Chapter 304: Three Curses

I woke up and stretched, the early morning light losing horribly to Auri’s softly glowing flames. She was nestled in her Arcanite sphere, the multifaceted crystals distributing her gorgeous colors all over the room in bright reflections and amplified tones.

I rolled out of bed, dexterity letting me pull it off almost completely silently. I did a few morning exercises - pushups, burpees, jumping jacks, situps, and a few more. All done slowly, staying almost perfectly quiet. The involuntary white noise we had going helped disguise any small noises I might make.

“Brrrpt…?” Auri was still sleepy.

“Morning.” I whispered. Quietly enough that she could doze more if she wanted to.

“Brrrpt? BRRRPT!” Auri shook herself awake, shrieking in delight at her favorite time of day.

“Brrrpt! Brrrrpt!” She cried as she took off, shooting through the house.

I threw on a tunic, rolled my eyes, and headed towards breakfast.

Our villa was fairly large, and on top of my absolute favorite - my own personal bath - we had a few “indoor” gardens that were open to the sky. Like a miniature courtyard. Either way, I passed one that was Auri’s designated “burn room”, the fiery menace cheerfully burning her current day’s log. She looked right at home, literally in her element.

“Brrrrrrpt.” A satisfied Auri called out to me as I passed.

“Love you too!”

Breakfast was noisy. Stupid background noise.

“Elaine! I was hoping to catch you!” Mom sat down with her breakfast - simple bread and cheese - and started eating.

“Please tell me the Sound [Inscriptionist] is coming today.” I groaned.

“Thank the gods, yes. Not what I wanted to talk about. My friend, Marcella, I’ve told you about her before, is looking to adopt some kids. She’d like to adopt the two strays you picked up.”

My mouth froze mid-bite as I furiously thought about things.

I, quite frankly, would make a terrible parent. I wasn’t ready, I didn’t want to, I already had Auri, and I was crazy busy.

I’d kind of assumed that mom wanted to do it, but I hadn’t asked. I’d been in a bit of a mess.

And… someone wanted them. Wanted to adopt them. Have them be part of their family.

Yup, I had exactly one answer to all that.

“That sounds wonderful!”

I felt a little guilty over it, but it was for the best.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Great! Anything exciting today?” Mom asked me.

“Going to check if my skill’s off cooldown, Sentinel meeting, then the usual running around. Autumn, Auri, Artemis, all the A’s!”

I finished and got up. Mom put down her breakfast and gave me a hug.

“Well, I know you’re all high level and strong, but I still worry. You’re still my little girl. You stay safe out there, ok?”

I knew how fragile life was. I knew there was always a slim chance that I got home, and somebody would be missing. Plus, I kinda deserved it, after going missing for a year and a half.

“Will do mom. Same to you.” I gave her one last tight squeeze, then escaped.

Or tried to, at least.

“Brrrpt! BRRRPT! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPT!”

“You leveled up!?”

“BRRRPT!”

“32 already?!”

Cripes she leveled fast.

“You should hold off on classing up. Get some advice. Work on some accomplishments.”

“Brrrpt?”

“If you wait a little bit now, your flames will forever be stronger.”

“Brrrpt!”

“Yeah! We’re going to throw you a PARTY tonight to celebrate!”

“Brrrrrpt!”

“I gotta run, lots to do.”

I asked one of the servants on the way out if they could buy a bunch of flowers, and generally arrange a little party for Auri. With a slight bow, he agreed.

I bumped into Plato on my way out.

Old he may be, but he was certainly dedicated to his craft. The sun was barely over the horizon!

“Plato!”

“A good morning to you, Prima Elaine.” He politely greeted me back.

The blasted noise made it difficult to hear him. It took me a moment to tease out what he was saying from all the background interference. Once I figured it out, I replied.

“Auri’s hit level 32. I’m sure you know what you’re doing, and I don’t want to interfere, but I just want to make sure you’ll be touching on classing up and what she can do to make it better?”

