Chapter 432 - A Reunion Written in Stone (Patreon)

AN: early *Monday* chapter thanks to everyone's participation in the AMA, and because I am a generous and merciful author! Next chapter is *Wednesday*.

Happy 40th Birthday idvsego!

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Night looked both different and the same. There was an ageless quality to him, pieces of him that hadn’t changed, that made him instantly recognizable across the eons. The white hair and red eyes were the same. The face. Other parts were different. While the tattoo around his neck, similar to Arachne’s was the most glaring, there were other, more subtle changes around him that were tricky to put my finger on. The biggest change of all though was how he held himself. No longer did it look like he had the subtle weight of the entire world on him. No longer did he look like Atlas, single-handedly holding up the sky.

He stood tall, brimming with energy and vigor. Maybe married life agreed with him? Or was it something else?

[Artisan - 1120] was his displayed level, and I did not believe it for a fraction of a second. Not Night. Not with his age.

Not with his prior profession being an assassin, and skills to disguise levels existed, along with items like my ring and amulet existing.

A little dog with curly black hair scampered round his legs. He had a little snaggletooth and a blue eye. He saw us, promptly sat back on his hind legs, and started to beg for treats.

What a good boy.

“Marley, down. Susan! My cloud on a sunny day, I am delighted to see you. Who might this be?” He peered at me curiously.

I last knew that he’d had a delayed memory skill, locking the majority of his memories in a mental vault so he wouldn’t get lost in them. I had built up a brief fantasy in my mind that, somehow, against all odds, he would’ve kept me active and at the forefront of his mind, but no. It was just that, a fantasy.

It still hurt.

“Night, this young lady claims to be Sentinel Dawn. She said that you were her leader back in the day, and she’s been looking for you. We were hoping you could verify her claims, one way or another.” Sentinel Arachne - Susan, apparently - said. The threads wrapping me shifted and changed, turning from dreadful bindings to a simple tunic. Another set of threads wrapped around my feet, giving me makeshift shoes.

Night’s face fell at the use of his name. I wondered why?

“Ah.” He peered at me. “Tell me more.”

I threw a quick dirty look at Arachne for still holding onto my Sentinel badge, snatched it back - she obviously let me - pinned it to my chest, and saluted in the now-ancient manner of Remus.

“Sentinel Dawn of Remus. Present at the destruction of the Formorians, one of two Sentinels to make first contact with elvenoid races outside of Remus, I brought back news of the shimagu and the low experience zone. I was there when Emperor Augustus overthrew the Senate and declared himself emperor for life. I was sent on a mission to rescue Commander Julius from the fae realm, and it went poorly to say the least. I only recently emerged, and after spending some time orienting myself in this new world, came looking for you.” I kept it short, hitting the high points that would hopefully trigger something and get the correct memories recalled sooner.

He looked at me thoughtfully.

“Come.” Night turned on his heel and strode through his underground house with those slow, measured steps I knew so well. Arachne and I followed. His dog, Marley, kept running around excitedly underfoot, somehow knowing how to avoid tripping anyone. The whole time his tail was wagging wildly, and he kept looking up at the three of us like one of us would give him cookies.

Well, it was an improvement, and I’d take it.

“I distantly recall the era of which you speak, but only in the broadest strokes.” Night said as we navigated through his… well, it was far too large to be a mere house. Mansion? Underground village? “You must forgive me if the specifics are not immediately available. Ah, here we are.” Night opened yet another endless door, and it was like being punched in the gut.

The Indomitable Wall was no more.

No, it was an entire grand hall, filled to the brim. I could barely see the end of it, and every inch was filled with tightly packed names. Night paused at the entrance, and I wasn’t about to go blazing past into such a sacred cemetery.

He gave a slight bow to the hall.

“Beloved friends, I am here to visit once again. Please grace me with your presence.” He softly murmured before entering.

I gave a small bow as well. It only seemed to be the right thing to do.

That, and I hoped I had dozens, if not hundreds of friends of mine on that wall. A strange thing to consider, but the alternative was oblivion, eternally forgotten.

A person died twice.

Once when their body gave out and their soul returned to Samsara.

And a second time when their name was spoken for the last time.

The great hall was a form of Immortality. As long as their names were here on the wall, as long as feet walked and remembered the people, remembered their contributions, remembered who they were, how they laughed, how they smiled, they would never die.

Night stopped and looked at a part of the wall.

I looked as well, and I instantly jumped to a name, painstakingly carved by a sharp finger in the stone, that made my heart skip a beat.

Sentinel Dawn.

There were no words to properly describe what I was seeing. I was looking at my gravestone, preserved across millennia. There was a tiny mark next to my name.

