I momentarily lost control of the wall I’d been writing on, and without intent the stone began to crumble like the wall of a sandcastle until I mastered myself.

I’m going to need some more details.

Leien grimaced. “Yeah, you and the rest of the world. All we know is, about three centuries ago everyone who had a class related to Athruxian simultaneously received an error message from the system, and then their classes… broke, for lack of a better word. Everyone, [Acolytes], [Paladins], [Priestesses],they all lost their associations with him. A [Paladin of Athruxian] just became [Paladin of {Death}]. He stopped answering prayers, or even accepting mana from them. Any skills which relied on power from him fully stopped working.

About a week later, they all updated again. All of the ‘Death’ placeholders were replaced with ‘Eurytheia’, and the classes started working again, although obviously there was turmoil within their church for decades after.”

This “Eurytheia” is the new deity of death?

He nodded. “Yeah. Nobody knows much about her. Either she’s not told her followers much, or they’ve not told the rest of us. Either way, prayers to her are heard and the other gods seem alright with the situation.”

That was… a lot to digest.

I hadn’t been particularly devout before. I offered the occasional prayer to Rhaia when I entered the library, but that was just the done thing. I hadn’t really been immersed in the particulars of any individual faith. That said, the idea of Rhaia suddenly being replaced by someone else just seemed wrong. I could only imagine how much worse it would be for her actual devoted.

“Hey Cyan?” Asha ventured, characteristically not waiting before continuing. “I know we’re pretty far from civilization, but… are we really the first people to make it out here since the days of Alvíreánn? That seems… I don’t know. Unlikely?”

Ah. Well, I can see how she reached that conclusion, not knowing I’d been dead—or at least insensate—for pretty much all of that time.

Alright, time for some decisions. The two of them seemed friendly enough, and willing to speak candidly without trying to leverage their clear informational advantage to get something from me.

They had chosen to remain here instead of taking their chances back in the forest, trusting that I wouldn’t collapse the ceiling on their heads or anything. From what I knew of spirits, that wouldn’t have been an unreasonable fear.

On top of that, I found myself liking them. I was trying not to let that color my thinking here, but it was hard. My life hadn’t been filled with chances to hone my social instincts, and I knew my impressions of them weren’t really reliable. On the other hand, if I passed this chance up now, what were the odds the next person I met would be a safer bet? Assuming there even was a next person, and how long might that even take?

“Cyan?”

When I thought of it like that, the decision was easy. I began preparing the words I would use to explain the situation, writing them out on my notes wall to make sure there were no mistakes.

Sorry, I’m here.

You’re not wrong. If I may ask, how long has it actually been?

Asha looked like she was doing some quick calculations. “Depends on when exactly you mean, but… at least ten thousand years.”

I took a moment to let that wash over me. I’d known, on some level, it would be something like that. Expected it even. Hearing was something else, though.

Alright. So… I haven’t been conscious for all that time. My best guess is I regained consciousness about 2 weeks ago, although it took a while to fully awaken and time was pretty difficult to track in those early days.

Leien’s eyebrows raised at that, but Asha was just nodding like I’d only confirmed what she’d already guessed.

Also, I should tell you. I’m not a spirit.

That got a surprised expression from Asha. “You’re not!?”

No. And I’m not a demon either. At least, I’m pretty sure I’m not.

Asha closed her mouth on the question she’d been about to ask.

When I said my memories were fragmented, that was the truth. I do know I used to live near Alvíreánn, and I’m pretty sure I died there.

“So you’re… what, some kind of revenant?” Leien’s eyes darted over to his codex. I knew most gods took a dim view of the undead, and Astreia was probably one of them. This was already going off script. I didn’t know if there was anything he could do to hurt me, but with what they had said about skills it didn’t seem too unlikely. I rushed to try and clarify.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

I don’t know all the classifications, but revenants are a type of corporeal undead, right? I don’t believe I would qualify, as my original body is well and truly gone. I suppose I might be some kind of ghost, but my situation seems a bit more complicated than that.

That didn’t relax him as much as I was hoping, but Asha put a hand on his arm and he settled back, shoulders untensing slightly. They seemed more unsettled with the idea I might be undead than they were at the possibility of me being a demon. That was… interesting.

I tried to get back on script, pulling a section from further down in my notes, skipping over the parts about the catastrophe that had killed me.

My current theory is that something arrested my soul before it could pass over, so I don’t think I’m technically “returned” or anything like that.

Leien’s face did something complicated. “Well,” he said at length, “I don’t think I’m duty-bound to try and exorcise you, but you might want to be careful about sharing that with any faithful of Eurytheia. You’re right, you’re not technically undead, but her doctrine might take the view that you’ve cheated her of her due. Then again, perhaps your debt was to Athruxian and Eurytheia won’t even care.” He shrugged. “Either way, I think we’re cool.”

