After the End: Serenity

On the seventh day, the goblins found the soldiers. It wasn’t much of a battle, but it was enough. On the eighth day, the soldiers destroyed the goblin settlement and the Tutorial updated.

[Rewards for completing the Tutorial depend on achievements and contribution]

[Tutorial Goal: Survival]

[Optional Goal: Find the Instructors]

[Optional Goal: Defeat a Tutorial Lord] [COMPLETE]

[Optional Goal: Capture a Settlement] [COMPLETE]

[Optional Goal: Upgrade Settlement Defences]

[Time allotted: 01:00.00]

[Optional Goal: Defend Settlement against attacking forces]

[Optional Goal: 75% of students survive]

[Remaining Participants: 94 students, 5 instructors]

[Instructor Information: Instructors may not participate unless found by students]

[Instructors are limited to Tier 1 attributes and skills for this Tutorial]

[Instructors may watch student progress in the scrying station but may not leave the protected area unless found by students]

[Time Remaining: 11:03.26]

The soldiers dug in at the former goblin settlement. It wasn’t the best fort, but it was better than what they’d be able to build in a day with whatever they happened to have on them.

On the tenth day, a scouting party from another goblin settlement found the soldiers and a scouting party from the soldiers found the instructors.

Which was when a detail that Serenity had noticed but not paid attention to suddenly became important: the soldiers were Russian.

Serenity spoke Russian. It wasn’t terribly good Russian, just what Thomas learned as a child and in college and what Vengeance had needed to know to work with Vladimir for a few decades, but it was good enough that the Voice didn’t translate anything the scouts said. The Voice didn’t need to.

The problem was that Thomas had never worked on eliminating his accent, and he wasn’t sure the Voice would translate for him. It tended not to help people who didn’t need the help, after all. There was a good chance that anything he said that wasn’t in Russian would be heard as English anyway; that had already happened in a couple Tutorials that had languages other than English as the primary language, when the person listening knew enough English.

The scout who found them escorted them to the settlement, where they were told to disarm and then thoroughly searched. Serenity couldn’t blame them for that; if he’d found five strangers in a nice camp near hostile enemies, he probably would have done the same.

Vladimir watched the small group of strangers be led into the hut. It was made of bent trees and covered in branches with the leaves still on them, and it was one of the worst-built structures Vladimir had ever seen. Vladimir wasn’t sure what use it had originally had for the small, green-skinned creatures that had originally held it, but it would make an acceptable interrogation room.

Vladimir’s commander believed the entire “tutorial” was a trap, but Vladimir wasn’t as sure. If it was a trap, why would anyone bother? Anyone that could teleport an entire unit to a forest and fill it with enemies wouldn’t need to fool them. Perhaps these “instructors” could tell them what it actually wanted.

Vladimir pulled out the notes he’d made in the hour since he’d heard they had prisoners. He’d have preferred more time to prepare, but there wasn’t that much time if they wanted to be able to use what they learned before this “tutorial” ended.

He walked into the hut, then took one of the stools they’d managed to bring with them. The prisoners could stand or sit on the ground. “You are the leader, yes? I will start with you. Identify yourselves.”

The woman he’d pointed at remained standing. “We’re the instructors for this Tutorial. We’ll answer anything we can about what’s going on and what it means. My name is Ekari. The others are-”

Vladimir held up his hand. “Let the others name themselves when I ask.” Vladimir had already noticed that each of the “instructors” had a badge on their shirt that gave a name. Four were in Russian; the woman’s did say Ekari.

The fifth was in English. He’d ask about that when he got to this “Serenity”. He’d be last; he was different, so Vladimir wanted to have a baseline to evaluate him against.

Her reply was in perfect Russian - the same Russian Vladimir had practiced for years. That was interesting; the scout who had found them had said she “sounded like she came from my village”.

“How do we go home?” That was not the question at the top of his commander’s list, but it was at the top of Vladimir’s. He missed his wife and daughter.

“Finish the Tutorial.” Short and sweet, but not the answer Vladimir wanted. He didn’t want to wait another ten days.

On to the next question. This time, the one his commander wanted answered. “What’s making these words appear?”

