Requiem.
We eventually make it through the last section of woodlands have come into a massive prairie clearing. There is a decent size cabin set in front of us, surrounded by growing fields throughout. But the landmarks that let us truly know this is the right place start with the bare hill to one side in the background. The empty prairies stretching across the hill and filling the rest of the place with only the occasional knee-high stalks of grasses.
The final marker then is a lone giant tree of the same species as what grew at the home where we met Yojimbo. Even at its place on the far side of the clearing, the different shapes and colors in its branches mark the variety of fruits upon its boughs. We breathe in the delightful bouquet of scents and breathe out a sigh of relief, “{This place smells like home.}”
Darling spends a few moments scenting the air, “^I think I follow. While the fragrances themselves are nothing like our birthplace, it has a similar atmosphere, the same auras of peace and life.^”
“(And simplicity,)” Reginald takes deep breaths with his eyes closed as we all take another moment to let the serenity of this place just wash over us and soak in.
Once we start out into the clearing, our pace is slowed from our prior briskness. We’re all content to simply enjoy the destination now that we’ve mostly arrived. Despite the bounty, Darling directs only small numbers of her hive to investigate and forage in the new zone. Explaining to us that there are certain to be other hives, or at least some species of pollinators present in such a large territory.
“^The plan is to set up our daughter’s hive in this area, if Yojimbo will have us. So, getting to know the locals without interfering too much with their work is important. I don’t know how much maintenance work will be required for a hive not present within our favored arcana. But if we need to run out the rest of the species in order to make a home for ourselves, if would be better to find a more compatible area than make such a beautiful place dependent solely on us.^”
There is a ripple in the underlying magic of this place just before the door to the cabin opens, “(Ahh, Queen Darling, Elder Requiem. It is a pleasure to see you once more. Which means, you must be Reginald. Greetings, young man.)” He nods to each of us in turn, “(Come, come. I’ll make some tea to relax you right away. You’ve all been traveling for quite some time.)”
Reginald bows in return to his greeting, but after he rises, he freezes up. He stays stunned like that for long enough that we nudge him, “{What’s the matter? We’ve seen you eat and drink before. It’s good tea.}”
A shuddering breath comes back to him, “(That was Yojimbo. THE Yojimbo. Father of the founding Patriarch of House Wraithmare. How is he still alive? Why is he just living on a farmstead in the woods?)”
We snort and bump our head into him, and the poor fool loses his balance and falls to the ground, “{No. That was just an old farmer inviting us over for tea. Legends and stories never tell the whole tale. As for why he’s here? We all answered that when we first set foot in this place. Its gorgeous here, why wouldn’t someone want to live surrounded by such bounty if people weren’t their pleasure.}”
We see the argument on his face and rising in his mouth, but he stops himself. The frustration builds within him, the desire to speak of old things he was told fighting with the life and death he’s already personally experienced. It takes him about a minute, but he eventually turns his head aside and reaches a hand up. We fit a neck under his palm and help lift him back up, “{Will you be joining us for tea, or would you like some time alone. Our host seems like they’d be amenable to you wandering a bit if you prefer.}”
He dusts himself off and takes another gathering breath, “(If I’m permitted to, I can wander most anytime. As he has so graciously already offered tea, it would be remiss of me to not respect his offer.)”
As we follow after the sounds of delighted buzzing and the old man’s appreciative tones from behind the house, “{Don’t let yourself get too caught up in history. Learn from it, appreciate it, but try and stay focused on the present and your goals for the future. It can be an astoundingly useful guide and tool to shape yourself and your vision, but don’t get lost in it if you can.
“{Until the day comes where you truly see more ahead of you than behind when you think of your own life, it can be difficult to know… It can be difficult to stay on your path. And time marches ever onwards, whether we’re ready or not.}”
Having gotten close enough to be overheard, “(Wise words, Great Requiem. But enough of such weight. Come, sit, drink tea, and share my bounty. I don’t often get visitors. Tell me of yourselves.)”
---
Yojimbo agrees to host Darling’s daughter and we all end up spending several days at his farm as enough of the comb is matured and emplaced.
It was the second night there, when Still Forest showed up on the hill. She brought some game she caught in her altered domain. The concentration of the death energies for such an extended time had cause some of the nearby wildlife to inherit some death aspects. It made them quieter, faster, and more deliberate. With the recent change in atmosphere, some of them had even started to forage in her woods, and she had snatched a nervous deer that didn’t bolt or still when she passed over.
She didn’t stay for too long, but conversations were had all around.
Over the weeklong stay that seemed to just laze for longer, Reginald finally concluded what we had been waiting for. It was during another of Still Forest’s visits when he asked the two stewards of the land if he could stay with them, learn from them. For all that he was adrift since his death and rebirth, we could tell that Reginald wasn’t really suited to a life of merely floating down the river of whims.
That sparked some real conversations to happen between the dragon and the old man. Us and Darling mostly stayed out of it, just tending to her daughter’s new fief and learning the lay of the land.
