“What’s gotten under her hair?” Rieren whispered to Amalyse.

Her friend took a deep breath. “I think she was being sincere.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that at all.”

“I think she’s simply stressed about her eventual return to… well, to the court, it would seem. Hmm. I’d be quite stressed in her shoes too, now that I think about it. That explains why she’s been a bit cranky and jittery during our travels together. I thought being the scion of a clan like the Arraihos was stressful. But being the daughter of the Emperor? No thanks.”

“And she is correct. We all are selfish, are we not?”

Amalyse sighed. “I suppose.”

It couldn’t be denied. Rieren had left the Sect not just because to protect it by preventing those who hunted her from targeting it. She had also left to grow faster. Meanwhile, Amalyse wished to remain at the Sect in defiance of her clan’s needs for her, while Rollo was only interested in taking his place in the Karlosyne clan for the glory it would bring him personally.

Or used to be, at least. Rieren wasn’t certain how true that was any longer.

Only Silk among them was truly concerned with something other than herself. She was putting her supposed duty as a child of the Forborne Emperor before anything else.

It still was hard to believe for Rieren that they had just met a potential heir to the throne of the Elderlands. In fact, if the Forborne Emperor had no other bastards hidden somewhere and did not go on to have children, Silk would be the sole heir.

Their future Empress.

Rieren’s mind was having difficulty wrapping around that concept.

“Yes, I find it hard to believe too,” Amalyse said. “Just between you and me, of course. Don’t tell Silk that. She’s going to bite my head off.”

Rieren laughed a little. Then she sobered as she looked at her dear friend. “You call yourself selfish, yet here you are, complying with your clan’s demand to get out of the Sect. I understand the politics there make associating with the Sect a pitfall for many, one of the reasons why Silk left too. I would have thought you would remain there, no matter what.”

“Well, I do need to get stronger. Since I have to journey through the Enlightenment Locales anyway, might as well comply with my beloved mother’s wishes while I’m at it.”

“That is fair, I suppose.”

“And what about you, Rieren? What are you going to do when you’ve become strong enough?” Her eyes got a serious look. “Still set on taking on the gods again?”

Rieren nodded. She could feel how her face had turned grim. “I will do what I must.”

“Must, is it?”

Rieren didn’t reply. That line of thinking… brought up a complicated scenario. For Rieren had taken on her old path again because she had been the only one who had been successful in it. The only one who had wrought any meaningful change.

The only one who had survived through various means and for various reasons to tackle the gods directly.

Perhaps, with how she had changed things, it might be different. Maybe this time, someone else would rise up to defeat the gods, whether Rieren did so or not. If that were to happen, what need was there for Rieren to struggle onwards? She could realize that little dream of peace she had nurtured oh so long ago.

But no. Rieren couldn’t leave it to others. That would be the height of irresponsibility. However things might have changed, if there was one lesson Rieren had learned, it was that if she ever wished to see something done, she would have to make it happen herself.

“I know that look,” Amalyse said.

Rieren sighed, though she kept it short. “I will not be dissuaded from my path.”

“Yes, yes, I know. Stubborn Rieren.” Amalyse rubbed a hand under her chin. “But the real question is what we’re going to do about all the Avatars and the monsters roaming all over the Elderlands. I don’t know how long they can sustain themselves like this.”

“I… do not know either.”

It was a bit maddening that she didn’t, now that she thought about it. Her experiences in the previous timeline could guide them through dungeons well and tell them how to defeat specific monsters without trouble. But when it came to ensuring the survival of humanity… Rieren faltered.

Back then, Rieren had only cared for herself and her goal. Mostly. Little aberrations of selflessness and spikes of surprising altruism didn’t count.

She wasn’t proud of it. However, even though she certainly was no paragon of kind-hearted generosity now either, she at least wasn’t discarding the impact her choices might have on others. Rieren realized that she was at least pausing to consider what might happen to others. Perhaps she was getting a little better at it.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Perhaps the losses and the hollowness they had left within her had taught her the right lesson. Perhaps now that she had them all back in this new lease at life, now that she would do a great deal more to prevent losing them again, she understood how others felt in the same regard.

Rieren knew that she didn’t want anyone else to feel the same pain of despair. Of apocalyptic desolation.

“Will you stay with the Sect indefinitely?” Rieren asked. “Even when the Arraihos clan calls for you?”

“I… I’m not sure yet. Guess time will only tell.”

Rieren pressed a hand to her friend’s shoulder. “Whatever you decide, you will have my support.”

Amalyse grinned. “Of course I will.”

Rollo tutted. He got to his feet and dusted off his leggings. “You people worrying about duty and responsibility and what not. It’s all so insane to me sometimes.”

“What are you on about?” Amalyse asked.

He looked at them like they were idiots. “I have absolutely no intention of denying anything Silk said. I’m as selfish a bastard as can be. In fact, I don’t even give much of a monkey’s fart to what might happen to the Karlosyne.”

“So you’re in this whole thing just for yourself? What in the Abyss do you even really want, Rollo?”

