Rune Seeker

“You… what?” Seeyela asked.

“Dr. Benza?” Seena said a second later. “Are you Dr. Benza?”

Tomorrow barked out a quick laugh, then shook her head. “No, I’m not Dr. Benza. For somebody so short-lived, he really was a genius though. And, just a good man. A friend I miss almost every day.

“He – and his work – inspired me to continue his legacy to a degree, even after his death.”

“Ascender’s Tower,” Hiral said. “You built it and the dungeons inside. Gran said she didn’t understand who would’ve recorded the events of Tomorrow’s Vigil, but… of course you would know what happened there.”

Tomorrow nodded on the stage. “Correct.”

“And this place,” Seena continued. “The Cradle of Tomorrow – that’s why it seems to work with our PIMs so seamlessly.”

“Also correct,” Tomorrow said. “Back before the Raze came to Genesis – when the other Progenitors were all still here – I built this place as part of my experiments to create the perfect race. This was also before Amin Thett made his suggestion to work together.

“Here, I created dozens of races and pitted them against each other. Survival of the fittest. The Chimeras were the closest I came to success, but even they lacked something. When Amin Thett brought us together, I shuttered this place up. Figured I’d never be back. Put my experiments into stasis, and almost forgot the valley even existed.

“But, after I worked with Dr. Benza and saw his dream, I found a new use for all this. A place for his work to temper themselves – if they had the strength to survive. A place to grow strong enough to protect themselves from the Raze if needed.”

“Why now?” Hiral asked. “I mean, why did the Cradle just open a few hours ago? The way you spoke before, the real you isn’t on Genesis anymore.”

“I’m not,” Tomorrow said. “The real me – as you call it – is back in my own timeline at the moment. That’s not to say I couldn’t return anytime, but, no, I’m not here now. As for why the Cradle opened when it did; it’s because I programmed it that way. It constantly measures the rising energy in the world, and has been on the lookout for people reaching necessary power thresholds. I’d set it for multiple people reaching at least A-Rank, or B-Rank with advanced classes.

“Good job on those, by the way. They were always just a theory, but one I really hoped would manifest.”

“Enough about all that,” Gran snapped. “Whoare you?” The woman’s voice was almost frantic.

Tomorrow walked over to the edge of the stage and crouched in front of where the vampire sat. “I guess I shouldn’t play with your emotions anymore. With everything we’ve been through together, I owe you that much.”

“What we’ve been through?” Gran asked.

“I’m not Dr. Benza,” Tomorrow said again. “But, when I heard about the man – about what he was trying to accomplish – I was curious. More than that, I guess, I wanted to help. Amin Thett had invested so much in your race, and I knew the Raze would be back soon. I didn’t want to see that happen.

“So, I applied for a job.”

“A… job?” Yanily asked. “You applied? Why wouldn’t you just go over and be your all-powerful self and just tell him what he needed to do.”

Tomorrow held up a finger. “Because of the first rule of this world.”

“Balance,” Hiral said.

“Exactly,” Tomorrow said. “Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference, or maybe it did. But, if I went and solved all his problems for him, it could have impacted the results. I had never succeeded in creating the perfect race by myself. And, the system I heard Dr. Benza was working on – the PIMP – was vastly beyond anything I’d conceived. No, he needed to make it work himself.

“The most I could do was advise him. Guide him gently from the sidelines. Assist him.”

“… assist?” Hiral asked quietly, eyebrows starting to rise.

“Yes, but…” Tomorrow said. “While Dr. Benza had many positive traits, he did have a negative one as well – he was a bit chauvinistic. And he already had a female assistant. He’d never take a second.”

“You…” Gran started. “It can’t be… you.”

“It is. And I’m sorry you’ve been alone so long,” Tomorrow said, her voice changing. Deepening as she spoke. Becoming familiar. One more look at Gran, and Tomorrow reached up to pull back the hood that’d been hiding her – his – face the whole time.

“Fenil?” Gran asked, voice cracking. “Is it really you?”

A smile spread on the face of Dr. Benza’s assistant, the man looking exactly the same as he had in all the dungeons where the party had met him.

“Really is,” the man said, then pointed at a small scar on his chin. “See, from where I fell off that ladder.”

“I… thought you were dead,” Gran said. “When Dr. Benza…”

Fenil shook his head. “I wasn’t there when that happened. You weren’t the only one he sent away ‘to protect’. Now, before you say anything else, look at your party. Don’t you think it’s time you took that hood down and told them the truth of who you are?

