Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

Chapter 434: A Report Out Of Time

Chapter 434: A Report Out Of Time

Night was wearing a simple outfit, yet was clearly a known commodity. Guards snapped to attention as he approached, and he slowly paced the halls as if they were his own home.

For all I knew, it had been his home, once upon a time.

I also noticed he’d ‘fixed’ his level, and was displaying as a [Warrior - 2988]. That probably helped us get through most obstacles. Maybe that’s why the guards were snapping to, instead of them knowing him? Asking anyone if they had known Night hadn’t paid off…

Auri was surprisingly tame and calm, not brrpting at people or trying to show off.

[*ding!* [Long-Range Identify] leveled up! 400 -> 415]

I cast that sucker on Night until it stopped giving me levels. Why not, right?

We soon arrived at an imposing set of doors, three members of the Bloodsworn Order in full plate armor standing before it, hands on their weapons. Magical runes glowed red, and the leading member of the Order held their hand up.

“Halt.” He ordered.

[Warrior - 1003]. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the Bloodsworn Order yet, but the fact that he was willing to tell Night to stop gave them some marks in my books. Brave, but potentially suicidally stupid. Jury was still out on which it was.

Night politely stopped, and tilted his head.

“Menelaus. Command and the rest are awaiting us. Indeed, I bring the very subject of their meeting to them. If you would kindly do the honors?” Night asked in High Elvish.

Didn’t surprise me that he knew the guy’s name. Wouldn’t surprise me if he knew literally every single vampire in existence.

Although… it kind of would. I’d asked around a bunch for Night, and nobody seemed to know anything.

Focus.

He quickly peeked into the room. He exited a moment later and nodded to Night.

Night gestured for me to take the lead. I straightened my back, held my head high, and walked into the room like I owned it. Auri puffed up her chest and held her beak high, not wanting to be shown up or cowed in the slightest.

I was immediately smacked by the sheer grandeur of the place. The room itself was so-so, nothing terribly special. Probably the throne room of Stormwatch Castle back in the day. Glowing glyphs covered the walls, written in a runic language I was unfamiliar with.

No, it was the rest of it.

Two rows of a dozen powerful [Warriors], [Rangers] and [Mages] formed an aisle, only a few of them not vampires. Most notable was a clear gnome-vampire, the tiny [Mage] bearing distinct fangs, pale skin and red eyes. Same one that had done the runes for Fenrir, now that I thought about it. There was a troll, and no amount of ceremonial armor could stop him looking ugly as sin. Each one was in full ceremonial armor - the capes were a dead giveaway - in gear that looked similar to the Rangers. They were all sitting on uniform curule seats, well-padded. A pair of attendants or retainers stood behind each one. Each one had two symbols on their chest - a bat-vampire hybrid that each one had in black and red, and a personal symbol.

The Sentinels.

Their levels were all over the place, from a level 420 sitting near the front - hey, everyone had to start somewhere - all the way to Arachne and Night’s levels. The bulk of the Sentinels were hovering around level 1000, give or take 200 levels.

I remember someone mentioning the last big Immortal war had been 800 years ago. It made me wonder - were all the vampires clustered around level 1000 the ‘new crop’? Did the few significantly over that mark survive the last war? Did the level imply that they could get a mortal close to level 1000 before needing to turn them? Or did I have it in the wrong order, was it people who could get that high in a mortal lifespan those considered for turning?

A chicken and egg problem that I’d work out some other day.

Behind them, near the edges of the room, leaning against the walls, were another few dozen vampires, looking interested but clearly not in the same tier as the Sentinels themselves, no matter that their levels indicated no difference between them. Again, mostly vampires clustered around level 1000, a few non-vampires mixed in.

Lastly, there was the end of the aisle. Arachne sat on a throne, in what I had to imagine was her full ceremonial outfit - armor just like the Rangers, but all in black, trimmed with red - and above her were eight people seated in a semicircle, four mortal, four vampires.

I strode forward with confidence, shrugging off the assembled weight of everyone’s gaze, of their full attention. I was Sentinel Dawn. I belonged here.

Somewhat. For a given definition.

My confidence flagged, but like he knew it would, Night was there, behind me, silently providing the support I needed. Auri’s little flame on my shoulder was a comfort, a reminder that she was with me through thick and thin.

