Chapter 198: The Last Memory.
I walked across the quiet hallways of Pandemonium. The whole place felt alive, despite how empty of people it actually was. The walls heard my humming, the ceilings had eyes, and tentacles waved hello from between the white and black tiles.
A door opened for me, and I walked in to find my grandfather already in the lounge. He already looked so tired this early in the morning.
“Hey Grandpa!” I waved. “You called?”
“Hm? No I didn’t!”
I blinked. I turned to look at Pandemonium, which had my head twisting around for it was everywhere!
Gramps laughed. “Just kidding! I did call you! I just wanted to hang out if you have the time?”
“Sure. I always do,” I grinned, and swept some bottles of alcohol off a shelf. Bowls of snacks went in my other arm, from various roasted nuts, to chips that we’d made off my descriptions of Earth. Granuel had only been very happy to take those methods and recipes from us. For a price, of course, but I didn’t really keep track of that. I had fuck you money, and that’s all that mattered.
“So, what’s up? How’ve you been?” Are you okay? I asked as I sat beside Gramps. The entire room had been adjusted, so we could sit with both our massive yet still very different sizes.
“Oh, I’m just fine! I’ve been at home this entire time. But it’s you guys I wanted to hear about. Did any cool shit lately?”
“Not much. We’ve mostly been doing our own thing since Geonesis. Not that we don’t meet up anymore, but you’re still here for most of that! You know that Arx basically lives down there now.” I pointed at the ground beneath my feet. In all the days we hung out, whether it be just to play or to just chat; we always made sure to swing by Pandemonium to include everyone.
It’s still funny to remember Arx watching the acting troupe we invited from a hidden alcove thick with illusion enchantments. That was fun. He cried without tears within, and I played it off as just the weirdness of the manor probably, being cursed and all. They looked at the walls with suspicion, and Pandemonium gave them a reason to fear. In moderation. Nothing overt, of course.
“Oh yeah. It really hasn’t been all that long,” Grandpa nodded. “I can just feel so cooped up here! I want to fight something!”
I raised a brow. “We could always spar.”
“Hmm, yes we could. But I’m saving my strength for now! Evel won’t see it coming!”
I smiled sinisterly, keeping all the sadness out of the expression. I was a master of compartmentalizing my emotions like that, actually!
“I’m sure she will. Now! I don’t have anything new, but Angerly did have a baby!”
“Oooohh! That’s right! I think I want to see little Ragenta first before we leave for our last hunt. I remember when you were just a cute little baby like that!”
The vivid memories easily flashed by my mind, as they were wont to do. “And I remember being so surprised to see a giant walking among us!”
Grandpa cackled. “Your face! I remember your face! Your eyes were so wide! It was adorable! You looked so dumb and smart at the same time!”
“I’m sure it was just smart. That’s curiosity at work, and it’s the greatest mark of intelligence!”
“True enough! You really were a curious child. Which is why I was so surprised when you revealed that you knew about Soul Feats, and that you were even a reincarnator too! Like Shanayah! Why did you ask so many questions, when you should’ve known far more than the other kids already?”
“Because I knew enough to know that I know nothing. And it was all new to me, in a way that it isn’t for everyone else, because it’s all they’d ever known.”
“Oh yeah…” Grandpa nodded absently at the serious turn of the conversation. “That makes sense.”
“Also, you had magic!” I added. “Everyone had super strength! Super speed! Super-size, sometimes! Weird new species! It’d be weirder if I asked nothing!”
“The whole world is amazing if you look at it like that.” He looked out the window, and I did the same. “I’m glad you never lost that sense of wonder.”
“Eh. I’m sure I did lose it, actually. But I got it back. I always do. You just have to remind yourself, and remember.”
“Cheers to that,” he raised his glass of beer, and I did the same. “You were always so strong, Haell. I loved to see it. You threw yourself into training harder than even me. And that’s just for the sword! You never neglected your magic either. I feel so arrogant, in hindsight, trying to inspire… or even push you to be strong. When you were already stronger than me.”
I shrugged. “It’s still nice to hear it sometimes. Not that I wouldn’t have worked my ass off regardless, but Mom and Dad were always so worried. And I love them for that! But I’m fine. And it was nice to have someone that really got it.”
“...I don’t think I ever did. I understood myself, and we just happened to agree. But I don’t think… Rallem felt the same way, back when I tried to train him. He wasn’t like you, or even me. I failed my boy…”
Should you be telling me this? I frowned, annoyed. I didn’t really want to think about how my grandfather failed my father. So I kicked him under the table.
“OW! What!? What was that for?”
“Dick move you did back there,” I then agreed. “Did you tell him any of that?”
“Well…” his smile grew strained, then cracked. “No?”
“What? Scared? What happened to being strong, o Great Hero Golex?”
The old man groaned, but I showed no sympathy. I had the confidence of someone who would never have children of my own!
“I’m no longer a hero,” Grandpa finally said. “Perhaps I never was… But I am still great! And I’m still Golex! Father of Rallem!”
