SIXTY-TWO: Home, pt 1

SIXTY-TWO: Home, pt 1

Alden was glad hed been alone through it. Some things werent meant to be shared.

After it was over, it still wasnt over. But eventually, in addition to the writhing agony of his battered authority as it tried to claw its way out of its new affixation, he became aware of the world around him.

He was in a forest, lying on the ground beneath trees whose massive trunks towered above him like skyscrapers. Their bark was a brown so dark it was nearly black, and their size reminded Alden of redwoods, though hed never seen one in person.

Normally this place must have been in shadow, but right now the sun was directly overhead. It pierced through distant branches to shine right in Aldens eyes. He tried to lift an arm to shade his face and realized that he couldnt. He was being held down.

By tree roots.

That gave him an idea about where he was.

Okay, he said, in a voice raw from screaming. If youre not going to pull me under, can you let me go?

The roots werent tight. He thought theyd been trying to help by keeping him from thrashing around. But he had seen them eat bodies recently, so he didnt feel comfortable with this situation.

They began to loosen. Rather slowly. Apparently even magic trees didnt move fast.

While he waited, he turned his head from side to side to take in the forest. There was no end to it that he could see. And it was very still. It wasnt the unsettling quiet of Moon Thegund but something more tranquil. The weather was pleasant, too. Warm but not hot.

It would be a nice day if a certain part of me would stop trying to rip itself to shreds.

He understood what shed meant now, when she said he wouldnt want to use the skill for a while. If someone appeared from around a tree and threw a knife at Alden, hed take it in the gut instead of trying to activate Let Me Take Your Luggage.

The Bearer of All Burdens, he corrected himself. Similar names. Very different scope and connotations. At least it has some gravitas.

When he could, he sat up. To his own surprise he felt all right, so he stood.

Better than all right. Amazing. He walked around, stretching out his limbs and testing his muscles. He shouldnt have been surprised. Rrorro had healed him and then some. And even if the points hed dropped into his physicality werent huge, they didnt have to be for him to notice that he felt better than ever.

Which was incongruous, since he also felt worse.

Maybe Artonans developed two streams of consciousness so that they could process their authority sense separately from the others. Its kind of confusing.

But his human brain was managing it without exploding. So that was something.

He was so involved with his own suffering and his physical experimentation that it took him a while to notice the total lack of interference or instruction from the System. He was wandering around on Artona I with no summoner, no destination, and no purpose. That was an unusual state of affairs.

He thought his interface should be bothering him with tasks or timers. Something like an incoming teleportation notification or instructions to report to whomever was in charge of stray humans in this area. But it seemed to be leaving him to make his own decisions for now.

That was obliging of it. Alden needed some space anyway.

This is the first time in almost seven months that I havent been busy, in mortal danger, or both.

He realized that he didnt even know who he was supposed to be right now.

Not the Alden whod tried to be mature and brave and unbreakable every second to keep himself and Kibby alive. That guy had been at the end of his rope for weeks, anyway. He wouldnt have lasted much longer.

But he also wasnt the Alden whod left Earth behind for his first Rabbit assignment. He could remember all of that persons anxieties, plans, and dreams. He knew that they had been his, but they felt distant.

Not bad. Not even childish. Justdistant.

If someone assigned him an elementary school essay right nowone of those When I Grow Up I Want to Be oneshed have no clue what to write.

My What I Did Over Summer Break essay would be badass, though.

He took a walk. The large, blade-shaped fallen leaves were soft to his feet. He sprinted for a while. He did some push-ups. Everything really was in working order.

Finally, he accepted the fact that things actually were going to move forward at his own pace for a change, and he sat down on top of a root the height and width of a park bench to think. He stroked the auriad around his neck and tried to figure out next steps.

He gave the mental command to activate the location feature on his interface and winced as it sent a sharp needleprick through a minuscule part of his bound authority hed never identified before. So even this much is going to sting.

