Joe settled into bed and rested himself while Garnedell finished his evening bath and using his toiletries. He looked over his gains again desperately trying to distract himself from his disquieted realization over the poor enslaved girl’s issues. He found, however, his mind continually wandering over it and the few changes to his growth, except for his cudgel skills growth, proved inadequate for distraction. Even his commoner almost reaching level twenty one only sparked a momentary surprise and a quick moment to run the numbers again to realize that his current learning now allowed him to reach level twenty five with some decent speed, only taking five days to go from twenty to twenty five. Twenty five to thirty, however, was an even more significant jump of a month. Level thirty was still too far away for what he had, considering he only had about a half a year left before his time was up.
Despite that, he had easily met what he needed for intelligence and wisdom, even exceeding them, and finally felt relieved. I actually did it! The stress that had been ever present on him had washed from him and he felt a relief he hadn’t known was pressing upon him. The sense of release, of relaxation, was palpable and he actually felt his body melt slightly into his bed. Joe desperately clawed for this sense of peace, running from what had happened at dinner earlier while they had talked about slavery, his mind cutting off the memory. Don’t have to worry about turning stupid! Even if I change jobs to a level zero job, I’ll still have more than enough intelligence and wisdom to make smart choices. I need to start focusing on my physical attributes now, but… With my massive boost to learning, especially from the education line of things, I think I’ll save much more time maxing out my education line classes, gaining minor boosts in everything on top of my learning… I’ll be good to go to swap to physical classes later. I think even the crafter classes would be a good idea! Smith has got to give a good boost to strength, maybe even a couple other physical stats as well.
Joe heard the door open and looked up to see Garnedell enter the room, hair messed and still wet, dressed in his long clothes ready for bed. Joe nodded at Garnedell and decided to ask him about some of the questions that he was a bit uncomfortable to ask in front of Kukurnal.
“Hey, Garnedell. Sorry about saying I was teaching you earlier.”
“What?”
“When I asked you about being Blind and about Presence? The siblings and Kukurnal were a bit confused by my questions, so I said I was teaching you?”
“Oh. That’s OK, master. You should teach me.”
“Hmm… yes, but you seem unable to learn the one thing I really want you to learn.”
Garnedell turned to Joe with some shock and fear, coming to attention very quickly, “What, master.”
“I don’t like being called master,” Joe said with a tired smile.
Garnedell took a bit to try to feel for any underlying context before he let himself smile a bit, accepting Joe’s comment for exactly what it was: a joke. “Ah. Yeah. Sorry about that… master,” Garnedell said the last with some fearful tones overlaid with a bit of humor; hopeful that his joke would be accepted.
Joe actually goggled at Garnedell and sat up quickly, “You told a joke? You told a joke!” Joe’s smile took up half his face before he began laughing and nodding his head, “OK. You asked for it, apprentice! I’m going to get you,” Joe teased back even as he hid the sad pity from seeing Garnedell’s fear melt as Joe accepted his joke. Man! The kid has been through a lot.
Garnedell grinned back and said nothing, turning back to his bed and preparing for sleep. As he put on his night clothes and prepped for the evening, Joe continued the conversation.
“So, mind if I ask a couple questions while you get ready for bed?”
Garnedell quickly turned back around, placing his attention on Joe but Joe waved him away quickly, “No, no, no, no! Just talk while getting ready for bed and getting in bed. You don’t need to stand at attention.”
Garnedell nodded carefully but didn’t turn back until Joe waved him on, “Go on. Get ready for bed. Just talk while you’re getting ready.”
This time Garnedell nodded and accepted Joe’s statement and returned to preparing, “So what questions do you have?”
“Just two easy ones, I guess. The first one is about the age question I asked earlier. How old … what’s the oldest people can get and how much does leveling affect it.”
“Hmm… well. I guess you know humans have the shortest age, only about a hundred, but some of the others live quite a bit longer, with the longest being close to a thousand years old. The oldest are the Ancient ones. I've heard rumors they can live up to ten thousand. I do not know if this is the truth. But if one empowers… uh… you call it leveling up, then they can increase their lives significantly, but I haven't seen any older than around fifty thousand years?”
“Fifty thousand?! Even humans?!”
“Yeah. We base have much smaller natural life spans, but when it comes to empowering, all are basically equal and few go much beyond that.”
“Anyone know why?”
“Um… not sure if any really thought about it. I haven’t.”
“Huh… probably is a scholarly argument and I’ll need Kukurnal to answer it, if he can.”
“Probably.”
“Cool. Well, the next question is about multiple worlds.”
“Worlds?”
