He looked up at an unfamiliar ceiling, one made of a dark stone that reminded him of polished black granite, except where he expected to see quartz he instead saw some sort of luminescent crystal.
Then his memories came flooding back, his fighting instincts honed over countless hours of training and actual battles kicked in. He kicked up into a backward flip that brought him to the floor, his feet sliding a bit on the polished surface, his mana already circulating.
“Peace,” the man in front of him said, raising his hands to show that he was unarmed.
He took in the man’s height and build, somewhat scrawny for his height. Then he noticed the hair, then they eyes in the face that was impossibly old for what it should have been.
“Joram?” He asked, not sure if he believed what he was seeing.
Knock-knock, came a familiar invitation, one he quickly accepted. He now knew of a certitude who stood in front of him.
‘I’m sorry that I’m late,’ Joram sent, sounding incredibly sad and guilty.
Ivaryn felt at his chest, then looked down at it. He was wearing… funeral clothes. He quickly tugged the robe-like garments aside and checked his chest, but found only smooth skin where he remembered being pierced by a dozen arrows.
“How,” he asked out loud, unable to concentrate enough to speak through telepathy.
“Well, that’s a long story,” Joram said as he approached. “But first, I’ve missed you,” he said, wrapping his long arms around him in a surprisingly tight embrace.
It took a moment for his brain to catch up to that before his arms came up and returned the hug. It had stunned him, as Joram hadn’t been that much of a hugger with him, instead preferring his mother because “Dad’s too hard.”
They stood there in silence for a few minutes as Ivaryn let Joram take his time to get things sorted in his head. While he stood there, he glanced around, taking note of the many names on the wall plaques that decorated the hall, and he realized that he was in a mausoleum.
“Son?”
“Yeah?”
“I think that there’re some things I need to be caught up on,” he said, taking his son by the shoulders and holding him at arms’ length.
“Yeah, there are a few,” Joram said, then proceeded to tell him a tale of much grief and woe.
He hadn’t realized that the attack had been so… deadly. He grieved for the fallen, even though Joram explained that he could bring people back from the dead. Something so mind-boggling that he wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t felt himself die protecting his family.
Joram went on to explain how his friend Avi had saved who she could while retrieving as many of the dead as she could find. He went on to explain where they were, who had survived, and who they suspected had been taken away by their attackers. His heart grew heavy for those taken, especially Tillia, as she had practically been family to them.
Joram explained more, going from topic to topic, switching to telepathic speech partway through as he stepped to another plaque.
Ivaryn watched as Joram touched the wall, then placed a section of it on the floor, leaning it against the wall. His breath caught at the sight of his mother-in-law laying so serenely. Joram continued to explain things as he pulled out the table that rolled out like a drawer, bringing Bezia out into the light.
‘One moment, please,’ Joram sent, then suddenly changed into a tall man much broader than Ivaryn was, with dark brown hair that changed into a fiery ruby red at its ends.
Ivaryn nearly had a heart attack. But he remembered Joram’s explanation about his nature and calmed his racing heart.
Then the unbelievable happened right before his eyes.
After a few moments, Bezia suddenly took a deep breath as her eyes shot open. Ivaryn glanced over to his son and noticed that he was already back to his normal- er, human- self.
It took Bezia a few moments before she, too, had a reaction similar to his own, but Joram soon calmed her down, then apparently added her to his Network, because they then began to converse telepathically.
Ivaryn nodded to Bezia as she looked at him and saw his burial clothes, causing her expression to actually soften.
This time, Joram kept his explanation brief, touching only on how he’d brought her back and what she needed to expect when he did it again.
Ivaryn noticed that Joram had gone a bit pale after bringing Bezia back, and heisted to say something when he reached up and pulled another section of wall off, leaning it against the wall the way he’d done for his grandmother’s tomb.
‘How did you do that?’ Bezia sent, awe lacing her tone.
‘I’ll get to that later,’ Joram sent back, causing Bezia’s lips to thin in displeasure. ‘I need to get to Gramps first,’ he finished, wiping the displeasure from her face as though it had never been.
Joram again shifted into what he called his planar form, causing Bezia to twitch slightly in surprise. Again, Joram pulled out the bed/table, revealing his father-in-law this time.
After a few more moments Xander took a deep breath as his eyes opened wide. This time, instead of taking a moment to process things, he immediately lashed out to the side, targeting Joram- even though he’d already changed back- with a hand stiffened like a spear.