“You may not remember them, but they remember you.”

… no way. All this time, it was her?

“I… can’t…” Gran said.

“You can,” Fenil encouraged. “They’ll welcome…”

“Not that, fool!” Gran snapped, but her voice cracked again like she was crying. “I physically can’t. I can’t move.”

“Oh, right,” Fenil said, blushing. “Your bodies aren’t actually here. Here, let me… just do that… for you…” A flick of his hand, and Gran’s hood fell back, revealing the face of an older woman. Wrinkles covered her skin, and gray hair mixed with crimson red in an unruly bun. Tears of blood ran down her cheeks in lines beside the undead-blue, but there was no mistaking the resemblance.

“Hello Laseen,” Fenil said. “It’s good to see your face again.”

Laseen… Dr. Benza’s other assistant. That’s who’d been traveling with them. No wonder she knew so much about the PIMP and dungeons. But, why was she afraid to tell us who she is?

“I’m sorry I hid who I was,” Gran – Laseen – said as if reading the minds of those around her. “I didn’t even know until after I reached B-Rank. Then it came back bit by bit, like a flitty, little dream I was remembering after I woke up. The life I had before. The friends I had,” she looked at Fenil on the stage.

“And how I’d damn well lost all that. How those friends had sent me to away to ‘protect me’. How I’d died in a city filled with people that didn’t look like me, no matter how kind they were. Then, how I got brought back as… well… this.” Laseen gestured down at herself, though she likely wasn’t referring to the age or missing legs.

“Wasn’t like I’d asked, and being reborn as a vampire wasn’t all fun and games at the beginning. The Hunger isn’t something most of you can understand. But, after we reached B-Rank, those old memories of a better time came bubbling back.

“Then the twins mentioned the dungeon – and me – and it felt… awkward. Like, who I am now couldn’t live up to who I was then. A lot happened after you… thought you met me. And, I didn’t want to dwell on what I’d lost. Who I’d lost. It was easier to pretend ‘Laseen’ was another person.”

“You don’t have to feel like that with us,” Seena said. “We…”

“It’s like he said,” Laseen interrupted. “You might remember me – even think of me as some kind of friend – but who you met wasn’t me. The old me doesn’t know you.”

“I’m not talking about the old you,” Seena said, a bit of an edge coming into her voice to make sure Laseen listened. “I’m talking about you, now. A member of our party. Maybe it sounds silly. Or trite. But, I don’t care. To me, it meanssomething to have you in our party. To travel with us. We trust who you are now. Not because you are – or were – Laseen, but because you’re Gran too. P-A-R-T-Y is just another way to spell family to me.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“And you’re part of that. I’m not saying you have to feel the same way. Or that you even have to talk to us about any of this. Just that you can – if you want to – and we’ll listen.”

“See, you don’t have to pretend anymore,” Fenil pointed out.

Laseen didn’t immediately respond, instead looking at Seena like she could read the much younger woman’s thoughts.

“I won’t pretend,” the vampire finally said. “But I’m not that girl anymore. As happy as it makes me to see you alive, Fenil, we can’t go back to who we were. I’d prefer you all keep calling me ‘Gran’. At least for now.”

There were a few seconds of silence at the sudden revelations. Most of Ilrolik and Nivian’s parties were just confused as to who these two were – they’d never met them before. As for the twins and the majority of Seena’s party, they probably all felt the same way Hiral did – shocked.

“You don’t have to apologize,” Seena finally said. “We all have stuff that’s hard. Like I said, when you’re ready to talk about it, we’ll be here.”

“Thanks, girlie,” Gran said. Then she looked back up at Fenil and smiled. “It’s good to see your face too. Something tells me we won’t have a lot of time to catch up.”

Fenil returned Gran’s smile, though it was sadder. “You’re correct. Our time here is almost done. The power I’d left behind for this particular trial has almost used itself up. A few more minutes at most, then it will fade. And me along with it.

“But, before I go, there’s one more thing I need to tell you. You’ve now completed part-one of the Playhouse trial.”

“Part… one?” Hiral asked nervously, remembering the shape his body was in.

“Yes,” Fenil said. “I never expected to have somebody I knew come here, or make me feel sentimental. So, in my outstanding hubris and pride, I made sure part-two of the trial would awaken if part-one was cleared. Now that you’ve done that, one of my previous creations is coming out of stasis.