Somewhat. This wasn’t the same wall that had been present in Remus, no. This wall was newer. I could only imagine how often it had been shattered and broken, only to be rebuilt.

Surrounding my name were the names of my friends.

Sentinel Magic. Sentinel Sealing. Sentinel Sky. Sentinel Nature. Sentinel Destruction. Sentinel Hunting. Senti-Null. Sentinel Toxic. Sentinel…

It was like being punched in the gut. I’d known they were dead. I’d made my peace with it. But to see them, here, on the wall?

Still remembered, not forgotten?

It brought tears to my eyes.

Night’s stoic gaze bloomed into a beaming smile, happiness and joy of the like I’d never seen before on my mentor’s face showing without reservation. He turned to me, practically looking like he wanted to hug me.

Night wasn’t a hugger.

“The architect of the Pastos incident! Yes, I remember now.”

I squeaked in outrage, some of my grief fleeing at how utterly absurd his first words were.

“THAT’S what you remember first!?” I protested. Night was still grinning at me, the look entirely unnatural on his face. He plowed on despite my protests.

“Sentinel Dawn, what else did you think I would recall first? Nonetheless, it is a most joyous day! Returned from the dead, returned from the fae, I can not begin to express my delight at seeing you here and whole once again! This is a most wonderful day, Susan, we simply must invite Elaine to dinner. We have so much to discuss.”

He paused a moment, clearly making a connection.

“Ah. AH! the phoenix you were telling me about. Elaine’s bonded companion! Yes, it all makes sense now.”

Arachne looked utterly poleaxed.

“If you’ll forgive me for saying so, I can’t believe it. Elaine was telling the truth?”

Night nodded, and pointed at my Sentinel badge.

“Indeed. It has been an eon since I last saw the badge, but the symbol can not be mistaken.”

I started to tear up, and impulsively hugged Night.

“Missed you too.” I said.

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The next two hours were a bit of a mess. Finding the rest of the Eventide Eclipse. Arachne arranging for a powerful mage - a tiny vampire gnome - to throw a ton of runes onto Fenrir, letting him shift down in size. Night commandeering a private room in a fantastic restaurant, run by a [Chef] over level 1500. The six of us sitting down, ordering enough food for a week, a portion so blood-soaked that it was clearly meant to be vampiric fare.

I’d wanted to exclude a few rare dishes that had apples in them.

Arachne shook her head.

“I understand the impulse, but it’s a poor decision. I am not the only [Thinker] in existence, and I can’t assume there isn’t a better, more subtle one around. There are ripples to you avoiding the apple dishes, ripples that others might correctly use to divine your curse. No, better to accept the dishes and dispose of them in some other manner.”

Auri perked up at that. Clean apple disposal was her speciality.

Then ordering literal cows for Fenrir, as it became clear that he’d been compressed, not shrunk. Which meant he still ate insane amounts. It was like watching a small icy blue void eat a mountain. Interestingly, there were shenanigans going on around his weight, and I made a mental note to study the runes later.

Iona wasn’t quite her normal outgoing self. She told the right jokes, she laughed and winced at the right moments, but I knew her. She was tense. [Social Lubricant] must be dinging in the background for her like mad, and her [Allure of Winter] was sadly capped. Didn’t see it uncapping anytime in the future.

“I have so many questions.” I said once it seemed to be the right, polite moment for it. Arachne - Susan - seemed to put a lot of stock on politeness and manners, and I was trying hard to see what rules she had, and how to follow them.

“Ask! Ask!” Susan enthusiastically encouraged me, swirling a glass of wine dramatically. “I’ve got a couple of my own.”

“I am most glad to see that your curious mind is entirely undiminished by the passage of time, no matter how brief.” Night had rapidly moved back into familiar form, and I wasn’t sure why. Was the Night earlier the real Night, when he was at home? Had he pulled on a ton of memories from Remus, causing his thoughts and behaviors to mold more to the Night I knew? Was it simple joy at finding me once again?

I had so many questions. Remus. The present. Everything in between.

“Why don’t we do this chronologically. What happened after I vanished? My parents? Family? The rest of the Sentinels? What happened with the shimagu?”

Night paused, looking deep into his own glass. I’d just sent him down a long trip back down memory lane, and it made me think about my own [Astral Archives] skill.

When would I want to start getting locks to not get lost in my own memories? Given that they shaped who I was, at what portion of memories being artificially suppressed did my personality change?

At what point was I effectively a different person?

Could I truly say the Night before me was the same Night I knew?

