I let the revived Lorna out through the {Tree Gate} on the Sky Island. With Nenandil standing on my shoulder holding the lower end of my earlobe and tugging my ear every time she felt my heart falter, I followed her. The first [Queen] of Windemere (post-conquest) decided to wear a pretty everyday dress that some ladies liked when they wanted to stay comfortable at home or going out for small errands but most royalty would never even consider.
I decided to do something I was holding back. I hadn’t picked my level 200 Perk. Now that I knew I would have to play Lorna’s game of romance, there was no doubt in my mind. Especially when I saw the description had changed a little.
> The Leader (capstone): Your smile wins hearts by itself. You gain +10 Charisma and the ability to ignore the lowest reaction modifier in social interaction, once per day for every 10 points of Charisma.
That combined with {Cosmos Within} could literally mesmerize a person. I had a personal dislike for the use of social traits on people but as the saying goes, in love and war… I wasn’t being insecure okay? Even though my ears were hurting from a certain fairy’s kind treatment.
Mirina, Jocelyn, and the current palace guests were all gathered. Mirina wore the Tabard and Crown of Windemere. She bowed while everyone else knelt.
Lorna groaned. “I could swear I turned off my titles. Stand, citizens of Windemere,” she stated imperiously. “I’m no longer [Queen]. Your Majesty Mirina, my greetings.”
Mirina’s eyes were full of admiration as if she was seeing a legend. My pride assumed she would’ve been desensitized to legends by sleeping with me for a decade, but who was I to argue?
“Rosie!” Lorna called me.
I instinctively shapeshifted into my former Eleon self without thinking. Everyone appeared slightly taller in front of me. Lorna let out a peal of crystalline laughter.
“I didn’t mean it literally but it is such a sight to see how your eyes would’ve been without your disability,” she cooed and picked me up. Turning back to address the gathered crowd, she said, “ Greetings everyone. You all know me, and I recognize a few of you from the stories Rosie… Haru told me. Mirina, Jocelyn, Master Stouthammer, Marisol, thank you for being part of my beloved’s life. I know how much she needed to rely on you, despite claiming to be the most powerful mortal in this world.”
The black-haired tease rubbed my head, put me down, and grumbled, “But I’m starving. It’s been six centuries since I last ate something. Is there any food available?”
“Nenandil, could you set the tables?” I asked the fairy only so she would leave my ear alone.
The fairy saluted, “Aye aye, skipper! Lorna, could you watch over this little one for me?” She asked the cat-kin and flew to prepare an outdoor evening tea from my item box.
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The meal with my Queens and family – because let's be honest, everyone here was family – went without a hitch. Lorna satisfied people’s curiosity by answering some questions but she gently cut them off without disturbing the flow of the conversation. She ruled Windemere on her own for two centuries, after all. It didn’t seem like a person who didn’t want to live again but I could tell she was faking it. The woman known as “Lorna” had too much baggage to unpack. I liked to think I understood her but that was a lie.
Lorna shook me out of my musing with the most mundane question, “Rosie, what’s this dark berry? It’s sweet and ripe, but still has a wild tang.”
I needed a moment to remember, “They’re called Huckleberries. I’ve never found them here in Yznarian, but they’re wild berries that grow on mountains back in my old world. Even with all our knowledge, we couldn’t farm them, they only grow in the wild. People used to line up to earn the right to harvest some from the wild bushes. A few had success to grow them at home but never really tame them for large-scale production.”
She squealed and kissed the crown of my head. “So exquisite!”
After everyone was seated, my wives and I excused ourselves and withdrew to our bedchambers, formerly belonging to Mirina back when this palace was part of Perenneth. Lorna went hugging the other two. Once the door closed, I placed a privacy barrier and returned to my normal half-kitsune form.
Lorna let her social mask drop and her shoulders slumped. She walked to the bed and threw herself on it, making some unintelligible vocalizations. I knew she was upset and it was probably at being alive again. Which was odd. I knew very well that living creatures liked being alive. Even with the knowledge, I’d live again, it took a lot of willpower and courage to just go and kill myself.
