, there were new training fields, and it was looking a lot more lively than before.

I circled a few times, but didn’t spot Artemis or Maximus. Eventually I decided to just land next to the biggest building, and work from there.

"Know where Maximus is?" I asked a random student running around.

"That building!" They pointed at one of the middle-ugly buildings - seriously, Artemis needed an [Architect] to give her a hand or something - and kept running.

With a little more wandering around, then finally, after almost three years-

"MAXIMUS!" I waved my one free hand at him. I caught him right after he finished teaching a class, students pouring into the hallway.

He was looking good. Still as non-descript as ever, he had a few more lines on his face, and a couple of grey hairs.

He stared at me, thunderstruck.

"ELAINE!?" He finally got out. "I thought you were dead!"

Ooooh shit. He wasn’t as well connected as everyone else, and hadn’t gotten word of my most recent letter.

"Well, I’m alive!"

He shook his head, chuckling lightly before he froze, eyes widening.

"Artemis! Did you hear what happened with her?" He made a move as if to grab my arm, but restrained himself.

"Something, something, got freed this morning?" I poked him, blasting him with a heal. Never knew if some third-rate healer hadn’t fixed an injury properly. My regeneration rates were crazy enough that if I’d done anything, I wouldn’t notice.

Maximus blinked, the news clearly having not gotten to him yet.

"Well… ok, technically my dad should have finished delivering the coins by now, but yeah. Surprised she’s not back yet."

"So am I." Maximus half-muttered to himself under his breath. "Well! Now that’s out of the way, what can I do for you?"

"I just wanted to catch up! Mostly." I confessed.

"Normally, I’d say I have to give a lecture, but I suspect your stories will be excellent teaching material, if you don’t mind?"

"Yeah, sure! You’re getting the redacted version though."

"Oh, I don’t think any of us will mind."

Some quick shuffling around, a quick down-low of what type of events could be covered and interesting things to hint at, a broad announcement by Maximus, and I was sitting in front of a large lecture hall with him, crowds of students filing in and finding seats.

A few of the other instructors were up front with me, forming a sort of panel.

"Thank you everyone!" Maximus announced to the crowds. "We’ve got a treat today! Sentinel Dawn has returned from a year and a half beyond the borders of Remus, and is willing to share the tale of her adventure! Listen carefully! Clever ways of using magic, and the heights of power possible will be revealed to you all! Plus, Sentinel Dawn is the single most powerful [Healer] in Remus. Without further ado- DAWN!"

I waved to the crowd, and got quite the reaction back. Some cheering, one unwelcome wolf-whistle, applause, and interested susurrations were just the start.

A brief pang of sadness flashed through me, an ancient regret. I’d never gotten the chance to be a student like that. Never got to attend large lectures, never got to experience anything like college life. My chance had been ripped away from me, and it just wasn’t a thing in Remus.

Maybe the elf Academy would be similar? I guess there was a shot…

"Hey all! Glad to be here! I’m sure most of you have heard of the end of the Formorian War. Well, let me tell you what it was like in the middle of it. Technically, we were past the front lines, a strike force deep within the territory of the horde…"

I started narrating my story, Maximus being an attentive listener. He quickly made it clear that the panel were the only ones allowed to interrupt, and focused heavily on the skills and magic I’d seen.

"See here!" He announced at one point. "Sentinel Dawn encountered a clever application of Miasma and Fire magic. The orcs lived their entire lives in tunnels, which kept the Miasma close, and prevented dispersion. It allowed the [Mage] to flood the tunnels in a way that couldn’t be dodged, and also let them reach far, far further than they normally could cast! Then, with a tiny spark - and a clever helper defending them - they could inflict terrible damage at range. Now! Who can answer this question: could the [Mage] have a skill to defend himself against his own explosions within one of the two classes he displayed? Yes, Horatio?" He asked one member of the ‘panel’.

Good thing really, I couldn’t imagine letting the students try to poorly answer the questions. We’d be here all day, and while Maximus was delving into the details of my journey and investigating the magic and skills, he was being conscientious of my time. I appreciated it.

"Brrrpt!"

"Yes and no. See…"

This little stop was taking a heck of a lot longer than I had planned. Ah well, I hadn’t seen Maximus in years, and while I wanted to get on with my day and see everyone else?

I wasn’t going to ditch him. He’d taught me so much about the System, and even now, I suspected he knew more than me. I could afford to give back.

Auri was also having the time of her life. She was sitting on my still-bald and eyebrowless head, primping and preening in front of the crowd, flashing her brightly colored burning wings around. I estimated a fifth of the students had lost the train of conversation between Horatio and Maximus, and were just watching Auri’s fire show.

She was in heaven.

Granted, it had been almost a third of the students before I’d casually mentioned surviving getting decapitated. It had been with great reluctance that I’d answered the question "HOW!?" with "I’m a Sentinel, it’s what we DO" as opposed to giving a detailed breakdown of how my skills and build working together had pulled it off.

I didn’t want to give away a detailed analysis of my skills and how they worked together to the greater world, not right now. Growing up, I’d been all about sharing my skills and abilities with whoever would listen, but now?

Now I wasn’t giving out a roadmap of "how to kill Sentinel Dawn."

"What happened next?" Maximus asked, snapping me back to the present.

"Well, after the orc attack we…"

Had to say. It was pretty nice telling my story like this.

I finished narrating my tale, and the students were milling around, trying to figure out what was next. I’d completely destroyed any semblance of a normal schedule.

Ah well. Not my problem.

"Thank you again Elaine." Maximus offered his hand, and I shook it. "I bet, oh, four rods that you’ll be in at least one student’s class offerings."

He gave me a winning smile.

I snorted at him. "You want me to bet against you, in your area of expertise? With literally thousands of chances for you to win? Yeah, no."

His mouth gave a wry twist.

"Was worth a shot. Anything else I can do?"

"Yeah. Auri here,"

"Brrrpt!" Auri was pleased to announce that, yes, she was here and listening.

"Needs a better education than I can provide on my own."

"BRRPT!?"

Maximus eyed Auri somewhat doubtfully. I waited a few minutes, while he thought about what I was implicitly asking.

"Frankly, I don’t think the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft is right for her." He concluded. "There’s a level of, ah, focus that’s required, and the individual attention Auri needs, combined with her level and unique nature, makes me think that a tutor would be best."

"Got any recommendations?" Maximus had spent almost a year in the education space, and knew the players better than I did.

"Try Plato. He’s mostly retired, but I think a letter of recommendation from me, plus the, ah, unique nature of the pupil will interest him enough."

"Brrrpt!? Brrrpt!!"

"Yes Auri, you’re going to get an education. Yes, you’re absolutely the bestest, most unique pupil ever." I soothed the tiny bird.

Maximus started writing on a scroll.

"Brrrpt!!"

"I wish I knew everything, but I don’t. Plus, what will you do when I go on a dangerous mission?"

"BRRRPTT!!"

I facepalmed. Of course Auri wanted to come with me to protect me.

"Even when I’m over the sea? The great, big, huge water?"
"BBBBBBRRRRPPTTT!!!" Auri shook her head furiously.

"You might like him."

"Brrpt…"

"As entertaining as it is to watch you lose an argument with a bird." Maximus’s roast wasn’t something [Dance with the Heavens] could cure. "I do need to get somewhat of a move on. Here. His address as well."

"Thanks! Hey, I should be able to drop by regularly."

"Will you be resuming teaching classes in the evening? We haven’t been able to find a healer nearly good enough to replace you."

I thought about it a moment.

"Yeah, I can do that. In a few days. I still need to settle back in."

"Naturally. Could you do me a favor? Could you tell Artemis to get off her lazy ass and get back down here!"

I laughed.

"Will do!"

With that, I was off. Onto the next errand on my endless to-do list.

I had a lot to do, and only so many hours to do it in. Given that the Sentinels were still a thing, still existed, and seemingly still had all our exemptions, plus the utter lack of guards harassing me for dodging them the other day?

I just flew right over the walls. Rank hath its privilege and all that.

Next up? Autumn!

Ariminum was big. I mostly remembered the layout, but things had changed since I was last here. Buildings were different, and some smaller streets had vanished, or been added where there used to be a store.

Still, the market squares were in the same locations, and I spotted the one I used. In no time at all I spotted Autumn and her dad, Neptune, at their stall, hawking their wares.

A grin cracked my face. They’d been doing well for themselves, their stall at least twice the size that it used to be, and they had a few helpers.

I paused for a moment, debating how I wanted to make my entrance. What I really wanted to do was sneak up on Autumn, put my hands over her eyes, and ask "guess who!?"

Sadly, I was kinda obvious with my butterfly wings of burning light, and I didn’t want to land somewhere else, only to need to push my way through the bustling crowds. I just didn’t have the time for it, and I know I’d want to light half the people shoving me around on fire, let alone Auri.

And - is that what Autumn would want?

Nah. She’d want to see me ASAP, and possibly get some money out of it. My previous issue with being too flashy came in handy here.

Free advertising.

Giving myself a soft Radiance glow, I dive-bombed Autumn’s stall, Auri trilling the entire way down.

I swooped into their stall, my wings flaring as I bled speed, gracefully landing between a shocked Neptune and Autumn.

Having just been at Maximus’s school, I was slightly influenced by the scholarly environment, and had teaching and education on my mind. I was feeling slightly guilty that Autumn was my apprentice, and I hadn’t done anything for her in ages.

Something about being trapped underground.

"Pop quiz! How many bones are in the hand, and what are their names?"

There was a stunned moment as everyone adjusted to my sudden appearance. They weren’t [Fighters] or [Warriors], I didn’t expect them to have the same twitch reflexes.

"Brrrpt!" Auri threw her fiery wings up, letting a small spout of fire erupt. That broke the moment.

"ELAINE!!!" Autumn grabbed me in a hug. I let her, noting that her eyes were starry. She’d picked up a Celestial element while I was gone.

"Whoa! Easy beanpole!" She’d been taller than I was before I left, and somehow had gotten even taller.

Neptune barked some quick orders to his helpers, and they turned to keep helping various customers - along with harassing the passersbys, who had stopped to gape, into BUYING SOMETHING ALREADY.

"I thought you were dead!" Autumn practically wailed. "I almost gave some money to the temple as an offering for your safe return!"

I half-chuckled at that.

"Well, good thing you didn’t." I put on a mock-serious face. With a tone that was barely suppressing my laughter, I asked my earlier question again.

"So! Bones in the hand! And show me."

"Brrpt…" Auri gave a bored cheep.

"Scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, trapezoid…" Autumn quickly and neatly pointed to each bone as she rattled them off, the phrasing and the half-song attached to it indicating a mnemonic trick.

"Great! You’ve been studying!" I wanted to ruffle her hair, showing how happy I was. Wasn’t sure if she’d like that. Teenagers.

"Yeah! Oh…" She trailed off, and looked nervously at her dad - Neptune.

I looked at him as well.

"Sentinel. For you." He politely half-bowed, holding a tray with a dozen mangos prepared on it. What would I do without Neptune, my beloved mango hookup in Ariminum?

"Bribe shamelessly accepted." I grabbed the first mango, and held it out, making it clear it was for Auri. She gratefully flitted over, and started pecking at it.

"Brrpt! Brrrpt!" She happily told me how much she liked this new bringer-of-mangos.

I grabbed a second one and chowed down, letting bliss flow through me. "What’s up?"

My relationship with Neptune and Autumn was a bit strange. We were friends, but we had numerous business relationships going on as well. They mixed and matched, and we never let one get in the way of the other. I was sure that they’d be happy to give me an entire cartful of mangos just to let me know how happy they were that I was back home.

But with Autumn’s awkwardness, I was suspecting something was up. Little beanpole was great at fleecing people - myself included - from their hard-earned cash, but wasn’t exactly a master at hiding her emotions when it wasn’t transactional.

"Pardon. With the length of time you were gone, and with how quickly she went through your Medical Manuscripts, I felt it was appropriate for Autumn to receive additional tutelage in medicine from other healers. I hope you don’t mind."

I paused a moment, waiting for Neptune to say more. The silence grew uncomfortable, as Neptune looked more and more uncomfortable.

"Brrrpt?"

"That’s it?" I asked him.

"Yes. Deepes-"

I waved him off, taking a bite of my mango in the middle.

"No, no, that’s fine. I assumed there was something, like, actually terrible. For all you knew, I was dead, and you were doing what was best for Autumn. I know how much she likes learning things. I’d never judge you for that."

Neptune sagged with physical relief, and Autumn visibly brightened up.

"They were horrible. Not nearly as good as you."

I chuckled at the absolutely shameless flattery. I had no idea how true it was, but hey. I wasn’t immune to compliments, not when they seemed mostly genuine.

"Tell her." Neptune suggested to Autumn. Her eyes went wide.

"Elaine! Elaine! I got [Dawn’s Disciple] for my level 32 healer class! It was red! And good!"

That went straight to my heart, and I could feel tears of pride welling up.

"Good job. I’m so proud." I croaked out.

"And while you’re feeling good, they stopped paying for your stall. Sorry!" Autumn quickly slipped in.

I put my hands on my hips, and looked up at her. So unfair how she was taller than me. Like everyone else.

"And what merchant’s rule is that?" I asked her, mock-angry.

"Rule 18 - Never be the bearer of bad news, unless you profit from it." She promptly replied.

"Mmmm. And would getting in my good graces count as profit?"

"Yup!"

I rolled my eyes at her, and stole someone’s stool.

"This is Auri by the way."

"Brrrpt!"

"She’s a show-off."

"Brrrpt!!" Auri flew on top of my head, and started preening. Made her a little more eye level with Autumn.

"She’s a bird." Autumn pointed out.

"BRPT!"

"She’s a phoenix, and incredibly intelligent."

Autumn did a double take.

"WHAAAAAAAT!? A PHOENIX!? It’s very nice to meet you, Auri."

"Brrpt." Autumn hadn’t made a great first impression with Auri.

She got a scheming, mercantile look on her face.

"Hey Auri, you like showing off, right?"

"Brrpt!"

"Dad! Dad! We gotta make a cool stand for Auri to show off from."

Neptune had been following the entire conversation.

"Naturally. Does Auri understand me?" He asked me.

"Mostly."

"Brrrpt!"

"You know a lot of words, yes, but you don’t always have the meaning of context behind them." I shot back. Mouthy bird.

"Brrrpt."

"Fascinating. Prima Auri, what would you like in a stand?"

"Brrpt! Brrpt! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpppt!"

"Isn’t rule one always, always, ALWAYS get paid?" I idly ‘asked’ Neptune.

"Brrpt?!"

I got a look from Autumn.

"I gotta look out for Auri. She likes fruit juice. How about unlimited fruit juice?"

"All the fruit juice you can drink, while you get to show off." Neptune offered Auri.

"BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt!"

Auri’s shriek of joy was deafening. The only thing that saved our poor hearing was that her lungs were tiny.

"Now, no stealing Auri away." I joked at Neptune.

"I wouldn’t dream of it."

"Lemme guess - another rule?"

He nodded, as he started to work on some sort of stand for Auri.

She was going to LOVE being here. People to adore her, and all the juice to drink?

I was going to need attractive offerings back home, just so she’d come back! She was somewhat her own bird, and if Neptune and Autumn offered a nicer life, she was welcome to take it. I wouldn’t stop her.

Once she got some more sense in her head.

I clapped my hands, getting Autumn’s attention.

"Ok! Tell me what you’ve been up to, then I’ll regale you with my tales."

"We got your letter, and your advice was baaaaaaad." Autumn didn’t hesitate to roast me. "We would’ve gotten destroyed if we followed it, like your hair."

I winced. Oooops.

"Not your fault, you’d be terrible as a merchant. Too soft."

Now listen here you little-

"We love you anyways. Right! Your letter was vague enough, but we were able to buy the right stuff before the army came back. It was a rough few months, but we multiplied our investment eleven times over. ELEVEN! That never happens!"

Autumn gave me another hug.

"Oh my gods THANK YOU we made SO MUCH MONEY."

"So you repay me by roasting me?"

"Oh yeah, totally, otherwise you’d get a swollen head."

Well. At least her heart was in the right place.

"Expanded to a better stall, hired some help, and managed to renegotiate a number of deals to better favor us. Dad let me do one of them! All by myself! See, they had-"

Neptune gave a very loud, very fake cough. Autumn colored.

"Whoops, right, you don’t care about that. Anyways!"

"I do care! I’ve been gone for so long. I want to hear what you've been up to. But lemme guess, it took like three people before someone took you seriously?"

Autumn’s eyes lit up.

"OK! So! First, you have to realize that keeping track of individual ships that do the shipping runs is HARD. They could sink, or…"

I changed my mind.

I did NOT want to know about the minutiae of shipping routes and negotiating deals. I just wanted my mangos delivered regularly.

Still, Autumn was so happy, I couldn’t bear to interrupt her.

She told me all about how she mostly single-handedly got a better price for food, all while food prices were soaring. It sounded like quite the feat.

"Ok! Enough about what we were doing, it was boring. Tell me about your adventures!"

Her desire to know more was palatable.

"Hmmm. Can’t tell you everything here." We were in the middle of a busy market, and even some of the less-confidential stuff I couldn’t say.

"Oh! That’s easy!" Autumn exclaimed. "I have a skill for that! [Confidential Negotiations]."

And like that, we had some measure of magical privacy.

"Well, ok then."

After that, I told her all about my adventures. She stopped me at the part where I got [The Stars Never Fade], her eyes sparkling.

"So wait wait wait. You can make people younger. With a skill." She clarified.

"Yes."

She grinned at me.

"Which means it can be stored in a gem. Which means we can anonymously sell it. We are going to make so much money."

Chapter 17
The Endless To-do List IV

Neptune leaned over and tapped both of our shoulders. Autumn jumped, although I’d seen him coming.

"What’s Rule 3, and Rule 32?" He asked.

"DAD!" Autumn protested. "My negotiations were confidential!"

"And you did them right next to a merchant more than twice your level, that you know can eavesdrop on such negotiations. Hopefully this will be a reminder that your skills aren’t absolute." He gently reprimanded Autumn. "The rules?"

"Not everything can be bought with money, and, uh, don’t sell stuff that mobs dislike?" Autumn asked.

Neptune shook his head.

"That’s Rule 31. Rule 32 is don’t sell anything that’ll get you ripped apart by the rich and powerful."

Autumn spoke up on the last three words, the rule having clearly clicked.

"It’ll be almost impossible to successfully auction off a gem that makes you young again." He told Autumn - indirectly telling me as well. "Much better to trade it for favors, and for other impossible-to-obtain things."

He gave Autumn another look.

"Plus, every [Thief] would be after the gem. With your low level, you’d never keep it safe, although you’d get a dozen levels in the attempt. Could you afford to reimburse Sentinel Dawn when it got stolen from your care?"

Autumn looked embarrassed at the thought.

With Neptune putting an end to Autumn’s fantasy it was time for me to get going.

Sadly, my to-do list was endless, and I needed to get back to it.

Hell, in some senses I was skipping work. I should be at Ranger Academy, yelling at Trainees. Sentinels were given a lot of slack in how we went about our work though, and nobody was going to give me grief over taking a few days off to get my affairs back in order.

Something that I had no idea how to check on, and no clue how to manage - all the stuff I’d invested in way out in that one new city. Heck, I didn’t even know the name of said city! That was for another day entirely.

Albina was next on my list, and she took some effort to find. They’d moved since I’d last been around, and it wasn’t like there was an easy directory of "where people live."

I finally managed it by poking around her old workplace and asking her old coworkers.

Her villa was alright. Solid stone, in a medium part of town. Not poor, but nowhere close to rich either, the single-story home butted up against its neighbors.

Everyone else, I was delighted to see. I just marched right in, no problems.

Albina? She’d been expecting a baby when I left. I’d said I’d be back to help her with it. If something had happened, I’d never forgive myself.

I spent a moment at the door, listening in. My stats giving me superhuman hearing, letting me spy a bit. Nothing obvious came to my ears. No crying babies. Bracing myself, I quietly knocked on the door.

I heard nearly silent footsteps on the other side of the door, and then it opened.

Albina was on the other side, and she looked terrible. Her normally flawless look was haggard, her cheeks sunken into her face, and large raccoon eyes topped it all off.

"Elaine!" She whispered at me, staring at me in shock. "Is that really you?"

"Yes!" I whispered back. "I’m back! I’m alive!"

Albina gave me a Look.

"Can you really say you’re alive when your hair looks like that?"

I rubbed my hand over my somewhat charred stubble on top of my head. I couldn’t, in good conscience, call it ‘hair’.

"Brrrpt!" Auri’s sharp cry was like a firecracker going off in the middle of our whispering.

"I swear to all the gods, if you wake Primus up." Albina waved a finger at Auri. "I just got him down for a nap."

Auri nodded, cowed by Albina’s ferocity.

"Primus is a good name." I whispered. Not terribly imaginative, but then again, most kids got named in order. I’d dodged a bullet in that sense.

"I’m happy with it." Albina whispered. Gods, she sounded so tired. Needed to poke her with [Sunrise] when I had a moment.

If she wanted it. For all I knew she wanted to take a nap, and [Sunrise] was bad for that.

"Is this a bad time? I can come back later?"

She shook her head.

"No, it’s alright. Sorry, I’m exhausted. Come in, come in. Let’s sit down. Primus has decided that waking up multiple times in the night is just the thing to do, and he’s rejected goat’s milk. I’m still breastfeeding him, which takes so long in the night, then I have to run around keeping the house in order while juggling him, and I’ve got a second on the way, making me feel all sorts of sick." Albina let everything loose in a torrent.

"Octavius helps, but he’s also keeping the money coming in, but it’s still tight with Primus and the food prices having spiked and-"

Albina clearly needed to vent. From the sound of it, she was… surviving… but not exactly thriving. There was just so much to do with Primus, and keeping the house intact, and she hadn’t been able to keep up her hairdressing business. That had also done poor things for her social life, replacing one set of friends with an entirely new set of friends - other moms with kids of similar ages. Except there was some sort of internal drama, and…

Albina was a good friend of mine, so I tried to pay attention. I really did. The only thing I got out of it was a reaffirmation that having a baby killed any sort of free time she had.

I wasn’t willing - or able - to sign up for babysitting duty, however, I could do one better. Maybe.

"I’ve got an energy skill. Need a pick-me-up?" I asked Albina.

She hesitated, looking torn.

"No cost, I promise."

"If you would?" Albina’s tone almost broke my heart. I leaned over and poked her, jolting her with [Sunrise] as I also gave a strong wave of healing.

"I need my hairdresser." I told Albina, reclining on one of her sofas in the Remus style.

She got an awkward look, and I held up my hand.

"Can I pay you by hiring a [Nanny], [Babysitter], [Child Minder], [Tutor], and a [Maid] or someone like that for an entire day, once a week? Take a load off your mind?"

The look on her face. Total relief.

"Would you? That… I don’t have the words to tell you how much that would help."

I smiled and patted her arm.

"The power of money! I see why Autumn likes it so much."

Albina barked out a laugh, and we froze as it echoed through the house.

"I swear I’ve become twice as religious from before." Albina mutter-whispered to me. "‘Don’t wake the baby’ is my new prayer."

"Ha! I totally get it." I whispered back.

A baby’s cry reverberated through the house, and Albina winced.

"Does three days from now work?"

"It should. Let me fix your hair real fast." She said in a normal tone, gesturing. With a quick pop, I had hair again! Short, but HAIR!

I could get it properly fixed when-

Auri chose that moment to "help" and "improve things."

"Brrrpt!" She cried out, as my hair went up in flames. I ducked, to avoid setting Albina’s house on fire.

"Auri! No!" I cried out in dismay.

"Brrrpt!" She was very pleased with herself.

Hair flaming, stinking up the house, I quickly apologized to Albina.

"I am so sorry, but if you know anyone who can fireproof hair…"

She looked at me and gave a tired nod.

"I think I know someone. Primus." She hurried through the door, chasing the screams that were going through the house.

I left half a rod’s worth of coins - most of my spare cash - in Albina’s living room, and saw myself out.

I made a mental note to come back another time, when Albina wasn’t so tired, and give Primus a quick check up.

Next thing on my endless to-do list…

"Auri, we’re going to make you a nest and a bed of your own."

"Brrrpt!"

"What would you like?"

"Brrpt, brrpt, brrrpt!!"

I didn’t quite catch that.

"Ok, how big? Tell me when." I started with my hands being small, then slowly made them larger, indicating a "ball" the size of the nest that she wanted.

My hands were on either side of my chest when Auri brrrpt’d, letting me know that she wanted something large enough that I could possibly curl up inside.

Well, that was fine.

"Alrighty! What do you want it made out of?"

"Brrrpt."

Ah, right. My Auri-speech wasn’t that good, and she might not even know.

"Let me know when you see it, alright?"

"Brrrpt!"

The day was practically over, and after lightly browsing the market, I made it back home. Everything with Artemis had gone off without a hitch, and we had a lovely dinner together, before Artemis announced that she had to make it back to her School of Sorcery and Spellcraft, and put out a dozen fires that Maximus had surely started there.

It had nothing to do with me mentioning that Maximus was entirely out of the loop on all of that, and everyone giving Artemis death glares until she’d gone back to the school.

The day started off well enough, although I wasn’t fully able to dodge the follow-up questions from Hunting, who’d ‘won’ yesterday’s brawl. I answered them as well as I could, while we walked through the underground and underwater tunnel to Ranger Academy.

He also got a chance to play with the Deception Ring, and figured out how it worked. Given that we started off with the same framework – we all used the same Inscriptions – I had a much easier time explaining to him how it worked, versus when the elves had tried to teach me.

I did ask him for advice on a third class though.

"Passion." He said. "Figure out what you love, and do that. If you take a class you’re just not interested in? Leveling it will be a chore. Using it will be a chore. You got this far on a love of healing and magic, yeah? Well, what else do you love? Who cares about the combat applications of it, you only live-"

He glanced at me and smirked.

"-for eternity. Don’t get stuck being miserable."

Good advice. We continued onto Ranger Academy.

Once there, I asked around for the Instructors who normally handled SERE Training. It took some time for them to all be free - most Instructors handled more than one class.

Instead of just cooling my heels, I went to investigate the situation with flying classes. I was taking over from Maestrai. I wasn’t sure what Command’s logic was, but I knew my own reasoning. Namely, I could fix any "whoopsies", and my adaptive flight let me mimic different styles.

I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I was an expert on skill evolutions, and obtaining particular skills, but I had enough foundational knowledge to push trainees in the right direction. It wasn’t exactly a well-kept secret, and all of the trainees already knew how, were on their own path, or already had limited flight.

Auri was a hit, and a game of "catch/play with Auri in the sky" quickly evolved. I suspected it was going to be a regular thing, and everyone leveled from it in the short time I was around.

Phoenixes were stupid. Just being around them was good for levels.

Auri also leveled, but I think that was more "dodge people 170 levels higher than you" more than anything else. I foresaw good experience.

I also had a quick conversation with the Rangers who ran sparring. My healing power and size meant that, when I was around, Rangers could go full-contact, only refraining from headshots. The ability to fight, relatively no holds barred, was great for experience - both of the learning type, and the leveling up type.

After a long discussion, we agreed that the rules wouldn’t change. The benefits didn’t outweigh the risks, namely, that Trainees would be too much in the habit of no-holds barred, even when I wasn’t around, and someone would die.

"Might die" hadn’t seemed to stop the Instructors in the past, although… I couldn’t think of a single fatality at Ranger Academy.

The SERE Instructors got together later on, and after briefing them on my new role - they all knew me already - we quickly got down to business.

"Frankly, you were all teaching me this stuff, what, three, four years ago?" I opened up. "I don’t think that I’m better than you at this, not by a long shot."

"Agreed."

"Keep doing what you do best, and at some point - tonight, after last bell? - I can share with you a few interesting stories of what I’ve been up to, what worked, what didn’t, and discuss how it should be incorporated into the training."

There were some slow nods. They knew me - had been my Instructors like I said - but they had known me as a trainee, determined to prove myself. There was no telling what would happen when a bit of power went to someone’s head. Some people got utterly drunk off of it. My rise had been meteoric, by any standard.

I’d like to think I kept myself mostly moderated. The lack of sweeping changes, and telling them "you know where to find me if there are issues" hopefully reinforced that.

Although - ugh. I shouldn’t just leave them to their own devices, should I? I should take somewhat of an interest, to head off problems before they become larger. Just like a Ranger team, just how I was trained, but…

Well, I suppose it would be like leading a full Ranger team, wouldn’t it? Except everyone in the team was a veteran.

Cross one thing off the to-do list, two more popped up. It was endless.

Grumble, grumble…

The Adventurer’s Guild was up next, mostly a side stop. However, it did get stuff off my to-do list, and there were two things I could get done here, for the low, low price of fifteen minutes.

Also, happily, my tasks were getting less important.

In no time at all, I was seated across from the Adventurer’s Guild [Guildmaster] once again.

"Sentinel Dawn. Your return and levels are impressive." He offered me a cup of wine, which I gratefully took.

Auri promptly lit it on fire.

"Brrrpt! BRRPT!"

"Yes Auri, you burned the bad water, good job." I sighed at my now-flaming cup.

Meh. My vitality and healing were good enough. I took a drink, enjoying the [Guildmaster’s] eye quirk up in surprise.

Wouldn’t be the first time he saw someone drink a flaming beverage, but it wasn’t exactly an everyday occurrence.

"Brrrpt!" Auri was looking around his office appreciatively. With the eye of a seasoned arsonist.

That reflects me, that shows how pretty I am, that’ll burn well, that looks like it's expensive, great fuel for fire, that should have pretty colors when it goes up in flames…

She was a little transparent.

"Thank you. There’s some great adventures to be had out there." And if adventurers were out in the wilderness, they wouldn't be menacing the poor people living in cities, or kidnapping girls.

I still thought the lot of them should be rounded up and jailed, but the powers that be had other ideas. While they were around though, I was slightly getting over my prejudice, and seeing if I could put them to good use.

"What can we do for you?"

"You’ve heard about Commander Julius?"

"Yes, terrible, but oh so interesting business."

"I’d like to make a quest for his safe return, or new information about what happened."

"Would you like to issue a new quest, or add to the already existing one?"

I refrained from saying something stupid, namely, ‘there’s already one?’

"I’ll add to it. What’s it currently at?"

"1000 coins."

That was a fairly low amount. Someone who didn’t have a whole lot of coins cared. And, well, I was rich.

"I’ll add 400 rods to it."

The [Guildmaster] had a good poker face.

"Very well. That should get a number of people interested, who had previously passed it up. Is there anything else?"

"Yes. Cancel the quest for the Thunderbird egg please."

"Brrpt?!"

"Of course."

With that, my business with the Adventurer’s Guild was done.

Blessedly, without adding anything to my to-do list. For once.

We were walking along the streets to our next spot when Auri spotted something she liked.

"Brrpt! Brrrrrpt!!!!" She called me, urgently catching my attention as she hovered over an object a merchant was hawking.

"Found something you liked?" I asked Auri.

"Brrrpt!" She nodded her little beak furiously.

"We sell only the best!" The merchant gleefully told me, rolling with the oddity of me talking with a bird - so long as the bird was saying ‘buy this! BUY THIS!’ "We have the finest Arcanite crystals in Ariminum!"

I refocused on the merchant’s wares. Arcanite it was, faceted to catch the light and reflect it a hundred ways. Auri flitted close to one, looking at her reflection in awe.

"You want this?"

"Brrrpt! BRPT!"

I paled.

"You want this… for your nest?"

"Brrpt!"

"... Still the same size?" I asked tentatively, remembering that she wanted a nest the size of my torso.

"Brrpt!" Auri confirmed, twisting in front of the piece of Arcanite, seeing how her colors and flames were refracted and redisplayed for the vain bird. She then flitted over to the next piece, repeating the process, reassuring herself that, yes, she was very [Brretty].

Fuck my wallet.

I spent an hour or two with Commander Ajax, reviewing the information and pitch we were going to give the Emperor. Apparently, the meeting was in a couple of days. Even "urgent, from Ranger Command" didn’t get us an instant meeting.

All the better to prepare our pitch. I was responsible for the technical details, while Ajax was preparing it the ‘right’ way for Emperor Augustus to be receptive. Social stuff, that I was happy to get handed off to someone else.

I finally managed to get dinner with Kallisto, who was still part of Ranger Team 0. His wife Cordelia and kid were still around, and Flora was ADORABLE.

"Elaine. Elaine." She tugged on my sleeve.

"Yes?"

"Flower!" She said, handing me a slightly crumpled flower.

I gave a dramatic gasp.

"Oh! Is this for me?"

She shyly nodded.

"Why thank you!" I carefully took it from her, as Kallisto and Cordelia smiled.

Auri somehow knew that the flower was a tiny bit special, and not to burn it right now in front of Flora.

"How have things been? Everything ok?"

"Yeah - oh, have I got a funny story for you…"

I got to sneak in a quick meeting with Night, which was really more like five minutes at Ranger Academy while he was waiting for his latest protege to finish up with his lessons, so he could mentor him.

I still had a crazy amount of respect for Night doing that, year after year, student after student, knowing that all of them would die, and he would move on. It boggled the mind.

"Dawn."

"Night. Any advice on my third class?"

"Yes, but I can only give you a short overview at this time." Night said. "High level advice, without getting into the details."

He started to walk, and I instinctively followed him, falling into the same contemplative pace that we used to circle Ranger Academy with. It had only been a few years, and yet, it was a lifetime.

"You have joined the hallowed ranks of the Immortals." He started off. "You are not pressed for time. I personally had thousands of years to contemplate before selecting my class. You are in no risk, no danger, at this time. Now, I recognize that you are young, and patience has never been your strongest point. As such, I will not offer advice that you will simply disregard such as ‘wait and meditate on the issue for a hundred years’, for at your age such a feat seems impossible, and you shall simply disregard it. However. If you could do me a favor? Please wait at least a single year, before selecting a class."

That was good advice, and I took it to heart. Why screw up an eternity, for a moment’s impatience now?

I resolved to force myself to think for an extended period of time, and do everything in my power to get good starting classes.

Future Elaine would be happy with me.

"Thank you Night."

"You are most welcome Dawn. Ah, I see my next appointment. We shall talk about this more in the future."

I gave a salute.

"It would be my honor."

"Hey Autumn!"

"Elaine! I did what you said, here." Autumn handed me the ‘homework’ I’d assigned to her.

I settled in, grabbing a mango to eat. Auri flitted up to her latest podium of adoration, and started to show off.

Sadly for Auri, there was stiff competition in the "attract the eye" department. Everyone had a sign, everyone was showing off in some fantastical manner or another. From Mirage making flashy signs, pillars of burning flames, trees grown into living signs, hovering mosaics and more, everyone was trying to get some attention.

I was biased, but I thought Auri’s colorful display was the best sign. It had started off unusual enough that she’d gotten a lot of attention the first time, but the novelty was wearing off. Didn’t stop Auri from chasing that high.

"You’ve got the superficial femoral and the femoropopliteal arteries mixed up here." I pointed out her mistake. Autumn grabbed the paper with all the indignation of an A+ student told that she’d gotten something wrong, opening her mouth to protest.

She closed it, having spotted her mistake.

"Oh. Right."

"Got a new assignment for you."

Autumn mock-groaned, and I didn’t blame her for it. She’d done incredibly well from a practical standpoint when I was gone, healing hundreds of people with her knowledge. She’d also spent hours studying the Medical Manuscripts, so at this point I was working on the nitty gritty. The really obnoxious, tiny details, that I believed would make the difference between a "good" healer, and a "great" healer. Especially since Autumn was lacking [Oath] to empower her, she needed every edge.

"I need a ton of Arcanite. Roughly this much, hollow." I mimed the sphere I wanted.

Autumn whistled.

"That would cost a lot."

"Yeah. Roughly how much?"

Autumn named a figure.

I gave Auri a dirty look that she completely missed.

Ah well. Such was the price for keeping Auri happy, and really, that’s what I wanted.

"Right. Let me get you that amount. Anything you manage to save, any good bargains you strike? You get to keep the extra."

Autumn’s eyes lit up as she pumped her fist.

"Yessssssss."

I was accosted one evening by a pale vampire, with medium black hair and a sweeping cape.

"Sentinel." He politely greeted me as I was on my way home. Not exactly making a good first impression on me. Mostly on the "looming around small women in the dark" more than his address.

"What’s up?" I asked, not stopping for him. I didn’t speed away either, but I did push my speed a bit. Just enough to make him awkwardly jog to keep up.

"My name is Misha. I was hoping for your assistance in an endeavor."

"Night can’t help you?"

"Night, as talented as he is, lacks the knowledge you do."

"Brrrpt!" Auri was always pleased to toot my horn.

"What’s up. Also, lose Night’s habit of taking fifty words to say one."

"I want to learn how to heal, to find some method of defeating the reliance on blood that we have."

Note to self: Not a great listener. Fails to follow directions.

"And you need me because…?"

"You are the best. A genius without peer. A…"

Was Night the only non-annoying vampire? Did he like, specifically select the most obnoxious people to turn or something? At least Jaclyn had been mercifully quick.

"Hey, listen, would love to help. However, I’m super busy. Tell you what. Join Artemis’s School of Sorcery and Spellcraft. I teach medicine in the evenings there. Also, get a copy of my Medical Manuscripts and read over them. You’ll get almost everything you need."

"Well, I was hoping for some more personalized attention…"

"NOPE! Too busy. Gotta go. Bye!"

With that, I bailed.

Upon reflection, it could’ve been worse. Almost every time it was a suitor of some sort, thinking they were the next great Cassanova and they could get in my tunic.

Bah.

Onto the next thing.

Chapter 18
The Endless To-do List V

Ranger Academy was once again on my to-do list the next day.

"Senti-Null! Got time for that practice bout?" I asked him after the morning meeting was over.

"Dawn! Of course! By the way, I have my own questions about your adventure…" He said, asking away as we walked to the Ranger Academy island.

We both wanted the practice.

Before we got to the arena though, Senti-Null ran out of questions, and I seized the moment.

"I’m in a bit of a pickle." I confessed to the newest Sentinel.

"Oh?"

"My stats recently wildly swung around wildly. With the whole…" I gestured vaguely in the direction of Port Salona, which was vaguely in the direction of Ochi, given the distances involved. He knew what I meant.

"Anyways. I need a new fighting style. I could ask Night, but he’s got a thousand things on his plate, and he seems to be able to do everything." I good-naturedly griped about the first among equals.

"You’d like my help with fighting?" He asked.

"Kinda. Help developing a style. My physical stats are so skewed towards speed and vitality, I figure I should be fighting like a speedster. You’re the best speedster I know and have access to."

Looking at it objectively, Senti-Null was the best speedster. However, I had a soft spot for Julius.

"Ok Auri, Senti-Null and I are going to do something called ‘sparring’."

"Brrpt?"

"It’s where we practice fighting each other, so we get better. When we need to fight for real, we’re stronger and can win! It’ll look like we’re fighting each other, but we’re not. We like each other."

"Brrrpt!"

Auri seemed to understand, and flew off to one of the stone bleachers to watch.

We geared up, squared off, and began our spar, a few Instructors who had spare time watching us. Wasn’t every day they got to watch Sentinels sparring.

Senti-Null was fast. His level was low compared to mine - I had almost 200 levels on him - but he was built for speed, having skills to back up his speed-focused stats.

He charged right at me.

Experimentally, I tried to blast Radiance at his feet, only for my skill to entirely fail. I could probably overpower his nullification skills, then blast him normally, but that’d defeat the point of the exercise, in quite a few ways. It wouldn’t get either of us any practice, just confirmation that, yup, I had a lot of stats.

It’d be a different story if I could blast straight through his nullification directly.

Then he was upon me, and the fight was on.

He stabbed at me with his spear, standard-issue, and I tried to block with my shield, thrusting my own spear at him. His spear went straight through my shield and practically ignored my armor as it buried itself into my shoulder, while my spear got jostled out of my hands, as the sheer force and power of our impacts totally overwhelmed my strength.

"Point to you." I conceded, holding my shield still. It was still salvageable with "only" a puncture in it, although it could be destroyed further.

"Brrpt! BRRRRPT!" Auri protested my treatment, and was mad that Senti-Null had scored a ‘point’ on me. She flew over, rage in her tiny eyes.

So adorable.

"No Auri, he’s allowed to hit me."

"Brrrpt! Brrrrpt!!!"

Hmmm. She was right.

"Hey, I promised Auri if she could burn a Sentinel, that she could come along on missions. Want to let her try? It’s probably decent experience to dodge."

Senti-Null ran a hand through his brown hair.

"Sure, I guess. One moment."

He quickly retracted his spear. My shoulder reformed, my [Persistent Casting] permanently on. His eyes widened slightly.

"That just drained a large chunk of my mana, and didn’t even slow you down." He complained. I quickly took a peek at my own mana, noticing that I’d just spent tens of thousands of points myself.

In other words, not much.

"Just how much magic power do you have?" He asked.

"Almost 500,000."

"50,000!?"

"No. 500,000."

Senti-Null took a deep, centering breath, and explosively let it out. He gave me a roguish grin, tinged with chagrin.

"Just when I thought I was doing well, getting promoted to Sentinel, do I get reminded just how much further I have to go."

"Yeah. I felt the same when I got promoted. I also felt the same when I was out there." I said, gesturing.

Senti-Null just shook his head.

"Right. Auri, is it? Hit me if you can!"

"BRRPT!" She shrieked a fearsome warcry, and… nothing happened.

"Brrpt?! Brrrpt!?!?!"

"He’s a canceler, Auri. He stops magic from happening."

"Brrrpt!!" Auri was protesting the unfair conditions.

"Let her try?"

"She’s not hiding her level like you, right?"

"If she somehow managed to hide her level and class up and get strong enough to cause you concern, I’ll eat my sandals." I promised Senti-Null.

Auri suddenly erupted in flame, a flamethrower erupting from her beak while burning quills shot from her feathers.

Senti-Null just dodged, outspeeding her by a ridiculous factor.

In practically no time at all, Auri was out of juice.

"Brrrpt brrrpt." She came crying to me, landing on my shoulder and nuzzling my cheek.

"There there." I reassured her. "One day you’ll get so strong you can burn the whole world."

"Brrrpt!"

"You know what will help?"

"Brrpt?"

"An education. With Plato." I reminded her.

"Brrpt…"

"Yes I’m sure."

"Brrpt!"

Well, fine. I didn’t expect ‘convince Auri to let herself get educated’ to end up crossed off my to-do list, but I’d somehow managed it.

"Another round?" Senti-Null asked me.

"Naturally." I rolled my shoulders, preparing.

"With or without your Radiance?" He asked.

"Let’s do without, but you should restock with Arcanite. The Instructors have some nearby. I know how to blast pesky speedsters already. With my [Mantle] though, since it helps my physical fighting."

Senti-Null nodded, and we were off.

Nearly an hour of sparring later, and I was starting to settle into a style. I asked Senti-Null what he was thinking though.

"Right. In your sandals? I’d consider a mutual destruction combat style, or a more berserker style. Forget defense, your healing is insane. Focus on just hitting your opponent as hard as you can. Both of you get a spear rammed through you? You’ll live, they won’t."

"Yeah, I’m leaning that way." I agreed. "My concern is I still need to keep my head safe, and defending just my head makes my weak points clear."

"Then don’t, or be so aggressive with your attacks that you force your opponents to be defensive. Let them parry, because they’ll hit whatever’s close."

I wasn’t totally sold on the idea, but there were merits to what he was saying. I was also circling the same idea, just phrased differently.

"Thank you Senti-Null for your time."

"Of course. The same to you."

Onto the next task. My to-do list was somehow defying common sense, and getting longer every time I looked at it.

At least I was being productive.

I followed Maximus’s directions to a fancy villa, in the ‘almost very rich’ part of town. Two whole stories, and a sprawling complex of hedges and gardens led to ornate marble walls, and a sturdy bronze door.

I suspected that Plato charged enough to be able to afford to live here.

I wanted to mention to Auri that she was very expensive, but I didn’t want her to feel bad. Like, it was my choice to try and hatch Auri, she was my responsibility, I shouldn’t burden her with the knowledge. It could do serious damage to her mental well-being!

No, she would grow up happy. She didn’t need to know what it cost. She did need to know the world was scary and dangerous, but I never, ever wanted her to get the wrong message from me.

I knocked at the door.

A servant opened the door, taking in my outfit with a glance.

"May I assist the Prima?" He asked, very politely.

"Hi! I was wondering if Plato was taking on students?" I asked, skipping right to the heart of my question. We were both busy people.

He gave me a long-suffering sigh, and a thousand-yard stare.

"Citizen Plato is not currently taking on any students." The poor servant began reciting. "He does not care that the patriarch is a Senator. He does not care that his father is a general. He is uninterested in teaching the next [Consul], [Emperor], [Grand Magus], or whatever else your ‘brilliant’ protege is going to become. No. Plato is enjoying a break."

The poor servant delivered his speech in the most bored tone I’d ever heard. Dude needed a Sound skill to give the speech for him.

"What about-"

"No." He interrupted me, entirely sure that he was right.

I put a hand on my hip.

"I assume you don’t care I’m a Sentinel, and that’s fine."

"Edor’s rusty trident." The servant swore. I arched an eyebrow at him.

"You do care?"

"Yes, you just lost me a bet." He complained. "Seven more months, and I would’ve won 300 coins."

I shrugged, and figured I’d apologize, just because I wanted him happy enough to listen to me. As for the gambling? He made his bed, he could lie in it. I quickly checked my coin purse.

Almost empty from my daily cash I grabbed before heading out. Almost made me wish for the wilderness again.

"Bet you 10 coins that Plato will be interested in what I have to say."

I got a withering look.

"It’s 64 rods to insist on a meeting with Plato. Payable up-front. In coin. No guarantee that he takes on your student, that’s simply the price to insist on a meeting where Plato can personally reject you."

That was a boatload of metal.

"Be right back!" I tried to be cheerful, but failed.

Practically daylight robbery. If Maximus hadn’t been so sure that Plato was the best?

Nearly two hours later - blasted temple [Bankers] - and a small handcart later, and I was back.

"Sentinel Dawn for Plato!" I told the servant, who eyed the cart and shrugged.

"Right, it’s your loss."

A hop, skip, and a jump later, and I was meeting with the elderly [Tutor]. Classic ‘wise civilized old teacher’ look. White hair, beard full of curls, expensive but not flaunting it tunic, Plato was the works. Solidly over 300 to boot.

"Appius informed you that I was not taking on students?" Plato got right down to business.

"Yes."

"And you are aware that this meeting is purely for me to reject you to your face?"

"Yes. I also understand that I am able to present my case?"

"Correct. Begin."

I was willing to throw everything at Plato. I wanted only the best for Auri.

"Auri is a phoenix, the like of which has never been seen in Remus. You’ve taught Senators, Commanders, famous merchants, and more. However, this chance is unique, to say the least."

"Brrrpt!" The little troublemaker herself flared her wings, letting colorful flames dance around her.

"Also, while I can pay in coin, I can also make you young again. I don’t sell this skill, I only offer it in exchange for something I’d like. It may give you a few hundred years of life."

A long silence stretched between us, as Plato contemplatively looked at Auri, then myself, then back at Auri.

"What’s the catch?" He asked.

"You get cursed. Unknown ahead of time on the severity."

He stroked his beard, before coming to a conclusion.

"I did not expect to be convinced. However, your case is persuasive. Fine. I’ll do it." He said, and I let a maniacal grin split my face.

All that was left was hammering out the details. Almost bored poor Auri to tears.

Plato demonstrated a mastery of rhetoric that utterly demolished my crude attempts at bartering, but eh. It was all worth it in the end.

Short version - I’d pay him a bit, reimburse his expenses, and after two years of education - he estimated ‘properly’ teaching Auri would take ten - I’d make him young again.

Naturally, I offered to heal him normally, but he had his own healer he liked already.

I had to go to the temple to reload my poor coin purse - how quickly a year and a half of wages vanished into smoke - then it was off to the next stop.

My to-do list was finally shrinking.

After cautioning Auri, and consulting with mom, I found a lovely [Tailor], who was able to get me a dozen different tunics in various patterns, cuts, and colors.

Auri was behaving herself, and I needed to reward her.

I also got a tunic that I’d secretly lusted after in my heart ever since I was a kid. One hope buried so deep, because I hadn’t thought I’d be able to get it, or justify the expense even if I could. An object of admiration, that I was only getting because I was meeting the Emperor.

A solid purple tunic.

"Auri. Do NOT burn this one."

"Brrpt!"

She seemed to know I was serious.

I managed to get in a brief word with Destruction when he made it back. We spent a few hours trading stories - he’d been busy ever since the Emperor seized power, handling a huge number of fires - then I asked him about his third class.

"It was easy for me." He said. "All of my skills and classes are geared towards large scale skills. I just took the natural extension of that. Your class and skills are a tool. What tools do you want and need? How can it synergize with the rest of your classes?"

Interesting advice.

"Elaine, you made it!" Albina was over the moon, and the bags under her eyes weren’t quite as bad. I gave her a quick shot of [Sunrise] anyways, watching her light up at it.

"Brrpt!"

"And aren’t you just the prettiest thing?"

"Brrrpt!!"

Albina made a motion, and a tiny mirror appeared in front of Auri, courtesy of her skills.

"Brrpt! BrrrRRRRrrrrpt!" Auri spent some time admiring herself in the mirror. I rolled my eyes.

"Vain bird."

"Shall we get started? I brought my friend, Marcella, who can fireproof hair."

"Oh, that’d be great!" I told the woman.

"Not my highest level skill." She smiled back, half rolling her eyes. "I thought there’d be demand to keep hair and clothes and the like fire-proof, but noooo. Silly me. I keep almost ditching the skill, then someone reaches out to me, I keep it for a bit longer, and…"

She went on for some time in that vein. Long story short? Rare skill.

"How long?" Albina asked me. I only spent a moment thinking about it.

"Lower back please! I just know I’m going to have to ruin it soon, but I want to enjoy it while it lasts."

My scalp itched, but a moment later I had HAIR! Glorious, wonderful, time-consuming HAIR!

"A class level and two skill levels!" Albina was beaming at me. "Elaine, you are simply the best."

I flapped a hand at her.

"Oh it’s fine."

"And done!" Marcella proudly proclaimed. "Your bird won’t be able to light your hair on fire anymore!"

"BrrrpT!" Auri seemed to take that as a challenge, and in a short moment, my hair was predictably on fire.

"Brrrpt." Auri smugly chirped back at Marcella.

"I just got six levels from that!" She gasped.

"Brrpt!" Auri apparently had also leveled.

The three of them traded a look over my head, and I could practically feel the competitive spirit in the room. The lure of easy levels.

"Gods damn them all." I whispered under my breath, as Albina regrew my hair, Marcella tried to fireproof it, and Auri showed them who was boss. Levels for everyone!

I crossed my arms and pouted.

I better have hair at the end of this.

It had been a full week, and Auri had been good.

For one, I had hair.

For two, there had been no major disasters. I hadn’t been arrested, and the fines had been… acceptable. I loaded up on cash, and prepared.

"Ok Auri. It’s time."

"Brrpt?"

"Flower shop time!"

"Brrrpt!!!"

We walked through the city, hunting for a flower shop as Auri happily chirped the entire time. She was starting to get a nice little bird song voice!

Finally, we made it to the store, where I pulled Auri aside.

"Ok, so three things." I told her.

"Brrpt! BRRPT!" She protested. I had promised her FLOWERS to BURN! Why was I adding more conditions at the last moment!?

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Just… listen for a moment."

"BRPT!"

"Please?"

"Brrpt…"

Auri only relented because she saw I wasn’t going in and buying her THE FLOWERS. She poofed up into an adorably angry ball of flames.

I had to remind myself that I was dealing with a petulant child phoenix.

"First - I need to actually buy the flowers before you can burn them."

"Brrpt…"

"Second - We should be nice to the [Shopkeeper], and only burn them inside with his permission. That way, he’ll let us come again in two weeks to DO IT AGAIN!"

"Brrrpt!! Brpt."

"Yes, two weeks. You don’t get to burn down a flower shop every week."

"Brrpt!"

"No, I’m not negotiating this."

"Brrpt!!"

I crossed my arms and stared at her. She glared back.

Somehow, I had more patience.

"Brpt…" She conceded.

"Third - this is just for you to think about." It was also something of a character measure, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. "You can burn them all right now if you want."

"Brrrpt!"

"But ask yourself this. Is burning sixty flowers right now so much better than burning fifty, then burning ten tomorrow?"

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt." Auri had little flames coming out of where her ears should be as she strained to think about it.

"BRRPT!" It was like a fire was lit in her mind, as she compared the two possibilities.

"Brrpt! BRRRPT!!!" She excitedly told me that, wait, she could burn forty now, ten tomorrow, and ten THE DAY AFTER as well!

Heh, smart bir-

Wait.

Holy.

Not only did Auri figure out that she could delay gratification even more, but she also just did some relatively complex math. In her head!

She continually defied the image of a several-month old with that type of thinking.

I entered the store, the floral scents hitting me as a dizzying array of colors were presented. Agapanthus were next to daisies, the lilies were next to the violets, the roses paired with the honeysuckles and so many more!

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrrpt." Auri chirped in awe. This was going to be ALL HERS.

A quick negotiation later, and an emphatic denial of burning the flowers inside the shop, and a secondary negotiation for the shop employees to deliver most of the flowers to my home, and we were off.

I naturally kept a bunch for myself, or rather, Auri. I stepped outside, holding six bundles of flowers.

"One at a time, or-"

I didn’t even get my question out before Auri turned my world into an Inferno.

RIP my latest haircut. It had lasted a record 18 hours.

In no time at all, Commander Ajax and I found ourselves at the doors to the Senate’s main meeting chamber. I’d snuck by Albina’s right before the meeting, after handing Auri off to Plato, and I looked properly presentable.

"Announcing Commander Ajax and Sentinel Dawn to meet Imperator Augustus!" One of the Praetorian guards yelled, as the doors opened.

I took a breath, and stepped forward into the room.

Chapter 19
Emperor Augustus

Commander Ajax and I stepped into the great Senate debate room. A wide open central floor had low marble seating arranged around it, and the tall ceiling being held up by stone pillars gave enough air and light for the room to be bright and sunny.

The Senate wasn’t currently in session, but a few men in poofy, impractical togas were quietly discussing in groups in various parts of the room. A few of them looked towards us with a variety of expressions, our entrance being the newest, most interesting thing that was going on. Well-dressed servants in the cleanest, neatest tunics were gracefully moving throughout, carrying mugs of delicate wine and tasty finger foods on trays. Guards were on every entrance, and a few more circled the room, looking bored in their fancy ceremonial armor.

The emperor himself was sitting on a low, backless chair in the center of the Senate floor. In some ways, he was the lowest person in the room, but his sheer presence made it impossible to miss him. Without a word, the entire room revolved around him.

He wore a purple tunic, with golden threads for the stitching. A crown of gilded oak leaves formed a laurel that he casually wore on his salt-and-pepper hair. A powerful build spoke to the soldier and general he’d been.

"Ah! Commander Ajax! Sentinel Dawn! Welcome, welcome." He gestured us over, and we approached.

When I’d met then-general Augustus on the front lines initially, he’d given off a tightly-wound impression. Focused. Determined.

There was still much of that there, but he seemed more relaxed. Easy-going. While I had no desire to be [Empress], my job as Sentinel showed that life got kinda easy at the top. Especially when I had lots of money to throw at problems.

Then again, there were stresses…

"Ajax! My old friend, did I hear right? You’ve gotten another grandson?" Emperor Augustus got up from his chair, opening his arms as if to hug Ajax. The two of them thumped each other on the back.

"I did! Two weeks ago, my son welcomed another member of the family. Named him Aulus!"

"Aulus! That’s fantastic. May Aion bless him with long life!"

"Here’s hoping!"

Ajax could’ve told me he was friends with the blasted emperor before we got here!

"Sentinel Dawn! It’s so nice to see you again! Why, it feels like just yesterday you were standing in my tent, getting loaded up with Arcanite. Then in the blink of an eye, Sentinel! One of the youngest in history, and the first woman! And look at your level. 512. We’re going to have to throw a Triumph for you, it’s scheduled for two weeks from now. I’ve gotten reports of your adventures, but that’s old hat. Tell me, how’s your brother Themis? Doing well with the guards?"

"Themis’s training is going well, yes!" I immediately found myself swept up by Augustus’s pace. Not wanting to be entirely outdone, I thought about it a moment, and recalled an old name.

"How’s your daughter, Cornelia? Still have that pink hair?"

The emperor didn’t seem fazed at all.

"Ha! Not anymore, thank goodness. She never mentioned knowing you, but she’s a social one alright. Got married a few months back! Wonderful lad."

One of the advisors made a little cough in the background, and the jovial look on the emperor’s face faded.

"Ah, down to business I suppose." He sat down on his chair. We weren’t offered one.

"This shimagu business. I’ve got the general report, but there’s nothing quite like getting the specifics directly from a scout, someone who was there in person."

He held out a hand, and one of the advisors standing around him immediately slapped a scroll into it. He unrolled it, and quickly scanned over it.

"You reported that it only took a few hundred points of mana to kill a shimagu. Is this unique to your personal skillset and class, or is this standard for healers?"

"Other healers are capable of getting to the same level with proper education, skills, and images, but the education required could take a few years."

I’d been prepared for questions about myself. Ajax and I had worked on it, and I was ready to answer his questions without revealing too much about my abilities.

"Excellent. The report seems to conflict with itself in a few places. In one section, you mention that the shimagu, or their hosts, don’t use skills. In another, they clearly are. With the ‘pillar attack’, ‘clouds of ash’, and a ‘canceler’. Can you clarify?"

"Yes. Predominantly, the shimagu and the hosts don’t seem to cooperate that much, or at the very least, trust between them is low. There were a number of shimagu with classes that suggested they were at least friendly with their host, however, class name alone isn’t a great determiner for interpersonal relationships. The three Classers named in the report were different. Incredibly high level, and working together. Given the average level of the typical shimagu citizen, compared to the levels of the Classers, and extrapolating slightly from Remus, I believe they were the shimagu elites. However, I don’t believe they were elites in the same way Sentinels are elites, simply… the best town guards there."

That got the people listening muttering, while Augustus simply looked thoughtful.

"Over level 600… as a city guard?"

"What does that mean for their true elites?"

"Could she have gotten the level wrong?"

"On a kill notification? Unlikely."

One hanging-on senator just couldn’t help himself, and sneered at me.

"What do you know about fighting, girl?"

I didn’t look, but Augustus slowly turned to look at the senator, making him the spotlight of everyone in the room.

"When you have a quarter of Sentinel Dawn’s combat experience, you may return to the Senate. Until then, you are dismissed."

"But-" The senator tried to protest, and Emperor Augustus jerked his head. Four of the Praetorian guards - dad wasn’t included, thank goodness - came over, and politely, but firmly, escorted him out.

Augustus leaned over to one of his advisors.

"Make sure he knows I’m serious about the combat experience. I don’t want to see him back in the senate, let alone voting, until he has it."

The advisor nodded, and briskly walked off.

Oookayyy. I was no politician, and my social knowledge could fill a thimble, but that looked like a master stroke to my eyes. Get on my good side - because yeah, I was pretty happy he ejected the dude - flex his authority as the emperor, probably get rid of a political rival - did an emperor even have those? - and there were probably a dozen more subtle nuances that I was totally missing.