“That’s the spirit!” I clapped. “We can take you angelhunting after you’ve talked to Dad.”
“Wait. Hang on. What if I don’t end up doing that?”
“No glorious final battle for you then,” I shrugged. “Can’t bring someone that weak into battle.”
“Crap. I think I’d prefer to face one of those angels, actually.”
“Great! The angel should be nothing then, once you’ve gotten past this trial.”
Grandpa stared at me, before he just burst out laughing. He promised to at least address it with Dad once the time came.
~~~
“How about you, Grandpa? What was your childhood like?” I eventually asked. I may never get the chance again. Gramps loved to talk about himself, but there were big noticeable gaps that he rarely touched.
“Fine. I’ll tell you. But it’s really nothing special.”
He began with the humblest of beginnings. A village boy, a farmhand, from the now lost kingdom of Eladia. Learning the sword and learning to fight was his one ticket to a better life, a more spectacular one. Of course, all he had at the time was play-fighting with the other kids, and perhaps he never would’ve gone any further had he not been forced to.
War came to their little village, forcing them to flee. The soldiers destroyed their homes and dragged away anyone too slow to run. The villagers eventually fled to a city, but things were still horrible there. They had no money, they starved, they lived in convenient tent camps for people to defame and abuse. It was when some of his neighbours tried to go after him and his family, that Grandpa fought back. With the admittedly very poor skills he’d developed for himself, he fought against those trying to extort them for what they didn’t have.
He lost. But Grandpa, who was just a young teen not even Level 10 back then, finally knew what to do.
He went to the adventurer’s guild, and pleaded with them to be given a chance. Someone lent him a broken old rusty sword, and then the boy was sent off to grab what low-level monster or herb he could bring back. It was an option many of the refugees were desperate enough to take, Grandpa was just lucky enough to be one of the few who actually came back.
He was allowed a loan then. Enough to sustain him for just a few months of training, and to borrow some shoddy but serviceable enough weapons.
Thus began the tale of Golex the Hero. Though of course, no one regarded him as such back then.
Grandpa talked about those fights, before he was a legend. They were… truly unremarkable. I could see why he never talked about them. He struggled against creatures I could now kill with a literal flick of my finger. I was a better adventurer than him to start with, but that was only because I got all the training and equipment I could’ve ever wanted. I probably would’ve just gotten myself killed, one way or another, if I were alone in this world.
“How about Shanayah?” I asked. “You guys were in the same adventurer party, right?”
“Oh, her… She was a right bitch even back then. Stony, stern, but with a simmering anger and nihilism that would have her lash out at anyone or anything. We only ever ended up working together because my group back then wanted to take the same quest that she wanted to take on solo. We got into an argument, and the receptionist resolved it by telling us to either work together, or have a new high level party that just arrived take it.”
I snorted. “That’s funny.”
“Yeah. We worked well together, somehow, so we started teaming up from time to time.”
Grandpa went into more detail about the parties he’d formed. His companions were always in flux, long before he met Shanayah, and years after. He teamed up with other adventurers, long-time friends retired, and some people he lost on the job.
Adventuring was dangerous work.
The monsters were bad enough, but Grandpa fought in outright wars too. It started with the regular defensive battles that would have him protecting his own people. But then he eventually accepted the quests for the offensive battles as well... because the pay was really good and people loved you for it.
“We were no better. It was all the same. The orcs, the humans, the kobolds. All we can ever do is fight.”
Grandpa’s story came to its inevitable end. Where Shanayah met the angels, and he saw her smile genuinely for the first time. Of how she deceived the rest of their friends, and he was nearly slain when he tried to strike her down for it after it was done and they were gone.
It was a story that wasn’t unfamiliar to me. It was… similar in ways, to how my own party inevitably disbanded.
“At least you got Therick. Shanayah is still out there, and will long outlive me.”
“No she won’t. Not as long as you think.”
His nostalgic face looked at mine and cracked into a grin. “That’s right! You’ll go slaughter her like you have everyone!” His smile softened. “Make sure to to give her one really good punch for me, will you, Haell?”
“Sure,” I returned his smile. “I’ll remember.”
~~~
“What are your plans now?” Grandpa asked after we were done laughing about that one time my friends and I made pretty bubbles when we were children, only they left a very sticky residue all over the living room once popped. My parents told us off to never do that again, and then helped us to clean it all up. That was a fun few days.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “I think I’ll go hang out with Moonwash, get some work done. Or I might go to the mountains. Maybe I’ll just sleep. Who knows, really?”
“Hah! You weren’t kidding about having free time.”
“Yeah. I’ll only really be ‘busy’ if I’m already booked, and that doesn’t really happen all that often. But otherwise, I just roam freely.”
“That’s good. But it wasn’t what I was asking. I meant broader than that. What plans do you have for the future?”
“Well… Still the same for a while, I reckon? Hang out, play, study, eat, war, train. All that stuff.”