The room was almost completely silent as we passed by Sentinel after Sentinel, ending up in front of Arachne and what I imagined was Ranger Command. I really hoped these weren’t how meetings were normally conducted, it looked miserable.

“Welcome. Thank you all for attending on such short notice.” Arachne began. “This is a special opportunity for all present, which is why I have invoked my authority as Prima to pull in Sentinels currently off rotation, Shadow, War, and Core alike, and requested full ceremonial gear. The reason for this will be made clear soon.”

Huh. I spun a quick [Parallel Thought] off to think about that, and really consider it. Arachne had enough pull to make an important event, the sort of event that people could level in. Given the right conditions. It made sense - if this was an important event, the sort of event people could level at simply by participating, pulling out all the stops added weight. Gravitas. Improved the experience, the levels. Full ceremonial outfits in the throne room beat a bunch of Sentinels loafing on the sofa in a secret meeting room. Clever!

“The history of the Sentinel and Ranger organization is a storied one, reaching back nearly to the dawn of time. We have Night to thank for this. Time and time again, from the ashes of ruination and calamity he has, like the glorious phoenix sitting on Elaine’s shoulder, brought back and restored the profession of Sentinel and Ranger. Each time weight has been added to the organization. Each time the System recalls that we are Sentinels, and properly dispenses its blessings upon us, magnified by the weight of history.” Arachne declaimed, pronouncing the truth to all in the room.

I could tell Auri was doing her utter best not to completely flip out, restraining herself to ‘only’ puffing out her chest, filled with a few flaming medals. I swear she didn’t have that many last time I’d checked.

I held my head up high and proud, feeling the increasing weight of Arachne’s words and the whole situation.

“I will now yield the floor to Night, who has shepherded us since the dawn of time.” Arachne concluded.

Night stepped forward, and had a trick to project his voice, to let everyone hear him without shouting - or needing a Skill. Just pure skill!

“Welcome, one and all, friends, Sentinels, and those who help our most noble protectors fulfill their sacred duty.” He said. “Arachne is not exaggerating when she described the age of the Sentinel organization. Let me walk you all down memory lane, to the time of the famed Empire of Remus, the first nation that ever conquered the world, the first to fall, the hallowed name that reverberates to this day in myths and legends, the Empire that all others claim succession to, and draw inspiration from. Now, I would like to take you back even further, to when the grand Empire was a mere Republic, eking out a meager existence in the world, besieged by foes and monsters on all sides. Indeed, the language of the time was still pure Creation, untainted by the grand melding of cultures that came together to form Remus.”

Night paused a moment, letting all take in the scene he was setting. He began to slowly pace up and down the aisle, looking each Sentinel in the eye before slowly stepping on. A little thread of Arachne’s wrapped around my ankle, letting me know to stay in place.

I was impressed with the discipline shown. No shouting, no yelling, no interruptions. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that… but then again, the Sentinels from my time knew when we had to shut up and look good or listen, and I suppose to them, this was one of those moments.

Night described a good amount of Remus as it was then. Formorians. Humans as the only known elvenoids. The typical levels, and the unknown low experience zone. Mighty flocks of dinosaurs that ruled the sky, that had humanity scurrying for shelter.

“Then along came a girl. Yes, this very one right here, named Elaine, just Elaine. Why would someone name a child that? Who would condemn her to such a fate, such a word? Is that not restricting her into a predetermined life?” Night gave another pause, and in an unusually cruel twist, changed the subject.

6,000 skills, and dramatic storytelling clearly had made the list at some point. I was hooked, and it was about me!

“Ranger at 14. 14. Even in that time, it was an accomplishment, and most of you will be shocked to learn at the levels of discrimination Remus had at the time towards Elaine, for the simple crime of being born a woman. Yes, as vaunted as Remus now is in our histories and legends, they too were made of mortal men and women, people with flaws and misunderstandings nearly as great as those we see today. At the tender age of 18, Elaine earned herself a new title.”

Night paused a moment. Everyone knew what was going to happen, the first word of what he was going to say.

“Sentinel Dawn. The first time the title was put into use, the original, Dawn was a forerunner for many things that you now experience and take for granted today, things that would be good to learn another time.” Night paused a bit, doing a full walk up and down the aisle.

[The World Around Me] let me see behind myself, see that everyone inside the range was thoroughly entranced. No secret games of rock-paper-scissors under the table, no tiny card games used to pass a boring meeting.