He gave them an almighty shrug. “Beats me. All I might have wanted, I got a good taste of in the last timeline. Nothing feels like it would be something I’d want nowadays. Well, hmm, perhaps I could spend more time in pleasure houses now that I’m free…”

“What?”

“Do you think they still have functioning pleasure houses in Falstrom?”

“Rollo. Get out of here before I kick you into the lake.”

Rollo sighed, shook his head, then turned and began to walk away. “See, I can barely motivate myself to actually reprimand you for using such words against an Archnoble’s son. Keeping up this act is a pain. Farewell, you responsible nutcrackers.”

Rieren stared at his departing back. All that bravado and arrogance h normally displayed was all just… an act? She found it hard to believe, but then, grief tended to make people do strange things. Rollo didn’t look like he had gotten over the death of Folend, though she had never really determined just how close those two had been.

“Can you believe him?” Amalyse looked like she wanted to spit out whatever terrible taste the conversation with Rollo had left them. “Not a single Abyss-cursed care in the world. Actually wish I could be as lackadaisical as that.”

“I find it unfathomable myself,” Rieren said.

With their companions gone for the time being, she and Amalyse decided to sit at the edge of the placid lake and enjoy the scenery together for some time. They would be taking different paths when this was over, so neither were sure when they would meet again.

Rieren would be following Mercion’s lead and likely end up at Falstrom sooner rather than later. At the same time, Amalyse was headed south. Where Rieren’s main “employer” was the Ordorian clan via their scion, Mercion, the Lionshard disciples had been called up by the Stannerig. Though, since both clans mainly resided at Falstrom, they might meet up again soon.

“You know someone called Kerolast?” Rieren asked.

Amalyse threw a flat pebble across the surface of the lake to make it skip and jump over the water. “Yes. He’s the one who contacted the Sect and hired us, so to speak.”

“Ah, I see. I met him.”

“In the same place you met Mercion, yes?”

Rieren nodded.

They spent some time talking about more idle things. Regardless of her ultimate wish to remain at the Sect, Amalyse was enjoying getting out and about. Rieren supposed her real wish was not to be beholden to her mother and her clan, but she didn’t say it. That would be cruel.

Rieren enjoyed describing the strange sights she had seen at her previous Enlightenment Locale. They had a nice time talking about and positing different theories they came up with that somehow explained how everything worked in that strange land. It was fun to imagine expanding that to include the rest of the world, though it was a bit morbidly horrific too.

At some point, Mercion came in and interrupted their conversation. He looked grim though, so Rieren couldn’t hold it against him for long.

“Has something happened?” Rieren asked. “How are they?”

Mercion looked across the lake. “They are doing well. Alive, at least, and their wounds have been patched up. Still unconscious, however. We will need to wait if we want to find some specific answers from them, though we really can’t wait any longer.”

Rieren stood up. “So, we are moving?”

“Yes. But the more curious part is that one of them is missing.”

“What?” Amalyse asked. “Have you checked the dungeon properly? There were some paths we didn’t take that ended in dead ends or traps. Maybe the missing one took one of those paths.”

Mercion shook his head. “We’ve checked everywhere. One of the those captured by the monsters is not in the dungeon. We cannot tell if they were ever in the dungeon to begin with.”

Rieren frowned. In the back of her mind, she had been considering many potential possibilities about what might have caused the abduction of those in the settlement. The fact that one of them wasn’t even among those who had been recovered threw a twist into the mix.

“Come,” Mercion said. “We should get going.”

“What about the missing one?” Amalyse asked.

“Unfortunately, there isn’t much we can do. Those in the settlement are going to look for them, but we cannot spare further efforts just in this single location. There are other places we need to pay attention to. Join us soon, Rieren.”

Mercion nodded once at Amalyse as some sort of distracted farewell, then headed away. Farther off, Rieren could make out where the others were joining together. They had brought the large winged lizard as well. It really was time to depart.

“So, this is it, then,” Amalyse said. She didn’t look happy at their parting, but it had been coming. “Do you know when I might see you again?”

Rieren pursed her lips. Like Mercion, she was distracted too, trying to wonder what might have happened to the missing person. But she pulled most of her focus in on her friend.

“Eventually,” she said. “We both have to cultivate and get through the Enlightened realm. I assume we will meet in one of the Enlightenment Locales.”

Amalyse laughed. “Just have to tour through the whole of the Shatterlands to find out which one you’re squatting on.”

“No such need.” Rieren reached up and patted Batcat. “We have our little messenger to keep in touch.”

Amalyse reached over and petted the cat too, making it murmur in its sleep. “True. We have an adorable little messenger. It hasn’t grown at all since you found it, has it?”

“Uh… not that I have noticed, no.”

Tutting, Amalyse shook her head. Rieren put it as yet another one of its oddities of being a Spirit Beast, not a normal cat. They parted with an embrace, promising to keep up communication. Rieren managed to find where Silk and Rollo had gone to and said her farewells to them too, who eventually reciprocated it by dint of being fellow disciples, if not exactly friends.

Then she joined Mercion and headed towards their next location.