“It was the General of the Chimeras that stood victorious at the end of the last Cradle scenario I ran. The ultimate combination I was able to bring to stability – a ChimericKindred. And, once fully awake, it will seek out the strongest individual in the Cradle of Tomorrow to challenge.

“And it won’t come alone.”

“Will we have time to recover?” Seena asked. “That Archwizard did a number on us.”

Fenil shrugged. “Maybe. And, before you get any ideas, the Playhouse is already gone. When you return to your bodies, you’ll be back in one of the forests outside the city, though not that orchard. Don’t get any ideas about stealing my apples! Regardless, I’m at least a little generous, and won’t make you deal with the Mecha-Armors.”

“Are we going to wake up to something chewing on our unconscious bodies?” Yanily asked.

“Uh… probably not,” Fenil said with another shrug. “You’ll find out in another minute or so.”

“I know everybody is hurting,” Hiral said. “But… be ready for a fight when we wake up. If we’re clear, focus on securing a camp. If we’ve got a Chimera hunting for us, we need a chance to heal up.”

“Will my legs be there?” Gran asked Fenil. “Or you keeping those as a souvenir? You know I caught you looking when you thought I wasn’t paying attention.”

“You did have excellent proportions,” Fenil said with a laugh.

“Bet you say that to all the girls.”

“Just you,” Fenil said. “Yes, your legs will be there. And, while there is little I can do for you besides the achievement and reward you’ll get when you leave here, there is one more thing.”

With those words, the stage vanished, and Fenil appeared standing beside where Gran sat, his finger on her forehead. “For later, when you’re ready,” he whispered to her.

Then he was back in front of the group.

“And that concludes our time together. Good luck with what comes next. I wish there was more I could do for you, but I trust you’ll find a way.”

He smiled again at Gran, and everything vanished.

Hiral’s eyes snapped open, then blinked closed again as bright light streamed through the foliage above him.

“Oh, that’s bright,” Yanily said from somewhere nearby, while Hiral gritted his teeth against the raw pain in his body.

Outside of the place Tomorrow had been talking to them, all the injuries and soreness came rushing back with a vengeance. His solar-energy channels felt like sandpaper was moving through them, while blood seeped out of the wounds he’d taken. In the Party Interface – even with his eyes closed – he noted none of the others were in much better shape. And, actually, looking at the other parties since he could see them again, they clearly hadn’t had an easy time either.

Really, he wanted nothing more than to just lie there and let Runic Regeneration do its work – even with what he was pretty sure was a root jabbing into his lower back. But, Tomorrow’s words practically echoed in his ears – there was an ex-general out there looking for them. And they didn’t have any idea how long it would take it to wake up or find them.

Best not to be lying around with my eyes closed when it arrives.

Forcing his eyes open against the glare, Hiral also pushed his sensory domain out around him to find the rest of the raid group similarly either lying on the ground or getting to their feet. As soon as he had that, though, he had to shut the domain off completely, the pain of nearly bowling him over. Like the reverberation he’d gotten linking his PIM up with Yanily’s, there were constant, painful vibrations constantly running through him.

Ugh, that’s from my Vanguard’s Presencelinking me up to the others. And, I don’t think I can turn it off. I don’t want to test what will happen with Shared Storage.

Pushing past the hurt, Hiral reached a shaky hand to an RHC and carefully lifted it free from its thigh-plate. The Greatsword of Amin Thett was back over his shoulder, and the Crown was still on his head, but with the way his solar energy ached, there was no way he was using either of those unless he had to.

“How’s everybody doing?” he asked. “Any threats?”

“Surprisingly clear,” Drahn said. “Nothing around us, and I don’t see any tracks of anything that has been here recently. I think we’re as safe as we could be. For the moment.”

“I don’t think we can move anyway,” Wule said. “Gran needs her legs put back on, and I’m seeing more broken limbs than I have fingers to count them on.”

“Yully?” Hiral asked.

“Low on energy,” the Grower healer said. “Emergency healing is done, but going to need a couple hours to get everybody back up into top shape. Myself included.”

“Drahn, Igwanda, and Left,” Hiral started. “You three good to take first watch?”

“As long as you don’t expect me to climb any trees,” Igwanda said, looking at the tall forest around them. “Or fight anything bigger than my foot. Cause stepping on something is about all I have enough energy to do.”

“Just need your eyes,” Hiral said.

“I can do that,” the Wight replied.

“Thanks. Worst injuries, gather up around that big tree there. The roots look spacious enough a few of you can lean up against it. Left, I know I just asked you to keep watch, but can you do it from there with a small Banner? Good. That’s our healing station. Rest of you, get camp set up.”