“The detail is less relevant to this discussion than others, but back then, we declared a Sentinel to be missing in action after disappearing for a full decade. I have a private, secondary system used to mark when a Sentinel disappears under conditions that, even after a decade, I believe they may return one day. Very few of your elders have ever been graced with such a mark. When a Sentinel is sent on a mission, almost without exception, it is dangerous. It threatens the very fabric of the nation. We do not deploy lightly, touching once again upon the weight that Arachne spoke of.”

Night paused again, but it was a short pause. A quick one. Everything in his last sentence was a recap of the day to day lives of every person present.

“Each Sentinel has a storied history. Each Sentinel can boast of thousands of lives saved, of monsters contained or slain, of nations saved, gods defied, and epic tales that would make a bard weep. I shall not bore you with all of Sentinel Dawn’s exploits, save for one. A single exploit that has reverberated through history, that each and every single one of you standing here today are alive because of.”

That refocused everyone’s stares on me, and I got a round muttering from the otherwise perfectly-disciplined Sentinels.

“Impossible.” One breathed.

“What?” Another one gasped.

A third one was wiggling their fingers in calculation, their eyes widening as they came to some realization or another.

I could feel the tension in the air ratcheting up as Night left them all to stew on that, and I had to wonder what he was specifically crediting me with.

The low experience zone? I’d simply been the first to deliver the news. If it wasn’t me, it would’ve been someone else.

The end of the Formorian War? I’d been there, but again, I think Night was giving me too much credit.

Dwarves? Hunting had also been there.

Twisting Augustus’s arm? From what I’d gathered, there’d already been a significant movement in that direction… but maybe…? I shouldn’t sell myself short.

Lun’Kat? Unless something wild had happened, I didn’t see how everyone today was alive because of it.

Ah.

Wait, yes. That was it.

“Sentinel Dawn is the original author of the Medical Manuscripts, the foremost resource on medicine and the elvenoid condition on Pallos. It is no exaggeration to say that she founded medicine in its current state, and with a singular exception in this room, each and every one of you have required the tender care of [Healers] in your lifetime, their knowledge and power directly traceable to Dawn’s contributions to the field.”

"Elaine. Healer. The title of the profession is no accident, nor is the name of the oath that many have taken since she first spoke it. In many ways her legacy could be considered comparable to that of Remus, and inarguably exceeds it in the minds of the common folk who care not for ancient empires, but call out her name in times of sickness and danger."

Even the Commanders looked like they didn’t believe him. Also, unrelated, Night’s statement earlier implied a Sentinel had managed to go their entire life without needing healing? I was incredibly impressed.

“Now, we will get to the final segment of the story, the last piece of the puzzle that you all are missing before this will make sense. In the twilight of the Republic of Remus, Sentinels were far more militant than we are now. After all, we were beset on all sides. Monsters needed slaying, and the solution of the day was to find the best way to murder the threat. It was a more primitive era. Dawn was one of the earlier iterations into trying less combat-focused Classers, to experiment and see if a dedicated healer could work as a Sentinel. As you all know, today we have the Moonlight Medics that we dispatch to major areas of concern, that fill a similar role. They did not exist then. More critically, however, we lacked [Thinkers]. Top to bottom, in the entire organization, we did not have a single one, nor am I even sure if we examined every citizen in Remus that we would find a single one! [Philosopher] was the closest Remus had, and as such, we had no warning to the folly that was about to occur. Sentinel Dawn. Please report your mission, in the ancient style in which you were trained.”

I saluted, fist over heart, and bowed my head slightly, glad for Night’s subtle encouragement to fall back on my normal training, and not to change anything.

“Is Creation an acceptable language to all present?” I asked, mentally cursing how Night’s manner of speaking was infecting my language… and thoughts!

One of the vampires at the table above Arachne spoke up.

“I will translate for those not fluent in the Vampire’s Tongue.” He said.

“Mission was an unusual one.” I began. “Aren’t they always?”

No reaction. Tough crowd, it wasn’t like home.

The thought briefly made my heart fall, but I shoved it away. This was the time to be professional.

“One of our Commanders, a Commander Julius, had gone missing, along with his entire escort. No traces or evidence of what had removed him could be found, and he vanished just outside the capital city of Ariminum. Eventually, we determined that he’d been taken by the fae, and we came to the decision to attempt a rescue. I entered the fae realm with as many precautions as possible, along with a few others. The fae realm was… bizarre. Let me explain.”

