V3: Chapter 4:
…
Magic is real.
The soul exists.
People can come back to life.
Three things that I knew intrinsically and completely, even if the end of my previous life wasn't all too clear for me.
So, having experienced it myself, I was able to keep up a poker face while the Wardens of the Caverns brought a Champion back to life via their Faction-Specific Building: The Temple of Light. Pretty generic name, and the temple itself looked like any regular fantasy church with pews, marble floors and pillars, and stained glass. If not for all the Dark Elf priests and nuns looking ripped straight out of a fetish book, the environment was painfully generic as was its purpose.
Here, the Wardens of the Caverns, were able to bring their dead back to life.
In the first tier of the Temple, they can bring back their Champions once every five turns without cost, besides the EXP in the tank vanishing..
In the second tier, the Temple will be surrounded smaller shrines, and now if you lose four units in battle you'll get on back for free with veterancy back home. Champions can come back every three turns without cost, and they retain all EXP from the battle they died in and any unused.
In the third tier, it'll become a Cathedral surrounded by massive churches and stretch into the sky, and every two units lost will give you one back with cumulative veterancy added. Champions get a one turn respawn cooldown, get bonus EXP when they revive, and maybe a boost to all their stats.
Then, finally, if you finish the Warden's questlines, it'll become the Gate of Light. All units will return after death at your capital. Champions can resurrect to full health at every battle once, and if they die twice they can come back the same turn they die at your capital. Not only that, but you gain access to all units lost by other factions and you can hire them for your literal holy, immortal, and undying army, so that they can help you ascend everyone to paradise and leave the mortal world behind.
That's right.
The most fetishistic faction in this game literally doms the world and the aftercare is an eternity in paradise.
The whole world and all its problems are given the middle finger, while all the mortal races just sprint towards the gates and are happily let in.
Yeah.
I think I said it before, but I'll say it again.
The only people you can keep as permanent allies up to your own faction's ending are the Guardians of the Moon and the Conquerors of the Desert.
The Wardens of the Caverns, as nice and pleasant and good they might be, are all working under the correct belief that they can escort you to paradise… or kill you and apologize when you open your eyes in Heaven.
Yeah.
There's now way they'll accept any other Faction's ending.
So, yeah, I need to sabotage their endgame superweapon and make sure I can beat them at the end.
No big deal.
Just allying with someone with the intention of ripping literally paradise out of their hands later.
Feeling cute.
Might literally trap a whole race of religious fanatics to the mortal coil, instead of allowing them to go on a crusade/holy war and force everyone to go to heaven.
Yeah.
I'd rather that sort of thing be someone's choice, rather than forced on them via the end of a knife by people who can't die with good intentions. There's probably loads of people who'll tell me that I shouldn't take that away from them, that forcing paradise on others through jihad is acceptable, but I'll go ahead and say this: I know for a fact that no other faction in this world will lay down and die. Until the very fucking end, there is an organized resistance against the Warden's endgame, until they all slit their own throats one last time and leave the planet along with everyone else.
So, yeah.
We're both in horribly dubious circumstances morally, and we're both convinced we're right in our beliefs about what other people want.
The same as usual for this world, ever since my rebirth, honestly.
…
"I see that you've looked at the wonder of resurrection and found it lacking, Jack."
"I saw that we and the Wardens will come to blows at the end of this all. They'll never stop. There's no convincing them of any other path than that they follow." I addressed Riegert with a sight. On the pretense of wanting to practice horseback riding, I went out with him and my guards for the day. Khalai had pouted and said he'd wanted to come along and ride along with me. It was simple enough to make him not interested by offering him another horse. When the situation veered away from the chance to either hug and press against my back, or drive his behind against my crotch whilst wearing very tight leather pants, he lost interest. Yeah, I was getting used to the very forward High Justiciar. "It's very unfortunate."
"…Alright, I'll bite. You've terrified me enough to ask: why?" Riegert carried a new axe over his shoulder. It was blue-gear, so I didn't bother with the name. Purples and above are worth remembering, because they have special properties. Anything below are just stat sticks. Useful, but not that important. Riegert being a bruiser and being geared enough for mid-game was good, though. I can probably count on him to hold back Crusher for a few minutes and not die. Seven minutes tops, though. "You've been doing everything to get on their good side and they've been receptive. You're fortunate that you're solely interested in ladies, and the fact that their High Justiciar doesn't have a daughter or sister as… eccentric… as he is."
Khalai's personality in a taller, female form?
I mean, if that theoretical person was as promiscuous as him…
Not marriage material, but I wouldn't be much of a man if I said I wasn't intrigued with experiencing all that 'experience' firsthand.
Sometimes, a man must understand his limits.
But enough with those thoughts.
"Glad to see you're back."
I ignored Riegert's comment.
"They are fanatics. Zealous to the extreme. They are truly kind and good people, but that goodness and kindness will drive them to unspeakable things in the name of justice and righteousness. They will not falter, they will not surrender, and they will not break. The stories and rumors are all true." These guys have nigh-unbreakable morale. With a few upgrades and the right Champions, and a positive happiness value, their units are guaranteed to stay in battle. They might retreat and panic, but they won't rout. Since they lived most of their lives underground, this was just hearsay for most people, but I saw the guides and verified things with my own eyes. "Riegert, if they knew that they can give everyone in the world the paradise those they resurrect speak of, they'll slit all our throats with smiles one their faces."
"…Are you sure?" Riegert looked down at me from his horse. Worry was clear on his face. The time long passed when we'd tiptoe and worry about appearances with one another. "You know that I'll be telling Ghor all of this, right? You know what he'll do. These people will be made miserable. Tragedy after tragedy will be inflicted upon them. Khalai will die, if Khanrow can find a way to do it… and he will."