Arachne got a distant look in her eyes, briefly no longer mentally here. Was she like me? Or with all the strings subtly attached to her, I wondered if there was something else going on in the city that required her personal attention. Or maybe…

“I shall begin with your family. They missed you terribly. They grieved. Your mother and father never gave up hope that one day you would return. They died of old age, surrounded by their grandchildren. Your brother went on to become a successful senator, strongly helped by his avoidance of the assassination of Emperor Augustus. A number of senators got together and simply stabbed the man to death, hoping to break the power of the Triumvirate and restore power to the Senate.”

Night gave one of his customary pauses as I tried not to break down in tears.

My parents.

They had remembered. They had always held out hope. They had never given up, and in a sense, they’d been right. I had been alive and well, in the land of the fae. I’d completely failed them though. I’d failed to return home, to hug them, to let them know I was alright.

I couldn’t imagine the grief and the worry I’d put them through. Iona slid her hand under the table, and put it reassuringly on my thigh, giving me a gentle little pat before resting it there to reassure me. Providing comfort and care when I needed it the most.

Auri flew up to my shoulder and patted me with her wing, not saying anything.

Iona saved the conversation before it could get awkward.

“I’m sure there are many more aspects to Remus and Elaine’s friends and family that you’d like to share, but Night! What are you up to these days? I’ve heard much about Arachne, but nothing at all about you. I’m curious, what are you displaying your level as?”

Arachne’s head snapped to Iona so fast I swear she must’ve dislocated her spine. Iona gave her best charming smile.

“I’ve got a blessing to directly see status sheets from Selene and Lunaris. Ironically, since I dropped [Identify], I can’t tell what people are pretending to be, only what they are.”

Night stared at Iona, then closed his eyes and gave a slightly sinister chuckle.

“Oh, Arachne is going to have so many jobs for you, young [Paladin]. As for me? Why, right now I’m just a harmless little 1140 [Puppeteer] called Nyx.” He held out his hands, and Susan was in sync with him. A flurry of strings appeared around his hands, and he was miming nine little people, surrounded by barricades, fighting off swarms of ants as large as they were.

I was broken out of my funk. He was Nyx!? The puppeteer I’d been told about!? Fuck! If I hadn’t dismissed it as being totally un-Night-like, I would’ve found him just like that!

He’d even emphasized the importance of being well-rounded, and mentioned how eternity gave him endless time to master any and every skill! At almost 30,000 years, assuming 5 years to become ‘moderately’ proficient at a skill, ignoring how they could build on each other, that was 6,000 different skills he could’ve mastered.

Iona gave him a doubting look, but was too polite to say anything. Arachne chuckled.

“We take the law about rotating positions seriously, in letter, if not in spirit. We trade off working with the Sentinels, and vacation. I’d apologize if I thought I did anything wrong, but I don’t bother Night with mundane going ons or little spies and assassins hunting for him when he’s on break, and he doesn’t let me know about all the conspiracies brewing when I’m on my decade of vacation. Keeps us sane, and from burning out.”

“It is a most unpleasant experience, and I am most grateful for the current methodology.” Night paused, and expanded after letting us digest.

“To properly answer the unasked question, I am level 2988, looking forward to breaking into the realm of the 3,000’s in short order. I do believe there will be the most spectacular celebration when it occurs.”

I sniffled, wiped my nose, and finished getting myself under control.

“Could you tell me more about Remus, and what happened?” I softly asked.

“Naturally. Mmmm, it is somewhat difficult with perspective to explain what small events snowballed into catastrophes that shook the empire, and what events that, in hindsight, were entirely unimportant. Allow me to attempt to recreate your prior report, and hit the highlights…”

Night pondered a moment, and began to speak.

“Your meeting with the dwarves had both a smaller and larger reaction than anticipated. The removal of the Formorians was a greater catalyst than the meeting, as it allowed Remus to focus its resources on more than surviving on the brink. These events paired with a large, well-trained military was crucial. We expanded, hitting the shimagu from an unexpected direction, and the existence of the low experience zone, combined with the veterans from the Formorian war meant that our soldiers leveled quickly, and had powerful classes waiting for them. A number of other factions were displeased with the shimagu, and thus we joined an ongoing campaign.”

Night paused and nodded to himself, clearly content with the details he’d given, allowing us time to process.

I gave him a small motion to carry on after a few moments.

“The low experience zone, it turned out, was caused by the very plant inside the Nostrum Sea that was preventing large monsters from growing in the depths. A bit of a pickle that was. Did we slay the plant and free ourselves from the tyranny of poor experience, allowing monsters to flourish and grow, giving invitation to all other parties that Remus was now one of the better places in the world to settle, or did we stay content in our hole, protected? Naturally, one day the choice to exterminate the plant was taken, and the low experience zone was no more.”

