"Are you alright?"
"Am I alright?" I could not help but laugh bitterly. "This day has been filled with the unexpected. Never have I left the Halls for anything but raids, my walk, and yours. Now, I am to return to those Halls as your lifelong teacher before I leave forevermore, and you ask, 'Am I alright?' I have never even had someone ask me such a thing before. I was trained to mute my thoughts and emotions, as every Astral Monk does. And yet, I-"
I fell silent, allowing the hardly audible crunch of snow beneath my feet to crack like that wall I built up little by little. A rope of the finest silk tugged at it as I distanced myself from the Halls- from Abbot Eiriol, from Eban. Only the broken stream of words gave me any hint as to when it finally broke.
"I did not think she cared. About me- a male. Let alone you." I laughed again, this time in dismay. <
"Sounds strange in our tongue, no?"
"Yeah." Amun sighed, both lightly and with such weight that it could topple the Mortal Plane itself.
I chanced a look at him, and it seemed as if there was a stream of words running through his mind. But he said nothing. At least, not for a while.
"Since the day I came into this universe, I wondered if my family truly loved me or not. If my father and great-grandfather's love was proportional to my competence and prowess and the training I imposed on my vassals. If my mother was proud, only because I was Telin's Champion. Or if she was proud of herself for birthing me."
He paused to meet my eye, passing along a mix of conflicting emotions with but a single glance. Disappointment. Amusement. Happiness. Relief. And most to my bemusement, annoyance. Then his eyes faced forward, unseeing the maze of trees before us.
"I came to the belief that while my father and great-grandfather both loved me from the start, my mother didn't begin to love me until she was preparing to return to Youtera. The reason; before she left, she asked me: What does the Champion seek?"
He sighed, showing it again. Annoyance.
"I told her," he continued, "all I sought was knowledge. That I sought to rule over no one. That my guild and empire was only a means to an end. A means to give my friends and followers the strength, knowledge, and resources they'd need to thrive freely while I selfishly explored these vast realms in which we live.
"Then, she asked: what I would do if I only saw misery and misfortune for the rest of my days."
While my face showed it not, I honed intently on the hidden passion in which he said his words and drank on it like nectar. There was no need to verify the claim, as it was evident by the human children playfully floating above us while we walked. I was eager to hear more.
Perhaps knowing this, Amun grinned teasingly. "I'll show you my answer when we reach our destination."
"Very well." I sighed, but then looked around in every direction, searching for a way through the maze of trees and snow and brush. "I don't suppose we are to walk?" I asked.
Rather than replying, Amun went through the forest like a minotaur through the tunnels of the Darkworld. Often breaking through the brambles and brush to enter the next cluster of wrist-sized trees. But rather than kick them down, Amun simply squeezed through them or found a roundabout way.
I knew not if he was testing me, but I said nothing throughout the journey. Not that it required much effort, with the sobering questions running rampant in my mind.
What made me so lucky, I wondered. Just as I always had. What made me so lucky to not be sacrificed? What made me so lucky to be chosen as the Champion's teacher of all things elven and arcane; all things drow? What made me so lucky to have the Champion become a monk, making me teach him in that regard as well. What made me so lucky, so as to be freed from the Hells of my birth, leaving my brother and cousins to the malicious fate of the Matrons and their high priestesses.
My mind suddenly gave way to relief as we came into a clearing, where Amun stopped in place to turn his focus upon an outcropping of rocks surrounded by short trees. "Dart!" He shouted in a commanding voice, and the earth itself seemed to respond.
I thought he intended to create another world above the Mortal Plane before I noticed the wood and stone were not just connected, but were slowly… morphing. The skin grew smooth and shiny as it shifted to a frame of polished metal that could make a small castle.
It was an Uma, I realized, albeit an ugly one.
To start, it had tendrils protruding from its maw, lined with what appeared to be suction cups across them. Eight of them. Rather than slither across the ground, however, they tucked themselves beneath the body to reform into strange wheels that kept the central axis stationary while the outer portion spun freely. And they were massive. Large enough to boast gnome-sized doorways or have recessed porches within.