When Serenity saw the man who was going to be questioning them, he knew it wasn’t random chance that had placed him in this Tutorial. He was the man Vengeance had once known as Vladimir. They hadn’t met until the final days of the losing fight to save Earth, but they’d worked together for decades afterwards, and Vladimir had been about as close to being a friend as Vengeance would allow.

It hurt to see Vladimir watching him without recognition, untrusting. Serenity knew there was no reason for Vladimir to trust him, but that didn’t make it hurt less. It was like losing his friend all over again.

Serenity wasn’t sure if he should be happy or angry with the Voice’s interference. It was a chance to meet an old friend, but at the same time it would never be the same. Serenity wasn’t Vengeance and hopefully neither of them would be among the last few survivors of Earth.

Still, he knew Vladimir felt trapped by his situation; they’d certainly talked about the past enough for Serenity to know that. Perhaps he could offer Vladimir a way out. It was the least he could do for his old friend.

Seeing Vladimir solidified Serenity’s tentative decision to hide as little as he could. He’d hide the Final Reaper and as much of being a chimera as he could manage, of course, but he wouldn’t try to hide Thomas. He didn’t want to hide from his old friend, but even more importantly he wasn’t sure he could.

One of Vladimir’s abilities when Vengeance knew him was the ability to sense the difference between truth and lies. Serenity wasn’t sure when he’d gotten it, but it could have been from the very circumstance Serenity was in now. Lies wouldn’t get him anywhere, but if he put out a puzzle he might be able to not show other things. If nothing else, there was always refusing to answer, but that was difficult, especially against someone like Vladimir.

The questioning continued for hours.

Vladimir pulled out a list and a pen and started reading questions off it. The first question was her name (which was asked at least six times as he went through the list). Most of the questions were relatively straightforward (Serenity thought his favorite was when Vladimir asked Ekari what her favorite beverage was and she calmly answered “zeht.” He actually paused after that one.)

Eventually, Vladimir made it through his list with Ekari and moved on to the others. Ekari then Margrethe then Kerr. Serenity wasn’t sure why he’d started with the women, but it was obvious that he had. He picked Sillon before Serenity; again, Serenity wasn’t sure why. The long wait did give him time to think.

He was going to answer in Russian. He’d even picked which translation he’d use for his name when the time came. He’d also answer as honestly as he could. There was no point in hiding that he was an American; his accent would give him away anyway.

“What is your name?”

“Serenity.” His name translated quite well into Russian.

The questioner paused for a moment before continuing. “Where were you born?”

“Arlington, Virginia.” Serenity was pretty sure he didn’t need to specify the country or planet, under the circumstances.

The pause this time was longer. Serenity could only commend Vladimir for his ability to keep a straight face, because his expression didn’t change at all.

The next question wasn’t from the list. “What name would the American government know you by?”

Serenity had hoped that question wouldn’t be asked, but he had his answer ready. If everything went well, his identity would be known soon anyway. If things didn’t work out, it wouldn’t matter. He didn’t have much family left, after all. Only his parents - and possibly Rissa. His parents would be protected against everything except scandal, and the worst thing likely to come from a scandal would be the loss of their jobs - which might save their lives. “Thomas Rothmer.”

The questioner wrote it down but didn’t comment. “Why are you with these people?”

“I was in an earlier Tutorial. They needed someone who can teach Death magic.” Serenity thought for a moment, then decided it was probably best to offer. “I can demonstrate, if you want me to.”

The questions went back to the list, as though the offer hadn’t been noticed.

Vladimir sighed. It had been four days and they hadn’t been able to find anywhere the “instructors” had lied. There had been numerous times where they said “I don’t know” or said “I can’t tell you that”, but everything was consistent, without being so consistent it was obvious they’d been drilled. There were minor discrepancies, but they were all well within normal for people answering honestly.

[The ability to discern truth and accept even strange truths has been Noticed. Additional Paths are opened]

The only discrepancy was Serenity. It wasn’t just that he was American rather than an alien - a human alien! - like the other instructors, or even that the name on his shirt had changed into Russian when he introduced himself. It wasn’t even the fact that Vladimir had finally remembered why the name Rothmer sounded familiar. He hadn’t remembered the son’s name, but it might have been Thomas.