With a frown, I went to the bed, grasping Mirina’s fingers and exchanging a glance with Jocelyn along the way. Her tail was up in the air, flailing wildly. I grabbed it with my own, a gesture she loved. I added more tails until she couldn’t move hers. I moved my hand up her back until I found her head and then ears. I could feel her melt into the sheets.
“I don’t know, Rosie,” she answered me without being prompted. “I don’t know what I want.”
I signaled the other two with a hand wave to approach. They climbed on the bed around us. “Tell me the first thing off the top of your mind, without overthinking it. If you could do anything now, what would it be?”
“I want to fuck,” she blurted and hissed in annoyance immediately after. “Nevermind!” She shouted before burying her face and screaming.
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“Too late,” I purred next to her ear. “We’re going to have a foursome. Trust me, you’ll love Jocelyn’s satin skin. It’s literally the softest satin I've ever seen.”
She raised her head to glare at me. “Did you figure out a way to grow a dick yet? Or are we using those magic dildos of yours?”
On my priority scale, the power to grow dicks was very, very low. Maybe I should reconsider it, but I took a Pódi Deluxe and showed it to her. “Not yet, but I got a new toy. You can’t imagine what it’s capable of. This invention was so powerful you could say this island flies on dildos.”
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After we were thoroughly exhausted enjoying each other, the four of us cuddled like a litter of kittens under the duvet.
“I think it’s time to tell them,” Lorna told me.
“I told you,” Jocelyn gloated at Mirina.
The acting [Queen], now an honorary position with limited political powers, swallowed hard as she propped herself on a shoulder, displaying her perfectly round assets. “Are you going away?”
I sighed. Lorna stated solemnly, “Yes.”
Silence.
“I didn’t even want to come back to life. Rosie, Haru convinced me,” the cat-kin confessed. “I don’t regret today, at all. You both have been wonderful to me. But this existence, Lorna, the [Prostitute Queen] as they call me, is one enveloped by too much sorrow. I lived my lot. I’m tired. But I can’t leave this little one alone. You know that, don’t you?” She asked into Mirina’s eyes. “How much she needs guidance, support, and someone to anchor her. Nenandil does an awesome job but she alone is not enough.”
“I do. Did I tell you how she murdered me?” Mirina confessed with moist eyes.
“Please do!” Lorna smiled sympathetically. “She went through a rough patch, this [Death Princess] of ours. Some old habits weren’t erased even by death.”
I was pushed to the side while the three discussed me. Lorna explained what we’d agreed on and even invited them to join the fold but it wasn’t a surprise when they rejected the offer. I didn’t blame or resent them for wishing to stick to this one life. They were young, less than half a century old. They didn’t share the broader view on existence we had.
There was also one practical aspect on the System side. I was on a crafter build. My Attribute and Resource values were crappy compared to what they could be. I had an upcoming fight that promised to be tough. If I could bank the points I had on {Surpasser} and get a truly fighting build, I would have an edge against the brood-bitch. I had no doubt the continued survival of Windemere and several other places depended on my victory.
It could be a ploy by the Gods to make me re-roll and then drop the dragon-whore on me while I was low level. But this wasn’t a pit fight. I could run away from her and visit demonland or the deepest dungeons for quick levels. But sitting here at the level cap and waiting for her to come was a bad bet. I checked Lorna for any compulsion or tampering with her psyche but found nothing. I never delved deeply into the Mindbender's grimoires and techniques, but they worked on her soul and I’m confident I could spot any KGB shenanigans.
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It was time to move on. I gathered my friends and family, Helger and Rydell on opposite sides, and made my announcement.
“My thanks to everyone. Windemere is safe, strong, and able to advance on its own. After being tortured by the dragons, Lorna is back by my side. We decided to go away on a journey. It pains me to leave each of you behind but as you know, I’ll have to fight the dragon goddess in the near future. I need to grow stronger, for the sake of Windemere, for the sake of our children and grandchildren. I have a confession to make, something most of you know.
“I’m not from this world. I was an ordinary man, living a most ordinary life among my peers in a world without magic. For reasons I’m not entirely aware of, I was killed in that world and brought here. Here in this world, I lived from the dawn of time, living many secret lives. The first one was as a microbe, an insignificant being that lived less than a day. Then I came back when the Auvani were just a tribe of hunter-gatherers, I was a white rabbit. An ordinary critter on the outside. And from there, I lived as people.
