“He’ll be okay?” I found myself asking a few minutes later. It was over. Ruthers’ people were either dead or unconscious. Some of them could have escaped, but Laein had put a stop to their retreat with her own zombie army. And from the sound of her wild cackling echoing through the air, she’d had a lot of fun doing so. It definitely wasn’t something those people would forget any time soon, that was for sure. Of course, when I’d told Laein she’d probably haunt these guys’ nightmares, she acted like I’d just given her the best possible compliment I ever could. Hell, she almost hugged me.
Meanwhile, the man himself lay in a heap at our feet, and I sighed while looking down at him. “Much as I don’t want to worry about that, the timeline might get a little hinky if he dies here. He needs to survive and continue to be a giant pain in the ass for a few hundred more years, at least.”
Percy’s head bobbed. “He will survive intact. Though I did remove the exact memory of where this place is.” She hesitated before adding, “We should do that for all of his troops as well, and go through their belongings to ensure they don’t retain any knowledge of its precise location. They will remember most of the rest, including how badly they were beaten. Then we can take them somewhere else far from here.”
“Something tells me he’ll remember this place on some subconscious level, at least,” I pointed out. “He probably thinks this is where monsters that piss him off belong. That’s why he made sure Mom was sent here. But yeah, let’s get rid of the specifics. You know, after we make sure the villagers are okay.” After a brief pause, I took a deep, unsteady breath. “I mean, the ones who survived.” The anger was clearly apparent in my voice, judging from the look Percy gave me.
Eurso, making a soft, inquiring sound, came closer. With a soft smile, I reached out to rub his snout. “It’s okay, buddy. You looked awesome back there. Very intimidating.” He perked up proudly, before almost purring as I scratched under his chin. Meanwhile, I focused on sending my ghosts out as far as they could go, searching for where the civilians who had fled this place had gotten to. There were plenty here, hiding or even injured, and some of the ghosts were tending to them as well. They let the people know it was safe to come out, led them to those who couldn’t move, and just generally helped pull things together. I left Percy to watch over Ruthers and started to do the same. There was absolutely no way I was going to just leave that man on his own and trust he would stay unconscious. Not a chance in hell. Percy and Cerberus were both there to make sure he stayed down. In fact, before leaving, I asked her to possess him again and make sure he didn’t have the slightest chance of waking up.
The entire time I was helping to find the rest of the villagers, I just kept cursing myself. That fucker came here looking for me. All this happened because I was here. The… the bodies lying strewn around here or there sent cold waves of guilt through me. Those people had died because Ruthers wanted to find and kill me. He thought they were working with or for me, thought I had… corrupted or created them or whatever. I had no idea what he actually thought, to be honest. All I knew was that he was responsible for all this damage, all these deaths. God damn it, what was I supposed to do about all this now? How could I make it up to them?
Well, I did know one thing I could do. Besides finding and helping the survivors, and making sure Ruthers lost all memory of where this place was. I could stick around and help the ghosts of those who had died during this whole thing say goodbye to the survivors. It wouldn’t exactly be easy conversations, but it was the right thing to do. And hey, it was one way I could use this Necromancy to actually help people feel a little bit better about things. I wanted to do good with this power, and teach other Necromancers to do the same. It wasn’t just about stopping the Fomorians, even if that was the main goal. It was also about helping people in smaller, more personal ways. From what Rahanvael (the girl, not the newly-renamed planet) had said, that was sort of the way her people had used their Necromancy back before her brother had corrupted and destroyed everything.
First, I needed to deal with the most pressing matters. So, once all the villagers were accounted for, one way or another, I promised I would come back and help with the other details. Then I went back to check on Percy. She assured me that Ruthers hadn’t even twitched. He was simply dreaming about being a pirate and sailing the seas, a thought that made me blink a few times. But I didn’t have time to dwell. Instead, I took my turn to watch over him while she started possessing the other few surviving members of his little army to erase their memories. They would remember the fight itself, how it had gone for them, the things I said, that sort of stuff. But they wouldn’t remember where this place was, or any other details that could lead them to it. Laramie Falls would be safely anonymous once more. Aside from whatever it was about the name that made Ruthers decide my mother belonged here in a few hundred years. Maybe I’d ask him about that at some point back in the present.
Because honestly, I absolutely could not wait to see the look on that man’s face when he found out I was the one he had fought back during all this. It would absolutely make my day. And if I somehow managed to punch him again in the process, well, they might as well make that my new Christmas.