For his part, Joram just grabbed his wrist, stopping the attack dead.
Ivaryn’s jaw dropped, as did Bezia’s as they beheld the sight. For his part, Xander blinked and seemed to finally recognize Joram before relaxing his hand and sighing softly.
Now it was Xander’s turn to get added to the Network and get a quick debrief of what had happened and how he was now alive.
‘But first, I need to take you somewhere,’ Joram sent, looking a bit sad and thoroughly drained.
Ivaryn could tell that Bezia wanted to grab Joram’s ear and twist it until he spilled all the beans, but held back; much to his astonishment. He’d never known the woman to give up on a piece of knowledge that danced in front of her nose.
‘Lead the way,’ Xander said, still shifting his clothes uncomfortably. Ivaryn couldn’t blame him, as he also very much wanted to get out of his burial clothes and into something much less morbid.
Joram nodded, then Ivaryn felt a slight… wave, go over him. Then he was in another room, one filled with devices he’d never seen before.
He saw a woman stand up from her chair, her back to them, and his breath caught. Not just at the sight of his wife, as beautiful as she was, but at the sight of the Matriarch laying in bed, unconscious.
But then his thoughts were brought back to his wife as she threw herself into his arms, now sobbing so hard that her whole body shook.
* * * * *
Avi was very glad that she wasn’t there in person for the family reunion. As it was, it was difficult to see on the security feed, especially with so many of their emotions overflowing in the Network. With how Joram set up his “chat groups”, their overflowing emotions wouldn’t be felt by others in the Network. Just her, because she was still a part of Joram.
With the reunion going on, Avi decided to send Asura back to her work. No need to have an extra person added to the mix. There was plenty of time to get Sulia on track, after all.
Avi/Alicia removed her AR glasses and looked out the window of her little manor. She’d gone and picked up her school supplies, textbooks, and uniforms already, and was just killing time at the moment.
She had wanted to start building her questing team, but seeing as how she was only an F-Class quester at the moment, there weren’t any prospects willing to join yet.
Even with Joram’s teasing regarding her plans for her team, she was determined to build it how she wanted. She’d already caught wind of the so-called “Goddess Ranking”, which both annoyed and amused her with its existence. But that only strengthened her resolve.
She would build a questing team comprised solely of those on the Goddess Ranking list and show those desperate people that the women they placed on pedestals were more than just pretty faces to be ogled at and coveted… and other stuff.
Alicia slipped her glasses back on, stood up, and stretched. It was about time to head out and socialize. She’d win them all over to her side. And the first step to doing that was to open a dessert café on campus.
She’d capture their hearts with sweets they’d never before experienced!
* * * * *
Breath. Just, breath, he thought, his body doing just that.
It had been an emotionally packed reunion, one that he’d quickly slipped away from. He just couldn’t handle it, but he had promised to return later to answer any questions they might have.
So, there he was, back in his workshop. But this time he was in the woodworking section playing around with various woods he and Avi had gathered over the years.
He tapped at one thin piece of wood after another, listening to what it sounded like. It took him several dozen before he was happy, then he started the process all over again with short lengths of wood, but this time feeling how the vibrations travelled down the wood from one end to the other. Eventually, he also found something he liked, then set it aside.
He’d already made the keys and pegs and other little necessities, so he was now ready.
Joram placed all the materials he’d need on the workbench in front of him along with all the other pre-made parts, then manifested [Modify Matter]. As he concentrated on the Power, he watched the thin boards of wood warp to fit the new form he desired. Each of the prepared pieces flowed into place, affixing to the wood and through it. Last came the strings, unwinding, anchoring, then sliding through the keys at the head.
Second to last, to finish off the work, a thin stream of varnish came and coated the instrument, giving it a beautiful natural and warm finish. Finally, a pickguard affixed itself, finishing the look.
Joram picked up his newly created guitar, tucked the body under his right arm, and gently plucked the strings to hear what it sounded like.
With the hardwood he’d used for the backplate and sides, and the softer wood for the top, the strings produced a soft and warm sound that brought a smile to his face. After another couple of minutes, he had it tuned just so. With that done, he retrieved a small Dust Crystal and added a simple enchantment to the guitar that allowed it to always stay in tune. A second enchantment added an auto [Repair] feature, just in case.
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After slipping the shoulder strap in place, Joram shifted back to the prime and brought out a chair to sit on.