“Uh… planes?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“There are multiple planes?”
“Lots. This cradle itself has forty nine. Not that many as we are in a weak cradle, but it’s pretty good. There are others much smaller.”
“Cradle? Oh, right… the gas giant. Wait. You mean there are forty nine moons around the gas giant?”
“Moon? What’s a moon?”
Joe took a few seconds to see if he could explain before he finally decided that it wasn’t important to the discussion, “Doesn’t matter. So, you’re saying there are forty nine inhabited planets around the gas giant up there?” Joe pointed through the roof up to the sky where the gas giant was presumably hanging.
“Yes?” Garnedell replied with some confusion.
“Forty nine other planes with people living on it?”
“Yeah. Forty nine in this cradle and another ninety eight in the other.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“There are two gas gia… cradles in this solar system?”
“Solar system?”
“Uh… all the planes… planets that are around the same sun.”
“Oh… then yeah. There are two cradles around this sun. We are in the weaker, smaller one.”
“Forty nine here and ninety eight around the other ga… cradle?”
“Yes.”
“And all of them have people living on the planes.”
“Yes.”
Joe sat back stunned, surprised by the revelation before a new epiphany struck him and he sat up quickly. “Wait. You said there are many cradles. There are many cradles in other solar systems with their planes inhabited?”
“Yes. Many cradles amongst the stars. Many of the stars have cradles and these cradles are full of planes. The planes are full of people.”
This time, Joe lay back down for significantly longer as he realized the magnitude of this discovery. The whole galaxy is already colonized… well, maybe not the whole galaxy, but… enough that he says many stars. Joe actually lay in stunned silence long enough that the Garnedell actually put out the light and had fallen asleep while Joe’s mind whirled, trying to grasp the ramifications of a galaxy wide civilization developed to little better than medieval Europe based on what could only be magic. His mind couldn’t even really process the entirety of the idea, the whole slavery fiasco now easily forgotten. He lay in bed then began to consider how his friends would take the idea of an entire world full of aliens across the stars. He smiled as he thought about what his geeky friends might have said but then felt the tears begin welling in his eyes. He fought against it for a moment but then glanced over at Garnedell and could sense that he was asleep so he allowed the tears to fall and soon lay in bed, the sound of his bed creaking to silent heaves. His mind flashed through the memories of his mother and father, his siblings, and his friends from college. His pillow was soon soaked with tears and he struggled to find a comfortable sleeping position, tossing and turning both his body and pillow for a good thirty minutes before he finally fell asleep.
* * *
Joe stood under the tree in a forest as he watched shadows creep across the meadow towards the cheery camp fire in the distance. Joe took in his surroundings but found the brilliant stars to hold more fascination for him. The tree above him covered the sky almost completely, but the stars visible lower on the horizon still capture the imagination with their brilliant beauty. The brilliant campfire did nothing to hide the stars and so he continued staring at them, even as the beauty of the campfire danced at the edge of his vision.
Joe’s eyes then turned upward, taking in the tree, its greenery somehow much more than it had ever been, vibrant in hues that seemed too vivid for any green he had normally seen on trees. Beyond, at the bottom of his vision, the campfire’s brilliance ever grew, yet Joe found himself continuously averting his eyes, always seeking out the sights. But each aversion seemed to make the campfire ever brighter and he soon found himself unable to turn his eyes away.
Joe’s gaze locked on the camp fire, its cheery flames now no more than a simple campfire illuminating the happy family around the campfire. A family that sat around the campfire enjoying their evening, unaware of their encroaching death. The bandits! They’re coming! The sensation of the situation overwhelmed him almost immediately. He quickly settled his stance, emotions, and focus, stilling himself to prepare to defend the family. Again? Didn’t I… No time! Focus!
Joe’s right arm slipped to his quiver, an arrow sliding out and into the arrow rest and onto the string so smoothly that it almost felt like it appeared there. He felt the trueness of the shot settle on him even as he sighted in on the first target, his arrow slipping from the bow. Almost without thought, the next bandit was in sight and another arrow was set to fire. Another few shots and Joe stood, his fight already complete as he looked back at the first bandits to confirm that they were down.
However, when his sight settled back on the first, he saw the bandit still sliding ever closer to the campsite. Cursing, his hand dipped to his quiver even as he flickered across the rest of the bandits. I missed all of them!? Joe settled in again, another set of arrows slipping from the bow quickly. But instead of releasing his stance, he looked back over the bandits and found all still standing, still moving, still stalking towards the unsuspecting family around the campfire. Fear and tension gripped him even as he flipped out more arrows and fired even more rapidly, but nothing changed.