Perhaps not so strangely, we didn’t see Bard again, even though Still Forest would offer the occasion complaint about him hanging around outside the city. Just happening to be around when she went to scout the place. It was stories of what she was training to do that eventually prompted Reginald to make his ask. No longer did she intend to merely lay siege or break the city itself, instead seeking to infiltrate and root out those that inherited the cursed mindset of the Founder.
As the days pass in peace and quiet, and education starts shifting more towards coddling among the bees. We feel the pull. We’ve said what we’ve needed to say to those that needed to hear it, and now we’re merely waiting.
We’ve witnessed the change in how the two great beasts interact with each other, starting anew in ways they can, offering grace or forgiveness when things go poorly. Spending more time apart on their own lives, but still willing to come together, in these moments. At first, we were a bridge for them, a means, and a reason for their continued meetings. But they’ve grown passed that as we’ve shifted ourselves into the background.
Then the final day comes.
DM finally finishes their incubation and spawns. He keeps track of the many curious questions that our associates have as we speak more about ourselves and how our body works. Darling offering additional information here and there, as our resident expert on hydras, seeing as her Class has laid claim so some of us as territory.
The day finishes up with a veritable feast as the strained air shifts between congratulations and concern for the future. Still Forest tells us in a private moment that nothing is allowed to end us before she gets her talons on our Mark. Her will and drive are still as solid as steel, despite all the shifts in how she’s actually pursuing her goals.
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Reginald thanks us for the second chance and the opportunity to work at fixing a broken system. His daily teas with Yojimbo expanded the scope of his war beyond merely ending those abusing their power. To try to address some of the more foundational issues, like why there were enough kids like him for the nobles with their private forces to recruit from in the first place.
By the end of the night, the dragon takes flight for her home while the not-quite humans retire to the cabin.
We take one last long drought of the enriched air from the well-tended fields and the cornucopia of fruits from the grand tree. DM having secured enough raw data of how the local area had been enhanced in small ways to make it more stable for the kind of casual power that Yojimbo wields. We shift to focus our attention on Darling, “{You ready for what comes next?}”
She buzzes in amusement, “^It is the world that should get ready for us. Queen Darling and Mount Requiem, off to another adventure.^”
We chuckle at her response, “{Very well. Ready or not world, here we come.}”
“^Requiem? I just wanted to thank you again. For being you. Just the kind of being that could look at a damaged place or person or idea, and see Life beyond Death.^”
As we take our first Steps out of Yojimbo’s little slice of paradise, we muse on that. We wonder what we would find if that was what we sought this time. Instead of leaving it to Fate to choose where we’d end up. We ask that DM coordinate but to keep to a deft touch as we seek: Life Beyond Death.
Ample Surveyor 42. Observe and Report
It’s been a few months since the debacle was fixed and the staff all fully updated, “Let’s see what our projects are up to, yeah?”
The Surveyor cycles through the various humans first, makes note of the place they’ve all relocated to, “Excellent. Plenty of backgrounds and interests, those kids will grow up with a solid community and the mothers all seem at least willing to rally together and support each other as well.”
They turn some dials and knobs on their interface, buttons are pressed, authorizations are input and accepted, “So, let’s check up on the beasts now. Uh huh, uh huh. All looking good so far. Some have advanced quite rapidly- oh, right, those ones are old souls. Although this one is certainly doing something new. Good luck little guy, but no fingers on the scale for that project, never works out unless its self-fulfilling.”
After messing with the console for a while they are confused, “Okay. Seriously, what’s happened here? Why are there only eight creatures of myth showing up, but all nine children are fine and healthy? What could you lot have possibly broken this time…”
Troubleshooting and threats eventually solve the problem, “Search parameters incorrect. Are you kidding me? Don’t answer that. Okay, so, since these eight are all accounted for, that just leaves… the hydra. Okay. No biggie. A single rampaging monster isn’t the worst thing… that could happen… WHO. THE. FUCK. Authorized a DATA MINER as a skill option for a Reincarnation?
“-Shut up! Don’t give me that, ‘Monsters aren’t restricted’ bullshit. It’s a Data Miner! Those have been banned for- WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY AREN’T BANNED FOR HIM?!? Look at his other skill, heck look at his Titles! Look at them! [Will Beyond Death], Transcendent Death, Defiant of Fate, you never give those types the tools to examine the underlying System!
“-Are you seriously going to sit there and say there is a loophole because he was Born to Die? Just right to my face. He. Has. Already. DIED! What else have you lot absolutely screwed for us.”
The Surveyor parses through the past logs for all eighteen subjects and then broadens the scope. “Okay, most everything else seems fine enough. [Asset] Bard being deflected is less than ideal, but all told the paths of the others all seem reliable.” As the paths stretch out through time and branch and fork into untenable complexity, one of the readouts snags.
