Fated (Chapter Seventy-Seven)

[tanadin]

 In which people are sad, people are happy, and other people are annoyed.
You're so welcome for that summary.

Chapter list: http://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/382.html
Map of the continent: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Fated-map-544073443
Character status spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RKoeOLYhQctmZ5McNHc_kid0tjfb1BxyuD8i95FmFQE/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter Seventy-Seven

Ruins of Dalania, Minecraftia. November 15, year 573. Time instance 483Z.

Samuel was still on his knees when Teramelle snorted and stopped beside them, Tim and Tranpar leaping off of her back. Mira screeched happily and knocked Shred over by flying into her, nuzzling her face and repeating Shred’s name over and over again.

“What happened?” Tranpar asked, bouncing a little. “I heard you shoot the gun! Was it useful? And what was that huge explosion we heard?” He frowned when he realized that Samuel wasn’t responding, instead practically ignoring him. Despite how annoying Tranpar could be, Samuel never ignored him, even just rolling his eyes or smiling a little when he didn’t respond with words.

“…Samuel?” Tranpar glanced around, then frowned further. “Samuel, where’s Tarsen?”

Samuel didn’t answer, only raising his eyes from his spear to the area before them that had clearly been hit with some kind of explosion.

Tranpar’s eyes widened. “No. No, he’s not… Samuel, Samuel, come on. Come on, that’s not funny! It’s not funny!” He shook Samuel’s arm but the older man didn’t respond, lowering his head to hide the tears streaming down his face.

He didn’t want Tranpar to see.

Tranpar sat down, hard, in the dirt beside Samuel and rested his forehead on his guardian’s shoulder, shaking. Tarsen couldn’t be gone. He had been a constant ever since they had met the group, really. Ever since life had changed, whether it was for good or for bad, Tarsen had been there.

He wasn’t sure what to do, and that scared him.

Tranpar always had a solution for a problem, and when he didn’t, everyone else did. But everyone was silent, even those addressing wounds. They had lost a member of the team, and not only that, they had lost one of the main people who brought life to their long, weary, and bloody travels.

The life of the group, extinguished. Or so it seemed.

Tranpar felt someone tug at his sleeve and he sniffed, leaning back and turning around. Tim looked at him worriedly through his box.

“Tarsen?”

“He’s gone, Tim. I’m sorry.”

Tim frowned. “Tarsen. Where is he?”

“He’s gone.”

“When will he be back?”

“He won’t.” Tranpar felt tears well in his eyes and looked away. “He’s never coming back. He’s dead, Tim. He’s gone forever…” He rested his head on Samuel again and wrapped his arms around his guardian, shaking and struggling not to cry as he heard Tim break down sobbing behind him.

Niel moved to comfort Tim, hugging the smaller boy tightly. “It’ll be okay, Tim. Things will get better.”

“N-no.” Tim sobbed. “Tarsen’s g-gone. Not okay! It’s not okay!”

“It’s not okay right now, I know. But…it’ll be better, eventually.” Niel was pretty sure he was spouting lies but he felt the need to comfort this kid. He felt Adrian sit beside him but he didn’t really react, just focusing on Tim for the time being.

Poor kid. He doesn’t talk to anyone except Tarsen. Niel suddenly was hit with the realization that he was only a year older than Tim, despite the fact that Tim acted a hell of a lot younger. He was more like a six-year-old, Niel realized, and not for the first time he found himself wondering why.

He didn’t really think on it for long, though, as Samuel forcing himself to his feet got his attention. Tranpar whimpered and scooted back, but hugged Tim instead, still watching Samuel.

Without a word, Samuel wiped the blood off of his spear and placed it on his back before stepping over to a relatively large stone. He grabbed a hold of it and started dragging it backwards, into the area of the explosion.

“Samuel?” Shred’s voice was quiet. “What are you doing?”

“Grave,” was his only response. Shred nodded and stepped forward to help him move the stone to the center of the explosion. She noticed Samuel fumbling for his knife and stopped him, reaching into her back to retrieve a dragonbone knife. He nodded his thanks and began carving the stone.

“I thought you sold that.” Niel protested.

“I have two.” Shred said, as if this was obvious.