A large part of reporting in, of explaining everything that had been done on a mission was to share experience and knowledge, to warn others of pitfalls and traps. An experience like mine, a trip like mine? The knowledge was priceless.

I detailed the strange dual/triple nature of both the realm and the fae, how the clover had given me sight. How the crown of holly had bailed us out of a tricky spot, but arguably had given the fae a chance to turn the tables on us. How I’d worded my request, and how it had been twisted.

How Amber had ignored so many precautions, paid a terrible price, but benefited in return. How she’d returned with magic that not even the System could perform.

“... in the end, we emerged somewhere in the forests in the southern portion of Rolland. Unless things have gotten really weird since we left - and I’m not discounting someone having shifted continents or rearranged seas in the interval - we returned fairly far from the ring that we entered. To say we were lost was an understatement. If it wasn’t for the System notification telling us we were in Pallos, we wouldn’t know if we were even in the same realm. The fae pulled an additional prank on us, dumping us in the depths of a spider’s lair. By myself, I wouldn’t have had too many issues, but Commander Julius might’ve struggled to escape, to say nothing of Amber, the trader girl who’d come along.”

I detailed the fight, Artemis’s impromptu shelter, and the whole nine yards. I touched lightly on Amber’s secrets and what she’d gotten from the fae, enough for the broad strokes, but her secrets were hers to keep. That, and I didn’t really feel like I belonged here. Sure, Night was standing right there, but I’d never met or known any of these people before, or even known about them until recently.

If - IF - I joined this group, I’d need time to build up anything close to the same level of trust and understanding I had with the Sentinels. Heck, I was still debating if I even wanted to join! Back to the report.

“Then we reached a road, and figured it was better than roughing it. We followed it, and I suspect Amber’s lucky coin started to bend events in our favor. We encountered a grievously injured [Paladin] with a blessing to speak any language, and she was able to help us find our feet. We traveled together to Lyon, encountering a minor band of Vorlers.”

I went into great technical detail about the fight, figuring it was an area that I could get guidance on.

“Our whole lives had just been upended, overturned. Remus didn’t exist. We split up to forge our own paths, taking the actions we felt would be best for our futures. Amber continues to travel around, building her merchant empire. Artemis and Commander Julius became engaged, and figured Lyon was as good a spot as any to start settling down. They started to work for the Hunter’s Guild, and last I heard, were doing fantastically well at it. It’s extremely similar to the work Rangers did, with a little more emphasis on clean kills that preserve material, and less on ‘just get it dead by any means possible,’ but they’re thriving. I’ve sent them letters recently that I’m here, by the way. Iona, the [Paladin], was heading to the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft. I wanted to know what the world looked like. I wanted to research, if possible, what happened to Remus. To me, it wasn’t the ancient Ur-empire, it was home.”

I paused for the inevitable question that never came. Awkwardly, I continued.

“I managed to gain admittance on a combat scholarship. After all, I was trained by the elite of Remus, forged in a deadly war. The competition was fairly weak, and I crushed my way through the event.”

I got a couple of grins at that.

“I’m going to mostly skip the events at the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft, simply going to the end where I graduated with multiple tracks, and got hints that Exterreri could be home to Night. Given the similarities in organization, the founding mythos of the nation, and superficial cultural similarities, we decided to try and see if we could find Night. He’s always been a survivor, and he was the only person I imagined who could’ve made it to the present day. We came, and having no true leads, I started to fumble around. Asking people if they knew Night or any really old vampires, poking around Ranger HQ…”

I was getting various looks of barely-contained mirth or utter disbelief from the Sentinels and their support. One of the people leaning on the walls in the back had to bite on their sleeve to keep from laughing, just barely maintaining the decorum of the event.

“I’d noted how many tunnels were around thanks to one of my skills, and decided to go exploring. That was too much for Sentinel Arachne, who’d been aware of me the entire time. I have quite a few thoughts as to her process, but I’ll leave that part of the tale to her.”

I finished my report, but nobody moved. Auri’s claws suddenly dug into my shoulder as her beak lifted even higher.

We’d just gotten a bunch of levels! I would look at them later, but Night tensed behind me. I checked his level.

[Warrior - 2990]