Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

Fenrir looked around his office. This wasn’t his usual classing up space, although he had to fly through it to get here. It was most assuredly his office. The perpetually stuck door that groaned on its hinges, the stacks of unpaid bills artfully laid around, the layers of dust that clung like a bad memory… it was his space alright.

The case files were gone. He wasn’t picking one up to choose his domain.

No, his office had been warped and extended, and several dames walked in through his door.

The first was a leggy blonde who slipped in the way a knife slips into ribs. Quiet, deliberate, and unforgettable. Tall and impossibly elegant, she carried herself like royalty, wrapped in expensive perfume and danger. Her lips were painted blood red and were curved in a calculated smirk.

The second had sable hair as dark as night, brighter than her black heart. She had a voice like smoke and sorrow, the kind that wrapped around and didn’t let go. Her mascara ran like a confession, failing to hide eyes that had seen too much. In the daylight, she didn’t look like much. In the dark, she looked like a dream he shouldn’t trust.

The third didn’t knock or politely open the door. She kicked it in, a headline in one hand and a flask in the other. She wore trousers better than most men, her suspenders pulled tight over a button-down. Her hair was short and wild, a hazel tangle that hid a wild look in her eyes and framed a quick mouth.

More and more of them came in, and then, like a candle in the night, a bright flare in the vast darkness, the only woman Fenrir had ever loved walked in. She was his one true flame, the only thing in his smoke-clad world that burned clean. When she walked into the room, the air changed. Thicker. Hotter. Charged, like the moment before a match was struck. She was a firestorm wrapped in sugar and secrets. Her eyes burned with the color of sunlit embers, and had a voice that could knock over buildings.

The dame’s hair - gods above, her hair - was fire-red and wild, a crown of unruly feathers that shimmered with copper, gold, blues, violets, and all the impossible colors of the rainbow. Colors seen only in dreams. She moved heat like she wasn’t bound by the laws of the world, and glided along like her feet weren’t touching the floor. Some said she came from across the sea, some said she came from out of time. Fenrir didn’t want the truth. The truth was water, and the water would extinguish the most elegant flame he had ever known. The fire needed mystery to stay alive, and when she touched his hand, it left a persistent warmth that didn’t fade. Not for hours, not for years.

He loved her the only way a fire could be loved. Fascinated, hypnotized, and with the full knowledge that it was going to leave a mark.

She was the only bird for him, and Fenrir shoved through the crowd, taking his lover’s hand in his own. The two of them locked gazes and spent a timeless, immortal moment together, before Fenrir declared his decision. It didn’t matter to him what domain was represented in the colorful flames, it didn’t matter what selection he was making. The metaphysical representation was far more important to him than the cold calculus of the decision.

“It’s you.” He said. “It was always going to be you. I love you.”

The skies over Pallos rumbled as stormclouds darkened the world from horizon to horizon. Thunder rolled and lightning struck, and the world was filled with the smell of cheap tobacco and cheaper booze. A grand voice Spoke, declaring the new deity.

“Fenrir, the God of Dark and Stormy Nights.”

A deep growl was heard around the world.

Auri was flying around in frantic panic.

Where was it?!

Here? No. There? No. What about this one? No, that was Goddess of Meteor Strikes.

All of them were wrong! None of them was the domain she’d just set her heart on. None of them was right. She had the connection! She must! She HAD to get the domain!

Auri was starting to sympathize quite a bit with Lun’Kat. To go all this time, to achieve apotheosis, and to fail at selection? To have the one domain she desired gone?

And it wasn’t like there was a god or goddess of the place already! It was new! Fresh!

It was the prettiest thing in the world. It was visible to everyone on Pallos, at all times.

Savarin? Not it. The tarte tatin? Ew, no, how had she qualified? The madeleine, the ciambella, the pandoro? The stollen, the baumkuchen, the kulich? No, no, NO!

Auri’s selection was the largest bakery she’d ever seen, with a million baked goods scattered all over the place. It was bigger than any she’d run in life, and had a wider selection. The only part of her mind not dedicated to her search was admiring the logistics of the fantasy bakery. That had to be a lot of ovens running at once, not to mention sourcing reliable suppliers for so many raw ingredients! Ingredients that didn’t grow in the same place in the world.

