“So you’re here for that. Well, go drown yourself.” Jun said plainly, walking past her grandma and handing me the flame canister. “These things look like they’re airtight, so maybe if we hold them really tight together and open that one, we could spread it to another one.”

“Oh, sweetie, I don’t mean it like that.” Keratily said with a little hurt in her voice. “I have no part in any traditions my descendants have put in place, and there is no hierarchy I’m going to make you submit to. You are your own person, but being a Keratily comes with responsibilities and benefits that you need to be aware of.”

Jun continued ignoring her grandma. “These things twist off to the right, and there’s an unnatural vacuum inside them that recovers when you close it. If these aren’t meant to be used to clear this place, I’ll drink deep from the abyss.”

Jun’s grandma looked at me with pleading eyes, but I trusted Jun just a little more than some woman I’d met earlier that day. “She is listening to you, you know. Just explain yourself and she can make her own decision; I’m her friend, not her handler.”

Keratily frowned at me, but nodded slowly. Her eyes were searching for something in me, but my armor prevented her from finding anything at all. “Juniper,” she started, “I know what’s happening back on Sotrien. Our family is trying desperately to hold on to the valuable pieces of our home that I passed down to them, while also struggling to expand what my descendants have earned on top of that. They think the all-world holds the key to that, and have been sending children my way for quite a long time now.”

“Telling me a story that I’m drowning in.” Jun muttered, twisting off the top of her glass cylinder with a grunt of effort. The vacuum was filled by an intrusion of air, and something deep purple flashed within the glass. “If you’re trying to convince me, this is the wrong way.”

“If you already know the circumstances, then you should know why I’m here. Your enemies back on Sotrien didn’t stop being your enemies when you came here, and you’ve gained a few new ones thanks to me. The Scalovera clan. All the other Keratilys who chose to side with my great grandson and his descendants. And… well…”

Jun’s grandma glanced down at me.

“Seb’s pretty much family to me, so you can say anything you’d say to me to him.” Jun said curtly. “Everyone else wanted me on this drowned new planet as soon as possible, and he was the first one to actually help me out.” She looked back at Keratily, who seemed genuinely disturbed by Jun’s words. “Maybe you can be the third.”

“Don’t you mean second? Or fourth, if you count Persephonia and Okeria, I suppose.”

“I haven’t decided if Okeria’s actually helping us, or if he’s doing all this for himself. So you’d be third.”

“That’s… strangely fair. I’ve known Okeria for longer than you’ve been alive, and you already seem to know him better than most. If you trust him, I’ll trust you. My great grandson sided with Endra. I was mildly annoyed when I found out, as Endurance Embodiments aren’t exactly the most trustworthy bunch, but after what happened to Matria Persephonia, I have good reason to believe he played a part in allowing that to come forth.”

Jun tilted her head to the side and laughed. “So one of my living ancestors apparently helped kill Nia, and you think telling me that is going to help me trust you? You’re the literal beginning of our family. A family that has given me nothing but money for my entire life, and offloaded me here the second they got the chance. None of that money came with me, by the way, so now I’ve got nothing to show from back home except some mental scars.”

Jun placed all the cylinders in my lap, then stood and turned in one swift motion to face her grandma head-on. “I’m not the successor you’re looking for. Skies above, I don’t even want to be a part of this forsaken family. So whatever you want me to do, don’t expect me to do it for free. Don’t expect me to do it at all. I’m here for me first, Seb second, and everything else a really distant third. Say your damned piece and leave us the fuck alone.”

I blinked in surprise as I actually heard ‘fuck’ leave Jun’s mouth, and I stared at the back of her head for a moment before remembering that there was someone she’d just told to fuck off. Keratily didn’t have the decency to look ashamed, but there was something there. Disappointment.

“Juniper…” She sighed in that damn tone that everyone used when they were about to belittle someone’s problems and worries.

“Hey.” I cut in, storing all the canisters in my inventory and stepping up next to Jun. “You say one more word in that tone and this conversation is over.”

“I… hah, who am I fooling.” Keratily sighed, hunching over and suddenly seeming centuries older. “I’m an old woman, Juniper, and I have been for centuries. No matter how powerful I may be, I can’t stop my own kin from taking advantage of what I worked so hard to make for them. Your role in the family is revoked. I will not ask you to do anything as the progenitor of our name, but instead as a fellow follower of Moricla. Persephone prayed to no god, but she truly embodied a part of Moricla’s teachings that have unfortunately been lost to time.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

The rest of Keratily’s armor disappeared, and she slowly lowered herself to the ground next to the slyk. “Moricla is not the god of innocence itself; she would have been transmuted into an Embodiment the moment our world was connected to the all-world if that was true. Moricla is the god of the innocent. She protects the innocent, fighting against harsh reality to keep their minds hopeful and free from existential worry for as long as physically possible. And even after that, Moricla does not abandon them. For everyone has some innocence in them; a small thing we call ‘hope’. A childlike prayer into the unknown that sees every horrible thing that happens and innocently says ‘it will be better’. Persephone lost all innocence, and all hope, but twisted herself into someone who could shelter others from those who seek to destroy innocence.”