He looked across the small, snow-covered plateau he found himself on. It hadn’t changed much in all this time. The elongated dome was still there, still looked the same. He glanced over at the shorn side of the mountain peak, still impressed that a being could get so powerful that they could cleave a mountain top in twain and fling one side away.
Well, that’s what he imagined had happened anyway.
He sat down on the chair and shifted the guitar into place. He hadn’t touched one since his training with Altaea, who’d been amused that he hadn’t done much more than dabble with the Fender he’d had sitting in his apartment for years before her arrival.
She hadn’t focussed too much on musical training, but had gotten him to a “decent level that shouldn’t embarrass” him if he tried to play in front of someone.
He chuckled at that memory. Music had been important to her, so she’d drilled musical theory into him along with making him practice until his fingers could fly across the strings and his voice could rival any professional back home.
Yeah, “decent”. The standards of a goddess were indeed on another level.
He shifted back to his High Elan form, then started strumming.
At first it was just a few chords from this song or that, then as he got back into it, he began playing full pieces. Eventually, a song came to mind and his fingers followed, soon followed by his voice.
“… when a~ll, I wa~nt, is you~…”
* * * * *
Bai Lian stopped as she was about to place her stone, then looked around, a slight frown marring her face.
Mo Yu’s hand paused as she lifted her teacup to her lips, also looking around, not sure what the feeling she had was. It wasn’t strong, almost like an echo of an echo. Her other hand came up to her heart unconsciously, Bai Lian mirroring the gesture with a faraway look in her eyes.
“What, is that?” She asked softly, barely daring to speak.
Bai Lian just shook her head with the barest of movements.
* * * * *
Wentian took a fist to the face for his distraction, sending him onto his back several feet away.
“Ah, see, you got distracted there,” his sparring partner chided him. “What’s up?”
Wentian rubbed his jaw, deep in thought.
“I… don’t know,” he said eventually, deeply disturbed by the sensation.
* * * * *
Well, shit, Kinkade thought as he, disguised as Joram, finished buying the textbooks for the courses he’d just registered for.
If he knew Joram, and he should- because he was Joram- he’d been emotionally overloaded. It, quite frankly, didn’t surprise him in the least.
With everything that had happened, Joram hadn’t had enough emotional release to properly grieve and move ahead again. Then he had gone and done what he’d done, setting up the conditions for an emotional overflow. He’d been curious about the guitar building, but Joram had managed to keep those thoughts to himself.
Now, well, everyone in the Network was being affected by it. So, Kinkade made a few adjustments to first ease off the emotional leakage, then closed it off entirely. He didn’t know if everyone would have felt the leakage equally, but he hoped that it had been subtle enough that not many people noticed.
“Welp, back to more errands!” He said out loud, getting him more than a few odd stares.
* * * * *
*1346.02.07*
Mo Yu watched as Joram strummed his oddly shaped stringed instrument in the garden. He hadn’t said much over the past several days after he’d shown up with it. Instead, he’d stayed in the garden, playing almost non-stop, occasionally singing along in a voice that could melt ice in a blizzard.
She worried about him, not having seen such behaviour before in him.
That said, she found that she enjoyed his playing. The sound of the instrument differed greatly from the guzheng she was accustomed to playing. It echoed less; its tones less sharp for the most part. But it had a warmer sound to it, a resonance that also managed to tug at the heart.
Mo Yu wasn’t at all familiar with the standards one would judge someone’s playing of that instrument, but she would place it at the level of Master, or so close that it didn’t matter. It was done so well that her desire to pick up the guzheng again, to join him playing, was rekindled.
She didn’t though, as the sounds of his playing and vocal accompaniment had attracted many listeners who inquired about the source. She and Bai Lian had had to take shifts answering their questions, and keeping them from sneaking around to get a peek at the mysterious player.
Word of his playing had even gotten to the Department of Music. One of the teachers had insisted that she meet with the player of the unknown instrument. It had taken several hours to convince her to give up on meeting him for now, though Mo Yu suspected that the woman was still keeping an eye on them.
Then the playing stopped, causing her to refocus on him.
He looked… better, now. When he’d first arrived, his expression had been blank, his eyes appearing as though he was staring at something too far away to see clearly. But now, now there was life to be seen. His eyes once again contained the spark she was used to seeing, his posture once again confident.
“Welcome back, young master,” she said by way of greeting. Which, for some reason, made his lips twist into a wry grin.