“Naturally. I was expecting little Auri to arrive at level 32 around lunch today, and had planned for the morning to be discussion and philosophy, with the afternoon dedicated to her future options. Is there a particular direction that you would like me to steer her towards?”

I blinked as I processed what Plato was saying.

I didn’t want to call him evil, because he was a great teacher, but devious and manipulating? Oh yes. I’d never even considered that conspiracies like this could exist, but of course they did. It would be difficult, but entirely doable, for me to ask Plato to steer Auri in a certain direction. She was young and impressionable, and Plato was terrifyingly smart, with decades upon decades of experience debating and teaching. It’d be easy enough for him to craft a narrative, and subtly steer Auri towards deciding that a particular class or line was the best, and have her take it in her next class up.

She’d even think it was her idea!

I had to be careful with how I answered to boot - if I said something wrong, Plato might read too much into it, and take it as a ‘hint’ to nudge Auri in a certain direction.

“Auri’s a phoenix. I believe her natural instincts are steering her in the best direction possible for her. I think she knows what she wants to have and be better than we do. You should ask her what her goals and desires are, temper some of the more impossible expectations - such as burning the city down, or related, ah, problems - then guide her towards being the best she possibly can be.”

Plato stroked his beard a moment.

“Unconventional to be sure, but I can see the wisdom in such a thing. I would like to give you a thought to mull over. Are you sure you are not simply taking the path you yourself traveled, assume it is the best, and are trying to apply it to your ward? It is an error I see many take.”

Plato’s speech was a little pompous, and a little high-minded. That, and the blasted yelling, made me take a moment to figure out what he was saying.

In short - I forged my own path. I was asking Auri to forge her own path. Was I simply assuming that ‘forge your own path’ was optimal? Just like a famous gladiator might assume that becoming a gladiator was the proper path to rich and fame, or a soldier might believe joining the army was the best career path.

“There could be some of that.” I acknowledged. “But I will stick to my assertion that none of us know what a phoenix can do, and her instincts are likely to instruct her better than our misguided attempts. Plus, it’s not like she needs to dive down a career path.”

The image of Auri in a poofy wig, overseeing court, brrrpting out judgements sprang to mind. I had to stifle a laugh.

Every sentence would involve fire. Hard labor to feed the fire. Death penalty by immolation.

“As you wish. However, you’ll forgive me if I’m disinclined to teach Auri how to become an [Arsonist].”

“Naturally. Please don’t.” I agree with him.

Plato excused himself, and continued on.

I wasn’t sure if he agreed with me or not. However, I had full faith that he’d execute my wishes to the best of his abilities. He was the best.

I left my villa to a now-familiar scene.

A bunch of angry protestors in the street, yelling curses and obscenities at us.

It was a motley crowd, filled with people of all shapes and ages from all walks of life. Young and old, male and female, roughly 80 people filled the streets.

They were mad at me. I’d changed the status quo! Things were scary and different! What was this ‘women having rights’ nonsense?! Curses, swears, and threats were hurled in my direction.

The members of the Triumvirate had been gifted with similar protestors outside of their homes, but Augustus and the rest of them weren’t nearly so benevolent. They’d ordered soldiers to fire a dozen skills into the crowd, then had them arrest and beat the survivors.

Nobody tried to protest outside their house again.

I was a little more soft-hearted, but attempting to reason with them had gotten me spat on, yelling at them to leave had gotten them to just dig in further.

It had me questioning the merits of allowing peaceful protest. I liked the idea. I believed it was important to let people express their displeasure, and I’d all too recently been on the wrong end of society trying to crush me. I wasn’t about to become the crusher.

But boy, seeing how darn effective beating them all up and arresting them could be, was tempting me something fierce.

My neighbors were not happy with me. I didn’t blame them.