I breathed a metaphorical sigh of relief. I really didn’t want to end up at odds with the only two sapients I’d met in this time.

I’m glad to hear it. I hope you understand why I was circumspect with this. With that said, I am in an unfamiliar time and place, and am clearly far too ignorant of the developments of these past ten thousand years. You’ve both been very accommodating of my questions when you didn’t need to be, and I can’t afford to pass up the chance at help with understanding my nature. If you’d be willing, of course.

It was all out there now. They could just leave. Take word of me back to Lelandrach and reap whatever accolades and benefits such a discovery would earn them. I knew I wouldn’t actually have it in me to do what it would take to stop them.

The two exchanged a long look, and Asha spoke up. “We’re gonna need to talk it over.”

----------------------------------------

The two of them trudged in silence. Cyan had marked the edge of their perception, with assurances that anything said beyond that point would be private. Leien kept walking anyway, making sure they were well past that line. There was no way to know for sure if Cyan had been telling the truth about their range, or if it even had a limit. Maybe trying to converse privately was a fool’s errand. He pressed on a bit further anyway, but at some point had to admit that if they didn’t have privacy by now, it wasn’t going to happen.

“Alright,” he turned to face Asha, who was practically bursting. He appreciated how willing she was to humor him at times like this. “You want to stay.” It wasn’t a question.

“Of course I want to stay!!! A primary source, Leien! A primary. Source.” She gesticulated wildly. “I know you know how big a deal that is.”

“And I know you’ve been obsessed with Alvíreánn since we were eight. Doesn’t that seem suspicious to you? An honest-to-gods Alvíreánnan just sitting out here in the wilderness, with fantastical powers and even more fantastical claims? It’s too good to be true.”

“Or it’s divine guidance. Your goddess is the one who led us here. Maybe this is why! Maybe she wants us to help Cyan.”

“Or to kill them.”

Asha leveled him with an unimpressed look, and he cringed.

“Ok, no I don’t actually believe that. It’s still too convenient. Something just feels off. What if they’re having you on?”

“And what if they’re not? Shouldn’t we find out?”

Leien sighed. “What about the survey? The academy—”

“You know as well as I that the survey was an excuse—and a flimsy one—to get me far from the capital. The data would be useful, sure, but nowhere near as significant as this, and staying here for a while to gather as much information as we can and help Cyan out would still serve the purpose of keeping me out of Administration’s hair. They might gripe a bit about the loss of the data, but what we’ve already learned is already leagues more valuable. You read the same thing I did! A world without the System. Magic without the System. It’s incredible.”

Leien knew her well enough to recognize when there was no longer any chance of changing her mind. “Alright, alright. It’s your expedition, we can pivot our priorities. I just… Please don’t let how badly you want this to be true keep you from being careful here.”

Asha nodded, expression serious. That was one thing he always found refreshing about being friends with her. She might be stubborn and argumentative, but she was never dismissive. She was clearly taking his concerns to heart, and despite himself he found it was melting some of his frustration away.

“I think it’s too soon to say whether or not everything is true, but Leien… I gained seven levels this morning just talking to Cyan and poking around a few rooms in there. Seven! That’s as much as I got in the last two months at the academy. I’ve only gotten one during this entire survey. Whatever’s going on in there, my scholar class is extremely happy with it.”

“Why didn’t you mention that?”

She looked a bit sheepish. “I didn’t want you to think it was all about the levels for me. It really is a tremendous opportunity to contribute to the corpus of all elven knowledge. It’s just… also really good experience.”

He stared at her with disbelief. “Asha… the fact that your scholar class is rewarding you so well is evidence that what we’re learning here is legitimate.”

Asha’s palm struck her forehead. “That would have been a way better argument!”

Leien couldn’t help his affectionate eyeroll. “Yeah. Way better. That honestly helps a lot. It still doesn’t mean they’re trustworthy, but it does mean a significant amount of what they’ve told us so far has been true. I’ll take it.”

The two of them started making their way back, Asha chattering on while Leien continued musing. He decided to fire off a prayer just in case. Goddess, are we on the right track here? Is this what you wanted? It feels… off, but you know I tend to see demons in the shadows when there are none. If you could send me a sign to put my mind at ease, it would mean a lot to me. He felt his mana dip as the prayer was accepted. That didn’t mean she would act on it, but it was a comfort just to know she was listening.

Asha stopped suddenly and he came up short next to her, realizing he had been lost in thought and hadn’t been guiding them, leaving their trajectory to the mercy of Asha’s sense of direction. Somehow they had ended up much further down the steep mountainside from the entrance. And there, in front of them, was the collection of ancient characters which Asha had translated as a promise of sanctuary. He grinned.

Thanks.