Worse still, this snarl cascades into an all-consuming tragedy, and when the Accounting Department goes to check into how such a thing could have happened to these ‘protected’ clients. It will all be traced back to the actions taken by the Surveyor. “Crap…”
The Surveyor double and triple checks various axes to pivot the branches around to avoid such an occurrence, but too much is already set into motion to really avoid the crash. At least with the tools and permissions the Surveyor has access to.
They are just about to collate all the data and send it up the chain for a higher authority to solve it when an idea strikes. “Two problems, one solution? One I created that will eventually spiral into disaster, the other a disaster at conception but… Yep, most of his branches touch on the same elements and motivations that would pit those two against each other.”
The Surveyor sighs, “[Ironman] makes it more difficult even if it also gives some leeway. I suppose the best bet is to lay out the breadcrumbs that I can and complete my report.
“-You can just pipe down. I know it’s not fair, nothing ever is. But he’s already a piece on [The Board]. There’s always an event horizon on that, it’s just how the System works. And it’s not even a sure thing that there will be enough… Crap. That first byte of data on his current trip just radically altered his course. So many branches pruned… -I know. I know! It’s all going in my report. I’m likely to get promoted or reformatted for this.”
/[/E:
Requiem. No good deed goes unpunished.
We noticed a change in the Steps from [One with Nature] this time. We weren’t clear where we were initially heading, that was still frustrating vague and inscrutable, but we noticed when the path abrupted diverged. We asked DM what changed.
{Packet of incomplete information was present in transitional space. Distant existential challenge has been plotted; details unclear. The chance of failure if pursued immediately is above 99%. The consequences of ignoring the mass of Fate alluded to by data fragment is untenable with currently expressed goals. Course altered for intercept at later date.
{The Orchestra must grow.}
We aren’t alone on this path, and so when DM refused to elaborate further on their meaning and the moments when we were marshalling our will to insist on it was met with a backdrop of not clocks tick-tocking, we changed tactics, “{So. That’s the situation so far, Darling. What we’re more interested in is why DM called for the Orchestra to grow, when he’s previously referred to us, all of us, as the Choir.}”
Darling paces around on Acolyte’s shifting form as we’d found that her flight in these between places is extraordinarily taxing, “^Hmm. If that’s the most concerning issue to you, I’d suggest it has something to do with how your Choir is being expressed. The Choir represents your Unity, your sense of self and ability to communicate, right?^”
Our response is easy to give quickly, “{We suppose that’s not an unfair assessment.}”
Darling buzzes over to land upon Graveskull, “^But these are not just how you speak, or who you are- or are becoming. They also are the tools that you have manifested through your need to solve problems. Whether in cases of the need to match yourself against brute force,^” she flies across to land upon Fogmaw, “^or for mere experimentation for curiosity’s sake. Each is more than just a member of a Choir. They are instruments of wind, percussion, and string. Each having their own piece in the melodies of song and conflict.
“^But we’ve been watching you, Requiem. None of you prefers certain actions over the others within the mundane. Any of you will move to lift or speak or interact with the world. And yet, when the times of violence are upon us, each of you plays specific roles. Perhaps this was different when you were a typical hydra, but whether it is an ambush of a monster in the woods, a session of sparing, or a life and death battle against an adversary. You’re coordinated, but not interchangeable, not equal.^”
We hum to ourselves at that, thinking back through what we’ve done these last weeks, “{You know. We hadn’t noticed that. Acolyte tends to have a disproportional amount of mundane interactions, but of all of us, they move around the most, so are more often in a place of casual effort. Graveskull may do the least, but only because of his ponderous nature, if it’s not already adjacent to him, its typically easier to have another reach for it.}”
Darling takes flight once more and lands upon DM, his form undulating the least of all of us, just focused upon the path ahead, “^Your [Deep Mind] is different, but much the same in that regard. The most significant change I’ve seen is that DM is always in combat. We spent a few days back in |Tranquil Glades| just reconnecting with Axis and the old hive, but he never broke his vigil.
“^He moved when you needed him to move, or it was more convenient for him to do so, but his focus has never wavered. You’ve said before that he has supplied you with notices when you were injured or inundated with information you couldn’t process, right? I think that might be his entire existence at this point.^”
Questioning noises coo from Acolyte in particular, giving voice to our uncertainty and confusion, “{But how can that be? We’ve tested it before with each of ourselves, and their mastery and amplification of their skill is massive compared to how we could previously wield our power. If he could manage all of that before his instantiation, how could he be overwhelmed now, when his strength is so much greater? He even devoted significant time customizing his growth.}”
“^Of those of you born to battle, who are still fighting their war? Graveskull literally snapped the cursed spear and Acolyte was made in response to a fight, but not actively during one. DM was conceptualized when there was only the whole of you and the possible branch of Fogmaw, which you did not name until much later. He has been under siege for his entire existence, and coming into physicality hasn’t changed that.
“^This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just an observation I’ve had. It might not even be right. I’d just want to ask for leniency when it comes to passing judgement upon him.^”
{We have arrived.}
Once more, the shift in the Path from before to after is both instantaneous and paradoxically also of indistinguishable gradient in our memory.