As he spoke, the worst injured – which was more than half the group – moved away from him towards the tree he’d indicated. While it was nice to see them responding so quickly, it was the slight lessening of pain that really got his attention.

Distance helps?

“What about you?” Seena asked, taking a step in his direction, and a shock of pain raced through his body.

He immediately took a step back and held up his hand at her questioning face.

“Hiral?” she asked.

“Sorry,” he said. “What I did to make Yanily’s Turn Back the Clock work on everybody has some side effects. Don’t take this the wrong way, but being close to anybody – especially people in my own party – literally hurts.”

“What?” she asked, foot lifting like she was going to take a step in his direction. Thankfully, she caught herself before she did, and her foot dropped to the soft ground. “How long is that going to last? Are you going to be okay?”

“It’s fine,” Hiral said. “Or, it will be. I can already feel my natural healing taking care of it. No more than a few hours. I’ll be ready to go when the rest of you are.”

“You’re sure?”

“Definitely,” Hiral said. “Yan, how about you? Any downsides to what we did?”

“No,” Yanily said. “Just upsides. Got a spontaneous ability evolution.”

“Of course you did,” Seeyela deadpanned.

“I can use Turn Back the Clock on more people than just me,” Yanily said. “But, for every extra person I add, it ups the ability’s cooldown. Doing the whole party again would be a twenty-four hour cooldown.”

“Ouch,” Hiral said.

“Worth it if you use it like you did against The Archwizard,” Seena said.

“We also got the achievement from the trial,” Yanily said. “History of Violence. Appropriate, I guess. Need the raid interface to get the rewards.”

Hiral had the blinking notification in the corner of his vision, but he couldn’t bring himself to open it with how he felt. Just glancing at the blinking made his head hurt.

“Anybody see one around here?” Devison asked into the party chat.

“Too busy looking for your foot,” Yully hissed. “Again.”

“Probably only back at our base,” Nivian said. The tank had picked a spot near the healers – but in a bit more of a clearing – and already had his stew pot out over a small fire.

“What about you, Seena?” Yanily asked. “You seemed to want that core thing The Archwizard had, but we didn’t get a chance to grab it.”

“Seems it got dropped with us,” Seena said, lifting her good hand – the other arm was still very broken – to display the orb clutched in her fingers.

“What do you want it for?” Hiral asked her, though he took another step back to ease the pain a touch.

Seena didn’t answer immediately, instead watching him.

“I’ll be fine, really,” he said without using the party chat, so only she could hear him.

“Really?”

“Really. I might just… go sit over there for a bit though.”

“You’ll call me if you need anything?”

“Absolutely. So, the orb?”

The party leader clearly looked more worried about him than she was interested in the core, but she finally nodded and answered in the party chat again. “I think it’s the last piece I need for my advanced class. I’ve got an option to absorb it, but… I don’t think my body can handle it right now. Going to wait until I’m in a bit better shape.”

“An advanced class?” Seeyela asked. “That’s fantastic!”

“It is,” Hiral agreed. If Seena really got a class option from the core, that would be everybody in their party. There wouldn’t be any reason for them to hold back from reaching A-Rank – other than going to run the B-Rank trials.

Probably still a good idea to do that, but if worse came to worst and they needed it, they could get the Rank-up power-bump.

“It will be,” Seena said. “After we’re all feeling better.”

“Yeah,” Wule said. “So, why don’t you come over here and let me look at your arm.”

“Go,” Hiral said just to Seena. “I’ll be right over there until it doesn’t hurt so much to be around everybody.”

“Okay,” Seena said. “But only because you have the highest attunement out of all of us. Nothing is going to sneak up on you. Don’t go too far, though, okay?”

“Not far at all,” Hiral said.

Another raised foot like Seena wanted to run over and hug him, then she instead turned and went over to where the healers were working. Just those few steps took some of the pressure off of Hiral’s channels, and he could breathe a little easier.

Turning, he moved to about fifty feet from the party – not quite out of sight – then sat down with his back against the rough bark of a tree, and let Runic Regeneration work on his wounds while he reviewed the shocking information they’d gotten from Tomorrow.

Different worlds? Different times? Tomorrow wasn’t kidding when she said it was complicated. And the smaller revelation that she was Fenil the whole time – not to mention Gran was Laseen – did that change anything? It was a lot.

But, since moving hurt, Hiral settled for thinking. And he had plenty to keep him occupied.