"At last!" Dimitri exclaimed, "I've finally done it!"
"Done what?" the nearby research assistant asked, yawning, rubbing his eyes, wishing that he'd had just a few more hours of sleep. The library scholars all had homes of course, but still usually chose to remain near the text, the sacred tome being the first thing they would see when they fell asleep, as well as once they had awakened. This was done both to maximize their possible working hours, along with the hopes that the secrets of the mysterious artifact might reveal themselves through the dreams of the researchers.
"I've cracked the code! At last, we can finally read the sacred texts!"
The assistant simply nodded along at first, still half asleep, before the words completed the rather long journey from his ears to his brain, and he was suddenly jolted awake. "Wait, a minute, are you serious?" he said, jumping up to his feet.
"Yes. It's a very slow process, but I have no doubt about its accuracy. So far, I have only translated the text on the outer page. Unfortunately, It will still be many months before I can make sense of the bulk of the text."
"This... this is fantastic!" the assistant said, "This could change everything! The information within this book could lead us, all of us, into a glorious new age!"
"Yes. Of that, there is no question." Dimitri smiled, looking very much fatigued as well. It had been a long, well, a long life, really. People had regularly told him that he should rest more, that the ancient text wasn't going anywhere, but how could he? Each day he moved just a little bit closer to solving the puzzle, and with the recent attack on the city, which resulted in the near destruction of the library, the assessment that the text wasn't going anywhere wasn't necessarily an accurate one. It wasn't an easy task, not by any means, requiring cross-referencing from many different sources of various usefulness, progressing agonizing slowly, but then, out of nowhere, it all simply seemed to fall into place, as the great puzzle unfolded before his very eyes.
"Well, what does it say?" The assistant asked, stepping in close, eager to take in every word.
"The first page of the ancient text says the following: 'Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Second Edition, Dungeon Masters Guide'." the lead researcher said in a deep, theatrical voice.
"Amazing, truly amazing!" the assistant beamed, before his expression shifted from delighted to confused. "But... what does it mean?"
Dimitri opened his mouth to speak, raising a pointed finger, eager to teach the young student, but instead froze, frowning. "I have absolutely no idea."
<3~ <3~ <3~ <3~
"Well, that was certainly... something." Aaron said, as the group walked back out through the castle.
"Ah, yes, one never forgets their first battle against an ancient evil fought while drifting through the sea of cosmos." Rowan nodded his head.
"Huh, is that the sort of thing that happens a lot?"
"Indeed. Why it's practically cliche at this point." the old sorcerer replied.
"It sure was lucky that King Theos discovered the dark overlord's one weakness: being punched in the face for 45 straight minutes." Jerin said.
"I don't think that was..." her brother replied before simply shaking his head. "Uh, never mind. It doesn't matter"
A crowd had gathered within the palace district, few if any of them understanding exactly what had transpired behind the castle, but strongly suspecting that it was something very important. At first they crowded around the four adventurers, before the large mouse, Theos burst out through the front gate of the palace, crown upon his head.
"So, uh. I'm yer king now. 'Nyone gotta problem with 'at?" he said.
Everyone looked to one another, turned back to him and shook their heads.
"Kay. Good." Theos replied.
There was a long silence while the large group of citizens waited for some sort of coronation speech which wasn't coming. They all seemed to realize this at different rates, leading to an awkward response of poorly timed lone cheers and smatterings of applause. They were excited about the news, of course, but without a set moment to properly react, they were all kind of lost.
He walked down the steps towards Jerin in the others. There were a series of murmurs among the citizenry as Leon, formerly King Deathlocke Soulcrusher followed close behind, still visibly injured, supported by the shoulder of minister Taro.
"He made it out okay, huh?" Jerin asked in a questioning voice, uncertain of whether she should be relieved or not.
"Yup. E's a bit of an ass, but I gotta admit, he's got a coupla good ideas." the king said. "I've never been good on tha whole policy thing. Figger he can help me out as crown prince."
"Huh..." Jerin said, turning her head towards the very tired looking Leon, "So you're a prince now?"
"No." the prince replied.
"I didn't even have a chance to say-"
"Just... no." he shook his head, looking somehow even more exhausted than before..
"He's still a jerk." Jerin huffed, biting her lip, paws folded across her chest.
The event which could sort of be called a celebration was quickly interrupted however, as a panting mouse in tattered armor rushed to the palace courtyard.