“Thank you,” he said, no trace of his singing voice to be heard. “Is there anything else we need to pick up before school starts tomorrow?”
Mo Yu shook her head as he walked up to her and towards the manor, turned, and followed at his side, but just a bit behind him as they walked.
“Everything is arranged, from food to stationary to textbooks,” she reported, getting a nod in return.
“I’ve gone over your cultivation methods and have made a few suggestions,” he said, then handed her three rings with what looked like emerald-cut diamonds the size of her thumbnail set into them, causing her eyes to nearly pop out. “Just put them on and you’ll understand,” he said vaguely as they entered the manor.
Mo Yu looked at them a bit closer and noticed that each of the rings was individually labelled for them. She took another moment to admire the strange design of the band. The dark silvery metal looked as though it had been woven together from six separate strands of metal that ended by clasping the diamond in place. One, with Ren Wentian’s name engraved on it, was a bit heavier set than theirs. Likely to make it more suitable for a man.
But she couldn’t feel anything… special about it, which caused her brow to lower.
“Young master,” she started as she caught up to him in his study. “You made these with those ancient techniques, didn’t you?” She asked accusatorily.
He looked over to her from where he was in the process of sitting behind his desk.
“Yup,” he said as his bottom connected with the chair. “It’s better that way, as anyone would just mistake the ring for a mundane item.”
She couldn’t believe what’s she’d just heard. It took her a few moments for her voice to come back to her.
“Joram,” she said, paused to choose her words, then continued. “There is no way that something this exquisite would be considered ‘mundane’. The diamond alone would have every thief within a thousand miles salivating at the thought of plucking it from my finger. Taken together with the band, and any noble or collector would bid outrageous sums if this showed up in an action.”
Joram just looked at her blankly, making her want to facepalm.
“So, what you’re saying is that you like it?” He asked, raising his left eyebrow slightly.
Mo Yu gave up.
“It is an amazing gift. Thank you, young master,” she said with a bow, hands cupped in front of her.
“You’re welcome,” he replied kindly.
“Then, I’ll give the others their rings,” she said, then stepped out after another nod from Joram.
Mo Yu ran into Bai Lian in the kitchen. She was preparing a stir-fry, chopping the vegetables and throwing them into a larger bowl.
“Junior sister,” Mo Yu said, getting her attention. “The young master has a gift for each of us,” she said, then presented the ring to her.
Bai Lian’s eyes grew wide, her mouth opening into an “O” shape. She reached out slowly, then took the ring at Mo Yu’s urging.
“He said that they contain our cultivation methods along with his suggestions for them. It seems that we only need to wear it for us to access the information,” she said, then placed her ring on her third finger.
Her eyes widened slightly as the information on her cultivation method appeared in her mind, ready to be reviewed in perfect detail at any time. She found that some sections of the text were grey in colour, followed by a section in emerald green. Upon further inspection, the grey text was just the original cultivation method, while the green sections were Joram’s thoughts on it, and his suggestions for an alteration to the original.
Bai Lian had also slipped her ring on, copying her placement. She had a slightly confused look on her face that soon turned to one of contemplation.
After a few minutes, they looked at each other and nodded.
“Worthy of being from the Clear Knowledge Clan,” Bai Lian said gravely, slowly nodding to add emphasis.
“Indeed,” Mo Yu agreed. “I’ll find Wentian,” she said, then went to do just that.
The sparring junky was easy enough to find, she just had to go to the nearest sparring stage.
She waited until he finished the match, taking the win, then waved him over.
“A gift from the young master,” she said, palming the ring to him.
He raised an eyebrow, but kept his hand closed as he transferred it into his storage ring a moment later.
‘Just put it on when you’re free, and you’ll understand,’ she sent, then left again, leaving a shrugging Wentian behind.
On her way back, she stopped in front of one of the general stores, thinking. Decided, she went in and looked around. It may have been classified as a general store, but she noticed that its general supplies were limited to only about one quarter of the store’s available space. The rest was filled with an assortment of musical instruments, various items for their upkeep and oddly enough, an impressive selection of board games.
“Welcome, miss. Please let us know if you require any assistance,” a greeter welcomed her with a smile, the young woman dressed in what must have been the store’s uniform. She wore a white blouse with a red ribbon holding her collar closed along with a pleated skirt that ended just above the knee.
Mo Yu wasn’t sure why she would agree to wear something so revealing, but she supposed one found work where they could.