There was a stout contingent of guards stopping the protesters from getting any ideas of getting violent, and I was endlessly thankful for them. Peaceful protests weren’t exactly a known and common thing in Remus, and only the threat of overwhelming violence had kept the crowd from turning into a mob.

They weren’t quite terminally stupid.

However, they were loud and obnoxious, hence the Sound Inscriptions so we could properly tune them out.

They’d get bored soon enough. I hoped.

I snapped my wings open and leapt up, jumping into the cloudy sky. It was going to rain later.

I was a bit early for the Sentinel meeting, and I had a scheduled stop at the Senate. I wasn’t sure what my cooldown on [The Stars Never Fade] was. It wasn’t longer than six months, but skills generally lacked instruction manuals or details on how, exactly, they worked. It was up to an individual to test their skills and explore them, to find the limits of what they could and couldn’t do.

I made it to the Senate, waving to dad as I blazed my way past the front doors. Early morning gate guard duty sucked, but he threw a quick salute my way.

I nodded back to him, and quickly navigated my way to one of the numerous meeting chambers the Senate had. Saluting was hard when flying and horizontal.

It was more than a single large meeting room, where Augustus ruled. Dozens of rooms, from places that were barely more than glorified closets that smelled of sex and intrigue, to grand meetings rooms just an inch smaller than the Senate’s main room.

It was in one of these middle rooms that I regularly met my next request for Immortality, a person who managed to get Emperor Augustus raised quite a few notches in my personal estimation of the man.

His wife.

The emperor himself wasn’t around - far too busy to come watch every time I tried to see if the skill was off cooldown - but he was frankly unneeded.

“Hey Sextia, sorry, in a rush this morning.” I explained as I barged into the room.

“Oh, no worries, I’m sure you’re quite busy.” She politely deflected with a knowing smile.

She looked a decade older than her husband in spite of being a few years younger than he was. The mismatch of stats, the ability for Augustus to gain hundreds of levels fighting the Formorians while she was only able to use more normal methods of leveling, had lengthened Augustus’s life while the march of time took his wife as normal.

“Ready?” I asked her without preamble.

“Naturally. Sixteen please!”

I refrained from rolling my eyes. She was - at least according to my mom - the absolute center of Reman social life. Simply getting an invitation to one of her parties was…

I had no idea what getting an invitation to one of her parties meant, because I either tuned out or fled when mom started on those tracks. I was still trying to avoid politics somewhat, especially after Night’s reprimand.

I’d still push for any changes I wanted to see. I’d still try to correct any injustice I knew of.

I just didn’t want to get yelled at over minor nonsense, or have it brought up as an example later on.

Focus.

I’d been coming here every other day to see if my skill was off cooldown yet, and she had a different age request every time. I wasn’t sure if it was a vanity thing, if her logic as to which age she wanted to be changed, or if she was just having fun.

She’d gotten the speech on what different ages meant ages ago, along with an awareness of how inaccurate I could be.

I put my hand on her arm and focused.

I felt a familiar welling up of mana and force inside of me.

“Oh.” I managed to get out, right before the world dropped away, and we were faced with the vast cosmos.

The skill performed its usual lightshow, drifting us through the impossible vastness of space.

Maybe that could be a long term goal? Explore space? It was large enough that a billion years wouldn’t be enough for me to see even a small fraction of what the universe had to offer.

Step 1: Launch an entire space program, from scratch. No big deal.

My musings were cut short as the lightshow stopped moving.

Instead of looking at a star, we were observing an entire solar system. A bright sun burned at the center, casting harsh red light over the three dozen planets in the system. Gas giants and frozen rocks were further out, while brighter, hotter, smaller planets were closer in.

None had that distinct blue look that spoke of water.

As I watched, the planets stopped rotating around the star, then started to spin backwards, faster and faster. They orbited so quickly that they started to shake and fall apart, leaving trails of debris in their wake.