"Sire!" he said, not exactly certain of who was in charge, having just gotten here, but reasonably confident that it was someone within earshot. "I bring dire news from the front-lines! Our forces are annihilated, and as we speak, the Shadow King, Mollenoch and his army of cyber-mice march from the southern continent!"
The southern continent was, of course, the neighborhood a few streets down.
"What?" Theos growled. "Send out the palace guards!"
"Um, about that..." one of the guards replied. "Nearly all of the guards are currently incapacitated due to severe head injuries."
"How about you lead the charge?" Jerin asked Theos, "You seem to really enjoy the whole fighting thing."
"Uh, yeah, about that..." Theos said, rubbing the back of his head, looking away. "Turns out there's a tonna paperwork involved in changin' leadership. I'll be stuck here a while."
"Clearly, only you, the hero of the kingdom and her allies can stand against the might of the shadow king, and bring peace to the land!" the messenger called to Jerin, followed by a murmur of agreement from the crowd.
"Nah, I'm going home." she replied.
There was an awkward pause.
"W-what?"
"I said I'm going home. I'm sick of adventuring. It's nothing like I thought it would be... there's so much walking, even more just standing around. The villains are either disappointing or lack any real depth, and even when you do get to the battles... well, those things hurt! A lot! Even after you're done fighting, it still hurts! A lot! It's all just really unpleasant." she nodded. "...so I don't think I'm going to do it anymore. I miss my mom and dad. I'm going home."
Aaron turned to her and smiled. Mathias and Rowan similarly grinned to one another.
"But-but-but who will defeat the shadow king?" the messenger pleaded.
"I don't know... someone else? Anyone else really?" Jerin said, more than a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Why do I have to do everything? How about, um... that guy!"
Jerin scanned the crowd, pointing out a single bandaged finger, sweeping her arm in an arc before stopping on a tall, thin mouse with a wooden scythe set over his shoulder, and a blade of grass poking out from the corner of his mouth.
"Me?" he said. "I'm just a simple farmer. Don't know anything about battles or adventures or nothing."
"Perfect! Don't worry, it's not very complicated. You'll figure it out quick."
There were louder murmurings within the crowd, questioning the validity of this system: Could a hero simply designate a random stranger to be the new champion? After some quick deliberation, the consensus seemed to be that yes, they could. With the torch essentially passed, the crowd all looked to the bewildered farmer, most of the mice asking him to pick up stuff for them from the store or outside of the city walls, help with their chores, kill five fiends and all the other mundane tasks that a beginner adventurer was expected to undertake. During this time, Jerin and her friends had quietly slipped away.
"I've never been more proud of you." Aaron said to his sister, fluffing the fur atop her head.
Meanwhile, three shadowy creatures watched the spectacle unfold through a glowing red portal which hung in mid-air, between them.
"So, it would seem that the day is won." Midnight said. "Enjoy your victory while it lasts. Your city may have survived this calamity, but I assure you, it shall not be the last."
Fury sat before him, still visibly aching, the eye beneath the set of crossed 'hello kitty' band-aids still half closed. Seraphim looked no better, her white fur having regained a good deal of its luster, but still remaining visibly tarnished with dust and grime, every few minutes hacking up a new piece of garbage.
"This is stupid. I'm going home." She grumbled.
"Yeah, me too." Fury nodded. His lovely new home still had a frightfully large number of places which he hadn't yet slept on, and he was eager to remove one more item from the list.
"Hey, come on, guys! I've got other schemes if you don't want to play with the mice... how about we chase some birds? Maybe go steal some humans lunch? I'm up for anything really!" the black cat called to them.
Fury stopped briefly, not in response to Midnight's call, but rather due to Seraphim coughing up a ball of tin foil which he gleefully batted about with his paws, only stopping due to the cold glare she cast in his direction, forcing the dark lord to quicken his exit.
Midnight shook his head and grumbled, casting away the shimmering red portal with a paw. Cat's are no fun at all, he thought, for neither the first time nor the last.
---
A faint glow floated down the narrow passageway. The path was no less wet, no less dingy, no less confusing and no less otherwise filthy, but the sense of fear and dread was, of course, no longer there. Whatever horrors lie in the dark, they weren't stupid, and recognized that the small mouse in her green plastic cape (her new outfit was far too nice to drag through the mud. It would be at least a few days before she pretty much ruined it, running around and playing), was far, far more dangerous than all of the shadow creatures in the world combined, and thus they were happy to give the girl her space.