Once we had all their memories adjusted, Percy and I put the whole group in a pile and I teleported them all the way across the country to a place just a little south of New York. Fortunately, it seemed like this group had only been traveling with one another, and hadn’t told anyone else exactly where they were going. They were just wandering the countryside seeking out ‘monsters’ while checking in with the fledgling Crossroads organization now and then.
At the very least, this all meant that the village was safe again. And it was going to stay safe, because I wasn’t going to be there anymore. I needed to leave them alone so I wouldn’t end up attracting Ruthers again, or any of those people. This was what the tower was for. Not that it was actually a tower at this point, but still. It would be safe for us to use our Necromancy there. A hell of a lot safer than it would be to practice it in a place that could lure hunters there and get even more innocent people hurt or killed. I’d had more than enough of that.
With that in mind, after dumping Ruthers and his people in the middle of nowhere with their memories adjusted, I went back to the village and helped sort everything out. Useless as it felt to do so, I still apologized to all of them for my part in what had happened, but they insisted it wasn’t my fault. They were still too grateful about the whole Maestro thing to really blame me for this. Which, of course, made me feel even more guilty. They also said that I could stay, but I gently refused. I promised I would come back and visit, but my time staying in the village with any regularity was over. Besides, I was about to meet Ehn again anyway, so we would probably be moving on. Without getting into too many details about that, I simply said that my time here was over and that I was probably going to have to be gone for a long time.
They still insisted on having another big meal to celebrate both the survival of the village and my departure. Ignoring the fact that we’d just had a feast for that second thing, of course. Mostly they just wanted to celebrate surviving, which I couldn’t blame them for. And, on a more somber note, it was a way of saying goodbye to those who hadn’t made it. Thirteen villagers had been killed in the attack. Four of them were children. Ten Alters and three humans who had tried to save the others. One child was human, the other three were Alters. But did it really matter? They were all innocent. They had done nothing to Ruthers or his people, had done nothing to anyone. They had simply been trying to live their lives. They had been–they were happy, god damn it. They had survived Maestro’s attack, they thought they were safe now. Then Ruthers and his fucking–his fucking–his–
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I had to muffle my scream. The news made me so angry I was tempted to teleport right back to where I had left that son of a bitch and finish the job, timeline be damned. Instead, I restrained myself and focused on helping out around here. This was what mattered right now, not satiating my own anger.
They accepted my offer to bring the ghosts in so they could say goodbye. Each family had a chance to be with their newly-lost loved ones for as long as they needed that day. Their friends got to see them one more time, and I helped the ones who wanted to move on do so right in front of those who cared about them.
With those ghosts still here, still able to be with their loved ones for a little bit longer, we had a feast, a grand meal where everyone celebrated. It made me even more sad deep down, as I understood that these people were celebrating the fact that only thirteen of them had died in that attack. That was good news to them. They were accustomed to being hunted. Which just… gods damn it. And the worst part was that it wasn’t going to get any better for a long time. Hell, it would be about three hundred years before my mother’s rebellion even started. And even then… yeah.
But, naturally, I couldn’t get into all that. So, I simply tried to celebrate with them and help them say goodbye as best as I could. There were a lot of hugs exchanged, and I could see Laein in the distance helping a group of living children get a chance to say goodbye to their friends who had been killed. She was behaving remarkably gently for her. There were no wild boisterous claims or shouting. It sounded like she was simply being there for them and answering their questions as best as she could. Something told me this attack had struck home for her. After all, she had lost her own family and friends tragically. She was so very gentle and kind with those children, both the living and the… the dead. It reminded me that I had made the right choice in recruiting her.
Of those thirteen ghosts, five wanted to stay with me. Two were the kids I’d seen murdered in front of me, the crocodilian boy Hekahkl and his best friend, the human girl Charlotte. The other three were adults. I accepted all of them, naturally. Part of me wanted to simply set up an enchantment that would keep the ghosts here in this village for as long as they wanted, so that even if they were dead, they could still be around their families. But I was afraid that would attract Ruthers or other Boschers. It would be a powerful bit of Necromancy, and I wasn’t sure I could shield it from anyone finding out. The last thing I wanted was to end up ensuring the deaths of everyone else here just because I’d wanted to help.