It's head was bulbous and amorphous, capable of squishing or elongating to form a multi-floored abode atop those eight wheels. The versatile skin even created lanterns and ostentatious designs to give it the image of a large, lumbering abode on wheels.
"Go home," Amun called over his shoulder. This time, the fox responded by darting into one of the doors on the second wheel from the front. Trailing after it, the girls danced up a small staircase between the wheels, leaving the door open for Amun and I to enter and be slapped in the face with warmth, humidity, and pungent earthly smells.
We were… inside, but also outside, standing within a warm park of grasses and colorful flowers. There was even a pond at the center, floating in midair with many vibrant fish swimming lazily inside.
I hardly even saw Amun as I passed ornate couches, chairs, and tables with panels of black glass embedded into them. More of them hung from the ceiling like chandeliers, accented by tapestries depicting a land of poverty putting their all into becoming a land of elegance and prosperity.
A burst of movement brought my eyes to what appeared to be several overgrown cupboards on the upper edges of the walls. They seemed at least big enough to fit a large bed. Four of them were painted, decorated, or somehow adorned in some way.
Amun confirmed before I could ask. "Those are the bedrooms. Naturally, one of them is yours. That's the workshop. Me, Redd, and Iris usually work in here." He pointed to the cabinet on the left side of the rear wall, then pointed to the one on the right. "That's the kitchen. Sam's domain."
I thought it odd for Amun to have a personal chef. High-ranking monks sustained themselves with ki. I, however, assumed Amun would not know that, thus I kept my thoughts to myself and took the meal graciously. Only for another unexpected thing to occur: conversations during mealtimes.
"I assume you have many questions," Amun began, snapping my attention from my plate. "It's better to lay it all out now."
Suddenly aware of my pounding chest, I only nodded. Only partially aware of the girls listening with just as much intent.
"I died in a different universe and was reincarnated here. Not only that, but I was born in Maru with a perfect recall of my past life. All the knowledge, experience, and wisdom I gained from a century and three decades in a realm without magic is kept in a kind of… second brain, made accessible seamlessly and instantly.
"I retained my skills as well, although, I had to retrain them for this body. The point is, I know things and can make things that, by the standards of this world, can be considered a different type of magic. Technology.
"However." He sighed, pouring the same burden I felt before out onto the air to weigh down the Mortal Plane. "Before I was born, I met the creator of this universe, Telin. In short, he wants me to join him as a peer and is using this life to assess me. I will become an Eternal God in this universe so he and his peers can determine if I am worthy of being an Eternal God in the multi-verse.
"But." He sighed again, threatening the Plane evermore. "Shortly after my birth, I decided that I wanted to remain in this universe as its Eternal God, learning all I can until there is nothing left to learn. And then, I'll make something new and repeat the process.
"That will happen." He said with unbreakable conviction. "But that does not change the fact that Telin has manipulated countless elves into meddling with my life. For good or for bad, I do not know."
"The tasks." I gasped. "It has been said that Telin has tasked all elves across the realms with preparing for your arrival. Many believe that implied the time of judgment. But… to think it was to… meddle with his own champion. That is…" I shook my head. But in the end, I could do nothing but sigh. "Absurd, I want to say. But I know of another Goddess who would do much the same."
"I'm sure there are many." Amun concurred. "Which is why, when I received my vassals at five years old, I began passing my knowledge on to them immediately. I taught them the same military doctrine I used in my previous life, altered for the presence of magic.
"I taught them advanced arithmetic, medicine, philosophy, and science. I trained them in survival tactics and in as many skills as they could absorb. Many of them are skills no one else in this reality knows. I trained and honed their bodies as I trained and honed mine. Every single day. Just as the monks in the Halls train.
"When I was a bit older, I learned of the barrier surrounding Maru and elected to form a guild in order to breach the barrier and stabilize the portals leading to the other realms. That is the primary goal of the Legio Noctis. To tear down the reverse cattle pen that exists within the realm and bring about an age of prosperity. An ArcaTech Age of Champions.