It was like he was a giant exposed nerve right now.

A map appeared, and he gladly let it distract him. He was very far to the north on Artona Is biggest continent, in the largest of a few different places on the planet marked Privately Governed Territory.

If Aldens memory wasnt failing him, then in culture class back at the consulate, Instructor Pa-weeq had said those were for special communities dedicated to land preservation. Which had made him think of them as environmentally important parks or something.

Unlike the maps hed seen in class, though, this one was willing to enlighten him further.

Privately Governed Territory - Knight Rapport 1

I dont suppose I can get alternate translations for Knight Rapport, can I? he asked aloud. He knew what the words meant literally, but he didnt quite understand what they were describing here.

To his surprise a small list appeared:

[Valorous Servants Community]

[Neighborhood of Honored Warriors]

[Resting Place of the Oathbound]

[Sanctum of The Ones Who Stand Guard]

Okay, so its trying to fit a lot of nuance into a few words. The knight concept must have been difficult to translate. Maybe that was why he had never been able to get Kibbys description of what the Primary was down well.

Anyway, this seemed to be a forest belonging to the knights. If Aldens sense of scale wasnt completely off, it looked like it was almost the size of Illinois.

He was right in the middle of it, and there were no symbols to indicate cities or landmarks.

Where are the nearest people? he asked.

Not very close, he assumed. They would have heard him screaming.

A direction arrow appeared. Beneath it were the words Arth Residence - 5.68 miles.

Alden wondered if Knight Alis-arth had deliberately teleported him to her familys house in the middle of what was clearly an exclusive location. Or if it was another entitys idea. He was guessing it was the second.

What are my options for getting back to Earth?

The answer wasnt what hed expected. He had multiple choices. Including a couple of non-standard ones.

[Request Direct Teleport to Anesidora]

*Intensity Level 8

[Request Direct Teleport to Alternate Earth Destination]

*Intensity Level 10-17

[Walk to Arth Residence and Request Use of Summonarium]

*Intensity Level 4

*Reward: A Gift from Mother

An optional quest of sorts. From her. That wasAlden didnt know what it was. But he thought the Intensity Level warnings were letting him know that even teleporting in his present state wasnt going to feel great.

What kind of reward? he asked.

The Wardrobe window opened.

In the mindspace where hed made his affixation selections, Alden had noticed the Wardrobe had gotten an expansion. But shed told him not to look at it then, that it was something to keep him busy during his recovery.

There were two more tabs in addition to the main window now. One was labeled For Alden and the other said Intensity99.9.

I didnt anticipate something like this. Hed assumed that her involvement with him was only a favor to Alis-arth and it wouldnt really extend to after affixation. Would the new tabs disappear when he went back to Earth, or were they here to stay?

He selected the one with his name on it. There were only two items. They showed up as presents with Christmas wrapping paper. The description on the first simply said, A Gift. The second was, Reward: A Gift With Strings Attached.

It made him smile. I definitely want a gift.

He had no clue what it would be, but he felt certain that he would like it or need it. She had, after all, just been inside his head.

A moment after hed spoken, something was teleported onto the tree root beside him. It was a messenger bag, about the same size as the one hed had back home, but this one was made of a dark blue fabric that matched the auriad, minus the iridescent quality. He picked it up curiously. The fabric was soft, and it had a round silver medallion attached to the clasp that sparkled faintly when his hand approached it.

Some kind of a lock? Or id device? he guessed.

The bag felt empty. He was about to open it anyway, when a second item teleported in. It was a book. A very old looking book with a gray leather cover and a raised design of hands using an auriad on the front. Alden stared at the logograms running in a vertical line down the center beneath the star-shaped pattern that had been made with the string.

He couldnt read them, but he knew a magic book when he saw one. And if he could find a dictionary that included logograms for wizard-related words somehow

[Whan-tels Art:

Conducting Power through the Hands]

Youre going to translate it for me! Alden said excitedly.