“Why? I mean, I know you’re a dual wielder, but there’s literally no reason for you to use knives. Like…ever.” Adrian frowned at her.

“One for them to find, one for me to keep.”

“…What?”

Shred sighed. “If I’m ever captured and they search me for weapons, they’d take my swords and find a knife. They’d assume that’s my only knife because, as you pointed out, there’s literally no reason for me to have two knives. Then, I have a knife and they think that I don’t.”

Adrian nodded, realizing that this made sense. They fell silent as they watched Samuel carve words onto the makeshift gravestone, sitting back once he was done.

Tarsen Harex

My brother

He who saved the world

with the greatest sacrifice.

He sat there for several minutes before Shred put a hand on his shoulder. “We need to get going, Samuel. Tarsen would want us to carry on. It’s why he saved us.”

Samuel nodded and numbly got to his feet. He hesitated before removing his hat, setting it gently on the gravestone, before turning and waving for the others to follow. He didn’t speak as they set off, but paused when he felt someone tap his arm.

He turned to see Tim standing there, holding his hat. He held it out, but Samuel shook his head.

“Keep it.” Tim insisted. “Tarsen doesn’t want it.”

Samuel looked at him oddly for a moment before nodding, taking it and setting it back on his head. He waited for Tim to join Tranpar on Teramelle’s back before starting to walk again.

Such a small thing can mean everything.

-~-

“He’s not dead.” Paul protested. “He’s alive. Look, your orb isn’t broken, is it?”

“It might as well be!” Bdubs snapped. “He’s dead, Paul! Quit tryin’ to give me hope!”

“Kaepravah’s done something.” Paul grumbled, crossing his arms. “That eye was hers, and she guards the Heart of Pain. That explosion wasn’t anywhere near big enough to justify something that powerful exploding. She rigged an explosion, but she brought both Tarsen and the Heart of Pain back, I’m sure of it. She’s got to be blocking your view.”

“Oh, come off it, Paul. Your old man imagination is overreacting again.” Vechs told him, grinning mischievously.

Paul swatted at him. “I’m not that much older than you, Vechs!”

“Whatever makes you feel better, old timer!”

“Hey, watch it. He’s only a decade or so older than me.” Blame snapped.

“I’m the oldest here!” Guude protested. “Are you callin’ me old?”

Vechs smiled and shrugged innocently, but they could all tell that, behind his goggles, his eyes betrayed  his thought process.

“I’m gonna kick you out of the Vortex.” Guude mumbled.

Vechs shrugged again. “If you remember to. Old age makes you forgetful.”

Guude glared at him and Paul put in, “I’m right next to him. I can hit him if you’d like.”

“Please don’t.”

“Please do.”

Paul cheerfully swatted Vechs’ shoulder, earning a sarcastic wail of pain from the mapmaker as he stumbled around, clutching his shoulder. Even Blame had to hide an amused smile.

Sometimes, things were okay.

-~-

Tarsen wasn’t sure how long he was lost in the glowing red before the voice spoke to him, startling him out of his trancelike state.

“That was either the bravest or the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Tarsen blinked, fairly certain that the voice was familiar, but he couldn’t place where he had heard it before. He didn’t waste time thinking about it, however, and responded. “Well, it was that or let them kill us.”

“That’s true. What possessed you to take the frontal attack route, by the way?”

“Not like we had any ranged fighters, strategic terrain, or magical bullshit.” Tarsen crossed his arms (which was an interesting experience as he couldn’t even see his nose in front of his face, nevermind his arms). “Where the hell am I, anyway? Who are you?”

“You don’t remember me? I’m insulted.”

“I can’t remember the voice of every girl I’ve ever met. If I did, I’d remember the voices of, like, a third of the human population.”

“I’m not human, shitstick, but I get your point.”

“Okay, are you sure I know you? Sure you don’t have the wrong guy?”

“Yes, Tarsen Harex, I have the right guy.” The woman paused before sighing dramatically. “It’s Kaepravah, you absolute moron.”

“OH. RIGHT. How did I forget that voice? The most beautiful and unique-”

“Skip it. I didn’t save your stupid mortal life to listen to your sarcastic comments.”