"Right. Commander Ajax, I believe you have a request?"

"Yes. With the looming threat of the shimagu, would like to requisition a number of army healers to be assigned to the Rangers. While initially it’ll be more expensive, we believe the costs will be recouped within a decade, as fatalities decrease. This will allow us to be more selective at Ranger Academy, permitting smaller class sizes, better Rangers, and critically, preserving experienced Rangers."

Augustus held up his hand.

"Enough." He ordered, and Ajax shut up. "Proposal."

Ajax promptly handed over the scroll he’d prepared ahead of time to one of the advisors who shuffled forwards. I had no idea if him only letting Ajax briefly speak before requesting the proposal was good, or bad.

"Excellent. I should have an answer to you by the end of the week. Now, about the shimagu…"

Emperor Augustus had a lot of questions about them. Their cities. Defenses. Dinosaurs. Every bit of information he could possibly squeeze out of me, teasing out knowledge and details I didn’t even know I had. Questions on the Ranger’s capabilities, and how Ajax’s plan would interact with shimagu, were occasionally directed towards Ajax himself. All in all, a military-minded leader, which sent the occasional cold shivers down my spine.

I had thousands of years of history of how military dictatorships ended.

At last, his curiosity seemed to be sated.

"Thank you, Commander Ajax."

Commander Ajax knew when he’d been dismissed. He saluted, then crisply turned and… went to mingle with the rest of the senators.

Right. I knew him as Commander Ajax, and he’d been here in that capacity. Fundamentally, he was a senator though, one of the two assigned to Ranger Command, and this, not Ranger HQ, was his home turf.

Augustus studied me for a moment, then got up.

"Walk with me." Augustus’s tone brooked no doubt that I would follow his commands. I followed him, and a squad of guards fell in behind us. A subtle hand gesture from Augustus kept his advisors from following.

So much for a ‘private conversation.’ Yes, just me, the emperor, and a half-dozen of his closest guards.

"A little bird told me that you are capable of making a person young again." He stated as a fact.

I’d wonder how it leaked, but nah. It was probably Ranger Command. One of the senators. Sad to know that I couldn’t totally trust my bosses.

I was already in the deep. Might as well see what he wanted.

"Correct. It’s a bit hit or miss at the moment on how well it works. Could reverse someone by only a few years, could reverse them all the way back to childhood. You know how inaccurate low level skills can be. There’s also the issue that you’ll end up cursed, and there’s no telling what it’ll be."

"Interesting. I would like to see the skill for myself. Naturally, I would compensate you generously. A million rods, citizenship, and elevating your father to senator is my opening offer. I’d normally also offer a member of my family’s hand in marriage, but I understand that you lean more towards women."

Well. To say I was thrown off balance would be putting it lightly.

I wasn’t just going to roll over and say yes, especially as he mentioned that was his opening offer. At the same time, an outright refusal would be a terrible idea.

Neptune’s words about trading the skill for the otherwise unobtainable came back to me. Which gave me an idea. Hopefully a good idea.

I suspected I had some bargaining chips here. I had something Emperor Augustus wanted, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted from Emperor Augustus. So… he wanted to make a deal, and I could probably push him a bit on it.

"Your offer is most interesting. I’ve got a bit of a funny story from my childhood." I sort of sidetracked things, my thoughts racing as I tried to organize and collect them. "When I unlocked, my dad took me on a round through town. He had me meet with a dozen different people, all trying to show me how to get various skills."

"A most wise man." Augustus commented. "Every parent should strive to be as diligent, and to help their children reach their full potential."

"One of the skills he tried to get me was [Bartering], given the amount of negotiations and purchases he anticipated I’d need to make in life."

"A vital skill for the matriarch of any household."

"For all his efforts, I was entirely unable to unlock the skill. We must’ve spent six months on it, before he eventually gave up."

"That’s somewhat unusual." I thought I might be testing the dude’s patience, and I had a healthy amount of fear for the power he wielded. He could possibly try to end me and my family with a word. So unfair. I cut straight to the chase.

"All this to say. You have the advantage of me, knowing what skill I have. I’d like the chance to consult with my merchant friends, Sentinel Night, and a few others, and have them advise me on the best deal I can make. I hope you understand."

He gave me a rueful grin.

"Ah, you can’t blame me for trying. Of course, by all means, work out what you want, and come back to me. Thank you for your time, Dawn. I have a meeting with Senator Saturio now."

With that, he made a sharp turn down a hallway, and left me standing there in the halls of the senate.

Well shit.

Was it just me, or had the emperor handed me a blank fucking check?

Chapter 20
Sentinel Smackdown

Two days later, and I was still reeling from Emperor Augustus’s offer as I made my way to the daily meeting. The entire thing had kept me up at night, tossing and turning as I wrestled with the question, and the implications.

Fortunately, Auri was with Plato. She was so excited to learn! It was adorable. Hopefully personal tutoring wouldn’t wring the flashy phoenix’s desire to drink deep from the wellspring of knowledge.

Or… light the flames of learning? The analogies got weird when water was anathema.

Like. I’d fought monsters, humans, abominations. I’d only paused a moment when I saw a dragon, before boldly striding into her lair.

However, those had all been easy decisions in a sense. Eat, or be eaten. Kill, or be killed.

Slaughter the shimagu, or don’t.

Binary choices. Do, or do not.

Run away from home, or be trapped with Kerberos. I suppose that one had some nuance, but a benefit of having been a dumb teenager - I didn’t see all the other options.

Decision paralysis was my root problem. I had a blank check from the emperor, and I could write anything in it.

Just about.

A million rods would be practically impossible to spend in a single normal lifetime. Yet, I had the sense that it wasn’t even close to the start of what I could ask for. There were things that money couldn’t buy.

This was less true in Remus, where with enough money I could buy - my dad - a seat in the Senate, the governorship of a town, a get out of jail free card from the justice system, and more.

I could own a town.

I could own three towns.

I could make my own healing school, staffed with dozens of the brightest minds in the country. I could make Artemis’s school the place to be. I could own a dozen mango orchards.

I could own the mango industry. Flat-out buy a monopoly on mangos.

Sweetest of all - I could build the library. Convert an entire city block to the grandest library the world had ever seen. I wouldn’t have to work a day in my life, simply kick back in a chair, and just read. The world of my soul would become my reality. My every need would be tended to, a rounding error on my account employing dozens of people to make my life easy. I wouldn’t need to risk my life.

I -

I had too many options. I was completely overwhelmed, and that was just the cash offer. I didn’t have the slightest idea of what non-cash items I could negotiate for.

Like. Could I ask Remus to outlaw slavery?

I thought of myself as a principled person. I’d like to think that I was selfless, and self-sacrificing. I’d pushed myself constantly, going into plagues, warzones, the lair of a dragon, and more. All to help others, at great personal risk to myself.

But the sheer amount of money was making me pause. I could buy - assuming I didn’t utterly fuck the market doing so - 32 million loaves of bread. Had Remus even cooked that many in its entire history?!

That had serious pull. I didn’t think I could be bribed.

I still knew I was unbribable on my core principles. Heal others. Stick with my family - including the Sentinels. Follow my [Oath].

I disliked slavery. A large number of people in Remus - mostly slaves, if I was being honest - weren’t too thrilled with the institution either. Hence the frequent slave rebellions.

But obviously, I wasn’t entirely dead-set against it. I was no fanatic. I tolerated Kallisto and his family employing a few. Just about all of the Sentinels had several slaves on staff, and I was still friends with them. I didn’t break chains wherever I saw them. Hell, just three weeks ago or so I’d told a number of bandits to go turn themselves in, and sign themselves up for a few months of slavery!

All this to say - I had an idealist side, that hated slavery and wanted it to end, and a practical side, that recognized it was how Remus currently worked, and that by loudly declaiming it and freeing slaves everywhere, I’d shortly end up with my own head on a pike. I had to be smart about how I abolished slavery.

And I was being tempted. I’d get slavery ended, one way or another. It might be too big of an ask, and maybe I should go for something else. Wealth and power, which would jump-start my abolitionary dreams.

Needed to talk with someone about all this. Neptune, Ocean, and Night were my top picks. I’d wanted to see if I could do some thinking about this on my own first, before consulting them. Get a loose framework arranged.

There was also the matter of women’s rights, more practically, my rights. Augustus had offered to make me a citizen. Yaay. That still didn’t fix a dozen other issues that I had, which could be all solved with the stroke of a charcoal stick.

I could ask for the world, and -

Damnit.

I’d moved without thinking, and I was already at the Sentinel’s meeting room.

I shook my head, and refocused myself. I could ask Night for advice after the meeting.

I was in the middle of the pack. Senti-Null, Ocean, Night, and Hunting were already around. Slowly, Destruction, Bulwark, Nature, Mirage, and Maestrai shuffled in.

We waited quite some time, but Acquisition didn’t show.

"This is most unusual." Night narrowed his eyes. "Acquisition’s attendance record is flawless, and he has not even sent a runner to inform us that he would be unable to attend. Does anyone have pressing business?"

We shook our heads.

"Hunting. Destruction. Dawn. MMmmmm. Brawling would be ideal. Barring that. Ocean. Bulwark."

We paid rapt attention to Night.

"Investigate. Discreetly. Acquire the appropriate gems from the Quartermaster. Maestrai, inform Ranger Team 0 to stand by, and their assistance may be requested. Nature. Senti-Null. Mirage. The three of you are dismissed to your regular duties."

He paused a moment.

"Sentinels. Move out."

Welp, so much for the relaxing morning.

"I’ll take point." Hunting announced, and the four of us followed him out the door, through the halls of Ranger HQ.

"Do we have time to armor up?" I asked Hunting. He was in his full gear - practically lived in it - but Destruction, Ocean, Bulwark, and myself were all in more casual clothes.

"We don’t know what’s going on. If you’re able to quickly."

I grinned. It was always nice knowing something everyone else didn’t.

We rolled up to the Quartermaster's window.

"I need five sets of [Camouflage], [Muffle], and [Communication]." Hunting briskly ordered.

"And my set of armor." I added from around his arm.

Quartermaster took one look at five serious-looking Sentinels, and moved. No snarky comments. No remarks. In a heartbeat, we each had three gems, and the rest of the Sentinels were helping me strap on my armor in speed-mode.

Not my favorite way of getting dressed. Real awkward on so many levels.

The Quartermaster was busy listing off all the gems I had.

"[Gust], [Shocking Paralysis], [Brilliant Barrier], [Camouflage], [Muffle], [Cast Scream], [Hear Me Roar], [Tracks-Be-Gone], [Wall Buster], [Curse? What Curse?],..." He listed off all the gems I had, some old, some new. I didn’t quite have time for a full breakdown.

"Dawn. Destruction. Bulwark. Can you fly while [Camouflaged]?" Hunting asked. I shook my head.

"I haven’t tested it, but unlikely. My wings tend to passively kill illusions, and they’re not exactly subtle."

"I’m able to." Destruction replied. "Worse-case, I use a tiny slate in my sandals."

"I’d rather be on the ground." Bulwark answered. "Half of my skills relate to buildings."

Hunting grunted.

"Shame. Destruction, you’re on overwatch. Right, activate the gems."

We all activated the gems we’d been given, fading away into the walls. A minor, very expensive barrage occurred as we tossed the used gems back through the Quartermaster’s window, who roundly cursed us out.

"Likely nothing, but we’re Sentinels. No telling if something’s gone wrong, and if someone’s decided to take a swing at Acquisition." Hunting’s words came directly to my ears, although I hadn’t heard a thing. "Everyone to the roof."

I started moving that way, jostling into… someone. I didn’t know who, but I got practically bowled out of the way, slamming into the wall.

"Shit, Dawn, was that you?" Ocean asked.

"Yes. Thank you." My voice was dripping with sarcasm as I picked myself back up, and headed towards the roof with everyone else.

"Sorry."

"I love [Communication]." Destruction said.

"One of my crew has a similar skill when we’re building. Good stuff." Bulwark added in.

"What’s the range?"

"Couple of city blocks. In a gem? Might be smaller." Destruction said.

"What’s the plan?" Ocean asked.

"Rooftop our way to Acquisition’s place. I’ll poke around, then yell at you all when I’ve found him. Then we wake him up, yell at him for an hour for drinking too much, then let Night give him a pompous lecture about responsibility." Hunting’s tone was amused, but there was a tight undertone to it.

Nobody completely blew the meeting off. Ocean had even let a huge fish go to make it on time! Worse-case, we sent a runner.

And like. We were all crazy well paid. We almost all had extensive families, and barring that, we had servants - or slaves, as much as I hated to admit it - helping out.

"Bulwark? Directions?" Hunting asked.

"Depends on Dawn, and how far she can jump."

"Don’t I have more speed and strength than you?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I can glide on rocks between buildings."

I made it to the roof as Bulwark finished talking. I eyed the streets around us.

"I can probably make the jump across the three narrow roads around us, but not the main throughway." I said. "Strength’s a little low for that, although I’ve got plenty of speed."

"Right. I’m going to call out buildings. Let us know when you’ve landed." Bulwark said. "First, the Pompeii Building."

"I have no idea which one that is." Destruction said. "They all look the same from up here."

I was thankful Destruction had spoken up, because I had no idea either. Made me feel less bad.

Bulwark gave a long-suffering sigh.

"Brutes, the lot of you. No appreciation for the architecture that surrounds us. The one to the south, with the dome in the middle."

I ran and jumped, a terrified thrill running through me as I spun through the air, letting the wind blow over my face.

[Beloved of the Wind] was all too correct. I loved it, and it loved me back.

As I soared through the air, the rest of the Sentinels reported in.

"In." Hunting said.

"Landed." Ocean said.

"In." Bulwark said.

I landed, bending my knees.

"Here."

"I’m overhead." Destruction added in a half-heartbeat later.

"Right. Next roof is… the one with the statues." I could practically hear Bulwark’s frustration at our lack of appreciation for the finer things in life.

I could say the same about him and food.

We hopped around, having a fun moment with one of the inner layers of the city walls. We had to land on it, then run from where we landed to a completely different spot, dodging guards the entire way.

A few sensed the breeze we made as we passed, and one started to raise an alarm.

The Sentinel symbol popped into being in the stone in front of him, black stone on white walls making it all-too obvious. The guard went white, and while I would’ve liked to laugh as I passed him, [Muffle] was hiding our sound.

I did poke him as I passed by though, finding an exposed hole in his armor. Poor dude yelped and practically hit the roof, getting funny looks from everyone else.

"Ok, whoever did that, that was funny. I know this is just a quick check, but let’s leave it at that. No need to rile up the poor guards just doing their job." Destruction’s voice came to my ear.

"Guard with the white crest can see us." Hunting reported. "I doubt he’ll do anything, just keep it in mind."

Didn’t surprise me that some guards could see through the camouflage skill. It was exactly the sort of skill a burglar would have, and in almost every case, someone using the skill was up to no good.

Still. Getting an anti-camo skill was rare, and not something I expected to see outside of the guard.

A number of heavily-armed, high-level people working together?

The thought running through his head was probably along the lines of "don’t acknowledge the black ops, don’t acknowledge the black ops."

If nothing else, this milk run to Acquisition was good practice. We didn’t get nearly enough chances to stretch out legs like this, probably why Night had gone completely overkill and assigned five of us to check on Acquisition, when just Maestrai would be enough.

We hopped off the wall, and kept going.

After what seemed like a short time, we made it to the roof before Acquisition’s house. It was surprisingly bland, with a few palm trees swaying in the breeze around a modest home.

"Hold here." Hunting said.

There was something like a quick flicker of heat or something in the space between the home we were on, and Acquisition’s home.

"Anyone want to go fishing later on? Bulwark?" Ocean asked.

"Busy today. Finishing up some idiot’s apartment for his lover. He wanted plain pillars. Plain." Bulwark’s pain was clear. "Tomorrow afternoon? After sparring?"

"Yeah, sounds-"

"Silence." Hunting half-barked, half-hissed, not wanting to strain [Muffle] too hard while he was sneaking around Acquisition’s place.

We hung around for a few more minutes. I was getting increasingly nervous - an all-clear would take a few seconds. The lack of anything from Hunting was disturbing.

I started to limber up, doing some stretches, and imagining [Kaleidoscope] flight paths and patterns.

"Right, issue. Someone - Acquisition mentioned who but I have no idea who these chucklefucks are - grabbed Acquisition’s kids, and are ransoming them. Yada yada, don’t go to the Sentinels or Rangers, yada yada, meet at… some place that’s all thieves' talk. Not that I’d trust that, I’d just track Acquisition directly. Stay on the roof, I’ll be right over." Hunting said.

Aww fuck. And the day had started off so well.

"Dawn. North corner. Ocean. West corner. Hunting. East corner." Destruction’s voice came into my ear. "Dropping a rock on each spot. Keep your hand on it, I’ll use it to give you all a boost if we need to cross a wide road."

"Good call, but forget my rock." Hunting grunted. "Dawn, do you mind giving up your Deception Ring for this? Acquisition took to the streets, and either people would run into me all day, or they’re going to get spooked when they see a level 514 Classer coming for them. They have to know they’re aiming for a Sentinel, they have to be prepared. Acquisition further knew we’d be coming after him, he left enough clues."

"Sure. North corner, taking it off now." I picked up the rock, about the size of my fist, and put my Deception Ring down after making it visible. I stepped back, and a moment later the ring vanished.

A minute later Hunting reappeared, looking like a level 160 [Warrior]. An off-duty guard, perhaps.

"Get rid of your beard." Ocean was entirely serious. "Your blue beard is literally your name Bluebeard, and they’re watching for Sentinels."

I didn’t know Hunting had such a verbose selection of curses, but his chin suddenly saw the light of day at long last.

"Follow me." Hunting was pissed.

We followed Hunting, traveling through the city until we got to the slums.

Acquisition was one of the more interesting Sentinels. He was the only one who hadn’t been a Ranger. Either the "Deception", "Thief", "Rogue", or some other Sentinel seat - I wasn’t sure which - was considered critical, and when no Rangers met the criteria, the Sentinels had recruited Acquisition from the more interesting parts of the population. Even when I had been a new Sentinel, I was a better combatant than Acquisition, but there was nothing he couldn’t get his hands on - and by extension, there was nothing the Sentinels couldn’t get if we really needed to. He was also our connection to the seedier side of Remus, a sort of [King of the Thieves] or something.

Exactly what he did I couldn’t say, but he probably couldn’t tell me how many bones were in an arm. Fair was fair.

Still meant he had significantly more contact with the criminals and gangs in Remus, and could apply pressure in the right places when someone stepped too far out of line. Like when they’d gotten into the game of "steal Sentinel badges".

Well, part of that life had caught up with him.

"Fuck." I cursed as I saw an issue.

"Problem?" Ocean said. I just knew we’d all stopped. Advantage to all being trained the same.

"Yeah. Dude with no legs down there."

"Leave him." Hunting said.

"I can’t. Oathbound. Heal him now, invisibly, and carry on, or hang back?"

"Your call." Ocean said. "You’re Dawn."

"Hunting, how close?"

"We can’t be that far, but I can’t break cover." Hunting was admiring some beggar’s wares, artificially interested in some rusty armor. The ex-soldier shouldn’t have that, but we frankly didn’t care about some old army gear going wandering.

"Right. The rest of you go ahead. I’ll wait a moment, hit the heal, then sprint to catch up. Hopefully we’ll get there."

"Do it." Hunting ordered, and was off again.

I waited about ten seconds - long enough for the rest of the team to get some distance, but not so long that I’d get lost trying to catch up - then blasted a long-range heal, and I was off.

I was two rooftops away when a disbelieving shout of joy reached my ears, and I smiled.

"This is the building. Dawn?" Hunting said.

"Almost there."

"Right. Destruction, far side. Ocean. Right side. Bulwark. Left side. Destruction. From the top. Dawn, second floor, front side. Everyone drop [Camouflage] the moment you get in, I don’t want friendly fire. On my mark."

Hunting was approaching another multi-storied building, the landlords in this part of town built tall to cram more people in the same plot of land. This building, however, was likely the safehouse of some criminal gang or another. They usually didn’t land on our radar, being a problem for the guard, or rarely, Ranger Team 0.

There was a pair of mean-looking [Thugs] openly guarding the door with clubs in their hand, giving Hunting a glare as he walked along the street. They weren’t worried about him though - just showing off how tough they were.

Everyone else on the street also got mean looks, but most gave the building a wide berth.

"Go." Hunting ordered, and the world exploded in motion.

I snapped my wings open as I launched myself across the street, aiming for an open window on the second floor. Hunting’s fists blurred as he punched both of the [Thugs], large voids appearing in their body as his fists connected, and his skills annihilated part of their bodies. They dropped dead, as a stone spear and sword came screaming from the sky. Hunting grabbed them out of the air, Destruction helpfully arming his fellow Sentinel.

Then I was through, blasting bright Radiance all around me as I exploded through the window, aiming to disorient and confuse.

Four [Gangsters] were in the room, roaring with pain. Three of them were reaching for weapons.

I killed the three with a burst of Radiance lancing through their heads as Destruction’s voice came into my ears.

"Roof clear, six down."

"Down." I ordered the last one, cursing my [Oath]. He was sitting there stunned, and wasn’t a threat. I couldn’t harm him.

I didn’t wait to see what he’d do, instead going through the door into the hall.

"Second floor, one room, not cleared. Three dead, one terrified." I reported, as the rest of the Sentinels reported various successes.

A few criminals were storming through the hallway, weapons in hand. The leader paled as he saw me.

Full Sentinel gear?

Level 512?

He met his maker a heartbeat after he realized just how badly he’d fucked up, along with the rest of them.

We exploded through the building. Eight seconds after Hunting gave the go-ahead, Ocean spoke.

"Acquisition and his kids secured. Dawn, third floor, first door after the stairs."

I came to a screeching halt, pivoting on my heels and sprinted back towards a staircase I’d just passed. I could think of exactly two things that’d get Ocean calling for me over anyone else.

"Everyone else, keep clearing." Hunting ordered.

As I flashed up the stairs, I briefly got to see Destruction at work further down on the floor. He had a storm of stones whirling around him at high speeds, creating a blender that anyone would need to go through to reach him. He was firing shotgun blasts of sharp stone at anyone he saw, the barrage of rocks shredding through all opposition.

I shuddered.

He was Destruction. His signature move was an earthquake, but his stats were heavily regeneration focused. While he didn’t have as much power as a pure mage his level did - I might have more, thinking about it - he could endlessly fire off those shots. A strong build, worthy of the ridiculous title he had.

I blew through the open door, immediately seeing the problem. They’d stabbed Acquisition’s kid - well, one of the two - at the last moment, when they realized it’d all gone to shit.

But not very effectively. They slit her throat, and it took time to bleed out. Time enough for me to fly up, over Acquisition who was shielding his kid, hands futility around her throat. Blood was welling up between his fingers, crimson life fluid gushing out from her neck, denying Acquisition’s attempt at stopping the bleeding. A wicked serrated knife was next to him, but I was fast. I had time. Time to reach past him and touch her, time to seal her throat.

Black Crow would not be carrying off this small life today.

Acquisition looked up, grateful tears pouring down his face.

"Building clear." Hunting announced.

Eleven seconds after the go order.

Chapter 21
Injustice II

There was more than a bit of fallout from Acquisition getting blackmailed. We all escorted Acquisition back home, then Bulwark hung around Acquisition’s place while the rest of us headed back to Ranger HQ. Hunting gave me my ring back.

After hearing a quick after-action report, Night sent a few Sentinels and Ranger Team 0 to perform some "cleanup" duty, primarily directed by Acquisition.

He knew the gang that went after him. His plan had been: cooperate for the moment, get his kids safe, then either rob them blind - including the entirety of the ransom they’d been asking for - or ask the Sentinels to help him. Either way, his priority had been getting his kids out of harm’s way first.

Fortunately, I wasn’t asked to join. Given what was going on, I think Night knew that I’d be mostly useless, and me standing around grumping at the other Sentinels for what they were doing wouldn’t be great for morale. Or a dozen other things.

[Oath] getting me out of work! Huzzah!

The rest of the day passed in a blur. I was quiet and reserved when hanging out with Autumn, and she noticed.

"Hey, hey, what’s wrong?" She poked at me.

"Killed a half dozen people earlier today." I grumped back. It was still on my mind, how easily, how casually I’d been able to kill them. A single thought, with almost no effort, and they’d dropped dead. Would I one day kill someone with an idle thought? A moment of uncontained rage? An intrusive thought?

All in all, it didn’t have me in a great frame of mind, which brought me back to the emperor’s offer.

I could retire. I’d never need to work again - well, except maybe for selling the occasional rejuvenation every 400 years or so - and be done with this.

Frankly though, I knew that I wouldn’t stop, I’d just take on different flavors. Plus, I could heal people and-

I was in a bad state of mind, my thoughts endlessly swirling around. Autumn picked it up, and fortunately left me alone.

One other place my thinking wouldn’t let me be was the man I’d healed.

I wasn’t doing any good here. Autumn knew her stuff decently well, and didn’t have any urgent, burning questions. Sure, she still needed to learn a ton more stuff, but she wasn’t having any questions that needed addressing. Auri was well in hand with Plato, and I was just running myself ragged, thinking in circles and casting a dark cloud over everyone nearby.

I swear Neptune was getting less business, as nobody wanted to get near the very high level, very pissed off Sentinel.

I might as well stretch my legs, and do some good.

"Sorry. Having a bad day. I’m going to take a walk, clear my head." I told Autumn and Neptune.

"Get better, you’re a huge grump right now." Autumn frankly told me.

I weakly chuckled, and left.

It was somewhat known that I had a stall in the marketplace, and generally provided free healing to people. Heck, there had even been a service to help people get to me at one point!

Well, word hadn’t quite fully spread yet that I was back, and I’d be deluding myself if I thought everyone would know about me. I generally didn’t head over to the slums, but it seemed like I could do some good, even if it was just walking around with [Dance with the Heavens] on full area of effect-blast.

I double-checked that my Deception Ring had me showing at 512. It was a balancing act - did I show up in my full gear, showing my level and status? If I did, people would run, assuming that I had business there, and frankly, most of the time that the powers that be - which I was a part of - came down to the slums, it meant problems for the people living there. It was like a natural disaster, and they wisely kept their head down and out of the way.

On the other hand, if I didn’t, if I set myself to be level 170 and put on a normal tunic, I’d be inviting harassment from practically everyone. A short, pretty woman with a "defenseless" class and a modest level?

Problems by the dozens.

I was in a bad mood. I elected to give myself fewer problems for the day. Most of the people who’d see me and turn around would already be in my healing range, so it was mostly not a problem.

I made my way to the slums, and started walking through them, healing on blast. As I predicted, most people took one look at the stormy-faced Sentinel stalking through the area, and found that they had forgotten an urgent appointment somewhere else.

Bah.

"Ah! Miss! Excuse me, your eyes are most radiant! They sparkle, so much brighter and clearer than the stars in the sky! Just like these gems. My father tragically passed away, leaving me with them, and I was hoping you could take them off my hands, for just a few coins to help me feed myself and my seven children. Their mother has tragically passed away, and-"

Of course, there were a few scam artists who saw a wealthy mark. I glanced down at what the man was offering.

"If you keep bothering me, I’ll start to care enough to tell the guard that you’re trying to pass colored glass as gemstones." I told him in a cold tone.

He vanished, and I slapped an invisible hand tugging on my pouch. My heightened vitality helped me feel the delicate vibrations.

I blasted Radiance around me, lighting up like the sun, but keeping it entirely non-lethal. The Mirage got stripped away, and a skinny teenage girl looked at me, frozen and utterly terrified.

I sighed, forcing myself to remember what my options as a teenager had been. The risks I’d been willing to take.

Marriage, or trying to survive on the streets as a [Pickpocket]? Thievery, or slavery to a brothel? Easy choices. Wasn’t going to condemn her for making the same choices I had, that I would’ve, just because she was earlier on her journey than I was. I didn’t want to pull the ladder up behind me.

"Normally I’d say shoo." I idly told the girl, who went even paler and started to sway on her feet. "But instead, I’m going to say shoo, and ask you to tell your friends to not bother me. Unless they’re sick. Free healing. Any problem you’ve got? Just get close to me in the light, and it’ll be fixed."

She muttered something unhappy under her breath. Something, something, evil Ranger-guards, something. I rolled my eyes.

"I’m blasting a healing skill. Anyone gets near me, they get healed. That’s it. Now leave my coin purse alone."

She scrambled, and I continued walking through the slums, taking no particular path. Letting my feet wander where they would.

I did end up in a loop a few times, having to deliberately go down super sketchy paths to find my way into new spots. I did buy random nonsense from a few vendors either brave enough to keep their shop open, or more likely, who had enough things that they couldn’t easily pack their shop up as I approached.

It was a bit sad to think about, that I was so feared down here that people tried to get out when they saw me.

I did see a number of kids - I used the term loosely, given that some were older than I was - pop in and out around corners, slowly getting bold enough to approach, only to run back the moment [Wheel of Sun and Moon] touched them.

I was doing some good at least. Atoning, in a sense, for the lives I took earlier in the day by bringing new life to others.

I didn’t have any metrics. No numbers on "kill one person, heal three and I’m fine." Just a lessening of the frustration with the sheer stupidity and waste of life.

One constant background buzz in the slums was the same as it was in the marketplace, as in the fancy part of town where I lived. Men, who believed they were Almorae’s gift to women, shamelessly catcalling anyone they saw. Remus unfortunately reinforced that somewhat, like that jackass back in Port Salona.

Nobody tried to get too handsy or pushy with me, but I knew I was lucky. I let them fade into the background, their calls darkening my already black mood.

The slums were the bad part of town. Guard patrols were rare - I only saw three in the hours I spent. I broke up a mugging. I watched with a heavy heart, bile rising in my throat, as a leering man grabbed the hand of a young prostitute, her eyes already looking like a dead fish’s.

Legal. Disgustingly legal, and if I stepped in, then what? What changed? What would be different? How could I make it better?

I was feeling sick to my stomach as I noticed a wanna-be thug trying to smash a vendor’s stall.

That, at least, I could fix.

Going to the slums had been a mistake, if I thought I was going to feel any better. My only consolation was the sheer number of people I healed up. That I fixed. Push and pull.

I might not be able to fix all of society’s woes, but I could fix the physical problems people had. One at a time.

[*ding!* [Celestial Affinity] has leveled up! 472 -> 473]

The sun was starting to get lower, and I did have a number of obligations weighing on me. The walk had been good for clearing my head, if nothing else, and I’d been able to meditate on the actions from earlier in the day.

I started to head home, electing to walk. One last sweep through.

Physical stats multiplied everything. Strength was the most obvious one, and speed was right behind it in terms of "well, DUH, it makes people faster."

Vitality was subtle. Tougher. Healthier. Harder for magic to impact. Better reflexes. Sturdier, younger, helped with illness and disease. Subtly one of the best stats.

Included in it?

Better perception.

I was sitting on over 14,000 points of vitality, which was monstrous by Remus terms. The elves calling me "fragile and delicate" still stung a bit. Either way, among other things, my hearing was greatly improved. Which let me eavesdrop on too many private conversations, and overhear private going-ons in houses.

I generally tuned it all out. I would hate it if someone was spying on me, I didn’t want to spy on others. I did vaguely keep a half-ear out instead of entirely ignoring the rest of the world, because I never knew when danger was around the corner.

Which let me hear the sickening thuds of fists meeting flesh, and the associated screaming.

Pausing just a moment to pinpoint exactly where the commotion was coming from, I snapped my wings open and flew over to the apartment.

The slumlord had elected for no windows at all, and I didn’t want to think of just how hot it had to be in the summer, especially with a cooking fire. I briefly debated burning through the stone, but no. My odds of hitting someone on the other side were too high.

Instead, I flew in through the main door, and blasted my way through the halls, using [Mantle] to politely but firmly make sure that people who’d pressed themselves against the halls to get out of my way stayed out of my way.

They didn’t even have time to see I was a Sentinel - just a heavily armored warrior soaring through the building. Bad news all around.

In no time at all I burst through the main door to the apartment, and took in the entire scene at a glance.

The apartments in this part of town sucked. A single room, a large… I hesitated to call it a bed in one corner, a charred pile in another, a few meager possessions strewn about.

In a third corner a woman cowered, shielding her two young kids. Her left arm dangled in a way that told me it was broken, her lip was split and bleeding, and she had a black eye, before the numerous bruises in all stages of healing were scattered over her malnourished body.

The kids were in only slightly better shape. She’d been shielding them with her body.

And of course, there was the patriarch of the family, who I’d interrupted mid-swing. A level 150 [Laborer].

"Stop!" I ordered as I threw up a [Mantle of the Stars].

"Bitch, what did you say?" The man spat, slowly turning to look at me.

"I said, stop." I strode over, kneeling down to touch the woman and her kids, to heal them back up. To my disgust I saw that the man’s knuckles were split, and I’d never hated my [Oath] more than I did in that moment.

I’d have to heal him as well, unless he explicitly rejected my healing.

"No, please don’t." The woman begged at… me? "It’s ok, it’s my fault, I deserve it."

"Yeah, you hear that? Bugger off. Get out of my home." The man sneered at me, smashing a fist against [Mantle]. It held. He didn’t have nearly enough strength to break it, or even tax my mana. The two kids looked up at me, terrified. Looking for any measure of reassurance.

"It’s ok." I whispered to them. It wasn’t ok. Not by a long shot. I gently reached out, and healed the three of them. The youngest started to sniffle, then looked at her dad and bit her lips.

My heart broke. No two year old should be that afraid of their dad.

"Please just leave, he’ll get angry and just beat me more. He loves me, he doesn’t mean it, he just had a bad day then dinner was cold. It was all my fault, it’s ok." The woman wailed.

"I can take you away from here." I spoke softly to her, like a wounded animal. She furiously shook her head.

"No, what would I do? What options would I have? How would we live? I don’t want to be a slave. I don’t want Claudia and Secondus to be slaves. He loves me, please just leave us alone." She begged as she tightly hugged her two kids.

"Are you sure? I’ve got a place for you. You’ll be safe. Ok." I kept the pain out of my voice, keeping it soft.

She nodded furiously.

"He loves me." She repeated, like a mantra.

I noticed Dickless punching the [Mantle] again. Be so easy to arrest him for trying to attack a Sentinel.

My mind raced as I processed my options, all of them utter shit.

The first option was the brutal one. I dropped [Mantle]. Jackass took a swing.

I killed him. Easy, simple, defense of a patient.

Then… what? She was in no better of a spot. She was just barely avoiding slavery, her and her entire family. Her kids lose their dad. She’d get sold off into slavery before the week was out. Most likely she’d get separated from her kids.

Her kids would get forced onto the streets, or into slavery themselves. They looked to be two and four.

No two year old was going to survive the streets. A four year old would be lucky to be sold into slavery, but it was possible.

The add-on to that was I ‘adopted’ them, in a sense. Had them live with me, work for me, save them like I saved Themis. It was just a drop in the bucket.

Would she want to live with the woman who’d murdered her husband? Would her kids tolerate being with the person who killed their dad in front of them?

The middle option didn’t exist. The patriarch of the family had complete control, up to life and death, over their family. There was no calling the guard to arrest this… subhuman filth. What he was doing?

Entirely legal. It was Octavia all over again.

And his neighbors could undoubtedly hear what was going on, and just… didn’t care. Or if they did, they weren’t stepping in to stop it.

The last option was to walk away. Before his fragile ego got trampled on any more. Before his rage could build further. I knew what his outlet would be. There was no question what happened after I left.

No, I could… modify the last option. Just a bit. In two small ways.

The first was to make the mockery of a human come with me. Take him on a long, LONG walk, then get a pair of guards to get him to walk even further. Tire him out, such that by the time he got back home, he was hopefully too exhausted to take things out on his wife, and he’d just go to sleep.

Fuck. It was such a stretch, I barely believed it myself. It only kicked the can down the road, and what if he was about to go to work? What if they needed every coin? They already looked like they were on the brink of starvation, what if that just tipped things over?

Fuck it. I’d leave a few dozen coins, that should make up for it. Or maybe I could just pay him to go for a walk.

The second part?

Screw everything. Screw the nice library, screw the mango orchards, screw a life of ease and luxury. Fuck the long-term plans. Forget about doing things the slow, safe, steady way. Not after the day I’d had.

One last option came to me. I continued to kneel next to her.

"Hey." I called, and her eyes slowly dragged away from her husband, back to me.

"I can take your kids. Keep them safe. Adopt them into my family." I softly cajoled her, damning myself as I did.

Gods, the options I was giving her.

‘Give up your kids.’

‘Let them get beaten when you’re too broken to protect them.’

Disgust welled up inside of me, starting to override my good sense.

She looked at me, really saw me. Looked back at her kids. They were fixed, healed, but I couldn’t do anything about their protruding ribs. Their torn, blood-stained shirts.

"Ok." She practically whispered at me, starting to sob as she did. "Ok."

I tossed my pouch of coins in the man’s direction, feeling sick with myself. I felt like a slaver, although I considered myself anything but.

Plus, the coins weren’t for them.

"42 coins to just take a long walk." I said, knowing it could easily be a week’s wages. His eyes moved between me, his wife, his kids, and the coins, scattered carelessly around the room.

He knelt and scrabbled for them, like I’d make them disappear.

I grabbed one kid in each arm, looking at their mom. Searing her face into my memory.

Letting the goodbye linger for a moment.

There was a chance it’d be the kids - Secondus and Claudia’s - last meeting, last memory, of their mother who loved them so very much. Who was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for them.

"Sentinel Dawn." I choked out, my emotions washing over me, starting to cloud my normally good judgment. "Find me when you change your mind."

She got some energy and rushed over, kissing her children.

"Goodbye Secondus. Goodbye my sweet Claudia."

"Bye-bye." The youngest one - Claudia - said, waving her little hand.

Secondus teared up, and after two aborted tries, choked out. "Goodbye mom."

Then I left, crying around a lump in my throat as the man continued to collect fallen coins.

It was time for me to have a long talk with Emperor Augustus.

Chapter 22
Negotiation Night I

I flew off towards the senate building, anger clouding my thoughts. Pushing me towards making a suboptimal decision.

What I should do is sit down with Ocean, Night, Neptune, Artemis, and a dozen other people whose advice and counsel I trusted. Hammer out a plan, figure out the best levers to push and pull with. Get the optimal plan of attack, figure out other things I could offer to sweeten the deal. Try to work out the emperor’s bottom line, and wring every last concession out of him.

That was the calm, rational part of me, who was not currently in control. That wasn’t carrying two kids, practically babies.

I’d lived in Remus for practically two decades. I’d been putting up with this second-class citizen nonsense the entire time. Practically since the day I first left my house, I’d gotten smacked in the face by it.

Again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

I was so tired of it all, and so angry. I finally had a chance to do something about it, and the tight lid I kept on all that anger was loose, and my rage was bubbling over.

No more. No weeks of discussion. No endless meetings to work out details. No intelligence reports dug up by Ocean. No stacks of scrolls about each senator, and what they liked and disliked, and how receptive they’d be to the proposal. No coalition building.

What difference would it make? The only thing I could think of was figuring out the emperor’s bottom line, and exactly how much we could wring out of him. If I just went directly, now, I might end up paying a little more than I intended to. I might not get every last possible concession, I might not be able to get every coin possible. I might leave some things on the table.

Things that I could always come back later to sort out. Not only was Emperor Augustus not the only game in town, but he’d need me again in, oh, 250 years or so.

It’d be a little scary if he remained emperor the entire time though… maybe it’d be better to work with his heir? Although…

I shook my head. I was getting into politics, and I desperately wanted to avoid the type of treacherous, complicated politics that I was currently thinking over.

At the same time, I’d been trained as a Ranger. Whenever possible, we tried to have a plan of attack for a problem. I did have something of a plan. Go to Augustus, meet with him, make my pitch, see what he said. If he said yes, great. If he said no, I’d try again another day, from another angle.

I’d listened to enough boring stories from dad about how the Senate worked to think my plan was vaguely normal. Meet, chat, pitch, then walk away and talk again later.

Seemed like a solid plan. A bit flimsy, but how much more could it need?

It only took about ten minutes at my flying speed to get from the slums to the senate. Not nearly enough time to cool off, but flying?

Ah, flying in the warm setting sun was the best. A warm breeze, beautiful clouds, it was enough for me to regain a bit of control over myself. The kids were quiet, seemingly enjoying the novelty. The shock of the last few minutes, their lives being turned upside down, hadn’t hit them yet.

I made myself a promise. If it looked like things were going terribly. If it looked like Augustus wouldn’t agree to what I was asking for. I’d apologize, walk away, and talk with everyone under the sun and moons to get a better plan of action, then try again. It’d be my way or the highway.

I quickly dropped the two kids off at home. Mom was around. I only stopped briefly.

"Claudia and Secondus." I quickly named them, and bless mom, she seemed to grasp what was going on in an instant. Me showing up in tears with two kids, also in tears?

Mom had a huge heart.

"Of course." She said. "Let’s have dinner? Autumn swung by! It would be nice to eat all together."

I shook my head, then paused a moment.

"I can’t stay for dinner, but I do want to talk with Autumn."

A few moments later, Autumn and I were in a room.

"Hey, you looked pretty mad this morning. I brought you some mangos to cheer you up!" Autumn gestured to her offering, and a small smile cracked through my foul mood.

"Ah, thanks. Hey, I’ve got a negotiation I need to head to. Wanna come?"

"Sure!" Autumn was practically jumping up and down with excitement. "Where? And what? Give me the details."

I hesitated a moment, then mentally berated myself. She needed to know.

I’d had the question for ages. How did I make large-scale changes to society?

The answer was - I couldn’t. Not alone. I needed the support of thousands, tens of thousands of people, all on the same page. All working towards the same goal, in the same place. A strong network of communication and support, along with hundreds of other things that I frankly had no idea about because my social skills were terrible. I actively worked on them, but something of the scale I was thinking about?

Entirely out of my hands.

Now, I could try to hire people to help out, but there was a difference between a true believer, and someone trying to make a living. There was also the issue of time, and resistance to the question.

I had a shortcut though. Emperor Augustus had everything needed to make large, sweeping changes.

"Trading my Immortality skills to the emperor, in exchange for an abolition of slavery and equal rights for women."

Autumn’s eyes were practically bulging out of her head by the end of it, and she was shaking her head.

"No. No no no nope. I’m not going to that. Just telling you ‘no’ got me four levels. Like, yeah, I’d negotiate better than you. A wet noodle would negotiate better than you. But if I come along, there’s no WAY it’s not taken as a huge insult, and that hurts you waaaaaaaaay more than it can help you."

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

I hated to say it, but Autumn knew so much more than me about this stuff. If she said it was a bad idea? It was probably a bad idea.

It’d be like Kallisto arguing with me about medicine. I knew my stuff by the time I was 16, I had to trust that Autumn knew the same.

"Plus, this is more politics than merchanting. I’d be out of my depths, and I know it." Autumn firmly added in.

"Right. Give me all the advice you can anyways." I asked her.

Autumn gave me a look.

Blasted teenagers.

"Give me the most useful advice you can."

"Rule 8. Everything is give and take." Autumn promptly rattled off. "Rule 5. Never accept the first offer. Rule 7. Haggling increases profits, but if you haggle too long, you can cause the entire deal to fall through."

She thought a bit more.

"There are some political rules, but mostly the rules are about money. You’re basically bartering, with high stakes. I’d say remember Rule 3 - not everything can be bought with money - but you’re already there. At the same time, Rule 3 also says that not everything is for sale. If something’s impossible? Don’t push it, back off, and consider if you need a concession for backing off." Autumn said. "But sometimes, it’s better not to ask for a concession if you asked for something really impossible, it makes you look unreasonable."

That made a tortured sort of sense. I made mental notes.

"Any last words of wisdom?"

Autumn looked thoughtful.

"Rule 21. The longer the negotiations, the worse it’ll be." She finally settled on. "That rule’s from the merchant’s point of view though. I’m not sure if you’re a customer, a merchant, or what. Like, politics, not sales, so hard to say if it applies. If it’s going terribly, just walk away for another day. But only if it’s a disaster."

"Alright, thanks beanpole!" I grinned, feeling fortified.

"No worries! This means you’ll be letting me sell your Immortality, right?"

"Sure. Find me someone with a million rods, and we’ll talk."

Autumn went pale, and staggered back. She tried to sit down, and missed the low sofa entirely, landing hard on her butt.

"A million rods." She whispered, getting a far-off look in her eyes.

Well, shoot. I broke my apprentice.

Ah well, she’d recover… eventually. I didn’t know what the proper treatment for ‘severe overwhelming greed’ was, but I figured time would fix it.

I’d check in later.

I left, going through the house.

"Dinner?" Mom asked, and I shook my head.

"Meeting." I said, intending to take off.

"BRRRRRRPT!" A familiar shriek interrupted my leaving. I considered just going anyways, but no.

That’d be too mean to poor Auri, who didn’t deserve it. Plus, I was in desperate need of some Auri-therapy.

"Auri! How’s it going!"

"Brrrrpt! BRRRRPT! Brrrrrrpt…" Auri wailed at me, letting me know how HARSH Plato was. She needed to THINK! He made her fix her mistakes! It was silly! She didn’t need to know multiplication! What was with this philosophy thing!? It was soooo boring! She could be burning things!

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

"Young lady. Our lessons are not yet over." Plato’s voice came from a few rooms down.

"It’s good for you."

"BRRRPT!"

"Listen, I’ll let you a secret."

"Brrppt……."

"The more you know, the better skills you get."

"Brrrpt?"

"Which means you get to burn bigger, better, and more."

"BRRPT!?"

"YEAH! I promise! It’s how my skills are so good! Here, have a drink." I grabbed one of the now omni-present amphoras of fruit juice, and offered it to Auri, who greedily drank.

"BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPT!"

With a fierce warcry, a motivated Auri blitzed back to where Plato was.

I grinned. That was just what my poor head needed to clear somewhat. I left the house, blasting back off into the sky.

Augustus wanted [The Stars Never Fade]. He would probably be ok with a bit of back-and-forth. I was also meeting him with a counter-offer soon after, so it wasn’t like I’d let him cool his heels for ages.

I was nowhere near as calm and composed as I could be, in spite of the Auri-therapy, but I had reined in my anger enough that I didn’t barge in through the Senate windows, screaming demands. Instead, my rational side harnessed my anger, and like a particularly showy [Gladiator] throwing around red flags to distract and redirect an enraged dinosaur, it was simply redirecting me towards courses of action more likely to succeed.

The guards saluted as I landed and approached the doors. Being a recognized Sentinel, being a member of the established government, had its perks and privileges.

But I only had those perks and privileges. I didn’t have-

I mentally slapped myself to focus.

Unfortunately, inside the halls of the Senate, everyone thought they were demigods, and that all hallways should be cleared for them. Somehow made the traffic even worse than a normal street, in spite of having half the people.

I felt a minor flush of embarrassment, as I realized slowing down might’ve saved me from an incredibly embarrassing situation.

It was late. The sun was setting.

What if Augustus wasn’t there? Barging in would’ve gone terribly.

I didn’t let that slow my stride as I twisted and weaved through the hallways, ignoring one [Scribe] who mistook me for a guard and tried to get me to run an errand for him.

I suppose if I didn’t like the direction the negotiations were going, that I could use the late hour as an excuse to bail. I added it to my plan.

I did pause for a moment at the doors of the Senate proper though, a full squad of Praetorian guards protecting the entrance.

Regardless of our level differences, regardless of my Sentinel status, if I tried to barge straight in they’d do what they could to stop me. It’d be a hopeless fight, but there was no need. Not when there were easier ways.

"Sentinel Dawn for Emperor Augustus." I stiffly reported, and the guards made way for me.

Chapter 23
Negotiation Night II

I strode in, seeing that Emperor Augustus was still in his low chair in the middle of the Senate, a dozen advisors surrounding him, with a few runners hanging on a respectful distance away.

They’d clearly figured out that this was the place to be for high priority - read, expensive - messages.

Augustus himself was in the middle of a conversation with a few people, a wolfhound curled at his feet. Never seen a dog here before, but the emperor could do what he wanted. I was oh so tempted to just barge in, and start listing off my demands.

Except… wouldn’t that make me look desperate? And rude? And he’d totally know I was super desperate. Although with his social skills, he could probably figure it out anyways.

Ah well. He wasn’t exactly wrong, but three minutes wasn’t going to dramatically change the course of things.

Heck.

Even if Augustus changed things right now, it’d be at least a day or so before anything got implemented, at top speed.

"Sentinel Dawn! Come, come, I’ve been eager to talk with you. Meet Tyson, my loyal dog. Not quite the same as your Auri, but ah, he’s been with me loyally for decades." Emperor Augustus was all smiles, beckoning me closer.

Time to try and be personable and charming. And polite.

"Emperor! Thank you for meeting with me. How’s-"

Wait shit I already asked about his daughter and I don’t know any of his other family members and asking about his dog he just introduced is dumb gods damnit all!

"-things going?" I stuttered and lamely recovered.

"Most excellent! I take it you’ve come with your counter offer?"

"Yes, although, are you sure you want to negotiate here?" I asked, gesturing around. There were so many hangers-on.

"I can understand wanting to keep your skill private." Emperor Augustus snapped his fingers, and with only some muttering, and a bit of prodding from the guards, the room was mostly cleared.

Just me, Augustus, a dozen of his advisors, and a handful of guards.

Private. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure.

If my skill was known by less than 5,000 people at this point, I’d eat my tunic. Without washing it.

"You can leave now." He called out to the guards. "If Dawn wanted to harm me, I doubt any of you could stop her."

The guards left, and he winked at me.

"Plus you’re Oathbound."

Yeah, I was never telling anyone my skills ever again. I should go into hiding for a few hundred years, get Night to change my title, and try again.

He clapped his hands.

"You’ve come with a counter-offer! That’s fantastic, although I wouldn’t begrudge you having your friends help out. Anyways, what would you like?"

"Fairly simple. You can make some legal changes, yeah?"

"For you? Naturally, within reason. I’m not going to make you Empress, although I could be talked into adding your father to the Triumvirate."

"I’d like slavery to be abolished, and I’d like women to be granted the exact same rights as men under the law." In for a coin, in for a rod, might as well make my big ask.

The advisors muttered to each other in the background, as Augustus’s forehead wrinkled in thought.

After reaching some sort of consensus, one of the advisors leaned forward to Augustus, and whispered in his ear. Augustus slowly nodded, as the dude went on for some time.

"Let’s tackle this one point at a time. For the abolition of slavery - entirely impossible." He said. I opened my mouth in outrage, but he held up his hand.

"Agamemnon? Would you care to explain?"

The advisor in question half-bowed to Augustus, and took a deep breath.

"I’m a [Republic Economist]. Slavery, or to be more technical, the people working as slaves, currently forms the backbone of Remus. I would love to go through a hundred examples, but let me start off with food. Yes, [Farmers] have powerful skills to help work the fields, but at the end of the day, the harvest must be brought in; it must be processed, and shipped to towns. Simply ending slavery would cause most of those field hands to walk away. Why would they stay? Mass starvation would be the result, and that simply scratches the very surface of the issue. We could honestly spend months with dozens of [Scholars] studying the issue to get a full scope of what would happen. The justice system springs to mind as a thorny issue that would require a complete overhaul. That’s all before we get into the massive wealth transfer issue."

He glanced at another advisor, who tilted his head towards him. Agamemnon shrugged.

"It’s not my area of expertise, but the slave owners would never accept it. Emperor Augustus would be facing rebellion and assassination before the words left his mouth. Almost every member in the Senate, from the senators to the guards and the scribes, own their own slaves. Emperor Augustus’s decree would turn everyone against him, and he’d be lucky to survive the hour. Why, even I might turn against him!"

Augustus turned to give Agamemnon a long stare, who unflinchingly stared back at him.

"Well, I do ask for the best honest advice they can give." He half-shrugged at me. "Be poor form to do anything besides listen."

I was trying to process everything the advisor said, while Augustus’s advisors whispered among each other, then to Augustus himself. They had to have some skills for that, such that I couldn’t hear, and I was reminded once again just how freaking COOL magic was.

I hated, with every fiber of my being, that he had a bunch of good points. I’d struggled with it myself, mostly when it came to the justice system. There wasn’t anything else I could do with the bandits. If they were turned over to the guard? Slavery. Otherwise? Kill them when they were trying to kill me, or let them go. I was somewhat aware that it’d need a whole overhaul, but I’d been naive. I’d hoped it was as easy as a few pen strokes here and there to fix the issue.

Like, I’d known slavery was omnipresent in Remus, and basically everything relied on it. I’d still hoped that there was an easy, clean solution, that an all-powerful dictator could make it right, by wielding some political mastery.

Causing hundreds of thousands to potentially starve? Quite a lot of farmers would figure stuff out. They’d need to hire people to work the fields, but they’d work something out. However, not everyone would. Food supply would totter, and the moment a population started to starve was the moment everything got real ugly, real fast.

Hundreds of thousands would die in a poorly done transition… and that’s if there was even any negotiating room.

Then again, with serious legwork, and a few years of planning and studying, it might be possible to fix the issue cleanly.

Might. I’d need to have a few dozen scholars study the issue, and in an ironic twist, the people that would be needed to study the issue would also be the ones to lose something as a result. Misaligned incentives were no good.

They had a second good point.

My old life was coming in handy.

Emperor Augustus was the emperor because people believed he was the emperor. Crucially, it was the people with money, power, and who controlled the army who believed it, and made it so. Ideally, it would be the common man and woman who made it so, but I was under no illusions on that front - it was the army.

Take away everyone’s toys? Tell everyone who surrounded him "time to become much poorer?"

RIP Emperor Augustus’s reign.

Fuck, a quarter of this I could’ve figured out on my own! People liked having slaves. That was kind of obvious. People made money off of slaves. People liked having money, and didn’t like the government coming in and costing them tens of thousands of coins in assets, and more in lost future revenues. And it was country-wide! If I had only talked with more people, instead of letting my anger take the wheel, I could’ve come up with a better request. Instead, now I just looked dumb.

But no, I’d been stupid and let my anger control my actions. At the same time, this needs some sort of resolution now. The sooner, the better. I’d take quick and imperfect, over long and perfect. I wasn’t going to let ‘perfect’ be the enemy of ‘good enough’.

Plus, who cared about looking dumb?

This clearly fell under Autumn’s Rule 3. Not everything could be bought with money, and this was clearly part of the corollary - it wasn’t for sale. There was no price, no amount of bartering, begging, or pleading, that could get a complete and total abolition of slavery done tonight, or anytime soon.

I needed to let it go.

I said I’d walk if things were looking bad, but I could still get a win here. The slavery thing sucked, but even if I walked away, I’d need more than a few months of preparation and planning to tackle it. Walking away would accomplish nothing, and my other request was still on the table.

However, if that got watered down? Then it was time to walk.

The big question I had though - did I ask for a concession for Augustus removing it from consideration? Or would that offend him? ‘Yeah, you said no to this thing you consider completely unreasonable, and now I’m going to make demands because you said no to a totally unreasonable thing!’

I decided to keep my eye on the prize.

Augustus must’ve seen the look on my face. I wasn’t exactly a master at hiding my emotions, and he had charisma in spades.

Augustus leaned forward from his advisors.

"I’d like to offer a compromise on the slavery issue." He said, and I perked right back up, cursing myself as I felt my face lift.

This was why I didn’t play poker.

"Most slave owners are somewhat lax about properly recording their slaves’s efforts against their debt." He said. "How about we improve enforcement on properly recording a slave’s efforts towards their debt?"

I felt like this was… well, if not a trap, then being sold something I already owned. However, after mulling it over a bit, I couldn’t see an obvious problem.

Like. Isn’t that something that should be done anyways? I hedged, not wanting to commit. Remembering Rule 5 - don’t accept the first offer, and Rule 7 - haggle. I just didn’t have something that I could immediately offer instead. I’d have to think about it. No sense in opening my mouth immediately.

"Possibly acceptable. How about the women’s rights thing?"

They all looked at each other, and a different advisor cleared his throat.

"Leandros, [Lawyer], a pleasure to meet you." He said. "The premise is acceptable. However. We’d like to make absolutely certain that we’re all reading the same scroll. It’d be the worst type of bad faith to agree, then discover that we had entirely different ideas in mind as to what the law would entail. I have numerous questions on subtle and difficult aspects of the implementation, implications, and the practicalities of how you see it working. Now, naturally, women would be able to obtain citizenship, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Which means they could vote?"

"Yes." How was this even a question?

"Which implies they could run for Senate, or to become governor, correct?"

"Sure."

He was frowning.

"Currently, only the head of the household is allowed to run for Senate, or related positions." I didn’t know that. I’d taken a legal class, but that had been more along the lines of ‘murder is bad’, less so on ‘only the head of household is allowed to run for Senate’. We had been trained to be law enforcement, not lawyers. "How do you see the law working? You’d like a woman to be a senator, but if she is not the head of the household, the secondary law prevents it."

"Well, why couldn’t she be the head of the household?" I asked. A few of the advisors’ eyes widened, and one of them hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"You need some women with good common sense on your council." I told Augustus, who was eyeing his advisors up with a displeased look.

"I can see that." He drily agreed. "My wife Sextia provides excellent counsel at home, but I should start bringing her here."

"What happens if a family can’t agree on who's the head of the household?" One of the advisors asked.

I countered with my own question.

"Why don’t you just let anyone in the house run for Senate?"

"Dynasties." Leandros promptly answered. "Permits large families to hold too much power."

I shrugged.

"I’m not going to try and sort out the internal workings of the Senate." I answered. "I don’t have all the answers. You’re the experts here."

Augustus locked eyes with me and slowly nodded.

"Also, the whole life and death over the family business should be done away with." I added in. Miserable bloody law.

"Past a certain point." One of the advisors practically snarled, the veins in his neck bulging.

There was one hell of a story there, and yeah. It twisted my stomach to agree, but I wasn’t in the idyllic "I can save everyone" stage. I’d seen too much, and I was playing in deep political waters that I wasn’t properly equipped for.

There was… a frankly horrible to think about reason why the patriarch of the family had the power, but the root cause of the issue wasn’t one I was able to fix here and now.

"Fine. Past two years of age." I could only try my best, making things better one small step at a time.

I hadn’t come here to handle that particular issue, and getting it served up to me on a plate like that was nice. A minor extra win, that I hadn’t been looking for but I’d take.

"Drafted by the army?" Another advisor smugly asked, like he’d found some massive gotcha.

Like Artemis wasn’t a shining example of a woman being able to utterly wreck anyone and everyone in a fight.

"Yeah, that’s fine. But at the same time, if a husband is beating or raping his wife, that should be a crime. Marriage doesn’t absolve the husband of it, just like the wife should be charged for plunging a knife into his chest."

I spat the last bit out a bit more forcefully than I’d intended, revealing that I too had a shit story to tell. Augustus didn’t look thrilled at the implications, and I remembered that he had a daughter who recently married off.

Maybe there was some empathy at work? He didn’t come off as a soulless bastard, just… a product of his time and place. The idea that a wife might not want to have relations with her husband could easily be a new one to him, but once it got in his head, the implications were clear.

The benefits to his own family were clear.

Nobody asked, and one dude did get an elbow in his side as another furious whisper session started.