When most of the planets were down to half their mass, gas and rocks scattered all over the system, the skill’s animation paused for a moment, then faded.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Stars Never Fade] has leveled up! 3 -> 4]

A teenager sat in front of me, hale, hearty, and brimming with life and vigor. It looked like I’d missed the mark again, and she was closer to nineteen than sixteen.

Eh, three years off each time wasn’t that bad. Maybe I’d try to undershoot the next one? That might be asking for trouble though.

“Oh my.” She said, her elderly manner of speaking betraying her true age. “This is quite something. Dear, I must invite you to one of my parties. You’ll be the absolute darling of the show. We’ve been dying to meet you. A dozen of us - Like Venus, Senator Saturio’s wife, I’m sure you’ve heard of her - have been slowly working on the same thing you were. Laying the groundwork, changing a few right minds. Then you come charging in, making all sorts of demands! I wouldn’t dare take credit for what you’ve done, oh not, but I hope you don’t mind that I like to think I helped a tiny bit. Had a few quiet conversations with Augustus before you showed up, wings blazing. Oh, how I wish I could’ve just done that! It would have made life so much easier. Speaking of my husband. Poo-poo what he thinks of you and settling down, I’m sure I know a few ladies of your persuasion I can get you in touch with.”

What was with this family and marriage?! Interesting that they’d been working on something. I’d heard of Venus before from my mom, who raved that was the sort of height of power a woman could aspire to.

Ha! I showed her, in the best of ways. Made sense that not everyone was happy with where they were, and had been trying to change things in their own way.

It also explained why Augustus had so easily agreed to my demands. He probably saw which way the tide was going, and figured he’d grab everything he could in the process. If I’d waited, maybe I could’ve gotten both the rights and the million rods.

Ah well. What was done was done, and I’d learned a lesson about consulting with experts before haring off and doing my own thing.

“The offer’s most kind, but I’m entirely barred from those sorts of events after Pastos.” I politely declined, thanking Ranger Command for their ‘get out of any event free’ card they’d given me.

“Pastos was you!?” She exclaimed, getting up and moving around in an animated fashion. Stretching her arms and her legs like she just couldn’t believe what was going on. “Why, I can’t -”

A familiar weight landed on my shoulder.

About time. I was starting to think White Dove was going to forget about her.

White Dove opened her mouth and spoke, creation trembling with every word. The deep, primal fear of her welled up deep inside of me, every instinct I had screaming that I needed to run, hide, fight. Death was on my shoulder.

“You again.” She gazed at me with a single, critical eye.

At least she wasn’t spitting venom. Progress…?

“Morning. Hope you weren’t too busy.”

White Dove ignored me, and proceeded to look at Sextia.

“Sextia. [Social Butterfly]. [Sinister Schemer]. You believe yourself so clever, the center of every plot, the pivot of every party. There is no fruit you do not nibble, no engagement your web does not bring to you. You have seen what I’ve done. You know the price, and have dared to cross me anyways. I curse you.”

Dove’s words practically warped the fabric of the room, causing me to bleed from my ears.

And keep bleeding. Whatever White Dove had done, my healing wasn’t quickly or easily fixing it.

“You can only bathe in the light of two full moons at once.” White Dove said. “In no other way will you be able to remove your odor, in no other manner will you be able to find yourself clean. I wish you the best of luck, trying to hold onto your life and engagements as you drive everyone around you away.”

With a malicious cackle, White Dove flew away.

I did manage to get a few seconds of studying her flight. Probably not enough, but it was a cumulative effort. One day I’d get something interesting.

“I gotta run.” I apologized to Sextia. “Sentinel meeting.”

“No worries, no worries.” She waved me off, stretching languidly like a cat waking up from a nap.

“This is great! I need to make myself scarce as well.” She leaned forward with a twinkle in her eye.

“Rather, I need to make my husband and myself scarce again. There is nothing like being young again and having a libido again! Especially before I start to smell too badly! I’ll have to figure a way around it.”

I did not need to know all that, nor did I need all the images associated with it.

