Doyle.
***
"I wonder when I'll get my Doppelganger," I thought aloud. And it wasn't the first time since we landed in these quiet woods that such a thought came to mind. Although quiet was a relative term.
As a result of a chunk of the Mortal Plane being pulled into the sky, there were no sounds of animals breaking the stillness of the night. Only a cacophony of voices that ranged from shrill or serene to brutish and scholarly. And, of course, my dumb comments.
"What will I look for, in my new subordinates?" I wondered next. And it was a good question. from what I've observed, the Captains were focused on forming parties- companies of over three hundred troops, really, which meant in time, I would too.
My party consisted of Zeff and Olga back in the day, among several others. But that was a lost cause now. I was a bit too old to go searching for young bloods. And it was difficult to teach old dogs new tricks. Not to mention the others. But regardless, I would remain undeterred.
More so, I'd keep dreaming.
"I wonder what my training will be like."
"Hell." Came a deep, brooding voice cutting through the crowd.
I turned towards it to see Toril pushing his way through to me with the rest of the Captains in tow, their eager faces and glistening eyes shouted louder than their boisterous greetings, putting me in quite the awkward position as I rose with my hands clasped before my chest.
"No need. No need." Toril gently pulled my hand down before the crowd made their way around him. "Your training hasn't started yet. You're on vacation. Enjoy it!"
"That's a little hard." I chuckled dismally, dismayed by the strange amiability of the otherwise placid paladin and the absurdity of the strength behind his playful shove. "My mind can't help but wonder about what's in store for me."
"Well, you're one of us now." Toril carelessly shrugged. "Ask away."
"So…" I stuttered, unsure of where to even begin. "We're a legion of explorers? And… you're aiming to form parties? I guess my question is, what exactly does a Captain do?"
"Yes and yes, for the first two," Jaimess explained with a short sigh. "As for the last question, the short answer is, whatever you chose."
"We have specialties." Toril explicated. "Mine is combat. His is logistics," he then jerked his thumb at Jaimess, who quickly stepped in to clarify.
"I oversee logistics." He glared at Toril sternly. "I intend to find individuals suited to the more... demanding aspects of the job."
"Sure, sure." Ed calmed him with raised palms before saying, "my focus is on the industry, including alchemy and enchanting. Me, and everyone under my command, including two more back in Maru, will focus on making toys for the legionaries and nothing more."
"In lieu of my class, I'm decided to oversee rescue and recovery operations on the battlefield," Lucia meekly stated before gesturing to her master. "And Lady Roheisa oversees civil affairs."
"That's surprising." I recoiled in place.
"I'm good at relating to people." The volcanic princess shrugged, seemingly uncaring of the conversation as a whole.
"Well, I look forward to seeing your work." I awkwardly sighed, then turned away from her still composure to look upon the rest of the Captains. "And what of you all?"
"I create!" Elsgril crudely spat. "Blades. Shields. Fortresses. Strongholds. Roads an' bridges. I'll create anything fer anyone! But mostly fer me an' mine! Hidden deep away from the thieving scum." He gave a final sneer at the closest band of goblins and many of the other dwarves concurred with growls and low cheers, save Bazzric, who loudly declared his wish to make one stronghold so that he could create vehicles of mass destruction freely.
The Goliaths, on the other hand, were intent on mixing their traditional ways with the knowledge and technology given to them by Amun to form a new breed of nomadic tribes. The Amazonian Warriors wanted a wide range of historians, architects, and anthropologists that they were all too excited to train into fighting shape. And of course, many humans simply wished for artisans and courtesans and other skillful types to live in their lands.
"And what of your classes?" I couldn't help but ask once my curiosity took a turn. "Did anyone get anything special?"
"Oh yeah!" Toril snickered as he glanced at Jaimess, yet it was Mary who stepped forward first.
"I formed a new druidic circle!" She beamed. And beamed further when she continued. "The Circle of the Moon!"
The implications nearly brought me to my knees. "Unbelievable," I muttered.