The discussion continued, the moons rising, briefly flooding the room with crimson light as we continued to discuss the full range and implications of the issues. Tyson remained faithfully at Augustus’s feet, the emperor occasionally reaching down to scratch or pet the loyal hound.

Frankly, I was glad, because they had points and problems I’d never considered. Like, who was the tiebreaker? If a husband was a citizen, did the wife automatically get citizenship as well? What about the reverse? What about losing it?

What about bank accounts? They were already run in the family name.

Children and citizenship? Divorce?

The longer we talked, the more animated Augustus’s advisors became, with Augustus occasionally turning in his chair to huddle up and talk in a circle with them.

Honestly, I was pleased. Augustus’s side was initiating most of this. It would’ve been incredibly easy for them to say "ok, done", and write a ten word law just to make me happy.

The fact that they were digging into it so deeply, touching on the implications and issues, the other laws that would need to be changed, and all the rest? It told me that they were operating in genuinely good faith, and were somewhat committed to see this through. Made me wonder if there were other pressures and forces at play.

It felt a bit like a trap of some sort, but for the life of me, I couldn’t see it. I was getting what I wanted, how I wanted it, in what looked to be a short timeframe. It’d be easy for Augustus to dismiss us all, and to resume the next day. Instead, we were burning the midnight oil on the Senate floor, solving the issues one at a time. Maybe it was just my own inexperience talking.

I’d like to believe that my arguments were so good, that my logic and the benefits of creating an equal society would be enough for them to pass the changes anyways.

Nah. That’d just be deluding myself.

As time went on, and as Augustus held council, I started to mentally kick myself. There were a dozen other things I could’ve asked for! State-sponsored healing! Everyone getting access to healers, paid for by the government. Bread rations, to help feed the poor and hungry, and give a strong layer of protection against falling into debt and slavery. Education, not just for those who could afford tutors. Orphanages.

…Even as I listed them all out I started to recognize getting them all was something of a pipe dream. Might as well add in gigantic free public libraries to the list. Get some of my own desires met.

Although, the slavery thing had been entirely shot down, and replaced with ‘we’ll do our jobs better’. The more I thought about it, the more that looked like a cheap promise, and not a suitable substitution.

Sure, Autumn’s Rule 3 came into play, but if they’d already offered a replacement? I could haggle over the replacement, and offer A over B.

Welp. Night suggested that I figure out long-term goals, and I was getting a few ideas. Anything I didn’t ask for, or get now, I could possibly tackle. I didn’t think splitting myself up among so many different goals right now was a good idea, especially not if I went with step 1: Get filthy rich first, then step 2: Make changes. However, I was getting a list of possible ideas. Ending slavery. Gigantic libraries. Corning the mango market. Shelters. All stuff for another day though.

Or was it? I could probably slip a few in right now with the Rule 3 haggling.

I would like to do something with my healing… maybe better advertising?

Focus.

Augustus and co were spending a lot of time internally debating, giving me too much time to think on my own as time passed. Occasionally a guard would peek in, and at one point a few hefty trays of food were carefully slid into the room, but otherwise we were left alone.

Just me, Augustus, his advisors, and Lun Kat’s eyes, watching us as the moons set again.

Finally, we seemed to have handled the last issue. Answered the last question. Built something resembling a framework. Augustus turned towards me.

"A few notes." He said, and while I’d stayed ram-rod straight and at attention - although with my toes tapping half the time - I stood up just a hair straighter.

"I believe in operating under full, good faith. Except when I need not to, but this isn’t one of those situations." He said, and a cold shiver went down my back. "First. The bulk of your proposed changes are doable, however, we’re going to need a week with our best researchers to find all the laws that need updating. As much as I’d like to simply write ‘women are equal to men’, it is not that simple."

Lawyers. Scum of every planet… but I nodded in acceptance. ‘We need to do this right, and slowly’ seemed to be a heck of a lot better than ‘we did this too fast, and we missed something that ruins it all.’

Which I hated, because it told me that I had resoundedly fucked up in coming right here, and insisting to myself that things get done ASAP. I made a few mental notes.

First - I was clearly developing an anger issue. Between Ochi and here, anger and rage was in the driver’s seat a little too often. I hadn’t exactly been living a happy and carefree life, and I had to wonder if I’d gone through one trauma too many. A job for a [Therapist], if I could ever get someone to invent the blasted profession.

Second - I should stop acting on my anger.

Third … I know I had a bunch more to add, I just couldn’t remember them. Fleeting thoughts weren’t something [Pristine Memories] could handle, apparently. Which kinda sucked.

"The second issue is a cultural one. You would like the laws changed. Very well, we can do that. However. The family that still believes the husband is in charge? The wife who believes herself subservient? The husband who continues to take charge? They will continue to act as they have. I do not promise any cultural changes, or efforts to make the widespread changes needed to cause the changes."

"But you will enforce the law?" I asked, realizing another way I might’ve fucked up.

A law with no teeth wasn’t a law at all. "No hats on Friday" didn’t mean shit if nobody enforced the "No hats on Friday" law. One of the fundamentals of being a Ranger. Law enforcement. Another fundamental was "who enforces the law is almost as important as the law itself." In this case, the guard and primary justice system seemed to be taking it on.

Fortunately, the Rangers were a good check on the local guards for corruption, and Sentinels were a check on Rangers misbehaving. In other words - indirectly, I was part of the enforcement mechanism of the new laws, which had me all sorts of happy.

"Naturally. As I said, I operate in good faith, however, a petition must be brought forth before the judiciary for there to be any enforcement. If the involved parties are unaware, or simply choose not to pursue their own rights? There is little I can do." He spread his arms wide.

Made sense. I didn’t like it, but it made sense. If nobody complained that their rights were being trampled, it was exceedingly difficult to find out that there was an issue behind closed doors. It sucked, but the woman I’d seen… gods, just hours ago, it felt like a lifetime - was an example of that. She thought what she was going through was normal, and my stomach turned over again at the memory.

At leaving her.

I reassured myself that I’d gotten her kids out of there at least.

"Thank you. In the interest of good faith, my skill has a cooldown. It takes time between each cast. Anything else?" I asked.

"How long is the cooldown?"

"I don’t know."

Augustus frowned, then smiled.

"Well, we have a long time to find out. Putting that aside. Two last notes. Your Triumph is upcoming. I believe there would be maximum effect to announce the changes as you approach the Senate, before the largest crowd possible."

He paused, looking at me. I nodded my acceptance.

I had a small dramatic flair in storytelling, not running events. However, that sounded suitably nice. ‘Look at Sentinel Dawn! Look at how awesome she is, getting level 512! To celebrate her, she gets citizenship! All women can get citizenship!’

Sure. Seemed fine.

"Excellent. Onto my last point. It is quite complicated to change laws like this. I will need to work with the Senate, and obtain a medium of buy-in."

I started to glare at him, and he naturally picked it up. He gave me an apologetic smile.

"Naturally, I will succeed. However, burning favors and political will is harder than simply parting with money. As opposed to simply turning back the clock for me, can you make myself and a dozen people of my choosing young as well?"

I almost agreed, then closed my mouth.

This was a negotiation after all. Autumn’s Rule 5 came to mind - never accept the first offer. There were also the other parts I wanted to negotiate for.

If I accepted this offer?

She’d loudly bemoan my utter lack of bartering expertise, and make fun of me. She’d offer remedial lessons, then act shocked and say something like "Wait, no, you’re too hopeless. Just make more money instead."

Teenagers had vicious insults. I could probably barter him down, my skill was valuable.

Heck, he’d started with one person, and now wanted thirteen? That was an insane jump in his request. Plus, I hadn’t finished the enforcement bartering.

"Before we get to the details, I’d like to loop back around to the slavery issue briefly."

Augustus nodded for me to continue.

"Simply enforcing the law is something that the government should be doing in the first place." I pointed out, getting a minor note of satisfaction as one of the advisor’s mouth quickly puckered. Ha! I was right! They tried to sell me a dud!

"One thing I’d like to add. Can the sheer abuses and outright legalized murder of slaves be fixed? If nothing else, by having a legal avenue for slaves to air their complaints, they’re less likely to take up arms in an attempt to correct things."

I only gave them a brief moment to process things before I carried on.

"A second thing. One of the driving forces of slavery are people falling into debt, and being unable to repay it." I stated the obvious, while mulling over a dozen aspects of my proposal - including a medical aspect! "Now, something that would mitigate that is free bread from the Senate, distributed to every household."

Augustus held up his hand, and looked at Agamemnon. He thought about it a moment, then nodded.

"Carry on." Augustus said, my proposal having been cleared as ‘vaguely reasonable’ or whatever other system they had going.

"Free bread would make you wildly popular, prevent citizens and people of Remus from starving, help mitigate some of the largest expenses that cause people to fall into debt, then slavery, AND there’s a nutrition aspect that you might be unaware of." I said, quickly reorganizing my angle of attack. Making it palatable to the military general, who seemed to be in it for the long haul.

"Proper nutrition, or rather, getting enough food growing up is crucial to development." I instinctively leaned into a medical lecture, having given far too many of them. It was no longer Emperor Augustus and his advisors, it was just another class. "Without enough food, people grow up short, skinny, and stunted. If they’re given enough food? Tall and strong. While the [Centurions] of the army tend to come from wealthy families, where do the rank and file come from? Poor men, trying to gain citizenship and gainful employment." I was getting animated, pacing the floor, my arms gesturing. "Feed them well, for long enough, and the next generation of soldiers will be even stronger. Also, the effect stacks as time goes by. Well-fed parents give birth to well-fed babies."

"That’d take dozens of years to see any results." Augustus said, after listening to his advisors.

I could see he had more to say, but the goal was too open. The shot was too easy.

"I’m here because you’re in it for the long run. A few hundred years from my skill, remember?"

Direct hit. Even I could see it.

Augustus and his advisors huddled up, and spent almost an hour talking. The sun was starting to lighten the horizon.

"Fine. Fourteen uses of your skill, and you get everything we discussed." Augustus said. I frowned.

This was totally a spot for Rule 7 - Haggle. Rule 21 - Shorter negotiations - didn’t apply. Or at least, I didn’t think it did. A bread program was nowhere close to being worth two million rods and two senators, which was his opening offer.

He was trying to haggle more out of me!

"Four." I figured I’d slice the number way down, and end up meeting somewhere in the middle.

Augustus shook his head, and stood up.

"I apologize for wasting your time, Sentinel Dawn, but I believe our respective evaluations of our positions are too far apart to come to an agreement. I wish you and your father the best." He started to walk away with his advisors shuffling along. His dog woke up, and started padding after him.

"Wait! Ok! Eight?" I shouted after him, and he whirled on me with a predatory grin.

Shit. I’d been had.

"Deal!" He cried out before I could change my mind.

I had Immortality as my bargaining chip. I could’ve made it work just by standing firm, calling his bluff, and insisting on only changing back Augustus.

I slowly shook my head to myself. I’d gotten played like a fiddle.

"Deal." I agreed.

End of the day? It was just using a skill.

And I’d done it. It’d take decades, but one day, a girl going to the temple for System Day wouldn’t get thrown out in the middle. She’d be allowed to play with all the things, given a chance to unlock all the classes she could. It’d take decades, if not centuries, to fix thousands of years of thinking, but the first crucial step had been taken.

I’d gotten what I wanted.

At long last.

Chapter 24
The Dawn of Change

Emperor Augustus and I shook hands, cementing the deal.

"Do you have time for hammering out some details?" He asked as an advisor stifled a yawn. They had to work extremely hard with the whole ‘single-handedly running an empire’ thing, and I’d just demolished their entire night’s sleep.

And I’d bet so much money that Augustus would grab breakfast, freshen up for a few minutes, then get right back to the empire-running business.

"Only a few minutes, then I need to report to Ranger HQ. Daily stand-up to make sure there’s nothing we need to be dispatched on." I gave my best ‘winningly apologetic’ tone.

"Of course, of course." Augustus said. "The Sentinels and Rangers do such fine work, I’d never want to interfere or get in their way."

Yet he was at the top of Night’s guesses as to why Julius had vanished, given that the balance of power of Ranger Command had tilted towards the Senate, which Augustus somewhat controlled.

I mentally shook my head.

Focus. Entirely irrelevant to the topic at hand. I was tired, and [Sunrise] was good, but didn’t substitute sleep, especially not after the emotionally taxing day and mentally taxing night.

"When is a good time for you to begin the process? Does it take particularly long?" Augustus asked.

"I could probably do the first person later today." I mused. "The skill does have a cooldown, and I’m not quite sure how long it is."

I thought about it for a moment.

"I hope you understand when I ask to turn you back after the policy changes are made." I hedged a bit. He waved my concern off.

"Naturally. I hope you understand that I’d like to see a demonstration before making the large changes?"

That was fair. I’d made a lot of claims, but I hadn’t backed any of them up. Nobody had seen the gnoll, and a lot of faith had been placed in my personal honesty and integrity.

"Sure." It was a small thing after all. My worst-case scenario was turning back some dude, then nothing happened. I’d get mightily annoyed at Emperor Augustus - to say the least - but it wasn’t the end of the world.

I’d have time to plot my revenge.

"One last note, and I’ll leave this problem for your advisors." I said, placing a bit more trust in them than I probably should. "I believe it’d be beneficial to trace the citizenship lines of a number of women, and grant them citizenship. Sort of a retroactive thing." I said. "It’s heritable from father to son, it’ll also be heritable from father to daughter, then from mother to son and daughter. Why not just… poke at it and make everyone who would’ve been a citizen, an actual citizen?"

"We’ll discuss it." Leandros, the lawyer, said after a moment.

That was likely to be a no. I could argue this another day, before a bunch of Sentinels got dispatched to my villa.

"Right. I’ll swing by this evening then?" I asked Augustus.

"Agreed. Does your skill require anything to activate or operate? A sacrifice, material, anything of that nature?"

There were some skills that needed material to work, [Carpenters] being the famous example. Needed wood to [Carve], just like [Farmers] needed seeds to [Plant].

I was going to say no, then paused, getting an idea.

"No, but I recommend bringing some food a bird might like. Or just like. Some nice offerings for White Dove."

Looks were exchanged, and there were some nervous mutterings.

"She is very real and will personally show up to curse you. I honestly wouldn’t mess with her."

"Listen to the Classer when she’s describing her skills." Augustus stated, without turning back.

"Anyways, it’s been great, but I really gotta run now." I apologized, but waited a brief moment for Augustus to nod and dismiss me.

I could have just left and stepped on his toes a bit, but why bother? Manners and politeness never killed anyone.

I stepped out of the Senate, taking a moment to stretch and bask in the light of the sun, rising just above the horizon. I took a deep breath as the sun kissed my skin.

It felt like freedom.

A different type to be sure. It wasn’t physical shackles that had been lifted from me, more emotional ones that I’d lived with for so long, I’d forgotten they existed.

Speaking of chains, it was time to tend to the one I’d voluntarily placed on myself.

My stomach grumbled as I made my way to Ranger HQ, which was blessedly close by. Most of the fancy government buildings were somewhat clustered together.

In no time at all, I was in the meeting room. I’d slightly misjudged how late the meeting started, the current time, and how far away the Senate was from Ranger HQ, and I was early.

Much better than being so late that Hunting and co were dispatched to see what was up.

The Sentinels trickled in one at a time.

"Most excellent." Night said once we’d all arrived. "Does anyone have any items of concern before we discuss yesterday’s activities?"

"Possible problem." Ocean said. "Heard a few reports of a Ranger team of one person going around. However, it’s unclear which team it is, and they’re not following a known route, nor do they seem to be on a return trip to Ariminum after a team wipe."

"Could the reports be out of order? Dates mixed up?" Nature asked. Ocean nodded.

"Could be Team 5 if three dates are swapped and they detoured."

"Is this concern actionable at this time?" Night politely asked. Ocean gave a slow nod.

"Anyone sitting in on Ranger Command meetings, keep an ear out."

I sent off a quick prayer to all the gods and goddesses that my name wouldn’t come out of the hat for sitting in on a few Ranger Command meetings. They were bad enough when I was the star of the show. Sitting around?

Bleack.

"Are there any other matters?" Night formally asked.

"Got a somewhat important one." Acquisition said. "Of all people, Dawn’s got a price on her head. One dead, and a large one alive."

That would scare me more if I wasn’t on team Night, although it did send a little trace of fear through me. Who wouldn’t have a moment of ‘oh shit’ when told that random people wanted them dead?

Still. Between my healing and magic, I had complete confidence that I could handle any problems. My biggest concerns would be someone going after Auri or Autumn or any other family members.

"Tell me everything. This will not be permitted to stand." Night leaned forward, a predatory gleam in his eye. "I want names, locations, the fake sponsors, the real sponsors, everything." He practically hissed, and I foresaw a violent night. "As soon as the meeting ends, Acquisition, meet with me."

Welp. Alrighty then. Mission for someone not called Elaine!

"On that note. Dawn. Ocean. I must have a discussion with the two of you as well after this." Night said. "Onto other events of interest."

There wasn’t anything else, and we did a quick recap of our rescue of Acquisition the prior day. Each of us involved told us the story from our own point of view.

Which was remarkably the same, except for Hunting. Travel, burst into the building, kill everyone hostile to us - or everyone they found, depending on the Sentinel in question - save Acquisition’s kids.

"Acquisition. It is time for your portion of the tale." Night said.

"Ok, sure." He leaned forward, capturing all of our attention. What Acquisition did wasn’t exactly well-known, and after I’d leveled up a bunch, he was easily the oddest Sentinel.

"As you know, I keep a pulse on the undercity. The best thief in Remus and all that." He waved his hand. "It’s something of an open secret that I’m a Sentinel to the various gangs, but it’s also a secret. Not everyone’s in the know. I play it off that I’ve stolen a job, and manage to steal a bunch of money, authority, etc, by being a Sentinel. Whenever I’m challenged, I get to respond by asking who else can brazenly walk into the Senate, steal a senator’s coin purse, and openly walk back out, with the guards saluting me the entire time?"

He shrugged, like it was perfectly normal.

"All in all, I’m a well-known wealthy commodity to the underground. The issue is, it makes me a target. I don’t bother you all when my vaults are broken into, my coins taken, or mysterious notes are left under my pillow. Standard [Thief] shenanigans really. I just find out who did it, take my stuff back, and generally embarrass them in some way. I keep it non-lethal, to stop any ideas about true revenge. Keeps most of the riff-raff away, but those with drive, those that burn, they go after me."

He paused a quick moment for questions. Seeing that we had none, he continued.

"The Blackstorms took that for weakness, and weren’t around the last time Night had a gentle discussion with the local gangs about their activities relating to Sentinels. They had already been on my radar for causing issues, and I was this close to going to Ranger Team 1 about them." Acquisition pinched his fingers real close.

"Came home two nights ago to find my kids gone, and a ransom note. It didn’t mention anything about being a Sentinel, but it did warn me not to go to the guards or the Rangers. It had a carefully prescribed route that I needed to take, along with the amount they wanted. I figured I’d play along, get my kids back safe, then rain hell on them. Money can be easily reacquired, my kids less so. I left a hundred different clues around my place, in such a way that whoever might’ve been watching me wouldn’t be able to tell."

He gave a nod to Hunting, who nodded back.

Acquisition gave a detailed accounting of everything the Blackstorms wanted him to do, along with the counter-measures he’d taken. Subtle, but there.

"In the end, I was in the middle of the handoff when you all came knocking. Tried to teleport the knife out of the goon’s hands, but only got one. Other one had a skill that interfered. Hostile teleports and all that. Shit timing on your part, a tiny amount of time later and we would’ve been clear. Fortunately, Dawn was around. Spent the rest of the day at home." Acquisition finished.

Yeah I’d totally spend the rest of the day with Auri if she’d been kidnapped and almost murdered. Probably take off a few more days while I was at it.

We had a long discussion about Acquisition’s choices, and how to better handle hostage situations in the future. What each of us would’ve done. How we would’ve handled it.

In the end, we ended up agreeing that Acquisition had handled it nearly perfectly. Get the kids to safety. Deal with the perpetrators after.

We had Hunting after all.

The meeting broke up, and the rest of the Sentinels went about their business. For Acquisition and Night, that meant talking about the potential assassins after me. They had a long technical talk about who was involved, and what type of message they’d each be turned into.

Some worked best being simply ‘disappeared’. Others were going to have a ‘heart attack’ in the middle of the night, and never wake up. A few were going to have their body parts scattered artfully in various plazas.

I had a strong stomach, medicine and all that. I’d been elbow-deep in gore plenty.

Their clinical descriptions of ‘should the arms be in one piece, or two? How many bones in their hand do we break, and how obvious do we make it’ turned my stomach, and those were simply the gentlest descriptions.

Ocean occasionally added in comments, about how so and so was in an alliance with this other person, and how they’d take it.

Acquisition and Night finished up, and I was left oddly conflicted. I reminded myself that they had chosen violence themselves, and it was better to handle it now, rather than regretfully stand over mom’s body.

I moved on as Acquisition left.

"Dawn. I would like to discuss your activities from last night." Night said, and I focused.

Just how bloody good was his intel network that he already knew!?

"What about them?"

"You are walking a dangerous path." Night’s tone was neutral, but I knew him. Displeased wasn’t the start of it and I went cold. "Today, you fix one injustice. You pay a hefty price, carelessly, without thinking. You enable a powerful man to stay in power longer, causing stagnation. Abuses. The normal wheel of time that permits transfers of power has been broken, and there is no telling what disaster he will cause down the line."

I was getting heated.

"So what am I supposed to do?" I cut Night off. "Just live my whole life as a second class citizen? Be at the mercy of whoever my closest male relative is, for eternity? Permit Remus to continue to be as poor and shitty as it is? What’s the fucking point of it all, if I don’t make life better for others!?"

Night’s narrowed eyes and clipped tone were the only indications I had that he was equally mad. He just controlled it better.

"Yes. You fix one injustice today. You fix a second tomorrow. You look at the world around you, and believe that you can remake it in your image. Perfect. All will be right in the world, if only Sentinel Dawn was fully in charge." He practically spat at me. "Every dictator believes the same thing. They look at the world, see that it is wrong, and move to reimage it to their liking. You are doing the same, while being a true Immortal. How do you know that your image is right? That it is just, and good? How do you know you are not simply borrowing trouble later down the road?"

I had the perfect retort.

"Because I’ve lived in that world." I snarled back. "I’ve lived in a world where there were hundreds of governments, and history of a thousand more. I’ve directly seen the results of these policies. I’ve read the history of them being created and implemented. I’ve seen, with my own two eyes, how life is improved by them. I know. God-touched by Papilion, remember?"

The silence stretched between us. Ocean nervously coughed.

"Excuse me. I’d like to add in a few words." We both turned to look at him.

"Emperor Augustus was already pressuring Dawn into using her skill on him. Either way, she was pulled into politics against her will. With our power and levels, we know this happens from time to time." He gently rebuked Night. "Yes, her skill has an uncomfortable parallel with you being asked to turn someone into a vampire."

There was a brief awkward pause, and I was reminded about Night’s stories about the vampire civil wars.

Or rather - the first vampire civil war. He’d said nothing about the other ones, and I had to wonder if there was some additional uncomfortable history I didn’t know about partially driving Night.

"With the amount on offer, there was going to be moving and shaking, even if Dawn ‘merely’ accepted her patriarch becoming a senator. It would be even worse if Dawn outright refused. We’d bear the brunt of Augustus’s displeasure. Right?"

I gave a small nod, while Night continued to laser in on Ocean.

"Anyways, with all that said. Dawn, your proposed changes were a bit much. We try, as Sentinels, to remain neutral. We don’t always succeed. With that being said, we stick together. We support each other. Getting personally involved in politics always inadvertently drags the rest of us into things, and we’re suddenly obligated in ways we don’t want to be. Let me make up a ridiculous example. Pretend the late Sealing - who never would’ve suggested such a thing, ridiculous example remember? - suggested that there should be a law that all women have to give birth to five children before they’re 30."

I narrowed my eyes at Ocean, who held up his hands.

"Ridiculous example! Anyways, pretend one morning you show up to the daily meeting, and BOOM! Sealing’s played politics, and gotten a new law passed! People are now unhappy with him, some are happy, and presto, we now need to band together to protect Sealing, and suddenly other people are sniffing at us for more favors. Now we’re spending as much time fending them off, defending policies we don’t like, and not doing our jobs. Politics." Ocean practically spat.

I felt a tiny bit of embarrassment. Ocean was the Sentinel who needed to keep a pulse on all things political, and he hated it. I’d probably just kicked over the hornets nest for him.

Would still do it again in a heartbeat.

"Either way, I believe you are amassing power and abusing your Immortality in a way that shall cause me significant problems down the line." Night said. "I understand where you are coming from. You went out, and solved a problem close and dear to your heart. It speaks well for your character, that you do not simply take this lying down. You are one of my Sentinels. However. The way you went about it speaks poorly of your judgment. Your faith in other Sentinels. Your ability to work with us, to find a method to present the solution in a less ham-fisted hammer. At a point of political meddling, you become a power, a player on the field. If that is how you act, if that is what you wish to be, I will treat you as such. You will no longer have Acquisition looking out for assassins for you. You will no longer have me fixing problems of your own making. You will be, for better or for worse, a player, with everything that entails, for better or for worse. If you do not wish to be a player, then cease acting like one, and we shall no longer have an issue."

I’d been forming counter-arguments against what he said. Ready to bring up that he was willing to treat me like a progenitor.

My mouth snapped shut at the end, as the full implications of what he was saying sank in. As the earlier discussion that Night and Acquisition had fully sank in.

Night was, as always, right. If I started to enact large-scale changes, if I had Emperor Augustus’s ear and kept twisting it, I’d find myself chest-high in the shithole of politics. I’d already made some compromises, how many more would I make?

And I was dragging the rest of the Sentinels into the mess, kicking and screaming. How would I like it if, say, Nature decided that roads were an affront to nature, and had to go, and lobbied to stop building and paying for roads? I’d be annoyed that I was suddenly, involuntarily in the mess. I liked roads!

Bit silly - I thought all the changes I wanted to do were right and correct, and nobody would object to them. However, I didn’t know the secret inner workings of the rest of the Sentinels. Maybe some were fervently against government intervention, hated taxes, and would simply be upset that their taxes were going up just for the government to meddle more in people’s lives.

Friction.

I’d been debating dozens of policy changes, along with working out how to get the leverage to make it happen. For every force though, there was a counterforce, even if it was only human greed. My plans?

Yeah. Night was right - I’d be acting like, and looking a lot like, a small [Empress], the [Power Behind the Throne]. That wasn’t a world I wanted to get involved in, but I did want to tackle the indignities and shit of the world.

"I’d like to meet you in the middle." I leaned forward and proposed to Night. "We’re all Sentinels. All Rangers. You wouldn’t ask any of us to turn away from corruption, from doing what is right. No matter the risk to us."

Night nodded. "That is the precise reason Ranger training is designed that way. I expect nothing less than the best."

"And this is me giving my best." I countered back. "Let’s compromise. If I see some particularly egregious issue, I bring it to you. We discuss. We see if there’s a way to handle it in a way you’d approve of. Alright?"

"Dawn’s got a point. I don’t see the same issues she does, she’s got a unique perspective. Remember the dockworkers issue 20 years ago? That was heading towards open rebellion, but we stepped in and pressured the people in power to make changes before issues happened. Dawn’s actions, while ridiculously, foolishly, heavy-handed aren’t that much different." Ocean pointed out. "Honestly, if she’s stopped even one rebellion with what she’s done, we’d call that a win."

Night thought about it for some time.

"There are a few points I would like to discuss…"

Night, Ocean and I continued to talk about the issue for hours, before coming to the conclusion.

"Alright. When you see an issue offensive to you in the extreme, bring it to me, and we shall discuss." Night agreed.

I closed my eyes and slumped back in my nice chair.

At last.

I needed to get home, and get some damn sleep.

Sadly, duty called.

Chapter 25
The White Dove once again

My day was as typical as my days ever were. Swung by my home right after the Ranger meeting. Said hi to Auri, who was Very Upset that I’d been gone ALL NIGHT! She’d been lonely, and worried, and…

I promised I wouldn’t vanish like that again. That wasn’t enough, so I also gave her a day off from her lessons, after she demonstrated that she’d been learning new things. Like reading! And writing! Plato and Auri had worked out a clever system of carefully burning wood for Auri to write out questions and answers for Plato. Ran through wood like nothing else, but the all-consuming power of MONEY fixed that.

I was starting to see why Autumn loved it so much. Scarfed down a quick breakfast, and with gigantic raccoon eyes, tackled the rest of the day.

Visiting the [Quartermaster] was first on my list. Most of the Moonstones I’d charged up had been used in one mission or another, and their stock was running low.

I wish it was as simple as imbuing the gemstones with a simple "heal". I could do that, but the issue was size. Gemstones could only hold so much mana. By having a terribly inefficient image, the size of the resulting heal would be small. Instead, for each gem, I needed to sit down and focus, constructing an image that struck a balance between "will heal the injuries it needs to heal with the mana provided" and "I can’t spend three days on every gem."

[Persistent Casting] didn’t work when charging gemstones. That sort of cheat was reserved for Gemstone Classers.

Oversaw SERE training personally. Helped a few of the Ranger Trainees learn to fly - and fixed a sprained ankle when someone landed poorly.

Swung by the market, and gave Autumn the full rundown of everything that happened. She’d been my advisor after all, giving me the tips and the tricks.

She laughed herself sick when she heard how it ended.

"Ahhahahahahahahahhahaaaaaaaaa oh my gods Elaine, you’re joking, right? You didn’t fall for the oldest trick in the book?"

"What!" I protested, indigent.

"Oh goddesses YOU DID. You fell for the classic ‘nah, I don’t like this so I’m going to pretend to walk away’ trick! AHHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHhahahahahahahahaha"

Autumn wasn’t exactly the picture of dignity, rolling on the market floor as she clutched her sides. I heard some polite snickering from behind me, and turned to see Neptune holding a hand over his face, shoulder shaking in silent laughter.

I threw up my hands.

"So I’m bad at this! So what! I got what I wanted!"

Neptune let out a few more chuckles, before he got himself under control.

"Sentinel Dawn. You are welcome to shop here any time you’d like."

I threw him the finger.

Autumn got up, still wheezing.

"Ok, ok… I got this hang… NOPE I DON’T!" She burst out into laughter again. Fortunately a bit more restrained.

Autumn finally collected herself.

"Ok, for real. Elaine. That was super cool. Thank you." She gave me a great big ‘crushing’ hug.

"I can get my own bank account. I can run my own merchant company. I can make my own deals. Spend my money."

Neptune coughed.

Autumn broke the hug and rolled her eyes.

"Dad! You know what I mean!"

"What do you mean?" He asked, amused.

She sighed, and recited.

"I can open my own trading company, assuming I start off with a generous loan. Trying to start from nothing is a fool’s game."

Neptune nodded.

"Good. You’ll still have issues with people refusing to deal with you or respect you though."

Autumn rolled her eyes.

"Sure, and that’ll tell me they’re bad merchants. My money will be just as good as anyone else’s!"

I smiled at the whole exchange, feeling just a small sense of worry.

I’d unleashed a fearsome predator on the world. No purse would ever be safe with Autumn around!

I spent time teaching Autumn medicine, giving her personalized tips and tricks as the slow trickle of people coming to see us increased to a steady stream.

Word was getting around that I was back, and giving free healing - no matter the ailment. This gave me some heartache as I couldn’t fix everything, notably genetic diseases.

It was good experience for Autumn though, letting her tackle the problem before I made sure it was properly fixed.

She was [Dawn’s Disciple] after all.

A few people early on complimented Auri, who always put on a small show. A rumor quickly spread that complimenting the bird was the payment we wanted, which had Autumn grouchy and Auri delighted.

In a blink of an eye, the day had zipped by, and Auri and I went down to Artemis’s school to teach a lesson.

I noted that Misha was in the audience, along with a pair of other unnaturally pale people sitting next to him. Probably vampires, given the sheer amount of sun that everyone in Remus had. I idly wondered if this was one of the first places where mortals and Immortals learned together, but dismissed the idea. Surely the elves had something similar…

Either way, more rich patrons of the school were good for Artemis and Maximus. I tried to stop by and visit Artemis after the lecture, but she was buried under dozens of scrolls, catching up on things that only she could do.

"Elaine, I’m eternally grateful, but help or shoo." Artemis flatly told me.

"Brrrpt!" Auri protested. Artemis put down her charcoal stick and stared at Auri.

"You threaten me one more time, and we’ll discover how well Lightning works on scruffy birds." She threatened Auri.

"Brrpt…brrrpt" Auri hunkered down on my shoulder, protesting that the MEAN LADY WAS BEING MEAN! Elaine, get justice for me!

"If you’re mean to other people, they might be mean back." I wasn’t exactly on Auri’s side here. Better to get slightly burned here, and learn, than to raise a total brat.

"Brrrpt…" Auri half-cried. I turned to leave, and Auri singed the door on the way out.

I ducked a pebble that Artemis shot at me - not nearly fast enough to be lethal, just enough to sting.

"OUT!"

I did have business elsewhere. Auri and I left, and I had to admit to myself I’d been stalling somewhat.

"Auri, want to come with me for this next part, or go home?"

"Brrrpt!" She scolded me. She wasn’t letting me ditch her again.

"Alright, but no burning anything here."

"Brrpt. Brrrpt?"

"Ok, fine, if they’re Bad Guys you’re allowed to burn them."

"Brrrpt!!"

I prayed to Ildia, Goddess of Fire, that Auri wouldn’t interpret politicians as Bad Guys automatically, no matter how accurate the statement.

Or maybe I should be praying to the god - or goddess - of Deception. That divine entity was a real pain in the ass. Seemed to revel in constantly tricking people as to what their name, gender, symbols of worship, desired offerings, and more were.

I thought it wasn’t funny - just frustratingly annoying.

I flew over to the Senate, going slowly enough that Auri could keep up.

I landed and tried to enter.

I got ambushed by my dad!

"Elaine!" He called out to me, staying ram-rod straight at the entrance to the Senate.

"Dad!" I’d recognize him anywhere, even under all that gear.

"Super proud of what you did kiddo."

I gave him my best bear hug.

"Thanks dad."

"No really. One of the youngest Sentinels. The best healer in Remus. Yet, you’re still a great daughter, you make your mom happy, and you’re not content to just sit back and enjoy it. You’re making the whole country better for everyone."

I wasn’t crying.

Nope.

I hugged him a bit more, a bit tighter.

"Love you too." I whispered to him - hopefully quiet enough that his fellow guard wouldn’t give him grief or tease him about it later.

I entered the Senate and was quickly before Emperor Augustus and his advisors, along with the usual mishmash of Senators, runners, hanger-ons, and the like. Even at this late hour, it was busy. I saluted upon entering.

Didn’t hurt to be polite.

"Brrrpt! BrrrrRRrrrrRRrrrpt!" Auri thought the digs were nice, and wondered when I could get a home this nice.

I resisted the urge to facepalm.

"Auri, this is the Senate. Not a home."

"Brrrpt." Auri remained unimpressed, and thought I should spring for something like this.

"Sentinel Dawn! Welcome, welcome. This is the famous phoenix, Auri?" Augustus asked, smiling and beckoning me over.

I approached, as Auri flitted over.

"Yes! Isn’t she just the cutest?" I cooed over Auri a bit.

"Brrpt! Brrrrrpt!"

"A magnificent creature, burning with the light of a thousand stars." Augustus praised.

"Brrrpt!" Auri was naturally in love.

"Onto business!" Augustus clapped his hands. "I’m sure you have a thousand things to do Dawn, and I apologize for stealing some of your time." He weakly chuckled at his own joke. "If we can clear the room?" He ‘suggested’, and his order was promptly followed by nearly everyone.

"Oh, and grab the offerings!" He shouted after one of the servants leaving. Said servant turned around and bowed, before carrying on.

Only his advisors and a few people I didn’t recognize stuck around.

"Leandros here will be the first." Augustus announced, and the [Lawyer] from the other day approached.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. Like, yeah, I had complete confidence in my healing abilities. I knew I was good. I knew I could do what I said.

But ‘what if’ kept cycling through my head. What if my skill was still on cooldown? What if White Dove’s curse was so vicious that the Emperor backed off from the deal? What if my skill decided to only rewind a few years - after all, at level 2 with "improved accuracy" being one of the things improved by leveling up, it wasn’t exactly a tight and narrow target.

I decided to take it slowly, partly to cover my nerves, and partly so I could check that Leandros knew what he was getting into.

"Right. You’re aware that my skill is going to make you younger, yeah?" I asked him.

"That’s the hope!" He grinned.

"You’re aware that you’re going to get cursed by White Dove as a result, and I can do absolutely nothing about it."

Like they’d been waiting for me to ask, a few servants opened the doors, carefully wheeling in a few tables loaded with a stunning array of foods. Fried meats were next to steaming, fresh-out-of-the-oven bread, seeds were next to fruits, amphorae of wine were arranged next to bowls of clear water.

I did a double-take at the fruits.

"Are those apples?!" I asked, distracted.

"Apples." Augustus said, like he was tasting the word. "We’d been calling them something else, but the word works."

"Yeah, apples." I said, all sorts of distracted. I’d only seen them in the dwarven lands, which had all sorts of implications as to what the army and Emperor were, doing, and-

"Auri! No." I sternly rebuked her, catching her in [Mantle].

"Brrrpt!" She protested. She wanted to taste the delicious foods!

"Listen to me." I said, all too aware of the sheer number of eyes watching me, judging my parenting skills. I wanted to scream to myself that this was not the place!!

"Brrrpt." Auri was giving me some sass.

"No, listen." Something in my tone got Auri to perk up. "That’s for White Dove."

"Brrrpt?"

"The personification of death herself."

"BRRRPT!!"

"We absolutely, totally, for certain, under no conditions, want to mess with her."

"Brrrpt!!"

"Which includes eating the food meant for her."

"Brrpt!"

"Oh little one." Augustus interrupted. "Once White Dove has had her fill, the rest is intended to be a celebratory feast for us."

"Brrpt!" Auri liked the idea.

Leandros coughed into his hand.

"Yes, I’m aware that I’ll be cursed."

"Ok, are you aware that curses get as bad as ‘turn to stone when sunlight hits you’?"

"I didn’t know that, no."

"Sure you still want to go through with this?"

"Naturally. The gift of life, the gift of time, is quite literally priceless. There is nothing in the world that can compare. Three hundred more years to live? I’ll adapt."

Right then.

"How young would you like to be, keeping in mind that my skill is still low level, and you might end up a fair bit older or younger than your target age."

"What’s the youngest you can go?" Leandros countered with.

I grimaced.

"Eight."

He glanced back at one set of hanger-ons that I didn’t recognize, and traded nods with them. Given the ages and people involved, I was guessing they were his family. Made sense that they’d want to see this in action, but ugh.

The cat wasn’t just out of the bag, the cat was out of the bag and yodeling from the highest tower.

"I’d like to do that."

I wasn’t thrilled with that idea.

"Right, let me try to talk you out of eight for a moment here." I crossed my arms.

"First, you’re going to have the mind of an eight year old, and all that entails. Immaturity’s going to be a big issue. You’re going to have to go through puberty again. Nobody’s going to take you seriously. Your parts aren’t going to function. There’s a high chance you’ll be mistaken for a changeling, and killed out of hand, ‘just in case’, and that’s what I can think of off the top of my head! It sucks!"

The last bit had been from the heart. I remembered being a… kinda adult in a kid’s body.

I’d be dreaming if I thought Augustus didn’t know about me being god-touched, with priest Demos having had a whole conversation with me about that, Ranger Command knowing, most of the Rangers knowing, the Sentinels…

I was terrible with secrets. Then again, being open and honest had mostly worked out for me, with only a few hiccups here and there. This current situation being one of them.

"With all that said, yes. I do." Leandros answered. "There are twelve years between eight and twenty. Those twelve years are worth almost thirty years of time. Thirty years. Look at what you’ve accomplished in twenty, look at what I’ve done in ninety, an additional thirty years is nothing to sneeze at. Even if they’re subpar, they’re all when my body is in its prime, and they’ll build an even stronger foundation for me to enjoy the rest of my life. The maturity thing is new, but I have a Mirage class. Good for exhibits and demonstrations as needed. It’s easy enough for me to create, and maintain, an illusion of myself. The gods know I’ve done it often enough to look presentable."

Leandros’s passion was evident, and I mentally shrugged.

It was his call. I gave him the best advice I could, and it wouldn’t harm him.

"Approach then."

Leandros got close, and I mentally cursed my short stature. There just wasn’t the same gravitas with him towering over me.

"If you could kneel, that’d be great." I said, and Leandros promptly complied.

Helped hammer home just how desperate, just how badly, he wanted to become young again.

I put my hand on his forehead and focused on [The Stars Never Fade]. Pressure started to build up in me, as I constructed my mental image of what I wanted to happen. I pictured Leandros, then imagined him younger. From his current early-70’s healthy appearance, to a hale 50. A vital 30. An energetic 20. The pressure continued to grow.

I was stretching the imagination as I tried to picture him as a kid, and I had a feeling that my image probably wasn’t all that great.

Then the pressure inside of me exploded out, and the room went entirely dark. The vast, endless void of space was all around us, swallowing us whole. Not a single shape could be seen in the darkness.

Then, like a hundred thousand fireflies, small specks of light, every color of the rainbow, erupted all around us. They danced and swirled, a grand cosmic waltz across the heavens. They formed into clusters and clumps, then started to spin, creating galaxies and nebulae.

Then the entire universe started to move around us, as we zipped through the grand fabric of space. We passed by planets, and plunged through stars. We surfed along the rings of a gas giant, and watched in awe as a small blue marble, teeming with life, passed us by. We watched comets with their sparkling tails, and detoured around black holes and their glorious glowing coronets.

We witnessed the end of a star, as it went supernova. A bright flash of light blinded us all, and got an outraged "Brrrpt!" from my shoulder.

Sights weird and fantastical passed us. The one that struck me the most was a shimmering blue crystal spinning through space, with a skeletal person ‘swimming’ away from it, heading to a nearby planet.

Space here was weird.

Time was impossible to track. After an eternity, a second, we stopped at a white dwarf, an aged star still barely hanging on.

As we watched, the star expanded, material being quickly drawn in from around the solar system. The star expanded, and in a burst of darkness, an enormous red star was spinning in front of us.

That wasn’t the end, not by a long shot. The star compressed, becoming a bright blue giant. We stayed at that stage for a moment, before the star seemed to ‘breathe out’, turning into a swirling mass of gas, on the cusp of allowing gravity to finish collapsing it. A deep glow came from deep within, lighting the gasses.

The scene froze, and we got to watch it for a moment before everything slowly faded out, returning us to normalcy.

[*ding!* [The Stars Never Fade] has leveled up! 2->3]

The first thing I noticed were a half-dozen guards surrounding Augustus, having sprung out from I-don’t-know-where.

Whoops. Should’ve told them that they’d completely lose sight of him.

The second was the boy standing in front of me. I’d kind of missed the mark, he was more eleven, maybe twelve, rather than eight.

Still a stupid number of years.

He was looking with fascination at his hands, and the whole hall was silent for a moment.

I felt the weight of a second bird alight on my shoulder, making me feel balanced.

Even though I knew it’d happen, I still felt my mouth go dry. Something about the Grim Reaper being on my shoulder, able to end me with a thought, did that.

"Cousin." White Dove broke the silence as she addressed Auri.

"Brrrpt?!" Auri didn’t understand at all, but White Dove was already moving on.

"Manius Leandros Secundus. [Meticulous Solicitor of the Twelve Tablets]. [Curiosa Philosopher]." White Dove listed off what I assumed were his classes.

Leandros bowed, the solemn look on his face contrasting with his youthful features.

"White Dove." His eyebrows quirked in surprise as his voice broke, and I had a small wave of schadenfreude. This was what he wanted, after all. "I have prepared a number of offerings for you." He straightened up and gestured towards the table.

"You attempt to show me respect in one move, as you perform the greatest disrespect possible by stealing time from me." White Dove practically spat at him, and I felt a shiver go down my spine.

Perhaps it was worth testing a few different things, to see if anything could mollify White Dove. Use the rewinds I was doing for some test cases.

At the same time - I knew exactly what I was doing. Why hide it? Why pretend to be doing something else? I was stealing time from White Dove, and I was proud of it.

"You came to this, fully knowing what you were doing, and chose to do it anyways. Trying to steal as much as you could from me." White Dove’s words reverberated in me, striking deep at the very core of my being.

"I curse you." She said, and the world trembled at her power.

"You believe yourself to be so smooth. So perfect. Always having the right words. Well now. I curse you to be able to only speak the truth. To speak the entire truth, actively making sure that there is no misunderstanding, and to correct twisted words wherever you see them."

The words settled around Leandros like chains.

"I only partially understand you, White Dove." A grimace twisted Leandros’s face as he said that.

Oh, if only I was a spectator, and not the creator of White Dove’s wrath. This would be endlessly entertaining.

Still, I had a half-plan of my own, that I needed to enact before White Dove left. I twisted my head just a bit, enough to be able to look at White Dove while keeping her perch entirely still.

"White Dove. Would you like to sit and chat? Perhaps have a fruit?"

I was unashamedly stealing time from her, but there was no reason we couldn’t be cordial at least.

She’d be one constant in the centuries and millennia to come. Unlike normal Immortals, I’d be meeting up with her regularly.

Her eye locked onto mine.

"With the one who steals time from me, again and again? Your attempts at appeasement are futile."

My gaze was steady.

"Yep. I’ve stolen time from you before, and I’ll do it again. We’re going to meet many times over the eons; must we meet as mortal foes? You come for us all in the end, after all."

White Dove said nothing. She took off from my shoulder, flew to the table, grabbed the apple, then transformed into Black Crow before flying and fading away.

I’d had the presence of mind this time to try and study her flight. I had no idea if it’d upgrade [Scintillating Ascent], but if I ever pulled it off?

Whoof. I had to imagine that it’d be an amazing upgrade for the skill. It might even evolve the skill to a new one! [Flight of the Grim Reaper] or something.

I couldn’t even begin to imagine what such a flying skill would do, but White Dove//Black Crow seemed to be an omnipresent force.

I snapped out of my daydream. I hadn’t succeeded yet.

"Sentinel Dawn. I am extremely grateful for what you’ve done, enough so to do you a few favors. As long as they appear to be legal, I’m not quite grateful enough to do you some illegal favors. To be clear, there are illegal favors I trade - oh fuck." Leandros slapped a hand over his mouth, but couldn’t stop talking.

"Usually around bribing small official - fuck - and often with the records - changing the subject I find you very attractive. Not in a marrying way, but I’d love to -"

Blessedly, his family came over, and one of the burly men slapped his hand over Leandros’s mouth, properly muffling him.

"Sorry about that. Dunno what came over gramps." He said.

I was going beet red from everything Leandros had said, and Augustus was giving us a thoughtful, measuring look.

"Leandros, why don’t you go home? Stretch out a bit, figure out the ins and outs of your curse. We can discuss more in the morning."

Leandros nodded, and shuffled out with his family. I heard muffled words the entire way.

"Well!" Augustus got up, clapping his hands. "That was quite the performance! Leandros is young again, White Dove made an appearance, and that is one of the most fascinating curses I can think of! It’ll be hard for him to adjust, but once he does? Once it’s known that Leandros must tell the truth? Why, his reputation will skyrocket!" Augustus started to pick at the food, popping a grape into his mouth.

"Mmmm. Simply divine. Come, come, let us celebrate the second life Leandros has gotten, and the marvelous abilities of Sentinel Dawn!"

"Brrrrpt!!!"

Auri wasted no time, moving at top speed to the table and claiming a jug of juice. She started to noisily drink as I grinned at her.

Might as well enjoy the party.

Chapter 26
The Triumph of Sentinel Dawn I

I spent the bare minimum amount of time needed to be polite before bailing. And by that, I meant I stayed until Auri had finished gorging herself, and I’d looted all the mangos.

"Dawn! When can we expect the next rewind?" Augustus asked as he clapped me on the shoulder.

"Still unsure on the cooldown. However, with this, I hope I’ve demonstrated that I can uphold my end of the bargain. After the changes we discussed are made." I said.

I wasn’t good at bargaining, negotiations, or politics. I wasn’t a complete idiot - if I did my part, there was no incentive or reason for Augustus to uphold his end, especially if he was willing to take the reputational hit.

Augustus patted me once more on the shoulder.

"A wise move! Do you know why White Dove called Auri ‘cousin’?"

I looked at the phoenix in question. She had little bits of food burning on her, as she indolently lay on the table with a round belly. Not exactly the picture of grace, elegance, and power, nor a close relative of White Dove.

The colors were all wrong, to start.

"I have no idea." I told him. "I didn’t think the personification of death itself had relatives."

"Curious." He agreed. "Well, I hope you enjoy! The Triumph’s been scheduled, and someone will be sent to Ranger HQ to work on your end with the details."

I made a few more polite noises, and seeing that Auri had stuffed herself, unceremoniously left.

The week passed by quickly enough. I was practically tripping over runners as they scurried back and forth between Ranger HQ, and all the other places they were dealing with.

I wished the Triumph was entirely out of my hair, but it wasn’t. I got pulled into a dozen different meetings, usually headed by the [Master of Ceremonies], just to make sure I was ok with this route, or that route, or did we want to go by my house, or what color should the horses be, or…

I honestly didn’t care, except when a question came up that I suddenly did care about. Like, did I want to wear a tunic, or armor? Was Auri going to be joining me, or would she be a bystander?

Armor, and Auri was going to be with me. Still, the ratio of wasted time to stuff getting done was atrocious. Made me wish for emails and the like, but even then I just knew we’d be getting meetings that should’ve been an email instead.

My desire to just get away from it all was increasing. Life was easier, in some ways, when I was lower level and lower profile.

In spite of my high stress levels from the endless meetings, life was going well. No urgents calls for Sentinel Dawn came in. SERE training had been going on for years, and I smoothed over a few minor bumps. A couple of Rangers got hurt in training, but nothing serious. They were back in action a few minutes after limping over to where I was.

Sadly, my time helping Autumn in the marketplace bore the brunt of there being so many meetings. I was barely able to show up, and give her tips.

Frankly, at the stage she was at, the most important part of me mentoring her was the publicity of it. If someone wanted free healing from the famous Sentinel Dawn, they had to go through her apprentice first. It gave her a number of patients that she wouldn’t otherwise get, which translated to experience and levels.

One day, hopefully soon, she’d hit the magic formula of enough levels and prestige that people would be coming to see her, and then she’d be set.

I wouldn’t dare to think she’d be set for life. Autumn’s financial ambitions made that impossible.

Finally, the day arrived.

My preparations began the previous evening, meeting with Night.

"Dawn. Once again, I would like to congratulate you on reaching the milestone level. It is a shame that I will not be present at tomorrow’s festivities." Night said, and we started to slowly walk together through the tunnel leading to Ranger Academy.

"Thank you." I accepted his words with good grace, our prior argument in the past. It was done, there was no sense angsting over it now. I briefly wondered what Night would be doing instead of attending the Triumph, but…

Vampire. Sunlight. The question answered itself. The question that hadn’t answered itself was ‘Did Night get his own Triumph, and was it held at night?’

The answer to that was no. Night liked staying out of sight, out of mind, for a staggeringly long list of reasons that basically boiled down to ‘hard to kill someone you didn’t know existed’ and ‘keep the Immortal vampire somewhat secret.’

"Tomorrow will be somewhat special. Pomp, ceremony, and circumstances demand it. I do not believe you will have any extravagant late-night romps, nor discover a deadly plague while you are busy visiting the world of dreams. At this moment, are you aware of any circumstances that demand that we deploy a Sentinel?" Night asked.

I shook my head.

"Nothing."

Night gave me a brisk nod.

"Very well. Given the preparations you will undoubtably want to make, you are excused from tomorrow’s morning meeting. If some circumstance demands that you are deployed, Sentinel Maestrai will be sent to give you the details."

I nodded. A Sentinel mission, especially the types I was sent on, meant thousands of people would die if I didn’t get there as quickly as possible. It beat a parade any day of the week.

I was curious though.

"What would happen to the Triumph if I was deployed tomorrow?" I asked.

Night raised an eyebrow at me.

"Why Dawn, don’t you know us well enough by now?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes. Right. I knew the answer to this.

"You’ll place a body double on the chariot, probably Ranger Irus, and have him cast an illusion of me over him. It’ll look like I’m there."

"Mmm, close. Ranger Irus will be providing the illusions, but a shorter Ranger would be selected to stand in your place."

Smoke and mirrors.

"Anything else?" I asked Night.

"Not unless you wish to participate in mentoring Trainee Ouranos. Quite promising. The way he is able to impart additional stats to his entire squad while being a fine combatant himself is extraordinary, and I’m expecting good things out of him in the years to come."

I knew the Trainee in question, of course, overseeing various classes and fixing people up while they sparred.

"Unfortunately, not tonight." I apologized to Night.

I made my way back home, where I sat down with my fully disassembled gear, and refrained from sighing.

I wouldn’t trust this job to anyone else, no matter how tedious it was. This was my gear, my armor, my protection against the world. A mistake or a screw up could kill me.

I wasn’t Sky. I wasn’t so arrogant as to think I was unkillable, no matter how cockroach-like my skills made me.

I grabbed the brush and my sandals, and got to work.

Brushes and oils, picks and rags, and a dozen other tools were all used to buff and polish my armor to a high sheen. I had to look utterly perfect tomorrow, and I didn’t have a skill that quickly and easily did the job for me. No, it was all manual, Skill-less work.

I did get to use my red cape, which was nice.

Auri was already snoozing in her Arcanite nest, the crystals turning her lovely red-and-rainbow colors into a dizzying nightlight for me to work by. It was quite pretty.

I made it through almost all of my gear, checking and double-checking all of the gems and Arcanite woven throughout. The true life-saving aspects of my armor. I was reaching for my helmet when I paused.

I didn’t need that tomorrow, and it was already late.

I wished I could go to sleep. Not quite yet.

I hadn’t promised I’d do it, but I was going to anyway, because I was Sentinel Dawn. I was going to blast the largest area of effect heal I could while going through the city. Given the timing, and how the [Master of Ceremonies] had arranged it all, nearly everyone watching would be in sunlight.

I constructed a moderately good image of my [Dance with the Heavens], expanding the range with [Wheel of Sun and Moon], and tying the entire thing off with [Persistent Casting]. Normally, I just blasted "heal" when I needed large effects like this. I had the mana to spare.

I was potentially going to heal a hundred thousand people or more tomorrow, within the span of an hour or two. Efficiency suddenly mattered.

However, I couldn’t spend days building the image, although I was probably going to hole up in the Sentinel room for a few days after this to reconstruct the absolutely perfect self-image.

A thought for another day.

Having gotten the prep work done and out of the way, I let myself pass out in my bed.

I woke up early, cursing the nightmare that had ruined my sleep. Bleary-eyed, I shot [Sunrise] through myself, a little disappointed when it didn’t level up.

"Brrrpt! BRRRPT!!!" Auri was flying around me in manic circles.

"Good morning to you as well."

"BRRRPT!!!!"

"Yes, today’s the day we show you off to everyone!"

Auri had it in her mind that the entire Triumph was about her, and eh. I didn’t see the need to correct her.

Next up was a bath. I spent a brief moment luxuriating in the warmth, just closing my eyes and letting it all soak in. Then I got scrubbing, exfoliating myself within an inch of my life.

I put on a light tunic, and tackled breakfast with the family.

Mom had fixed up a marvelous spread of everything. Practically enough food to feed the entire family for a day was shoved in front of me.

"Eat! You’ve got a big day ahead of you." Mom was grinning, and Auri took her rightful spot on mom’s spoon.

"A slow burn please, dear." She told Auri.

"Brrpt!" She followed mom’s command, her wooden perch erupting in flames.

I briefly eyed it. Just how many spoons was mom running through per week?!

"Today’s the day!" Dad was all grins as he sat back in his chair, hands over his stomach. "I never thought I’d see my baby girl the focus of a Triumph!"

"You still haven’t seen her be the focus of the Triumph." Mom menaced dad with an Auri-enhanced wooden spoon. "And if you don’t get moving, you never will!"

That got dad shooting out of his chair, running around to help.

"AND YOU!" She swung her spoon around, pointing it at Themis.

"BRRRRRRPT!" Auri shrieked with delight at mom’s move, spinning her in a fun way.

"What are you doing! You’re going to be late! Chop chop chop get a move on!"

Each ‘chop’ was punctuated by mom swinging the spoon at Themis, Auri chirping with each move as Themis dipped and wove to evade the fiery menace. The wildly spinning burning spoon ride was a BLAST!

"Ok! Ok! I’m going!" He defended himself.

"Not fast enough!"

Albina came by right as I was finishing breakfast, and it was off to the next stage of my preparations.

"Ok, you need the full works." She fussed around me, while I sat on a chair. Auri was busy having fun with mom.

"Hair length?" She asked.

"Long. Going to have to cut it short after this, but long for now."

Albina gestured, and poof! I had hair!

"Are you keeping it the same color?"

I hadn’t thought of that.

"Yeah, no reason to change it."

"Right, anything in your hair?"

I gave a tiny shake of my head.

"Going to have the golden laurels."

"Right, right, how silly of me to forget, I’ve never done a Triumph before!" Albina was sounding a bit nervous, which was causing me to get cramps in my stomach.

A few more twists and pulls on my hair - all without Albina touching me - and she was done with that part.

"Ok, there’s the hair. No tangling for the next few hours, but the skill will fade. There’s a light breeze, which will look great, but this could become a mess if you’re not careful later on. Now, this is a performance, not day to day life." Albina said. "I suggest much heavier makeup than normal, like what a [Thespian] would use. It doesn’t look as good close-up, but it looks better from a distance."

I hesitated a moment.

"Whatever you think looks best." I said, trusting Albina to do her job well. She didn’t come over and tell me that I was setting bones wrong, I wasn’t going to tell her she didn’t know that performance vs normal makeup were different.

I leaned back and closed my eyes as she got to work. A number of quick dabs figured out the right colors to use, followed by a foundation layer. My healing made my skin flawless and without scars, and Albina moved right on to blush, bronzer, and highlights.

"With your healing, do you still want me to avoid lead?" Albina asked.

I thought about it a moment, then nodded.

"Pretty sure I can heal myself of lead, but can you? Plus, I don’t think it sets the best example."

Albina fussed over me a moment more, carefully applying layer after layer.

"How’s Primus?" I asked, and I felt her light up next to me.

"Oh, it’s so wonderful now! The bit of help you’re sending me is simply divine. It’s let me get on top of things, and now I don’t feel constantly overwhelmed. By the goddesses Elaine, you’ve been a lifesaver. Why, just the other day…"

I tried to relax as Albina nattered on about Primus, moving onto the eyes, then my nails, hands and feet, and finishing it off with some tasteful lipstick. A subtle amount, almost impossible to tell it was there if someone didn’t know what they were looking for.

"And set!" Albina used one of her skills to keep everything perfect.

"Auri, if you light my hair on fire before the event’s over, so help me." I told the fiery menace as I got up.

"Brrrpt?!"

"Yeah you." I pointed a finger at Auri, as Albina used one of her skills to summon a mirror.

I looked weird. Like a doll.