“Then what did you save me for? I’m forty percent sarcasm and a hundred percent sexy, so if that’s why you saved me, I completely understand.”

Kaepravah groaned. “Don’t make me throw you in the lava after your friend the demon summoner. I am not interested.”

“Okay, okay.” Gotta be careful with this one. She could probably click her claws together and turn me into an ash pile.

A wise decision.

“So where am I, anyway? All I can see is red.”

“Isn’t it obvious? You’re within the Heart of Pain.”

“Woah, woah, hang on! I thought it exploded? You know, when I jumped into it? All my little Tarsen bits felt pretty exploded.”

“You mortals are stupider than I give you credit for. Yes, I set up an explosion, no, I didn’t actually set it up to explode. Do you understand what something with that much power would do if it exploded? It would level the entire continent. No, it set off an explosion and teleported you both back to me. I could have allowed you to be vaporized upon collision, but I didn’t, and now you’re stuck in there until someone lets you out.”

“Oh.” Tarsen paused. “Could you let me out? My friends are probably pretty worried.”

“Oh, they are. The man with the hat is particularly upset. The thing is, I can’t.”

“You what.”

“I can’t let you out. I’m the guardian of the Heart of Pain, not its master. You’ll want my father, Iilthrid, for that.”

“Greeeaaat. Isn’t he the asshole that’s asleep under Dalania that caused the Shattering because he’s crazy and asleep?”

“In simple terms, yes. He’s corrupted, but will be purified and freed once the Hostile known as Specterveil is defeated.”

“So you’re telling me that I’m not getting out of here until after the big fight?! I’ve come all this way just to miss the main event?!”

“Pretty much.”

Tarsen growled in frustration and tilted his head back against some kind of glowing red wall identical to literally everything else around him. He figured he was sitting, but he really couldn’t tell. “Is it possible to let me see better? I’m getting pretty tired of red.”

Kaepravah snorted and clicked her claws. The red vanished, allowing him to see far better. He was contained in a large red crystal of some type, still glowing red along the outer edges and giving everything outside a red tint. He could see himself, which he approved of, and now he could see Kaepravah standing just outside the Heart, which he also approved of. He was started to get weirded out, talking to a disembodied voice.

“Better?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now make yourself comfortable. You could be in there for quite awhile. Good news is, you won’t get hungry or anything in there.” With that, Kaepravah turned and left the cavern, going down a tunnel to who the hell knows where.

“W-wait! Kaepravah! Come back here! I don’t have anything to do!”

“Find something to entertain yourself with.” She called back to him.

“Are you sure you want me to do that? I don’t think you want me doing that.”

“Shut the hell up and take a nap, Tarsen.”

Comments

[eclipse3]

He's alive! And my theory was right, he was in the heart of pain! I wish he had a way to communicate with the group though.
G.C. (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)

[(Anonymous)]

While the scene in the vortex where Vechs is calling everyone old is hilarious, it does raise a question I can't help but ask. If they get to be thousands of years old or something like that, do they start feeling the mental effects of old age? Or do their brains just keep on working the same as they did whenever they became powerful citizens of the vortex? Because clearly, that was the most important question this chapter raised, and nothing else substantial or plot-changing happened that we should pay attention to.
-Observing Anon

[(Anonymous)]

That reminds me, the mindcrackers never mention their children. You would think they were closer to them than the descendants, but their children pretty much only showed up in the epilogue of Residual and were never mentioned again.
(Apart from, what? That passing reference about Chad's son inheriting his love for technicolour hair?)
-Anon Cami

[(Anonymous)]

I'd guess that it's been two hundred years and once they returned to the Vortex they could no longer keep contact with their children, so between the two it's not so important to them anymore. This set of descendants, however, is easy for the Mindcrackers to watch, not to mention the fact that they're fighting the same monsters the Mindcrackers did before, so the Mindcrackers feel closer to them.

-the lurkiest lurker

[tanadin]

Well, the children weren't set to be immortal. The children didn't even know the Mindcrackers would become worldbuilders- its for the best that way.