Fear ratcheted even higher as he looked back to the campfire and suddenly saw that Gardenell also sat with them, his joyful smile beaming as he interacted with the family. NO! NO! NO! NO! Joe’s scream was silent as he tried to maintain secrecy even as he took bead on the first bandit once again. This time slowly taking aim and following through. I will not miss! His arrow slipped his bow but he did not shift his aim, carefully looking on. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds? Four seconds? Five seconds?! Six Seconds!?! Seven seconds… NO!
Another arrow in his bow, another fired, another missed, even as Joe screamed in his mind. The bandits slithered ever closer and closer, the family and Garnedell and the siblings sitting, unsuspecting. No! NO NO NO! Joe felt sweat streaming down his face, tension and fear shooting upwards ever higher as he put more effort and focus in his shots. The arrow settled in his bow and glowed a dull blue white even as he aimed carefully and released. A streak of light shot through the sky, connecting bow to bandit. Yes! Perfect shot! I hit him! Joe felt relief wash through as he watched the bandit, continuing to walk forward, ever closer and closer to the family, Garnedell, the siblings, and Kukurnal.
This time, Joe was unable to keep his fear silent as a scream tore from his throat. Despite the terrified scream that echoed through the meadow, nothing responded. His friends sat around the campfire, unconcerned, while the bandits stalked ever closer without fear. Joe lost all pretense to calm and began firing shot after shot as arrows flew without end across the clearing.
Suddenly, the sun was shining, the area bright as day, or maybe, his eyesight was near perfect in the dark, but the reason mattered little as he was able to watch his shots fired without effect, each arrow passing harmlessly through the bodies of each of the bandits. His screams did not end as he continued firing. He tried to drop the bow and pull out his spear to run forward, but his feet refused to move and his hands refused to stop, arrows pulled from the quiver and loosed continuously. Soon, his screams turned to horror as he watched his friends turn to the attacking bandits in terror, Garnedell was struck first, taking a hit to the back of the head with the blade slicing through his skull and cleaving between his eyes, down the left side of his nose, and stopping in his mouth. The horror and pain on Garnedell’s face froze Joe and he could only watch, frozen in terror as the siblings were next. Kilniara took a thrust from the rear through her back which exited from her lower torso, just under her ribs. Zilnek watched his sister die with the terror when a line of red slid across his throat followed by liquid wetness slipping down onto his chest and belly. His body slid sideways and fell to the ground as Kukurnal’s head tumbled over the campfire.
Joe’s terror-induced scream had long faded to the background as a never-ending electric guitar shriek that echoed hollowly throughout the meadow, bouncing back and forth, louder and louder from the imaginary walls bounding the meadow. The bandits had finally finished slaughtering his friends and turned towards him. By this time, he’d stopped attacking and dropped his arms to his side as the horror of his friends’ deaths had overwhelmed him but when the bandits had turned towards him, his arms snapped back up, rigid.
This time, in mockery of all his previous efforts, his arrows sunk into their targets effectively as five arrows flashed out to strike the five bandits, each one a mortal blow dropping the bandits immediately. But as the last bandit dropped, the next one stood again, and Joe found his voice screaming once again, a harmony with the previous guitar shriek echoing through the meadow even as the now zombie dead walked toward them, arrows pincushioning them into porcupines. His terror and fear ratcheted up even higher as they came closer and closer until he was drowned in the bodies of the five dead bandits, clawing and burying him even as he tried to claw his way back. While simultaneously, paradoxically, all five faces of the bandits seemed to swim in his view, his memory somehow perfectly recalling the rictus of death on their faces when he’d felled them. They swarmed him, buried him beneath their days old stink of rotting flesh, their bodies immobilizing him beneath their weight while their faces moaned in through faces locked in the painful terror they experienced at their death. Even as he struggled, their moans seemed to morph, shifting from incomprehensible meaningless drivel to a single repeated word, again and again: why? Why!? Why!
Joe woke with his heart pounding and terror flooding his veins, breathe gasping through his lungs as he sat straight up in bed. I killed people! They’re dead. They’re dead! Relax. They’re dead. Joe’s laborious breathing calmed as he flopped back down into his bed. He tried to forget the dream, erasing it from his memory, trying to scrub the faces away. He escaped as best he knew how, seeking external entertainment and he flipped open his status page to his available skills in an attempt to forget but found himself unable to free himself from the grips of the dream for a good hour, the status screen open but mostly ignored. He fell asleep, finally, but fitfully for the rest of the night, even as his status screen lay flickering before his sightless unconscious eyes.
* * *
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