“Good luck.” We both left the room at the same time, and awkwardly started to go in the same direction.

That was the worst.

“Sentinel Dawn. Most excellent. Now that we are all here, let us begin.” Night said. “Does anyone have any pressing business at this time?”

We were a little short on Sentinels. Destruction was perpetually gone, running between large rebellions and major bandit camps, and he was nearly deployed to remind a town that Augustus was emperor.

Night had squashed that particular mission, calling it large enough to venture into the realm of politics, and that Augustus could clean up his own messes. Either way, not around.

Hunting was tracking down some slippery Classer, Senti-Null and Nature were tag-teaming a flaming tree that was stomping around - apparently not a treant, although the distinction was lost on me - and Maestrai was transporting Mirage to a rough spot.

The two of them thought that Mirage could make his shot from up high, and immediately turn around. Which was all sorts of utterly disgusting.

I totally approved. It’d give Maestrai good experience to boot.

Brawling and Toxic were still off gallivanting around, and the room felt empty.

Cold.

There was the standard, ritual silence around the room that followed Night’s question.

After a moment, Ocean spoke up.

“I’ve got something.”

All our eyes went to him, dreading the next words out of his mouth.

“That ‘Ranger’ we’ve had a few reports on. At this point, I’m convinced enough that it’s either a Ranger who’s horribly lost and needs to be brought back in, a Ranger that’s gone rogue, or someone’s besmirching our good name. Either way, a Sentinel needs to be deployed.”

I suppressed a shudder. An issue with a Ranger was literally one of our worst nightmares. Needing to “handle” someone we’d trained with, worked with, fought and slept with, who was one of a tiny community? Who had gone “bad”?

Just the worst.

From what I understood, Artemis had gotten eyes on her quite a few times for her extra-Ranger activities. It had never been quite bad enough to send someone after her, but there’d been eyes on her.

Not in a good way.

Handling Rangers who had gone bad had to be done though. As the saying went, one bad apple spoiled the bunch, and allowing a bad or corrupt Ranger to run amok could undo the centuries of hard work the program had.

“What do you believe is the case?” Night asked Ocean.

“It’s either the first or the third.” Ocean analyzed. “Whoever it is continues to loudly proclaim they’re a Ranger, but isn’t following a path or anything. I have a few reports where the Ranger claimed they’ve solved some problems, but that’s it.”

“We do usually allow Rangers to self-report solved problems.” Bulwark added in.

“True, and that’s generally good enough for us. Night?” Ocean asked.

Night looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Generally Hunting or I would tackle this problem. However, in this particular instance, I believe Dawn is best suited.”

“Me?” I’d been content to just watch things, sure that I wasn’t going to be called on.

“Yes. You have a number of useful skills that happen to fit the situation well enough.” Night said. “Your flight skill makes you one of the most mobile Sentinels, after Maestrai. You are unable to transport a second person, but that is irrelevant in the face of this issue. You have your ring, which allows you to disguise your level. You are tagged as a Healer, but have a high enough level to fight your way out of any issue. Lastly, you are a young, pretty face, far outside what anyone thinks of when they hear ‘Sentinel’. If we are dealing with an imposter, you will be a flame to his moth. If we are dealing with a Ranger who’s gotten sick in the head, you are a calming, healing influence, and can safely bring them back. Lastly, if a Ranger has truly gone rogue, I have the highest confidence in you being able to survive a sneak attack from them. ‘Handling’ a Ranger who has broken from the fold is one of the single most dangerous missions a Sentinel can undertake. Not only are we unable to properly plan for and evaluate the threat to send the best Sentinel after them, but they have the initiative. We are all well-recognized by the Rangers. It is trivial for them to see us coming, and launch the first attack, while we need to identify the target, and determine whether they are hostile or not first. However. There is nearly no attack that a standard Ranger could perform that could slow you down. As such, you are the best Sentinel for this mission.”

Curses.