"You’re sure?" I asked her.

"Yes, watch." The mirror distorted, and suddenly it was like I was looking at myself from far away, with bright sunlight on me.

"Oh." I looked much better.

"See?" Albina was more than a bit smug.

"It’s perfect." It really was. "You should probably try to get a good spot. There’s a reserved section, but…

Albina flapped her hand at me.

"I know, I know. I was that girl once upon a time, sneaking into the places I shouldn’t be for a good view. I’ll stick around until you leave, in case you have any last second needs."

I nodded my thanks, and moved on.

Getting my armor on was ironically harder than usual. I had to be extra-careful to not mess up anything Albina had done, although my dexterity came in handy. The lorica musculata went on first, followed by the tough, metal-reinforced leather skirt. Numerous buckles were tightened, long practice making the motions second nature. I put on my sandals, tightening my greaves over them, before slipping on my bracers.

The set was new, but the [Armorers] that the Rangers had were good enough to make it feel exactly like my old set, hugging me like a second skin.

Lastly was my cape, a regal red that looked totally cool. Incredibly impractical in a fight, but hey! This was a parade, not combat.

"Brrpt. BRRRPT!" Auri was looking at my outfit, and complaining. If my head was off-limits because my hair would burn, and my shoulders were off-limits because my cape would burn, where was a bird to sit?!

Honestly, it was like I didn’t like all my worldly possessions going up in flames.

I patted my armguard, as I held the arm in question at chest level. Like a [Falconer].

"Right here! I can twist and turn and show you off!"

"Brrrpt!" Auri flitted over, and landed on the offered perch.

"Brrrpt. Brrrpt. Brrrpt." Auri complained as she couldn’t get a good grip on the smooth, flat metal.

"Once we get there, you can fly around me, won’t that look cool?"

"Brrrpt!" Auri agreed.

My worldly possessions and hair once again safely negotiated for from the flaming pyro-terrorist, I moved onto the next stage.

"Kallisto!" I greeted my favorite member of Ranger Team 1 at the door. He was in his full gear as well, helmet and cape included.

"Elaine! You’re looking great as always! All set?"

"Yup! Unless you see something out of place?"

"Give me a moment." He said, circling around me a few times.

"Brrpt!"

"And a very good morning to you as well, Auri." Kallisto finished his third lap. "Everything’s in shape, let’s go."

"Gotta wait for Themis. THEMIS!" I yelled into the house.

"I’m coming!" He yelled back.

"HURRY UP!"

The issue with being made to look picture-perfect - half my movements would ruin the image. Too much high-speed flying would break the skill Albina put on my hair and turn my long locks into a tangled mess, walking through the crowds would get me jostled and ruin part of the picture, there was mud and dust and a dozen other ways I could end up not looking my absolute best, which was against the whole idea.

I needed - wanted - to make the Sentinels look good. A great big mud pie on my back would do the exact opposite.

Hence Kallisto and a few guards to work as escorts.

Themis stormed out of the house, wearing a simple white tunic. He paled a bit as all of us looked at him, giving him a critical once-over.

I snorted after a moment.

"You and mom did a good job." I praised him, and his chest swelled.

"Right, let’s move." I ordered. I was not only the star of the show, but technically the boss of half the people here.

We carefully weaved our way through and out of the city, to where everyone else was staging for the event. My [Persistent Casting] was still locked and on, healing everyone who got near us as we walked.

"Dawn, you’re here, excellent, excellent." The [Master of Ceremonies] hurried up to me as we arrived. Dude seemed to be thriving on the event, and I’d eat my laurels if he didn’t get a few levels out of this.

"Metellus! Please show Dawn her spot." He barked out an order. "Scipiones! Find out what the gate guards are doing. Titus! I need you to…"

He kept a half dozen members of his staff hopping, arranging people, making sure everything was just so.

Themis followed me as I was led to a fantastic chariot, with scenes of powerful warriors triumphing over various monsters wrought in bronze. Two white horses were restlessly pulling at the reins, held by a man at the front.

"[Charioteer] Junius! I’ll be driving, just invisible." He told me as I stepped up into the chariot. I felt my lips twitch, trying to form a smile, as I saw the wooden block in the middle.

I was short. The chariot was big. Normally, I’d only have my shoulders and head clear of the top, which didn’t look good.

"A pleasure to meet you. What happens with the reins?"

I’d probably been told at some point, but hadn’t bothered to listen. Just another one of the way too boring meetings, versus finding out now.

"You’ll hold them, but don’t worry! I’ll have my hands on them, and with my skills, it’ll work out."

I shrugged.

"Alrighty then!"

I got into position. Left hand holding the reins, right arm up holding Auri. I was lucky, as my entire job was to stand here, looking good. I got to watch everyone else running around. Themis got onto the back of the chariot, and ugh. Even with the blocks, he was still a hair taller than I was.

"Memento mori." Themis whispered. I rolled my eyes.

"Brrrpt!"

"Save it for when we’ve started!"

"Just practicing." He cheerfully replied.

"Just enjoying being able to annoy the snot out of me." I retorted.

"Yeah, that as well." He amicably agreed.

Little brothers. Couldn’t live with them. Couldn’t live without them.

I had a dozen snarky retorts to memento mori. In short, it was supposed to be a reminder that I was only mortal. Only human.

I considered retorting that I planned to live a long, long, life, and I was nearly unkillable. Given that I was currently and actively annoying White Dove/Black Crow, that felt like I’d be jinxing things a bit. Plus, I didn’t want to rub it in.

I still didn’t know how I was going to handle being able to hand out immortality and my family. Where did I draw the line? Themis’s kids? Grandkids? Was there a generation where I said "sorry too bad?" Was there a point where I said "nah, I don’t like you enough, you die of old age?"

Would there be a point where I couldn’t cast [The Stars Never Fade] fast enough?

Tricky, difficult questions. I left them for future Elaine. I had a few decades at least before I needed to work those problems out. There was no sense agonizing over it now when the solution could reveal itself later.

Thirty minutes of rearrangement later, and a whole orchestra of cornua was blown with great fanfare. A number of drums started their slow roll, and the Triumph of Sentinel Dawn began.

Chapter 27
The Triumph of Sentinel Dawn II

I had a good view. First through the gates were a few squads of local guards, the best of the best selected for the honor. A day’s pay to have people cheering for them instead of running down [Scoundrels]? A day where people were too busy celebrating to get in trouble? That was their kind of day!

Next up were the instruments, heralding the Triumph. A few soldiers, all with appropriate Sound classes, amplified their playing. Normally, they’d all have buff skills of various types, but they weren’t using them today. Too easy to throw someone off a hair, and then we’d commit the worst sin of all.

We’d look bad.

An honor guard was next, proudly flying the standard of Remus, the Senate, and the army. Three Centuries of soldiers followed them, marching in thunderous lockstep, sunlight gleaming off their polished and shined armor.

The Ranger Trainees were next, and I had no particularly strong feelings one way or another on their inclusion. There’d been a lot of arguing about it, that I unavoidably heard.

On one hand, they weren’t Rangers, they were Trainees. They didn’t have the same gravitas.

On the other, the number of Rangers and Sentinels at the capital was laughable. We needed warm bodies to fill in our numbers, and the Trainees did have their own sets of gear, and could march together while looking good.

The hundred-odd Ranger Trainees did fill out our numbers nicely, and the Rangers of Team 0 and Team 1 came after them, marching two by two.

Anything to extend the parade.

Most of the Sentinels were next. A few weren’t in town - Destruction, Brawling, and Toxic weren’t around, while Night and Acquisition were skipping the festivities. That only left seven Sentinels, before myself. They moved more casually, and some of the Sentinels were showing off what they could do. Ocean was being carried by waves on a chair of water, little ‘sea monsters’ popping out here and there as he moved along. Bulwark looked like he was on top of a short walking tower, while Nature had trees growing out of him.

Then came my chariot, and Auri did a hummingbird-giggle as the horses started pulling us along.

"Do not light the horses on fire." I harshly whispered to Auri.

"Brrrpt…?"

"See, if you do, we’ll have to stop. If we stop, nobody will throw flowers at us. If nobody’s throwing flowers at us, how are you supposed to burn them?"

"Brrrpt!!"

"Yeah, that’s right."

I was getting some nervous looks from the Ranger Commanders, who were in a loose circle around me. As the bosses, they got to bask somewhat in my glory.

Behind me was yet another Century of troops, and the support staff of Ranger HQ got the dubious honor of being the rearguard.

Then we were passing through the gates of the city, and the cheering hit me like a physical wall.

"Remember, you are only human." Themis whispered in my ear, then I executed a skill every older sister needed.

[Ignore Annoying Younger Brother]. I hadn’t spent a ton of time at home with him, but I didn’t need the System to offer me the skill.

I already had it capped.

"BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPT!" Auri shrieked at the crowds, spreading her wings and letting little puffs of multi-colored flame come off of her. She slowly flapped her wings, letting colorful embers spark shower around her.

"BRRRRRRRRRRRPT!" She cried once again, reveling in the attention.

And what attention it was.

We were traveling up the main avenue through the city, but the roads weren’t exactly cart and wagon only, nor had they been entirely cleared for us. There was significant room for crowds, and it was packed. Throngs of people were cheering at us, cheering at me, as flowers, seeds, and other small miscellaneous items were tossed at us. Auri ignited everything that came near us, flowers vanishing in a brilliant flash of fire - which the crowds loved. Word spread faster than a wildfire that anything thrown at us would turn into part of the show, and Auri got showered in flowers.

She was going to have SUCH a swollen head from all this.

I plastered a smile on, and carefully waved at the crowds. Even though I knew the [Charioteer] was invisible and in front of me, holding and guiding the reins, it felt weird. I was convinced I’d screw it up if I jerked too fast, so I was careful because of that arm.

And, of course, Auri was on my other arm, and I didn’t want to shake her off either. Hence, slow turnings, smiling, and waving.

I kept an eye on my mana, and to my great relief, I was doing just fine. Yeah, it was slowly ticking down, but it was going at a slow enough rate that I thought it’d last the entire time.

We hadn’t advertised that I’d be blasting a heal - heck, I’d told nobody I was going to do it - but when everyone got home? Thousands of people would notice. Would easily put one and one together - ‘That high level healer we just saw fixed us!’

Tens of thousands of people more would get small problems fixed before they noticed. The start of a cold. A brewing cancer. The scars a rash left. Diseases hiding in nerves, parasites burrowed into muscles. An aneurysm on the verge of bursting. They’d never know what I’d done, but I would.

Of course, there was a strong chance I’d have a mob of angry healers outside my door tomorrow. I was kinda kicking their livelihoods and income squarely in the family jewels, and I’d be mightily annoyed if the situation was reversed.

That wasn’t going to stop me.

We continued through the city, Auri occasionally taking flight. She’d circle around me, brrpting! happily, then flying over the crowds.

She was the darling of the show, the cute entertainment nobody expected.

Her only issue was her size - when she wasn’t near me, not enough eyes were drawn to her!

"Brrpt! BRRRPT!" Auri cried out as she landed on my armguard.

"Yeah! This is totally awesome!" I agreed with her.

"Brrrrpt!!!?"

"I don’t know when we can do this again."

"Brrrpt…"

"Don’t be sad! Enjoy it while it lasts! BURN THE ROSE!"

"BRRPT!"

Reinvigorated, Auri went to it with gusto.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Dawn Sentinel] has leveled up to level 512->513 +3 Dexterity, +24 Speed, +24 Vitality, +170 Mana, +170 Mana Regen, +48 Magic power, +48 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Free Stat for being Human per level! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

YES! Healing thousands and thousands of people in a great big event was good enough for a level!

[*ding!* [Dance with the Heavens] has leveled up! 512-> 513]

[*ding!* [Wheel of Sun and Moon] has leveled up! 512-> 513]

[*ding!* [Bullet Time] has leveled up! 512-> 513]

[*ding!* [Sentinel’s Superiority] has leveled up! 512-> 513]

[*ding!* [Oath of Elaine to Lyra] has leveled up! 376 -> 377!]

[*ding!* [Celestial Affinity] has leveled up! 473 -> 474!]

[*ding!* [Cosmic Presence] has leveled up! 300 -> 301!]

I didn’t care a ton about the adults, but the kids?

Ah, watching the kids was a joy in and of itself. Made the entire hassle worth it.

I was going to get a ton of little copycats, little kids wanting to be the totally awesome Sentinel Dawn. Most wouldn’t make it, but some would follow their dream.

Before long, we were pulling up in front of the Senate, where Augustus and the two other members of the Triumvirate were waiting, green laurels contrasting with my golden ones.

They’d done up the Senate, and it was looking grand. All shining marble, fluttering banners, and golden trimmings.

Technically, Augustus ruled with two other people. Practically, he was emperor.

The chariot stopped, and I carefully got off, Auri fluttering around me. To the cheers of the crowd, I slowly walked up the Senate steps, pausing one step below the Emperor.

The height difference plus the stair practically had me at kneeling height, which was one of those weird compromises that had been hammered out.

Augustus held up his hand, and after a few minutes, the crowds calmed down, and the cheering died out.

One of the members of the Triumvirate stepped forward, and started his speech.

"Friends, Remans, countrymen! Today, we celebrate the accomplishments of Sentinel Dawn! The third person to reach level 512, and unlock her third class, Dawn is the foremost protector of Remus! First a Ranger, then a Sentinel, Dawn has worked tirelessly her entire life to better our lives! From plagues to tsunamis, from rebellions to volcanic eruptions, Dawn is always at the tip of the spear, pulling people from the brink of death! The creator of the Medical Manuscripts, she has revolutionized the medical art in Remus! Teacher! Dutiful daughter! Sentinel Dawn is the model that every man and woman should aspire towards! She was a member of the Sentinel strike force that helped deal a devastating blow to the Formorians, allowing Imperator Augustus to finish them off!"

I kept my eyes still, although I wanted to roll them SO hard. Every other sentence the dude was saying was punctuated by wild cheering.

"Even more recently, Dawn discovered an enclave of creatures called shimagu, who have been secretly kidnapping and enslaving our citizens! In a bold, daring strike, Dawn single-handedly eradicated an entire city of these shimagu, freeing tens of thousands of our countrymen!"

That wasn’t how I remembered things going down at all. More blasted propaganda.

"The savior of Remus! SENTINEL DAWN!" He finished his speech, and I smiled and waved at the crowd, while Auri went nuts.

Interestingly, I could see her beak moving, but no sound coming out. Must have something to do with whoever was handling the Sound back here, amplifying the Triumvirate, and muting the rest of us so we wouldn’t screw it up. Otherwise, an errant cough would get magnified.

The second member of the Triumvirate stepped forward as the other dude stepped back. The crowd eventually quieted down.

"Remus was founded by brave [Warriors], fighting against monsters and the dark. The entire world around us was hostile, dangerous, terrifying. A woman couldn’t go down to the river without fear that a crocodile would leap out and eat her, and vicious dinosaurs would raid nurseries in the night. [Warriors] kept us safe. [Warriors] slew monsters. And the [Warriors] were all men. To laud their achievements, they were given a special status in Remus, which morphed into citizenship. There was no forethought on the matter, simply acknowledgement of dutiful, dangerous service to the people. Yet, over time, under the stewardship of the old Senate, this system has done us numerous disservices. Why, Sentinel Dawn, for all her accomplishments, couldn’t even become a citizen! She couldn’t even vote!"

Loud boos accompanied his announcement, people throwing out thumbs-down motions in their displeasure.

I didn’t believe a word he said for a second. The story sounded great, but there was too much ‘look at our brave military, fighting evil’, and ‘the prior government we replaced was bad’ for me to think this was anything other than an extremely carefully crafted speech, designed to sway public opinion in the direction he wanted.

In other words, a load of horseshit. I’d made peace ages ago that, in order to get what I wanted, I’d need to wade through some of this nonsense.

I didn’t like it, but it was life. Sometimes, I had to put up with the bad parts, to get the good parts. I wasn’t going to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

"Today, we rectify that! There will no longer be a difference between women and men in the eyes of the law! Women can now be the head of a household! Women can now own property! And lastly, women can now become citizens of our fine nation!"

There was a brief pause as the crowd processed what he was saying, then they exploded.

The noise had a distinctly higher pitch than usual to it, and the Triumvirate plowed on, over their - mostly - screams of approval.

"I would like to recognize Sentinel Dawn as the first female citizen of Remus!"

I held my arms up - Auri included - and basked in the cheers.

Fucking. Finally.

I was going to vote in whatever was next, no matter how inconsequential or tiny it was. Best baker contest? I was in.

Emperor Augustus stepped forward, and the cheers eventually died down. People only had so much voice.

"The shimagu are a menace. They are small parasites, able to take over a body and perfectly mimic their actions. A shimagu-controlled host talks like you. Walks like you. Looks like you. But is plotting against you, trying to best figure out when and where to kill you and your children. Only thanks to the operations of Sentinel Dawn were we able to discover their secret activities against us."

Oh no.

I did not like where this was going. This was standard "how to whip up a population against a foreign enemy 101".

Even I knew that!

"For decades, if not centuries, they have been infiltrating our lands. Invading bodies. Kidnapping and enslaving people, then starting their own human breeding program. They exist just outside our borders, preying on us!"

He paused a moment, whipping up the crowd. Listening to their jeers and boos.

"NO MORE! Sentinel Dawn has given us a detailed map of where they are. How they operate." He paused again. "How to kill them."

Cheers again, but they were bloodthirsty. I’d seen tamer crowds in the Colosseum when a dinosaur was killed.

"They are cowards! Treacherous, backstabbing scum of the worst type! I say, NO MORE! Never again! Not a single Reman more will be taken by them! Today, I am ordering the 4th through 15th legion to Port Salona, where they will be staging to fight back against the shimagu! We will burn their cities!"

Wild cheering.

"Salt their lands!"

More cheering, with thunderous applause.

"And we will not rest until they are all dead!"

Chapter 28
Musings on the 3rd class I

"Thanks for helping me out." I plopped down at a table with Artemis and Maximus, relaxing at the school after a lecture.

"Brrrpt. Brrrpt!" Auri took a drink out of the dish Maximus laid out for her, appreciating the Good Stuff.

"Of course! You’re sure we can’t pay you?" Maximus asked. "It’d be the easiest thing. What you’re doing for us is just so valuable…"

I shuddered.

"No, please. I’m Oathbound not to, remember?"

Maximus looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged.

"I don’t remember, but if you say so."

"We’d help you out anyway, healy-bug." Artemis leaned back in her chair, putting her feet on the table. Maximus gave her a dirty look.

"It’s my school, my chair, and my table. I can put my feet on it if I want." Artemis defended herself. Maximus just sighed.

"Moving on. 3rd class, right?" He asked me.

I nodded.

"I’ve gotten some good advice from Night, Hunting, and Destruction. Specifically, wait some time to figure it out, find something I love, and find something that works with my kit. Given that you’ve made a study out of this, I was wondering about your input."

"Know what you want before you go in." Artemis cheerfully told me. "Like. The System’s pretty cool. If you work towards a specific class, it’ll be on offer in your first class-up. It might not be the best choice there. Gods, it’s unlikely to be. But it will be there."

"You should pay attention to all this Auri, it’ll help you get better Fire classes."

"BRRPT!"

Auri was instantly lasered in on my two mentors.

It was all about the right motivation.

"It’s worth playing around with your general skills." Maximus leaned forward, getting animated. "You can probably get an Earth [Mage] class easily enough. But if you know you’re getting Earth [Mage], you can temporarily ditch a few of your general skills, get [Meditation] and a few more related skills, level them up, then class up. It’ll give you a significantly stronger start on the class, potentially move and merge the general skills into class skills, which will accumulate and build up as you advance your class. You can also remove the skills after getting the class, and put your old skills back in."

"At level 1." Artemis added in.

"At level 1." Maximus agreed. "Normally, I’d caution you on how long it takes to level the general skills back up, but… that’s not a concern for you, is it?"

I shook my head.

I had time. Finally. Time, and more importantly, safety. I’d rushed quite a few class ups when I was younger, desperate for enough power to not be left behind. Needing strength to protect myself.

Well, I don't have those concerns now. Death was no longer nipping at my heels. I could take the time to do this right.

"You should bond with Auri first." Artemis added in.

"Brrrrrrpt?"

"Bonding is…" I trailed off, not sure how to explain it super well.

Artemis and Maximus glanced at each other.

"Does Auri not know about companion bonds?" Maximus asked.

I frowned.

"I don’t think so…"

"Auri, would you like to learn about them?" Maximus asked.

"They’re a totally cool skill that relates to me." I added in.

"Brrrpt!"

"Right, Auri and I will duck out for a minute." Maximus and Auri left to another room.

"Let’s talk about you." Artemis took her feet off the table, and sat up somewhat normally. "There’s quite a few ways we can go about this, but let’s tackle abstractions. [Warrior]. [Mage]. [Healer]. [Ranger]. [Laborer]. [Artisan]. [Leader]. [Priest]. And a few more esoteric ones. Are there any that jump out at you?"

"[Healer]." I answered, and at Artemis’s puzzled look, I explained.

"My healing class and abilities are top-notch. I have a few small holes in what I can and can’t do currently, but nothing major. I just don’t see myself taking another [Healer] class. What would I do with it?"

Artemis patted her sides and cursed.

"Always forget the damn things. One moment." She ran out of the room, leaving me with a flickering torch for entertainment. I amused myself by eavesdropping on Maximus’s lecture with Auri.

"... bonds are believed to be lifetime, but your lives are not linked. The benefits are numerous, like…"

A moment later I heard Artemis’s footsteps running back through the halls. She came back in, holding a few scrolls and charcoal sticks.

"Let’s write this all down." She handed me the writing implements, and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Running a school, and you’re still trying to get out of work?" I teased her.

"I’ve had you doing my scut work for years, just because you outlevel me, freed me from slavery, and are now a Sentinel doesn’t mean I’m going to start doing it myself again." Artemis had absolutely no shame. Here I was, giving free lectures on medicine, making her school an attractive center of learning, and I was being made to do my own writing.

I wrote down the abstractions - putting in [Other] for the extremely rare ones - and crossed off [Healer].

"Any other ones you feel strongly about?" Artemis asked, and I scanned the list.

"[Priest]." I decisively crossed the option out. "I’m just not that religious."

"A somewhat foolish take." Maximus had absolutely perfect timing with that line, as he and Auri returned to the room. "Not the [Priest] abstraction, but the lack of faith. The gods do regularly answer prayers from the faithful, and it would behoove you to pick one god or goddess, and regularly pray to them. Then, in a moment when it’s needed, you can ask for a boon. It only takes a brief thought in passing, now and then, to potentially save your life one day."

I had to reluctantly admit he had a point there.

"Brrrpt?"

"Yes, there’s a Goddess of Fire. Ildia." I answered Auri.

"Brrrpt!" Auri got a strained, constipated look on her face.

"Don’t hurt yourself."

"I’m a bit surprised you’re not jumping straight to [Mage]." Artemis leaned back. "Last I remember, you were entirely obsessed with magic."

"That’s my problem." I admitted with some embarrassment. "Everything is super cool, how can I decide? Sure, [Mage] lets me manipulate the elements, but an [Artisan] can create gigantic murals with a thought. A [Farmer] can grow an entire field in a day. An [Illusionist] can make themselves invisible. A [Cook] can instantly prepare fantastic meals, or even give small buffs! The ability to instantly clean a house. I have to wonder if teleportation is a thing. It should be. Can you imagine, going anywhere in the world in an instant? A -"

Maximus cut me off.

"I get it, I get it. It’s great, isn’t it?" He was grinning at me, a fellow kindred soul in the world of exploring everything the System could do.

"Why don’t we tackle this from a slightly different direction?" Artemis asked. "We’ve got two fields removed, and would I be right in saying that while you’re keeping your options open, [Mage] is still a top-tier choice for you?"

I nodded in agreement.

"I don’t see you becoming an apprentice to somebody else." Artemis added in.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, [Apprentice Baker]. You’d go for [Baker] or bust."

"Sure?" I agreed, somewhat taken aback by the change in direction.

"Just narrowing things down." Artemis said.

"Similarly, do you see yourself doing hard physical labor for extended periods of time?" Maximus asked, and I shuddered.

"No thank you! I have enough work on my plate before getting a class like that."

With that question, a lot of ideas and classes faded away. I wasn’t going to be a [Bricklayer]. I wasn’t going to be shucking fish. My career as a field hand died before it began.

I slowly nodded as I saw where Maximus and Artemis were going with this. Smart questions, designed to tease out what I wanted. Good questions, eliminating vast swathes of choices, making decision paralysis less of a problem.

They were the best.

"Brrrpt!"

Second best.

"You mentioned time." Artemis said. "That makes me think towards a hobby class of some type or another."

"Well…" I hedged, not wanting to narrow my choices so dramatically.

"Combat classes are still on the table. However, do you want to take a class that requires years of education to become good at, that requires thousands of hours to have a beginner’s proficiency?" Maximus asked.

"Like what?"

"[Architect]. [Engineer]. [Lawyer]. [Inscriptionist]." Maximus listed off. "We explicitly don’t train those here. We don’t have the staff needed to do them justice."

"Yet." Artemis Looked at Maximus, and there was a lot in there. "It’s why we’re so grateful you’re teaching the medicine classes again."

I held my hand up as I leaned back in my chair, thinking about it.

"I don’t think I’m inherently against needing years of education to get a good class." I slowly articulated, getting my thoughts together. "However, many of those classes are also high stress, busy professions. I think many of them are off-limits based on the ‘how long it would take me to get anywhere with them’, but not on the ‘it takes me time to learn’. After all, I’ve got time, right?"

"That you do!" Maximus agreed.

"And," I sat up in my chair, getting excited at an idea. "Inscriptions are generally a skill, right? Not an entire class?"

"There’s generally a predominant skill to make Inscriptions, with the rest of the class skills being support, yes." Maximus said.

"But not always?"

"Not always. It can be part of a larger class. Naturally, the Inscriptions wouldn’t have the same benefits and bonuses that someone with a dedicated class can do."

"Like how I can pick up a spear easily, but I’ll never be as good of a fighter as someone who actually has a class and skills for it."

"Not quite, but close enough that the differences don’t matter." Maximus agreed.

"I can totally get Inscriptions in [Butterfly Mystic]!" I practically shouted, standing up as I did.

"That’s your learning class?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah! It picks up skills easily. I just need to study an Inscriptionist, probably a Radiance one, and I can get the skill! After I merge [Solar Flare] and [Sun’s Heart]."

I started pacing; I was so excited. Inscriptions! I could make enchantments! Nothing I’d seen so far had particularly wowed me, but I’d suspected that Asura’s casting method was similar.

Real similar.

Then again, I could be going "Hey, ships and houses are both made of wood! This is easy!" Like, yes. Learning to build one helped with the other, but they were also wildly different.

Also, I had the flex slot for now to level up and merge skills. Once I got an Inscription skill though, my slots would be locked, so to speak, and I’d be on pure upgrading of skills. I wouldn’t be able to pick up skills with an eye to merge anymore.

Ah well.

It wouldn’t be the end of the world. Now that I was back in Remus, the list of people I could learn from was kind of short.

At the same time, Awarthril had mentioned the Elven Academy…

"I should totally visit the Academy, and see what they have to teach and offer for powerful classes." I muttered.

Maximus blinked.

"Excuse me?" Artemis asked.

Whoops. From their point of view that had been one hell of a non-sequitur. Kind of rude to dismiss them when they were trying to help me.

Focus on Artemis and Maximus now. Think about elves later.

"Sorry, was thinking out loud. I got sidetracked. What’s next?"

"Brrrpt." Even Auri was unimpressed with me, as the three traitors shared a look.

"From a fun, awesome magic angle. What are some neat stuff you’ve seen people do? What would you like to mimic?" Artemis asked.

"Your Lightning." I promptly replied. The memory of Artemis dancing with a Lightning-construct on the streets when I was a kid was seared into my memory. It was still the coolest thing I’d ever seen, bar none.

Looking back on it, Artemis had been a HUGE influence on me, and, well, everything.

She ruined the moment by punching me in the arm.

"No, really?"

I looked at her, trying to convey just how much she’d done for me.

"Yes, really."

Artemis looked started for a moment, then quickly turned. I still caught the tear forming in her eye.

"What else?" Maximus asked, saving Artemis from cracking her voice.

"Arthur’s stealth is pretty amazing. His poison is quite something. I wish I had a better grasp of what Origen could’ve done with his runes. Julius’s speed was impressive. Destruction-"

Maximus put a hand over his heart.

"Ouch! What about me? What am I, chopped liver?"

"No, boring." I retorted perfectly, and Artemis snickered.

"Brpt brpt brpt." Auri laughed at Maximus’s face, and, well. He totally deserved it.

"Destruction’s earthquake. Tornados. Hunting’s Void magic, although for the reasons we discussed I’ll probably be a-void-ing that."

I wriggled my eyebrows at my glorious pun, as Maximus groaned.

Artemis threw a quill at me, and I expertly leaned out of the way.

"Nyah!" I stuck my tongue out at her.

Stats ruled. Speed was rapidly becoming a favorite of mine.

"Moving on. Magic’s ability to completely disappear. Bulwark making walls, Sealing’s barriers. Actually, cancel Bulwark’s walls, Sealing was much cooler. Night’s, well, everything. Acquisition teleporting money around."

I got a pair of strange looks from Maximus and Artemis at that.

"What!? It’s super cool!" I defended myself.

"You’re supposed to keep Sentinel skills under wraps." Maximus said.

"Like senior Rangers like the two of you don’t know their entire public kit already." I retorted.

"True." Artemis admitted.

"Nature growing anything under the sun. Like, having a whole kit of anything and everything in his belt? Plus, free mangos, what’s not to love? Cancelers are interesting, although I think I’d be actively hurting myself doing that, hitting people from far away, FLYING!! Oh! And while I’ve barely used them or touched on it, potions are pretty neat. I’d like to learn how to make them. And…"

Artemis facepalmed while Maximus slowly shook his head.

I got the hint they were sending.

I just chose to ignore it.

I was on a ROLL.

"Lava magic, Sand magic, glass, singing glass into shape, whistling blades, Ooze has tons of potential, summoning chains and shackles and rocks on people seems completely bonkers, and let’s not forget about mile-long sniper shots. That’s before high-flying precision strikes, explosive gas, ripping weapons out from the wall, traps, and so much more. Like singing! Bards can do some neat stuff, and I do have a minor talent for storytelling. Oh! And the dwarves did neat things with implants. I could do a bunch of implants, then modify my healing to ignore them."

"Copying other bards." Artemis coughed into her hand, and I shot her a betrayed look.

"She’s not entirely wrong." Maximus agreed. "Although, your stories were endlessly entertaining. It’s worth looking into that, especially if you enjoyed yourself."

"Let’s tackle [Warrior]. I have no idea why you’re keeping it on the list." Artemis pulled no punches.

"My thinking is that I’ve got a bunch of magical stats. Healing. Destructive, medium range combat magics. My weakness right now is when someone gets close up, and when I’m out of mana. A [Warrior] class would fix that."

"Mitigate it." Maximus corrected me. "You’d still be one physical class against two, or, if things continue the way they are for you, three physical classes. You’re not winning that."

"Yeah, but I wouldn’t be a fish on the chopping block against a halfway competent Mirror [Warrior]." I argued back. It was my class after all!

"Let’s leave [Warrior] on the list, and work out what type of fighter you’d want to take." Artemis said.

"Brrrpt."

Auri thought poorly of my idea of being an up front, close and personal fighter. I’d be lying if I said that didn’t weigh on the scales, but she also had no experience. Her opinion shouldn’t count for that much.

"Brrrrpt!!"

I rolled my eyes at her. She was massively interrupting in the rudest way, but eh. I had a soft spot.

"No, I’m not going to just take a Fire [Mage] class and be done with it."

"Brrrpt?"

"Because I already took a Fire [Mage] class once! I’m exploring the rest of my options."

"Brrrpt!"

"Fine, if nothing else is good, I’ll take Fire [Mage]."

Artemis winked at me from behind Auri’s back. She’d been the one to train me as a Fire [Mage] in the first place. She knew how likely it was that I’d take it again.

Which was a great angle of attack for another day.

"There are as many different types of warriors as there are stars in the sky." Maximus grabbed one of the scrolls that Artemis had, unrolling it and starting to write himself.

I briefly debated correcting him on the insane scale of how many stars there were in the sky, but decided against it.

"Is it safe to say that army-style fighters are out of the question?" Maximus asked.

I tilted my head.

"Not sure what you mean."

"What he means are people that fight with others next to them." Artemis said.

I shook my head.

"Interestingly, this makes me think we should look at gladiators, and their styles. Although, given that it’s a backup meant to cover your holes, how do you plan on getting enough experience in the class to level it enough to be significant?" Maximus asked.

"Forget the detailed view. Balanced. Defensive. Offensive. Fast." Artemis disagreed.

I thought about it a bit, remembering the conversation I had with Senti-Null.

"It’d have to be offensive or fast. My healing’s too good to waste it on balanced or defensive."

I wrote the two down on my scroll.

"And do you love fighting?" Maximus’s question was pointed.

I hesitated, and added a question mark next to [Warrior].

He had a point. If I took [Warrior], I wasn’t exactly sticking to ‘things I loved’. It was more a chore, another trick in my arsenal dedicated just to staying alive.

That was a good reminder.

"I think [Ranger] might also be out." I reluctantly admitted, not quite willing to cross out [Warrior] yet. I did cross out offensive and left in fast.

I’d totally be down for a high-speed running class that happened to abstract into [Warrior]. Something that both let me run and fight at high speeds?

I could see myself happily doing it. Run, be free, be the [Beloved of the Wind], and in a pinch it had physical fighting skills to keep me alive, or escape trouble?

I circled it, but paused my charcoal stick on my way over to [Ranger].

"I have a thought on [Ranger] for you." Maximus said.

"What’s that?"

"Well, first off, a class focused on Auri here would be a [Ranger] class."

I instantly circled the class, and circled [Mage] while I was at it.

"And since you mentioned a willingness to learn, I’d like to share with you a class idea I’ve got rattling around. I haven’t seen anyone take it, but it should be viable, powerful, and scratch your itch for interesting magics."

"Ok, you’ve caught my interest. What is it?"

"A Inscription archer. Not sure on the element, a few work. The idea is you put Inscriptions on various arrows, or perhaps the arrow shafts or feathers instead of the head, then you’ll always have the right arrow for the job. Archers frequently get some sort of stealth ability, which will help you hide, and get a longer range than most mages. Usually, it’s at a cost that their arrows aren’t as powerful as a similar spell, but you’d mitigate that with your Inscriptions! Endlessly flexible, and it doesn’t matter if they burn out, because you’ve already made your shot!"

I thought about some of the archers I’d known. Arthur, with his ability to go almost invisible, and hit monsters with surprise poison arrows. Aegion with his sniping. Oozy, with-

Fuck.

He was dead.

Another one of my Ranger Trainee friends who hadn’t made it through his first round.

I let the sadness well up, then pass me, and thought about another dead teammate of mine.

Origen with his runes, and the enchantments found in our armor. It’d be honoring him in a way, to take an Inscription archery class.

Plus, I was moderately sneaky, and found myself often sneaking around. Inscriptionist wasn’t the direction I’d seen myself going in, but it did scratch a few itches of mine.

I had the time… why not learn about it?

Heck, I wondered if they tied into Asura’s method of casting spells? That’d give me a strong class option in that direction in [Mage], while also supporting Maximus’s proposed class.

"What are the downsides?" I asked, sure there was a catch.

"Nobody’s been willing to try it out and tell me." Maximus complained. "It should be doable, from everything I know about the System, but I don’t know for sure, because nobody’s tried for it."

That was potentially a huge black mark against it, but I was willing to trust Maximus.

Like. Worst-case I asked Librarian, she said no, and I picked my second or third string choice. I wasn’t going to settle for ‘only’ aiming for one class.

"I’ve got [Beloved of the Wind]. Makes me think I should aim for something in that vein."

Maximus got an awkward look on his face.

"I’m not terribly familiar with beloved classes, but picking your entire class based on your mostly random starting class element is generally a bad idea." He said.

"Aww, knock it off. It’s a love class. She loves the wind, it loves her. There’s a strong affinity there, and it’s worth exploring." Artemis disagreed.

I was probably due a moderately good class off of beloved… but I wasn’t sure how much that counted compared to everything else I’d done in my life.

"If I work with the general skills I have now, wouldn’t their high level give me a much stronger starting class?" I asked.

Maximus nodded.

"Could be worth seeing if a number of your general skills work well together. It’d indicate a bend or direction that you’re already inclined to take, upgrade your skills into class skills, give a strong starter class, AND free up a few slots for new general skills."

I looked over my general skills with an eye to see how many I could squeeze together.

[Oath] wasn’t going anywhere. I wasn’t taking a healing class.

[Long-Range Identify] was likely to stay on its own. Unless I got the archery class Maximus was suggesting?

[Hatchling Rearing] would hopefully upgrade to Auri’s companion skill, class., and that was a strong option for a class. However, but I didn’t see it merging with other stuff. Except maybe [Long-Range Identify].

[Pristine Memories] had potential.

[Bullet Time] also had potential, and both it and [Pristine Memories] affected my brain. So did [Oath], thinking about it.

[Sentinel’s Superiority] seemed to be firmly stuck as a general skill, and its global boost to all my class skills was insane. I wasn’t sure if it was possible for it to move, especially as it hadn’t been an option for [The Dawn Sentinel].

[Persistent Casting] suggested meta magics, which had me looping back around to Inscriptions. Maybe? It was a bit of a stretch, but sometimes the System worked with that.

… it was a really BIG stretch.

Lastly was [Passionate Learning], and that instantly jumped at me as having strong synergy with [Pristine Memories]. I could do something with that. I loved learning, and having a perfect memory was awesome.

Maybe they could work with [Persistent Casting] for some sort of powerful Inscriptionist?

"The other abstractions I’m going to leave alone." Artemis said. "They’re more of a personalized hobby pick. Let’s look at the real choices. [Mage], and the elements."

"Brrrpt! BRRRPT!"

"Yes Auri, Fire’s the best element."

"Brrrpt."

Maximus pinched the bridge of his nose.

Chapter 29
Musings on the third class II

I rubbed my hands eagerly.

Yeah, I was probably taking a [Mage] class of some sort. The sheer excitement I felt at the idea? The way I was practically drooling just talking about it?

If I wasn’t a [Mage], I was going to end up as something damn close to it. The fact that I was busy planning on how [Butterfly Mystic] could end up with Inscriptions to do EVEN MORE magic suggested that it was the path I was going to take.

"Let’s tackle this methodically." Maximus said.

Artemis flicked a pebble at him, braining him between the eyes.

"Where’s the fun in that?" She asked. "Let’s hit the cool stuff first, and work our way from there. Elaine’s probably taking what she thinks is coolest anyways."

"BRRRPT!"

Auri, predictably, wanted to start with fire.

I had a minor way to keep them all happy.

"Is there any doubt that I’ll end up with an advanced element?" I asked.

"Well, not if you think you’re taking an advanced element, no." Artemis agreed.

"Yes. If you like Dark magic the most, by your own admission Void’s too dangerous to go. You’d stick with Darkness over going Void." Maximus said.

I nodded.

"Agreed. All the advanced elements, except Void, and none of the basic elements, except Dark."

"BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPT!"

"I’d take Inferno over Fire any day."

"Brrrpt."

A mollified Auri puffed her feathers up.

"Let’s start with the Fire-aligned elements."

"Brrrrpt!"

"Of course it’s because of you!" I told Auri.

It was only half-true. I wanted to tackle the Fire elements because I’d done the most thinking about them. I’d spent hours working on the elements when I had Fire, in preparation for my level 128 class-up, and more time inside the world of my soul, working out which element I was taking in the end.

"First up is doubling down on Radiance. I picked it for a reason. It was the element that most resonated with me."

"Not the class?" Maximus asked.

I gave him what I thought was a withering glare.

"I had several dozen different versions of [Ranger-Mage]. Yeah, the element was the big decider, although the strength of each one played into it."

Maximus had the good grace to look embarrassed, although Artemis laughed at him.

"Anyways. Conjuration, Affinity, [Sun’s Heart], [Solar Flare], and Resistance would all get doubled, so to speak." I said. "No need for those skills in my new class. I’d potentially get more boosting skills, and a whole new set of skills to work with. Lots of strong benefits, and if I got four more offensive skills, that’d triple my offensive burst."

"At the cost of your sustainability in a fight. I’d know." Artemis grimaced.

"Sure, but the sooner a fight’s over, the better."

"Just pointing out all the potential issues."

"The bigger one is magnifying your risk against Mirror Classers." Maximus added in. "I think that’s the biggest concern."

"My other issue is I like exploring cool new magic." I frowned. "[Butterfly Mystic] scratches that itch by giving me the option of almost any new skill, as long as I can study it enough. Radiance is a smart choice, but it’s kind of boring in a way. I can already do everything the new class would offer me. Although, it’d be easier to get cool, high level skills on a second class. But I’ve got the time to wait and get properly cool skills, I’m in no rush. Oh! What does experience distribution look like when there are two strongly overlapping classes?" I asked Maximus.

"Usually the class that’s used more gets more experience. Which is generally the stronger class, however, the weaker class needs significantly less experience to level up." He answered.

"Why don’t we use Radiance as a baseline?" Artemis asked. "Figure out if you like an element more or less than Radiance, narrow things down a bit."

"Sure, why not." I wrote Radiance down on my scroll, along with the pro and the con list.

There were significantly more pros than cons, and I was honestly feeling a bit bad pseudo-dismissing it like that.

At the same time. This was my life. My very, very, long life. I had the whole WORLD open to me. Why be narrow? Why pigeonhole myself?

If there were super amazing high level Radiance skills, I already had a class for them. If I had two Radiance classes, I couldn’t, say, make a volcano erupt when my third class got to a high level.

"Lava’s up next." I said. "I don’t think I mentioned it, but when it came time to pick my [Ranger-Mage] element, it came down to Radiance or Lava in the end. Radiance seemed to fit my needs better at the time, but Lava was attractive. I saw what a high level Lava mage can accomplish with Serondes,"

I swallowed a bit. Stupid emotions. I’d broken up with him! My mind insisted on showing me some warm fuzzy memories though. Cuddling. Serondes making me a butterfly out of glass, the wings so delicate the wind made them flutter. Serondes stepping up to shield me.

I actively reminded myself of his less-than-attractive traits - like the time he copped an extra feel when I was done - cleared my mind, and moved on, all in an instant.

Stupid emotions.

"-and I can only imagine what else Lava can do when I get to high levels. Like make my own islands. Oh! Is there caustic gas in Lava?" I asked Maximus expectantly.

"I have no idea. I’d imagine not. The element’s called Lava, not Volcano." He answered.

I gave him a strange look.

"Does it work that way?"

He sighed.

"Would you like the long version, or the short version?"

"Short."

"Maybe. You could mimic the effect for sure, but the amount of control you’d get is questionable. Like Fire trying to control smoke or ash. It’s a stretch."

Sooo helpful.

"Cons?" Artemis asked.

"It’s slow when shooting?"

She gave me a withering look.

"Most of us manage to handle ‘slow’ just fine. Gods forbid you occasionally need to aim."

"Brrrrpt."

Wow, even Auri was against me. She didn’t miss an opportunity to burn me tonight.

Lava went on the list. I already liked it more than Radiance.

I spent a few minutes thinking about the rest of the Fire elements.

Ash.

Storm.

Steam.

Magic Metals.

Inferno.

Pyronox.

"Honestly, after my classing up to Radiance, I don’t think I’d take any of the other Fire-aligned elements. Maybe Magic Metals if I can get my hands on a bunch, and it’s interesting. Still, unlikely. I suppose technically I’ve been exposed to a bunch of them in her lair, but even then, without a conjuration skill or detection skill, it’s probably a dead end. Maybe I’ll take Storm. Storm’s pretty neat, and if I don’t have the power to use it now, I’m sure I’ll grow into it."

Artemis and Maximus had privately, with much pantomime, had gotten the full story about Lun’Kat.

"Brrrpt! BRRRPT! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPT!" Auri shrieked in outrage, and practically attacked me. She flew around in circles around me, pecking at me with her sharp little beak.

It didn’t hurt at all, but I remembered mom. Her spoon didn’t hurt at all, but it cost us nothing to play along, and meant the world to her.

"Owe! Ouch! Ooof! Auri! OWE!" I pretended to swat at her, deliberately going slow enough that she could dodge, pretending that she was causing me great agony.

"BRRRRRRRRRRPT!" Auri shrieked one more time, and my hair burst into flames.

Whatever.

"I have three Fire aligned elements on my list, and it’s staying that way." I grumped at her, shooting her an evil eye.

I thought about Etalix, summoning multiple tornadoes with a flick of his tail.

Hurricanes. Thunderstorms. Blizzards. Plus, whatever interesting magical storms the element could possibly conjure. Hopefully I could ask the elves for interesting details about the Storm element.

I wrote Storm on the list, my hair crackling merrily, filling the room with smoke.

Artemis pinched her nose and waved a hand at me.

"Phew! You never stop with the burning hair."

Maximus was still looking a little incredulous. I was just sitting at his table, completely unconcerned with the flames merrily dancing on top of my head.

"I got used to it." I answered his unspoken question.

"Brrrpt. Brrrpt." Auri proudly nodded at her work, satisfied that she’d ‘punished’ me enough for daring to consider non-Fire elements.

I narrowed my eyes at her as a realization hit.

"You troublemaker! You do know burning things is bad! You’ve been faking it to get away with it!!"

"Brrrrpt." Auri was feeling incredibly smug with herself. I pointed my finger at her.

"Ohhhh you are so in for it later."

"Brrpt!"

"Yes."

"Brrpt…"

Maximus fake coughed into his hand.

"Back on topic! What’s next?"

Artemis rolled her eyes at me. "Lightning."

"Goes on the list." I wrote it down without hesitation. "I should be offered some really nice Lightning classes to boot. After seeing Galeru and Etalix using Lightning up close? That has to qualify me for something nice, and it’s cool."

"Plus you don’t have to aim." Artemis’s tone was teasing.

"Not at all!" I agreed.

Auri opened her mouth as if to speak, remembered that she was still in the doghouse - bird’s nest? - and closed it.

"I think I can remove Poison from the running. I just don’t see myself using it well. My fighting is generally defensive in nature, and Poison’s almost purely offensive, while the connotations are unpleasant, and I can’t imagine super interesting things to do with it."

"Isn’t your Radiance entirely offensive?" Artemis asked. "What’s the difference?"

I thought about it a moment.

"Poison is preemptively offensive. Radiance is reactively offensive." I slowly analyzed. "Someone needs to be aggressive at me first. I can’t just poison a town’s well and be done with it."

I followed that train of thought for a moment, rapidly flipping through the elements.

"Same story with Miasma. Decay I just don’t see myself using it well, or particularly liking it." I concluded.

"Rest of the Dark elements. What are your feelings on them? Gravity."

"AWESOME! That’s one of the neatest elements! I literally would never need to lift a finger again! It’s great in a fight! I can pretend to manipulate everything! I also saw some neat tricks manipulating how hard things hit, I can screw with mass, letting me fly with more weight, I can-"

"You can add it to the list, and stop waxing philosophically about it." Artemis interrupted. "If you like it that much, why don’t you just grab it now?"

"Because there’s stuff like Spatial!" I exclaimed as I quickly, with a healer’s classic scrawl, added Gravity to my list.

Perfectly illegible.

"Did you know that you can expand a space? Awarthril had a box that held sixty times its size! You can teleport small things around, and that’s at the relatively low levels in Remus! Imagine at higher levels! You could teleport people! You can travel to other worlds! I got offered a purple [World Traveler] once, that might be interesting to take. I’ll definitely ask my guide about it. You can-"

"Add it to your list and keep going."

"Ice is on the list." I wrote it with a fancy twirl and a little icicle.

I’d never be cold again with the class - most likely it had immunity to the chill somewhere in the class - and my imagination was stuffed with thousands of things I could do with it. Ice skate at high speeds, snowbominations, dresses of frost and towers of ice.

Mage hands made of snow.

The possibilities were dizzying and endless.

"There’s not much point to making a list if you’re going to put everything on it." Artemis’s tone was dry, and her eyes were twinkling.

"It’s not my fault magic’s super cool. But fine, I won’t take Erosion."

It didn’t appeal to me, and the spinosaurus destroying mom’s pendant firmly put it in the "never ever" group. Petty, but the element wasn’t that exciting.

Speaking of pendants, I wrote Gemstones on my list.

"How’s Mountain sound to you?" Artemis conjured up a pebble, shaped exactly like a little mountain. It had cliffs and ridges and a summit and everything. A fine display of her control, and relentless practice.

I shook my head.

"I need to make some decisions, and Lava appeals to me more than Mountain does."

Artemis’s tiny mountain crumbled with the expression on her face.

"Your Lightning is way more interesting." I reassured her, and she brightened up.

Honestly, was she a kid or something? Stone cold killer by day, desperately seeking approval by night.

Then again, I wasn’t exactly that much better off. A lifetime of fighting gave us all weird quirks.

I was amazed she hadn’t killed a student who’d said "BOO!" a little too loudly yet.

"Arcanite…" I hesitated over it. It seemed like it could do some interesting things, but I hadn’t seen too many Arcanite mages. The highest level people I’d seen with the class sold Arcanite recharging, the only element that could effectively move mana from one person to another.

I stuck it on the list, to investigate more.

Maximus didn’t look impressed.

"Brilliance is neat. Regeneration focused, with barriers? Like, that’d fix dozens of my combat issues, give me a multitude of non-lethal takedowns, and let me conjure weapons up. It also synergizes well with everything else I’ve got. Radiance interacts neatly with Brilliance, I already have two Light-aligned elements, it’s beautiful in a dozen ways. That’s just the start, I’m pretty sure there are more things it can do, just haven’t had a chance to interrogate people over it."

"Brilliance warriors can move extremely quickly." Maximus added in. "One student of mine was able to ‘punch’ people with Brilliance beams he conjured. He swears it’s an aimed skill, but it looks like it’s as fast as Radiance and Lightning. Packs enough of a punch against the training rocks that we banned it from spars."

On the list it went!

"Celestial. Cheat on the affinity, potentially move my shield skill around, yup!" It went straight on the list, with some little doodled stars.

I loved my starry eyes.

"Mirage. Holy goddesses above, I am going to be offered the BEST mirage class." I realized, writing it down. "Just as long as it doesn’t directly reference her."

I wasn’t going to take [Lun’Kat Illusionist]. She’d seen me [Identify]ing her. For all I knew, a class that referenced her that directly would be noted, and verboten.

Mirage was also something of a nonbo with Radiance. However, I’d also spent a lot of time wanting to be, or going, invisible, and the ability to make illusions and stop a situation without getting into a fight seemed promising.

Mirage was limited by the imagination of the user, and I’d like to think I had a vast and vivid imagination.

Plus, if I ever got bored, I could combine Mirage with [Pristine Memories] and…

Well, it wasn’t stealing if nobody from Earth was around to complain about it, right?

I spent a moment thinking about Mirror.

"OOoh! At high levels, I bet I can make clones of myself! Also, borrowing, copying, and reflecting other people’s magic is a thing. ALL THE SKILLS in one element!"

It went on the list. I put a little happy star next to it.

I ignored the fact that my clones might be as lazy as I was, and wouldn’t want to do the work either.

"Sound… yes?"

I wrote it on the list, and drew an unsure squiggle next to it.

I knew it had amazing depth and breadth, but nothing was springing to mind as an amazing example.

It was like vitality. Did a thousand small, useful things without gigantic, flashy magics. However, life was about balance, and I had some incredibly flashy magic already. Plus, I was unsure just how far Sound went - my imagination was failing me.

Glacia, as much as I disliked her, had some excellent points on the element. She could combine multiple skills to do almost anything, and wasn’t that one of the things I craved?

Heck, she managed to heal. As a bard.

There was untapped depths here, and I wasn’t willing to let it go.

I reviewed my Wood-aligned magic theory for a moment. Wood-aligned elements all massively overlapped with each other, borrowing liberally from each other’s domains.

I had Coral, Verdant, Spore, and Forest. I quickly cut Coral, and reluctantly cut Forest as well.

Verdant got on the list. Growing things sounded fun, and if my class was broad enough, I could have a class that let me grow certain specific fruit trees at home, while also letting me pull off the types of stunts Nature did in the field. Grow flowers for Auri to burn, and wouldn’t that just be the nicest combination?

Like growing certain specific fruit trees whenever I needed them.

Daily.

For every meal.

Medium combat capabilities, logistics, and easy to level in peace, all rolled into one? Yes please!

Spore had left a strong impression on me as a kid, and I imagined I could mostly mimic what Verdant did, except I’d be dealing with fungi instead of plants. Completely different, in spite of looking the same.

However, part of this was predicated on me liking gardening and growing things. I didn’t have a ton of experience, and I should experiment with it. It’d suck if I hated it, and spent my first class up focusing on it.

If I liked it? All the better, more achievements racked up for a stronger first class.

I was aware that I could always reset my third class if I disliked it, as early as level 32. At my level, with my stats, that’d be measured in weeks, if not days..

However, Maximus’s advice was to focus on what I wanted for the first class, and get general skills to improve it. After I classed up for the first time, all of my offerings were locked. Immutable. I’d never get another chance at improving my starter class, although I could take mental notes on what I was offered, and talk with people about the classes. Get their advice and input.

Like, I could easily grab any class once I got in there, hit 32 in a day, then reset my class and go again. But the initial offers were the same. I wanted to get it perfect the first time.

Actually, that was an interesting question. If a requirement for a class was ‘has never killed another person’ or something, and I killed someone then reset my class, would it still be offered?

A theoretical question for another day. My hands were drenched in blood.

Mantle got cut for the same reason Mountain did, while Acid just sounded vicious.

I knew that acid was something I’d studied back in my prior life, but the more I tried to tease and pry the memories open, the more holes I found.

I gave up, and I was discouraged. The element clearly had potential in spades - so much so that one of the biggest deities around decided to entirely prune the knowledge from my mind - but I remembered none of it.

Knowing that I’d never live up to the true potential of an element was enough for me to strike it from my list.

Mist didn’t excite me, and the deep water terrified me. Ocean got removed from my list.

"She’s going fast." Maximus said.

"Shhh! Don’t break her concentration!" Artemis harshly whispered back.

I dismissed them again from my thoughts. I was in the zone. Focused on the task like one of my tight Radiance beams.

Ooze was written down as soon as I thought of it, and I doodled a little picture of a wolf puppy. I was reminded that I wanted to level [The Stars Never Fade] for Kiyaya, and that Awarthril would swing by…

Soonish?

How did I register 200 years now? What length of time was that for me?

I cut Gale for the absolutely terrible reason that my list was already gorged, and the slightly better reason that I didn’t see what it could do for me. It just felt like such a narrow, underpowered element.

Sand was the last element on my list, and I semi-reluctantly added it on.

Serondes had done a ton of interesting things with it, and I could just sink into its soft, warm embrace while mage-hands fed me grapes.

With that, I was done. I’d tackled every element, and had a ‘short list’ of potential candidates.

Radiance

Lava

Storm

Lightning

Gravity

Spatial

Ice

Gemstones

Arcanite

Brilliance

Celestial

Mirage

Mirrors

Sound

Verdant

Spore

Ooze

Sand

Given how long the list was, I wasn’t sure if I’d helped or hurt my cause.

Either way, I was done for the night.

We spent some time chatting about my list and choices, then Auri and I headed back. My mind swirled with the endless possibilities of MAGIC.

Chapter 30
Three Curses

I woke up and stretched, the early morning light losing horribly to Auri’s softly glowing flames. She was nestled in her Arcanite sphere, the multifaceted crystals distributing her gorgeous colors all over the room in bright reflections and amplified tones.

I rolled out of bed, dexterity letting me pull it off almost completely silently. I did a few morning exercises - pushups, burpees, jumping jacks, situps, and a few more. All done slowly, staying almost perfectly quiet. The involuntary white noise we had going helped disguise any small noises I might make.

"Brrrpt…?" Auri was still sleepy.

"Morning." I whispered. Quietly enough that she could doze more if she wanted to.

"Brrrpt? BRRRPT!" Auri shook herself awake, shrieking in delight at her favorite time of day.

"Brrrpt! Brrrrpt!" She cried as she took off, shooting through the house.

I threw on a tunic, rolled my eyes, and headed towards breakfast.

Our villa was fairly large, and on top of my absolute favorite - my own personal bath - we had a few "indoor" gardens that were open to the sky. Like a miniature courtyard. Either way, I passed one that was Auri’s designated "burn room", the fiery menace cheerfully burning her current day’s log. She looked right at home, literally in her element.

"Brrrrrrpt." A satisfied Auri called out to me as I passed.

"Love you too!"

Breakfast was noisy. Stupid background noise.

"Elaine! I was hoping to catch you!" Mom sat down with her breakfast - simple bread and cheese - and started eating.

"Please tell me the Sound [Inscriptionist] is coming today." I groaned.

"Thank the gods, yes. Not what I wanted to talk about. My friend, Marcella, I’ve told you about her before, is looking to adopt some kids. She’d like to adopt the two strays you picked up."

My mouth froze mid-bite as I furiously thought about things.

I, quite frankly, would make a terrible parent. I wasn’t ready, I didn’t want to, I already had Auri, and I was crazy busy.

I’d kind of assumed that mom wanted to do it, but I hadn’t asked. I’d been in a bit of a mess.

And… someone wanted them. Wanted to adopt them. Have them be part of their family.

Yup, I had exactly one answer to all that.

"That sounds wonderful!"

I felt a little guilty over it, but it was for the best.

"Great! Anything exciting today?" Mom asked me.

"Going to check if my skill’s off cooldown, Sentinel meeting, then the usual running around. Autumn, Auri, Artemis, all the A’s!"

I finished and got up. Mom put down her breakfast and gave me a hug.

"Well, I know you’re all high level and strong, but I still worry. You’re still my little girl. You stay safe out there, ok?"

I knew how fragile life was. I knew there was always a slim chance that I got home, and somebody would be missing. Plus, I kinda deserved it, after going missing for a year and a half.

"Will do mom. Same to you." I gave her one last tight squeeze, then escaped.

Or tried to, at least.

"Brrrpt! BRRRPT! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPT!"

"You leveled up!?"

"BRRRPT!"

"32 already?!"

Cripes she leveled fast.

"You should hold off on classing up. Get some advice. Work on some accomplishments."

"Brrrpt?"

"If you wait a little bit now, your flames will forever be stronger."

"Brrrpt!"

"Yeah! We’re going to throw you a PARTY tonight to celebrate!"

"Brrrrrpt!"

"I gotta run, lots to do."

I asked one of the servants on the way out if they could buy a bunch of flowers, and generally arrange a little party for Auri. With a slight bow, he agreed.

I bumped into Plato on my way out.

Old he may be, but he was certainly dedicated to his craft. The sun was barely over the horizon!

"Plato!"

"A good morning to you, Prima Elaine." He politely greeted me back.

The blasted noise made it difficult to hear him. It took me a moment to tease out what he was saying from all the background interference. Once I figured it out, I replied.

"Auri’s hit level 32. I’m sure you know what you’re doing, and I don’t want to interfere, but I just want to make sure you’ll be touching on classing up and what she can do to make it better?"