[(Anonymous)]

I believe (correct me if I'm wrong, Tanadin) that they don't become any older when they are worldbuilders. They aged in the years that they were mortal, then they became worldbuilders and stopped aging. During Residual when they became mortal and during the time after Residual before they could return to the Vortex they aged, but stopped again when they returned. In that way some have been around for hundreds of years more that some others, but they're all physically relatively close in age.

-the lurkiest lurker

[tanadin]

They remain the same. It's pretty amazing that they're this old, though; usually other clans attack each other (as was seen early on in Monstrous) and worldbuilders get killed. The Mindcrackers are probably left alone out of respect, though, as people know who they are by now.

[(Anonymous)]

Respect. So they don't know that one of the mindcrackers may've single handedly destroyed mindcraftia, at least indirectly through the hostiles.
-Anon Cami

[(Anonymous)]

Well...the Mindcrackers also killed a whole bunch of Hostiles themselves. They're probably kind of famous at this point. Which is good because it means nobody wants to mess with them. And, I mean, they killed a bunch of Hostiles. While mortal. And didn't lose anyone. (Except Wind and Iirkolav I and somebody else, but no Mindcrackers.) but seriously, fighting a group of worldbuilders with that going for them kind of knocks you out of the sane category and into the are you seriously this dumb category.

-the lurkiest lurker

[koijuly]

Also they created the hostiles by accident, even if they don't know it was an accident, who would want to go against someone who could make things like that?

[(Anonymous)]

Well, actually the corruption created the hostiles very purposefully. But I see you point.
-Anon Cami

[koijuly]

I was meaning Vechs didn't mean for that to happen

[tanadin]

The Mindcrackers are scary as shit. XD

[(Anonymous)]

YAS, Tarsen is alive. Whoop! But we probably won't see him for a while. :( And Samuel will keep being sad. :( :(

The scene with the Mindcrackers was excellent. Hilarious. A+

(::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)

-the lurkiest lurker

[koijuly]

Is Tarsen in a similar state to those in the vortex?

Poor everyone else T-T

[tanadin]

Kinda, yeah. Except he can't do SHIT. XD

[(Anonymous)]

Poor Tarson having to miss out on the big fight to come and have everyone think he's dead; but that just makes for a great reveal later "Hey guys I'm not dead! I was just stuck in an immensely powerful crystal in a cave with no one but Kaepravah for company."

Also I love the bit that Kaepravah wouldn't want Tarsen entertaining himself the way the he was thinking of :D

- Scara

[tanadin]

Fun fact: Tarsen was originally meant to die pretty early on, but I ended up really liking his character and kept him alive for so long I decided to do this instead of horribly murdering him.
Unless, of course, something tragic somehow happens to him...?

[(Anonymous)]

You wouldn't dare... Again... For like the 8th time... Hold on, let me rephrase that. You will not kill Tarsen, because now you've hinted at it, and you will keep us worried and in suspense as we all call you an evil monster, but it won't be Tarsen that you kill, it will be some other character we are all attached to. But it won't be for at least another chapter, because we all expect it now. Also, the Secret Undercover Organization and Operation of the Proper Angry Mob would like to inform you that we now have government funding. From multiple nations. And a way longer, overcomplicated, in no way official or agreed upon name.
-Observing Anon

[tanadin]

Or I know you'd think that and I'm already a step ahead.
c:

[(Anonymous)]

And now begin the real mindgames. Because you've said that might be what you want us to think, but it would be too obvious. And if something were to happen to him immediatly, something would have to happen to the heart of pain. And then you'd have to explain how the heart of pain was messed with without it exploding. So for right now Tarsen is safe, because you'd have to break the rules and change the facts that you've already set that are still completely valid because they were established within the last few chapters. If he did die, you'd have to pull some serious shenanagins and alter the rules. Not like you haven't done it before, but now we expect both outcomes, and killing him now does nothing for the story. It's already been said that everyone thinks he's dead and he can only be rescued after the final battle. So it would be more work for you, and it wouldn't even be a suprise. Right now, as far as I'm concerned, we are on even footing, and no one is a step ahead.
-Observing Anon

[koijuly]

just had a thought, onai should know he's alive

[r7]

Unless Kaepravah does Kaepravah shenanigans, which she is liable to do.