Auri knew she was a bit of a vain bird. But she was beautiful, she did put a lot of effort into her appearances, and it was only natural that she’d show off a bit. There was nothing wrong with enjoying the attention.

The phoenix had been first, and she was going to get the domain she wanted. Cake after cake, pie after bread, Auri carefully went through the entire bakery, getting a sense of the different offerings. The larger offerings were a larger domain, while the complex cakes were more closely aligned to her, and promised greater initial power.

At long last, Auri found a bundt cake. She almost glanced over it, then did a double take when she read it.

YES!

It was as simple as possible, Auri’s connection to it weak. It was still a threefold connection, just barely tenuous enough for her to grab the domain. Auri felt smug at past-her’s brilliant choices and decisions that had led her to this moment.

Her choice of grabbing Lava way back when was paying off in an unexpected way, as was her [Orbit] skill, that let a halo of Lava circle around her. Blowing up Erebus had helped, and finally, dropping meteor strikes on Lun’Kat from the shattered remnants of the planet sealed the deal.

The bird was briefly philosophical.

It wasn’t about who was the fastest or strongest. It didn’t matter who made the best cake. Far too often, it was about timeliness. Who was in the right place at the right time.

Auri ate the cake, and seized one of the strongest domains on Pallos, one with the potential to become more powerful than the sun.

Every eye on Pallos could see the ring circling the planet. The shattered remains of Erebus were circling the planet, chunks either stabilizing in orbit, or getting flung off in one direction or another. Rocks the size of mountain ranges collided with each other, breaking up into smaller chunks and continuing to orbit the planet. As Auri ascended, the remaining pieces ‘snapped’ into place, and the entire ring shuffled as it color coded itself. Pure white marble chunks ended up the closest to Pallos. Red on the inside, followed by rocks glowing orange in the light. Yellow hunks reflected the sun, smoothly turning into the green of grass. Dark blues merged into violets, which were so dark as to threaten to become black by the very edges.

A voice rumbled across the world, an increasingly familiar refrain.

“Auri, Goddess of the Ring.”

A second voice joined in.

“I am the brrrettiest.”

Two familiar faces greeted Iona when she entered her classing up space for the last time. The aged [Paladin] threw herself at the goddesses like she was an 8 year old again, gripping them tightly in her arms.

“Selene. You’re alright.” She said.

“I am.” The goddess rubbed her neck.

“You two didn’t do anything to Lun’Kat when she ascended, right?” Iona asked. She trusted her goddesses, but it was worth checking.

Lunaris rolled her eyes.

“The overgrown lizard finally saw some sense. She’s the paranoid one here.”

Unsaid was how weakened the two Moon Goddesses were, and how they couldn’t have fought Lun’Kat in the divine realm, even if they wanted to.

Figuring they’d have the rest of eternity to catch up and talk - a perfect arrangement if Iona had ever seen one - the Valkyrie cut to the heart of the problem.

“What happens now?” She asked.

“You’ve got options.” Selene conjured a fluffy armchair from nowhere and sat down. Lunaris claimed Selene’s lap as her chair, and the two immediately lounged.

“You’ve got a few domains with a strong connection that you can rightfully claim.” Lunaris said. “The best two are Goddess of Paladins, and Goddess of Valkyries. The knightly order, not the monsters.”

Iona winced at the last one.

“The Valkyries do still exist.” Selene pointed out. “Nina’s alive, and carrying the torch. All of the concentrated power looking after one person, but organization-level? You’d keep her safe.”

“Paladins?” Iona asked with curiosity. She had left the Valkyrie class thousands of years ago. While she still considered herself one in her heart, she’d seen far too many knightly orders come and go over the years. Not even the vampires could maintain one for more than two Immortal War cycles. Without an ancient ‘anchor’ like Night, the continued survival of military organizations over the years was nearly impossible.

Selene smiled at Iona’s question.

“Paladins, yes. Forgive me, daughter. It is the fate of nearly every [Paladin] to fall in battle, obeying the requests of their gods.”

Lunaris swatted Selene.

