Icarus Awakens

“You think they’re alive?” Daniel asked, the two having not noticed any of the developments around them.

“Emily, at least,” Evalyn answered with a whisper tainted with fear as if her hopes were moments from being dashed. “My parents, I don’t know. But if she wasn’t with them, she’d have gone to one of the villages and made it to us. She’s only fifteen, without a class there’s no way she would have survived by herself.”

Still thinking through the ramifications of what she was suggesting, Daniel hit upon something. “Is that why you charmed me in the library?”

“Well,” she looked away. “I thought I’d be dealing with the librarian. All I knew was that they were level 3. By the time the ability affected you, I realized you were weak enough that it fully hit you. I was in a bad place, we all were. The first day afterward was the worst of my life. I wasn’t supposed to be out of Eido but…” she trailed off, forlorn. Daniel knew she’d lost people in the disaster, but only now could appreciate what it had cost her.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. But if it’s important,” she grimaced. “It was a fight. My parents weren’t exactly thrilled I turned out to be a Bard. When they heard I was awakening with charisma, I knew they were hoping for Hero. That’s just not how it turned out. They were happy, of course, but disappointed and-” She searched for a word. “Skeptical. Everyone knows the kind of life Bards tend to have. Then there was the monster hunting. I’d trapped them. If I wanted to advance I’d have to pursue one of two paths they weren’t excited about.”

Daniel didn’t want to derail the conversation but was helpless against his curiosity. “Bards are music-based too, right? Could you have advanced by becoming a performer?”

She eyed him thoughtfully, considered rebuking the question, and shook her head. “Not quickly. Some in Threst do it that way but I haven’t heard of any that get past level 2. I think I’ve only advanced once from playing. I wanted it all, everything.” She spread her arms out and then brought them back together, still with a sad look on her face. “You didn’t grow up here and I’m still realizing how different that makes you. The people who fight back against the Crest, who protect others, are the noblest of us. The best. No one can advance to the highest levels unless they fight against the Crest itself, securing what becomes the new regions.”

“I can see why your parents thought you’d be a Hero.”

Evalyn snorted at that. “Gods no.”

“You still don’t like them?”

“No, it’s,” She shook her head again and returned to her story. “We had another fight. They tried to convince me to take a break. The Spoke was being finished and they thought that would be a good excuse to at least slow down. I didn’t, we argued, I left. I wasn’t part of a team officially, I just signed up as support for individual hunts. There were a few teams that I liked but I never found one I clicked with.” She sighed, pulling herself together and getting back to the painful memories. “That was the day before it happened. I saw the city disappear, the flash at least. Gone in a moment. I’d hoped they’d followed after me, and when I heard everyone was moving to Hagain I thought I’d find them there. But they weren’t. Yet, I still feel Emily’s heartbeat. I thought I was imagining it, and I was already pushing everything down just to get through.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone? Why wait until now?”

Evalyn’s voice broke. “Because I’m still afraid I’m wrong. What could have happened to them if they didn’t just… I didn’t think there was any hope, not until I met someone who could do the impossible.” She nodded towards him. “If someone like you can exist, what does that mean for Emily? For my parents, for everyone that was in Eido? Could they have gone to another world like you did? Would they be ok?”

Already considering much, Daniel reeled at that implication. “Wha, they’d…” How high-level was the previous Commander again? “I have no idea. If they just switched places with me, dang.” Daniel’s face dropped at the thought of a city appearing overtop of an apartment block. He hurriedly made to reassure Evalyn who had noticed. “They’d probably be fine! Hell, they could probably take over the country if they wanted to. Maybe the world? I’d honestly be more worried about my people. If it was the middle of an ocean or Australia they could be in trouble, but they have magic. As long as the people with classes didn’t abandon everyone else they should be fine.”

“Do you think that’s possible, then?”

Daniel laughed. “I wouldn’t know. Half of the stuff that happens every day is beyond what I thought was possible. Sure? But I can’t tell you that’s what happened. There’s at least two worlds out there, maybe they’re on a completely different one.” Evalyn didn’t look comforted by that prospect. “I don’t think anyone can tell you what happened to them, but we should tell people. Lograve, at least, only he’s not here. Thomas maybe?”

“Did I wait too long?”

“No,” Daniel replied instantly. “What could we have done? What can we do? The only thing I can think of is to pass along the message that Eido could still be somewhere to the gods and let them handle it, which is already taking a while here. We just have to let Lograve know about it before the Council is back in session or whatever.” Evalyn did look a little relieved with that. “I wish I could identify your bond. It’s like that stuff is an exception to my Encyclopedia. Maybe it’s a benefit I get at level 3?”

Daniel almost jumped as Evalyn made her way over to him, though she paused just before completing the hug, waiting for him to reciprocate. The two embraced, and Daniel could feel Evalyn’s tears as they crossed onto his shoulder. She’s been keeping this bottled up this whole time, he realized. Did no one see it?

Evalyn returned to her side of the tent at some point, wiping away the last of her tears. “Sorry.”

“For what? I’m glad you told me. When you’re ready, you should tell the others. That’s what we’re here for, team leader.”

…

“I make no promises. I must see her first,” Calius said, the duskers in front of him carrying on every word.

“She is unwell.” Xtalo, the father, didn’t elaborate further, unwilling to address his daughter’s ills publicly even if it was in front of the one who could save her.

“Ah. I will make my own judgment.” The Cleric looked towards the tent that led to where Khiat was but didn’t immediately make his way there. “Surely, you are aware of my church and the perceptions of it.” Even the young Cleric of the Hand stiffened at that, caught by the doubt they must be feeling no matter how small. “Misconceptions or not, you all may be at ease. My church labors very hard to make sure our image is what we desire it to be.”

