After the End: Serenity

The sleeping arrangements were a series of large rooms with beds, split by gender. Serenity was surprised by this - he remembered sleeping in a small, poorly constructed individual hut. He’d clearly been pulled into a different Tutorial this time - it had started several hours before the one he remembered - but he hadn’t realized that they were different from each other otherwise. They were told that if they wanted to sleep elsewhere that was fine, but this was all that was provided.

In the morning, they were told that lunch would be the last meal that was simply provided. Dinner (and all other meals) would be handled by anyone who signed up for a cooking class, and if there weren’t enough people signed up, you’d be able to cook your own.

After that was class and Trial signup. Rissa went to look at classes, but Serenity decided to check out the Trials first.

The rules were simple. You had to do at least one Trial every four days. If you didn’t sign up for one, you would be placed into one, without being able to choose which. You could do as many Trials as you had time for, and they could start whenever you set them during the hours Trial instructors were available. You could sign up one to five people. If you signed up less than five, they would match you with others unless you requested not to be matched.

Serenity was pretty sure he was a lot better than most, but Rissa wasn’t, and he didn’t want to try to clear a five-person Trial with only the two of them. He looked up and found a familiar face also checking out the Trials - Lancaster.

Serenity made his way over to where the other man was looking at the Trial rules. “Lancaster? That was your name, wasn’t it?”

Lancaster slowly turned to look at Serenity. He’d clearly been aware Serenity was there, but hadn’t expected to be spoken to. “Who - oh, you’re that guy who took out Macho. I don’t remember your name?”

“Call me Serenity, it’s the name I picked for the tutorial. The Trials are groups of up to five, I’ve only got Rissa and myself, was hoping you’d be interested in joining us?”

Lancaster turned back to the Trial rules. “It’s every four days. I was thinking we could get some capable people, split them up, run some who need it through - keep them safe …”

Serenity shook his head. “We can do some of that, sure. But it can’t be all we do. We have to push ourselves or we won’t have the levels to handle what’s after the Trial. Maybe not even what’s in the next Phase. And … everyone has to learn at least something. Or they’ll die. If not here then later.”

“But - it’s just this tutorial thing - “ Lancaster stopped himself. “You’re telling me that it won’t be safe at home after the tutorial. That it’s going to get worse. Can we at least set up safe areas?”

Serenity closed his eyes, remembering, then opened them again. “Maybe in a few years. Until then … it’s going to be hard to even keep children safe. We can’t afford adults who can’t fight. Most won’t have to fight often, but - they need to be able to.”

Serenity could remember several times where he hadn’t been able to keep the kids safe, and had returned to find things he didn’t want to remember. The pain of the memory washed through him and he realized there were tears running down his face.

It wasn’t until he saw Lancaster’s tears that he realized he had lost control of his aura, and it was projecting his pain to everyone close to him. He concentrated on regaining control, pulling it back around his body.

“That … that was you. What the hell are you?” The area near Serenity had completely emptied of people while he fought for control … except for Lancaster, who hadn’t moved.

“What?”

“You were shot yesterday, but now you’re fine. You just cleared a ten-foot circle around you by … I’m not even sure what you did. And you know too much. What the hell?”

“Uh - “ Serenity’s mind went blank. He had no idea how to answer that. “Uh, I’ll explain but .. not here?” He gave a weak smile.

Lancaster huffed, then looked around. “Looks like there’s a bench over there away from everyone. That work?”

“Yeah.”

Once they were both sitting with no one else nearby, Serenity tried to figure out how to start. “So - that was - I - no. That’s not a good place to start, is it. I guess ... A couple nights ago, I had a dream. The dream was… this. Only it went far past the tutorial. So far it’s been very accurate. And … I seem to have picked up some things from it. Like the fast healing. And … that was … I lost control of my aura. I don’t know why that affected people, it shouldn’t have much effect since I’m still Tier 0…”

Lancaster looked dubious. “So you’re telling me I should trust you because you know the future?”