The passage wasn't too long, ending in a thick barrier of fabric which would have taken some effort for a mouse which didn't spent a whole few hours working out in a divine training ground, but moved aside effortlessly for her. Beyond it wasn't some strange new world, but rather a familiar one. This time, she had not entered a shrine in order to find some ancient and precious artifact. Quite the contrary, she was there to return one.
She hopped up onto the wooden frame that the Maker, who was currently absent, had previously used as a seat, and from there leapt up onto the pedestal, upon which sat an assortment of glossy pictures, ribbons and other unusual materials. Jerin smiled and sighed, taking in the surroundings one last time, before finally removing the sword from her back, or at least what was left of it.. Not only was the weapon now broken in half, the handle was also visibly melted, with the remnants of the blade also badly cracked and chipped. She held it within her bandaged paws, giving it a final look, before setting the ruined scissor down upon the wooden surface, hopping back down to the orange plush floor.
"What happened to it?" Midnight asked. He had been watching the small mouse all this time, but only now had he made his presence known.
"It got hit with a mouse laser and broke." Jerin said, plainly, looking up at the table.
"What on earth is a 'mouse laser'? No, no, never mind, I don't care." The dark lord shook his head, positive that no matter what explanation the mouse would offer, that it wouldn't be the least bit helpful. "Are you sure you won't still be needing it? It's in bad shape, but still looks pretty sharp." the cat said. He also considered pointing out that the human would have absolutely no use for such a thing, but ultimately decided against it. Her confusion upon seeing it would be quite entertaining, after all.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Turns out I'm not as tough as I thought it was. Cutting people with swords? It's all gross and messy and, well... I guess I just don't like hurting people, Any people." she said with a sigh.
"That's pretty disappointing." the dark lord replied.
Jerin laughed. "Really? You're calling me disappointing? When you had a perfect opportunity for an awesome showdown against a terrifying monster, and just ran away?"
"Hey, I'm a villain! I'm not here to impress anyone!" Midnight smiled. "I figure I did my job just fine."
The mouse girl nodded in agreement. "Heh, yeah, I guess you're right. People are people. I can't just expect them to do whatever I want. They've got their own priorities. I guess even though things didn't turn out exactly how I expected, they still weren't all bad."
The dark lord nodded his head. "I agree."
"I was just planning to sneak in and leave without anyone noticing, but since I ran into you, could you maybe do me one last favor?" she asked, sighing at his tensed reaction, "Oh, don't look at me like that! It's an easy one!
"I just want you to thank the Maker of this shrine, and apologize for me. It's clear that she's an amazing creature, and that this is a wonderful place, a place that I have no doubt that I could live my entire life in comfort without worries, and could learn many important things about the world, but... I just can't. There's still a lot of stuff I need to do. I'm not exactly sure what it is yet, but I know it's out there, and as magical as this place may be, I won't find it here. Anyways, just tell the Maker, thank you. For everything."
"What's wrong with you? Just because I can understand a few words she says, doesn't mean I can actually talk to her! Don't you have any sense at all?" Midnight said, but only in his mind. His mouth, for whatever reason, instead simply said "I'll be sure to let her know."
And so, the hero and her nemesis squared off for the last time, and with nothing left to say, she left his lair. Midnight looked over to the large bundle of grey fur, formerly known as Fury, but now simply as Fluffy, who still had his eyes closed, looking asleep, yes still visibly smiled.
"Oh, don't even say it." Midnight grumbled, as he looked over to the hidden passage that Jerin had stepped through. That stupid little mouse didn't even apologize for getting him in trouble with his owner. Typical. Still, he was going to miss her. For entirely selfish and villainous reasons, of course, he assured himself.
---
"Finished your errand?" Aaron asked as she returned to the small mud house.
"Yup. Just had to settle a score, and repay a little debt." Jerin said. "Thanks for waiting for me." she smiled. Mathias and Rowan both stood within the round room, her parents as well, but they kept their distance, letting the group have their little moment without interruption. Of course, it was a small room and they were only a couple of mouse lengths away, but still, it was the thought that counted.
"How are your hands? You really shouldn't have gone there alone." Mathias said.
"Oh they're fine. Don't even hurt anymore!" she said, looking down at them, wriggling her bandaged fingers. Despite the burns that she had received, she hasn't lost any sensation or mobility in them, but both front paws were now covered in scars which she would bear for the remainder of her days. Well, with the exception of a small circle of flesh on a finger of each hand, where her rings of protection had lived up to their name.
"So, you're going back to the Maker's tunnels?" Aaron asked the elderly mouse.