“But the key takeaway is that I am an intruder. An invader to this world. And so is this ruling Pantheon. The Elder Fairies and the Fulgen High Elves remember a time when there were no Gods and no System in this world. A time when the Unicorn King ruled the great plains, and magic was free. The Pantheon tried to eliminate me with any means they could find and fail. This is no different.
“I do not consider them my enemies despite not having a tenuous friendship with few of them. I have never, in all these thousands of years, initiated an attack on them. It was always them coming after me, or in one case, me avenging my mother Rosalinda when I killed the former God of Monsters. I must go and get stronger for everyone’s sake. Maybe one day they’ll leave me alone and this world can find harmony. I’m betting on that.
“If not, we shall see where this ends. What I can assure you is that I won’t give up.”
I kept the actual goodbyes brief. A few hugs, a few promises, a few mementos from my item box. I gave Helger the enchanted key to my workshop in the Dungeon City deep underground. Everyone here would have permission to come and go from the floating island whenever they wanted, and a few loyal cloth golems holding the souls of the few priests that were killed in this last decade would help with the maintenance of the island and related buildings.
Lorna and I crossed over to my sanctuary.
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The first thing I did was to give the new dryads their seeds and they merrily went on their way with briar to plant them in the ever-expanding glade.
“Are you ready?” I asked Lorna.
She smiled coyly and sighed, “Yes. It’s hard to think I’m giving my life away, but the first unread notification from the System after I came back to life was [You Died]. So, are we going to play our game of ‘chase the bride’?”
“Yes, we will. You’ll always be born female, by the way. I’m not...”
“I know. I hope you get a piece of your own so we can play,” she purred. “Oh, and let us sometimes be born as siblings. Maybe it will be an automatic win for you.” Lorna giggled and winked.
“Once we fall in love again for the ninth time, you’ll recall all your memories and most of your accumulated Status. Wyxnos will be pissed, which makes it all the more enticing. I don’t know how much, because Fate magic is fickle.”
“Then we’ll be bound forever,” She hugged me. “That sounds so exciting!”
Mixing {Sorcery} and {Spell-Singing} was my best bet. Bind Lorna’s cycle of rebirth to me, fix her Status, grant her the required Perks. I was divided between the songs by I ended up with “Can’t Help Falling in Love” from the King of Music himself. The slow pace helped me weave the strands properly.
I finished the casting. But Fate is fickle. Fate is demanding. I knew what was required of me. To subvert it so deeply, I needed a great sacrifice. Greater even than any mortal was capable of in their lifetime. I triggered {Self-Sacrifice}, eschewing the right to become a {Bygone Hero}. I wanted to meet Lorna tomorrow if possible. The spell consumed Lorna’s life, more than half a billion HP and Energy combined, and sacrificed forty-eight Perks starting with the (free real estate!) {Pinnacle of…} series that would be removed anyway.
Pinnacle of Strength
Pinnacle Of Dexterity
Pinnacle of Endurance
Pinnacle of Mind
Pinnacle of Willpower
Pinnacle of Charisma
Pinnacle of Magic
Pinnacle of Ego
Pinnacle of Luck
Pinnacle of Soul
Unerring Strike [Monster]
Eyes of the Ocean, Ears of the Waves
Torrent Channeling
Polyphonic Rattle
Ultrasonic Rattle
Wail of the Banshee
Blight Healing
Cleanse Blight
Coral Singer
Coral Shaper
Green Thumb
Infuse plants
Thread Control
Fine Thread Control
Treeshaper
Stone Burrowing
Breathe Rocks
Reinforced Veins
Phase Defense
Bestial Cleave
Cavalry charge
Knock Over
Trample
Smashing Rage
Marauder Coercion
Structural Damage
Sundering Rage
Sand Sense
Sand Cover
Sand Stirring
Sand Eyes
Sand Sight
Coral Blending
Ripple Suppression
Ripple Negation
See Thermoclines
Pierce Thermoclines
Abyssal Sight
Let our little game begin.