“Brrrpt?” Auri asked, and I translated. Night shook his head.

“Sadly, in spite of my reputation, I did not know every single individual. I am unaware of Plato, or what happened to him.”

Auri’s beak drooped and her flames dimmed.

“Did anyone you’re familiar with from Elaine’s time make it to the present day?” Iona asked, properly forming a comprehensive question.

Night drummed his fingers on the table, while Arachne started to manipulate Fenrir’ food, grabbing it with strings and making it into little ‘prey’. He had great fun stalking and pouncing on it, the two of them getting along like a thunderstorm.

“Jaclyn is the only one I can think of who was not only in the time of Remus, but is still known to me to be alive now. There are a few other Immortals that were alive at the time, but I do not know if Elaine was aware of them or not, and their names would mean little to you.” He said.

That was one of the most depressing things I’d ever heard. Jaclyn had survived? Of all the people, she was one I wouldn’t have been sad to see go. And she lived.

Of course. The world was so unfair.

“Do you know the origin of the healer prejudice in mortal lands?” I mostly asked to complain about all the ways the world was unfair.

Arachne laughed.

“I’ll take this one!” She said. “In short, after every big Pallos-shaking war, it takes a few decades or centuries to pick up the pieces. Eventually, we start to form civilization again, and every time, a dozen treaties and agreements are hammered out. Every time someone is picked on. I don’t think it’s deliberate, I think it’s pure elvenoid nature. There was a time where wizards and mages of all stripes were banned, there was an era that forbid the Dark element in all its forms. Golems ate a treaty ban at one time - this was right after a big war that had quite a few self-replication golems trampling everything underfoot, there was a weak attempt to ban social classes and skills at one time. [Leadership] classes has been limited to just the nobility in the past, and there was one hilarious attempt to ban [Priests].”

Arachne started laughing at that one, and Night joined her.

“Oh gods, that was a riot. The representatives supporting the motion proposed it, and promptly got smited by at least two dozen different gods and goddesses, who left their smoking ashes on the table for the rest of the assembly. We didn’t dare touch it, priests were enshrined as very important people, and we put a protective barrier over their warning.”

“Fire mages were forbidden at one point in history.” Night added. “The military applications did not outweigh the potential for arson, and there was no good reason for them that was not ineffective or horrific.”

“Merchants.” Arachne added in. “Honestly, it’s a toss up in any given era if their value is seen before the agreement is formed.”

“Yes. A few of the older Immortals will always insist that we ban Void mages. Never again.” Night said.

It sounded like there was some significant history there.

“As you can see, healers granting Immortality is an… inspired one, and less damaging than the usual nonsense that comes out of these agreements. I, personally, think that Acid will be added next to the list of forbidden elements, and Poison might see a resurgence in acceptance. It is simply too useful for the eradication of vermin.”

I… think she was talking literally there, and not metaphorically. I hoped.

“Thank you for still calling them Sentinels and Rangers.” I quietly said. “The tribute to their memory… it means a lot.”

Arachne laughed.

“We tried a few other names now and then - Empyrean was a personal favorite of mine - but tradition and weight has meaning, both to people, and the System. I would be surprised if we operate in the same way as your day.” She looked to Night as if for confirmation.

I had a moment of realization. She was looking at Night for us. There was no way they didn’t have a way to privately or quietly communicate. The realization was like being hit with a sack of bricks. I expected to get hit with a ding!, get level up notifications, unlock social skill, something.

[*ding!*]

Yes!

[You’ve unlocked the General Skill [Captain Obvious]. Would you like to replace a skill with it?]

Captain Obvious: Notice the obvious. State the obvious.

Honestly, I should’ve expected this.

Night shook his head.

“No, the system and the process has been refined over the centuries, and indeed, there is even an interesting cultural component. Exterreri has been destroyed and reformed, oh, a round two dozen times, and it never quite comes back the same way. At times the culture has formed in a way that Sentinels are present in every team, leading a group of six. On occasion, we find them to be distributed far and wide, each one responsible for rapid response to a small geographical area. Each system and method has its various merits, its strengths and weaknesses. Currently, each Sentinel has their own personal hand-picked support team, allowing them to properly apply force in the manner in which they are supreme.”

Auri’s flames flared brightly.

“BRRRRRRRRRRPT!???” She demanded.

“Auri! That’s… actually a really good question.” I straightened up and saluted Night, hand-over-heart, picture-perfect in the way I was trained in Remus.

“Sentinel Night! Sentinel Dawn reporting back after 23,461 years on deployment. Where do I collect my pay?”

A fine spray of wine met my question, and Iona started cough-laughing.

[*ding!* [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] leveled up! 508 -> 509]