"Naturally. I was expecting little Auri to arrive at level 32 around lunch today, and had planned for the morning to be discussion and philosophy, with the afternoon dedicated to her future options. Is there a particular direction that you would like me to steer her towards?"

I blinked as I processed what Plato was saying.

I didn’t want to call him evil, because he was a great teacher, but devious and manipulating? Oh yes. I’d never even considered that conspiracies like this could exist, but of course they did. It would be difficult, but entirely doable, for me to ask Plato to steer Auri in a certain direction. She was young and impressionable, and Plato was terrifyingly smart, with decades upon decades of experience debating and teaching. It’d be easy enough for him to craft a narrative, and subtly steer Auri towards deciding that a particular class or line was the best, and have her take it in her next class up.

She’d even think it was her idea!

I had to be careful with how I answered to boot - if I said something wrong, Plato might read too much into it, and take it as a ‘hint’ to nudge Auri in a certain direction.

"Auri’s a phoenix. I believe her natural instincts are steering her in the best direction possible for her. I think she knows what she wants to have and be better than we do. You should ask her what her goals and desires are, temper some of the more impossible expectations - such as burning the city down, or related, ah, problems - then guide her towards being the best she possibly can be."

Plato stroked his beard a moment.

"Unconventional to be sure, but I can see the wisdom in such a thing. I would like to give you a thought to mull over. Are you sure you are not simply taking the path you yourself traveled, assume it is the best, and are trying to apply it to your ward? It is an error I see many take."

Plato’s speech was a little pompous, and a little high-minded. That, and the blasted yelling, made me take a moment to figure out what he was saying.

In short - I forged my own path. I was asking Auri to forge her own path. Was I simply assuming that ‘forge your own path’ was optimal? Just like a famous gladiator might assume that becoming a gladiator was the proper path to rich and fame, or a soldier might believe joining the army was the best career path.

"There could be some of that." I acknowledged. "But I will stick to my assertion that none of us know what a phoenix can do, and her instincts are likely to instruct her better than our misguided attempts. Plus, it’s not like she needs to dive down a career path."

The image of Auri in a poofy wig, overseeing court, brrrpting out judgements sprang to mind. I had to stifle a laugh.

Every sentence would involve fire. Hard labor to feed the fire. Death penalty by immolation.

"As you wish. However, you’ll forgive me if I’m disinclined to teach Auri how to become an [Arsonist]."

"Naturally. Please don’t." I agree with him.

Plato excused himself, and continued on.

I wasn’t sure if he agreed with me or not. However, I had full faith that he’d execute my wishes to the best of his abilities. He was the best.

I left my villa to a now-familiar scene.

A bunch of angry protestors in the street, yelling curses and obscenities at us.

It was a motley crowd, filled with people of all shapes and ages from all walks of life. Young and old, male and female, roughly 80 people filled the streets.

They were mad at me. I’d changed the status quo! Things were scary and different! What was this ‘women having rights’ nonsense?! Curses, swears, and threats were hurled in my direction.

The members of the Triumvirate had been gifted with similar protestors outside of their homes, but Augustus and the rest of them weren’t nearly so benevolent. They’d ordered soldiers to fire a dozen skills into the crowd, then had them arrest and beat the survivors.

Nobody tried to protest outside their house again.

I was a little more soft-hearted, but attempting to reason with them had gotten me spat on, yelling at them to leave had gotten them to just dig in further.

It had me questioning the merits of allowing peaceful protest. I liked the idea. I believed it was important to let people express their displeasure, and I’d all too recently been on the wrong end of society trying to crush me. I wasn’t about to become the crusher.

But boy, seeing how darn effective beating them all up and arresting them could be, was tempting me something fierce.

My neighbors were not happy with me. I didn’t blame them.

There was a stout contingent of guards stopping the protesters from getting any ideas of getting violent, and I was endlessly thankful for them. Peaceful protests weren’t exactly a known and common thing in Remus, and only the threat of overwhelming violence had kept the crowd from turning into a mob.

They weren’t quite terminally stupid.

However, they were loud and obnoxious, hence the Sound Inscriptions so we could properly tune them out.

They’d get bored soon enough. I hoped.

I snapped my wings open and leapt up, jumping into the cloudy sky. It was going to rain later.

I was a bit early for the Sentinel meeting, and I had a scheduled stop at the Senate. I wasn’t sure what my cooldown on [The Stars Never Fade] was. It wasn’t longer than six months, but skills generally lacked instruction manuals or details on how, exactly, they worked. It was up to an individual to test their skills and explore them, to find the limits of what they could and couldn’t do.

I made it to the Senate, waving to dad as I blazed my way past the front doors. Early morning gate guard duty sucked, but he threw a quick salute my way.

I nodded back to him, and quickly navigated my way to one of the numerous meeting chambers the Senate had. Saluting was hard when flying and horizontal.

It was more than a single large meeting room, where Augustus ruled. Dozens of rooms, from places that were barely more than glorified closets that smelled of sex and intrigue, to grand meetings rooms just an inch smaller than the Senate’s main room.

It was in one of these middle rooms that I regularly met my next request for Immortality, a person who managed to get Emperor Augustus raised quite a few notches in my personal estimation of the man.

His wife.

The emperor himself wasn’t around - far too busy to come watch every time I tried to see if the skill was off cooldown - but he was frankly unneeded.

"Hey Sextia, sorry, in a rush this morning." I explained as I barged into the room.

"Oh, no worries, I’m sure you’re quite busy." She politely deflected with a knowing smile.

She looked a decade older than her husband in spite of being a few years younger than he was. The mismatch of stats, the ability for Augustus to gain hundreds of levels fighting the Formorians while she was only able to use more normal methods of leveling, had lengthened Augustus’s life while the march of time took his wife as normal.

"Ready?" I asked her without preamble.

"Naturally. Sixteen please!"

I refrained from rolling my eyes. She was - at least according to my mom - the absolute center of Reman social life. Simply getting an invitation to one of her parties was…

I had no idea what getting an invitation to one of her parties meant, because I either tuned out or fled when mom started on those tracks. I was still trying to avoid politics somewhat, especially after Night’s reprimand.

I’d still push for any changes I wanted to see. I’d still try to correct any injustice I knew of.

I just didn’t want to get yelled at over minor nonsense, or have it brought up as an example later on.

Focus.

I’d been coming here every other day to see if my skill was off cooldown yet, and she had a different age request every time. I wasn’t sure if it was a vanity thing, if her logic as to which age she wanted to be changed, or if she was just having fun.

She’d gotten the speech on what different ages meant ages ago, along with an awareness of how inaccurate I could be.

I put my hand on her arm and focused.

I felt a familiar welling up of mana and force inside of me.

"Oh." I managed to get out, right before the world dropped away, and we were faced with the vast cosmos.

The skill performed its usual lightshow, drifting us through the impossible vastness of space.

Maybe that could be a long term goal? Explore space? It was large enough that a billion years wouldn’t be enough for me to see even a small fraction of what the universe had to offer.

Step 1: Launch an entire space program, from scratch. No big deal.

My musings were cut short as the lightshow stopped moving.

Instead of looking at a star, we were observing an entire solar system. A bright sun burned at the center, casting harsh red light over the three dozen planets in the system. Gas giants and frozen rocks were further out, while brighter, hotter, smaller planets were closer in.

None had that distinct blue look that spoke of water.

As I watched, the planets stopped rotating around the star, then started to spin backwards, faster and faster. They orbited so quickly that they started to shake and fall apart, leaving trails of debris in their wake.

When most of the planets were down to half their mass, gas and rocks scattered all over the system, the skill’s animation paused for a moment, then faded.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Stars Never Fade] has leveled up! 3 -> 4]

A teenager sat in front of me, hale, hearty, and brimming with life and vigor. It looked like I’d missed the mark again, and she was closer to nineteen than sixteen.

Eh, three years off each time wasn’t that bad. Maybe I’d try to undershoot the next one? That might be asking for trouble though.

"Oh my." She said, her elderly manner of speaking betraying her true age. "This is quite something. Dear, I must invite you to one of my parties. You’ll be the absolute darling of the show. We’ve been dying to meet you. A dozen of us - Like Venus, Senator Saturio’s wife, I’m sure you’ve heard of her - have been slowly working on the same thing you were. Laying the groundwork, changing a few right minds. Then you come charging in, making all sorts of demands! I wouldn’t dare take credit for what you’ve done, oh not, but I hope you don’t mind that I like to think I helped a tiny bit. Had a few quiet conversations with Augustus before you showed up, wings blazing. Oh, how I wish I could’ve just done that! It would have made life so much easier. Speaking of my husband. Poo-poo what he thinks of you and settling down, I’m sure I know a few ladies of your persuasion I can get you in touch with."

What was with this family and marriage?! Interesting that they’d been working on something. I’d heard of Venus before from my mom, who raved that was the sort of height of power a woman could aspire to.

Ha! I showed her, in the best of ways. Made sense that not everyone was happy with where they were, and had been trying to change things in their own way.

It also explained why Augustus had so easily agreed to my demands. He probably saw which way the tide was going, and figured he’d grab everything he could in the process. If I’d waited, maybe I could’ve gotten both the rights and the million rods.

Ah well. What was done was done, and I’d learned a lesson about consulting with experts before haring off and doing my own thing.

"The offer’s most kind, but I’m entirely barred from those sorts of events after Pastos." I politely declined, thanking Ranger Command for their ‘get out of any event free’ card they’d given me.

"Pastos was you!?" She exclaimed, getting up and moving around in an animated fashion. Stretching her arms and her legs like she just couldn’t believe what was going on. "Why, I can’t -"

A familiar weight landed on my shoulder.

About time. I was starting to think White Dove was going to forget about her.

White Dove opened her mouth and spoke, creation trembling with every word. The deep, primal fear of her welled up deep inside of me, every instinct I had screaming that I needed to run, hide, fight. Death was on my shoulder.

"You again." She gazed at me with a single, critical eye.

At least she wasn’t spitting venom. Progress…?

"Morning. Hope you weren’t too busy."

White Dove ignored me, and proceeded to look at Sextia.

"Sextia. [Social Butterfly]. [Sinister Schemer]. You believe yourself so clever, the center of every plot, the pivot of every party. There is no fruit you do not nibble, no engagement your web does not bring to you. You have seen what I’ve done. You know the price, and have dared to cross me anyways. I curse you."

Dove’s words practically warped the fabric of the room, causing me to bleed from my ears.

And keep bleeding. Whatever White Dove had done, my healing wasn’t quickly or easily fixing it.

"You can only bathe in the light of two full moons at once." White Dove said. "In no other way will you be able to remove your odor, in no other manner will you be able to find yourself clean. I wish you the best of luck, trying to hold onto your life and engagements as you drive everyone around you away."

With a malicious cackle, White Dove flew away.

I did manage to get a few seconds of studying her flight. Probably not enough, but it was a cumulative effort. One day I’d get something interesting.

"I gotta run." I apologized to Sextia. "Sentinel meeting."

"No worries, no worries." She waved me off, stretching languidly like a cat waking up from a nap.

"This is great! I need to make myself scarce as well." She leaned forward with a twinkle in her eye.

"Rather, I need to make my husband and myself scarce again. There is nothing like being young again and having a libido again! Especially before I start to smell too badly! I’ll have to figure a way around it."

I did not need to know all that, nor did I need all the images associated with it.

"Good luck." We both left the room at the same time, and awkwardly started to go in the same direction.

That was the worst.

"Sentinel Dawn. Most excellent. Now that we are all here, let us begin." Night said. "Does anyone have any pressing business at this time?"

We were a little short on Sentinels. Destruction was perpetually gone, running between large rebellions and major bandit camps, and he was nearly deployed to remind a town that Augustus was emperor.

Night had squashed that particular mission, calling it large enough to venture into the realm of politics, and that Augustus could clean up his own messes. Either way, not around.

Hunting was tracking down some slippery Classer, Senti-Null and Nature were tag-teaming a flaming tree that was stomping around - apparently not a treant, although the distinction was lost on me - and Maestrai was transporting Mirage to a rough spot.

The two of them thought that Mirage could make his shot from up high, and immediately turn around. Which was all sorts of utterly disgusting.

I totally approved. It’d give Maestrai good experience to boot.

Brawling and Toxic were still off gallivanting around, and the room felt empty.

Cold.

There was the standard, ritual silence around the room that followed Night’s question.

After a moment, Ocean spoke up.

"I’ve got something."

All our eyes went to him, dreading the next words out of his mouth.

"That ‘Ranger’ we’ve had a few reports on. At this point, I’m convinced enough that it’s either a Ranger who’s horribly lost and needs to be brought back in, a Ranger that’s gone rogue, or someone’s besmirching our good name. Either way, a Sentinel needs to be deployed."

I suppressed a shudder. An issue with a Ranger was literally one of our worst nightmares. Needing to "handle" someone we’d trained with, worked with, fought and slept with, who was one of a tiny community? Who had gone "bad"?

Just the worst.

From what I understood, Artemis had gotten eyes on her quite a few times for her extra-Ranger activities. It had never been quite bad enough to send someone after her, but there’d been eyes on her.

Not in a good way.

Handling Rangers who had gone bad had to be done though. As the saying went, one bad apple spoiled the bunch, and allowing a bad or corrupt Ranger to run amok could undo the centuries of hard work the program had.

"What do you believe is the case?" Night asked Ocean.

"It’s either the first or the third." Ocean analyzed. "Whoever it is continues to loudly proclaim they’re a Ranger, but isn’t following a path or anything. I have a few reports where the Ranger claimed they’ve solved some problems, but that’s it."

"We do usually allow Rangers to self-report solved problems." Bulwark added in.

"True, and that’s generally good enough for us. Night?" Ocean asked.

Night looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Generally Hunting or I would tackle this problem. However, in this particular instance, I believe Dawn is best suited."

"Me?" I’d been content to just watch things, sure that I wasn’t going to be called on.

"Yes. You have a number of useful skills that happen to fit the situation well enough." Night said. "Your flight skill makes you one of the most mobile Sentinels, after Maestrai. You are unable to transport a second person, but that is irrelevant in the face of this issue. You have your ring, which allows you to disguise your level. You are tagged as a Healer, but have a high enough level to fight your way out of any issue. Lastly, you are a young, pretty face, far outside what anyone thinks of when they hear ‘Sentinel’. If we are dealing with an imposter, you will be a flame to his moth. If we are dealing with a Ranger who’s gotten sick in the head, you are a calming, healing influence, and can safely bring them back. Lastly, if a Ranger has truly gone rogue, I have the highest confidence in you being able to survive a sneak attack from them. ‘Handling’ a Ranger who has broken from the fold is one of the single most dangerous missions a Sentinel can undertake. Not only are we unable to properly plan for and evaluate the threat to send the best Sentinel after them, but they have the initiative. We are all well-recognized by the Rangers. It is trivial for them to see us coming, and launch the first attack, while we need to identify the target, and determine whether they are hostile or not first. However. There is nearly no attack that a standard Ranger could perform that could slow you down. As such, you are the best Sentinel for this mission."

Curses.

Chapter 31
The Most Dangerous Game I

It was with no small amount of nostalgia that I looked at the walls of Aquiliea as I approached on foot.

The blasted thing about hunting a potential fake Ranger was I couldn’t go in wings blazing, announcing that Sentinel Dawn was here.

Well, I could.

I’d done a lot of thinking and muttering over the topic on my way over. On one hand, I could go in with pomp and ceremony, announce I was here, lock the city down, and go hunting.

However, that’d let my target know that a Sentinel was around. No matter what excuse I gave, he’d likely go to ground and hide. I’d get a bunch of extra resources, but then I’d be hunting a rat.

There was a slim chance that he didn’t know how Rangers and Sentinels interacted, and that he’d be brazen enough to approach me and offer to help with whatever the problem was. That would make the entire problem easy.

That also relied on my target being dumber than a sack of bricks. I didn’t like assuming my target was dumber than a sack of bricks, it’d get me killed. Granted, over-estimating someone’s intelligence too far could also cause me problems, but most idiots got themselves eaten by dinosaurs.

Now, if it was an injured Ranger, or someone who needed significant help, going in with trumpets and drums was again the right move.

Being discreet had advantages as well. I could poke around. Not spook the Ranger. Be something of a shadow, not have to deal with politics and formalities, or reassuring the governor that there wasn’t a deadly plague brewing. It gave me speed.

What tilted the balance was I could always go flashy. I couldn’t unring the "Sentinel Dawn is here" bell once I hit it. Like the reincarnation thing, way back when. I’d kept it quiet, until it suited my needs to talk about it.

Quiet had worked in the last three cities I’d visited, chasing down rumors.

Blasted primitive communication systems.

By the time the local guard, governor, or whoever got around to writing out their paperwork and reports, by the time a courier got it and delivered it to Ariminum, by the time the right pieces of paper made its way to Ranger HQ, then Ranger Command, and finally to Ocean and his analysis, the information was potentially months out of date.

"A Ranger stopped by." didn’t get a priority stamp on it. Why would it?

All I had was he seemed to work in the southern cities, and spent a few weeks in one place before going onto the next. My quiet questions and eventually talking with the local guard had gotten me rumors first months out of date, then weeks, and now only days old.

Thank goodness I could fly quickly between most of the cities. As much as ‘track down a rogue Ranger’ wasn’t part of my nominal skill set, seat, or title - but it was part of the Sentinel job title - I had to admit my tools were absolutely perfect for this job.

I hadn’t brought my armor for once, although I had gotten the quartermaster to rearrange my gems into a low-key belt.

Plus, I was fairly happy that I was seeing Aquiliea again! I’d only briefly stopped by once since I left, and even that was mostly me trying to drown myself in a bath after that particularly ugly mess with Destruction.

"Here we’ve got Aquiliea!" I wasn’t alone on the roads, and walking and talking with other people was a solid way to pass the time. It would also make my entry into the city practically unremarked, although I had no real concerns in that direction.

Mostly just didn’t want to be a broody loner type, grumpily not talking with anyone. Still had that anger issue to iron out.

"Oh?" I prompted the [Trader] I was carefully walking next to.

I’d never gotten properly used to how I had to walk in a woman’s tunic. The whole thing felt like an impractical mess, doubly so after having experienced the wonders of Mistweave. The things I did for a proper disguise.

"Great dyes, terrible smell." He summarized, and I refrained from wincing at how accurate the comment was. "The ports are nothing special, but the only city more colorful than Aquiliea is Ariminum! I’ve been there twice you know. Grandest city in the Republic - excuse me, Empire. Hope to make my way up the coast after this, and…"

I made the occasional polite noises as he rambled on, letting a slow smile cross my face as we got in line for the gates.

Aquiliea wasn’t home, not anymore. However, I’d spent far too many years of my life in the town not to have a torrent of memory and nostalgia assault me as I got closer.

I was totally going sightseeing.

I should bring Auri down here one day. Maybe buy a vacation home? Might be fun to slowly watch the city change and morph over the centuries.

Then again, I’d need to know a lot more people changing, morphing, and dying over the years…

Maybe just an annual shopping trip for cheap dyes. Spruce up my wardrobe. Nice flying time with a slightly older Auri to save a few rods?

"Name and purpose of visit?" The guard asked, and I snapped out of my daydream.

"Elaine, just visiting." I reflexively answered.

"Visiting who?" The youngish guard asked, and I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to place him. I’d shadowed almost all of the guards at one time or another as a kid, getting whatever small scraps of healing experience I could. Light healers had a terrible time at early levels, and frankly, nobody wanted a little kid treating them.

[Pristine Memories] wasn’t the most helpful. People changed all the time, and I would’ve known him as a kid.

Focus. I’d place him later.

I couldn’t say my family, because they’d moved out. However, I did know a few people…

"Some friends!" I answered.

"Who are you traveling with?" He asked, and it clicked. He was Euterpe! I’d had such a crush on him as a teenager, and he’d stomped all over it when I got burned.

I had the last laugh though - I’d gotten [Detailed Restoration] out of it, fixed myself up, and promptly fled to join the Rangers. Might explain why he didn’t recognize me though.

"Oh, I’m by myself." I answered, and he nudged the guard next to him.

Ah rats.

I forgot that the Aquiliea guards were exceedingly competent. My vague non-answers had been good so far - I’d never lie to the guard - but my story seemingly had enough holes in it that I’d get booted up the chain.

Again.

I gave a great big sigh.

"Yeah, yeah, whoever’s on duty, just lead the way to the room." I muttered before Euterpe could say anything.

I could get out of this easily, but not quietly. Lots of people at the gate and everything.

He gave me a slightly puzzled look, and I shrugged.

"I’ve spent a lot of time around guards."

The other guard on duty barked a laugh, and I was swiftly led to an interrogation room. A table, two chairs, a pair of torches and stone walls. The works.

I’d ended up in these rooms a suspicious number of times for a relatively law-abiding citizen.

A few minutes later, another familiar face entered the room.

"Catonus!" I leapt up to greet him.

"Uh, do I know you?" I’d taken him completely off guard - pun intended.

I grinned.

"It’s me! Elaine!"

"Elaine!? I thought you were dead!" His face lit up, then fell.

"Oh, but your parents aren’t here anymore. They moved… I’m so sorry."

I rolled my eyes and lightly punched his arm.

"Yeah, they’re in Ariminum with me. They didn’t say?"

He shook his head.

Weird. I would’ve expected mom and dad to crow from the rooftops that I’d been found alive, made Sentinel, and that they were moving to Ariminum with me. Maybe they kept a lid on it to protect my privacy or something?

"Anyways." Catonus’s face turned serious. "I do need your reasoning why you’re trying to enter the city, friendship with your father or not."

I loved the Aquiliea guard. Annoying as they were right now, this is how guards should be. No excuse for friendship. No bending the rules because they knew me.

With a thought, I nudged the level on my Deception Ring to my true level, and slipped my hand inside my tunic, grabbing my badge.

"Sentinel Dawn on an investigation." I slapped my badge down on the table.

"You’re shitting me." Catonus poked at my badge incredulously, then looked back up at me.

"Double check my level." I couldn’t keep the grin out of my voice.

He looked, blinked, then poked my badge again.

"But you’re just a kid!" He complained.

"I grew up!"

"Yeah, but Sentinel?!"

I huffed at him.

"I’m a healer-mage. But watch." I said, starting to poke him at high speeds. Not enough to hurt, just enough to demonstrate that I was fast.

A bit childish, sure, but it got the point across.

"Ow, stop that, ow." Catonus tried - ineffectively - to catch and stop my annoying pokes.

This was rapidly turning into a three-ring circus act. Not the usual grace and aplomb that Sentinels usually carried out their missions with. Then again, my first Sentinel mission? I’d ended up rolling under tables with kids, playing "monsters vs soldiers", so I suppose I’d set the bar fairly low.

"Never really invested in physical stats, remember?" I asked him, continuing to move faster than he could properly handle.

"Alright! Alright!" He cried out, and I stopped.

His face went from disbelieving, to somewhat serious.

"Alright, pretending for a moment that it’s really you, a Sentinel, on an investigation, and Icthyus’s fish wasn’t bad last night and I’m not in the grips of a fever dream, tell me what I can do, Elaine."

Usually my title came at the end of that, not my name, but eh. He’d known me as a bratty, scared kid, and wasn’t giving me any grief.

I thought about how much I wanted to tell him. I could tell him I was looking for someone claiming to be a Ranger, but that had the risk of hurting our reputation. Much better to present it as "we found a fake that you didn’t catch", instead of "we don’t know what’s going on."

Keeping it in the house, so to speak. Maintaining our illusion of invincibility. The smoke and mirrors.

"Mostly just let me in the city, and keep quiet. The situation isn’t urgent or big, but it’s important to us. There’s a few different things it could be, and given the wild disparity from best case to worst case, I’m keeping a lid on it."

Catonus looked like he was struggling with that.

"Right, alright." He finally concluded. "Enjoy your stay."

I swept my badge back up, and tucked it into my impractical tunic.

"Little Elaine." He shook his head in disbelief. "Sentinel."

"Catonus." I called out as he was at the door.

"Yeah?"

"I’m completely serious about the secrecy thing. Nobody. Not even your wife."

There must’ve been something in my face or tone that got through to him.

"Sentinel." He saluted, and I felt a few knots in my back loosen.

I grinned at him. "It’s great to see you again. Really. That day you and my dad took me to see things and learn skills? I’ve never forgotten it. Thank you."

I lowered my Ring’s displayed level back down to around 130, and left.

I’d managed it all without my temper flaring up.

In no time at all, I was wandering the streets of Aquiliea, gracefully navigating through the pale white roads, smiling at the kids scampering over barrels and crates in the grey zone.

To think, I’d been worried that I’d be stuck in that section my entire life.

I had a half dozen different ways I could gather information. The public baths were one of my favorites. Lounging in the hot water, letting it soak in and relax my muscles as I eavesdropped on all the conversations going on? That was the life, and I probably spent more time ‘investigating’ than strictly necessary.

The guard was always a font of knowledge, and if a Ranger team was in town, they were high priority.

Gossip in the marketplace was another good spot, but I was in Aquiliea. I was feeling nostalgic.

I slowly moved through the city, my heart warming as I saw old, familiar haunts, and was taken by surprise more than once at the changes I saw.

Six years sounded like nothing, but it felt like multiple lifetimes. The city thought so as well, numerous changes here and there reminding me that this was no longer home. I debated spending a few hours visiting all my old haunts, home, park, and more, but no. I had a job to do.

After it was done, I could relax a bit more.

I quickly bought a few cheap tunics, not caring about the size or haggling over the price, rubbed some dirt in them, then headed down to the river.

The place where a third of the households congregated to do their laundry was, in some senses, the beating social heart of the middle class of Aquiliea. There was only so much riverbank winding its way through the city, and only so many spots that were easily accessible. A [Governor], many centuries ago, had studied the river when Aquiliea was founded, and sensibly decreed what spots along the river could be used for which purpose.

Helped prevent all of us from drinking tannery run-off, or spilled dyes from inadvertently dying our clothes.

Given how long doing the family laundry took, and how free everyone’s mouths were? Naturally, it was a chattering hub. One I hadn’t appreciated as a kid, and had grumpily tried to avoid.

There were still pivots in the crowd. Women who, by grace of a useful aura skill or sheer popularity, everyone wanted to be near. I picked a likely group, made my way down to the river, and shamelessly listened in as I laundered the clothes I’d just bought.

I was going to blast the entire area in a heal when I was done, but not before then. For all I knew some wizened old crone only had one arm, and had kept it that way for decades. A new arm suddenly sprouting would be a little obvious… but I wasn’t going to stop healing just because of a mission.

I had my priorities in order.

My vitality had sharpened my ears many times over, and with a bit of focusing, I could pick out different conversations from the babble.

The quiet whispers promised all manner of delicious gossip, but alas, it was unlikely that people would be talking about the Ranger in those tones.

"Ship arrived from Genua. All the alchemists are frothing at the mouth, waiting for the ship to unload."

"Mail courier came the other day."

"And there won’t be a letter from my son in it, the ungrateful lout. I’ve got half a mind marching over there myself and twisting his ear about it!"

"Did you see the new [Potter] from Virinum? He’s cute."

"I heard he bottoms though!"

"No!"

I tore myself away from the delightfully scandalous conversations I occasionally found myself listening to, keeping in mind that I had a job, and my fill of scandal when I was bored at the market.

"Hey, you look new here!" A friendly voice attached to a friendlier person kneeled next to me. I’d noticed her coming, but I pretended to jump anyway. Someone with the level I was displaying wouldn’t have the awareness that I’d need to hear her coming, not with how soft her footsteps had been.

I think.

I was occasionally under the illusion that I was good at sneaky deception, then remembered that every time I thought I’d gotten away with it, it was because people let me get away with it.

Bah.

"Kind of! I used to live around here, and now I’m back!" I turned towards the voice, squinting slightly. "Do I know you?"

"Flavia. I’d shake your hand but…" She trailed off, and yeah. Kid in one arm, laundry in another, and a belly showing a second well on its way.

The face and name clicked.

In retrospect, I’d been a grumpy, depressed, antisocial, annoying teenager way back when, with a superiority streak a mile wide.

I still had more of that than I was willing to admit, but upon genuine reflection?

Flavia had constantly reached a hand out to me. Had constantly tried to be my friend, and like an idiot, I’d kept slapping it away.

I had no excuse, besides being an idiot.

"Flavia! Hey, it’s me, Elaine!" I brightly said, trying to return just a fraction of the cheer she’d sent my way once upon a time.

"Elaine, Elaine…" She trailed off, thinking.

"Left here like six years ago? Was a healer?"

She snapped her fingers.

"Yes! I remember you now! Your level is weird though."

Shit, had I screwed up the Deception Ring? If a random person on the street was calling it weird, then-

"You were, like, level 100 six years ago. Only 30 levels in that time? Did you do a reset or something?"

I breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Something like that, yeah. What’s your kid’s name? Who’s the lucky guy?"

"Kolius! Hated the whole idea at first. So did he, to be frank. We sat down, discussed it, and figured we were in it together for the long haul. After that, we…"

I spent longer than was wise making small talk with Flavia. Reveling in the normalcy of it all.

She was, weirdly, a touchstone.

I wasn’t rich. I wasn’t famous. I wasn’t terrifying. I wasn’t changing politics, fearing lurking assassins, or wondering when the next shoe would drop.

I was just… me.

"What happened to you?" Flavia asked. "One day you were here, the next you weren’t. When you didn’t come back, we feared the worst…"

"Eh… I found my own way. It’s worked out well enough."

Sadly, I had to deflect what I was actually doing… which, painfully enough, brought me to the main topic.

"By the way, is there a Ranger in town?" I asked her.

Flavia shot me a quick, pitying look. What was that about? Then she answered.

"Yes. Set up near the Drunk Stallion. Right around the corner from where we live."

My lead secured, I made a bit more polite smalltalk before making my excuses and leaving.

Right near the edge, with everyone still in range, I blasted a full-range heal.

The total accumulated experience must’ve been enough to finally push the skill over the edge, and level me up.

[*ding!* [Celestial Affinity] has leveled up! 473 -> 474]

Chapter 32
The Most Dangerous Game II

I quickly found my way to the Drunken Stallion.

One look at it had me utterly convinced that said Ranger wasn’t one. It wasn’t the seediest bar in the town, but it had to be in the top 10. A type of place that I’d expect to find the most reprehensible scum of the earth - [Adventurers], of course, [Thieves] were at least somewhat honest about their villainy - not a guard or a Ranger.

I forcefully reminded myself that I had a deep well of prejudice against adventurers, and going in thinking I knew all the answers was a surefire way to be completely wrong, and end up with egg all over my face.

If I was lucky, it’d even be a metaphorical egg!

I gave my "disguise" a once-over check, and yup. I mostly looked like a normal 20-year-old woman. The lack of scars would be attributed to being a decent [Healer] - almost everyone had small pox or other scars from diseases or injuries - and it was the rare person in Remus who didn’t look fit.

I did have to consciously slow myself down though, and ugh. I couldn’t have my super reflexes. Just hoped I wouldn’t have to dodge any mud sprays from a passing wagon, or a horse splashing through dirty water.

I walked into the bar, and wanted to roll my eyes at the sheer stereotypical nonsense going on. Dark figure with a hood brooding in the corner? Check times five, with two of them awkwardly shuffling around, trying to occupy the same corner.

A [Bard] was performing on a table that she’d forcefully converted to a tiny stage. She had flaming red hair, and if that wasn’t because of a skill I’d eat my sandals. Without cooking them first.

She was as tall as I was, which was to say tiny, and danced a merry jig while strumming away on her lyre, filling the bar with lively music. She was singing a lovely rendition of a popular song, and had a number of admirers. Two men were wrestling, surrounded by some cheering men and a couple of women, almost all with a drink in their hands.

Some people were sitting at the bar, turned around to get a good look at the entertainment.

I was sure that the bar had a vaguely reputable clientele when it wasn’t in the middle of the workday.

The supposed Ranger was blindingly obvious. He had that look that suggested he’d spent years as a soldier, with a Ranger’s badge prominently pinned on his beer-stained tunic. Didn’t get much more obvious than that. A quick [Identify] had him as a level 225 [Warrior] - in the right level range, at least. He grabbed a fresh mug from the bartender roughly at the same time I came in.

A few eyes turned towards me. I hadn’t exactly made a huge entrance, but the few whistles I got instantly had my blood boiling.

Calm. I reminded myself. Control the anger, don’t be controlled.

However, most of my plans on being subtle went out the window. The small spark I had of pretending to be a meek mild-mannered healer was smothered in the crib. I just wanted to be done with things.

The "Ranger" in question was looking at me, and, well, might as well directly get to it.

"Oh wow, a Ranger!" I tried to channel how I felt as a kid meeting Artemis and the rest of the Rangers. I really did.

Being a bad actor, and wrestling down my anger made it somewhat unconvincing. I briskly walked over to him. He’d started to take a drink, but my beeline had him putting down his mug.

He gave me a lecherous grin that had shivers going down my spine. He was totally in for it. If he was real, I was going to make him do pushups until he dropped. If he was fake…?

"Why, aren’t you a pretty thing?" His voice gave me shivers.

Don’t murder him in cold blood. [Oath] would be upset.

"Do you have a whole team?" I asked, trying to make my eyes go wide, and my voice breathless.

An inch. Give me an inch.

I heard a familiar choked laugh coming from behind me. I despaired slightly.

I didn’t like everyone I’d grown up with, but I didn’t think any of them would’ve stooped so low. Couldn’t quite place the voice though.

The supposed Ranger slapped his chest.

"Nope! I’m one of the best. A lone wolf. Other Rangers couldn’t keep up with me, so I travel alone!" He roared, getting some approving looks from the rest.

Fine then.

That made this easy.

Didn’t mean I liked putting my hand on his knee, but it let me use a bunch of the utility gems I had.

"Right." My voice went from my bad attempts at playful and flirty - honestly, I’d need a strong drink just to wash the taste out of my mouth - to serious. I mentally flipped my Deception Ring to level 700, because nobody could really tell past 300 what was going on. The deeper, darker red I displayed, the better.

"I’m Sentinel Dawn. You’re under arrest for impersonating a Ranger." I declared, as I unloaded all available disabling skills from my charged gems.

[Watery Manacles] bound his hands and feet with cuffs made out of Water, [Shocking Paralysis] sent painless Lightning coursing through his system, locking his body up and stopping him from moving entirely, and [Mana Void] deleted… probably his entire mana pool, although I didn’t have good numbers on either side of things.

I’d still bet on Hunting’s Void magic power over the random warrior’s mana pool though.

There was a discordant screech as a string on the bard’s instrument broke. Tables scraped the floor and chairs got knocked over as everyone cleared a ring around us.

The fake Ranger slowly toppled over, his eyes frozen forward.

A huge hand landed on my shoulder, coming out of nowhere.

"You have the worst timing, Dawn." A gentle giant grumbled at me.

"Toxic!?" I looked up at my friend, who grinned down at me. I wasn’t going to ask how I hadn’t noticed him - hiding in an open field was just one of his skills.

He looked… better. Less haunted. He had a well traveled tunic on, a lute strung over his shoulder, and a twinkle in his eye.

"I’d finally managed to get a sleeping poison in his drink. Would’ve made the entire thing easy, painless, and subtle. Just another man who couldn’t properly hold his liquor." Toxic gave a slow, mock-sad shake of his head.

There was a spray of beer as the lowlife who’d nabbed the fake Ranger’s mug spat it out, then overturned the mug, to the displeasure of the bartender.

"Well, excuse me for ruining your master plan. Let’s catch up somewhere else?" I eyed the rest of the bar, who weren’t giving us the friendliest of looks.

‘Terrified’ and ‘not looking to pick a fight’, but not friendly.

"Sure." Toxic easily hauled the frozen man over one shoulder. The bard scrambled off her table, and fell in behind him, following us.

Arthur seemed to know what that was about, and I didn’t comment. He’d let me know soon enough.

We dropped the fake off with the local guard, then found a much nicer place to catch up.

"I never expected to see you here!" I repeated, nursing a nice cup of wine.

The difference between me drinking here, and the people from earlier drinking, was I had already done a full day’s work. I’d earned it.

I ignored the little voice suggesting that maybe they’d also earned it. The bard and the bartender had also been working…

Speaking of the bard, she was carefully tuning her instrument or something. I wasn’t fluent in instrument maintenance. Mostly staying out of our way, but clearly listening in. I’d have to get the full story from Arthur at some point, but they’d definitely been working together for some time.

"Same." He agreed. "No offense, but you’re near the bottom of my list of picks for Sentinels to be sent on this sort of thing."

"Well, you’d think that. See…"

I gave Arthur the quick rundown of what I’d been up to since the Formorian war.

"Of course," I leaned back in my chair, sipping on my fourth drink as the moons started to rise. "To get the real, full story, you’d need to head back to Arminium."

"There’s more?!"

"Oh yeah, you got the short version of Auri’s egg, for example. Anyways, what have you been up to?"

Arthur’s face instantly fell, and I immediately felt guilty.

"Still getting notifications?" I gently asked.

He gave me a stiff nod.

"About two a week now."

Arthur’s mass poisoning attempt had worked. The price was his conscience. It wasn’t a clean success, people succumbing to the poison he was using against the Formorian Queens.

The brutally pragmatic call had been made without me though - continue with the plan.

And Arthur - Sentinel Toxic - had done so. He’d pushed the domino that had won us the Formorian war, forever securing our borders against the threat, no longer throwing people into the endless meatgrinder.

"It’s ok. You can tell me." I gently told him.

I didn’t know if he was looking for forgiveness, absolution, or what. I just knew being a friendly, supportive ear, someone who’d been there and knew what he’d gone through, was the right move.

Arthur started rambling about it. How every death notification told a life story. How he was dreading checking his notifications, but felt obligated to.

Throughout it all, I just made sympathetic noises. The bard was also clearly a source of some comfort, having heard it before. Seemed to be good for him.

".... now I’ve been singing." Arthur finished up. "Telling my tales. Seeing how many lives I can brighten. It’s not much. Nothing compared to your healing. But I’ve got no talent for it, and I don’t want to poison anyone else."

I snorted at him, and punched his arm.

"Telling my tales more like it!"

"They’re not yours in the first place!" He argued back.

"Yeah. STILL!"

We gave each other stink-eyes, then cracked near-identical grins.

"I haven’t forgotten I’m a Sentinel." He said. "Still solve problems that I come across, although I’ll be the first to admit I’m closer to a one-man Ranger team than a proper Sentinel. Still, I’ve got the flexibility to track down rumors, like that fake from earlier. Oh! Do I have a story for you! See, it all started with a rash of trees turning pink, and…"

I smiled as Arthur - with significantly better storytelling skills than the last time I’d met him - regaled me of his epic tale of The Pink Trees and the Seven Sisters.

"Gods, look at the time." Arthur said, and I jolted awake from the doze I was falling into.

I let a yawn rip.

"Let’s get some sleep."

Arthur hesitated.

"I’m probably going to head out. Bad dreams…"

I stood up, giving him an understanding nod.

"I got it. Come here." I gestured, giving the way too big, practically a giant, a hug.

"It was good to see you again." I murmured. "Come by and visit."

"I just might." He agreed, and we parted.

I had one more task to complete before I could sleep. Gripping a Moonstone, I infused it with a charge of [The Stars Never Fade]. Augustus had wanted the skill for him in a gemstone.

All the better for others to not know what his curse was, and I wanted the debt gone and cleared. Augustus had done everything right, showing good faith, and I was going to return it.

The guard barracks were loud, and in spite of my best efforts to bury my head under my pillow, I was unceremoniously woken up a few hours before I wanted to be.

Ah well.

My mission was finally over. It’d been a pain to chase down rumors, but bumping into Arthur made it all worth it. I wanted to blitz back home to Auri and everyone else, but I hadn’t been to Aquiliea in ages, and I didn’t know when I’d be back next.

Tour time, speed style.

I started off by visiting the home I’d grown up in. The place I’d lived as a baby, a kid, and a young teenager. I knew the spot like the back of my hand, and, well.

It was weird.

It still looked exactly like my old home, down to the striations in the stone. My instincts were muttering that I should sneak in before mom burst outside and scolded me for lazing around, or that dad should be grabbing me in his arms and spinning me around.

Weirdest of all?

It wasn’t home anymore. I couldn’t just waltz in, slap the groceries down in the kitchen, and throw myself onto a cushion. It was a stranger’s home.

"Can I help you?" A woman asked me suspiciously from inside the door.

I shook my head.

"No, sorry. I grew up in that house. Just wanted to see."

"Ah! You must be Julia’s kid. You look just like her."

"Thank you." I awkwardly left, and quickly ran around town.

I bought an absurd copper contraption from Bakus, picking it out because it had clever flames twisting on it. Auri would like it… she’d probably like it more after she set it on fire, the troublemaker.

I walked the streets I had so many times as a kid, turning my head in wonder at just how different my perspective was. Both physically, and emotionally.

It all just looked different, while being the same.

I went to the park where Lyra and I had played, feeling the heavy weight of her loss.

The first one was the hardest.

I cried, as I failed to find any trace of her. There had been no grave. No stone. No marker of her life, no proof of her existence.

There was only one place to go after that.

The temple at the center of town. News hadn’t quite made it here, but before the year was out, no girl would be denied a chance to learn new skills at System Day. That old, lingering ghost had been put to rest, and if I had more time, if it wouldn’t have meant days away from Auri, I would’ve stuck around just to oversee one of the first times everyone was allowed to play with the temple’s toys.

"May I assist you?" A priest - I recognized Sacerdus - asked me.

"Just looking to pray."

"Any specific god or goddess?"

I hesitated a moment, quickly running through the list.

End of the day, there was only one option for praying about Lyra.

"Selene and Lunaris, if they have their own altar?"

"Of course." He led the way, and I was slightly amused.

He didn’t recognize me at all. I wasn’t about to point it out, because what would be the point?

I knelt at the altar, and prayed.

Selene.

Lunaris.

Hi, I’m Elaine. Sorry I don’t pray much.

I figured any excuse I gave as to why I didn’t pray much wouldn’t endear me much to the goddesses.

My friend Lyra loved the two of you, and she died. I’m praying to you on her behalf. It’s what she would’ve wanted.

Can you bring her back?

I still had an inner child, and she was the one making the plea.

It cost me nothing. Who was I to deny it?

Cheers,

Elaine.

I had no idea what else to do, and I just stayed there in quiet prayer.

I got up and left.

I was walking out when I bumped into Flavia again, who quickly waved me down. Naturally, I went to see what she wanted.

"Elaine! Oh thank goodness." She gave a dramatic exhalation.

"What’s up?" I asked her.

"You haven’t heard! You’ll never believe this - the Ranger was a fake. A whole squad of Sentinels came in and arrested him and everything! A Sentinel! In this town! Can you believe it? I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt."

I gave her a bit of an awkward look, having no idea what to make of what she was saying or why. I mean, yeah, I’d mentioned I was looking for the Ranger, but just what did she think was going on!?

"It wasn’t a squad, it was two Sentinels. One was there by accident." I eventually settled on, figuring correcting the rumors might be worth it. Also, Sentinels needed their illusion of invincibility. If the rumor mill started on "one fake Ranger was worth a whole team of Sentinels." that did us no favors in the long run. Like, yeah, "Sentinels crack down hard on fakes" was the counter to that, but I didn’t like the overall picture it painted.

"Oh? How do you know that?" Flavia asked.

Eh. I was leaving, and the mission was over. Might as well enjoy myself.

I pulled out my Sentinel badge.

"Because I was one of them. Sentinel Dawn, at your service." I gave her a grin, letting it stretch uncomfortably large as she gasped. Never got old.

"Anyways, I’ve gotta run. It was great catching up Flavia! I’ll try to swing by now and then." I’d seen most of the city, and had somewhere to be. A place with my family and friends, with Auri, Artemis, Autumn, Night, and the rest.

I’d made my peace with Aquiliea, and with a flap of my glorious Radiant wings, I took flight, heading north.

Flying was magical. I spent a brief moment with the wind in my hair and the sun on my face, closing my eyes to better enjoy the feelings as Pallos dropped away from me.

I opened my eyes, oriented myself, and started to fly north, back home.

I made good time, but as I flew faster, I spotted a problem.

One of the vicious flocks of ornithocheirus was circling, swarming like a deadly cloud.

Circling - not traveling.

I cursed as I saw the cloud of monsters ‘raining’, indicating that the deadly dinosaurs were diving en masse. I changed direction and headed their way.

Once upon a time, I’d only ever been able to run and hide from the beasts, their sheer numbers and weight able to literally bury any opposition. That was years and hundreds of levels ago though.

It took me some time to power towards the distant flock. There was nothing clouding my vision, my eyes were dramatically improved thanks to my vitality, and the flock was big enough to see from a distance.

Waste not, want not, in the forty minutes or so it took me to fly over, I did my best to study their flight. Only as I got closer did I have a chance at seeing what was going on.

It was a tragedy. All I could properly make out was a dozen ironclad covered carts, most of them wrecked or turned over. I couldn’t see any bodies, but the number of blood-stained ornithocheirus walking on the ground, or the clusters of the dinosaurs with their heads down in the right spot told a story.

I couldn’t see any survivors, but it didn’t mean there weren’t any terrified civilians, huddled inside one of the tipped-over wagons, praying for salvation.

The swarm was massive, one of the threats to Remus that not even a Ranger team could handle. A full army legion could, with a bit of work, fight one of the swarms, and possibly Night or the late Sky.

I wasn’t one of those, but I wasn’t helpless either. I had to try.

As I silently dove towards the broken caravan - I wasn’t an amateur who’d scream and announce myself ahead of time - I quickly formulated a plan of attack, rescue, and figured out my win and lose conditions.

One of the issues with the ornithocheirus was killing one or two of them didn’t make them run away. They were cannibals through and through, and several of them dying simply meant there was more food for them. It brought more of the flock down.

It’s what I imagined happened here. That, or there had been enough beasts of burden, without enough protections.

I wasn’t terribly scary. Most monsters - and people, for that matter - looked at me and thought "yum".

I needed to kill enough of the dinosaurs that they’d flee, which would steadily escalate in difficulty. The more I killed, the more would come down, the greater danger the survivors would be in until I entirely broke their morale, until their primitive instincts recognized that too many of them were dying, and the feast was not worth the risks.

I lost - in other words, died - if I ran out of mana. Mismanaging my mana stores and burning too many flying menances, too fast, was the biggest risk. Taking stupid lethal attacks was the second largest risk, and getting trapped and turning into an all-you-can-eat buffet until my healing ran out was the third way I could run out of mana.

The corollary to that was a trapped survivor that I needed to heal, only for the dinosaurs to come back for a bite.

I wasn’t built for a straight out slugfest. Getting my limbs chomped off wouldn’t help me at all, and staying still was just asking to get swarmed and dive-bombed. I couldn’t handle that.

It left a fairly straightforward plan.

I got in range, and the battle was joined.

The only greedy guts that had seen me were the members of the flock still high above, and I didn’t look tasty. Small, scrawny, with great big colorful ‘don’t touch me’ wings. My dive intersected me with the first ornithocheirus, and I twisted in the air. Studying Auri and Cordamo had given me unparalleled agility, and I practically slapped the dinosaur’s head.

I unleashed a small, careful Radiance blast, spending as little mana as possible while still being lethal.

[*ding!* You have slain an [Ornithocheirus] (Wind, 183)]

I didn’t even burn through its head.

I paused a brief moment to assess the impact of my actions.

Its body plummeted through the air, and I sucked in a cold breath through my teeth as it landed squarely on one of the carts. Its relatively fragile body couldn’t handle the impact, breaking every bone in its body.

My clinical eye pointed out a few small sections of bone that, technically, hadn’t properly broken, and were likely intact.

I kept diving, assessing the situation both near and far. There was a second ornithocheirus that I angled towards, making sure I’d get in nice and close from its blind spot.

The wagon that I’d dropped the first dinosaur in held, but it had a dent. Four more ornithocheirus hopped forward, greedily devouring their flockmates body.

Killing the dinosaurs this high up above the caravan wouldn’t work. I didn’t want to start raining bodies down on possible survivors. Heavy flesh anvils dropped from a few hundred feet up high were lethal to all but the strongest, most resilient Classers.

At least, of the Classers that Remus had.

I glanced behind me, seeing a few more start to dive.

Great.

I carefully aimed at the ornithocheirus’s joint, and a thin lance of Radiance sprang forth from my finger, instantly leaping through the air and severing the bird’s connection to its wing.

With a scream of pain, the dinosaur spiraled out of control, and I used it as a distraction, diving right behind it.

As I got closer, I flared my wings, changing the angle of attack from a dive to flying horizontally. I strafed the group of birds, carefully rationed Radiance shots killing them when I could easily get to their head, or crippling a wing when I couldn’t get a good angle.

A few careful [Kaleidoscope] butterflies were released into larger groups, the explosion maiming multiple birds. Their aggressive and greedy nature had them eyeing each other and posturing, instead of chasing after me.

Divide and conquer.

More of the ornithocheirus would be diving after the fresh meat I was providing. I was hoping their natural viciousness would make them turn on the weakened survivors.

The weakened survivors wouldn’t go down without a fight, and maybe bring another one of the birds down with them. It was too much to hope it’d snowball into a cannibalistic orgy of self-destruction. They would’ve wiped themselves out already if that was possible.

I scanned for survivors as I zoomed over the caravan with my deadly light show. I didn’t see any signs, but I wasn’t deterred. Anyone I could easily see from the sky, the dinosaurs could see as well. Anyone the dinosaurs could see, they could get to and eat.

I pulled a number of the vicious birds after me, squawking and shrieking in outrage that I’d dared to kill a number of them.

Or they saw me as fresh food, hard to tell.

I carefully paced myself, letting them string themselves out, all while managing a pair of the dinosaurs who took the chance to divebomb me from up high.

A single [Kaleidoscope] butterfly in exactly the right spot managed to injure and disorient the two of them enough that they crashed into each other, and impacts at that speed, with those existing injuries?

If trees could level, the ones they impaled themselves on would’ve gotten a few.

I killed my pursuers one at a time, then turned back, golden beams of Radiance flickering in and out of existence as I strafed the caravan’s remains a second time.

I was the world’s deadliest disco ball. With little butterfly wings.

I repeated the process, but a third run was impossible. There were too many of them, shrieking and clawing, ripping and tearing. It was like a sea made out of limbs as they climbed over every inch, pecking and biting.

I circled them instead, picking off as many of the dinosaurs that I could, throwing in a few more well-placed [Kaleidoscopes] for maximum impact.

More of the dinosaurs chased me, and I almost felt bad for them.

Between my levels, abilities, training, and skills, as long as I didn’t do anything stupid I’d be able to easily outsmart them and pick them off. As long as I managed my mana. As long as I kept my head on a swivel. As long as I didn’t rush.

They didn’t have a chance.

The only thing that kept me going were the blood-coated wagons, a reminder of why I’d come here in the first place. At this point, I wasn’t looking for survivors.

There was no point, there were too many ornithocheirus, living and dead, to see or hear anything. I’d need to search later. It’d taken me so long to get here, that any survivor was well-hidden and secured, and would stay that way. The best thing I could do for them was clear off the dinosaurs, find them, heal them, and bring them back to civilization.

I didn’t know how long the fight took, but when the birds fled, they left waist-deep corpses.

"Hello?" I shouted, loud as I could. "Is anyone around? I’m Sentinel Dawn, it’s safe now."

With a grunt, I dragged a body off one of the wagons, making it a little more accessible. I remembered I had a utility gem for exactly this situation, and was heading home. I used [Amplify Voice], letting my shouts roar across the battlefield.

"It’s safe now! Come on out!" I kept moving.

"Hello?" I called out, knocking on the roof of the wagon. "Is anyone in there?"

Silence. I wasn’t going to let that stop me, no. I was going to check every nook and cranny.

I moved a few more bodies, each one taking time. The doors of this wagon had been ripped off, but I ducked in anyways. No telling if someone was knocked out, had passed out from an adrenaline crash, or had screamed themselves hoarse. Or some other issue.

Crates and barrels were tumbled and jumbled, having gone every which way when the wagon was tipped over.

I found a small crushed torso under a particularly heavy crate of what I assumed was raw iron, the exposed legs ending in stumps.

The dinosaurs had chewed it off and eaten it already.

I only hoped that the falling crate had killed her first.

I cleared wagon after wagon, getting more frantic, more desperate with each one. Looking for survivors. Looking for the one person that meant it’d all been worth it, that my actions had made a difference.

It had taken me roughly forty minutes to travel over here after I’d seen the dinosaurs.

They’d been here for some time before that.

The last wagon forced the conclusion in my face, rubbed it in.

I’d been too late.

Half-chewed corpses were the most I’d found from anyone.

I knew I couldn’t save everyone. It was still an unpleasant realization. My best hope at this point was that some people had fled into the forest when the attack started, and they’d managed to get away.

Fighting back tears, I took off once again. I circled around for another hour or two in ever-widening circles, seeing if I could find anyone.

Of course, anyone hiding would have hid against people searching from the sky, but the odds of success for manually searching the entire forest on foot were too low for it to be worth the effort.

I was a bit lost, I needed to reorient myself. I followed the road the caravan had been on.

I only paused when the sun set, finding myself in a forest once again. I landed in a clearing, noting a ring of mushrooms.

Last time I left Aquiliea, I’d slept in a forest, in a ring of mushrooms. Funny how life repeated itself in those little patterns sometimes. I’d been an upset mess with the rain falling last time, and this time I was an upset mess with rain coming from my eyes.

At least the clearing was perfect for the night. A cozy ring of soft grass and everything.

Chapter 33
Minor Interlude - Auri - Left Behind

Good morning, good morning, GOOD MORNING! It was morning! The great fire up high - the sun, Plato was insistent that she learn and use the right words - was just coming up.

Praise the sun! Oh glorious never ending fire! My fire would be that big one day. Elaine promised me that listening to Plato would make my fire bigger, so I did.

She must’ve slept well! No bad invisible monsters attacked her in the night! I still wasn’t sure why horses at night were so dangerous, but one of these days I’d catch them sneaking in and burn them all to ashes!

I looked over and-

She was gone. Her bed was empty, like it’d been for… many many many days. Counting the number of days hurt, a watery reminder of each day she hadn’t been here.

I kicked some bad little clearish beads out of my nest. Shoo! Go away! I don’t want you here!

I let out a sad plaintive brrrrpt. Why had she gone? Why did she leave me behind?

Why were the mean Sentinels so hard to burn? Elaine had tricked me! She said burn one and I could come, but they were all fast and tricky!! The last one I tried to burn summoned a bunch of evil water and laughed at me from inside!

Ugly colorless water-using Sentinel. Why did Elaine hang out with him???

Elaine was gone. Even if it took forever, I’d wait for her.

But I wasn’t gone! I was here! Me!

I looked around me, at the lovely ar-arcan-arcanite nest Elaine had gotten for me. It was shiny and pretty, and everywhere I looked I saw the most beautiful, wonderful, lovely, brrretiest sight I’d ever see.

Me.

My body of fire. The fluttering feather flames. The dozen different types of red. I burned like wood and wool, I had the colors of fresh leaves and fancy metals going up in flames. The teals and greens and oranges with the yellows and purples and whites and oh!

I was the prettiest bird - the most beautiful creature!! - that had ever been hatched.

Plato’s poetry was nice! Yay!

Plato talked a lot about "duty". He wasn’t very good at explaining it. Kept saying it was about "serving other people" and "helping one another" and "ob-li-ga-tions" and "be nice to Elaine"

Well ok, he was right about that.

No, it was stuuuuupidly clear what my "duty" was.

Everyone, large and small, young and old, rich and poor, should be able to gaze upon the wonderful body that was me.

That was a line from one of Plato's scrolls! I felt very clever taking the good parts of it and changing it a bit to be better!

I’d already gotten one big parade thrown for me, and that was Good. They’d started to figure it out.

However, was one really enough?

Enough thinking! Plato would make me do soooo much of it later. Boo thinking! Yay bigger flames!

Why did the two have to go together?

I fluttered up, getting a biiiiiiiiiiig drink of delicious juice.

Julia was so nice! She loved my fire! She helped me find things to burn, and gave me permission to burn EVEN MORE things! She told me I was pretty! She made sure I had a great big bowl of juice ready in the morning!

Yay Julia! It only made sense that Elaine had gotten herself such a nice mom.

The clawing hunger inside sated, I flew through the clear doorway. No more bad door!

I’d gotten stuck the first day after Elaine had left, and nobody had come as I yelled at the door.

So I burned it down. No more being trapped!

And everyone kept saying fire wasn’t the answer to all problems. Ha!

…Plato had made a lot of funny faces that one day I answered all of his questions with "fire". That was a blast.

Fwish! Fwoop! Zippiness was fun!

Plato had explained all the stats!

At first I thought it’d been simple. Big numbers were better. Easy!

Nooo. Plato made me learn all the numbers! Then adding them! Subtracting them! Multiplying!

I’d burned a few things it was so annoying.

But then!

BUT THEN!

He revealed the TRUTH!

I could figure out how much I could burn with the numbers! I could burn even more by carefully thinking about them!

It took me less than a day to learn them all. Clever me!

My level was stuck at XXXII. No more levels until I went to the Field of Flowers again. My burning wouldn’t get better until I did.

Except… the longer I waited, the better my flames would be!

AHHHHHHHHHH

I got to the log Elaine made sure I had every day. Even when she was gone, she was looking after me! She was the best!

I brrrpted sadly.

I didn’t want a log to burn.

I wanted Elaine.

She could INSTANTLY INCINERATE AN ENTIRE LOG.

And she got me things to burn, juice to drink, fruits to eat, and places to show off. She cared about me. Loved me.

She was the BEST.

Nothing else to do but light the log in flames! Glory to Elaine! Glory to me!

Fire made everything better.

I bathed in it, letting the flames wash over and through me. Becoming a part of me for a brief moment. Expelled, touched by me.

Oh, they were glorious. The quick spark, the flash, the beauty in transience!

The small inferno.

Mmmmmm.

Warm.

Like being hugged by Elaine.

The inferno was soothing, calming. It made me feel relaxed, like everything was right with the world. Scratched an itch that was impossible to reach.

It was hard not ‘classing up’. I wanted to go to the field of flowers.

Nooooo. Everyone said noooo. Self control.

It would make the flames better.

One day! One day soon!

Burn all the flowers!

"Auri?" Julia’s voice sweetly echoed through the house. "Would you like some breakfast?"

I flicked my head around. Flames were growing low, and I was out of Kindling.

Mmmm. Fire or breakfast…

I thought about it.

I thought about it a lot! Smart me! Thinking was hard. Thinking about fire and food was easier! Plato’s poetry and philosophy hurt, but…

But…

It did seem to be working. I think?

Elaine was happy every time I told her about it.

Plato was less smart than Elaine. He couldn’t understand my words - silly man with the curly white hair.

I was going to burn it one day. It would be very funny!

Zoooooooooooom! I was a streak of fire! A burning comet!

So many fun words to describe me! Lots of words to describe Elaine!

Maybe… maybe Plato’s other lessons were OK.

Which meant… Plato was OK.

Elaine was a GENIUS! Finding me someone who taught me stuff!

"Good morning Auri!" Julia called to me.

"Good morning, good morning, GOOD MORNING!" I chirped back at her.

