After the End: Serenity

Serenity looked up at the others. “That wasn’t the worst thing I did, but it was the worst thing I did for a long time, and probably the least justified. Probably. Along the way, I learned a lot. It’s hard to summarize, but you’ve seen me cast magic and you’ve seen me use runes; those are both things I learned after Earth died. Other than that, I learned that my goals were all wrong and that people really, really hate the undead.” That might not be the best way to summarize his experiences, but it was a good start.

Serenity wasn’t certain how to cover the end of everything; it wasn’t entirely his fault, and he didn’t know how he could have prevented it, but there were definitely parts of it that were his fault. Maybe more than a little; there was a reason he’d said that killing so many Sterath was only probably the least justified thing he did, rather than the worst. Aki might well realize that he’d done something really, really bad yet still didn’t feel unjustified. She had enough experience to recognize that. Raz probably wouldn’t, though Serenity couldn’t be certain; Echo likely would have, after all.

On the other hand, he wasn’t sure he had to. Maybe he should just talk about what he’d learned?

“Death magic won’t bring anyone back from the dead, not in any way you’d want if you actually care for them.” Serenity moved his hand to Rissa’s knee, then continued. “That doesn’t mean there isn’t anything that will work, but it’s not easy. I was given the chance to return to the beginning, and I took it. So in some sense, I’m the man who lived through all of that, but in another I’m not. That’s why I called the Final Reaper my father; I’m not him, and I refuse to make the choices he did, but a good piece of me comes from him. Fortunately, I also haven’t lost everything the way he did.”

Raz’s mouth dropped open, but Aki was the one to speak. :That must have been quite a ritual. You have mentioned that you have SpaceTime Affinity, but I have never heard of a ritual that would let someone travel back in time that far or to their former body.:

Serenity paused. He wasn’t certain how to address that. Perhaps he should say that? “I don’t think I should go into details, so I’m not sure how to answer that. All I can say is that I don’t think anyone, including me, is ever going to be able to do it again. It was extreme, and the requirements were something I never want to have happen again.”

The end of everything; otherwise, the Voice would not have resorted to something so severe.

Raz perked up and a question spilled out of his mouth. “So that means you know the future? What happened on Asihanya after I left?”

Serenity shook his head. “I don’t think I can answer what you’re looking for. The first time I ever went to Asihanya was quite a few years after the destruction of Earth, so more than ten years from now. I was there as a student; I think the only time I left Stallet Center was when we went on specific expeditions. Dungeons, mostly.”

Raz frowned. “I thought Stallet encouraged the students to explore.”

Raz was disappointed at how much Serenity didn’t know about the future, but Aki seemed almost pleased. When Serenity asked her why, she had a solid reason. :I never believe anyone who tells me they know everything. What you know is consistent with what you say happened and ordinary forgetfulness. I am not surprised you do not know far-away events, even big ones; you do not really like gossip. Your knowledge matches your story.:

At that point, Raz excused himself. He said he wanted to do some flight practice, but Serenity thought he wanted to work off his nerves. He’d gotten increasingly anxious every time he asked about Asihanya and Serenity wasn’t able to give him a good answer.

“It’s probably time for me to get going, too; I need to finish my Path. How’s Rube?” Serenity started to get up, but suddenly felt horribly dizzy and sat right back down. He hadn’t realized he had a headache, but he did; it’d snuck up on him.

:Unchanged. You seem unwell.:

Rissa grabbed Serenity’s arm. “What’s wrong?”

“Dizzy. Headache. I think-” Serenity stopped. He thought it was probably the Core Sickness, and there was an easy way to check.