And then he realized something slightly different than the usual System translation was going on. First, he got the easy-to-read English. Then it faded, and a phonetic spelling of the Artonan words along with their literal definitions appeared beside each symbol.

Then that faded out, too, and he was left staring at just the untranslated logograms again.

Intrigued, he watched for a while. Every half a minute or so, one of the logograms would be re-translated and then fade out.

Its not only translation, he realized. Its flash cards.

It would force him to learn vocabulary and the writing system while he studied the book. And it would definitely keep him busy with something practical while he was in a state where hed rather be knifed than actually use his skill.

Just as he finished appreciating the first book, a second one appeared. It looked equally antique. Where is she getting these? They dont look like theyre fresh from a shop. Is she just snatching them off of peoples desks?

The new book was less exciting but still useful. It was an index that listed common object enchantments and their effects. It didnt include instructions for how to enchant things, just references to other texts that did. Alden assumed it was to help him out when he started picking up his new category of burden with his skill, so that he might have a little more of an idea which enchantments he might be grabbing from objects.

Thats really going to be kind of cool. I could even buy stuff from the Wardrobe if I have to for experimentation purposes. It stood to reason that the stat bonuses on Rabbit gear were actually some kind of enchantment since they werent drawing directly on the users authority. Hed have noticed that kind of thing when he wore the now-deceased lab coat.

Although that would be really expensive. What is an enchantment anyway?

When no more surprises appeared, Alden opened up his new bag.

And promptly screeched when the thing that was probably some kind of id medallion jabbed at his sore authority. After hed recovered from the shock, he stuck the books inside.

[Sorry.]

Its all right, Alden replied. I bet that would have been no big deal under normal circumstances. Thank you for the books.

He re-opened the Wardrobe and glanced at Reward: Gift with Strings Attached briefly before he checked theIntensity 99.9 tab.

He stared at the contents of it unhappily. You said it was a good idea for me to keep quiet and stay under the radar. Thats what I want to do. This looks likea closet that will give me a lot of angry Artonans, danger, and unnecessary drama.

[True. These are expensive. But you have to admit they look stylish.]

They were knight uniforms.

They included descriptions, but since they listed the magical effects by name instead of anything as simple as stats, Alden wasnt sure what the benefits were. Knowing Artonans, though, a piece of armor that gave you something called the Halo of the Mother Planet was going to be absurdly powerful.

Notes out to the side said these pieces were only available on the Triplanets and a few other worlds. Earth was not included.

And as far as argold went, they were all completely free of charge.

Alden wasnt surprised. Hed known she hadnt been talking about money when she said theyd be expensive.

Do you seriously expect me to take one home with me? It seems like thatll be a hard thing to explain to the actual knights if they ever find out.

[No. You should not. A record is created when one of these is taken. But I wanted you to know that I would let you. Consider it a vote of confidence.]

He left them alone.

Then, he shifted over to the other new tab with a thought.

Sowhats the string attached to the reward gift?

[Only the one youve already seensocialization. If you want it, then when youre ready to leave, go say hello and ask to use the summonarium.]

It wasnt like that was a hardrequest. But what are they going to think when I show up?

[Not that you are what you are. They will assume, correctly, that you were re-routed here so that they would be on hand to execute you if you turned into a chaos-generating monster during your repair session.]

Is that a thing that happens? Alden asked. Earth mentioned having to take extra precautions to prevent abominations, too. What the heck?

You never had to be a perfect aunt, Alden said for the third time while Connie sat on the curb outside a strip mall and wiped her nose on her tanktop. Youre my aunt. And I love you. And Im sorry I asked my friends to lie to you. I was going to tell you I was an Avowed at some point when I got back home.

But you didnt tell me, and you d-didnt c-come back home! she bawled.

His heart clenched. He couldnt think of anything to say to that.