“Honored uhm,” Xtalo, normally firm in himself despite never having advanced, stumbled over how to address the Cleric. He settled on how the man had introduced himself. “Cleric Calius Thatch of the Cloak, what is it you want to do?”

“I cannot truly remove whatever blights her mind, though I would hope my colleague here would hesitate to use such an option when he reaches my level. My talents are many, and I may have a better way.” Calius held up a hand to forestall conversation as his eyes moved. “I can see much already, but my work would be best done in person. If you want me to help, you will need to show me to her.”

There was the smallest amount of motion on Xtalo’s face, the retracting of some of the chitinous plates on his chin, before he nodded. “She is this way.” The duskers led him into the dwelling, and he alone now stood before the stricken dusker.

Calius Thatch devoted more than his normal division of attention to any singular being to the one huddled in the corner of the dark room. One of the reasons he was here, but not the only one. He’d taken time to get a better measure of the people of the village and had seen what was happening. His true aim was either among them or had been for some time.

This woman was a casualty of the aberrant influence. Calius didn’t know exactly what he was looking for, be it a Tyrant, a relic, or something else. Either way, it was definitely outside the boundaries of what mortals should possess, and the proximity to the Thormundz was troubling. As that part of his mind wandered, another diagnosed. The mana flow in the young dusker was dire, though just past the point of normalcy when a tranquil sea became first turbulent and began to flow.

There were secrets of mana and classes not known to the common people, as there were secrets of many things. Only those who reached where Calius ostentatiously was, where the seventh sense extended to provide greater understanding, could reach the point where they could uncover that themselves. Calius hadn’t needed to do so, and neither did he struggle with his investigation into Khiat’s woes.

Someone had interfered with both her class awakening, and the acquisition of her first power. Calius read the archetypes within the young dusker and frowned when he didn’t see the one that should be there among the other five. Missing that had caused an exception that must have prompted the Octyrrum to assign a rare class. That alone wouldn’t have led to this issue, but the young dusker had then received a power in conflict with her soul that had been identified before a power evolution could take place.

There was a concept of Daniel’s world that would appropriately apply, though even he didn’t understand it well. A thing of quantum mechanics, not that those principles explicitly applied in their fullness to magic. Simply put, it was a matter of observation. Someone had identified the first power this girl had received far too early, setting it in stone. She wasn’t advanced enough to feel the mana roiling within her as it was forced to flow through a path she intrinsically rejected. The secondary effects though, those she felt as the inherent antipathy of her will and mana made itself known. The Cleric of the Hand had been right to ask for help.

Calius walked into the common room which was packed despite being spacious, Khiat not having moved the entire time he was there. “I’ve silenced the room,” he said gravely. “We can discuss here without her overhearing. Or others.” The father and mother bowed their heads, most of the others in the family doing the same. No one interrupted him here.

“The specifics involve knowledge best not spread widely,” Calius continued carefully in the silence. “It is not the practice of my church to be revealing, so I will speak plainly and only of that which you need to know. The child’s class is killing her. She has two days, to my eye. Beyond that and my intervention is meaningless. The only hope would be someone with Resurrection and-” Ah, a secret, he thought amidst his explanation, catching Thomas’ minute reaction, “It would be unlikely any who possessed such a power would come to your aid.”

Not a lie, not technically. Unlike someone Calius was in no way affiliated with, he did not speak the truth out of principle, but because he valued lies. He was a man who spent mistruths and budgeted wisely. “Neither is my intervention harmless. There are many illusion powers I can call upon, several of which are relevant here. What I would suggest is Unidentifying everything she knows about her class, memories included.”

“What does that mean?” Achia finally spoke for her family. Calius winced, only slightly, and only internally, as he remembered he’d said he’d speak plainly. Even people at the level of Calius made mistakes. Arrogance and complacency could be strong poisons no matter how well one guarded against them.

“I would be concealing everything she knows about her class. Not removing her knowledge of the events, but hiding it,” Calius clarified, taking pains to simplify his words and draw more of the disparate fractions of his mind together again. “Only someone of my power could unseal these memories, and it would be unlikely that she would come across someone with the strength and ability to do so.” More of the truth this time, but fragments of lies strewn about. Misdirection and omission primarily, though he kept what was important unsullied. “She could be told of what had happened after the fact and understand, but still not remember. In all regards, it would be as if the time that has passed since attaining her class hadn’t happened. She will revert to who she was then. This isn’t a long time to erase, from what I have seen, and that is fortunate. Still, she may no longer advance and she would not be able to use any powers she’s attained.”

“This will make Khiat lose her class?” Xtalo asked numbly.

“Yes.” Another lie, though in this case it was because they hadn’t understood the truth. Going into a discussion on mana mechanics would only make the situation worse. “This will not affect her lifespan in any way, although she will suffer from what level disparity she currently has. The least I can say is it will be a kinder existence than the one she has now.” He saw the conflict in those in front of him and sighed. “I don’t need to act now. For her sake, it should be done before tomorrow’s end. She’d live longer than that, but at some point, the damage to her soul will become greater than what I can reverse.”

“Gods.” The mother collapsed slightly into herself, bringing her below the height of the others.

Calius sighed and dismissed the effect blocking sound from traveling out of the room. The girl should hear this too. “One day. If you decide at any point before then I can act. If you do not, I fear the Hourglass will for you. He is never merciful.”