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"I am sure, but Khanrow needs only to sow the seeds. We need them now. Their strength, their will, and their ability. All of it. We need everyone against what is to come. But, unlike the Guardians and the Conquerors, the Wardens cannot be reasoned with and brought truly into the fold." They won or they lost. All or nothing. For the Wardens, it was a zero-sum game. They either succeed in ramping up enough to roll the world over with resurrected army after army and kill everyone to send them to paradise, or they're wiped off of the face of the planet as a culture and maybe as a species. Thousands of years in the darkness, relying on each other, praying to the Light, and seeing their own dead brought back to preach to them of what lay beyond… "Their war is a holy one. One that we can direct and use for now, but in the future we must confront it. When we do… it must be us to first betray them, to first slip the knife between their ribs, and the first to crush them completely. Until then, we keep them close."
Riegert was quiet for a long time, and I idly wondered what would happen as we travelled alone together on our horses through the woods, where I was completely at his mercy.
I hoped that the trust I placed in him wasn't misplaced and that he didn't harbor any ties with the people who'd been kind and courteous and good to him for weeks on end.
Eventually, he sighed and shook his head.
"I'll look into things and get a feel for the place. This sort of thing will need two pairs of eyes on it, at least." Trust but verify. That was something that I could get behind. I nodded and Riegert let loose another sigh, but this time it was more confident. "Hopefully, you're wrong and we can trust these people, kid. I hope you don't mind me saying that."
"I wouldn't mind being wrong." I agreed, but held back from saying anything more.
At the very least, we'll need to stop the Resurrection Gate from being made, by curtailing their efforts to make it. Or, to take their Faction-specific victory condition away, we'll need to destroy it.
Either obstruction or destruction, which they'll see as betrayal of the highest order.
Like I said, I wouldn't mind being wrong. Being wrong meant managing to diplomatically settle the issue, getting the infinite lives cheat code for everyone, and rolling over all the continent's issues.
Yeah, I wouldn't mind being wrong at all.
…
Interlude: Khalai
…
The reality that we know is a façade.
We are all bound to the mortal coil and we all suffer, because we have lost our way. In the midst of the carnage and horrors wrought by the calamities that brought the Ancient low, we all become mortal. Our lives, which once flowed from transient and intransient in perpetuity, became trapped in an endless purgatory.
A long, long time ago, our bodies and flesh were merely vessels.
Things which could be exchanged much like clothes or jewelry.
Our souls were free of any prison, capable of entering heaven in the evening, spending eons in other places and other times made by the mind alone, and descending into a new form in the morning.
We, all of us, were the Ancients.
But the calamity trapped us all in our new bodies. Bodies with instincts and desires separate from our souls. Bodies which stop us from achieving everything that we desire. Bodies which stop us from understanding one another because we can no longer experience the lives of others. Bodies that imprison us completely and utterly. Bodies which may even be broken to the point where our souls are released into the aether to never reach paradise.
Some believe that we are in hell instead of purgatory, but I do not agree.
If we were being eternally punished, there would be no chance for us to escape it.
No.
Eternity looms ahead of us.
We must simply reach out and endure all that we must to achieve it.
"High Justiciar, the physicians and healers have confirmed I am well and ready to return." The foremost of all our Paladins in the last five hundred years stood at the ready. Kneeling and clad in nothing more than her burial shawl, Saintes Sirena the Just lived once more. "I will defend these lands of the Wardens with every life I am given, in accordance to my oath."
"Stand and accept these from the forges of our ancestors." I turned to her and gave her a deep bow. Her height was twice that of mine. Already her body was aglow with faint white blessings. Her faith and power was so strong that they returned to her the moment of her resurrection. "Your faith and skill is strong, but much will be asked of you. I pray that these holy implements will protect you."
"I shall show my gratitude through virtuous deeds, High Justiciar." The shawl fell away as she took the armor. Hers was a blessed and beautiful form. Golden hair, full-bodied, and strong, she would look like a divine warrior on the battlefield even without her armor. Though we worked in the darkness, our bodies were made beautiful. Our past selves saw fit to ensure that we and our faraway cousins were unmatched in beauty, although we shared it whereas our foolish kin chose to withhold it and punish all who dared take a singular glance. "These arms and armor shall be used righteously. This I swear upon my own name."
I looked out the great window of the Warden's Citadel upon which the hopes and dreams of my people lay.
Many others have already arisen, another has even fallen, and many will look upon us as the weakest of them all.
Trapped in our bodies, trapped in this mortal coil, madness has threatened to overtake us. Bloodshed and violence have both replaced peace and understanding. While some, like Jack, have chosen the righteous path... others have not. The Academy holds the center of the continent, they struggle to retain power, and in doing so they aim to curtail the freedom that this world entire deserves. The Conquerors seek to dominate the whole continent and enforce discipline across the land. The Guardians of the Moon reach for the past, but for the wrong goal.
We were blessed with an ally such as the King of Wisdom who sought to alleviate suffering, to fight against oppressors, and to create allies instead of foes.
But miracles should never be taken for granted.
"Then, Saintess, you will go forth and scour the lands of monsters and find all that has been left behind." The path was clear. I will follow in the footsteps of other, whilst not making the same mistakes as them. Whatever shame might befall me for my path, I will endure, because I will not suffer any failure that could be avoided by bowing my head. "You will do this under the command of the King of Wisdom, and if you can, ensure that his nation and ours are bound completely."
The blush that formed on the Saintess's face, who devoted herself to war in all her lives, told me I chose correctly.
Jackie will surely struggle against someone like her.
A mind and soul filled with virtue, yet a form that inspired lust?
He will surely struggle, regardless of all the beauties that surrounded him, and if he succumbs… the path forward will be made more clear and less suffering will be required of my people.