Do you mind teleporting to Anesidora tomorrow? Ireally want to hug you. For an awkwardly long time.

Okay.

I dont think you understand. Awkwardly long. Like a couple of days at least. You should take off work.

She blew her nose on the tanktop.

***************

After the call with his aunt, Alden didnt think he had another long heart-to-heart in him. So he texted Boe and Jeremy, letting them know he was alive and that hed get in touch soon.

Then he brushed himself off as best he could and thanked the tree that he had been using as a seat all this time. It dropped a bright green leaf onto his head with accuracy that could have been coincidental but probably wasnt.

He tucked the leaf into his new magic bag with his new magic books, then went for a walk, following the guiding arrow the System had provided.

Sunset was approaching, and the forest was much darker now. But there was no undergrowth, so it wasnt hard to navigate. Alden considered buying something from the Wardrobe, or having the cargo pant/hiking boot set hed purchased on his first day as a Rabbit teleported in from Earth.

But why spend a bunch of his new money to get himself ugly alien clothes when he didnt really want or need them at the moment?

He was going to buy himself good old-fashioned human shoes when he got home. And as many other good old-fashioned human things as he could think of uses for.

I want a normal toothbrush. And some jeans.

He was a little trepidatious as the miles ticked down and he approached his destination. He expected to be stopped by guards of some kind. The arths were about as important as people on the Triplanets could be as far as he could tell, and important people were supposed to have guards werent they? Or at least magic walls.

Regular walls even.

But Alden had already passed by the first evidence that hed entered an occupied area before even he realized it. It was a low building, about the size of the small house hed shared with his aunt. It had mirrored sides that perfectly reflected the forest around it and a flat roof covered in fallen leaves.

The structure was so well camouflaged that it took a few seconds to make out the whole shape of it even when he knew what he was looking at. It was pentagonal, and it had a pair of dark wooden chairs in what Alden assumed was the front.

That cant be the whole house, can it?

Alden approached, wondering how to figure out where one knockedon a mirrored building. He tried not to feel spooked by the fact that the mirrors showed everything around them but him.

While he was squinting at the place, struggling to find something that looked like a door, a panel beside him suddenly slid aside, and three kids around Kibbys age stood there peeking out at him.

They were all wearing loose-fitting clothes, and behind them was an open space that looked like it could have been meant for anything from meditation to dancing to martial arts. There was something inside making a hollow tocking sound with perfect rhythm, like a metronome.

I told you it was human, one of them whispered to the other two.

Dont call her it, hissed another. The Instructors say humans think that is rude.

Her? Nobodys ever made that particular mistake before.

They didnt seem surprised or worried to see him. Just curious.

Hi, he said in Artonan. Im looking for Stu-arth?

Hes probably at the main house, said one, pointing in the direction Alden had been heading.

He could be anywhere else though, another said.

But hes probably at the main house.

Thank you, said Alden. Sorry I interrupted yourthing you were doing.

He headed in the direction theyd pointed, noting several more of the small camouflaged buildings and a couple of larger ones. He passed half a dozen Artonans. A couple were in wizards clothes, but most wore the knights uniform. They all looked at him curiously, but nobody seemed concerned about his presence.

Im an Avowed, Alden realized. They think theres no way for me to be here unless I was summoned.

Also, this place was on a ginormous piece of privately governed land. He doubted they got many uninvited guests.

I feel like a spy in the castle.

It was kind of fun.

Finally, he came to a place so large that it had to be the main house. There were well-trodden paths leading to and from it at different angles, and the home had been built around several of the giant trees. It was at least three stories tall by his estimate.

He followed the path that looked the most frequently used and stood waiting for someone to open a door for him. The kids had known he was around. Hed be noticed eventually. Better to be patient, instead of banging on walls that might, for all he knew, be one-way windows into the Primarys own bathroom.