"Breakfast’s on the table." She pointed with her glorious instrument of soon-to-be-fire. Great for waving at people when it was burning!

Breakfast! Yummy seeds, tasty nectar, and chopped meat!

I gobbled it all.

"Today’s Plato’s day off. Busy?" Julia asked me.

"I’ll find something to do!" I responded.

"You can always come with me if you’d like."

Poor Julia. Couldn’t understand me.

"I’m ok." I zooooooooooomed out of the house.

I passed by the Special Bowl. Julia and Elainus always always ALWAYS had one of Elaine’s special fruits in there!

Sometimes it went bad! That was a big OH NO!

Julia always got a new one when that happened. Yay Julia! Yay making sure Elaine had food when she came home!

Out I went!

I had to be careful! Too far away was bad. If I got hungry, food was hard to get!

Except for one place!

I flew and flew and flew and flew! The city was eeeeeeeeeendless, except it wasn’t!

Oh! Oh! I knew what that was! Plato told me yesterday!

It was a par-a-dox!

Yes!

That was the word!

Smart me! Yay!

I got to the market! Elaine’s friend was here!

She was weird. She was taller than Elaine… but younger than Elaine?

How did that work?

Wasn’t the taller person always older? Got bigger as they grew up?

Maybe Elaine was just super-duper smart for her age. She was shorter than almost everyone.

Yes! Elaine was super smart! I knew that already, and that must be how things worked!

"Hi Autumn!" I fluttered over to the perch she made for me.

Smart girl! The best! Knew to make a place for me.

Yup yup, everything was good! She had tasty fruits for me!

And the extra-sweet one! Mangos!

Yummy!

Elaine really, really, REALLY liked them. I liked them as well!

Good taste, Elaine!

I usually let her have more. She really, really, REALLY liked them!

"Heya Auri. No Plato today?" Autumn asked.

"No! Rest my head!" I told her.

"I’ll take that as a yes." She turned back to her gathering of useless bits of metal.

Well, not super-duper useless. They did burn pretty, but it was HARD! Not like bamboo.

Nobody understood me. Except Elaine!

When would she be back…?

Oh! A super small human was pointing at me!

They were called kids!

Yes! That was the word!

And they proved that humans got bigger as they aged! A small kid was basically a hatchling. As they got older, they got bigger!

How big would Elaine get?

I flashed my wings! So pretty!

My beak! So noble!

My tail! Just glorious!

My chest! Beautiful!

My eyes! Sparkling!

Gaze upon me~!

"You’re very pretty Auri."

Good Autumn!

It was a good day! Yes! The big ball of fire - no, the sun! That was the word! - made its way alllllllll across the sky!

Plato made me look at the world and ask questions. Lots of questions!

I had a question!

What pulled the sun?

Oh!

Where did the sun go when it wasn’t in our sky?

I write! Otherwise, I forget.

"Bye!" I told Autumn. Manners! Yes! They were good!

"Want another fruit?" She offered me one.

I thought about it. Shook my head.

I was full!

"Ok, bye bye! Tell me when Elaine gets back!" Autumn waved to me.

Back home I go!

Whoosh! Air through my fiery feathers. Fun!

It made them bigger! It made little embers break off!

Yay a trail! Sparks behind me! It was hot!

I got home, and zip! Zap! Zoop! To the learning room!

Lots of learning things in the learning room! Lots of wood for careful burning only!

I hovered next to the unused stack. One for me! Grab it in my claws!

Mine!

I took off with it, screaming fury and defiance as it dragged me down.

No! NO! You! Will! Go! On! The! Table!

A clatter! A crash! We all smacked into the table!

But HA!

The wood landed on the table!

I win!

I stepped over to it. Step! Step!

Plato couldn’t understand me.

But he knew a powerful magic!

A magic ANYONE could do!

Writing!

I burned the letters into the block! One at a time! With the magic of writing, the letters made WORDS!!

‘What pull teh sun?’

Hmmm. Something looked wrong there.

Oh well! Plato would tell me!

‘Were sun go when dar night?’

Oopsies! Wrong word! It was ok.

Done! Yay! Learning new things!

That was super-duper hungry work!

Julia had a biiiiiiiig juice jar in the food area!

Peeeeeeew! I flew! The fanciest!

Tasty, tasty juice. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Wait.

WAIT.

There was one of the food-eaters!

THEY WERE TRYING TO EAT ELAINE’S FOOD!!!

No!

Bad small fur-teeth-claws thing! Ugly! Dumb!

With careful aim, I flicked one of my magic skills at them!

A burning feather!

No!

Nine burning feathers! As fast as I could!

Pew! Pew pew! Pew pew pew pew pew pew!!!!

[*ding!* Aoife Auri Stentor, the most beautifulest and prettiest phoenix there’s ever been, you have slain a wicked [Rat] (Decay, XLIV)!]

Yes, yes, magic words, tell me how great I am.

[*ding!* Aoife Auri Stentor, oh great giver of flame and future burner of the world, congratulations! [Burning Quills] leveled up from XVIII to XIX!]

The magic words said it, so it must be true! I would burn the world!

Not Elaine though. Or the parts she liked.

The rest of it though!

The fire wasn’t stopping at the evil slain rat, and the kitchen burning would be bad! Elaine liked food!

Making the fire go away was sad, but it would make Elaine happy! Or… it would make her not-sad. Her food all burning would make her sad.

But not happy…?

Hmm.

Weird.

HMMMMMMM.

I flew over to the burning room! It had a little tree in it, open to the sky!

The sky was pretty. Which was weird. It was the color of water… but pretty?

Blue flames were also a thing… and all flames were good… so blue must not be bad.

It wasn’t blue’s fault water was so mean.

Oooh! A bird! A little bird landed near me!

And it was singing!

I sing as well!

We sing! Yay!

But…

The other bird was looking at me. Laughing at me!

They thought their singing was better!

They thought my singing was bad!

No!

Bad bird!

My singing is the bestest ever!

[*ding!* Aoife Auri Stentor, the most beautifulest and prettiest phoenix there’s ever been, you have slain a wicked [Sparrow] (Sound, XX)!]

Hmph! Magic words didn’t lie! It was a wicked sparrow!

It had been a long day! Relaxing day! No Plato! I had been free to do what I wanted! Hurray!

No Elaine either…

I was in my nest. My big, pretty nest that Elaine got for me.

I didn’t want the nest. Could I trade the nest for Elaine?

Please?

It was cold and lonely without her. The room was so big, so empty. It wasn’t made for just me.

Can she come back now?

Why did she have to leave without me?

It wasn’t fair.

Not-water tears rolled out of my eyes, down my face. They’d be strange little beads in the morning. Things to kick out of the nest.

I cried until sleep claimed me.

"Pppssssssst. Auri!" A voice called to me.

I opened my eyes. Still dark. Nighttime.

Wait.

That voice!?

"ELAINE! ELAINEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!" I shrieked as I flew at her.

She laughed and opened up her arms.

"I’m back!"

"ELAINE! YAY! You’re back! You’re the best! I love you! Hurray!!"

"I missed you too. Love you Auri." She said.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Companion Bond between Auri and Elaine]! Would you like to take this skill?]

I looked Elaine in the eye and saw she’d gotten the same skill.

Be with Elaine forever?

Easy question.

Of course I took it.

Companion Bond between Auri and Elaine: The two of you are two birds of a feather, flocking together, now and forever. A friendship forged in flame and bound with mangos, you are companions. Best of friends, willing to burn the world together. Increased resilience per level. No-penalty healing from Elaine. Effective healing range increased per level. Share more of Elaine’s knowledge per level. Increased gluttony per level.

[Name: Aoife Auri Stentor]

[Race: Phoenix]

[Age:]

[Mana: MMCCCXXX/MMCCCXXX]

[Mana Regen: MDCCLXVI]

Stats

[Free Stats:]

[Pushing Power: LXXXII]

[Fancy Flying: CXVIII]

[Reactions and Reflexes: LXIV]

[Zippiness: CLXXXIV]

[Kindling: CCXXXIII]

[New Juice: CCIX]

[Flame Size: CCXLVIII]

[Fire Control: CXL]

[Class I: [The Eternal Flame - Inferno : Lv XXXII]]

[Inferno Authority: XXXII]

[Phoenix Rebirth: II]

[Inferno Manipulation: XXXII]

[Inferno Conjuration: XXXII]

[True Flames: XXXII]

[Burn Magic: XXXII]

[Domain of Fire: XXXII]

[Burning Quills: XIX]

[Class II: [Locked]]

[Class III: [Locked]]

General Skills

[Phoenix's Perfection: XXXII]

[Incandescence: XXXII]

[Adorable: XXXII]

[Precocious: XXXII]

[Companion Bond between Auri and Elaine: I]

[Flying: XXXII]

[Preening: XXXII]

[Brrretty: XXXII]

Chapter 34
Moments before disaster

I was back! Home at last!

Obviously I hadn’t slept in the fairy ring. That would’ve been the height of stupidity, especially after Night’s warning about them. I had [Pristine Memories], and when Night pulled me aside and gave me a stark warning about a threat, I listened.

Poor Auri had missed me so, given how she was practically both crying incoherently and screeching with joy, all as she circled my head.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that, and the notification I got sneaking back into my room proved it.

[*ding!* Your [Hatchling Rearing] skill wants to upgrade to the General Skill [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri]! Would you like to upgrade this skill?]

I kept my eyes on Auri, my sockets getting a workout as she kept spinning around me.

Of course I’d take it.

Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: The two of you are birds of a feather, flocking together. A friendship forged in flame and bound with mangos, you are companions. Best of friends, willing to pillage the world of its mangos together. Immunity to fire. Can heal Auri at range with perfect efficiency, regardless of healing skill ability. Increased healing range per level. Faster thinking speed per level. Increased vanity per level.

My eyes practically bugged out at the notification, but I put that all to the side for now.

I had an Auri to look after. If I crossed my eyes, tilted my head, and got a massive concussion she’d almost look like a puppy, delighted that I was finally back home.

"Brrrpt! BRRRRPT!"

"It was only three weeks!" I protested.

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt!"

I facepalmed. Sometimes there was no winning.

"Come here." I patted my shoulder, Auri landing a moment later and nuzzling my cheek.

"Brrrrrpt. Brrrrrrrrrrrpt."

Crossed eyes, tilted head, concussion - a purring cat.

"Let me tell you all about it!"

"Brrrpt!"

I took a seat on the edge of my bed, tilted my head to better see Auri, and gave her the full breakdown of everything that had happened.

"...then I rushed back as fast as I could, to see you! The bestest little bird ever!"

There was no happy ‘brrrpt!’ at that, and I crossed my eyes to see her better. My shoulder wasn’t a great angle to see something small on.

She’d fallen asleep, the poor thing.

Smoothly sliding some small glass-like beads out of the way - where had they all come from, the floor was littered with them - I carefully put the sleeping Auri into her precious little nest.

I then quietly stripped out of my well-traveled clothes, and slipped into a ready bath in the next room.

I leaned back, letting the luxurious heat soak into me - interesting that I still felt heat - and noticed just how filthy my hands were.

Travel really did a number on them, and I started to idly pick the dirt out from under my nails as I did some serious thinking on the companion bond skill I’d just gotten.

I knew Auri was a phoenix. A creature out of myth and legend, an existence that even White Dove acknowledged as ‘cousin’. A being of fire.

She was also my loveable, dorky little friend who always bit off more than she could chew and regularly tried to drown herself in juice. Who was the vainest creature I’d ever met. Who I’d needed to stop from killing herself dozens of times after she hatched, and the way I’d been able to teach her empathy was "other people like to burn things as well."

The System didn’t seem to care much about that, and more that she was a phoenix. The list of benefits I got from the companion bond started absurd, and only got crazier from there.

Immunity to fire.

Immunity.

Not resistance, or something like [Fire Resistance] – which had been a much-needed staple to stop constant self-immolation when I’d been a Fire mage – but straight up immunity.

The System was sometimes incredibly vague about the skills it gave out, and generally didn’t come with a user manual. Everyone had to figure out the limits of their own skills.

It didn’t lie though. It didn’t say a skill did one thing, and SURPRISE! It did something else. When the System said ‘Immunity to fire’, I could believe it.

I’d want to check the limits. Namely – could I actually get fireproof hair at last?! Auri giving me the hot look was getting old.

Oh! And Inferno mage was back on the menu. Complete immunity to the element would remove the need for [Inferno Resistance]. Granted, most elements didn’t need protection from themselves, but I just knew there had to be silly things I could do with it.

It did make me wonder about corollaries.

Magic was weird. When I had [Fire Resistance], I couldn’t be burned by flames. Stick the fire under a pan, though, and the pan could burn my hand if I touched it. The [Fire Resistance] didn’t translate over.

Similarly, I had to wonder about my air situation. If I was bathed in a gigantic ball of fire – most likely that’d be Auri’s doing – did I still need to breathe air? Did immunity to fire extend so far as to say "Hey! The fire’s eating all the air, but it’s ok, you can still breathe?"

Or would I find myself choking on smoke?

If I was immune to smoke, was it only smoke from a fire, or did smoldering embers count?

Lots of things to try out.

Auri would be thrilled.

‘Hey Auri! We need to spend a day doing nothing but lighting things on fire!’

It was clear that fire immunity didn’t apply to heat. Thank goodness, I liked a nice long soak in hot water.

When looking at it that way, it was a somewhat limited skill. The best thing it was for?

Not getting hit by Auri. Which was the whole point, I supposed.

The next part was both great, and didn’t explain itself nearly well enough.

‘Can heal Auri at range with perfect efficiency, regardless of healing skill ability.’

I had multiple penalties if I wanted to heal Auri at range. First, we both needed to be under the sun or the moons. Second, I needed a strong anatomical image of Auri, along with knowing what the damage was and how to fix it. Third, [Dance with the Heavens] was designed for humans. I had a few points in the skill to handle non-humans at a penalty, but the further away from "human" someone got, the worse my healing would be.

It’s why Lun’Kat took so much mana, and she’d been made out of flesh and blood! The penalty for Auri’s healing would normally be gigantic, if it even took hold!

Fortunately, Auri was tiny and well-protected, while I had literally hundreds of thousands of mana to throw at any healing problem.

‘Perfect efficiency’. That could mean there was no ranged healing penalty. That there was no image penalty. Or there was no cross-species ‘my skills aren’t made for this’ penalty.

Of course, it could be any combination of the three.

My healing knowledge and experience came in handy, along with my relentless pursuit of knowledge. I had no way of testing it – I’d never mutilate Auri for an experiment! – but I’d bet that I had no penalty on my ranged healing, nor would there be any cross-species penalty. However, I’d still need to form good images, and the better the image, the better the heal.

My reasoning was simple. Occasionally, a healer didn’t want to heal something. A tattoo. A scar. A metal prosthetic that some lunatic dwarf shoved into their chest. Ear piercings.

I should probably get those again. The arcanite earrings I’d earned early on in my Ranger tour were sitting on a shelf, gathering dust. They hadn’t been the first thing I’d ever gotten with my money and healing, but they’d been one of the first things I’d earned after striking out for independence.

Focus.

The other part of my reasoning for Auri’s healing working that way was the next part: ‘Increased range per level.’

It implied I could only heal Auri when she was near me, but that ‘tether’ would get longer as the skill leveled up.

Also, I couldn’t think of a single reason not to smack a [Persistent Casting] on Auri. The skill had leveled enough that I could maintain multiple casts of multiple skills at the same time, and making sure my little troublemaker had permanent healing seemed to be a good use of the skill.

‘Faster thinking speed per level’ was both incredibly clear, and vaguely insulting. It was like I was under a permanent weak version of [Bullet Time]. If it got strong enough, it might be worth losing [Bullet Time] and picking up a new general skill to help support whatever direction I took with my third class.

I was currently thinking of taking [Meditate], and seeing if leveling that up a bunch would kick-start whatever mage class I likely ended up taking.

I grabbed a brush and tackled my hair.

So. Much. Dirt. Fingers alone wouldn’t get it done properly.

I’d make the switch now, but [Meditate] had always been a tricky general skill for me to get the System to offer me. Sure, I’d gotten it as a kid, but getting it re-offered wasn’t nearly as easy as some of the other skills were. I had no idea why, I could totally sit peacefully for ages if I wanted to. More importantly, I was concerned that I might be committing myself too early to the path of a mage. I was worried that when it came time to figure out ‘for real’ what class I was going to take, that the sunken cost on [Meditate] would push me in a direction I might not otherwise take.

In happier news, I was feeling moderately comfortable ditching [Bullet Time] because I didn’t think there was much in Remus that could hurt me.

At the same time, that sort of thinking led to hubris and death.

But a frank analysis of my combat and survival capabilities was needed. There was a reason I didn’t have eight general skills dedicated to survivability.

There was also the larger world to consider. In the small pond of Remus, I was one of the bigger fish. In the greater world?

I wouldn’t call myself a minnow – the dwarves had demonstrated that it was entirely possible to have a thriving civilization filled with people that only had two classes – but I was all too aware that there were some forces that could swat me like an insect. Like, I’d met young elves, and every single one of them massively outclassed me. The hydra, a somewhat random monster, could eat me no problem. The Below Levels. In just a few months, I’d encountered dozens of threats that could kill me, and I didn’t even want to think of everything else I hadn’t encountered.

Plus, Augustus had declared war on the shimagu, and there was no telling if or when I’d be called to the frontlines. [Bullet Time] would be a lifesaver then… but so would a powerful third class.

I was basically forging my own path here.

Although, if I waited a bit and made it over to the elves, I’m sure they had good advice. Not necessarily Awarthril and the rest, but they had mentioned an Academy.

Given that the three elves seemed near the bottom of adult elf society, and they were all over 512? I had to assume the teachers and instructors could give me excellent advice.

If nothing else, it might be worth stalling just to hear what they had to say.

Focus.

Auri was clearly smart. My brilliant little bird. She’d picked up language in a month, give or take. She was taking lessons from Plato, who had nothing but good things to say about her work.

Her dedication and desire to burn the world got a different set of commentary.

It was easy to forget that she was only a few months old.

Months. Most human babies were still in the "eat-sleep-poop" cycle at the age where Auri was learning philosophy and mathematics.

It didn’t stop me from feeling vaguely insulted that the System had determined that her bird brain was so many leagues ahead of mine that it’d given me faster thinking for it.

Made me wonder why it didn’t increase my intelligence instead.

The last part of the bond looked like all downside.

Increased vanity per level.

I froze mid-brushstroke.

Was I viciously hating the dirt from the road because I liked being clean? Or was it a symptom of the new skill?

I was having trouble telling, and that scared me.

At the same time, there was no reason to let myself be dirty out of concern for a skill. That was senseless.

I was almost completely sure at this point that there was no such thing as hostile mind magic, thank all the gods and goddesses. Nobody could break into my mind and read my thoughts. Nobody could modify how I thought and felt. No magical brainwashing, no suggestions or compulsions.

There was personalized mind magic though. Heck, I had a few skills for it! [Pristine Memories], [Center of the Universe], and [Bullet Time] were some easy examples that I currently had.

There were a whole host of general skills that could also be looked at. I’d been offered [Adaptable] and [Calm].

I had to imagine that negative aspects were also offered as skills. Now, why someone would take such a skill was beyond me – I ignored the voice saying I’d taken [Pretty], that was different – but they existed. Easy enough to remove, if they weren’t desired.

This was different. A footnote on a few other powerful skills, and a representation of my attachment with Auri to boot.

I couldn’t – wouldn’t – simply remove it.

Bluebeard – Hunting – had warned me. Bonds changed both parties, and not always for the better. He’d told me that he got angrier and that he was more prone towards violence. I’d thought most of the changes I’d seen in him was the loss of his bond, but maybe a small part of that was no longer needing to keep such tight control on his emotions, or his anger drove him less.

He also mentioned that Katastrofi had been changed, and I wondered what the bond had done for Auri.

Something to ask her in the morning.

Back to the vanity thing.

I didn’t feel the need to gaze lovingly into a mirror, and the thought of running naked through the street was utterly unappealing. Clearly, the effect was minor.

However, it was also subtle. I didn’t feel any obvious pulls or tugs from the skill, unlike when I had [Pretty]. [Pretty] could guide me when I wanted it to, and it helped keep my hand steady when I was engaged in activities that I thought made me look pretty. There was a sense of guidance and stability.

Nothing like this with vanity. It was possible that the skill was too low level and too weak to have an impact. It was also possible that it was subtle and insidious.

Oh!

I should go on some Ranger Trainee field exercises! That’d be a safe way to tell if the skill was causing me to do something dumb.

Like, if I needed to coat myself in mud as part of an exercise and I suddenly felt the urge to wipe all the mud off and look spiffy, I’d know it was the skill.

In a similar vein, if I actually did remove the mud in the middle of the exercise, I’d know I had a problem.

I’d need to re-evaluate my tactics and strategy if it turned out my bond with Auri insisted that I always looked great.

I realized another annoying part. It was vanity, which had no implications that the skill would help me like [Pretty] used to. Simply an obligation, a twist in my thinking.

End of the day, I’d almost immediately gone for [Pretty] as a kid and had fiercely held onto the skill until it got merged with [Scintillating Ascent]. I had my own personal [Beautician] on retainer, who I paid way more than market rate just to be able to sit and chat with as she fixed my hair AGAIN. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a vain streak in the first place. I just knew the proper time and place to let myself be vain, to primp and preen and generally make myself feel pretty. It had no place in a warzone or a battlefield, but at home? Yeah, I could indulge in long hair, good makeup, and nice clothing, along with the thousand other little things.

All in all, for slightly amplifying one of my baser natures, the ability to be immune to fire, think faster, heal Auri, and most importantly, show my commitment and bond with my little firebird dramatically trumped any minor issues the skill might cause me.

I was done getting clean. I leaned back and closed my eyes, relaxing as I heated the bath back up with another flash of Radiance.

I felt like I had it all.

Good friends. Loving family. Skills and power, a fulfilling career and goofball coworkers. A best friend forever and an eternity to spend with her. Investments and income.

I was safe.

Secure.

Loved.

Life was pretty good.

Chapter 35
The Midas Touch

The dazzling light show ended, another star returned to youth and vitality, and we were brought back to reality. Back to one of the private Senate rooms and another one of Augustus’s minions.

Not that we ever left, but the stunning visuals of [The Stars Never Fade] was like a world of its own.

A now-familiar weight landed on my shoulder.

"Lucius Chryseius Fotios." White Dove intoned, the very fabric of the world seeming to resonate with her every word. Guess we were skipping the usual White Dove throwing shade at me part. Not that I minded. "[Merchant of the Nostrum Sea]." She got halfway through her declamation, when another familiar noise occurred.

"Brrrrpt! BRRRRPT!"

Auri, my lovable bond-mate who was going to GET ME KILLED, decided now was the time to fly off my shoulder and hover in front of White Dove.

"Brrpt! Brrpt brrrpt brrrrrrpt!"

The only thing that kept me from facepalming or just flat-out running away, was that White Dove was on my shoulder, and Auri was scolding her.

We were soooooo dead.

Auri thought that White Dove was being a big meanie and should just leave people alone.

I was frankly impressed with her. The companion bond had clearly done good things for her knowledge, and her lessons with Plato had her articulating as well as a bird with a single note could.

STILL.

One did not simply interrupt Death to give her a lecture!

Chryseius remained kneeling, and I could feel the sweat beading up under my hand. He had no idea what Auri was saying, but clearly had the same idea as me.

White Dove being yelled at was no way to get a gentle curse.

"Enough." White Dove’s single word made the whole room shake. Priceless vases shattered, marble busts fell over, the table practically disintegrated along with the chairs, and my clothes got shredded.

It had been such a nice tunic to boot.

"I curse you." She spoke, and the tattered remains of Chryseius’s clothing instantly turned to gold. The ruined pieces of the room touching him also turned to gold, and I saw the floor slowly turning to gold under him, the individual tiles touching him steadily converting over.

"Everything you touch shall turn to gold." She vanished off my shoulder without another word, and I jerked my hand back.

There was a lot to unpack. White Dove clearly didn’t need to do her full ritual – she just liked to. She could impact the physical world hard.

And my hand –

"Thank you!" Chryseius awkwardly got up – his thin gold clothes breaking under his strength – and tried to hug me.

"Whoa! No!" I leapt back, throwing up [Mantle of the Stars] between us. "Do not touch!"

"You’ve given me something priceless. The-"

"I really don’t care." I interrupted him, looking at my hand. "You turned my hand to gold. Your touch is lethal."

What was making me sweat – my healing was on, active, and persistent, but my hand was still made of gold. Speaking of sweat, looking at him, he was coated in a thousand tiny pinpricks of gold, shedding hundreds of them with every movement he made.

My hand wasn’t turning back. I’d pulled back before he’d gotten my wrist, but my right hand was frozen, palm out, in the shape it’d been when I was touching him during the skill. It took serious effort to keep it upright, and I let it drop to my side. Gold was heavy.

"I would-"

"You need to adjust. Now, and fast. You’ve gotten one of the worst curses I’ve ever heard of. The only curse I know of that’s worse is the troll’s curse, which makes sunlight turn them to stone. Even then that’s a toss up. Don’t hug your wife. Don’t touch your kids. Don’t touch anybody."

My words were harsh, but he needed the wakeup call. He’d gotten screwed hard.

I had to hand it to White Dove. This was a nasty curse. Chryseius wasn’t understanding why I was keeping him at arm’s length.

I also had a deep wellspring of fear erupting inside of me, and the fear was translating to anger. I was working on my anger issues, and instead of trying to keep an impossible lid on it then erupting, I was trying to channel and harness it. Direct where and how I blew up to minimize harm – or even make it into something useful!

"Let’s go, Auri." I turned on my heel and shoved the door open, snarling as I automatically tried to use my right hand and got a brutal reminder that it was now gold.

"Guards!" I shouted down the hallway, getting more than a few stares, and rapidly getting space cleared.

Anyone shouting for the guards in the Senate got an immediate response. A recognized Sentinel, one of the problem-solvers, calling for the guard? A team swiftly appeared, weapons bared.

"Elaine? Sentinel? What’s the issue?" The captain asked me, cocking his head inquisitively.

Damnit, he was one of dad’s friends, but I’d never caught his name! It was too late to ask at this point.

"Chryseius in the room behind me has developed a new, incredibly lethal skill." I gave a mostly true rundown of the situation. Technically, it was a curse, not a skill, but practically, it was a skill. Keeping the messaging simple would cut straight to the heart of the problem, instead of creating a massive gordian knot of questions.

I held up my hand, showing off the stiff gold.

"For various reasons, he can’t turn it off. It’s permanently on. He needs to be kept away from other people until he’s gotten it in hand. Anything he touches will turn to gold. His clothes, the floor, armor. Flesh."

The guards traded looks with each other. Chryseius tried to exit the room.

"Brrrpt!" Auri protested, throwing up a small wall of flames between us and him. Good girl.

"As you command, Sentinel." The captain saluted me, and I started to leave.

"This is outrageous! It’s unfair! I demand to speak with Imperator Augustus at ONCE!" Chryseius screamed.

My job here was done. I’d fulfilled another part of my agreement with Augustus. I’d properly reversed Chryseius. I’d informed the guards of the issue.

I was washing my hands of the rest. Chryseius was on his own.

Metaphorically, because I couldn’t wash my hands anymore!

"Brrrpt? Brrrpt?" Auri chirped in my ear, feeling my concern.

"It’s my hand." I showed her.

"Brrrpt!"

I thought about it for a moment.

"Let’s try some other stuff first. If that doesn’t work, you can try to burn it off."

My primary method would’ve been to just cut my hand off and see what happened, but I saw no reason Auri couldn’t give me a hand and have a crack at it first.

"Brrrrrrpt…" Auri gave me an unamused noise.

She had NOT been happy to discover that I was immune to fire, as hilarious as that encounter had been.

I would’ve loved to go straight to Ranger HQ, but there was no way I was running around the city in rags. Already I was getting Looks from people dressed in their Senate best, while I was running around in tatters. Streaking naked would’ve gotten me fewer strange looks.

[Mantle of the Stars] to the rescue! It was flexible now, if a bit more see-through than I’d like, but a tunic made out of a skill looked good.

"Elaine! I was hoping to catch you!" The emperor’s wife, Sextia, half-ambushed me.

"Sextia! Perfect, I was looking for you or Augustus. Here." I passed her the Moonstone I’d charged on my latest mission. A cast of [The Stars Never Fade] for Emperor Augustus. He didn’t want anyone to know what his curse was going to be.

Also, Sextia didn’t smell terrible, yet the full moons weren’t due for another few days.

"Brrrpt?"

Auri had a good question.

"Did you figure a way around your curse?" I asked her with the tact of a stampeding rhino. Just a few notches down from a herd of brontosauruses.

Sextia gave me a self-satisfied smirk.

"I did! Turns out if two slaves shine their bare arses at me with an [Illuminate] skill on them, it counts!"

What had White Dove said again? Right, "You can only bathe in the light of two full moons at once."

I wanted to facepalm. White Dove had never specified which moons, and apparently had a sense of humor. A terrible, awful sense of humor, but all in all it sounded like Sextia got off incredibly lightly.

I could only hope my curse was so gentle when the time came.

"That’s great, but I need to run. A bit busy." I held up my hand.

"Understood. Are you sure you can’t sneak out to one of my parties?" Sextia asked.

I was halfway out the door, having no time for her, but not wanting to be rude to arguably the second most powerful person in the Empire.

"Rules are rules!" I called out over my shoulder.

Right. With that out of the way, I thought furiously as I strode out of the Senate building.

My hand was now made out of gold, courtesy of the side-effect of White Dove’s curse.

Ideally, I’d get a chance to work with Night, the foremost expert on curses. He’d also been around a long, long time, and I hoped he had some information that could give me a hand with the situation.

Barring that, I could wait, or figure out a solution on my own.

I’d always been something of a self-starter, inclined to rely on myself instead of waiting for other people to bail me out of trouble. I got to thinking.

My healing wasn’t working. Ok, fine. However, there were dozens of possible reasons why.

What was the worst-case scenario?

Worst-case, my magic thought my hand was supposed to be made out of gold, and it was "healing" it back to that state. Also in the worst-case thinking, the gold would slowly be spreading, and I’d eventually turn into a nice statue.

Ok. Worst-case was lethal, and I had no idea how to fix it. I’d need to consult with experts.

The gold was obviously not moving fast enough to be a problem right now. It gave me time to think and properly process everything. If it was moving, it was moving at a rate that gave me weeks or months to solve the problem.

I was remembering barging in on Augustus only half-prepared, and my hand being gold was literally a direct consequence of that action. A reminder that when I was out of my depths to slow down, think, and consult with others.

The next possibility was my hand was now made out of gold, my magic thought that, but it wasn’t spreading. Significantly more likely, but that wasn’t an emergency. It might be a few years figuring out how to get a real biological hand again, but it wasn’t going to kill me.

I hadn’t heard of anyone getting classes and skills that allowed a person to turn metal parts of their body to flesh and blood, but the System seemed to have all sorts of magic. I could believe there was a class like that. I suppose the upgrade to my skills allowing me to cure petrification might count? I hadn’t taken it, which could be why my healing wasn’t working.

Heck, the spinosaurus that had tried to eat Aegion had kept morphing its body parts around! Clearly biological manipulation was a thing, although healing generally reverted back to the base.

It was how I was able to destroy the dwarven implants.

Although, they’d already removed the implant. This was a transformation. Was it really that simple? My hand had been transformed, so my healing didn’t work. If I chopped it off, my healing would instantly make a new hand. That was almost the best-case scenario.

Cases that were even better than that I didn’t want to get into, because they were varying degrees of fantastic benefit to me, and I was never that lucky.

Still, all roads led to ‘cut off my hand and try growing a new one.’ I was still going to ask Night about it. No sense in taking a dumb risk and making assumptions on a school of magic I had zero practical experience with.

Just in case, I trailed my hand along a wall, seeing if I’d gotten the golden touch transferred to me.

Might be kind of fun, being able to –

I paled at the thought.

If White Dove’s curse was so potent as to make other objects it touched also gain the ‘golden touch’ property, we could be at the start of a goldpocalypse. It would spread like a plague through the city, because it’d be a plague of an entirely magical nature.

White Dove, after all, had been surprisingly taciturn with this particular curse.

Most healers wouldn’t be able to handle it, and I could only pray that [Cursebreakers] could solve the issue.

My eyes narrowed at the wall I was trailing my hand on.

Was that a small yellow speck? Did something fall off my hand, or was it slowly spreading?

Either way, what started as a minor annoyance had just jumped from ‘politely ask Night when he was next awake’ to ‘potential emergency.’

And while I didn’t normally go straight to Night for issues, he was the expert in this field.

All roads led to ‘chop off my hand and try growing a new one.’ The only minor roadblock was a potential for [Oath] to consider it self-mutilation, no matter how much I believed otherwise.

The odds of that seemed slim. I did firmly believe it was a problem, and had to be removed.

I was out of the Senate, but had some minor appreciation that self-immolation on the Senate steps might not get the reaction I was hoping for.

"Up we go!" I told Auri, snapping my wings open and flying to the roof.

"Brrrpt!"

It was nearby, and somewhat private.

"Ok Auri, see if you can melt this off." I held out my golden hand.

"Brrrrpt!! Brrrpt?"

I wanted to facepalm. Her question was legitimate though.

"I promise I’m not trying to prank you this time."

"Brrrpt!"

My hand erupted in flames, feeling like a vaguely warm tickle. Immunity to fire was weird. I barely even felt the heat, which had me a little worried if I ended up in the cold and snow again. If the warmth of a fire couldn’t help me, I might be in trouble.

The System giveth, and the System taketh.

After a few seconds of focused flames – Auri had the same issue all mages did, a lack of sustainability at full power – Auri petered out, having run out of mana.

"Brrrpt! BRRRPT!" Auri was crying over her failure to… burn? My hand off.

"Did you mean melt it off?" I asked her.

She shook her head as fast as she could, her eyes rolling around after she stopped like she was dizzy.

"Brrrpt!"

Interesting. Auri believed she could flat-out burn metal, not just melt it.

Things to look into another day.

"Right, be right back." I flew back down to the Senate, finding the usual set of guards at the door.

I used [Long-Range Identify] to quickly scan all their levels, grabbing the lowest-leveled [Warrior] I could find.

"You." I pointed to him. "I need your assistance."

The guards traded a look with each other, and I mentally cursed. I was still wearing [Mantle], and I didn’t have my Sentinel badge.

"That’s Sentinel Dawn." One of the guards recognized me – or more likely, recognized my level.

I could do this myself. My strength, the poor angle, my vitality, and my [Persistent Casting] were all conspiring against me though. It’d get ugly, and I’m sure Bulwark would yell at me for bleeding all over the Senate roof.

Or.

I could get one of the guards to quickly and cleanly chop off my hand and hopefully get them a few levels to boot. We were all on the same team, and self-mutilation didn’t get me any experience.

Physically wounding a Sentinel while helping them for a [Warrior]? Let the experience flow.

We shuffled off to the side, and I offered up my golden hand.

"I’ve gotten into a spot of trouble. Could you please chop off my hand?"

"BRRRRPT!?!?!?!"

"Uh." The guard looked at me, then my hand, somewhat dumbstruck. I tapped my foot impatiently.

"Sentinel Dawn. Healer, remember? Trying to get you some exp and keep this not-messy?"

"But-"

After a few minutes of convincing the guard that, yes, please, I wanted my hand removed, this wasn’t a prank, or a set up, and getting another guard to watch and confirm what I’d said, he swung his sword.

It was a good thing I knew it was coming, because I had a thousand reflexes jump in and try to hijack my body. From shielding the blow, dodging, blasting a dozen different critical points on his body, summoning a swarm of [Kaleidoscope] butterflies moving into it and tackling him, stealing his knife and slashing his eyes, and more!

Nope. Stood still and took it. My hand – flesh and blood, thank the System and the gods – popped back into existence before the gold hand clattered to the ground.

It was blessedly clean, and he grinned at me.

"Three levels! Many thanks Sentinel."

Any response I had was interrupted by Auri’s ferocious warcry.

"BRRRRPT!" She shrieked, the gold going up in flames. They petered out after a second – Auri’s mana regeneration was clearly nothing impressive at this stage – but the hand was distinctly black, smoking, and cratered.

Yup. Burn it was.

I would’ve offered it as a souvenir to the guard if Auri didn’t stake her claim, flying down to the golden lump and pecking at it while yelling obscenities.

"Brrrpt! Brrrrpt!!! BRRRPT!"

"Aoife Auri Stentor! Who taught you those words?!"

"Brrrrpt." Her reply was all-too-smug.

Me.

Blasted companion bond. Auri had some of my knowledge – including a robust vocabulary of Naughty Words.

Instead of arguing with Auri in front of the guards, I decided to get a move on.

I picked up the remains of the golden lump. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, but I had a funny thought. I could make it into an engagement ring, so I could metaphorically and literally give someone my hand in marriage. Like, I had no plans in that direction, or even anyone I wanted to spend my life with right now, but the entire joke was funny enough to tuck it away in a back pocket – mentally and literally.

A hop, a skip, and a jump later, and I was at Night’s villa.

At first glance, it looked like a typical luxurious villa, located in the premium heart of the city. Just another incredibly wealthy member of society, with a well-connected family carefully shepherding the generational wealth. The place looked a bit old-fashioned, but at a certain level the location was flaunting money and status enough.

A closer look showed that it was subtly, tastefully fortified. The walls were thicker than the norm, giving the place the ‘old fashioned’ look. Inscriptions were written at the base of the pillars, in the smallest script I’d ever seen. The masterpiece of the best [Inscriptionist] Night could find in a dozen generations. Windows were carefully placed. They both looked nice, and a keen military mind would notice the overlapping fields of fire and the complete lack of blind spots.

I’d flown over, and had noticed from the sky that there wasn’t a single internal garden. No openings to the sky, no way for sunlight to get in.

A fortress, hidden smack in the middle of the city.

Night didn’t take chances.

I politely - mostly out of a minor concern that Night had measures in his garden - and briskly walked through the front gates, knocking on the door.

"Brrrpt brrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt brpt!" Auri cheeped, adding her own musical version of a doorbell.

I waited impatiently, flexing my new hand. It had been a weird feeling, my hand not properly working or responding to me. A different form of being trapped. Finally I heard footsteps. A servant - human, by his pallor - opened the door.

"Sentinel Dawn for Sentinel Night." I curtly told the man.

Normally I’d be more polite, but I was in a rush. He bowed and closed the door.

Fine, fine, don’t invite me in.

"Brrrpt." Auri didn’t approve of their hospitality either.

I continued flexing my hand, waiting for what felt like an impossibly long time. After way too long, the door opened again to a familiar vampire. Just not the one I was looking for.

"Jaclyn." My tone could’ve frozen a river, even during the hot Ariminium spring. Still hadn’t forgotten her ruthlessly stomping on my heart during my first real date ever.

Had to wonder if she was partially responsible for my abysmal love life, but eh… that was probably all me.

"Elaine." Her tone was about as warm as dead flesh which… might just be par for the course.

"I need to urgently talk with Sentinel Night."

Her eyes flickered all over me.

"Come in."

We wandered through the villa, and what struck me the most was the art. Mosaics on every wall, busts staring at us from neatly lined shelves in every hallway.

The sheer weight of time and history was suffocating.

Some quick math led to an interesting conclusion.

If Night took a single friend of his every year, and had a bust or piece of art made of them – he’d still need to be picking out his favorites every decade to line the corridors, and have more in storage or in dedicated viewing rooms.

That was before the rest of the vampires.

I was struck with a sudden, irrational fear.

I didn’t want to see Night’s personal Indomitable Wall.

But I needed to make my own. I couldn’t forget, but it’d be easier to start now. A topic for another day.

"Wait here." Jaclyn pointed to a cozy room, and I wasn’t about to start traipsing through Night’s murder-house. It was uncomfortable to think of my friend and mentor this way, but being a vampire, I had no doubts that there were occasionally "mistakes" made and bodies to dispose of.

Or… I was letting my lurid imagination get away from me. Night had always seemed tightly controlled, and kept the rest of the vampires on a short, short leash. I could see him having equally little tolerance for mistakes. It was bad for the long-term, and Night was all about the long-term.

"Sentinel Dawn." Night entered the room and greeted me without preamble. "You have come here requesting my attention urgently. What is the issue?"

"White Dove’s latest curse." I explained. "Turned my hand gold – I fixed it already, don’t worry – but I’m concerned about spread. It’s unclear how potent the curse is."

Night sat down and leaned forward.

"Not an instant emergency, simply an immediate one. Fascinating. What details were given?"

"Everything you touch turns to gold. White Dove was minimal on details. My skill requires touch, and I wasn’t quick enough to remove my hand. Ended up cutting it off to heal it."

"Why has this brought you here urgently?"

I grimaced. It sounded stupid, now that I had to explain it to Night.

"My curse knowledge is weak. I had the idea that the gold might be self-spreading, and we could be on the verge of a gold plague. The possibility had me come to the foremost expert on White Dove’s curses, to see if it was a concern."

"Is that the only action you took?" Night asked, unusually short with his questions.

"No. I tasked the local guard with escorting Chryseius so he wouldn’t touch anyone."

"Brrrpt!"

"Mmmm. Acceptable response, although the political ramifications will be… displeasing to handle." Night leaned back in his chair, relaxing, and I narrowed my eyes at him. I better not get another politics lecture!

I continued to have a poor poker face, and Night read me like an open scroll.

"All of your actions were properly reasoned out, and you have been acting as a Sentinel the entire time. You will not hear a single complaint from me on your actions, although I imagine tomorrow’s after action report will be lively and invigorating." He paused a moment.

"You would do well to give Ocean a word of forewarning once we have resolved this situation. Much of the fallout will land on his shoulders, as it properly should."

Good. Although, fallout for having guards protect a VIP? This politics stuff was stupid. I suppose, technically, it could look like they were detaining him, but eh. It was for his own good! He could kill a lot of people by sheer accident!

"Any thoughts on other ways I could’ve fixed my hand besides chopping it off? The fact that healing didn’t work has me a hair concerned."

"Ah. From all my knowledge and understanding, you should simply have had a form of petrification, although gold-based instead of stone-based. It would be highly unusual for the curse to be active and spreading when White Dove is the progenitor. It is intended to be a punishment for the recipient, not a plague designed to end our city. It was not within the words White Dove spoke, and it would be strange for there to be an unstated prominent secondary effect."

"Do you have any recommendations for other ways I could’ve handled my hand?"

"I do. What thoughts do you have on the matter?"

"I mean. I cut it off and regrew it. It worked, I’d do it again."

Night nodded.

"It was the best approach with the tools at your disposal. Alternatives include an [Alchemist] brewing the correct potion and a [Cursebreaker] dispelling the magic. Both are suboptimal in the current situation. I eradicated the last petrification monsters from Remus roughly, oh, 1700 years ago or so. [Alchemists] these days have no need, and therefore, no knowledge of the proper potion for the issue, and even then they knew how to dispel stone, not gold. An entirely new potion would need to be found. Similarly, White Dove’s curses are in a league of their own, and the majority of [Cursebreakers] are helpless before her methods. It tends to be incredible experience to attempt such a thing. If you had any friends in the profession, they would be most unhappy with you for solving it without them, although our new friend is likely to give them a steady stream of experience in the near future."

"Brrrpt!"

"Thank you Night."

"The pleasure is all mine. Now. If you have some spare time, would you like to stay while I arrange for the fortunate soul to come over? I do not require your presence, but I believe it will be educational."

Just like old times. Me, Night, and a lesson.

"I’d be delighted."

Time swiftly passed, and two weeks later I was dealing with Senus, the next person Augustus wanted me to turn back.

I’d learned my lesson, and I’d skipped back from him after the skill faded away. I was NOT having a repeat of Chryseius turning my hand to gold.

"You work hard to suppress your emotions." White Dove said. "Well, you have it. Nevermore will you feel sadness or anger. Happiness or pride. Joy. Frustration. Satisfaction. Love. Caring. Nothing."

The ashen look on Senus’s face had me quickly examining my own thoughts and feelings, hopes and dreams, and wondering if there was anything in there for White Dove to ironically twist.

Each curse so far had been carefully tailored, hitting the person where it hurt.

I never saw Senus again.

"I’m busy." White Dove snapped at Ianus another two weeks later. "DOORS."

She then vanished from existence.

"Do you think she meant I can’t pass through them, or that they’d kill me…" Ianus’s question trailed off as he looked at me.

"I have no idea." I honestly told him. "But I wouldn’t try it."

Muttering curses under his breath, Ianus left the room by climbing out of a window.

I’d… be ok with a curse like that. I think. Maybe. White Dove had still been a bit of a knob though.

I barely blinked when I got the news that Chryseius had committed suicide. I didn’t know him, and life in Remus was rough. People died all the time. I’d mourn for those I knew, for those I couldn’t save. For someone I’d only met in passing, who decided he wanted to meet White Dove?

I wouldn’t deny it was a tragedy for his family though, although rumors had it that a member of his family had gone missing.

It was cold, it was heartless, but I only had so much empathy for total strangers.

Night needing a missing finger healed a few hours later did take on an ominous note.

"I curse you. No more shall you understand the written word." White Dove intoned. I shuddered at the devastating curse, glad I’d dodged that one.

If those were the types of curses being handed out? It was time to see how old I could get before I allowed White Dove to curse me. I didn’t want some critical aspect of my life ripped away from me. I could hopefully make a century before my quality of life degraded enough that I wanted to become young again.

I couldn’t imagine life being unable to read. I needed my scrolls to read!

The man in question bowed to White Dove. The moment White Dove vanished, he spoke to me.

"Well, guess I’m having a slave read everything to me now. Got off lightly."

I couldn’t find myself able to agree with him.

"Elaine! 21st birthday coming up soon, right? Let me plan and throw you a huge party!" Kallisto gave me his best charming smile.

I rolled my eyes and lightly punched him in the arm.

"An excuse for you and Cordelia I’m guessing?"

He put his hand over his heart.

"You totally got me. My motives are entirely impure, and I’m doing this for my own selfish gain."

"Let me guess – getting out of the house for an evening?"

"That, and having a good excuse to throw a gigantic bash, yeah."

I shrugged. Sure, why not?

"Lemme donate, oh, fifty rods to the party planning pot." That was a ton of money, and Kallisto should be able to throw one hell of a party with that sort of funding from me – on top of whatever else was going on.

Kallisto gave me a crushing, suffocating hug.

"Thanks Elaine! I’ll make sure everyone’s there. We missed your last birthday after all."

I shuddered. I’d been trapped in the Below Levels last year, my birthday having passed without me noticing.

"I can’t wait."

"Walking backwards." White Dove said, and I practically sighed in relief.

With this, I was done.

All eight of Augustus’s requests had been filled, each one two weeks after the last. My birthday was right around the corner, Kallisto had been planning like a fiend, and it even sounded like the other Sentinels were getting in on the planning.

I was looking forward to it.

Chapter 36
The Last Supper

My birthday so far had been weird. Mostly because I knew something was up – Kallisto had told me that he was arranging a huge party, and it seemed like everyone but me was in the know on the details.

21st birthday! Woohoooooo!

I still wasn’t entirely sure when I’d died on Earth, but I knew I hadn’t gotten to my 21st birthday. I’d officially spent more years on Pallos than I had on Earth, and that was before considering that each Pallos-year should be worth more than one Earth-year, due to the swiss cheesing of my brain when I got transferred over.

It was supposed to be a "surprise", and by how everyone was acting I interpreted that to mean "the location and type of party is a surprise", not the fact that I was having one.

Most of the day I spent getting told "don’t worry about it." or "we’ve got it." or "we can’t tell you."

Even Autumn and Neptune were busy!

I ended up spending most of the day with Auri. We went to the temple and prayed for the upcoming year, to thank the gods and goddesses and ask them for any favors. Auri went to the gods and goddesses around Fire, Inferno, the sun, birds, and whoever was in charge of good looks. I kept it more eclectic, asking Aion and Thanatos if they could bring all my dead friends back to life, including petitioning the moon goddesses about Lyra. Impossible, but asking couldn’t hurt. Naturally, I got silence, as usual.

I had a few dozen mundane prayers as well. Good health for the upcoming year, success for my friends and family, fairly boring stuff. Blowing out candles was much quicker and easier than all this running around praying, but prayer did have a higher chance of success. In theory.

I’m not sure what Auri prayed for. Probably lots of things to burn and juice to drink.

Auri and I wanted to see if we could make a fiery dance routine-thing. I was immune to fire, and there was some cool stuff we could do. Probably.

There was a lot more goofing off than actually practicing anything, but most importantly, we had a TON of fun. It wasn’t particularly structured, and we would’ve horrified any [Dancer] – apart from the bit where I was dancing through fire. They might think that part was cool. Hot. Whatever.

Then again, we’d gotten the idea seeing a show where [Dancers] did exactly that. Magic never failed to amaze me. It had everything, and I had eternity to discover it all.

I briefly flirted with the idea of cycling my 3rd class through every single class that I possibly could. The idea was tempting, but I had the feeling that I’d find something that I just fell in love with so hard I’d never want to switch.

But what would it BE!?

Night’s advice was to take my time to work it out, and Hunting thought I should find something I loved and enjoyed. Destruction’s advice to make it work with the rest of my other classes and skills was also solid, but I was rating it lower than everyone else’s.

Albina was the first to show up to my villa as the sun was getting low. A notice that things were getting started and that the party wasn’t happening here. Like, there had been no prep work at all here. Surprise parties that I knew about were a weird sort of tension. I didn’t know the where, and I only knew the when because it was so late in the day. Had to be an evening/night party, which was the traditional time for an adult party. Who wanted to get wasted first thing in the morning?

"Elaine! Happy birthday! I’m SO sorry I can’t make it to your party! Here, let me fix you up so you’re just perfect. Sit. Sit! I brought you a cosmetics set - no lead, just the way you like it - and this lip gloss is supposed to reflect the night sky. When I saw it, I thought of you, and just how perfect it would be for you. Why, just the other day…"

I let Albina work her figurative and literal magic as she nattered on.

"There!" She triumphantly finished. "What do you think?"

She used her mirror skill, and I thought she’d done a good job. My elemental dress still fit, and I was channeling my Celestial element through it. Worked better for the night-time party that was planned. All in all, Albina had worked her usual miracle.

"Perfect." I said.

"Brrrpt! BRRRRPT!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Auri wants to know if you can also make her look pretty."

"Brrrpt!"

"Oh, but Auri darling, you just look fabulous already! I can’t possibly improve on such perfection."

"Brrrpt! BRRRPT BRRRPT!"

I rolled my eyes. Flattery was the way to Auri’s heart. No doubt about it.

"Whoops! Look at the sun! Anyways, you have fun now! Go have a blast! Kiss a few boys!"

I chuckled at her.

"I will! Thank you again!"

We were close to the Summer Solstice, and the sun was still shining bright in the sky as dinnertime rolled around, which was the same time Hunting swung by.

"Dawn." He greeted me.

I socked him in the arm.

"Bluebeard. This is about as off-duty as we get. What’s with the titles? …unless there’s a problem?"

Was he… embarrassed? He quickly brightened back up.

"Tell you what. I’ll use your name if you can name every Sentinel."

I opened my mouth, then froze.

"Thank you, Hunting, for coming to pick me up." I gracefully transitioned.

He snorted at me.

"Yea, you’re welcome. Didn’t come just to pick you up. I’d like to make a mosaic for you, but I need to know where in your house you’d want it."

I clapped my hands together.

"Oooh! Isn’t this the first one you’re putting out in public?"

"Your house isn’t exactly the market square now is it?" He smirked at me.

"Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean. Follow me! I’ve got a great idea!" I led Hunting through the house to my room.

"That wall!" I pointed to a boring white wall in my room. Hunting stroked his famous beard.

"Yes, yes… I can work with the square dimensions… any ideas what you want?"

"Surprise me!"

"Brrrpt! BRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPTTTTTT!!!!!"

He lifted an eyebrow at me.

"Auri wants it to be entirely showing her off. Burning… lots of people."

Hunting gave Auri a Look. She puffed out her chest.

"Right then. Surprising you it is. Got everything to head on over?"

I gave myself a quick once-over.

"Well, I’m pretty sure I’m all set and ready, unless Albina did me dirty and got me ready for a fancy party when it’s actually on the beach or something."

Hunting barked a laugh at that.

"No, you’re fine as-is."

He gallantly offered his arm, and I took it. We made small talk as we walked towards the party venue.

"Speaking of. Everyone’s kept it quiet. Where is this party happening?"

"Oh, Kallisto found a brothel he thought you’d just love."

"Brrrpt?!?"

I facepalmed. Of course Kallisto picked a brothel. Did I honestly expect anything else?

Vaguely in his defense, brothels in Remus did more than the name implied. They were often gathering or meeting places, with the men and women working there able to provide dozens of different types of entertainment and service. It would be high up on the list of anyone organizing a party, no matter how big or small.

Well, the truly massive parties wouldn’t fit in one, but thank goodness Kallisto wasn’t organizing one of those. That would’ve been too large of a social event, and I would have either been banned from attending my own party, or I’d end up feeling overwhelmed then miserable.

Also, no matter how normal it was, being in a brothel with my parents and brother was going to be THE WORST.

We quickly arrived, and Kallisto and Cordelia were there to greet me.

"Elaine! The woman of the hour! At the rate you’re going, woman of the year! Happy birthday!"

"Thank you! Although, I suspect this is going to be awkward with my parents."

"Ha! What party isn’t awkward with your parents around!" Kallisto beamed at me. "Don’t worry, they know they’d ruin your fun. They only be around a short while, then they’re going to head off."

Cordelia must’ve seen me sag, and giggled at my obvious relief. She companionably threw an arm over my shoulders, and leaned in to half-whisper at me.

"I know this place, and there’s a fine gentleman and lady who can take care of you well." She winked, and yeah. I should’ve seen that coming.

She was married to Kallisto of all people, and somehow managed to tie him down.

"What my lovely wife means to say," Kallisto added as he stole said wife back. "Is that I thought you’d approve of this brothel. It’s new, and almost entirely owned and operated by women, no slaves."

"Almost entirely?" Kallisto had clearly baited me with that part, and it’d practically be rude not to bite.

He nodded at me.

"Everyone that works here owns a part of it, and would it really be that great of a brothel if there weren’t a few men?"

I rolled my eyes at him. I was feeling terribly pigeonholed into what I liked and didn’t like, and I was thinking he’d sort of gotten the wrong impression from me.

It was extremely thoughtful, though. Kallisto knew how much I hated slavery, and went out of his way to find a place that didn’t use slaves at all. He got that part spot-on.

Hunting rumbled at Kallisto, an animalistic grunt. Either reminding Kallisto of the pecking order, or that we were all hovering outside still.

"Enough standing around! Come in, come in." Kallisto ushered us all in.

I took in the scene.

Kallisto knew how to throw a party!

The first thing I noticed were the people. Somehow, Kallisto had managed to invite – and get to show up! – nearly everyone I knew in Ariminum.

Most of the Sentinels were here, along with some of their family! Mostly spouses and a few older kids. Bless the Sentinels, in all my time with them I’d only ever had to field one discreet inquiry if I was looking to get set up with somebody. Night was notably absent, but I had hopes that he’d show up later, when the sun set. My family, Artemis, Maximus, Autumn, Neptune, and more were all here and partying! Caecilius and Marcus were here, although it looked like their apprentices hadn’t managed to warrant an invite. All were mingling around, and I had a vague stab of sadness and loneliness wash over me.

I needed more friends. Having gone on the road at 14, then losing a set of friends when I went from being a Ranger to Sentinel didn’t help my social skills or social life.

"Brrrrpt!"

It was like Auri read my mind.

"You’re the best." I reassured her.

However, tonight I’d focus on the friends I did have, and enjoy myself!

Tables of food lined the walls, filled with small finger delicacies. One whole table was dedicated to nothing but fruits, with a large bowl filled with mangos acting as a centerpiece.

I took back everything bad I’d thought about Kallisto. He knew me.

There were a number of amphoras along one wall, and I watched with some amusement as Toxic and Brawling had both commandeered an entire one, and were busy trying to out-drink each other.

"Leave some for the rest of us!" I yelled across the room, getting the attention of the rest of the party-goers.

Elegant recliners were scattered around the room, in neat circles around low tables for easy, intimate conversation. Flowers adorned… well, everything. Tulips on the recliners, roses on the tables, lilies climbing the wall, and petals scattered throughout.

"Wow." I said, taking it all in.

I’d drawn attention to myself, and as the woman of the hour, most of the crowd was gravitating towards me. There was probably some social thing or another going on, and I wasn’t getting immediately swamped by everyone.

Hmm.

Hmmmmmm.

I should remember that next time I’m at a party.

"Dawn!" Destruction, by sheer virtue of being near the door when I came in, was the first to say hi.

"Destruction! I’m so glad you could make it!"

He chuckled.

"We’re a small group. You’ve shown up for our birthdays, of course we’ll show up for yours."

A thought flashed through my head, a question I had about his latest mission. With great effort, I pushed it aside. This wasn’t the time or place to bring work into it, even though our bonds and companionship was primarily made through work.

I gave Destruction a great big beaming smile.

"Well, thank you still!"

"The flowers are from me. I know how much Auri likes to burn them, and I’m fueling a regrowth inscription. They’ll keep coming back."

The best present ever – a nice gift for my companion. I loved it.

"Brrrpt!? BRRRPT!??!?!?!"

I looked at Auri, an amused twist to my mouth.

"Only if you can tell me the rules about burning things indoors."

"Brrrppt. Bbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt. Brpt brpt brpt BRTP!"

I facepalmed.

"Yes, those are all the ways you kill someone inside with smoke and fire."

"Brrrpt."

"No, ‘I just won’t do that’ isn’t–"

I facepalmed again at Auri’s smug look. Hunting clasped his hand on my shoulder.

"I know." His voice had the thousand-yard-stare. "Believe me, I know."

I could just imagine a juvenile Katastrofi wondering why she couldn’t eat all the tasty, easy-to-access humans. They even color coded themselves with how acceptable they were to eat!

"Ok, have fun Auri. If you ruin things though…"

"BRRRPT!"

I smiled at her. My mouth was going to get a cramp from smiling so much, but eh. I could always heal it away. Happy Sentinel problems. Too many good things happening on my birthday. Too many people loved and cared for me.

What a terrible fate.

"Great! Enjoy!"

Auri promptly flitted around the room at high speed, lighting a few tastefully located flowers on fire. I noticed that she made each one a different color.

Interesting. Her natural control was growing, even without a class-up. There was also no smoke coming off of them, burning impossibly, magically clean.

My parents came up next, and flanked me on either side.

"Hello everyone! If we could get your attention please!" My dad announced, and the crowd quieted down.

I mentally cursed my dad’s timing. I was hungry! There were mangos to be had! And I’d gotten ambushed before I could get to them.

Grumble grumble. I could see Auri landing on the table and starting to snack on one, all while shooting me a self-satisfied look, the traitor.

"We all know Elaine – Sentinel Dawn to some of you – and I can’t say how proud of her I am. From the time she…"

I loved my dad. I really did.

Did I need an entire speech about my life in front of everyone I knew!? This was a marriage-tier speech, not a normal birthday speech!

Embarrassment levels rising…

Dad thankfully finished. Applause, cheering, cries of happy birthday, the works.