“It’s the fate of almost every[Warrior] to fall in battle, gods or no.” She tartly reminded Selene. “More relevantly, since [Paladins] are associated with a patron, every single one until now has taken up a role related to their patron, and that’s what we’re here for. Any domain related to the moons. Tell us, and we’ll make it happen.”

“There are some domains that you resonate with more than others.” Selene chimed in. “Anything relating to gravity and movement, for example, you’ll do quite well with.”

“Dusk, darkness, and setting also works.” Lunaris said.

Iona thought.

Iona asked questions.

And Iona decided.

The roiling stormclouds were scattered mere moments after the divine proclamation of Fenrir’s ascension, and most of the night sky faded away once again. The newly created Dragoneye Moons were temporarily banished from existence, and Auri’s Ring faded to complete transparency. The moons grew in size, and rotated around Pallos, the ascension fueling the illusionary display. One moved into a lunar eclipse, and the other was at a perfect solar eclipse.

“Iona, Goddess of Moonlit Nights.”

Her voice joined in a moment later.

“For all those who face peril after dark, pray to me for protection.”

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For the last time, I opened my eyes in my classing up space. Librarian was waiting for me with a huge smile. She was wearing a nice white tunic, with red bands and gold thread keeping it all together. Her wedding tattoo all along her right arm mimicked mine exactly.

“You made it!” She cheered, hopping off the library desk and sweeping over to me.

“We did it!” I agreed, hugging her.

She was me, and I was her.

“Any idea what’s waiting for me?” I asked.

Librarian shook her head.

“No, I don’t. Not for this. Let’s go together?” She said.

I took her hand, and we walked through the library. Thousands upon thousands of books listed stories of all the classes I could’ve taken. Of the paths unwalked. Of journeys that I only ever read about, but never placed a step on.

I walked slowly, practically dragging my feet. This was my last time here. There was no way back. I had hundreds of hours of happy memories here. Of reading books, when there were no books in Remus for me to read. Of searching through classes and stories, trying to find one that would fit, that would resonate with me. That would be me. Of self reflection, as I tried to divine not only who I was, but who I wanted to be.

I had stayed true to myself, and now, looking back on a long life, I could relive all my memories and smile. I had regrets, we all did, but they were few and far between. Now, at the end, I could reflect on them all, and live my life a second time.

I had started off as a [Child of Earth] twice. Only later on, as an adult, did I unlock my third class as [Beloved of the Wind], an acknowledgement of my love of movement and flight. Right here, in this very library, with Librarian at my side, helping guide my every moment, my every decision, I had made that first, critical decision. I had chosen medicine over magic. I had chosen to help over harming. I had defined myself for the rest of my life.

I had taken [Apprentice Control Healer - Light]. Such a mundane class, it had evolved beyond all recognition. In this very same library, on this floor, among these books, I’d also taken [Firebug] and [Bookwyrm], slightly less humble beginnings for both my Radiance class and my Spatial class. [Student - Dark] had been the start of my merged second Healing class, and I’d taken [Student of the Ages] at the School, at the start of my biomancy project. The same biomancy project that had saved my life and Iona’s countless times over the thousands of years we’d been around.

Five choices. Five classes. Five decisions that shaped and molded my life, and countless hundreds of other classes I considered in this very room.

I first entered the room over 3,000 years ago. I looked around the room one last time, taking in the thousands of titles looking back at me, memorizing the grain of wood on the bookshelf.

“Goodbye.” I told the silent books.

Hand in hand, Librarian and I stepped on the staircase up together, moving onto the next chapter of my life.

I didn’t look back.

As we stepped onto the second floor, it felt like I split apart. The first floor had always been the same, but the second floor had been different every time I visited to take a class.

When I had gotten [Pyromancer] it had been an open room, filled with tables. Each table had four books on it, and I’d browsed through the dozen different variations of Fire [Mage] before settling on the classic. When I’d taken [Better. Faster. Stronger.] there had only been a single book that met my criteria, waiting for me on a reader at the top of the stairs. [Light of Hope] had been a simple library room. [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] Librarian had stuck me in a cozy chair and shown my offerings. [Shadow Healer] I’d still been a kid and we played a game, sneaking into the library like I snuck into places in real life. Entirely unnecessary, but it had been fun. Fun that was in short supply when I’d been a kid. I loved Librarian a little for that.