"I'm a Scaled Battle Mage," Winston said after her, driving the air further away from my lungs. Yet he pointed to the trio of monks. "And they've all received Master Classes."
"The Way of Mercy," Rua Nun said.
Then Peter. "The Omni-Elemental Way.
Followed by Veil of Shadows. "The Way of Twilight."
"W- how?" I muttered, fully knowing the answer.
"I am a Twilight Hunter." Curious Twig declared as she stepped in, followed by the other rangers, Rebbecca, Smeal, and Toni.
"Plasma Wielder."
"Settler."
"Bog Warden."
"The rogues are somewhere." Zarzok chortled knowingly. "But the Weasel is a Phantom Thief, the masked one is a Blizzard Shinobi, and the rich boy is a Grenadier. I, of course, am an Executioner." He splayed his clawed fingers across his chest as he bowed, then rose to point an accusing finger at the male vampire.
"And Elijah here has some truly special paths open to him. Though, I don't want to spoil the surprise. And." He condescendingly shrugged. "He may not even take them."
"No!" Elijah stepped forward quickly. "I will! The choice is obvious to me now. But, it's like you say." He paused to face me and expose his sharp fangs in a knowing grin. "Let's not spoil the surprise."
"Yeah." Toril stepped in, snorting, then stood by my side to look up to the Moon and whisper. "You should speak with Amun when he's done. There may be a new path open to you now. Or." He turned knowingly to the absent-minded half-orc. "He can become your patron."
"You think so-"
A sudden weight in the air pushed the words from my lungs, yet somehow pulled my widened eyes above. Even before my eyes landed on the object of nearly everyone's mind, I recognized the pressure for what it was immediately.
It was unlike the overbearing, unrelenting pull of gravity, but a benevolent mist that lingered in the air. It was Amun's divine energy spreading from the brilliance of the moon, which now seemed much closer and far more voluminous than ever before.
It swelled with each passing moment, pouring a gentle blue-white light into the darkness that charmed the creatures of the night into a harmonic symphony. The hooting of owls merged with the howls of wolves, and a strange harmonic clicking percussed along nicely throughout it all to create a song of longing, one that beckoned my soul to a home I never knew.
As their song met its crescendo, so too did the luminosity of the moon. It grew and grew in brightness until it was almost as if dawn had come early. Yet, I refused to shield my eyes. I looked upon its glory without shame or hesitation until looking upon it became impossible.
The light disappeared in a flash, leaving a sight never before seen to my eyes and a vista all-too-familiar to my mind.
My eyes- still craned to my zenith- gazed upon a crescent bay filled with the deepest of blue waters. And within that bay, in a region almost twice as fat and long as my thumb, sat the assumedly infinite expanse of the Bodhi Tree.
How ridiculous it seemed, to think it to be such an endless expanse when I could look to the south and see a cloud-covered disk hiding the light of a curiously bright bulb. From that bulb- the sun- I could see the hazy cloud of rock gas spreading outwards until the surface itself turned to a band of red. And somewhere among that mass was a shining coin that represented the vastest city in the Mortal Plane.
I could also see the Steam Line, across the bay, further to the south, it appeared as an almost impenetrable cloud wall. Yet, like the wall of white to the north, like Youtera on the far side of the sun, and Betrarth across the World Sea to the west, the moon was above it all.
We were standing in an entirely new world, I realized upon removing my eyes from the Mortal Plane- an act I never thought possible. The skies were as black and bland as the realm in which we were born, yet the land was alien to us all. More desolate than any badland could ever be. Quieter than the Shadowfell. Drier than both the Elemental Planes of Fire and Air combined.
It was a land of building-sized stone outcroppings, chasms of perpetual darkness, and veins of pearlescent or sometimes pale, blue-white metal atop a silver-dusted surface. An eerily spectacular, yet benevolently welcoming place. An expanse that felt as serene as it seemed deadly.
Just like its creator.
This was Mani.