Finally done! Mango time!

Then, of course, MOM started her own speech, sabotaging my mango-hunt.

"I still remember the day I found out I was going to have Elaine. It was raining, and…"

THEY WERE RIGHT THERE. RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I swear this was some cruel torture for something I didn’t even know I did.

Just kill me now. Please. This speech didn’t even have the good grace to start when I was born!

Finally mom finished.

"... and I can’t say I could possibly have a better, more loving, caring, wonderful daughter. Thank you Elaine. And happy 21st birthday!"

I gave her a hug. I did love her. I did appreciate the gesture.

How many people had their parents still showing up to their birthdays? What more could I ask for, honestly?

"This is for you." Mom murmured in my ear. "From both of us."

I broke the hug, and got a small folded piece of cloth from mom, like a napkin.

"Open it!" She said, and I unfolded it.

Blue stitching met my eyes against white cloth. Words, sewn into a prayer.

I read over them, tearing up. Mom and dad’s wishes for me to be safe and protected, an affirmation that they loved me, and that there’d always be a home for me with them. That they were proud of me. A reminder for me to stay true to myself, to believe in myself. That I was loved, not just by them, but by the people around me.

"Hopefully you can keep it on you when you go on one of your missions." Dad said. "A little something from home."

"The [Weaver] who made it claims it’ll repel dirt, but who knows how long that skill will last." Dad added in. "Also claimed it was fireproof, but I have doubts that there’s anything Auri can’t burn."

I hugged both of them, burying my face in their tunics so they wouldn’t see my tears.

"I’ll always keep it with me." I promised. "I love you."

They gave me a quick hug, and we broke again.

"Now, we’re off for some fun of our own." Dad threw eyes at mom, and I wanted to barf.

"I know we’d just spoil your fun." Mom hooked her arm in dad’s. "Enjoy!" She called back as dad escorted her out.

The crowd practically shuffled along with me as I went to raid the food. I went straight for the mangos, and laughed at a small sign on the large bowl.

"Elaine ONLY!!"

I’d taught Autumn enough to recognize her handwriting.

I loaded myself up – not only with mangos. Occasionally eating a nice dino-steak helped cleanse the palate and reminded me of just how tasty mangos were.

Also, everything went well with mango, and it’d be a crying shame to miss a combination.

"Finding everything ok?" Neptune asked.

"I am! This you?" I gestured to the food. I recognized most of what was out as Neptune’s various specialities. He nodded.

"That Kallisto fellow found me, wanted me to do the catering. When I found it was for you, well, you’ve done so much for Autumn."

I snorted at him.

"Which rule is ‘give a ton of free food to your VIP customer?’"

Neptune gasped at me.

"Why Elaine! What do you take me for? I’m not some cold, heartless–"

"Rule 28." Autumn cheerfully threw her dad under the bus. "The occasional present gives vast rewards. Also, dad, remember Rule 4?"

"Elaine doesn’t count as the guard!"

"She’s a Sentinel! She absolutely does!"

I’d tell Autumn later I was delighted that she was around. I left her to bicker with her dad, and found an extra well-padded seat in the center of the room, seemingly reserved for me.

Even at my own party, this was a bit much on the social side. Still, I’d enjoy it as much as I could, and when I stopped having fun?

I’d plaster on a happy face and not ruin everyone else’s enjoyment of the party.

Artemis elbowed her way through the crowd.

"Healy-bug! Happy 21st!" She tossed an absurdly heavy block of metal at me, which Brawling fortunately caught.

That would’ve gone straight through my precious dinner! It might’ve utterly ruined my dress which would be entirely unacceptable. Or worse, destroyed a mango.

Glad to see my love of mangos was still beating Auri’s vanity from the companion bond.

"What is it?" I poked the block of metal that Brawling put down on a table with one hand, using the other to chow down.

"Dunno." Artemis shrugged. "Crazy hard to burn or melt though. Figured Auri might like it."

I shot her a grateful look. I was totally getting her something nice for her birthday.

"May I?" Ocean asked, pointing at the block. I nodded, he picked it up, and it got passed around a bit.

The party continued, people getting together and mingling, breaking apart and moving around. I stayed in my chair, Brawling helpfully refilling my mangos whenever I ran out.

I swear I was going to explode, but I always had room for one more in my mango-stomach.

Night showed up almost exactly as the sun set, and spent quite a lot of time chatting with Artemis.

He did have a history with her, and they didn’t exactly get to catch up often.

Almost everyone had brought a gift. I had no judgment for anyone who didn’t.

Maximus had written several scrolls worth of interesting Classes and skills. I was touched by his thoughtfulness – he’d only included elements that I’d mentioned I was interested in taking.

Arthur had tried. Bless his heart, he’d put his full efforts towards composing me a song. Which he sang. Loudly. And badly. In front of everyone.

The only thing I can say for his efforts was his song was soooooooooo LONG. It was like he was trying to recreate the Iliad, except with none of the writing prowess of Homer, nor did he have any classes helping him.

Brawling, Hunting, and Artemis eventually unceremoniously threw him out of the brothel, to general applause.

The brothel owners made sure they stayed well-hydrated the rest of the evening.

Markus had gotten me a set of the Medical Manuscripts that I had written, but beautifully written on black hide with red borders. His taste in everything dark and edgy hadn’t changed in the slightest.

Ocean got me a lovely silver-framed mirror.

"If you listen closely, it’ll sound like home to you." He told me with a wink.

I was skeptical, but I held it up to my ear. I could faintly hear the sound of crashing waves and the ocean surf.

"It sounds like the sea." I was somewhat doubtful.

Ocean spread his arms all innocent-like.

"Well, you grew up in Aquiliea, and now you live in Ariminum. Is that so surprising?"

"Anyone else? Maybe. Coming from you? I think it’s inscribed to sound like water."

Ocean’s grin shrunk a few notches.

"Ah, you got me. Yeah, it’s supposed to sound like the water, but I thought I’d put a romantic spin on it. Make it feel nicer."

"It’s lovely." I meant it.

Nature mentioned he wanted to plant and grow a few "fruit trees" at home. While I suspected he wanted to give me some mango trees, I knew we were just a bit too far south for them to properly thrive. They’d require extensive skilled attention, and my money would be better spent on raw mango acquisition, in terms of yum per coin.

Still, there was something to be said for having a few of my own trees, even if the price was exorbitant.

"For you." Acquisition laid one of the most beautiful things I’d even seen in front of me.

"No." I gasped. "Are these really…?"

"Angel feathers." He confirmed, tapping on a clasp at the end. "I’d been thinking a pair of earrings, but they were a bit on the large side. My kids insisted on the hair piece though. My youngest said you’d look great with it. She’s quite obsessed with you now."

Well, I wasn’t going to disappoint Acquisition’s kids. I took the feathers, and braided them into my hair.

Ocean’s new mirror confirmed that I looked great.

I didn’t bother asking Acquisition how he’d managed to find angel feathers of all things. It was his title. It’d be like asking Hunting how he’d tracked down a mouse in a field, or Ocean how he’d sailed across the sea.

It was just what he was.

Bulwark had a larger-than-life statue of Auri made out of marble.

"He made that about three minutes before coming here." Brawling stage-whispered to me.

I knew exactly what was going to happen next.

"Everyone who wants to fight – do it outside." I ordered before the first punch could get thrown. I was not getting food thrown on my lovely dress.

"If anyone wishes to besmirch the Sentinel name by brawling in public, you will first have to explain to me why you believe it to be a good idea." Night softly added.

We had no overt, open fights. I did see a quiet shadow war of messing with people’s food, tunics, seats, flirtation attempts…

It was hilarious when I wasn’t involved.

My only involvement was making Maximus think Kallisto had swiped his dagger. The resulting mini-feud and escalating pranks was better than any play at the theater.

Emperor Augustus and Sextia didn’t appear in person, but they did send a courier with a present. An expensive bottle of perfume.

There were all sorts of levels present in that bottle. Like, something about socializing, Sextia’s curse, and…

I was a bit too drunk to try and interpret the meanings of a gift from someone with a [Sinister Schemer] class.

Fortunately, tomorrow, I’d be too sober to try and figure it out as well! Yay me! Easy win, nice perfume, ignore whatever undertones or messages there were.

"Dawn." Night politely greeted me.

I wasn’t sure if he was using my title because everyone else was, or if there was business to discuss. The lack of Sentinel made…

Forget it. I was tipsy, and it was my party. I’d just see what he wanted.

"Night! My favorite vargleeeeeeee." I tripped over myself, almost forgetting that we were in too public of a location to mention that he was a vampire.

I got a sharp, toothy smile for my almost-mistake.

"The elves you traveled with had an interesting idea, and I would like to extend a courtesy to you. Call it a type of experiment between us, a show that I believe you will quickly grow into a peer for many centuries."

I straightened up.

"Oh?"

"Yes. For your birthday, this one time, I wish to offer you a favor, that you may call upon when you so desire. I will attempt to fulfill your favor when such a time comes to pass."

That was one hell of a gift. I could do so much with that.

I’d let sober-Elaine figure it all out.

"Thank you!"

I meant it, from the bottom of my heart.

The party continued late into the night, early into the morning. People came and went, and the brothel workers were kept busy entertaining us all in a myriad of ways. From the food, to dancing, singing, playing, to all manner of other activities, my party was an unqualified success.

Night had quietly asked each of us if there were any issues, and let us know tomorrow’s meeting was skipped. Par for the course when one of us had a major celebration with everyone like this.

It was starting to wind down when a new, surprise face showed up. Not exactly a friend, not something I particularly liked, but not a person I held any animosity towards.

"Guildmaster!" I was honestly shocked.

"Sentinel. A most merry… birthday, I believe?"

"Thaaaaaaaaaaaats right! What can I do for my favorite member of the most dishonest, irreputable organization of thieves and cutthroats I know?"

I… might be more than a bit tipsy. I was enjoying myself.

His congenial half-smile froze in place. Whoops, that might’ve been a bit too honest.

"I just got word about the quest you posted."

The quest I posted? What quest?

OH!

RIGHT! Julius’s quest! The quest for Julius. The quest chosen specifically to find Julius. That quest.

I smacked myself with [Dance with the Heavens], instantly sobering myself up. Night whistled, a sharp noise that cut straight through the festivities, and a heartbeat later all the Sentinels – well, the ones that could still stand, at least – were practically surrounding the Guildmaster, hanging onto his every word.

He gave a nervous swallow.

"I brought you the news as soon as I heard, and I got the news almost as soon as it happened. The adventurers were racing to see who could claim the bounty first, you see."

I could just imagine three different adventurers charging toward the guildhall, cheerfully sabotaging each other and brawling in the streets to be the one to get the news back first.

Even an innocent quest could make adventurers be terrible people. Honestly.

I was letting my imagination run away from me a bit…

"Please, speak. What news do you have?" Night asked, and honestly. It was a bit rich coming from Mr. Verbose over there to tell someone to cut to the chase.

The Guildmaster spoke slowly, carefully. Enunciating every word, carefully measuring our reactions as he delivered the news.

"A ring of brightly colored mushrooms has appeared in the spot where your Commander Julius went missing. A fairy ring."

Chapter 37
End of an Era

We all spent a moment in silence after the Guildmaster’s news.

"Meeting?" Ocean asked.

"Meeting." I agreed.

"I’m coming along." Artemis stubbornly insisted.

We looked to Night, who frowned a hair.

"I’m going to be involved one way or another." Artemis correctly read Night’s look. "Might as well involve me in the planning."

"Agreed." Night settled. "Hunting, Brawling. Please acquire the rest of our comrades. Dawn. A number of us are currently indisposed, if you could please fix that? The rest of us will be at the meeting room. I will be moving to my archives, and retrieving a number of stories about the fae for us to consult."

With that, we moved onto our respective tasks. The party had been winding down, but more than half the members leaving completely killed it.

Auri was one of the indisposed members, having indulged herself in burning and eating things until she collapsed from sheer joy and excitement. A quick flicker of thought pulsed [Sunrise] through our connection, waking the poor sleepyhead up.

"Brrrrpt?" She asked.

"Party’s over. Got a mission."

"Brrrpt…" She sleepily processed, then what I said registered.

"Brrrrpt!! Brpt?"

"Maybe. Come on."

Neptune found me as I was getting everyone else sobered up and awake. Didn’t make me popular, but a tense "Meeting. Now." forgave all sins.

Fifteenish minutes later saw us all in the Sentinel’s meeting room, including the few Sentinels that hadn’t come to my party. No judgment, we were all busy people.

Night handed a stack of scrolls to Nature, who took one and passed the stack on. We each grabbed one, and I skimmed a story about a fae who granted a woman the power to spin her hair into gold – for the price of her firstborn. Auri carefully read over my shoulder, and I made sure to go slowly enough that she could keep up. She was working hard! She really wanted to come.

"Thank you all. I am aware that the hour is one in which most of you would prefer to be sleeping. However, we have just received word regarding Commander Julius’s disappearance. It is possible that time is of the essence, but more practically, nearly all of us were awake and in the same location. Now, here is what we know…"

Night gave a – I hesitated to use the word quick – recap of the events, from Julius and his escort going missing, to Hunting tracking down the location, to the various stakeout teams that had been present.

"Former Ranger Artemis is here with us due to a close personal connection to Commander Julius." Night concluded.

She cheerfully waved, seemingly lounging on one of our nice chairs. I knew her well though. It was a lie. She was tightly wound, ready to explode at any moment.

"Nice digs." She approvingly looked around the room. "Beats a wagon by a mile."

I was convinced that Artemis was good enough to be an entry-level Sentinel, and I wasn’t quite sure how or why she never got promoted. My personal bet was a combination of how damn twitchy she got in the field and the sheer lack of an open role for her. Almost anything she could do, Destruction could do better.

Regardless, this wouldn’t be a good time for one of her students to go "boo".

"I know this isn’t super important." Ocean said. "But I do want to note that adventurers got the news to us before our own Ranger Trainees did. It’s worth investigating how and why they were able to outperform us."

"Agreed." Night said. "My initial assessment has me believe it is a matter of motivation and following the normal chain of command. News was not flagged as urgent, report at all costs. I believe we will find it waiting for us in our normal morning briefings. A topic for another day. For now, let us discuss Commander Julius. First, I believe there is no question that we shall attempt a rescue operation. Correct?"

We looked around the room at each other, and Bulwark gave a great big dramatic sigh.

"I’ll say it. We should build a small outpost there, use it as a base for forest exercises, and simply wait. If Commander Julius was taken by the fae, he will return, and there’s no sense in throwing more people into the mix. Given what little we know of them, where does it stop? Does Night attempt to go in, and when he doesn’t return, we send in Ocean? Should Maestrai and Nature go in after them? If we do this wrong, we can lose more Sentinels here than we lost in the Formorian war."

Bulwark had excellent points, and I found myself nodding along. Most of the room was also nodding along, with a few frowns.

"Agreed." Night settled on. "Only a single Sentinel–"

Artemis loudly coughed.

"–or team will be sent." Night smoothly finished. "If that team fails to produce results, we shall fall back to Bulwark’s plan. Objections?"

There were none.

"Right. Before the next step, who is unfamiliar with the rules of the fae?"

Most of the Sentinels acknowledged they were unfamiliar.

"Let me?" I offered, and Night nodded.

I recited verbatim from the long-ago memory of Night teaching me the rules.

"Strike no deal with them, make no bargain.

Take nor offer a gift.

Be nothing if not polite and courteous. Give no insult.

Do not lie. They can not lie, but never think they speak the truth.

Keep your word.

Do not give them thanks.

Do not partake of their food or wine.

Do not spy or violate their privacy.

Do not give them your full name… a task you might struggle with. Give them a moniker if you must.

Do not violate their rings.

These things seven may grant protection against the Fae, each in its own manner.

Cold Iron, pressed to flesh.

A four-leaf clover, to grant vision.

Wearing clothes inside out, to confuse, amuse, and befuddle.

Salt, sprinkled around in a circle.

Arcanite, pulsing with mana to blind.

The Symbol of the Five Gods, worn sincerely.

A wreath of holly, a crown upon your head."

"Brrpt…" Auri didn’t like all these rules.

"Excellently done." Night praised. "Now, let us tackle some generalities before we decide who must go. Your title is perfectly acceptable to use with the fair folk. You both recognize it as something you are called by without it being your true name. Now, information on the fae is spotty. As far as I can tell, the name the System grants you is the name that should not be given. Gifts are both easy and hard. Something you might not recognize as a gift may seem like a great boon to these most wily and clever of tricksters."

"How are we supposed to eat?" Artemis asked, cutting in through Night’s lecture. I shot her a horrified look, but she looked at ease.

Right.

She’d been Night’s mentee and was probably familiar enough with him to be casual and flippant… even though I wasn’t.

"Like. No deals, no gifts, and don’t eat their food. How do people not starve to death in fairy land? Even with those stories we hear."

Night cocked his head at her.

"The worst stories we hear, the ones where terrible things happen to people, are the ones in which they violate the rules. Follow them, and your time will be short. Break them at your own peril."

"Bring a backpack of food, got it." Artemis loudly muttered under her breath. She got a few smirks for that. Nobody contradicted her though.

"The logistics of this mission will be reviewed, as it does not conform to the norm." Night agreed. "Their idea of manners can be entirely different. What is normal here may be a grave insult there, and what looks like a grave insult may very well be a compliment. Naturally, the fae do not tell you which is which until you have either caused offense or passed whatever inane test they choose to put you through."

Night paused, letting us all digest.

It was so late as to be inhumanely early, and honestly this wasn’t a great time for it. Then again, disasters and the like didn’t operate under normal business hours.

"As for keeping your word, Acquisition is the only one here who might struggle with such an issue."

Oooof. Shots fired. Acquisition looked vaguely embarrassed, but didn’t say anything. It was a hazard of his line of work, and none of us faulted him for it.

"As for violating their rings, it is a task we will need to do simply to access their realm, which is the most likely spot where Commander Julius is to be found. Questions?"

There were a few clarifying questions, and we moved on.

"For protection. Cold Iron is entirely out of the question. One wearing or simply possessing a small fraction of the material makes one entirely unable to be touched by the fae, no matter the provocation. A similar issue occurs with a Symbol of the Five Gods, and I have reason to believe that other divine symbols confer similar levels of protection. I do not have solid information on that front, but it is best to be safe."

Brawling raised his hand, and Night acknowledged him.

"Dumb question. If it’s so good, why don’t we want to bring it?"

Good question. I was wondering a similar thing.

Night gave him a curt nod.

"If you do, you will not be able to enter the land of the fae, to attempt to rescue Commander Julius."

Ah yeah, that made sense.

The pieces of a puzzle clicked.

The voice that had said they found me? The voice that had sounded like autumn incarnate, a season full of colors in words?

I’d heard it right after the spinosaurus had destroyed mom’s pendant. A pendant made out of iron, hammered into a religious symbol. It had been for "bringing good luck" and "protection" when mom had given it to me, a small little family heirloom.

Little had I guessed, it was protecting me. I should’ve put the pieces together years ago.

Had that been the fae looking for me?

Why had they been looking for me?

Questions for… well, not quite another day, now was more appropriate, but I had no way of getting answers.

"Any reason we can’t issue four leaf clovers to the team?" Hunting asked. "I know I’d want a dozen."

"None. We shall acquire enough for everyone to have some. On that note, for the next year or so I will be issuing Cold Iron for all other Sentinels."

"Why don’t we normally have it?" Brawling asked.

"Because wearing Cold Iron for the explicit purpose of warding off the fae as a long-term organized solution tends to… irk them." Night said.

I remembered getting the expanded version of the story from him. Nasty stuff.

"In addition, salt will be issued. There is an argument to be made for wearing normal clothing over our standard-issued armor. It is possible to turn a tunic inside out, but it is not possible to do the same with our gear. However, there are conflicting reports. Occasionally, a survivor of the fae realm will claim that no System was present, but the vast majority agree that there is significant magic in their world. Armor would be a boon. At the same time, one hopes that no fae would attack without provocation, and that none of you would give them reason to take offense."

Hunting loudly snorted, and I agreed with him. Destruction spoke up.

"It’s not like we get sent to deal with the reasonable people who’ll just talk it out."

Night tilted his head in acknowledgement.

I was totally bringing my armor.

"Arcanite is acceptable if it is kept hidden, although it can be worth revealing it at the right moment if needed. Lastly, a crown of holly. I believe it is worth bringing, however, keeping it hidden and well-preserved until a critical moment that it can be deployed is something of a challenge. One that I am sure you are all up to take."

Yeah, touching on the pride bone was a great way to get all of us to straighten up.

"The question is. Which Sentinel do we send?"

Almost all of us raised our hands. Only Toxic and Bulwark kept their hands down.

None of us would be in the room if we didn’t all jump at things like this. Just part of our nature.

Heck, none of us would’ve become Rangers if we didn’t jump at things like this! Toxic and Bulwark both had their own reasons why they weren’t volunteering, but that didn’t change the fact that they volunteered for things they believed they were even slightly suited for.

"Hunting." Night stated.

"Tracking and finding people, monsters, and things is my entire kit. It’s my job. It’s who I am, and it’s my title. I should be sent."

Damn good logic.

Destruction put his hand down.

"Ocean."

"Flexibility is my entire kit, and I’ve been playing the political game for the Sentinels. Water is everywhere, in everyone, and I’ve had my chops sharpened on the word games from the Senate and Command for decades. The fae are all about trickery and careful application of words, and I’d navigate that better than anyone else here."

More good points. My hand wavered, but locking eyes with Artemis helped me keep it up.

"Acquisition."

"With respect to Hunting. You’re about finding and killing things. We’d like Commander Julius back in one piece, and retrieval is my entire domain. I’ve also spent an untold number of years with the worst of humanity, and I know all about careful words and bloody oaths. Hunting’s better at finding people than I am, Ocean’s better at diplomacy than I am, but I combine both of those into a single person. We don’t want to send too many people, it’d harm our operational readiness."

"Nature."

"We don’t hear about the Fae building grand cities now, do we? We hear about them in nature. In the woods. Gods, we’re talking about a fairy ring made out of mushrooms. I’ve found my fair share of monsters in the woods, and every story of the fae has them in forests, glens, groves, or generally places bursting with life. That’s me. While the rest of you are playing fancy word games with the fae, I know the real secret. Shut up and don’t chat with them. They can’t trick you and you can’t break your word if there are no words traded."

Brawling and Senti-null put their hands down.

"Dawn."

I’d been thinking about my own arguments.

"I’ve got a close personal connection to both Artemis, who’s going, and Julius, who we’re looking for. I’ve got a deep wellspring of stories, both of the fae and that can be told to the fae. I’m one of the hardest Sentinels to kill, and I’ve got something nobody else has: time. My Immortality skill makes it such that even if the fairies decide to keep us trapped for a hundred years, I can have all of us emerge at the same physical age, even if the mental age is different. If someone else goes, they might get trapped and die of old age before they’re able to escape. That’s not a concern for me, and with how long Commander Julius has been gone? I believe we need to start being concerned about how long he’s been in there and what he’ll emerge as. I’m also the only one of us with significant non-human interaction and diplomacy."

Brawling gave a great big snicker at that, and Hunting coughed "Pastos." into his fist. Ocean raised an eyebrow.

"If we wanted someone to either end up destroying their civilization, or we wanted to declare war on the fae, you’d be first in line." He teased me.

"Dawn is not only the only one who’s lived for over a year with other species, but she also has an entire realm of knowledge and interactions stuck in her head. The elves favored her, and the dwarves liked her so much they didn’t want to give her back." Toxic loomed behind me, the giant defending me.

Not that I needed it, but I appreciated it.

"Enough. We will discuss the merits of each Sentinel after all cases have been presented." Night said.

Mirage’s hand wavered, but he gamely kept it up.

"Mirage."

"I… honestly, I’ve got nothing better than what anyone else has already said." He said with a nervous chuckle.

"I vote healy-bug." Artemis quickly jumped in. "We know how to work together, and I know she’s got my back."

She tossed her hair defiantly under the gaze of the highest-leveled fighters and mages humanity had to offer.

"Hunting. Ocean. I believe that Acquisition has made excellent points that make him a better candidate than either of you. Do you object?"

Hunting did, and it was pointed out that he was one of the premier Sentinels, and had a mission history a mile long. It was also pointed out that he was one of the most-deployed Sentinels and having him go on a potential multi-year mission would be devastating to every other problem Sentinels had to deal with.

It came down to me, Acquisition, and Nature.

There was no animosity in the selection process. We were professionals, trying to decide which skill set best suited an unusual situation, even by Sentinel standards.

"I’m going to withdraw my candidacy." Acquisition announced to our surprise.

We looked at him, nobody needed to ask him to clarify.

"I’m poorly suited for long-term wilderness survival." He admitted. "I’m used to dealing with civilization being nearby, but civilization I’m familiar with and welcome in. At the same time, we can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to barter with them, and I realized that my usual methods of acquisition might be easily seen through by the fae. Should be Nature or Dawn."

"I’m going to stay withdrawn." Ocean added in. "Too many irons in the fire for me to be gone for potentially that long."

I frowned at him. We all had lives. None of us wanted to vanish for possible years!

Then again, he was probably talking about political issues, not family ones. And I’d use that to make my case stronger.

"I hate to say it, but I’ve got a bit of a track record for being on long deployments without everything falling apart." I drily added, to a round of chuckles. "Plus, my seat’s new, and my mission log is one of the worst. I’m rarely deployed, in spite of having one of the highest levels. Not sure if it’s because Rangers rarely remember to send word of plagues and the like, or what, but it’s not like we lose a critical seat if I’m gone for an extended period of time. Might as well earn my pay."

Nature leaned back and looked at me with an unhappy bend to his face.

"Fine. I’m convinced. Dawn should go. She’s right, she’s not deployed enough, and it’s senseless to have me go when we know something will come up in the next moon for me."

With that it was set.

Artemis and I would be stepping through the fairy ring.

Chapter 38
Dawn of the Longest Day

We worked out a few more logistics items.

"Thought." I asked at the end.

"Continue please." Night gestured for me to get on with it.

"We’re retrieving Commander Julius. We don’t believe he’s in imminent danger, hence Bulwark’s suggestion to build an outpost."

Bulwark grunted. "More like a Sentinel is harder to replace than a Commander. No offense Artemis."

Didn’t stop Artemis from trying to throw a number of rocks at Bulwark. Instead of dodging them, he just gave Artemis a withering glare as most of them simply stopped in front of him, and clattered to the floor.

One rock stayed hovering between the two of them, then Artemis threw her hands up in the hair.

"Fine!" She complained as the last rock dropped.

Bulwark smirked.

He wasn’t the second strongest Earth mage in Remus for nothing. Must’ve been some good experience for Artemis.

Ocean coughed.

"We’ve got time to properly outfit me. No need to throw everything we can into the Pegasus and sprint off into the night."

"What is your proposal?" Night asked.

I shrugged.

"Do it right. Make sure I’ve got the proper gems, a backup supply of four leaf clovers, see if we can make a robust crown of holly, the works. If Julius shows up before we’re done preparing, great. If not? The fae play by entirely different rules."

Artemis was practically burning a look through my head, and I tossed my hair defiantly. Then fixed a stray lock that wanted to do its own thing. No no, couldn’t have that.

"Everyone here knows proper planning prevents piss poor performance!" Brawling enthusiastically added in.

"Yeah, you’d know all about that wouldn’t you?" Toxic shot back. Brawling had returned from beyond the Dead Zone early, namely due to a lack of properly planning things out. Like making himself a map. He’d spent more time lost than exploring!

"Agreed." Night said. "I will inform the [Quartermaster] of our needs, and ensure that you are equipped with one of the better sets of gems. Nature, he might need to speak with you if he has difficulty with some of these plants, it is not a common request. Dawn, please spend your time filling as many gems with your panacea skill as you can manage."

Hunting spoke.

"Please. Those things have made my life significantly easier, and probably saved my life once. Dunno how I ever operated without them."

I nodded.

"Understood."

"Are there any other issues at this time?"

We shook our heads. It was practically morning.

"Dismissed. Apologies once again for the hour." Night’s final words were lost, as we all bailed with full speed out the door.

"Elaine." Artemis caught up to me, fury in her eyes. I knew what she wanted.

"Artemis. You know properly planning and executing is how we get Julius back and don’t end up dead in a ditch somewhere."

"Yes, but-"

"But nothing." I chopped my hand down, amazed that I was back-talking Artemis. Of all the things to happen, this was the most surreal. I had to be in a dream. Me. Backtalking the woman I’d once thought was a goddess. The woman who’d spent two years making me do pushups every time I’d back-talked her during training - after laughing if it had been funny. My idol, my role model, although maybe with less murder. "You heard the conversation. There will be nobody coming after us. Tell me one story - ONE - where someone who went to the fae was viciously harmed."

"Brrrpt!" Auri didn’t know a lot of stories, but she was firmly in my corner. To her feathery little credit though, she was reading them over my shoulder, trying to get a crash course.

"Stories are rare enough, and that’s true under the weakest definition of harm I know. Popping back out 80 years older, having lost an entire life, is harm plenty. And who knows, maybe the ones the fae decide to eat never make it back. Because they got eaten alive." Artemis shot back.

"It’s been months. A few extra days to properly execute this is correct. You know this. Come on. Where’s the badass Ranger I know?"

Artemis put both of her hands on my shoulders, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

"You’re right." She said with an explosive exhalation. "I’m too close to this."

I grabbed her wrists with my hands.

"Yeah, and I wouldn’t have anyone else at my back."

"Even with my low level?" She asked with a smirk.

"Low level? Who? Where? I swear, with your experience, you’re just as deadly as I am with a fraction of the power." I grinned at her, eyes dancing. "I’d take you over any Sentinel, any day of the week. Well, except maybe Night."

Artemis swatted me for that, but it was good-natured.

"Gear." She said.

"Gear." I echoed.

"You’re going heavy, yeah?"

I nodded. I had access to the vast armory of the Sentinels, and I was going to make full use of it.

"I’m going light. Not only do I not have my old gear - I handed it back when I retired - but the details earlier resonated with me. Armor isn’t going to do me any good, and I might as well have the option of turning my tunic inside out."

"Makes sense."

She ruffled my hair.

"See you soon, healy-bug. Gotta tell Maximus that I might be gone for some time."

"See ya!"

I slowly walked home, dreading the conversation I needed to have.

There was a stark contrast between the serious "who are we sending on a mission" atmosphere of the Sentinel’s meeting room, and the slow, lazy, "we’re recovering from one hell of a party" feeling of home.

Except Themis. My poor brother still had guard training, no matter how hungover and sleep deprived he was. My sympathy was limited. He did it to himself and needed to figure out his limits.

I was nervous and tense. Didn’t stop me from grabbing a quick cat nap once I got home. I had enough experience to know how valuable sleep was, and I grabbed sleep at any available moment. Who knew when I’d next get a chance?

I was sitting at the kitchen table when mom and dad woke up. I’d never noticed the grains before. The table had two different types of wood. Some were going the long way, some were going the short way. I don’t know why such a tiny and inconsequential detail was striking me now. Auri was still sleeping off the party, not quite having the stamina to go long.

"Afternoon kiddo!" Dad cheerfully greeted me as he entered, looking around for…

Breakfast was both the right and the wrong word.

He must’ve sensed something was wrong.

"Everything ok? Something happen? Your birthday party not up to snuff? That always sucks." He snagged two cups of water and sat down at the table as mom came in.

"Mom?"

She sat down at the table, and I took a deep, bracing breath.

"I’ve got another mission." I started with. Dad took a sip of his drink, silently pushing the other one to mom.

"Ok? I take it this one’s different from normal?"

I bit my lower lip as I nodded.

"Yeah. Fae realm with Artemis. Possibly."

Mom and dad traded looks.

"Well, if you’re with Artemis, I’m sure it’ll all go fine." Mom grabbed my hand with hers, giving me a reassuring pat.

"But I could be gone for years!"

More traded looks.

"Elaine… we love you, but we have no illusions about your job. It’s dangerous. You could be gone one morning without ever letting us know or saying goodbye. You’re able to talk with us here, and the place you’re going, while weird, isn’t exactly that dangerous now is it?" Mom said.

"We’re proud of you. I wish you’d taken a safer career, but there’s no putting back broken eggs. I’m not going to try and convince you to do something else. Plus, someone has to keep Artemis safe."

"Brrpt. Brrrpt."

I shot Auri a Look, the only suitable response to her trying to be a "wise old bird" at less than six months old. I wasn’t able to keep it up though, and cracked a smile at her antics. She always knew how to make me feel better.

"Ok." We all got up, and came together in a group hug.

"Love you." I said.

"Love you too."

We had a wonderful moment together, before Themis interrupted it.

"Bleargh." He made gagging noises as he entered the kitchen, seeing all of us together.

I did the only thing appropriate, as a Sentinel, as his older sister.

I flipped him off.

"TAKE ME WITH YOU." Autumn was grabbing onto my tunic in the marketplace. Artemis had finished her work, and was sticking close with me. Did she think I’d leave without her or something?

"No." I crossed my arms. "It’s too dangerous."

Artemis started to have a howling laughing fit in the background, and we both looked over, just in time to see her topple off her stool, onto the ground.

"Bwahahahahahahaha! Elaine, you, you, you’re telling Autumn it’s, ha! Too DANGEROUS. Bwahahahahahahaha! Funniest, funniest damn thing I’ve heard, heard today!" Artemis could barely breathe with how hard she was laughing. We couldn’t talk over her peals of laughter, and Neptune was throwing Artemis all sorts of dirty looks as she drove customers away from his booth.

It took her three tries before she finally was able to control herself.

"Care to explain?" I asked her, getting another spray of barely-contained laughter.

"Ok, ok. Autumn. Are you ready for the funniest story of the year?" Artemis asked my protege, completely cutting me out from the conversation. She was wiping tears from her eyes. I wasn’t sure how much of it was real and how much of it was her putting on a show.

"Yeah!" Autumn had no chill. I sensed I was about to be the butt of Artemis’s joke.

"Ok, so way back when, when Elaine was younger than you are now, she wanted to be a Ranger. I said no, it was too dangerous. She completely and totally ignored me, ran away from home, and look at her now. Now you’re asking her to come on a mission, and she’s doing the exact same thing I did, all without a shred of self-awareness! The circle repeats! Vindication!" Artemis threw her arms up in the air, then started laughing again.

I pouted at her. That wasn’t how I remembered things going down. I had no choice! Plus, this was totally different. I’d say how as soon as I could figure it out.

"Ended up finding Elaine being held prisoner by a bunch of runaway slaves-turned-bandits. Wanna hear?"

"Sure!!" Autumn leaned in.

I groaned and held my head in my hands.

Traitors. I was surrounded by traitors everywhere.

"Neptune?" I asked, hoping for some support from Autumn’s father.

"She’s growing up. Making her own choices." He said. "Can’t say I approve, but I took some big risks starting out. Risks that I’d tell my teenage self not to take. She’s got this well-reasoned. Bring a variety of small goods. Trade for some fantastical piece of fairy magic. Potentially trade it for hundreds times profit, and if it’s a bust? She’ll get a fantastic class out of it. She’s with you, one of the safest places in the Empire to be. Can’t say I like it, but it is a reasoned decision."

It really felt like people weren’t taking the fae seriously enough, stories about changelings in cradles and curdled cow’s milk not giving them the proper teeth. I guess not everyone got personalized, one on one warnings from Night on the issue, nor would they quite understand the seriousness of such a warning. I gave Neptune a look, realizing a problem with his argument. A dumb problem, but it sidetracked me somewhat.

"I just told you about it now!"

"And we were there at your birthday party when the guildmaster showed up. Autumn started planning before you even left. She’d hoped you would go, but she’d be going on her own anyways. Leaving the nest and all that."

"Don’t worry healy-bug! I’m totally fine with her coming along. You coming along saved my bacon last time. The more the merrier I say!" Artemis obliterated a number of walls that I could throw up.

I’m pretty sure I was the only time she’d ever said "it’s too dangerous" in her life. She did have a long cheerful murder streak in her past.

"Brrrpt!" Auri approved of leaving the nest.

Traitors all around me!

I had to admit - only to myself, Autumn would never let me hear the end of it if I said it out loud - that using the fair folk to get a better class wasn’t a terrible idea, and it was worth getting the experience, achievement, and accomplishment for my third class. I had no idea if I’d DO anything with it, but it would be a feather in my cap.

This mission was weird. The strangest part was I was waiting for all my gear to be ready. That never happened. It was always ‘make sure we have as much gear as reasonably possible, and use whatever’s on hand.’ Waiting for the proper equipment was the strangest thing.

It took a week and change to get everything together, mainly because it seemed like all four leaf clovers had fled the country. Happily, that had given me enough time for [The Stars Never Fade] to get off of cooldown again, and I was able to charge a Moonstone for Plato. Early payment on services rendered, just in case. I wanted him around and alive when we came back to keep teaching Auri after all! The [Quartermaster] tried his usual contacts, and when that came up short, we asked the local herbalists and alchemists for a hand. Professional herb harvesters and the like. Figured we might as well get the experts to do the job. The four leaf clovers seemingly vanishing had us all the more determined to get our hands on a few, suspecting fae shenanigans.

We’d set a deadline on the Summer Solstice to go regardless if we’d gotten any or not. Adventurers, of all people, managed to find three the night before the solstice. They’d had to go obscenely far - much further than the [Herbalists] went, and fields of grass and ferns weren’t famous for their valuable plants - and when I mentally worked out the cost-to-time ratio, I realized we’d basically scammed them. Ah well, no great loss, and they’d signed up for it anyways.

I woke up bright and early on the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. I was prepared, and ready to go.

Auri had already done her prepwork - she’d insisted on classing up. Instead of fighting a losing battle and resisting her attempts to class up, I recognized that we were bonded companions - equals - and I gave her my blessing and spent about five minutes guarding her while she classed up.

She’d just gone straight for the biggest, baddest, boomiest Inferno class. No debate, no fuss. Her only complaint was she hadn’t been allowed to burn ALL the flowers, which I interpreted to mean the world of her soul included burning things.

I was not even a little surprised.

I’d spent enough time double and triple-checking my stuff last night that I didn’t feel the need to do it again. I did fully gear up under the gaze of two full moons, just over the horizon, and even when that was all done the sun was barely showing its face. I took some extra time to make sure I looked extra-nice, because who knew? Maybe the fairies judged on appearance. I should put my best foot forward anyways, and at this point, I knew [Companion Bond Between Elaine and Auri] was subtly messing with my thinking.

But like. It wasn’t wrong, which was the worst part.

My hair was short again, but I did weave two of the angel feathers Acquisition gave me into it. My helmet would protect me from most things, but eh. I never knew if they’d help, and they felt nice. My Deception Ring was invisible on my finger again, although for now I wasn’t adjusting my level. Felt too much like a lie.

However, I needed to awkwardly say goodbye to my parents again. After the first tearful goodbye, it had entirely lost its sting.

"Goodbye."

"Bye!"

"Cheers! Love you! Have a fun trip!"

"Love you too!" I called back.

It was a short walk to the spot where Julius had vanished. Far too short, for the potential size and implications. We were there in a heartbeat, the bright summer mid-morning sun shining down on us. A lovely day, entirely incongruous with the size of what we were doing.

"That’s it." I pointed to a ring of brightly-colored mushrooms.

"That?" Autumn asked skeptically. "Doesn’t look like much."

"Neither does Elaine, and she could kill almost anyone in Remus. Plus, mushrooms are poisonous. Shouldn’t you have a rule for that or something? Don’t poison your customers?" Artemis teased Autumn.

"There’s like a dozen rules that apply to mushrooms. Bad business, those. Don’t deal with them at all." Autumn grumbled back, in the grouchy way she could only manage when not making a ton of money.

I had to agree with her somewhat. It was just another small clearing in the forest, with sunlight filtering in through the trees. A colorful patch of forest, entirely unworthy of the myths and legends that surrounded the fae.

We were also short one four-leaf clover for our party, and Auri was the designated unlucky sod.

"Brrrrpt…"

"You’d just burn it."

"Brrrpt!"

"No, that doesn’t give it extra powers."

"Brrrpt?"

"How do I know? It’s obvious!"

"Brrrpt…"

I pinched the bridge of my nose as Autumn laughed. Artemis put a hand on my shoulder.

"If only Auri gave you half the trouble you gave me." She sighed wistfully.

Why was I going on a mission with these people?

"Last check. Does anyone have any iron on them?" I asked.

"Brrpt." Auri shook her head furiously, sparks going off every which way.

"No. Did one last check of my gear last night. I got worried about a few things, and I replaced them with conjured stone. Terrible in the long run, but it should last for now." Artemis said.

"Autumn?"

"All set! I think."

I remembered how terribly unprepared I was when I first ran away from home, and reminded myself that Autumn was roughly as green as I had been. Possibly more. I had an entire second life of knowledge to give me a hand, while Autumn just knew buying and selling.

"You’ve got no coins with you, right?"

"Right!"

Artemis and I traded looks.

"Not even an emergency coin pouch?" I asked.

"Nothing sewn into the lining of your clothes in case of bandits?" Artemis asked.

I looked at her.

"What? I’ve done it." Artemis defended herself.

A half-dozen coins later, and we’d shaken out every last bit of iron from Autumn.

I went over myself one last time, from head to toe. All my armor was made out of Noric steel, none of which qualified as Cold Iron.

Helmet. On and secure.

Padded vest? Check.

Laminar chestpiece? On, secure, all straps tightened. It held most of my Arcanite, cleverly melded into the armor on the inside. Nobody could easily see that I had it, but it was there, an easy secondary supply of mana in case I needed it.

My mana pool was large enough now where the Arcanite felt like more of an afterthought, but there wasn’t a reason to NOT bring it. Especially since it was hidden for now, but I could bring it out later to "blind" if needed. I had three emergency Moonstones strategically located in it, all with [Dance with the Heavens]. If I somehow found myself entirely out of mana with my arms chopped off, they were emergency heals.

Leather skort? Snugly on, metal disks tight.

Greaves? Over a pair of thick boots.

Bracers? Filled with gems.

My right bracer was almost all Moonstones, mostly filled with [Mantle of the Stars], with a few more [Dance with the Heavens]. I’d gone almost pure defensive for this trip, reasoning that the stories had the fae almost impossible to fight. I’d aim for defense and healing, trusting that I wouldn’t get into a shooting match.

Plus, like. I had Artemis with me. I was strong, but Artemis was pure lethality shaped as a tough, wiry woman.

My left bracer held my utility gems, courtesy of the [Quartermaster]. [Create Water]. [Gust]. The last [Invisibility with Eyeholes]. [Mana Void]. [Leaf on the Wind]. [Null Presence]. [Rebound]. [Safe Shelter]. [Camouflage]. [Tracks-Be-Gone]. [Tripwire Alarm]. [Muffle] [Wall Buster]. [Curse Breaker]. Around a dozen skills that might save my life.

A shortsword was at my hip. It was nothing special, just a standard-issue legion sword. Dad’s knife was on my other hip, and the prayer mom and dad had made for me was tucked into my chestpiece, right over my heart.

It felt a little jinxy to put it there, given how often I’d been cored like an apple, but it was theoretically the safest place on my body.

I had a heavy backpack on, stuffed full of standard wilderness survival gear, along with a few extra goodies. I’d elected for a tower shield to cover the entire thing, its weight barely noticeable with my strength. A few waterskins - and a couple of juiceskins for Auri! - hung on the sides of my bag, completing the look.

"How did the smallest person here end up being the pack mule?" I complained.

"Brrrrpt!!!"

"You don’t count, you don’t carry anything anyways."

"BrrrrrrPPTTT!" Auri flitted over to my bag, and tried to carry my waterskin.

"BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPT!" She shrieked, rapidly losing height as the waterskin pulled her down. To her credit, she was trying hard to be helpful, finally being allowed on a mission.

If only effort, grit, and determination was enough.

We didn’t want to risk anything happening to the two of us if things went wrong.

I snatched Auri out of the air before she could cross over into the ring.

"Enough goofing off." I ordered. "Everyone, hold hands."

"Brrrpt?"

"Auri, grab onto me, as hard as you can."

"Brrrpt!"

Auri flew around me a few times as the rest of us grabbed each other’s hands.

"Brrpt?"

"There are no holes in my armor." I stated matter-of-factly, feeling proud of the fact that I knew it for sure. Hours spent with it.

Auri grabbed onto my shoulder.

"Brrpt brrrrrrrrrrrpt brpt BRPT!" She signaled the charge forward.

Together, we all stepped into the ring.

Nothing happened. Autumn’s shoulders slumped.

"Hmmmm." Artemis mused out loud. "I don’t think we’ve annoyed them enough to pull us in. Or maybe we don’t have their attention."

I paled, knowing where Artemis was going with this.

My eyes widened and I opened my mouth to protest, to stop Artemis for insulting the fae in their own territory.

"HEY! You tiny, worthless, magicless GITS! I’ve got more magic in my pinky than you’ve got in your entire body! You’re ugly! Nobody likes you! I’m going to take an iron horseshoe and shove it where the sun don’t shine! I’ve seen beggars in more stylish clothes! Your pranks are uninspired and boring. Yeah, you cowards, come and get me!"

Instead,

I

Got

Speared

And

Jerked

Away

With

Everyone.

Chapter 39
The Longest Day

I instantly knew I was somewhere else. It was like stepping off a plane into a different country. The air was different, the smells were different, the sun was a different colour. The only thing that was the same was the white-knuckled grip I had on Artemis and Autumn’s hands.

My knees buckled and gave out, and I crashed down to one knee, my hand slipping from Autumn’s and landing on the soft, mossy forest floor/sinking into the brackish swamp water, a small puff of powder dusting my face/filthy water splattering my cheek.

I quickly looked up and twisted my head around, trying to orient myself to where I was, and assess any threats. It was nearly impossible.

I slowed down, and tried to figure out what I was seeing, my mind screaming as it tried to process the deluge of information, my dulled senses entirely overwhelmed by the double - triple? - load they were under.

I tuned out everyone else’s words, trying to focus, trying to figure out why everything was so heavy, why I was so slow.

Ok. Mental reset. Time to figure things out one at a time.

We were in a forest/swamp. It wasn’t a marshy forest, no. There was the forest, bright and green. There was the swamp, drab and dark. Two layers of existence overlapping into one, giving me a migraine.

Verdant trees brimming with life surrounded us/Dead trees had gnarly, twisted branches, reaching for us/Thieving hands in the corner of my eye flashed out.

The trees were a riot of colours, impossible fruits surrounded by clusters of brightly coloured flowers/The trees were drab, weeping moss hanging off in clumps, fat lumps of flesh ready to explode their spores.

Songbirds sang sweetly, their songs yellow and red in my vision, smelling of crisp ocean breeze/Vultures shrieked as they circled, their songs tasting of rot and the open grave.

A warm summer breeze gently caressed my face/A hot, damp, muggy atmosphere smothered my body.

Round and round it went, my head screaming as it tried to process it all. Artemis was sick, throwing up a small bush. Autumn closed her eyes and held herself, shivering.

Round and round and round and round and round and round and round it went, until I managed to get a grip.

"Urggggggh." I moaned, trying to stand up and not managing it. Artemis and Autumn weren’t in much better shape, but Auri?

"Brrrpt!" She cried at me, flying around me. "Brrpt brrrpt BRRRPT!"

It took a moment to process what she was saying. It was so weird that her sound was only sound and didn’t cause flashes of light to play over my vision.

Everything just looked like a nice, happy forest to Auri. I had to guess it was the four leaf clovers. Was our intel wrong, or did Auri not see the hidden dangers around every leaf? Not realise that the tasty fruit was also a rotting eyeball?

"Auri. Dangerous. Do. Not. Touch. Anything." I said, trying to be serious while my breakfast tried to escape out the wrong pipe.

"Brrrpt!" Auri understood the seriousness of the situation. I’d also made it clear that she needed to listen to me on this mission.

Benefits to the clover. Downsides to the clover. I briefly debated ripping it off, but chose not to. As difficult as it was to see and understand everything, there wasn’t safety in ignorance.

"Elaine." Artemis croaked after a moment. "No System."

I immediately grasped what Artemis was saying, and tried to pull my System up.

Nothing.

I quickly flickered through all my skills, just feeling a blank nothing where there was usually magic.

We were entirely mundane. Human, without a single augmentation to our names.

"Shit. Also hello Lightning Reaper."

Artemis shook her head, grasping what I said. I also realised I’d messed up calling Auri’s name before. Hopefully that didn’t count as giving the fae her name. After all, it wasn’t her full name. I’d given her a doozy of a full name, and I doubted a partial counted.

"Right, Dawn, thank you."

She sounded scared, and I didn’t blame her. I was feeling a mite terrified myself. Half my life I’d been hunted and stalked by predators, the System being the only thing I had to defend myself with. Now it was gone.

"Bag." I panted out, and Artemis figured out what I wanted. She took the tower shield off my back, and a few other things, lightening my load enough that I could stand with her help.

Autumn was still shivering.

"Take the four leaf clover off of… Spring?" I asked Artemis. She was infinitely more mobile than I was, but right now I was glad for the layers of armour and the weapon I had. Being entirely mundane now, they were our only defenses.

Artemis did, and Autumn slowly stopped shivering, opening her eyes after a few minutes.

"That was awful." She complained.

"Spring, you don’t have the four leaf clover anymore. System doesn’t seem to work here. Be careful, and listen to us." I emphasised her new nickname, hoping she’d get the hint.

She nodded her understanding.

"Which way?" I asked, not preferring any direction over any other.

"Let’s follow the sun?" Artemis suggested.

I glanced up at the sun/watching eye, and shivered.

"Why not." I agreed, lacking any better plan.

We walked and we walked, in total silence. For how long, I couldn’t say. The forest/swamp seemed endless, only the occasional small rabbit/frog hopping along. The occasional laugh/giggle echoed to us, but the only traces of people or fae I saw were the occasional flash out of the corner of my eye, which had me twisting and turning in confusion. Trying to catch whoever did it. Whatever did it.

That just caused more of the scratching-nail laugh/giggle that tasted of cranberries. The sun/watching eye slowly rose as we followed it, and we paused when it was high above us in the sky.

"I’m not hungry at all." I slowly observed. We’d been going for hours at least.

"Same here!" Autumn agreed.

"I’m not even tired." Artemis stretched her arms out.

"Let’s take a short break?" Autumn suggested.

I frowned. On one hand, I didn’t want to pause. On the other, we had no direction to go before the sun/eye moved.

"Ok." I agreed. "But don’t sit there." I pointed to what was a rock in the forest, but some sort of ugly crab in the swamp.

The moment we sat down, a half-dozen creatures that I could only assume were the fae surrounded us. Each one was tripled and gave me one hell of a headache to look at. They were small pixies with a single flower acting as a crown/murderous redcaps with bright red mushrooms as a hat/noble and elegant elvenoids, except all their limbs were too long and their eyes were too large, like a bug’s. Upon their heads there were crowns. A crown of gold, shining in the bright noon light. A crown of thorns, bleeding the fae. A crown of vines, a crown of a hangman’s noose, a crown of gems. A crown of berries.

And the weapons they had! . Regal, awe-inspiring, beautiful... Cruel and terrible things that hurt my eyes to see, that sent vicious spikes into my brain simply for thinking of them.

They were eating berries/eyeballs/pastries. They laughed and they joked without words. I simply knew they were funny. It sent cold shivers down my spine.

I had been right.

Fighting was entirely out of the question.

"A jolly good day to you all." I carefully greeted them, following the rules the best I could. No bargain, no gifts, I was being polite. We had violated their rings, but the goal had been to get here. We had to break one of the rules. Well, Artemis had decided we needed to break two.

"A mortal!" Goldy exclaimed. His/her voice was that of summer. Growing fields under a warm sun, a time to play and jump. Swimming and sandcastles, festivals and midsummer night’s dreams, war and marriage. The season of growth and creation, of becoming more, their words echoed yellow and gold in my mind.

I was convinced. Last year I’d heard the fae, but the court of fall, not summer.

"A trio of pretty mortals for us to play with!" Noose chimed in, sniffing Artemis. I locked eyes with her, trying to transmit one of the rules through sheer mindpower.

Give no insult. Sniffing might be a common form of address here, the polite thing to do. Or they were screwing with us.

My bet was on the second one. The fae had an infamous sense of humour.

"Mortals, mortals, three mortals for us~" Berries sang on. Berries, Gems, and Thorns all held hands together and danced around the entire glade, encircling us with horrifically long limbs that just stretched and stretched and stretched.

"Mortals at highest noon!" Thorn called out.

"Mortals on the longest day!" Gems agreed.

What I saw in Artemis’s eyes surprised me.

Fear.

She had no defences. Nothing against the fae, except a crown of holly tucked in her bag. And they were merrily singing and dancing, and I knew she could see the way Vines was eagerly sucking on an eyeball. There was no way it was a coincidence that it looked exactly like hers.

"Brrrpt!"

"Shoo stinky bird!" Berries hissed at Auri. "You are no mortal!"

I wondered: if I had used [The Stars Never Fade] on myself, would I no longer classify as mortal? Would it have given me an edge?

Not wanting to let the fae simply do what they wanted, I took initiative.

"Is there a preferred form of address for you, fairest of the folk?"

"Names! She wants names!" Gems cried out.

"I want your name! Give me your name! Then it’s a deal! A name for a name!" Goldy got in my face, stabbing her trident/spear/finger into my chest. Vines loomed up next to her.

Auri landed on my helmet, puffing her chest up. I noted that she was still merrily burning away, her lack of a System not hampering her too much.

I stilled, trying to think of a way out. I didn’t want to be rude. I didn’t want to accept the bargain. I didn’t want to tell her my name. "You may call me Dawn, and have the knowledge free." I carefully said. No bargain, as tricky as Goldy had phrased his words.

"Booo! BOOOOOOO!" Vines cried out, flying around me. "This one’s tricky! Tricky! Tell me a secret! I must know! I must!"

To my horror I saw Autumn shaking hands with Thorns and Gems.

She’d totally made a few deals with them already. Somehow.

We were so fucked.

No offence. No gifts.

How could I give no offence, no gifts, and no deals? Everything felt like a trap.

I leaned forward and cupped my hands as though I was imparting the biggest, baddest secret in the world. "I’m not from this world." I whispered into her ear.

"That’s not a secret!" She protested. "No mortal is from here!"

I straightened up and put my hands on my hips. "I’m not from that world either!"

Goldy gave a dramatic gasp.

"Gasp. GASP!" She said.

Don’t give the weird fairy weird looks. Even though she’s earned it.

Autumn took a few steps over.

"I made a deal with them." She stated, half-cringing at me.

"I know." I sighed at her.

"A bargain! A deal! And what a deal it was!" Vines agreed. The rest of the fae huddled up, whispering loudly at each other.

"Whisper whisper WHISPER whisper."

I honestly didn’t know why they did that.

Autumn straightened up.

"They’ll take us to Julius."

Ok. That, I hadn’t expected, but Autumn had pulled through.

"What did it cost?"

"This and that and morning dew, a shard of my soul, and a string of hair."

I gave her a look, then realised she was serious.

"Your SOUL!?"

"It’s not like I’m using all of it." She defended herself, and I facepalmed.

Artemis doubled over in hysterical laughter, the combination of shock and horror too much for her. Probably. Artemis was cruelly cold and callous at times, but wouldn’t be laughing at Autumn’s misfortune. I hoped.

"We dance! We go! Nightwards we march, to the great twilight!"

We started to follow our fey guides through the winding, twisting woods/swamp. I swear they were trying to kill us, or get us in trouble. They brushed up against bushes with berries/gnarled creepers with bleeding flesh, and with the casual way they moved hoped we’d do the same.

We journeyed. Time passed, adventures, mischief, and mayhem reigned. The sun slowly set as we travelled. I asked about it.

"Yes. YES! This world makes sense!" One of the fae happily told me, flying around my head/malevolently sneering at me/nobly deigning to impart wisdom. For whatever reason I was getting the manic-pixie version in my ears, but it was all too easy to shift my perspective and hear one of the others. "The sun isn’t all in a tizzy! She knows right where she should be, and stays there! Yes! The moon wanders though. Comes to and fro, depending on her mood. But! We know where she lives! There is Sunwards, and there is Moonwards! Two directions! Two more directions are Stormfront and Calm! Yes! We are near Calm!"

I doubtfully pulled Autumn away from a carpet of leaves/spikefall trap, and decided to shut up and not argue with the fae.

"Thanks." Autumn said, lost in thought. She got a sudden grin.

"Watch!" She hopped on one foot, wrestling with her sandals. "Can I borrow your knife?"

I handed it over, trusting Autumn with it. She wasn’t a kid.

"Here!" She sliced at her shoe, handing it over to the fae she made a deal with. "A part of my sole."

The fae clustered around what she was holding, giggling and talking with themselves.

"A soul! A sole! She’s paid with her sole!"

"It’s not fair! It’s trickery! Vile trickery!" The shorted fae complained. The other five maliciously laughed.

"A trick! A trick! A good trick!" They chanted. "We like this one! Let’s trick her next!"

Shrieking and laughing, they dive-bombed around Autumn, pelting her with mushrooms/mushrooms - funny how that worked - pulling at her hair.

Autumn yelled and covered her hair as Artemis and I moved in to shield and protect her. Auri flew over to Autumn’s hair, puffed out her chest and flared her wings.

"Shoo! Shoo! Silly bird shoos!"

"Not mortal! No fun!"

They circled us for a moment more, before one of them crashed into a tree/tripped over a root. The fairies got distracted, tittering and laughing at their clumsy companion.

We carried on.

Memory… slipped away from me. I couldn’t tell you how things happened. We encountered a bear. The bear died.

Were fantastic magics cast? Did the earth shake and the heavens tremble? Did we draw our weapons and charge it, engaging in deadly combat? Were clever traps made, was a poison snare used?

Or did the fey simply gesture in a come-hither motion with a single, too-long finger, and the bear, docile, walked over, letting the fair folk swiftly break its neck in a single motion?

Part of me hoped once I’d returned to Pallos that [Pristine Memories] would kick back in, and I’d remember.

Another part of me was terrified that I might.

A horn blew, calling me. Calling me to hunt, to run wild with baying not-dogs and riding on majestic almost-horses. To hunt some poor fool who’d crossed the fae one time too many, who’d broken the rules.

Five of the fae bounded off in delight, while the sixth stomped around in frustration.

"It’s not fair! Not fair at all! They go and I guide! Humph!" He grabbed his flower/cap/crown and threw it against a bush/rock.

My head hurt.

We travelled, meeting others, hearing the Wild Hunt in full swing. The fact that only one moon was mentioned twinged a memory, a thought, a fleeting idea just out of grasp.

What if we didn’t end up back in Pallos? What if we ended up somewhere else?

The thought sent cold water down my neck. Quite literally, soaked my tunic and everything, and had everything rubbing raw down my back.

I could get hurt again.

I might end up somewhere entirely different.

Autumn seemed to be having fun, but the sheer scale of how badly things could go wrong for us didn’t seem to be taking hold of her. She was armed with teenage invincibility, and I couldn’t deny it - we were better off for it. Artemis and I were hesitant. Careful. Following the rules, to the best of our abilities.

We would’ve never gotten here, guided straight to the festival Julius was supposedly at without Autumn taking the initiative and making bargains and deals.

