Tilly -
Level 18 Son of Flame
Present day.
Tilly followed the clearly excited lapin out into the street and found it absolutely choked with people industriously moving up and down the thoroughfare, carrying all sorts of goods. Tilly wrinkled his nose at a passing worker coming in from the direction of the docks with a pole over one shoulder and a wicker basket filled with fish hung over the other. They managed to move a little farther down the street before both Shuji and Tilly had to stop as a team rolled a pallet of logs ahead of them, taking up nearly the whole width between buildings. The pair squeezed to the side with the other commuters and the pallet continued toward some empty plots further into the burgeoning city.
Shuji looked over at Tilly beaming like a proud parent as they both watched the timber continue down the street, “You see Mr. Tillman, preparations are in full swing! We know not what will happen when we activate the crystal, but we are preparing for any eventuality, whether it be production boosts or even a building gift from Nephesh Itself! Whatever the case, we want to be as ready as possible, and the council has been hard at work planning for the most likely eventualities.” Shuji confided in a loud voice, as the bustle of the growing city increased and the two continued on their way.
As soon as the flow of the crowd resumed in the right direction, Shuji was moving, jostling, and bouncing between people as he merrily made his way to what used to be the valley gates of the village. Tilly had to lean hard into his Dexterity to even keep up with the surprisingly graceful lapin. But knowing how fast events could outpace him, he kept asking questions even as they moved through the busy streets,
“So I get that we don't know the details, but give me the broad strokes, Shuji! How does the crystal help run a Faction, besides the starting bonuses you told me about?”
The Lapin's ears twitched in response, and he slowed slightly, “Oh, yes. My apologies, it is difficult not to get carried away assuming you know what most do. Crystals offer two powerful options to every seat of power.” He expounded loudly, growing slightly out of breath as he spoke, but too excited to reduce his pace.
“All races of Nephesh have a basic set of combat and crafting classes available when they come of age. As well as access to one or two classes uniquely suited to their race. The Lapin people have a class called Peasant whose main advantages are rapid procreation and +20% efficiency when producing any foodstuffs or timber buildings. But with a Sovereign Crystal, you can obtain unique classes specific to the power that owns the Crystal. When we had a sovereign crystal of our own, all who met the stat requirements had access to the Ronin and Samurai classes. Something that we lost when our nation fell. The honu have a hereditary class, Tidecaller which is very powerful but too specialized to allow them to function outside of partnership with other races. “ He happily continued his lecture even as he adroitly maneuvered his bulk through and around different clumps of mostly lapin people going about the city preparations. Then they moved onto the main thoroughfare leading to the now absent main gate and the refugee camp outside.
Shuji paused in his explanation, taking in the city-sized camp that now filled the valley on this side of the river, with an inscrutable expression. He glanced over at Tilly, who was considering him thoughtfully, and smiled his large-toothed smile before continuing, “The Thousand Phalanx Empire had a sovereign crystal that it kept in the courtyard of the palace. With the legacy of thousands of years and growth behind them, they were old enough to have access to all sorts of rare classes. The most famous of which were of course the Phalanx Infantry and the Bastions. Unique classes are always better than base classes, and it is because of this that our people were denied access to them for generations, apart from a few notable exceptions.” By this point, they had passed through what seemed to serve as the loose perimeter of the tent city that had sprung up to house the close to one hundred thousand refugees that had escaped the empire’s fall.
Over on the other side of the river, Tilly could see a much smaller and orderly encampment for the Honu and the beginnings of miles of fields and pasture land. Things were being built and deconstructed all around him, but there was a certain amount of order to the chaos. He saw that despite the almost endless crowd of tents, they all more or less followed the neat square-like pattern originating from the huge log building going up at the center of the camp. This pattern allowed for easy movement through the tents and there were even a few clearly marked muddy roadways bisecting the sprawling formation. The wide churned roadways had been flagged every few feet to keep them clear of living spaces and were being well used, crowded with workers transporting logs from the mountain and hauling in what seemed to be game and forage from the surrounding forest.
“Ah, I sometimes forget just what a walk we are setting ourselves up for with this location…” Shuji huffed out as they moved down the simple but straight road and Tilly tried to keep his head screwed on straight as it swung back and forth to take in this new mass of races, all ready to create a new home after losing everything. Then a question occurred to him at Shuji’s statement,
“Wait, why the Temple? Don’t we need to protect the Crystal or something once we establish it? If we do it there, it will be so far from the city.”
“Yes, well…” Shuji responded between carefully managed breaths.
“The agreement was to make this crystal equally available, and with the threat we see rising, it seemed like a good idea to take on Divine Patronage again. We have not failed to notice how… uh, effective, your powerset has been against this enemy, and so the council compromised on this location. Equal access for all, and a defensible fallback location in the event of a catastrophe.”
“Divine Patronage? Wait… Does that mean you guys are all taking on Origin as the god of this kingdom or whatever? I mean, have any of you even heard of Origin before? Does anyone know any stories or myths that mention Him?” Tilly asked, surprised at how quickly they had decided to partner with a completely unknown power. From what little he had gathered, following a God here wasn’t like back home. It seemed to have many more practical requirements and benefits.
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“No, Mr. Tillman, none of us had heard mention of this figure before. But oftentimes, this can mean the God is very old; and any God who is old enough to be forgotten is powerful indeed if they can still touch the physical plane without worshipers. Also, both you and Ichiro seem to have been chosen as investures of its power, and typically, the best measure of a God is their followers.”
“Wait, Ichiro? What do you mea-” Tilly said, before being cut off by a loud croaking shout directed at him from the line of tents to the side of the road.