All five of me walked through the room, all of us holding onto Librarian’s hand. Two of us shimmered and merged into the other three as we reached the stairs, two of the classes having been reset and never went any further.

[Constellation of the Healer] had been in a glass case with two locks on it, representing the two classes merging. [Ranger-Mage - Radiance] had been one of my most crucial choices, locking in my second advanced element. I fondly remembered the pyramid of choices, and occasionally wondered what would’ve happened if I’d taken Lava as my element instead of Radiance. The decision had been quite close, and I’d occasionally had flashes of desire at Auri’s effortless command of the element.

If I had taken Lava, would Auri have taken Radiance? What ifs, what ifs, I could only imagine now.

Susan - Sentinel Arachne - had been in my life, and turbocharged me to get [Ancient Loremaster of Legend]. It hadn’t been a great fit for me, but the class quality and stats had formed a powerful base for me to work off of.

The three of us - the six of us - reached the stairs, onto the next tier of life.

I’d built [The Dawn Sentinel] myself, customizing the class to be exactly what I wanted. It was when I considered myself to have seized Immortality, pouring starlight into the constellation of the Ouroborus. [Butterfly Mystic] had been a hard choice, trapped with the dwarves, and I’d believed it was the last time I’d change the class back then. [Erudite Archmage] had been a return to form from [Loremaster], and I didn’t want to think how long I would’ve been stuck if I hadn’t taken it.

Wizardry was the answer to my ‘I want to do everything’ conundrum. Enough stats that I could mimic being a weak sorcerer of my level in nearly any element, it had let me explore all the world and the vast magic at my fingertips. Part of me was a little sad that I wouldn’t be casting spells anymore. To my knowledge, as a Goddess in my own divine realm, I could do anything - but it was a little like playing cards with [The World Around Me] on and feeding me exactly what was going to happen. It lost a little something.

We went up the stairs again, and I reflected on the classes I’d taken here. [The Arbiter of Life and Death]. [Seraph of the Dawn]. [Sage of Tomes].

Minutes to cross the room, decades to level. Stairs, and another set.

[The Elaine]. [Dawnbringer]. [Sage of Eternity].

I had taken [The Elaine] every classup after. It was my class, in a way no other class could ever hope to be. It had subtly evolved, and the skills had improved, but I was [The Elaine].

[The Unyielding Dawn]. [The Witch in Green].

[The Rising Sun]. [Wanderlust Witch].

[She Who Leads the Sun]. [The Wise Wanderer].

[The First Dawn]. [Witch of Worlds].

[The Dawn]. [The Wandering Witch of the Hourglass].

Somewhere along the line, the six of us had merged back down to two.

Somewhere along the steps of my witch’s tower, stuffed to the brim with books, Librarian and I had blurred and overlapped, becoming one in truth.

And in that last room, waiting for me past the empty pedestals that had once held my final class selection, was a portal glowing a golden color. Thirty-one glowing points circled it, a representation of all my skills. I scowled at the sight - Auri ascending first shouldn’t be counted against me like that, it should’ve been a perfect thirty-two in a circle.

[Celestial Spirit]. A great discount on all my skills, a critical connection to the element that fueled my skills.

[Healer’s Aura]. I had covered nearly a quarter of the entire world at the end, and with civilization being packed down on the southern continent, I could cover nearly everyone at once.

[A Drop of Eternity in a Sea of Starlight]. My Immortality skill. Sold to provide for us, granted to friends and family so the ravages of time wouldn’t take them from me too early.

[Luminary Mind] had done so much. Mental stability, parallel thoughts, being able to find connections, thinking faster, and a dozen other things. It wasn’t quite at the level of a full [Thinker] class, but I’d gotten a few of the benefits.

[Panacea] was the bread and butter skill of my entire career. The name was the description - heal everything.

[Constellation of the Healer] was both my vitality reinforcement armor skill, as well as letting me transform into starlight, similar to what Lun’Kat did. I found [Lightspeed] to be more useful more often, but I usually used it to dance with Iona when she turned into a moonbeam. Small, subtle, but infinitely important to let me continue to hold weapons and wear armor.

[Stellar Protection] had been my shield skill. Destruction and blocking, I had thanked Artemis profusely over the years for helping me evolve my shield in that direction.