“But what about after that? What if the angels are all gone, and the empire is dissolved? What will you do then? I want to hear about it.”
His eyes were serious and sincere, so I nodded and gave my answer.
“Maybe I’ll try religion.”
The silence stretched on and on, until we both started pounding the table in our mad laughter.
“Oh wait shit stop!” I caught my grandfather’s hand and stopped him. “Sorry Pandemonium!”
The table quickly repaired itself, and assured me that it didn’t mind. I broke its stone often, whenever I just wanted to run. Yikes, me…
“Whew. That was a good one, Haell,” Grandpa got the last of the chuckles out. “Religion? You?”
“Yeah. Can you imagine?” I barked at the absurdity.
He took a deep breath. “But seriously. How do you see your future going? You had so many dreams when you were younger, and you’ve actually fulfilled so many of them. That’s amazing. But where do you go from here? I want to know.”
I looked back at him, and fell silent, willing to give it some actual thought.
“I think it really is just going to be more of the same. I’ll stop getting involved in wars… hopefully.”
Grandpa gave me a flat look.
“What? I’ll try!”
“Well, you have done the impossible before.”
“And I will again,” I harrumphed. “I’ll go travel the world and see new places, as I’ve already been doing. I want to fight new monsters, and hit all of the wonderzones. I want to meet new people, and see all their different cultures. There was a hidden dragon in Lost Reflections, and who knows how many others are out there, waiting! I want to find them. I want to kill them! I’ll hunt them down, and drag all the secrets out in the open. I’ll let nothing stop me, I will trample all in my way, until I am all that is left–”
I took a deep breath. “Excuse me. Got a bit too heated there.”
“You act like you just sneezed,” Grandpa chuckled.
“Yeah, I must’ve gotten a cold. That’s rare.”
We both laughed after a beat of silence.
“I’ll… have to make new friends at some point. I need to trust them, and just promise the worst consequences if that trust is broken. But I also… want them to be a little stronger. I appreciate you and all the people I have now, of course! And you’re certainly not weak! But I do want people who will, well… stick around. For all my general and unformed plans.”
“I know, Haell,” Grandpa smiled kindly. “It’s a good problem to have.”
“Is it?” I asked after a beat of silence. “Not that I’ll ever regret it. There’s still so much of this world I’ve yet to see, despite a lifetime of travel. There’s magic out there I’ve only ever read about, and surely others I’ve never even heard of. In every culture, in every person, there is art being made, and it’s sure to be unique every time.” I reached for the skies, or the ceiling above us. “And if one day I decide that I’ve seen everything Varyala has to offer, then I shall turn my gaze to the stars. I want to visit the other worlds. We know they’re out there, as the angels have figured out a means to travel between planets. Why can’t I? I’ll take Moonwash with me, and we’ll go tour the whole galaxy and beyond. There are other angels out there, and war will likely start anew, unless if everything we know about them is false, and Angelore is only a rogue fringe faction in their Hegemony, completely irrepresentative of the whole.”
“I doubt it,” Grandpa said.
“Me too,” I echoed.
We drank in silence, until I spoke again.
“I’ll get married, someday. I know Moonwash wanted it before, although it hasn’t come up for a long time. It’s gotten pushed to the wayside, with everything that’s happened. Even now, I still don’t feel like it’s the time. So, er, sorry you won’t get to see it, Grandpa…”
“None of that,” he clapped me solidly on my back. “You made the right choice, Haell. Definitely do not rush it on my account.”
“Yeah. That’s what I figured.”
“You figured correctly. Now, what’s this earlier about killing a dragon!”
“Well…” I gave voice to some of my malformed ideas about how that might go. It was really more fiction than anything, but it was very fun to talk about, and I enjoyed myself as the day wore on, and I drained bottle after bottle of alcohol with my grandfather.
~~~
—Grandpa Golex PoV—
“Oh Rallem! I’ve been looking for you!” I waved to my son through the open window. It enlarged and turned into a door, and I walked through.
“Dad,” he greeted neutrally. “What did you want to see me for?”
“Nothing much. Just, we’re going to go angelhunting soon, you know?”
“I know.” He frowned. “It’s too dangerous, but I know there’s no convincing you, or Haell, or anyone else really. Why are you all so crazy?”
“Hey! Arx is sensible, at least.”
“He has the biggest grudge against the angels.”
“That’s also true,” I agreed. “Anyway, that isn’t what I called you for.”
“What is it, then?”
“Well, it’s just… I’m sorry!”
“...What?” he boggled.
“For… pushing you too hard. And then trying to do the same with Haell. I’m glad that one worked out at least.”
“Yes,” he agreed coldly. “I’m glad.”
Rallem was quiet for a long moment, and we just stood there, apart from each other.
“It did work out really well for Haell. I am genuinely glad for that. And you… I love you Dad. I do.”
“I love you too, son.”
I felt my eyes water as he walked away.
Now I was ready to face an angel.