Did we travel a minute? An hour? A day, a week, a month, a year, a century, a thousand years or more? Impossible to tell. The sun didn’t move, but our guide spoke as summer incarnate the entire time. Less than a season? Were the fae forever trapped as their season? Did they turn?

The weather slowly changed, turning to the lightest of drizzles, or a playful wind. Naturally, rain falling down from the sky would be asking too much of the fae. No, it came from the ground, or the side, or emitted from the trees like sprinklers.

It was usually water.

Usually.

I pretended the sticky, syrupy substance was honey, and didn’t think too hard about it.

We hadn’t seen any of the other seasons, although we did occasionally meet with other fae, Autumn enthusiastically bargaining with them. She wanted to be here. She wanted to be doing this, in spite of our warnings.

I let her. I steered her clear of branches/snakes, but she was her own person. Someone who was successfully getting us through this, somehow.

She did end up with a limp though.

How?

I had no idea. Every time Autumn tried to tell me, the memory slipped, like a fox leaving a henhouse. We’d heal it together once we got out of here.

We made it to where the fae claimed Julius was. A grand festival, a gigantic party. Fairies danced and twirled around the maypole/bounced and flopped around the pyre.

We were at the edge of twilight, the sun just as low in the sky as the moon. The border between light and dark, the changing of days.

Lights floated across the sky, and we were mildly Stormwards. A few flakes of snow got obliterated, turning into a laughing wind fae who twirled, grabbing a bed of fresh green leaves for a dress.

"Your friend! Your friend is here! Go find him!"

I eyed the party, the festival, the sheer rambunctious medley of the fae.

"How do we want to tackle this?" I asked the group.

"Well, we can’t just stay here." Artemis said. I nodded agreement.

"One of us should though." Autumn said, and I sensed ulterior motives.

"Why’s that?"

"Because if we all split up and go looking, when we find Julius we’ll also then need to find each other. We should have a touchpoint. It should be me, I have no idea what Julius looks like. I stay here, you three go looking for him."

I nodded.

"We can regularly come back, use you as a way to get messages to each other. I like it." Artemis agreed.

"Auri. Can you fly above, and see if you can spot Julius? He’d probably look like a splash of brown haired human. Not sure how many of those there are."

"Brrrpt…" Auri hunkered down into a little puff of flaming feathers.

"Not up for flying?"

"Brrrpt?"

I missed the connection I had with Auri, the loss of the System having removed that among other things. I still understood her though. We resonated with each other on a deeper, more fundamental level than just the System.

Something had Auri not wanting to fly, or go particularly far from me. It wasn’t clear what though.

"Ok, be my fancy hat for the party?"

"Brrrpt!!"

"Just remember, you can burn me now, and I’m very, very fragile."

"BrrrRRrrrrrrRPT!" Auri trilled her acknowledgement.

"Just like old times?" Artemis asked me. "You take the left, I take the right?"

I nodded at her. Just like old times indeed, when Artemis had been training me on the fundamentals of how to be a Ranger. Those lessons were still strong, still heavily influenced how I tackled situations, and there was nobody more perfect for this than Artemis.

"Here. You need this. Get used to it." I handed Autumn back her four-leaf clover. She took it with a grimace.

"I agree, but it’s harder for me to scam the fairies if I have it."

I did a double-take at that.

"What?"

"Well, they love bespelling a pile of acorns to look like gold. To ‘sucker’ me into trading for them." Autumn explained. "Except, by accepting that, yes, it’s clearly valuable gold, and wanting it, the fae think I’m not very bright. It makes them overeager, giving me holes to exploit. How do you think I’ve been getting the good stuff? Can’t do that if they know I can see through their illusions."

Note to self. Autumn was scary.

What made her all the more terrifying was she was doing all this without any System-enhancements. Just raw human ingenuity and guile.

I shook my head in wonder as we approached the whirling, dancing fae together, the party in full, wild, exuberant swing.

"Dance! Dance! You must dance with us!" Three of the fae peeled off from the party, surrounding me. Bright-eyed pixies/too pale elvenoids with black eyes and smiling faces/elegant ladies-in-waiting. None of the layers I could see looked particularly menacing or deadly, and I was having minor faith in my ability to see. Things that looked harmless in all perspectives usually were. They were remarkably transparent in that way.

"It’d be rude not to dance, and just shove our way through." I said to Artemis as a half-question.

"It would be." She agreed, and sighed dramatically. "It’s a real shame I don’t have my Lightning or flesh-and-blood dance partner. What I wouldn’t give for one of those."

She pitched her voice so it would carry, and I swear I saw a dozen fairy ears twitch at that. Clever. Either she got Julius, or she got her power back.

No, not back. She’d get an entirely new set of power, and if she played it carefully, she might even be able to bring it back with her. I didn’t know what sort of price she’d need to pay for that, and it wasn’t one I was too interested in looking into.

I was happy and secure in life. I left the wild risks for insane gains to the others.

"Brrrpt!" Auri cheeped at Artemis. Yeah, I should tell Artemis as well.

"Good luck!" I told a grinning Artemis as a dozen fae descended on her. I let the three fae pull me into the dance.

Oh, what a dance. It was a raw, primal dance, letting our wild side out, our instincts taking the reins. I threw my head back and forth, my long hair spilling and flaring from under my helmet like a ballerina’s tutu. We got in touch with nature, with the wilds, communing with Gaia herself. The entire thing was wild and untamed.

"Brrpt! Brrrrrpt! Brrrpt!" Auri was enjoying herself, the whirls and twirls to her liking.

The weather did whatever it felt like. A boat made out of Lightning stately sailed across the sky, and a tornado took the form of a tiger, prowling through the dance.

According to my dance partners, that all counted as weather.

Once in a rare, rare while, it even rained. Normal water from cotton candy clouds. It was asking too much for the clouds to also be normal.

The dance was like nothing I’d ever experienced. We tangoed. Foxtrotted. Waltzed, boogied, swinged, foursquared, went through dances with a thousand choreographed moves and three repeated moves. The entire thing was carefully structured, in wonderful dresses. The women were beautiful and mysterious, and the men were handsome and ethereal.

No two dances were with the same fae. Boisterous summer, generous fall, cosy winter, and vibrant spring, my partners whirled in a dizzying kaleidoscope even as I started to leave red painted footsteps in my wake.

I’d dance with the occasional elvenoid, never having the same partner twice. A man with metal armour for skin like a crab, a Minotaur with elegantly flowing robes, a gnome in the most intricate lace dress on a pair of stilts nearly as tall as I was. A human, now and then. My partners flashed through like anyone else, the only notable part was that they were all mortal. Not a single elf or devil to be seen.

I carefully studied each of them, checking if Julius was right in front of me. It’d be just like the fae to put the object of my search directly in front of my eyes, only to glamour him such that I couldn’t identify him. In that respect, the four leaf clover I wore proved invaluable, letting me confirm that I could still see through their illusions.

Find Julius. I kept repeating to myself between each dance, sweat pouring down my body as I heaved for breath. Only for another fae to offer me their hand, for me to take it, and whirl through once more.

Now and then I’d glance out, seeing how my apprentice was doing, checking if Julius had been found yet. There was no clear signal, but my main mango hookup was constantly haggling with fae. Hands were shaken and goods bartered. More fairies were constantly circling her, waiting for their turn to strike.

I sure hoped she knew what she was doing. She was playing with fire, and while she seemed to know the risks, I still worried.

Was that how Artemis and Julius had felt about me going into Perinthus? In a few ways, I suppose the parallels were there. Teenage me had no business being with the Rangers like the teenager had no business being with Artemis and I, and yet, I ended up saving thousands of lives. I had to admit, mini-merchant was following a similar story, and I was only comfortable thinking that because we were in the land of stories and tales come to life. Otherwise it’d be sheer hubris that’d get us killed.

I was all too aware that I was practically powerless here. No magic. No system. No skills, social or otherwise. All I had were the rules that Night had imparted and the tools I’d brought. I had faith though - they would be enough.

I looked over at the super healer-in-training once more, only to see Artemis and Julius standing near her, waving at me. They’d succeeded. They were holding hands, and I’d bet money Artemis’s four leaf clover was between them.

Honestly I was feeling a bit like chopped liver. I’d done practically nothing. The only thing I could claim credit for was getting Artemis and beanpole together and getting them equipped with some anti-fae protections.

"Brrrpt!"

"Yeah I see them." I told Auri. Well, at least I’d been as useful as Auri had been. This should end up being great experience for her. [Butterfly Mystic] was all about flitting around, travelling and experiencing new things and new magics, and oh boy did the fae count for that in spades.

Auri had been roughly level 62 or so before we entered. Just a hair away from unlocking her second class. Every drop of experience I got in [The Dawn Sentinel] and [Butterfly Mystic] would be funnelled to her until she caught up with [Butterfly Mystic]. Then all the experience [The Dawn Sentinel] got would be funnelled to her, while we’d split the [Butterfly Mystic] experience in half. I’d also get half the experience from whatever she was doing. Once she hit level 513, we’d split all of our class experience equally.

Skills still did their own thing and didn’t share experience.

It was crazy to think about. One day, Auri burning stuff to the ground would make me a better healer.

Magic was wild.

I started to dance out of the circle. The fae seemed to know what I wanted, what I was going for, and it felt like every dance conspired to bring me in, pull me down. I remained polite, playing their game, and I wasn’t sure if it was my religious following of the rules, or simply the nature of the fae, but no overt attempts to waylay me or stop me came to fruition.

The fae were not some grand monolithic entity. Some played the game, wanting to drag me in. Others didn’t care, for they were after prey of their own, playing their own games. One sent Auri and I spinning up high and out, fouling a competitor from a rival court. A second traded me as a dance partner for a poor werewolf who looked lost and confused.

I assumed he was a werewolf. Lupine features on a furry elvenoid?

"Don’t make any deals with them." I quickly told him before he was spun off into his own wild adventure.

"Brrrpt!" Auri tried to help.

I mentally wished him luck.

Eventually, an eternity of crimson-painted footsteps later, I was freed from the dance. Out and about.

"Elaine!" The teen of the hour gestured me over, and I glared daggers at her. What happened to the nicknames!?

My annoyance softened as I took in her appearance. She looked worn down, haggard. Thinking about it, none of us had slept since we came here, and oh, we’d been here some time. Her left eye was… well, I hesitated to call it an eye anymore. There was a swirling mass of purple mist contained where her eye used to be, but it seemed to track and follow me just the same.

I took a step and stumbled, almost falling. Julius and Artemis caught me, and I got to look up at their worried faces.

Julius had something like an 11 o’clock shadow. Not quite a beard, but a few days of scraggly growth. Artemis looked much the same, and wow my feet were killing me.

I looked down at my feet, only to see a mass of blood where they belonged. The pain hit me in crippling waves, and I screamed at the raw freshness of it.

I hadn’t felt true, unfiltered pain in almost a decade. Even when my anti-pain skill broke, it still helped. But no, I was mortal now, and I’d almost literally danced my feet off.

"Brrrpt!?" Auri flew around my legs, all concerned and worried. "Brrpt BRRPT!?"

She couldn’t figure out how she hadn’t noticed what was going on.

"Probably the same reason I didn’t notice dancing my sandals off." I got out through gritted teeth. "Can you cauterise it?"

"Brrrpt!?!?"

"Yes."

"Brrrpt…"

"Now, Auri."

"BRPT!"

With a blast of flame and heat - fascinating that she still controlled fire without the System giving her a hand - a crying Auri bathed my ankles and feet in phoenix-fire.

I screamed. I cried and I wailed and I sobbed as the fire sealed off my blood vessels, stopping me from bleeding out. I wished for the sweet release of unconsciousness, only to be denied, forced to endure through the pain.

I curled up and collapsed from the pain, my friends circling around me to protect me. Soothe me. Artemis held me, and I found myself clutching at her tunic.

Fuck, that hurt.

Auri immediately flew to my shoulder, awkwardly perched herself on my prone form, and nuzzled my cheek.

"Brrpt? BRRRPT?" She was worried.

"You did the right thing." I croaked out through the blinding red haze of agony. Despite the pain eating at my mind, I knew this was a critical moment for Auri. The first time she had to hurt anyone to help them. "I’ll be fine as soon as we get back home."

"Brrrpt…"

"I promise. You did good."

"Ready?" Artemis asked.

"Ready." Julius confirmed.

Hang on, what-

"Lift!" They said at the same time, lifting me up. They manhandled me, such that each of my arms was around one of their necks, my feet dangling in the air.

"BRRRRPT!" Auri whined as she came along for the ride, my smooth armour not giving her a good foothold.

I hurt too much to complain about how embarrassing the look was, and kiddo had the good grace not to laugh.

"Well Dawn, it looks like Spring here wasn’t the only one who lost her sole." Artemis cracked one of her usual terrible jokes. I groaned, as much from the physical pain as the psychic.

"Please no?" I begged her, only for Artemis to grin wider.

"You! A defiler!" A fae stormed over. She had a venus fly trap on her head/her cap dripped with fresh blood/her crown was made of writhing black flames, and she looked pissed.

"Who…?" I dumbly asked as she stormed over, pain still spiking through my mind.

"YOU!" She poked me in the chest. "You brought Cold Iron into my ring! You spent the night blinding my poor eyes with Arcanite! Then you scurried, like a mouse, into the dark! I found you then, and I’ve found you now, and how may I serve, your majesty?"

I blinked at the sudden change in demeanour, then felt a peck on my forehead.

I looked up at Auri - and the crown of holly on my head.

"Brrrpt!"

"Get us out of here." I ordered. I would’ve paled further if I could as I realised my potential mistake.

"By us, I mean me, Lightning Reaper, Commander, Spring, and my friend on my head." I clarified.

"As you wish." The fae said with gritted teeth.

I looked at my apprentice, and realised I couldn’t remember her name. It had slipped away from me. Some fae trickery? Had the angry fairy snatched a memory from me before I’d gotten the crown on?

Was I missing more memories, and didn’t know it?

Either way, beanpole was looking at me with pleading eyes, and I gave a subtle shake of my head. The crown of holly was only good while the fae deigned to entertain it. If it could do more?

Someone would already rule all the fae.

The merchant quickly crammed as much stuff as she could into her pockets, securing her well-earned, ill-gotten gains.

"I’m sorry." I told her. "I seem to have entirely forgotten your name. Some fae trickery, I’m sure."

She stiffened, then leaned in.

"Hang on, names are dangerous here." I told her.

"I know. Let me whisper it." She said, and leaned in, cupping her hands around my ear.

"Amber." She whispered.

We were pulled along in the mad fae’s wake, pulled Stormwards along the edge of twilight. Deeper and deeper into an eternal howling gale we were pulled, our ability to communicate was stolen by the wind.

I hadn’t asked for a safe exit, and the fae’s clever trickery had ensured I couldn’t modify my orders.

Auri ended up tucking herself into my armour as the rest of us made sure my crown of holly was well-secured upon my head. Our path home, our path out.

"Here!" The fae crossed her arms as branches/branches whipped us in the blistering gale. A ring of mushrooms, untouched by the wind, glistened poisonously in front of us.

I opened my mouth to reflexively thank her, and closed it.

Give no thanks.

Both manners and rudeness seemed to be a trap.

"Everyone hold tight!" I screamed into everyone’s ear.

We stepped through together, feeling a deep wrench grab us and pull us.

A second force grabbed at us, stretching us like a noodle. A pair of thunderous voices hammered my ears, echoed in my mind. One was like twinkling chimes in the wind, the other was like the warmth of a meadow in spring.

"Well, since the two of you asked so nicely."

It felt like dozens of hands were grabbing us, pulling us in different directions. Trying to rip us apart. We held onto each other, keeping a grip on one another. Making sure we stayed together, that we’d be together. I just knew getting separated here would mean I’d never see them again. We were pulled and stretched along, pieces in some great cosmic tug of war, until we arrived back in an ancient forest. The sun was setting, just as the Dragoneye Moons were rising on the horizon, golden light fighting with crimson on the edge of twilight.

After a half-heartbeat pause, thousands of notifications started to ping in my ears.

[*ding!* Welcome to Pallos!]

Chapter 40
Minor Interlude - Night
The Relentless Passage of Time

Control. Competency. Care. The three C’s at the heart of Night.

One year since Sentinel Dawn went on her mission to retrieve Commander Julius.

It was the Summer Solstice once again, and one of the oldest beings in creation observed the Sentinels and Commanders marching in perfect formation down the aisle, preparing to kick off this year’s Ranger Convocation.

He was in a hidden alcove, shaded from the sun. Anyone attempting to kill him at this time, in this place, thinking he was vulnerable due to the proximity of the deadly light would find themselves running into multiple nasty surprises. Like the fact that Night’s alcove was reinforced, and the entirety of the Rangers and a majority of the Sentinels were present.

The shimagu had been a reminder that the world was not static. That it was ever-shifting, ever evolving. He had gotten his third class, and so had others. Gone were the days when reaching level 200 was an accomplishment, a once in a lifetime achievement. His security was also being updated, the ancient vampire knowing the truth of the world.

Adapt or die.

He idly played with a gem in his pocket, the new acquisition not yet having a proper spot on his close-woven garment of protective gems filled with skills.

He did not put it past Emperor Augustus to make an attempt on his life. The man was far too loving of his power, and like all despots, feared those who could threaten him. Night had ensured that his base of power did not move against the general-turned-emperor when he made his bid for the throne, but that alone was not enough to appease the man.

There would be a day of reckoning.

Night did not want there to be a day of reckoning. Humans fighting each other, humans hunting vampires, vampires slaying humans - it would be a disaster. It undid everything Night stood for, believed in, worked towards. Night was a staunch guardian of Remus, yes, but he considered his role to be one further than that. A guardian of humanity. A civil war between all the humans he knew to exist, with new threats on the border?

Unacceptable. Gracefully withdrawing to the shadows for a decade or two - a century or two, after Sentinel Dawn’s unfortunate meddling - might be the proper decision, as much as it galled him. However, he hadn’t lasted so long by allowing his pride to dictate his actions. He would see.

Night did not intend to lose to some upstart who had lived for less than a blink of his eye. He tried his best not to be taken unaware, and nearly every single person with enough potential power to be a threat had been gathered under the banner of his Sentinels.

They would not turn on him. They believed far too strongly in the institution, and Night had ensured that he and the banner of the Sentinels were one and the same in their mind. A slow, careful guidance of the centuries, bearing fruit on this day. It wouldn’t be the first or the last time the countless hours spent working as a Sentinel would pay off.

That was the more cynical view. On a deeper level, Night was a true believer in the Sentinels. Guardians of humanity, simply one way that his endless debt of gratitude could be repaid. It was impossible to fully pay it off, but Night would try, even if it took him an Immortal’s lifetime.

"They will announce an initiative they believe to be new today." Night conversationally told Jaclyn. As foolish as the girl could be at times, she was demonstrably more competent than the majority of his other spawn, and as such, was being groomed to take on more responsibilities.

Misha was also present, although Night was not entirely thrilled with the man. He had shown some early promise, and while his initiatives were solid, if slightly uninspired, the man lacked grace, decorum, manners, and foresight. The best he could reach for was to be a useful pawn, although Night had use for any number of those.

Naturally, as time passed, the total number of things that Night needed to manage would increase, and a new set of vampires would have to be raised, trained, carefully groomed and managed for the new role he envisioned for them. Some could rise, like Jaclyn. Others would not succeed as greatly as he had hoped, and would become yet another pawn. One day, even the creation and training of such pawns would be out of Night’s hands, although he would be careful to ensure that the vampires never grew too large. Never became a threat large enough for others to band against them. Such was the price of eternity.

"Which is what?" She asked.

"Healers, attached to Ranger teams. This will be the fourth time it has been tried."

Such was the reason Misha had been invited to watch. The man had taken a clumsy interest in the healing arts, to see if there was potential to replace their reliance on blood. An interesting enough task to set him on, and one unlikely to cause problems with catastrophic failure.

Night was unable to manage every aspect of life. Unable to dig into every arena. Vampires like Misha were excellent for that sort of thing, to see if there was something to be discovered, to see how they could adapt to new changes.

The benefits far outweighed the risks.

Jacyln tilted her head a fraction. Small enough that most mortals would miss it, a screaming question to Night’s senses. She knew her role in today’s proceedings. Watch. Ask questions. Learn. She was a student, and she would play her part competently.

"Why do you not simply stop them? It would prevent waste. Lost resources. The war to the north isn’t going well, correct? The healers could be put to better use?"

Night gave Jaclyn an indulgent smile. Misha glowered in the background, but didn’t say anything. He knew Night wouldn’t be nearly so indulgent with him, his too many failures like a permanent albatross around his neck.

Succeeding with the healing question would catapult him to fame - at least internally - and his star would be on the rise once more. It would take decades of study to learn everything, but he had time. Oh, he had all the time in the world.

"Once upon a time, I, too, thought the same way. That I knew all the answers. That I could, and should, prevent problems and issues. Direct us away from poor ways of thinking. Then, shields happened."

Jaclyn was young, as vampires went. She’d been born mortal a century ago. She was aware that Night was ancient, almost literally as old as time itself, and had seen the dawn of civilization.

Night predating the creation of shields hammered home exactly how old Night was, to refer to them as some great, new invention. Shields had been figured out before agriculture, before the first seeds and ideas of civilization beyond tribes had been planted.

She remained silent, allowing Night to speak as the Ranger Commanders began their speeches.

"The first attempt at shields went poorly. Large amounts of premium wood and quality leather were invested in the earliest attempts. It did not help. It simply slowed the warriors down, and the dinosaurs we were battling simply went through the implement. It was a colossal waste of both time, high level people, and precious material. We had none to spare."

Night gave one of his customary pauses, giving enough time for his protege to learn, understand, absorb, and properly place the information in her mind. Such pauses were critical for good learning.

There was little purpose to spewing thousands of words at once, if they simply splashed over a listener like water against a rock. Better for a few words to hit the mark, and to miss some measure of nuance, than for no information to be communicated at all.

Jaclyn gave a tiny nod of understanding.

"At first I tried to help it along. Point out the failures of previous models. Help iterate and improve, a living, walking archive. It did not help, shields seemed doomed to failure. The second, third, and fourth time went much like the previous attempts. At this point, was it not foolish of me to permit the practice and attempts to continue? After all, each try weakened us. Made us more vulnerable. I saw it as my duty to intervene. Every two decades or so, when all those who had remembered the last attempt had died, and a new generation was finding their feet, the shield idea returned. I changed track. I made it my mission to stamp out such foolishness. In spite of that, people did not always listen. A fifth time. A sixth time. A seventh time. Shields were tried, and failed."

Jaclyn gave a quick noise of understanding. Night allowed the smallest smile to appear. It was good that she communicated when she understood, not allowing the silence to stretch for the sake of appearance, nor cutting it off too short to simply keep the conversation flowing. Competence, that’s what it was.

"The eighth time, it worked, and warfare was never the same." Night concluded, letting Jaclyn read as much or as little into that simple sentence as she would.

Oh, he could lecture for a year and a day on the impact of shields in fights, duels, wars and more. He could describe the earliest skills, the evolution, improvement, and refinement of the tool. An oral history, a first person account.

What would the purpose be? What point would it serve?

"What changed?" Jaclyn asked.

"Skills. Techniques. Teamwork. Knowledge. Sheer, blind luck. A critical mass of factors were reached, and the practice came into favor. I could believe a similar confluence of events could make them obsolete once again. It is difficult to say."

Jaclyn’s eyebrows rose, the sheer concept of warfare fought without shields entirely alien to her.

"The healers?" Jaclyn asked, not quite seeing how it connected. The corner of Night’s lip twitched in displeasure. Jaclyn was acceptably competent, but not as brilliant as others. Elaine, Sentinel Dawn, to cite a recent example, had consistently picked things up quickly, as long as they did not pertain to social engagements.

Jaclyn, to her credit, did learn the lessons he wanted to teach and rarely made the same mistake twice. That was the important part. Brilliance wasn’t as important. Given the timescale Night worked on, a slow but thoroughly competent individual was preferable to a brilliant but inconsistent body. He needed to be able to rely on those he trusted.

That, and competent people could be predicted. Predictable people could be controlled.

"Much like shields, we do not know if sending healers along will work this time, or not. Perhaps it will. Perhaps it will be a waste. Ranger Command has asked for my feedback this time, and I granted it. Pointed out the mistakes and issues of prior iterations. We are blessed to no longer live on the knife’s edge of extinction. A few frivolous wastes here and there are acceptable, for the ones that succeed change the world beyond our reckoning. Healers have a chance at succeeding this time around. Sentinel Dawn has brought a number of changes with her manuscripts. I believe this push is also doomed to fail, though. It is too early for her knowledge to have properly trickled down through society and make significant enough changes that healers will work this time around. However, that is secondary."

"Secondary?"

"Secondary to the constant reminder that we are not infallible. No matter how much I have seen, I can and have continued to be wrong on matters. It is something you would do well to remember as well. No matter how much you believe you are right, no matter how deep in your bones you know the actions being taken will result in disaster, remember shields. Remember that a madman’s ideas can change the world, and it is better to be on the neutral side, than the incorrect side. Watch ideas come and go. Take note of their failure. Observe what went right, and what went wrong. If you believe an idea is worthy? Remember. We are Immortal. We will outlast every single mortal being in this plaza. We have a duty to use our Immortality to benefit humanity, for they benefit us in return."

Night had a few more quiet thoughts on why they should help humanity along, but they were not along an axis of thought that Jaclyn or Misha would understand. Those were lessons and ways of thinking for another day, and attempting too many lessons, too much information at once would be like trying to pour into a full cup.

"I will study this attempt." Misha correctly interpreted this moment as the reason he was brought along. "I will understand how it fails. Why it fails. And I will make sure that next time, it works."

Night gave him a small nod, while Jaclyn continued thinking.

"Is that why you let Augustus become Emperor?" Jaclyn asked.

Night snorted.

"I always knew the man was ambitious. No man without the drive to conquer all he sees could possibly rise to the highest echelons of [General]. At a given point, endless contingencies become futile, a waste of time, money, and effort. The Formorian assault took me by surprise." Night admitted. "Toxic was far more effective than my wildest dreams, and if I spent all my time plotting to remove anyone who could potentially seize upon a specific catastrophic event to gain massive power, we either would get nothing done, or we might as well openly seize the throne ourselves, and declare one of you dictator for life."

Jaclyn gave a cruel smile at the joke inside Night’s words.

"Society used to run off of warlords." Night switched track briefly. "I have learned over the years that one who gains power via force of arms is rarely suited toward leadership. The traits and qualities that lend oneself to strength in battle do not translate to leadership in the slightest. However, it would be a lie to say that those with strength of arms do not dictate who the leader is. Augustus took control via the army, but that has always been the cold truth underlying civilization. A close look would reveal that he gained control of the army with tactics and strategies that resemble excellent leadership that does directly translate into good governance. The man alone has more advisors assisting him than the entire old Senate combined."

Night paused a moment, gathering his own thoughts.

"I did not believe at the end of the Formorian war that I would be able to properly remove Augustus and his influence in such a way that the army would not dissolve into massive infighting. Yes, I could have killed him, and his fellow conspirators. What then? The army was in clear factions, and the leaders that bound them all together were removed. They’d draw back in fear, regain their own groups. They would see that the potential for a supreme leader was there, and the army has always been rife with petty ambition. The result would have been the bloodiest civil war I could imagine, all while the last traces of the Formorians were still rampaging through our lands. This could have entirely collapsed Remus, then Hunting returned with word of civilizations on the other side of the Formorians. No, permitting Augustus to do what he will was the safest course for all of us. Indeed, time passes; civilizations evolve. Augustus may simply be the first in a long line of new political succession, where instead of selecting those members of society best able to accrue the acclaim and votes of their fellow citizens, it is the one able to rise up through the ranks of the army, and bend their will to his means. Arguably, it is a better test of qualities. Who knows? One day in the future, we may find a better method of selecting our leaders."

"It feels more like the leaders select themselves." Jaclyn softly commended.

Night gave a small nod.

"An issue. But thrusting one who does not wish to lead into a position of power does not automatically make them good or qualified. I tried that once. It was a disaster."

Jaclyn digested the thoughts as a new Ranger Commander was announced. Night gave a slow, but unhappy, smile.

The loss of Commander Julius still stung, and he was pleased that Sentinel Bulwark had made the excellent case not to send more Sentinels after Dawn. He would’ve been inclined to, another excellent example of listening to what other competent individuals had to say. That loss stung a second time, a Sentinel right after a more replaceable Commander, and what an interesting Sentinel Dawn was.

He’d managed to push through a replacement Commander, and the balance of Ranger Command was now back in his hands. Night was a mass of contradictions, both wanting to allow those under him to make their own decisions and mistakes, for when they paid off they paid off well, and needing control over his underlings and organizations.

He needed control, so he could let them be free. It was part of why Augustus was such an itch in his mind, a thorn in his side.

If Night needed to, he had enough Senators, power, money, and sway, to force through any changes through the Senate that he believed were absolutely critical to humanity’s survival. He’d only exercised the power three times since managing to secure it some 2,000 years ago, when the first primitive assembly of tribes had each selected a representative to discuss a grand alliance.

He chuckled acerbically. His complaint was rooted in the fact that someone had the same sort of power he worked hard to get and maintain. The great pendulum swung, and it had swung away from him. He’d seen too many chase after it, only to be destroyed by doing so. No, he would wait. The pendulum would return to him one day.

It would swing away from him again in the future. Such was life. It wasn’t the first time, it wouldn’t be the last.

"The tides come, and the tides go. Come. Let us discuss those new proposed plans for cross-sea travel."

"Are they much different from the last time they got proposed?" Jaclyn asked.

Night barked a bitter laugh.

"No, and I do not believe they will succeed this time. The design is nearly identical to the last one, and the plant in the deep has only gotten larger. One day it may be of significant concern to us. For now, it is a learning opportunity."

Night turned and walked away as the festivities started, Jaclyn in his wake.

Misha remained, taking notes. Making a list of the announced healers that would be joining the Ranger’s patrols.

10 years to the day of Sentinel Dawn’s disappearance, Night stood in front of the Indomitable Wall, personally carving her name onto the list of the fallen. A single finger of his molded the stone like putty.

Her family was there, quietly crying.

Night approved. There weren’t many families who’d still grieve, love, and hold on hope for a member gone for an entire decade. A brief thought flitted through his head, an ancient reminder.

There was a time when Night used the strength of a family’s bonds with each other to determine who was worthy to turn, and who was not. An idea that a strong sense of family would translate to strong bonds between vampires. That love would conquer all.

It had been one of his better criteria, but it had inevitably fallen apart. The mortal bonds formed stayed, but were not so easily recreated or formed into the new family of vampires. Additionally, those who felt strongly tended to go their own ways, and when conflict inevitably erupted between the vampires, that round had been extra potent.

Night was still rebuilding from that implosion. No, Sentinel Dawn’s family had missed their opportunity twice. Once when they were born in the wrong era, and a second time when Dawn had left before accepting his proposed gift, before turning her family personally.

They were mortal, and they would stay mortal unless one of them managed to grasp time away from the Black Crow//White Dove.

He finished writing her name down, mentally marking her as the first female Sentinel, the first healing Sentinel. A trailblazer, burning as quickly and as brightly.

He made a small, subtle mark on the wall near her name. A mark six others had, although all of the rest were Rangers. Dawn was the only Sentinel with the mark.

It was a reminder to himself that they had vanished under such unusual circumstances that in spite of his policy of treating people missing for 10 years as dead, she might show up again one day.

One of the others with the mark, after all, had returned after nearly a century. Quite mad, yes, but returned in body, if not in mind. It was worthy of a note. [Archive of the Eons] had a memo placed in it, the skill nearly perfect for the type of organization and recollection Night needed for his millennia of memories. The only downside to the skill was it took time to retrieve memories, a deliberate feature that occasionally hindered him. If the memories were too easy to recall? He would get washed away in recollection, with few willing to disturb him. He’d once spent six years traveling down memory lane on a prior version of the skill, only disturbed when one of his progeny was brave enough to disturb him for a nearby fire.

He had modified the skill after that incident. Worked tirelessly to evolve it into a more suitable form.

After an appropriate amount of time with the family – not too short, else one might take offense, nor too long, for Night had better things to do than mingle aimlessly – Night was off to his next appointment.

A remarkably competent woman, only given a chance through Dawn’s foolishly executed but brilliant idea. A shame her name was now on the wall; he would have liked to pick her brain for more ideas. A reminder that no matter how careful he was, others did not guard their lives in the same way. To carefully seize opportunities when they arose, else their lives flee like the moons turning in the sky. A small mistake, one he would no doubt repeat in the future. The scale he operated on practically demanded it.

"Guardswoman Athena." He greeted the woman, mentally reminding himself that she was not in the know.

"Sentinel Night. It’s an honor to meet you." She saluted, staying ramrod straight.

"The Rangers have constructed a training outpost. However, we are not getting enough use out of it, and it has been decided that we will turn it over to the local guard." Night gave the quick background. Athena slowly nodded, having heard all this.

"I’m in command, last I heard. Or has that changed?"

Night shook his head.

"Command is yours, but the outpost contains a secret that you must be informed of."

Athena groaned.

"I knew it was too good to be true. Alright. Hit me. Secret weapons facility? Magic testing range? Some bottled plague? A secret Formorian queen’s egg? What manner of horrors am I going to be dealing with?"

Night gave her his discomfiting smile three, designed to look like he was reassuring her while having an undercurrent of discomfort. A careful ploy, to better have Athena listen to him in the future. To increase his control.

"Nothing quite so serious. The outpost is built on top of a fairy ring. You will notice a portion of the outpost has forest floor still. Do not touch or block it, do not use it for storage or formations. Simply wait to see if people come through; a Sentinel was lost."

Athena looked like she wanted to spit, but didn’t dare in front of the Sentinel.

"The fae. That’s going to be a fun one. Going to have those devious buggers running all over the place, driving everyone nuts."

"I recommend cold iron." Night suggested, knowing full well the guards already had it, and that his suggestion would be taken as law.

Athena’s eyes widened.

"Oh! Is that where Dawn vanished? She was my favorite. Whole reason I became a guard. Thought I could become a Ranger, then a Sentinel." She shook her head, remembering her old dream.

Night smiled, a real one.

He did so love working with competent individuals. Guardswoman Athena would do just fine.

A hundred years after Elaine vanished, Night was releasing a raccoon. The animal looked at the shadow that Night was hiding under, and Night bared his fangs at the animal, designed to frighten and terrify. The raccoon recognized when an apex predator had him in his sights.

The critter fled, and Night followed right behind it, driving it forward, hiding in its shadow.

The dragoneye moons weren’t out and clouds hid the stars, making it the night to strike. The crackling of lightning over his head, whistling of high speed rocks and metal, jagged spears of brilliance, balls of inferno, and thousands of other skills raining through the sky, a perpetual siege that made true darkness an impossible dream.

The shimagu had a few types of wards. Those that detected movement, light, sound, or motion? They were trivial for Night to bypass.

Those that spoke to themselves, and yelled if they could not hear themselves? Those were problematic. A fine Light or Radiance beam, that if interrupted would raise the alarm. Cursedly, branches and leaves did not trigger the wards.

Small animals did. Night had been softening this portion of the camp up for days. The conditions tonight were not perfect, but they never were. They fell within an acceptable boundary.

If Night always waited for perfect conditions, nothing would ever get done.

The raccoon breached three wards that Night could easily avoid, causing a ruckus. It then crossed the problem ward in question, Night quickly stepping through in the brief window it took the raccoon to pass the ward. He then hid in the shadow of a barrel against a tent, all too aware of the nearby sentries, descending on the area to handle the intruder.

He watched as they found and killed the raccoon. They spent a few moments discussing in their tongue - Night wanted to learn the language of the shimagu, but more pressing matters kept seizing his attention.

Still, they were people, and like all people, quickly determined that the intruder had been a wild beast, and their job for the moment was done. After all. Night had spent the last few nights carefully training the sentries that wild animals liked this section.

Night slipped deeper and deeper into the camp. Poison was particularly effective against the shimagu, their lack of healers giving them no easy answer. Fascinatingly, crippling the shimagu hosts was dramatically more effective than outright murdering them. Weakened hosts needed resources. Shimagu in sick hosts weren’t reassigned, and they were sent to the army, where they’d create weak spots. The coalition army didn’t know where they’d be, but the [Generals], [Tacticians], and [Strategists] were all good enough to exploit weaknesses when squads were rapidly overrun during the fighting.

Happily for Night, groups of soldiers holding their stomach and moaning around a tainted cook pot made for islands of relative safety deep in the shimagu camp, areas that the patrols quickly stepped past and where the inhabitants were in no position to notice the shadows moving around them.

Night had taken Dark for his third class’s element.

The patrols got thicker, the torches brighter, and actual standing guards were present around the tent Night was targeting.

It was almost child’s play to bypass them all. At best, they had a few decades of experience.

Night had been doing this since literally the dawn of time.

He slid not into a general’s or leader’s tent, but into a target of opportunity’s. One of the high level cooperative shimagu, one they called "twins". Body and mind working together, six classes in a single body. The shimagu powerhouses, who could take on hundreds of soldiers single-handedly, and expect to win.

Like Night could.

The coalition army had their own classers who could keep the twins in check, and it had devolved into a stalemate at the highest levels. The shimagu had a half-dozen twins, and the coalition had fifteen powerful Classers at their tier.

Night wanted to lambast them all for being cowards. Over level 1000, but the elves wouldn’t take the risks needed to eliminate the shimagu twins. By the same token, the twins weren’t able to go on the offensive. It would leave them ‘too vulnerable’.

Night aimed to break that stalemate and rub the elves’ snobbish noses in his success. Going from six to five should be enough to allow some of the Classers to safely go on the offensive against the bulk of the armies present, and that would cause attrition on the lower levels large enough to end the battle favorably.

He slipped into a tent on the fringe, practically blurring into motion as he was spotted.

The twin hadn’t gone to bed alone. The companions were silenced, the notification of the low level camp followers silently echoing in Night’s mind.

He’d killed them all, shimagu and host, in complete silence and stillness.

It took him no time at all deciding how to kill the twin. He’d had plenty of experience with it. Nearly every creature, great and small, needed to sleep, and of those, virtually every single one was vulnerable to a knife in the dark. It was a great equalizer, one that Night made frequent use of.

He was glad that he had continued the habit in Remus for centuries, even when his level allowed him to simply overpower anyone he needed to. It had kept his skills sharp and honed, expecting that one day he would be out-leveled and out-classed once again.

The day had come, and found Night waiting in the shadows, fangs bared.

Setting it up took but a moment. Blades of blood surrounded his head from every direction, as Night prepared his Roc-claw knives above the twin’s neck.

Necks were both an excellent and a terrible place to strike when aiming to end one’s life. If Night overpowered his victim, if the target was not a [Mage], they were good for a silent, clean kill.

Otherwise, they were a poor choice. A powerful Classer with their throat slit had enough time and a bounty of motivation to perform one final strike, using all their mana and skills, to attempt to kill Night. It was simply not worth it.

However, with the shimagu, it looped back around. Men and women who were competent in their domain claimed that most shimagu resided in the area of the neck where the spine was located. Night’s experience assassinating them agreed.

Night’s primary attack was aimed at ending the host’s life, but this shimagu was a powerful mage in its own right, one that wouldn’t hesitate to blindly lash out in all directions to slay its friend’s killer.

Given the level of the twins, Night was aiming to minimize risks, while accomplishing something, unlike the blasted elves.

Night coated the edge of his blades in Dark, then moved. With a flurry of blending slices, he obliterated the twin’s neck as his hovering spikes of blood simultaneously rammed themselves into the twin’s head from every angle, all while Night also activated a number of his other skills. Blood flew under the savage assault, and Night was quickly rewarded with a pair of notifications.

[Slain: Ogre - 968]

[Slain: Shimagu - 968]

[Level: The Shadow in the Darkness - 88 -> 90]

[Level: The Bloodline Progenitor - 548 -> 549]

[Level: The First - 550 -> 551]

Levels were difficult for vampires to obtain. A release from the tyranny of the Low Experience Zone had helped Night level once again, and worthy, difficult foes of a higher level than he was also contributed.

Some decades, he didn’t level at all.

Short, sweet, to the point, Night fled before he could be discovered.

He was much less circumspect on the way out, taking out targets of opportunity when he saw them. It would cause chaos and panic, and prevent the shimagu from getting a restful sleep.

After the target he’d eliminated, the battle should be joined in earnest. The elves should be able to move in, and the great shimagu army smashed once and for all.

Which meant Night had more work to do.

Crossing over the battlefield was a challenge in and of itself, numerous crippled soldiers from both sides having simply been left where they fell. Some were crawling out. Others had given up, letting the carrion birds feast upon them. Scavengers, foul opportunists were grabbing what they could off the bodies, not particularly caring if a wounded soldier protested that their boots were being looted off of them.

Night reminded himself to look for the small good, and not simply focus on the larger, greater good he was working towards. He applied a few careful knives where he believed some minor good would be accomplished.

Then he was back on the grand coalition’s side of things, but he did not return to his section. No, a second killing was needed. A particularly charismatic dwarf had been gathering cities to his banner, and there was talk of making him the King Under the Mountains.

A powerful, unified nation at Remus’s borders, with an entire army that needed something to do after the defeat of a common enemy? Night had seen that story played out before.

No, best that they remained numerous city-states, squabbling and arguing.

He found Sentinel Silence in the prearranged location. Night clasped his shoulder, the Sentinel tilting his head inquisitively.

"I believe it’s best that I handle this one personally."

The man flashed a series of hand-signs, asking a question.

"The offer is appreciated, but no. There is no need for you to take the fall for me if all should go wrong. I believe I will be able to escape, and it is best if you disclaim all knowledge of me. Two of us? Ah, they will know. Perhaps if I fail, you can make a second strike behind me. I trust your judgment. "

Sentinel Silence nodded, and Night was off.

It took the better part of the evening to kill the almost-King Under the Mountains, made extra difficult because Night had to do it in a particular way. First, he had to kill them in a manner that was difficult to detect. A pair of long, thin knives driven through the ear canal was Night’s current preferred method. Then, he drained his victim of all their blood, making it look like a Water, Decay, Erosion, or some other similar Classer had gotten their hands on him.

Nothing like Night’s current style, nor was it one he had used in quite some time. Nearly impossible to trace back to him.

Popular theory had it as a lethal, hidden shimagu twin. One that struck oddly, without rhyme or reason. Perhaps a peerless illusionist, maybe an infected member of the coalition, who could defeat the anti-infiltration measures put in place.

Night didn’t bother correcting their misconception. Indeed, he was smart enough to know he wasn’t the smartest person around and took no interest in the subject. Discussed it only with great reluctance. Avoided meetings on the subject.

After all, what was there to say?

He was the assassin.

One thousand years after Sentinel Dawn’s disappearance. The Remus Empire was stagnating. Decaying. Rapid expansion and external enemies had kept the Empire together, but without land to expand into, and no safe enemies to make - there was no fighting the elves, or the demon empire, nor anyone else - the plotting, armies, and machinations of the Empire was starting to turn on itself.

The lines were drawn. Public sentiment was at an all-time low.

Night was one of three progenitors, three vampires that had survived from creation until now. As the Remus Empire expanded, slowly annexing and taking over vast portions of the continent, a mixing pot of sorts emerged.

After all. The dwarves had been loyal citizens for 800 years - 40 of their generations. The centaurs had been the mounted forces of Remus for nearly as long. The dullahans, dragonlings, naga, and a dozen other races had properly integrated into the empire, along with the newest children of the world: the beastkin, coming in as many different flavors as there were creatures of the world. All were welcome under Remus’s proud eagle banner, as her legions marched across the continent on the best roads in the world.

Humans had not given up their majority gently, but Night had… hastened the process. There was no room for the belief that one race was superior to another, not if Remus was to flourish. Not if humans were to prosper. That sort of thinking was poison, and the swifter it was excised, the better.

Sadly, humans had not been the only ones with that flavor of thinking. Similar measures had needed to be taken against a myriad of races that had been conquered by Remus, then made into honored citizens through the relentless march of time.

Night couldn’t claim perfect success, but broadly speaking, he thought he had succeeded.

One of Night’s fellow progenitors, Crimson, believed that it was time for vampires to reveal themselves. After all, Remus was well represented with a number of races! The announcement would be lost in the furor that the Divine Decrees had caused. They had worked diligently to ensure everyone had been integrated and accepted. What was one more set of creatures under Remus’s banner, one who had been there since the start?

Night had objected, but the three of them were… equals wasn’t quite the right word. There had been thousands of years since they were created, since they had met each other and walked the planet. They had taken paths so different, pursued so many different avenues that equal wasn’t nearly good enough a word.

There was mutual respect between them. They belonged to a small, intimate club of those without a mother or father, those who had seen the gods in all their petty mindedness create the world.

They had ancient agreements with each other. Namely, to stay out of each other’s way, and when that inevitably failed, as it always did, strict rules of engagement. Methods of fighting and warfare to resolve disputes, without annihilating each other in fruitless wars over minor matters.

Of the three great clans, the third clan, the one not privy to the dispute, would referee the issue. The closest thing to an impartial observer, one who knew that if they were unfair today, it would come back to haunt them when the tables were turned.

One day the rules would fail, and the results would be catastrophic.

For now? They worked, and Night lost the dispute. He took it with good grace.

Night simply fumed quietly, insisting that his vampires remain quiet and hidden. Unobtrusive model citizens of society. Crimson would be a good test case of how things went when they revealed themselves.

Night didn’t offer to help though. To do so would be an insult.

Crimson bungled it.

The details didn’t matter, but the public was out for blood. The irony wasn’t lost on Night, who’d been rapidly identified as a vampire. After all, he was a public enough figure, and it didn’t take long for people to realize he’d been around for thousands of years.

Which brought Night to the meeting. Him sitting at the head of a long table. Him, and 150 of his closest vampires. A dozen promising individuals - not all of them formerly human - were selected every twenty years, and out of those one rose to the top. Repeat the process long enough, and even after accident, war, and assassination thinned the ranks, their numbers swelled.

Discussion flew fast and furious, each vampire supernaturally fast to begin with, before the System blessed them all. Night sat listening carefully, sipping a fine vintage of giant. One of the last of the titans, the size of a mountain, it was a rare treat. Most excellent for clarity of the mind, more potent than any potion.

There were benefits to being an empire.

The drink helped him focus on the going ons, hearing every argument made. Every discussion, every point. Every pro and con the best and most brilliant minds Night could find and bring under his banner over the millenia could think of.

He carefully examined their arguments. Their reason, logic, and rhetoric. Letting himself be swayed one way, then another, pulling on his own personal well of knowledge and experience to see how he thought various scenarios would play out.

Once the conversations started to loop on themselves, Night stood up.

"Enough discussion. I have a number of questions that I would like debated, discussed, and answered. First. There is the issue of…"

Night continued to guide the conversation. Often, in a given scenario, he believed a certain course of events would transpire, while other, intelligent vampires that he trusted, believed a second thing would occur.

Their knowledge and experience was compared, dissected, and analyzed, allowing them to arrive at a proper conclusion.

At last, the council arrived at a decision, their patterns and lines of thinking all arriving at the same place. Night, as the head of the clan, the leader, the one who found and brought them all into the fold, was naturally tasked with the decree.

"We move." He said. "To the border of the Empire. We shall continue to enjoy the benefits of the Empire. We will take responsibility for the branch of the Sentinels that are deployed from that region. The elves are nearby, and if anti-Immortal sentiment rises too much further, we should be able to seek shelter with them. It will be easier to learn from them, and develop ties. The narrow land bridge gives us a defensible choke point if the worst should happen. Prepare yourselves. I wish to leave in two years’ time."

There was no more arguing. No more debate. There were a few unhappy holdouts, but the majority were onboard.

Night had issued his decree.

After the meeting ended, Night stepped out, under the moons.

The dragoneye moons, and he briefly remembered the sparkling young woman who’d brought him that interesting piece of information.

He then dismissed her from his mind.

She was gone.

Ten thousand years after the Healer’s disappearance.

The Remus Empire had crumbled thousands of years ago, collapsing under its own weight. A dozen squabbling kingdoms had emerged, each claiming the mantle of succession. Those kingdoms had fought, rose, collapsed, merged, and generally speaking, there were no clear lines of succession. No obvious nation that one could point to and say "They are the shade of Remus." Too many [Kings] had risen, too many [Empresses] had made their mark.

The Immortal Wars raged, sometimes once in a thousand years, sometimes thrice in a hundred. Each one would unleash huge swaths of devastation across the globe, setting civilization back. Cities would burn and seas would boil, plagues were unleashed and the very earth itself was poisoned for decades. Fungal infestations spread unchecked, once even hijacking the bodies of the dead to further spread itself.

The scars of the Immortal Wars occasionally remained permanent, like the Vorlers, vicious bioweapons designed to consume, adapt, grow, and spread, all while having amazing vitality and ability to procreate. The Divine Decrees hadn’t stopped them being created, and every being attempted to stamp them out and crush their eggs wherever they were found.

Night never followed the same plan, tactics, or strategy twice, adapting and evolving to survive. Some wars he sat out the best he could, hunkering down in a fortress so well protected that it wasn’t worth the effort to crack. Other times he went on the offensive. Occasionally, he led his clan on an exodus to the Below Levels, a place less touched by the calamities on the surface.

At times, calamities came from the Below Levels.

Now and then, after an Immortal War had passed, an ambitious group of survivors, leveled high by merely participating in the fringe of the war, would raise their banners. They’d storm across the continent, bringing all under their grasp, and raising the next great empire.

That, too, would either collapse under its own weight, or become collateral damage the next time the Immortals went to war.

The elves had built an empire themselves at one point, and that particular country shattering had nearly been the end of Night himself.

It had killed the other two progenitors, leaving Night as the undisputed eldest.

Leading to the current situation.

"Midnight! My favorite bloodsucker! Come here, come here!" King Straton beckoned Night over.

With a repressed grimace of distaste, Night approached the fat king. He’d never held a blade in his hand, never governed a city, simply acquired the title through virtue of his great-great-great-grandmother being canny, strong, clever enough to hold a fort in this place when the last great collapse had occurred, then ridden out and conquered a dozen neighbors.

Warlords.

"King Straton. What do you need?"

"Need? Everything! The whole world! I’ll rule like the [Emperors] of old, just you wait and see!" He waved a drumstick around like it was a wand. Night leaned back in disgust, not wanting any of the fat to land on him.

"Do you have a more pressing issue?"

"Oh yes, that. First step, we’re going to invade the Tympestshard Council. The elves are a bunch of pansies, they’ll just roll over, and we’ll grab their magic. Press-gang their Classers into making wonders for us. From there, we’re going after those hot foxes next. Have you ever seen one? Like…" King Straton shaped an hourglass figure in front of him, his eyes glazing over as his wildest imagination took over.

"This is a decision most unwise." Night calmly stated, although he was seething inside.

"Bah! You’re almost as bad as the rest of them. Half-fossilized, you’ve lived too long." King Straton dismissively waved at Night.

Enough was enough. There was no competency here. Night had no control. There was no slow, careful planning.

Night had seen tens of thousands of rulers in his years. Had seen methods of governance of a dozen types. Knew what worked, and what didn’t work.

He knew that only death, doom, and disaster would follow in King Straton’s wake, and he’d drag Night’s vampires down with him. His heir wasn’t much better.

Being a warlord wasn’t a good qualification to lead a nation.

However, as qualifications went, it was slightly better than inheritance.

Night thought about it. Gave the actions he was about to commit the consideration they were due, ignoring Straton’s ramblings in the background.

Night prized competency. Had slowly found, turned, trained, and raised competent men and women throughout the ages to fill critical roles in the bureaucracy. Vampires ran the tax department, the agriculture department, trained the men at arms and reviewed fortifications. All answering to Night himself, usually via one of his proxies.

He had done it to ensure that things were run competently, that corruption would not seep in and sap efficiency or cause the thousands of issues that occurred when a firm hand was not taken.

In some senses, he already did run the nation.

"In the end, I see I must do it myself." Night muttered, and with a quick flick of his wrist, a quick blade of blood relieved King Straton of his head.

It was going to be an ugly mess. Night’s first thought was on how to properly identify, select, and train a proper ruler to run things. It was an evolution, a new thought. One he would struggle with.

He needed a ruler to properly and competently run the country, while also being someone who answered to Night, without Night ending up running things in the end.

Tricky, tricky. It would mean giving up a large measure of control, and the last time he had done it, the Immortal Company had been formed, a thousand vampires running around performing mercenary work, besmirching their good name.

Yet, just because it had failed in the past, didn’t mean it would fail this time. Sometimes, the only thing for a problem was to keep trying, until one day it succeeded.

Until then, Night would have to rule. He had done it exactly once before, during the Great Flood - renamed to the First Great Flood after the second one - when the vampires had all needed to hole up in their emergency bunkers for a decade when the land was flooded.

Ugly business, that.

Night gave a sharp whistle, and dozens of vampires throughout the palace responded to his call. He waited a moment, manipulating the body off the throne with magic.

It was tacky, and it would have to go, but for now, it would do.

When enough vampires were present, Night addressed them. He kept it short and sweet. No more words were needed.

"Here begins the reign of Emperor Night, First and only of his Name, sovereign of the Exterreri Empire." He declared, sitting on the throne and fashioning himself a laurel wreath of blood.

Chapter 41
Minor interlude - Julia
Life goes on

"Themis!" Julia roared through their house. "You’re going to be late! Hurry up!"

Elainus slid up behind Julia, and put his hands on her shoulders. Slowly massaging, he knew exactly the right spot to help bleed some of her tension away.

Thirty years of marriage tended to do that to a couple.

"I swear you’ve said that more than anything else in this house." He murmured in his wife’s ear. "Gotten a skill for it yet?"

Julia flicked his leg with her hand.

"Only been offered it a few times." She half-purred under his grasp. "You’d think he’d be on time for his own wedding at least."

Elainus snorted.

"And miss one last chance to rile you up?"

"Last chance? Ha! I’d be so lucky. Only way they’d leave the house is if they moved to another city."

Elainus kissed her neck in agreement.

"I put a fresh mango in the bowl. Should last us until the parties have died down."

Julia turned round, beaming at her husband.

"Thank you." She said, letting the moment linger.

"Now! You’ve gotten crumbs on your toga! Brush them off! Come on, we haven’t got all day!"

The ceremony went off without a hitch. Julia cried as they welcomed Helen to the family, and before they knew it, they were all sitting down around the table for the first meal together.

"Who’s the last spot for?" Helen asked, noting five places had been laid out at the table.

"My sister!" Themis proudly told his blushing bride.

"Oh? You’ve mentioned her a few times, but haven’t told me lots. What’s the big secret? Will I finally get to meet her?" Helen leaned forward, curiosity bright in her eyes.

Everyone looked to Themis, the man of the hour.

"You know she’s Elaine. She’s also Sentinel Dawn. She’s been on a mission for a few years now." Themis explained, only for Julia to rap his knuckles with her infamous wooden spoon.

"Ow!" Themis knew the routine when Julia smacked him with the spoon. He was to complain. Elainus, his adoptive father, had made that quite clear over the years, and he happily played his part in the charade. Julia menaced him with her spoon.

"That does not even begin to explain things!" She scolded him, when Helen laughed.

"That’s a good joke, but really. Tell me about your sister."

The family traded looks. Elainus coughed awkwardly to himself.

"No, seriously. Our little girl really is better known as Sentinel Dawn."

"EEeeeeeeeeee! My heroine!" Helen squealed, then turned on Themis. "You never told me! Why didn’t you tell me? What’s she like? What’s her favorite color? How did she…"

Themis groaned."This is why I hadn’t mentioned her before!" He complained with a smile. "I wanted you to be interested in me, not my famous sister."

Helen laughed. "Well, fair enough. Tonight though, I want to hear all about it."

Themis sensed the opportunity, and gave her a roguish grin."I had other plans for tonight."

Elainus held Julia as she cried in front of the Indomitable Wall. Their baby’s name was being written among the names of the fallen, another casualty.

"She was too young." Julia cried. "It isn’t fair."

Elainus didn’t trust himself to say anything, just letting the tears flow as he held his wife.

"I am most sorry for your tragedy." A pale, thin man told Elainus. Elaine’s father wasn’t quite sure who the man was, but he had a deeper shade of red on his [Identify] than anyone else he’d ever known - his daughter included.

"There is no greater pain than for a parent to bury their child. Take my condolences, for what little they are worth. Elaine was the brightest of us. She exemplified what it meant to be a Ranger, to be a Sentinel, and inspired us all. No Sentinel has ever shone brighter, cared more, nor saved as many lives, and her mark will echo through history. Her name on the wall is a solemn promise. She will not be forgotten."

This simply made Julia cry harder, burying her face in Elainus’s tunic. The man seemed to know when he wasn’t wanted, and moved over to comfort Themis.

It was a dark day, overshadowing the joy of their third grandchild being born.

There was still a fresh mango in the bowl.

Julia and Elainus grew old and grey together, watching their family multiply and prosper. Maximus had given their descendants free admission to his ever-growing school, for as long as he remained [Schoolmaster], and the unrivaled educational opportunities let all of Themis and Helen’s kids go far in life.

"Are you sure about this?" Themis asked Julia. She patted the elderly [Senator] on the arm.

"Of course we are." She croaked. "Now, give your mother a hand, one last time."

Helen hovered nervously as Themis offered his arm, Julia slipping her hand and leaning on him to slowly limp across the house. She made it to her destination, and slowly, trembling with arthritis and age, replaced the mango in the bowl with a fresh one.

"She’ll make it back." Julia whispered. "I just… don’t think I’ll be here to see it."

She turned around, and leaning on Themis, was slowly escorted back to her room, filled with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There was even a single great-great grandchild, but she was just a young baby. She wouldn’t remember the day, not unless she got a skill later in life.

Elainus was in their bed, and he turned his head as he heard his wife approach.

"Is it done?" He choked out.

Julia gave a tired nod, and with Helen’s help, laid down in bed with her husband of decades.

"Themis. I’m proud of you. I love you." Elainus said. "You have always been my son, and there has been no greater joy in my life than being your father."

Themis nodded, failing to hold back his tears.

"I love you, Themis, and your beautiful wife. You two have brought me such happiness." Julia slipped her hands into Elainus’s, as the rest of the farewells were exchanged.

Finally, the couple looked at each other.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

The two looked to the only member in the room that wasn’t family.

They didn’t need to say a word. White Dove knew they were ready, and took them. Their incorporeal souls left their bodies, holding hands, back to the young couple they once were.

"What happened to Elaine?" Julia asked. They were free now, outside of mortal bonds. The great reaper might know.

The bird gave an impossible snort, and tilted her head.

"Oh. OH!" Julia exclaimed.

"Oh." Elainus agreed.

They smiled together as White Dove guided them onwards.

The mango got replaced, a fun little tradition. A reminder of a long-lost sister. A gesture to keep Themis’s parents happy in the afterlife.

When White Dove took Themis and Helen at the end of a long life, the tradition ended. Nobody living in the household remembered the woman who it was for.

One day, a mango was placed in the bowl. It was left there, waiting for a mouth that would never come, a brrrpt that would never be sung. It grew old, wrinkly, and moldy.

It was cleaned up without a second thought, and never replaced.

This story started on Royal Road. Come read thousands of other novels today!