[Elaine Eternal] was my energy skill, the only reason I’d been able to fight Lun’Kat for weeks immediately after the harrowing Erebus ordeal. Follow current novels on 𝗻𝗼𝘷𝗲𝗹•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥

That was it. Eight glimmering points on the portal, eight skills that had been with me in one form or another my entire life.

[Radiance Spirit] I’d heard far too many jokes about my personality being Radiant, or my smile, or my spirit and soul. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was there.

[Let There Be Light] Bane of Illusionists the world around, I’d held onto the skill and trained it for thousands of years just to be able to fight Lun’Kat. And it had worked.

[Judgment With the Condensed Focus of Sunfire] The final upgrade of my Radiance beams. I’d trained and gotten efficient with them in Remus, way back when my age could be measured in two digits, and the school of brutal practicality had been with me ever since. The name changed, but the raw application of efficiently removing my problems hadn’t.

[The Mourning Blades] My System thought it was punny. Mourning blades for the [Healer] who mourned the lost, for the Dawn wreathing her blades in sunfire.

[Heart of the Sun] Was my mana regeneration. It had changed names over the years, but it had never failed to give me more. Let me cast more, let me be the best [Healer] and [Mage] possible.

[Dawn’s Crown] Was my buff, making everything I did in Radiance stronger. I hadn’t felt it too much in the last few years, mostly because I massively overpowered things - or Lun’Kat had simply been too strong.

[Lightspeed] Nothing like going at the speed of light!

[A Radiant Maelstrom With As Many Feathers as Stars in the Sky] My last magical attack hadn’t seen as much use as [Judgment With the Condensed Focus of Sunfire], but when I needed it, I needed it.

[Spatial Spirit] My last spirit skill, not much more to say about it.

[Scripture Savant] No matter the form, my class was a reading one, and I’d possibly spend more time with this skill than any other.

[Teleportation] My sweet love, my infinite convenience, the best skill to exist! Power and mana intensive, the ability to just… rearrange everything around me was priceless. No matter how much Iona argued that being able to hold things up with [Telekinesis] was better, I knew the truth.

[Through the Looking Glass, to the Sage’s Grove, the World Within the Hourglass]. Iona had to literally drag me out a few times when I was spending more years inside my pocket dimension than outside. Something about it not being the ‘real world’.

[Gatekeeper] Let me in and out of my [Grove], and I’d chosen to evolve it, instead of letting it merge in.

[Reality, Writ as I Will] Wizardry! All the skills! Almost any magic I could see or imagine, I could use! Less useful when fighting someone of my tier, but the boundless possibilities

[Astral Archives] Let my memories be perfect - and more importantly, let me forget. Let me archive knowledge. The human mind, even improved with the System, wasn’t meant to have access to thousands of years of memories. It was literally insanity.

[Endless Pursuit of Knowledge] If I had a regret, it was that I hadn’t learned everything. That there were more horizons of knowledge left untouched.

I had tried, and as a Goddess, I’d be able to learn even more. Shame the domain of Knowledge was already taken.

[Peer Into the Truth of the World] Was my upgraded [Identify]. I’d kept it so long mostly out of a sense of nostalgia. A way to connect with my parents, who’d recommended it to me.

[Everywoman] was like every skill in one, making me an effortless master of anything I tried to do. It was great.

Companion Blank. Auri ascending ahead of me meant I’d lost the skill. There was a blank in my stat sheet, a hole in the beads.

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra] The soul of who I was, the heart of my spirit.

[Sentinel’s Superiority] One of the best general skills I’d ever heard of. A 25% boost to my class skills? Unparalleled. It basically gave me an extra thousand levels.

And Lun’Kat had still fought us to a standstill.

[Persistent Casting] I’d lost track of how many times this skill had saved my life or someone else’s life. Best metaskill ever.

[Greenthumb of a Billion Blossoms] The winter after I’d gotten the skill - I’d been far too busy before then - I sat down and did some math.

It checked out - I’d grown roughly a billion flowers before being offered the skill, and I’d grown billions more since, providing food and blessed mangos to everyone.

And with that, my skills were done.

Goodbye, old friends. I’ll miss you.