"Yes. The mice there have lived long and seen much, and there is a great deal to learn and share with them. It shall be a fine place to spend my final days." Rowan said.
"I really hate it when you talk like that." Jerin looked away, grumbling.
"Do not worry, little one. While my end might be nearing, I have no intention of rushing towards it. There is still so much work to be done, and death will have to wait its turn. Why, over just the past few days I have already learned enough about the lords of darkness to fill an entire shelf of books! I need to get working quickly, in order to transcribe all of it."
"You could always drink the water down there. Then you wouldn't need to worry about dying." the mouse girl said.
"Indeed, and I would by lying were I to claim that the temptation wasn't there, but my life, even with my regrets, has been a good one. Life is a precious novelty, and I would hate to spoil it, to cheapen it, and turn it into some endless chore rather than having it remain something special."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Jerin said, shuffling her feet.
"We will see one another again before long. I trust you will wish to visit your friends down there, soon."
"Yeah, you're right." she said, but she, and she wasn't the only one, had the sneaking suspicion that they would never see one another again. Fortunately, it turned out that they were mistaken.
She stepped in and gave him a bit too tight of a hug, not quite realizing her own strength, but he was able to avoid showing any discomfort. The journey had given him something of a second-wind, but now that it was over, he was once more beginning to feel his age, and knew that his neck was going to be hurting tomorrow.
"Take care of yourself." Aaron said to him.
"That should not be an issue." Rowan said, prying away Jerin's inexplicably strong arms with some effort. "That is one advantage of living with immortals: I will be the only one who requires any real care."
The old mouse gave a polite nod to Marrun and Darren, a warm smile to his great-grandson and then walked away, clacking his new walking-stick on the ground as he went. The father was a little bit disappointed to give it up, but he had to admit that Rowan would put it to better use than he did.
"You're leaving too?" Jerin asked Mathias.
"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I like it here and everything," he said, pulling out the needle sword, looking down at it. "But hey, I got this great new sword, and haven't really had a chance to try it out. I figure going out on my own will also help me with my brooding, and becoming a real dark knight."
Jerin laughed and shook her head. "Well, don't become too dark. I like you the way you are."
"Heh, I can't promise anything, but I'll see what I can do." he said, secretly relieved that she didn't ask for the sword back. If she had, he wasn't sure what he would do.
"Are you sure that you need to go? I'm sure you could find plenty of chances for adventuring around town." she said.
"Maybe, but there's a huge world out there, and I'd like to see it with my own eyes. Still, I won't be gone forever. I promise I'll be back, so there's no need for any long drawn-out good byes."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." she said, not wanting to see him go, of course, but ultimately agreeing with him, and not wishing to make his departure any harder. She gave his neck a squeeze with her arms, but he was thankfully considerably less brittle than his ancestor. He found himself very much tempted to try to steal a kiss, but ultimately decided against it. The fact that Aaron happened to be watching certainly helped with that decision.
"Thank you." he said to her. "You've given me something truly special, and I won't ever forget that."
"You mean the sword?"
He chuckled. "Sure."
He smiled warmly to her and gave a final nod before stepping out the door.
"I'm going to miss you, too." she said in a soft voice to Aaron.
The larger sibling sighed. "I'm only going to be working five minutes away! I haven't even moved into the barracks yet! We still live in the same house!"
"Don't spoil the moment, brother!" She said, "The party is splitting up, and I've got to say goodbye to everyone!"
"Okay, okay!" he paused, "Huh, you've never called me 'brother' before..."
"Sure I have! Lots of times!" Jerin said, tilting her head.
"Really? Hmmm..." the brother replied. It still sounded strange, somehow. On one hand, he couldn't imagine that she would lie about such a thing, but on the other, a part of him, no small part, either, felt convinced that this was all a ploy by the universe as a whole, to once again make him wrong, in defiance to all common sense.
"Anyways, as I was saying, there's been a lot of good stuff and a lot of bad stuff that happened on our journey, but maybe the best thing about it was the chance for us to get closer, to understand each other a little better. As I said during the battle, you've always been my hero, and my family, but now, I'm happy to say that you're also a close friend, too. Even putting everything else aside, that alone makes it all worth it." she said, taking his hand in both of her wrapped paws.
"Uh, right." he said, looking away, getting a bit choked up. He had never been very good at this sort of thing. "Well, I'll see you at dinner tonight." he said, quickly stepping outside. He was somewhat surprised to see Mathias standing there, leaning against the mud wall of the home.