Eventually, it was time for us to leave. I again promised the people there that I would come back at some point, even if it was many years down the line. It might be their children or grandchildren I ended up seeing again, but I would return. I didn’t mention the fact that I was actually born there about four hundred years in the future. That was probably a thing I shouldn’t get into too many details about.
In the end, I walked away from the village with the others and headed out into the wild. Of course, I could’ve simply immediately teleported and been done with it, but it felt right to walk in that moment. It felt more final. And maybe I just wanted to stretch it out a little bit. In such a short time, the Laramie Falls of four centuries in my past had become as much of a home as the one in the present had been during my childhood. I loved the people there, all of them. Now I had to leave, right after their home had been attacked and so many of their people murdered just for being what they were.
Yeah, all these thoughts weren’t exactly helping my decision to not teleport back over and kick Ruthers right in the throat a few dozen times.
Once we were out of sight of the village, I stopped and looked over at the five ghosts I’d brought out of there. The two kids were up front, clutching one another’s hands. Behind them stood the three adults. Two Alters, a wooden Relukun known as Noral and a heavy-set Mukeda (one of several species who tended to be dumped into the ‘Orc’ category, often to their annoyance) named Ton, and Jane, a tall, skinny human woman.
“The other ghosts will help you all find your way around your new home,” I promised the five of them. “If you have any questions, ask. I’ll try to… to do anything I can for you. And if you ever want to… stop helping me and just move on, or relax for as long as you need to, say so. Anything you need. You’re not beholden to me, no matter what. When you’re done, or just need a break, no hard feelings.”
With that, once they made it clear they understood and would tell me the moment they needed or wanted anything else, I teleported all of us back home. I’d been there and back enough time by that point that I could have gone right inside. Well, it was more that the defenses allowed me to teleport inside, but still. This time, however, I didn’t go straight in. I teleported us to a spot just in front of the tower. Or rather, what had been a tower some time ago. I’d made a few… changes over the past couple months, experimenting with how I could shift the tower’s appearance on the outside so it wouldn’t stand out so much. Honestly, as a fifteen mile high structure, even when it was invisible the thing could probably attract the wrong sort of attention. Especially if I was going to be actively using it.
Fortunately, we could reshape the thing into other structures. And there seemed to be very little limits to that. So, as we appeared in front of the thing, the ghosts with me didn’t see a giant tower. Instead, they saw a town. It was spread out through the secluded valley I had set the tower down in. The ‘ground’ was metal flooring functioning as pavement. That flooring connected each of about thirty different buildings spread through the valley. There were a dozen houses for future Necromancers and anyone they cared about to stay in, as well as a couple larger rec centers where people could watch videos, work out, play games, or anything else for entertainment. Four of the buildings were ghost-dorms, places solely for them to hang out, set up with special allowances such as energy-orbs they could use to get what they needed to become tangible so they could move stuff around or press buttons. We only really needed one ghost-dorm at the moment, but I was planning on recruiting many more of them.
There were also a couple buildings meant for magic practice with very reinforced walls, a library full of all the books we’d managed to collect (with a lot more room ready to bring in more), a huge armory building that took up several stories, and more. And at the center of it all was the Haunted Mansion, or my recreation of it here in this place. That was my home, a tall manor with spiraling towers on either side, almost castle-like. The bridge of the ‘ship’ was there.
What couldn’t be seen from this position were the underground portions, large sections of the tower that had dug deep into the Earth to fill out chambers there. That was where we kept the lake that provided so much fresh water, as well as the salt-water version where my sharks could spend time when they wanted to get out of my pocket-ocean.
In the end, from this position, the whole thing just looked like a town set on metal ‘pavement’ with streets and even a massive park toward the back, including an orchard full of various fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Toward the far left side was the farm, an enclosed space with a barn and fields for animals to graze. I had a couple volunteer farmer ghosts tending to the livestock there. And surrounding the entire place was a massive wall that was actually made of metal, but looked like piles of skulls and bones. We had to keep up the aesthetic, or Laein would’ve pouted.
The town version of the tower could, of course, transform back into a more suitable ship-shape whenever needed. But for now, this was what I wanted, an open space hidden from the outside world here in the middle of nowhere very far north in what would one day be Montana. Far from any other civilization for the time being.
“Well guys,” I started while giving a sweeping gesture toward the place in front of us as the new ghosts stared open-mouthed, “this is your new home. This is where we’re going to train Necromancers.
“Welcome to the Roundabout.”