A door did finally open, just a few inches from where Alden had guessed it would be. The mirrored surface faded to reveal smooth wood, which slid aside. Alden took a step back in surprise as a person of a type hed never seen in real life loomed over him.

That is a giant, four-armedmole, he thought.

Hed seen pictures of them before in a xenobiology book. He knew they were called the Mleirt, and also that there were basically none of them. They had a population of just under twenty thousand. Alden hadnt even realized they had Avowed, but this one was wearing a pair of wide fabric belts diagonally across its body, and they had embroidered designs on them reminiscent of the one Alden had just earned under his privileges tab.

The Mleirt had glossy bronze fur, no visible ears, and a snout with pinkish tentacle-whiskers.

> the alien asked. According to the System, anyway. The snout tentacles waved but there was no sound that Alden could detect.

Ive never been here before, he admitted, staring up at the Mleirts chin. Im looking for Stu-arth?

>

Interesting. They did three meals. Culture class and Kibby had taught Alden that two was more normal. First meal was usually either breakfast or lunch, depending on the eaters preference. And then there was an evening one.

On the other hand, Joe had just scarfed things out of his own pockets whenever it suited him.

To each their own.

I can take Stu-arths dinner with me? Alden offered, thinking it would be a good way to get directions without having to wander the whole massive place.

>

I brushed off, but I am covered in dirt. Sorry. Thats

>

Im not staying long. Just here for a quickthing.

>

Murmur, Alden repeated. Im Alden.

He followed the Mleirt into a house that somehow managed to be cozy and inviting despite its size. Alden took in everything with interest. It was the opposite of an open floor plan. Rooms connected to other rooms which connected to hallways lined with seating nooks and bookcases.

Im so going to get lost.

And there were really a lot of people in residence. Wizards and knights everywherechatting in nooks or seated around tables in rooms with soft lighting and music. There were quite a few kids running around, too. And a baby was crying somewhere.

Somehow, despite the small rooms and the busyness, the house still clearly belonged to very rich people. It wasnt like there were tons of conspicuous jewels or gilded furniture. It was just that every spot Aldens eyes landed on was somehow too appealing.

Armchairs snugged up against a fire pit made him long to sit down. The rugs were so plush he wanted to rub his face on them. In some spaces, candlelightand who even used candles as a serious light source these days?reflected off of polished floors and wall panels mesmerizingly. And in other locations, windows were beginning to glow softly to replace the sun as twilight fell. Even the curtains seemed to be drawn exactly right in every single room.

Alden had never paid attention to something like curtains before. And he felt way too welcome and relaxed for a spy.

They must have someone with Tailor Environment come in monthly to tweak this place. Theres no way its this absurdly delightful through happenstance.

Alden definitely didnt fit in. He drew startled looks in every space they passed through. But nobody ever said, Hey? Who is this guy?

It must be the number of people living together. They see something odd, and they all just assume another member of the household is responsible for it.

Plus, he was following Murmur around.

On what was turning out to be a very roundabout mission to get to the kitchen and fetch Stu-arths supper. There was no way this was the fastest route, but the Mleirt seemed to have a curious sort of purpose in wandering the entire ground floor of the building like this. It was like the point of it was to stop by in every single room.

Alden thought Murmur was the housekeeper. Maybe even the person who was making the environment so nice. They did stop to tidy scattered toys and discarded dishes on a couple of occasions. But the big alien also paused their trip through the house to grab a full-grown wizard out of a chair hed been napping in and hold him still while sniffing him thoroughly. And the guy just submitted to the treatment with a sigh.

The wizard gave Alden a look as if to say, Do you see what is happening to me?

And Alden really wondered what expression he wore on his own face, because he had no clue what was going on.

Murmur set the fellow down, patted him on the back with all four of his clawed hands, and then they resumed their trip as if nothing had happened.

So a housekeeper that grabs people and sniffs them regularly enough for it to be no big deal?

Why not?