“That’s him, Edna! Hold on one cherry-picking minute Human!” Shouted a voice from within the tent city.
Tilly couldn’t help but tense at the sudden attention, as many turned to see what was happening. He had never liked crowds and nothing that had occurred the last two weeks had made that discomfort any more bearable. He scanned the faces turning towards him curiously with unease. He didn't find the owner of the voice in the immediate crowd, but as he looked further back into the tents he spotted an elderly Satyr hobbling around the walls of cloth and poles, waving him down, huffing and puffing with exertion. Tilly arrested his already slowed pace and stopped short, trying to process where he had seen the elderly satyr before. Shuji continued on a few more steps, before turning to find Tilly had stopped, his enthusiastic smile dampening,
“Mr. Tillman, they will be left waiting if we don't hurry,” Shuji muttered distractedly as he searched for the caller himself before finding the refugee moving toward them through the tents with a hobbled gait. His eyes flowed over the Satyr and moved back to Tilly with barely a pause,
“If we stop here, many will want to speak to you, but we simply don’t have time for that sort of thing right now.”
Tilly ignored him as he spotted an even smaller satyr woman following a few steps behind the old man who had finally made it through the tents. They both wore rough spun coveralls and they practically beamed at him between billowing breaths as they looked up and saw he had turned to wait. Identify pinged over both of them,
[Level 44 Farmer]
“Bless my oats! It is wonderful to see you!” The elderly satyr shouted with a youthful exuberance as he finally caught his breath,
“They said none knew if you had made it out of the city, but I knew a tough young man like you wouldn’t give up so easily, even if you did take your time coming through that portal. Edna and I have visited every day to see if you made it!” He wheezed triumphantly as he arrived before Tilly. The whirling in Tilly's mind tumbled into place as he finally placed the two.
“That's it! You are the two I carried to the portal right at the end!” Tilly exclaimed.
“Mr. Tillman, the council and perhaps even your God will be kept waiting…” Shuji muttered off to the side, leaning suggestively towards the mountain. Tilly barely spared Shuji a glance before turning back to the couple who had both reached out and grabbed his hands in theirs.
“It's great to see you two! I had hoped-” He started but was immediately cut off,
“Oh, Hush! No need to pretend you have been thinking about us two oldtimers!” The man cut him off with a knowing smile. Then his wife, Edna cut in,
“What George here means to say is we are very grateful for all you did, not just for us, but for many here. We have been hearing stories and we wanted to tell you that we don't care what the rumors say! If you and that nice lady are what humans are like, then humans are just fine with us!” She declared resolutely, taking time to look around at the crowd as if daring them to say differently. During her small speech, Tilly felt something being tucked into his hands, and Edna leaned forward to whisper,
“I know how hungry you young people get, here is a little something we scrounged up for you.” She said with a wink.
“Watch it, young man! If she were any younger, I might be concerned!” George said in a loud voice as if whatever they were doing had to be covered up somehow. He then pulled their hands back from the exchange and gave Tilly a firm nod.
Tilly felt the familiar long-sought warmth that always came with a public acknowledgment and its constant companion; shame. Even here and now, the wheedling fear that he was an imposter somehow wormed into the back of his mind. No matter who these people thought he was, they would never know just how many times he had chosen to hide from his pain instead of face it. He suddenly felt sick as he looked around at the smiling careworn faces watching the interaction. Worry wriggled in his stomach and he couldn’t shake the feeling that despite coming this far, he didn't have what it would take to keep all these people safe…
Then his eyes landed back on the wide-open expressions of the elderly couple before him. He considered them a moment as they smiled up at him, his hand felt around the small round gift they had discretely deposited in his hand. They did not have much to offer, but they offered it nonetheless. There was something firm in their understanding of life and he couldn’t help but remember them crawling hopelessly forward under the weight of an angry god. However vulnerable these two were, they exuded a sturdiness that somehow pushed back all of Tilly's worries. If they could keep fighting, so could he.
“Mr. Tillman, if you would-” Shuji began to interrupt, but Tilly silenced him with a jab of the elbow. Then he put on his best smile and found the most gracious tone he could,
“Thank you both! It means the world to me that you made it through. I don't know much about what is going on yet, but if I don't miss my guess, your skills will be immensely valuable to the city going forward.” Both of the elderly farmers straightened from the unconscious stoop that age imparts to all, and nodded in affirmation,
“Right you are, young man! Bless my peas! Right, you are!” George declared before turning to Edna,
“Come on wife. The boy is right, if we start soon, we might be able to plant another twenty hectares by dark.” He said, his face screwed up in determination.
“Yes dear, I’m sure we will.” She said, moving along with him back towards the river, but making sure to turn and send Tilly a wink and a warm smile.
“If you are quite done Mr. Tillman…” Shuji said, fidgeting in place.
“Oh, don't get your robes in a twist, Shuji! How about we jog the rest of the way to make up time since I have wasted too much of it.” Tilly shot back at the Librarian cutting his harsh tone with a sharp snarky smile. In response, Shuji’s face moved through a range of emotions before landing on a chagrined smile of his own.
“Ah, yes, fair point I suppose. Let's get on with it.” He sighed. Tilly then patted the rotund lapin on the shoulder, feeling lighter than he had in years. He’d gotten a good meal, a good night's sleep and for the first time since he had arrived, he wasn’t running for his life! He honestly had no clue if he could be what these people needed, but that wasn’t going to stop him from trying.
He moved off through the crowd and down the road, making his way towards the diminishing tree line at a slow jog. In his right hand, he fingered the barely ripe apple and smiled.
It was time to return to the temple, the place where it had all started.