"After that, the mission is to explore the entirety of the Mortal Plane." He concluded with a grin that was most familiar.
"After sharing my goal with my father," he then continued. "I was sent to the mainland at ten years old to train at my great-grandfather's tower, named after my ancestor, the Raven Reaper. Every night, for four years, I fought the Necro-King and his army of shadows."
I swore I saw a shudder run through Amun as he mentioned the legendary necromancer. "I would fight until I was at death's door. Then, he'd have me heal and we'd go again. That would last from dusk until midnight when he would teach me basic necromancy spells.
"During the day, however, he would pass his knowledge and skills onto my vassals. Whereas I held a competition. You see." He grinned wider. "I needed a tailor, a watchmaker, and an engineer to help bring the creations of my world into this one. Thus I arranged for the best artisans of Corvus Tower to learn from me and compete to build something of my design.
"They were compared at the end of each year, wherein the worst candidates were eliminated. Leaving only the best by the fourth year." I glanced a look at the well-made clothes worn by the girls, who themselves were nodding in sudden understanding.
"While the others are in Maru, my engineer is at our destination. Edward Pascal, the creator of these Umas. Together, we returned to Deap Ridge, my birthplace, when I was fourteen. We continued training until we were to awaken our affinity cores. But just before we did, I had a talk with my mother.
"She told me of Telin's Intervention- of his meddling with the elves. Then, she gave me an Arcana Well to meld with my own. You may be surprised, but I was not born with arcana."
"You are correct." I recoiled subtly. Though my face never changed. "I am shocked."
"But it's true. That said, Telin told me what affinities I would have, but I didn't receive them until my awakening. Gravity, Space-Time, Electromagnetism, and Nuclear Magic." He paused, ignoring the inquisitive and bemused expression I gave him while he stared and continued.
"After being assessed by the Guild Association, our final test was to travel across the realm to a small island. But along the way, we saw two important things.
"The first was a town recovering from a bandit attack. It served as the first important lesson to my vassals, and to the new friends I made, Roheisa and Lucia. It is a lesson I will pass on to all of you." He looked us each in the eye for a long second before continuing on with his story.
"I agreed with the mayor to help him with his problems in exchange for my tailor and watchmaker taking residence there during our absence," he said. "Although he thought I would die by the bandits, in his mind, 'help' consisted of getting rid of the bandits and leaving once my friends were settled. In my mind, 'help' consisted of determining for myself if the bandits were worth killing. Which they were. So I killed them, turning them into specters to guard the city from afar.
"And then, as I said, we helped them with their problems. All of them. We helped rebuild their city in a way they never dreamed of. We carved out the mountain that stood behind them and fortified their walls. We taught them how to grow more food and assisted in catching wild goats for their ranches.
"We taught the guards how to fight and use magic. We taught the peasants how to read and write and study and learn. We helped them in every way we could. Not because of a promise of gold or to be called heroes. Simply because that was the extent of our ability to help them.
"In exchange, they pledged their loyalty, something I indeed wanted but would not force on them or anyone else. Now, a little over a year later, those former peasants are scholastic arcane warriors residing in an empire of industry- the most interesting place in Maru.
"This is the lesson." He raised a finger, and the girls comically responded by leaning forward in their seats. "I do not care who you help or who you hurt, so long as you commit wholly to your actions and accept responsibility over whatever consequences may arise.
"If you decide to help someone, help them in every way you can. Find all of their problems and fix them. And if you decide to destroy something, show no mercy. Hold nothing back. I do not blind myself to the extremes of good and evil. Neither should you. Be your definition of a righteous person and live freely. Just, no slaves."
I admit, I was reflecting on the words just as deeply as the girls. But I needed a fraction of the time to realize it was sound advice. More than that, it was a philosophy, a mantra- a tenant that needed no convincing to adopt. Thus I inadvertently pushed the story on before the lesson could fully take root in my mind.
"What happened once you came to Nonus?" I asked, eagerly.