I looked around the classing up room one last time, and wiped away a tear.

A part of me was leaving forever, and yet, would always be with me. Would always be the world of my soul, no matter what shape my soul took nor the form of my consciousness. This was goodbye… but it would always be me. A librarian happily surrounded by her books, a voracious bookwyrm with an unending supply.

I stepped through the portal, and took a look around.

Gone was the library, gone was the wood. Gone was the ceiling above.

I was in a Reman temple, filled with frescos and tall marble pillars. Victory laurels rested on silk cushions, the vast majority of them colored bronze. A few were a darker iron color, and here and there I spotted victorious silver. No gold, but I wasn’t an [Empress].

I didn’t need a guide, not anymore. Not after all my experience, not with Librarian being part of me.

Not when it was so obvious. Pick up a wreath, put it on my head, and ascend as the goddess in question.

I started to look through my options. I had time, and I was going to pick the domain that best suited me. The Goddess that I would be for eternity.

The first bronze wreath I picked up and examined would make me the Goddess of Mangos. Smaller than the God of Fruit, who was under the Harvest Goddess, subservient to Aion, Goddess of Life. The idea appealed, but I wasn’t going to jam it on my head and call it a day.

Goddess of Reading Books. I enjoyed the idea, but it was incredibly narrow.

Goddess of the Medical Manuscripts. I liked the idea more, but it was still far too small for me.

Goddess of Otherworldly Travelers. This one was particularly small, and it felt more like I’d gotten it as an option because of my circumstances, and not because it was truly me.

Goddess of Stories beyond Time and Space. I’d inspired Arthur, The Bard. He might not have become a God, but his name was sung for not a thousand years, but more than ten thousand years.

Goddess of the Healer’s Oath. One of my largest contributions, eclipsed only by the Medical Manuscripts that spread both the [Oath] and the knowledge.

Goddess of Combat Healers. Ugh, no, that wasn't the crux of who I was. And I was done with the necessity of violence.

Goddess of Eternal Life. There was no option to be the Goddess of Immortality, and I had to imagine the domain was already taken. What was the difference between Immortality, and Eternal Life?

There was no Goddess of the Dawn. Aurora already held the position, and I wasn’t going to try and murder her just for a title. I wasn’t Lun’Kat.

I picked up choice after choice, and put most of them down. I had options, but it wasn’t like I was spoiled for them. Maybe three dozen in total.

The first silver wreath I picked up I kept, hanging it over one arm. It had been the best one I found so far, one that I liked the idea of and could see myself being the Goddess of. It wasn’t what I expected, but it was a strong runner. Like when I’d piled up books that looked interesting and carried them around. There was no Librarian to help me out now - or rather, she was still carrying them, because I was carrying them.

There was just one thing left to do. I might have ascended as a chimera, but my material body no longer defined who I was. The words that I told Papilion returned to me - I had regretted them numerous times early into my life, but at its end, I meant them more than ever: I want to be a human.

Humanity could use the grand feat far more than any chimera I had ever met.

Two more silver wreaths I picked up, and found myself with one final decision. No matter what, I was going to be an “M”.

Goddess of Memories.

Goddess of Memorials.

Goddess of Medicine.

Who was I?

Who did I want to be?

I had asked myself that question a hundred times, a thousand times, a million times over the years.

I made my choice, and ascended.

Octavius Nix stumbled as the earth rumbled again, as the skies once again decided that sticking to one thing was too difficult.

“Damnit!” He shouted at the… nope, the clouds were busy fleeing. At the blue sky above. “Some of us are trying to farm here!”

Then he went cross-eyed at a notification.

[*ding!* Due to the great efforts of [Healer] Elaine, you get a +1 bonus to all stats! You also get a passive 2% increase to all exp gain!]

Nix’s grumbling suddenly became much quieter.

“Well, fine then. Rumble away if you’re going to be dishing out experience boosts and stats. But tomorrow, the rest of us are going to be working!”

[*ding!* Due to the great efforts of [Paladin] Iona, you get a +1 bonus to all stats! You also get a passive 2% increase to all exp gain!]

He gave it up as a bad job, and started to walk home. His eyes immediately caught on the temple, built high on the mountain.

“Huh. Was that always glowing?”