“Thank you,” she replied before walking over to inspect the instruments on display.
She recognized most of what was on display, from various flutes to a half-dozen horns of varying shape. The stringed instruments, though, took up most of the stock. There were harps of varying size as well as several guzheng than ranged from a mere three feet wide to one that was over six feet wide.
She took note of the zithers on display and wondered if her skills would translate well over to that. She found several variations of a lute from a biwa to sangen. But anywhere she looked, she couldn’t find an instrument that resembled the “guitar” the young master had been playing.
“Do you have a question, miss?” An attendant asked from just behind her.
“Are these the only stringed instruments you carry?” She asked, turning slightly to speak with the young woman.
“Yes, I am sorry to say,” she replied with a dip of her head. “These are the most common instruments used at the Academy. Though, if you wish, you can have a look through our catalogue to see if anything in there would interest you.”
“Thay would be lovely, thank you,” Mo Yu replied before the attendant dipped her head again and hurried away to retrieve the catalogue.
Is the young master’s guitar something from another era? She mused as she waited. Would this store even have something like that available to order?
The attendant returned and handed over the catalogue with a smile, then directed Mo Yu to the side where a counter stood that would allow her to more comfortably peruse the book.
Page after page, Mo Yu searched through the catalogue and was disappointed. Not for the selection, no. The selection was admirably robust. No, she was disappointed because the instruments that came anywhere close to the guitar in form were the biwa and sangen.
Disappointed, she closed the catalogue and looked back at the guzheng again.
She shook her head, dismissing that thought.
“Thank you for your assistance, miss,” Mo Yu said as she passed the catalogue back to the attendant, then left the store to head home.
Her steps slowed for a moment as that thought struck her. Yes, home, she thought with a faint smile. She might be on the other side of the world from where she’d been born, having been sent on an errand that she now considered evil. Even though she had died, and been miraculously brought back to life; now sworn to the young master of a destroyed clan. She couldn’t complain.
She’d had every expectation that Joram would exact his vengeance upon her when she’d learned who he was. But instead, he’d turned her expectations upside-down. Yes, he’d been distant with them at first, but he’d warmed to them surprisingly well over such a short period of time.
Her pace returned to its normal rate as her thoughts became clearer as they were slowly organized.
Mo Yu didn’t feel the usual discomfort of a man’s lustful gaze upon her when she was with Joram. She didn’t know if it was because he was an ancient existence who’d mastered himself over millennia of meditations, who’d then been reincarnated into this era or what. The thought that he might prefer men was soon discarded though, for he not only lacked the subtle cues that came with that, but also the look in his eye when he regarded other men.
Could it be that he sees me as a child? She wondered, the thought causing not a bit of shock to her pride. She wasn’t the sort of person who went about drawing others’ gazes because she loved the way it made her feel. On the contrary, she dressed the way she did to minimize those sorts of looks.
Well, mostly. She did still consider functionality and utility when she chose her clothing. One never knew when one might find themself in a fight, after all.
Then she remembered how the young master had reacted to Garros’ abusive treatment of her. There had been a fury that had scared her white.
Was that the anger of someone seeing a child being bullied? She asked herself, now chewing lightly on her lower lip as she stepped out of the way of foot traffic to stand beside a tree on the boulevard.
No. No, that was much more, she thought, then blushed furiously. She’d seen young men running to defend their girlfriends from others who thought they could claim their beloved for some fun. She’d even seen it when various idiots had fought over the “right” to claim her.
But that didn’t quite match. Those fights had been full of anger, jealousy, and vengeance. Joram had been… scarily cold and in control of his fury. Yes, his bloodlust had leaked out enough to have a physical impact on the world around them. But he hadn’t flown into a mindless rage, nor had he done more than remove Garros’ hand from her shoulder.
From what she’d seen during his Quest Hall assessment, Joram could have easily done more.
So, what is it? He doesn’t look at Bai Lian and I with lust, nor does he treat us like slaves…. It’s almost as though he treats us as… friends?
Is that it? The unbelievable thought came and sat in her mind for a long time, not able to take root because of what she’d done to his clan.
Mo Yu dismissed all those thoughts and starting walking again. They would do her no good until she had more to go on.
Instead, she decided to ask the young master if she could also get a guitar. Its sound called to her, and she felt that she might benefit from learning to play it.
Thus resolved, she entered the manor with her head held high and a small smile on her lips.