Keratily looked up at Jun and I, taking in both of our helmets for a moment before she continued. “That is the first teaching of Moricla; protect innocence and the innocent wherever you can. She says nothing about your own innocence, contrary to what everyone believes. That is why children pray to her, but are not considered followers or priests. They are the ones being protected, not the protectors, in all but the most heartbreaking cases.”

Jun reluctantly nodded. “I… yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I always thought my connection to Moricla was because I never really got to have a childhood, or because she’s literally my you-plus-one great grandma, but the whole protection thing makes more sense.”

“That is only the first teaching of the three Moricla instills in her loyals. The second is simple; retain whatever innocence you have left. Whether it be a childlike enjoyment, or the hope that our people won’t go back to war for absolutely no benefit to anyone who would be fighting, Moricla wants us to hold on to that innocence. But the third teaching…” Keratily paused, then rose to her full height in the blink of an eye. Her entire demeanor had changed, and now she didn’t seem anything like the feeble old lady she’d acted like.

“The third teaching is that the destruction of innocence must be punished, as the one who has lost their innocence usually cannot fight back. There is a reason this third teaching is never once spoken of in scriptures back on Sotrien, or whenever Moricla would come and speak to the children. It is the exact opposite of what she carries herself as, but if anyone had ever seen mom the way I had, they would know that it is just as important a part of her as the other two teachings.”

Keratily stepped forward, raising a hand to touch the slyk’s rock, and it instantly changed. What had once been oil was now red-pink crystal, with arcs of electricity rebounding through it like a tesla coil.

“When innocence is lost, it can never truly be regained.” Keratily said softly, pressing her hand further down to the slyk. The crystal shattered at her touch, electrical signals trapped inside with nowhere to go buzzing desperately about. She watched them in sadness until they died out completely. “Have you heard the legend of the quiet god, Juniper?”

Jun gulped, then nodded. “The god who culled the gods down to what we have now, and who sleeps in the core of our planet to destroy any of them who turn against us?”

“The quiet god does not sleep. She wears a perfectly white dress and a mask of innocence.” Keratily whispered, and a shiver ran down my spine. “And she needs to, she will wade through the blood of the slain innocents to infallibly bring an end to those who dare end innocence.”

“But the gods can’t come through to the all-world. So Moricla needs representatives here that can do it in her stead.” Jun said with increasing vigor while nodding to herself, as if slowly piecing together a puzzle in her mind. “That’s why our family pushes people here; the tradition is still there, but they’ve completely forgotten why they do it. Abyss below, we end more innocence than almost everyone else back home. Moricla must be pissed.”

“Disappointed and seething.” Keratily agreed. She stepped up to Jun and placed the crystal in her hands, then grabbed her by the shoulders and locked eyes with her. “Humanity is fresh to this world. They are completely innocent, and the Embodiments are taking advantage of that to wreak havoc all around the all-world. Persephonia was one of the first, but she will not be the last of Endra’s sacrifices. Others will see Endra’s success and ask why they haven’t done the same. And the Primordial Embodiments are powerless to stop them, as they cannot break the rules that they themselves put in place. So it is up to people like us to stop this.”

Jun seemed a little overwhelmed by everything that had just been dumped on her. Hell, I was overwhelmed myself, and I hadn’t had my entire view of a god I’d grown up with shattered. But that did leave me with a few questions that I had yet to ask The End, and one that I probably should’ve asked a whole lot sooner.

{Am I your only chosen?} I asked, then began queuing up the other two questions I’d come up with while Jun was still processing Keratily’s intense revelations.

//YES, YOU ARE.

//THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT LED TO YOU EXISTING AS YOU CURRENTLY DO ARE SO FAR OUTSIDE THE REALM OF PLAUSIBILITY THAT I WAS ABLE TO LAY CLAIM TO YOU.

//FLUX AND STAGNATION BOTH HAD SIMILAR ENCOUNTERS MANY CENTURIES AGO, BUT HAVE YET TO HAVE A SECOND APPEAR.

So I was the only one in the all-world that represented The End. That seemed like it could come back to bite me in the ass if anyone ever found out about it that wasn’t named Jun. {Okay, good to know. Second question; why did you send me to try and save Nia if you knew she was going to die? You said that I could save her, so why did you lie to me?}