No, it was something else, something Vladimir couldn’t fully define. Serenity seemed almost sad when he talked to Vladimir in a way that he wasn’t when Vladimir watched without being seen.

Against Vladimir’s advice, the guards had tried calling him Thomas, but Serenity hadn’t reacted at all to the name. Eventually, they’d given up and called him Serenity. Vladimir admired the man; most people weren’t willing to skip meals over a name. Especially not people who ate the way Serenity did. Vladimir didn’t understand how he kept his weight down; if Vladimir ate like that, he’d be twice his weight.

Vladimir had already talked with each of the others individually. He’d even given his recommendation that they be allowed to teach the soldiers, as long as it was always in groups, and the commander had permitted it. The only one he hadn’t given that permission for was Serenity.

It was time to talk to Serenity.

It wouldn’t take long. There were a lot of things Vladimir wanted to make sure weren’t anywhere his superiors would find out. He’d left Serenity’s name in his records - too many other people had heard it for him to afford to be able to change it - but he wouldn’t draw attention to it. This conversation couldn’t take long. It wouldn’t take long to ask what was needed for a demonstration, after all.

His superiors would understand if he didn’t spend long talking to an American and then limited him to large groups only afterwards. There was too much risk involved in being seen having extended contact.

“Please have a seat.” Vladimir was back in the interrogation hut, waiting as Serenity was led in. The only furniture in the room was the two stools.

Serenity sat. He didn’t know how to begin. How do you talk to someone who used to be a good friend, but who doesn’t remember, when you can’t even tell them that?

“You are American.” When Serenity agreed, Vladimir continued. “You speak good Russian, though with a rather abominable accent. Where did you learn?”

“I lived in Moscow for a couple years as a child.” Thomas had been there with his mother, when she was stationed at the American Embassy. He’d been glad to be allowed to go with her; his parents had talked about a boarding school, and he’d felt lucky to avoid that even though it meant giving up all his friends again. Moving was normal, after all.

“Is your mother’s first name Bethany?”

Serenity blinked. He hadn’t expected that question at all, and he wasn’t sure how to answer it.

After a moment, Vladimir continued. “I have a wife and daughter myself, you know. I know you can’t commit your family to anything.”

There was no obvious connection between that question and Vladimir’s statement. No connection at all … other than the fact that Thomas’s mother hadn’t been back to Eastern Europe in more than twenty years, ever since she and Thomas had returned from Moscow. She’d been a translator at the time … hadn’t she?

Between that question and what Vladimir had told him decades into a future that never was, Serenity suddenly wondered if “translator” had really been her job. Was Vladimir really hinting that he might ask for a way out?

Serenity felt like Vladimir was probably overestimating him. There was no reason he should be able to guess that from what had been said, if that was even what Vladimir meant.

“No, I can’t commit my family or my country. I don’t speak for them. All I can do is offer you my contact information, so that you can reach me later if you need to. I hope you never need to.” Serenity concentrated for a moment. The Voice would create a card if you didn’t have any other way to trade contacts. He held it out to Vladimir.

Vladimir took the card and tucked it in a pocket. “There’s always a price. Speaking of prices, what do you need for that demonstration you mentioned?”

Serenity hoped he’d read the situation correctly. This wasn’t exactly his preferred way of doing business - he’d rather punch the monster in the nose than worry about recruiting people. Still, Vladimir had been a friend - would be a friend? Neither really worked.

Time travel was giving Serenity a headache, and he’d only done it once!

The rest of the Tutorial was quiet. Serenity gave the demonstration and then spent the rest of the time lecturing groups of ten or more people. Vladimir sat in on several of the lectures, but never said anything, and certainly was never close to alone with Serenity.

When Serenity checked his pockets after the Tutorial, he found a small piece of paper with three names (Kira, Sofia, and Vladimir Angeloff), an email address, a phone number (it was international, but Serenity couldn’t tell offhand if it was Russian or not), the phrase “Venus Endgame”, and the word “Chess”. All of the names and phrases were in English.