"Captain of the palace guards huh? That sounds... really boring." the former thief said.
"Yup, it sure does. I can hardly wait." the larger mouse smiled. "So, what's the story with you? I was expecting you to go into some long embarrassing spiel where you expressed your undying love for her or something."
"Heh, yeah I considered it, but decided against it. She's still got a lot of growing up to do, and, to be honest, so do I. I've got things to do, experiences to have, to grow, to maybe, just maybe become the sort of person who she looks at the same way that I do at her." Mathias said.
"You do realize that she's a celebrity now, right? She's going to have a lot of suitors knocking at her door. I can't promise that she'll wait for you to return."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Well, whatever decision she makes, I'm sure it will be the smart one."
Aaron simply shook his head. "Are we both talking about the same person here? Well, I can't make any promises, but I'll try to keep her from doing anything too stupid."
Aaron looked out onto the street, past the residential district where the new hero, looking more bewildered than determined walked past. A heavily armored mouse-woman carrying an absurd variety of weapons, chattered excitedly alongside him, along with a very short black mouse wearing a dark robe, who remained silent, frantically scribbling down notes as they traveled.
"So, what do you plan to do? Join the campaign against the shadow king?" Aaron asked.
"Nah, it looks like they've got their own group, and I would hate to steal their thunder. I'll just head off on my own for a bit, I think."
Aaron didn't quite grasp that logic, as that group looked as though it needed all the help that it could possibly get, but still felt no urge to argue the point. "Well, just be careful. The world can be a dangerous place."
"Oh, I know, but don't worry. As I said before, this journey has made me an expert on not dying." he smiled, and paused, his face taking on a more serious expression. "You know, there's another reason I'm heading out. One I didn't want your sister to find out about." he said, holding out the shimmering metal needle. "Look closely."
"Um, what exactly am I looking for?" Aaron asked, but just as he did, it all became clear. Unnatural red waves, faint and easy to miss unless one were specifically seeking them out, flowed through the sword. "What-what is that?"
"I think it's blood. From when you got stabbed with it." Mathias said. "You know how I kind of... see things? Get odd images, sense stuff that most can't?"
"I've been trying to forget about that creepy detail." Aaron grumbled.
"Well, it doesn't only apply to events, past and present. It can to people, and things as well. Something in the sword has changed. I'm getting an odd sensation from it... and don't look at me like that! It doesn't talk to me or anything, but I do get a feeling, a sense of desire from it."
"What... what do you sense?"
"That it absorbed power from your blood." Mathias said flatly. "...and that it wants more. A lot more. And that it isn't picky about where that blood comes from."
Aaron looked to the sword with a stunned expression, and back up at the dark knight. "I could have died happily never knowing that bit of information." he said, shaking his head. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm not sure. But I do know I'm not going to feed it. I'm got a strong suspicion that that would go badly for everyone. I'm going to try to learn more about it, maybe try to find out how to purify it. Either way, I think it's important to get it as far away from your sister as possible. I have the sense that it wants to return to her, and right now, she's the last person who should be holding a weapon like this." Mathias said.
Aaron agreed. He was not entirely certain of why that was the case, but he still couldn't help agreeing.
"That does sound important, but I'm not sure where you plan to look. There aren't many other mouse villages around, and those that are, aren't heavily populated. I'm not sure how much help you'll find in them."
"You're sort of right." Mathias said, "There aren't many nearby, but there are plenty of other cities if you travel far enough. It's not as though every mouse in the world lives here, after all! There are other creatures out there, too, besides us mice, many of which are much older and wiser than ourselves."
"And many far more dangerous."
"Yup, that's also true, but don't worry, I'm not stupid. I'm not going to stroll up to a dark lord and ask for its help, but I think that there is a much larger world out there than we realize, with a lot of different creatures. We tend to be scared of them, but they can't all be evil, and I'm sure that they know a lot of things that we don't." he smiled. "Fortunately, I kind of have a way with unusual creatures."
"Yeah, I noticed." Aaron shuddered, thinking about the vampires.
"By the way... you seem to have caught Lilith's eye. You haven't gone to sleep since then, have you? Dreamt?"
"Um, no... Why?" Aaron asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, uh, no reason." Mathias said, looking away. "Anyways, it's time for me to be off. Leaving Jerin's side was hard enough, and if I see her face even once more, I don't know if I'll have the strength to do it again." he smiled. "It's been fun, hasn't it?"
"Yup, it has been." Aaron nodded. "The sort of fun that I never want to have again, so long as I live."