They finally made it to a formal dining roomthe one truly large space in the house so farand through there, they passed into an ultra-modern kitchen that didnt fit in with the rest of the place at all. Here, Alden finally saw adult Artonans not in wizard or knight clothes. A man was cleaning dishes, a woman appeared to be cataloging the contents of a freezer, and a couple of people were assembling to-go containers that looked like smaller versions of the high-tech takeout tiffins Alden had encountered before.

One of them checked a tablet and gave Alden a container to take up to Stu-arth. And then, since they assumed he was a helpful volunteer, they gave him five more to deliver to other people on the same floor.

How did I end up as room service? he wondered as he climbed the stairs Murmur had pointed out to him. Is this just the fate of Rabbits? I dont even work here.

Hed explained that he didnt know where any of the rooms were upstairs, and they just gave him door numbers to remember.

As he emerged from the stairs into the hall, he took in the environment. Very different from the ground floor. It was a long hallway lined with widely-spaced doors. Up ahead, it made a sudden split to go around the tree trunk that was visible through floor-to-ceiling windows.

Alden counted four doors, smacked his hip into the access panel to get the residents attention since he didnt have a free hand to knock, and a moment later, a woman in a long gown that he assumed was pajamas took her food from him with only a briefly confused look on her face.

These people need to be more suspicious, Alden thought. They are the protectors of the universe apparently, and I could just poison them all.

Door number seven, just before he got to the tree, belonged to a familiar face. Rel-arth, the instructor in charge of the class at theceremonyAlden had seen. He was wearing the same knights uniform, and his black hair was pulled back at the temples with the same small jeweled clips.

Alden froze.

Rel-arth seemed confused to see him, and unlike everyone else in the house, he was a little less inclined to brush it aside.

Who are you? he asked, taking the food in one hand and setting it on a small table by the door. Behind him, Alden could see a seating area, and there were three different screens on the wall covered in logograms.

Im Alden, Alden said. Hed already decided not to lie about stupid stuff. If someone ever got around to caring enough to ask him why he was looking for Stuart, hed just tell them it was because he wanted to go home.

Rel-arth frowned at his answer. Alden braced for further questions, but instead, the man just said, Like the ryeh-bt?

What? Alden blinked. He was positive his reputation shouldnt have proceeded him because as far as he knew, he did not have a reputation. Unless it was as that guy the Primary met once whod died almost immediately afterwards.

Yes? he said.

It must be a common name for humans Rel-arth muttered.

Then he closed the door in Aldens face.

It could have been a coincidence, but as Alden traveled down the hall, the residents seemed to get younger. And more stressed out. He delivered one of the meals to a room shared by a pair of seemingly identical twin girlsreally rare on the Triplanets despite the high rate of fraternal twins compared to Earthwho looked like they hadnt slept in days. They appeared to be just a few years older than him, and one of them was in the knights uniform while the other was wrapped in an oversized towel. She was swearing tearfully at what Alden thought was a pot full of red moss.

Youre new, the not-swearing sister said in a dull voice. Thank you for third meal.

Youre welcome.

She started to close the door, then she looked at him again and swept some of her dark lavender hair out of her face to see him better. You look tired.

If shes saying that, it must really be showing.

It wasnt that he was tired, exactly. Physically he still felt awesome. Mentally, he was really curious about this place and these people, and he was enjoying the diversion of being where he shouldnt.

It was that the thing hed been diverting himself from was starting to weigh on him too much.

He felt fragile.

And while he knew he wasnt about to break, and it was just his authority aching, he was beginning to lose his determination not to curl up in a ball somewhere quiet to suffer in peace.

Im not exactly tired. Just having a busy day.

You should rest, she said.

Im planning to rest for ages starting tomorrow. Stu-arths room is at the end of this hall, right?

She nodded.

Just one more quest to complete, he thought, turning to go. And then I get the present. And then I get to use the nice, pain-free summonarium. And then I get to go home.