“Uh … sort of but not exactly? It’s … a lot of it will be different. I - Rissa died. While I wasn’t there. I never knew who killed her. Macho - he was an enemy, later. I don’t know - I don’t know if he was the one that killed her the first time or not.”

Lancaster still didn’t look convinced. “Next you’re going to tell me that we were best buds and that’s why I should trust you.”

“Wha - uh - um, no. We, er, weren’t even allies. I think I’d have classed you as an honorable neutral. Sort of uh, enemy-ish but we never fought? Our goals, uh, didn’t align.” Serenity didn’t think he’d said that terribly well. “I, uh, did manage to take out the guy that killed you? If that helps?”

Lancaster looked at him for a moment then laughed. “I think I like you. I’m still not sure you’re human, but hey, at this point maybe that doesn’t matter. It sounds like we can work together.”

Serenity pulled up his Status and shared it with Lancaster. The things on it he didn’t want other people to see were hidden anyway.

Name: Serenity

Species: Human

Path: N/A

Level: 0

Tier: 0

Path History: None

Condition: Healthy

Mana: 110

Stamina: 110

Might: 1

Agility: 1

Phys: 1

Understanding: 1

Will: 1

Mind: 1

Perception: 1

Luck: 1 - 100%

Resistances: Unknown

Affinities: Unknown

Concepts: Unknown

Aspects: Unknown

Titles

Named

Lancaster looked it over, smiled, and shook his head. “Guess I was wrong. Still … what’s that 100% on Luck? And … what’s that stuff after your Luck?”

Serenity had forgotten about that. “I’m not sure. I - I never took a Path that affected my Luck. It’s probably good but … I seem to remember that you don’t want it too much higher than the rest of your stats, not sure why. Uh … what’s yours?”

“One, like everything else. Why don’t you ask the Voice what it means? That’s how I figured out the rest of mine.”

Serenity felt stupid. Again. Why did he keep missing these obvious things?

[Luck is the measure of how you affect chance and probability around yourself. A percentage value indicates how you affect others’ Luck value, increasing or decreasing it. 100% means that you are not affecting their Luck.]

Then why is it shown?

[Because of who and what you are, you have the innate capacity to affect others’ Luck, and may begin to do so as yours increases. This is not unique to you; it is common to a number of Paths.]

“Apparently it doesn’t mean anything until it’s above 100% … wait, you don’t have anything after your Luck?”

Lancaster flicked his status at Serenity.

Name: Lancaster

Species: Human

Path: N/A

Level: 0

Tier: 0

Path History: None

Condition: Healthy

Mana: 110

Stamina: 110

Might: 1

Agility: 1

Phys: 1

Understanding: 1

Will: 1

Mind: 1

Perception: 1

Luck: 1

“Huh. Well. Resistances are pretty much what it says, they’re defenses. Affinities are … you use them for magic and other effects … like, a Mind affinity punch could have a stunning effect, that sort of thing. Concepts are sort of like Affinities, only instead of being innate to you they’re stuff you understand and know. They can be the same as Affinities or different. Aspects are hard to explain. They’re past Concepts, almost a Concept taken to the point where you are the Concept and it is you. Maybe it would be better to say that Affinities are your links to the forces of the world, Concepts are your understanding of the world, and Aspects are the world following your lead? There isn’t really a good way to say it in English.

"Titles should be pretty obvious, it’s anything you’re given that the Voice recognizes and assigns a value to. It’s usually something you’d have without the title.”

“What is yours? Named sounds … kinda useless?”

Serenity shared the description.

Named

Your Name is known and respected or feared. No other can bear this Name.

“I don’t think it’s going to matter until and unless we meet the Sterath. They’re … they’re the people that gave me the name. Serenity is a translation.”

“So they liked you?” Lancaster looked kind of dubious.

“Uh … Serenity is the exact translation. The idiomatic translation would be The Peace of the Grave. It’s the name of a legendary monster … I’m pretty sure liking wasn’t what they felt …”

Lancaster started laughing again.