Lillene

Enjoy!

“Would one of you please tell me how I got here?” Liam sounded distinctly annoyed that Serenity and Blaze had more or less ignored him.

“I’m getting there,” Blaze answered, “Once I’m sure it’s you I’m talking to. Yes, it’s as bad as that sounds; the short version is that someone tried to infiltrate us using you as a vector. Now will you let me check you over?”

Liam gave a long sigh, glanced at Serenity, and then addressed his appeal to him. He seemed oddly anxious and fidgeted with his shirt as he asked. “Maybe you can tell me while Blaze checks me out?”

Serenity shrugged. Blaze could almost certainly say it gentler than Serenity would, but there was no real point in putting it off. It wasn’t like saying it would give out anything that the Night Fire-affected Liam hadn’t lived through. He’d just have to be careful to specify that it was Tom, not Serenity, who did everything. Serenity could already tell he’d slipped back into his own human shape. “It won’t take long. You led Tom to the conference room and asked if he’d figured out how to open the books. He told you it wasn’t the books and asked about anything strange; you told him about a building that collapsed around you. Are you with me so far?”

Liam frowned and seemed to think through the steps. His fingers didn’t stop their motion, but they did slow while he thought. “Yes, I think so. If it’s easier, you can just say it’s you. We’re in private; I know you and Tom are the same person. Dye and clothing changes don’t affect your face or your mannerisms.”

Serenity wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Tom Cooper” wasn’t a perfect disguise, but he thought it was a decent one, at least for most people. “Ah, how common…”

Liam grinned at that. “There probably aren’t that many that know. Samantha does, I’m sure, since she’s around you even more than I am, but other than that? Your act of being in two places at once has most people fooled. You’ll have to tell me how you did it, someday.”

That was enough to make Serenity think of another weakness: video. Good enough recordings might well let people see that his features were the same. It probably didn’t matter, as long as he insisted that “Serenity” and “Tom” were different people. It wasn’t like Tom Cooper had a real identity anyway.

“Didn’t you want to know how you got here?” Serenity didn’t want to answer questions, so pushing back towards that seemed easier.

Liam opened his mouth then closed it. “Yes. What happened after that?”

“Not much. You said you’d never heard of Night Fire even though you were covered in it then seemed terrified of having it removed. At least, I assume that’s why you were terrified. You ran; Tom caught you in the room full of tents. Samantha had us move in here; I’ve taken care of the Night Fire taint and now Blaze is going to check and make sure nothing else is wrong.” Serenity emphasized the name of his disguised persona as much as a reminder to himself as a message to Liam; if he didn’t keep it straight, he knew mistakes would only become more common.

“Then … I wasn’t dying?” Liam stilled. Serenity wasn’t certain what that meant, but even he could see that Liam wasn’t fiddling with things the way he had been, moments before.

Was that what terrified Liam? Had he sensed Serenity’s connection to Death? But why would that matter now, all of a sudden, when it hadn’t before? Why wouldn’t he still feel it?

Blaze shook his head. “No, death wasn’t at all likely. Why do you ask?”

“Uh, well, you know how they say your life flashes before your eyes when you’re dying?” Liam’s mouth stretched into a grin that seemed more like a rictus than actual happiness. “Well, mine did, only it was hotter and darker than I remembered. I figured that was just part of it and I was waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel, but then I woke up.”

It was Serenity’s turn to freeze. That was far too close to the “dreams” he’d had while he was cleaning the Night Fire off Liam. Maybe he hadn’t been asleep at all; maybe he’d been in a trance? Serenity couldn’t think of any other reason he’d have had visions very similar to “watching Liam’s life pass before his eyes.” He decided it was best to ask; other than the one at the fallen building, they all had one unusual feature in common. “Were they all outside the place you lived? Well, other than the fight you watched at the building that fell?”

“How did you know?” The words slipped out of Liam’s mouth almost immediately, with no indication of a pause to think.

“I think I saw them too,” Serenity admitted. “If what you saw is what I saw, though, I don’t think that’s what you’re supposed to see when you’re dying. Isn’t that supposed to be the most important emotional points? The ones you really care about?” Serenity wasn’t certain the saying was true; he’d never seen it and he’d actually died more than once. Admittedly, it was possible that “died for long enough to rise as an undead due to an excessive Death Affinity” wasn’t the same thing as someone else dying.

If it wasn’t a dream, then, what was it? It was annoyingly allegorical for what he’d been trying to do, but the imagery still felt a little bit off. He hadn’t been trying to shield Liam the way the visions seemed; he’d been trying to cleanse Liam. It didn’t quite make sense.

While they were talking, Blaze had set a hand on Liam’s shoulder. Liam didn’t seem to have noticed, but Serenity was certain he had. Blaze rarely tried to be subtle when he was looking for physical contact; he wanted his patients to know he was there for them.

“Some of them were,” Liam muttered. “Mostly not, though, you’re right about that. Why, then?”

Serenity could only shrug. He was mystified, too; it didn’t make sense. It was clearly connected to the way he’d lifted the Night Fire faster than he’d expected and in only one session, but he couldn’t really say more than that.

“There’s nothing obvious wrong with you,” Blaze pronounced as he removed his hand from Liam’s shoulder. “So there’s one more thing I want you to do. Check your Status and see if you have any status conditions. It doesn’t matter what they are; one or the other of us can probably deal with them.”

Liam turned to Blaze with a puzzled look. “It shows things like that?”

Blaze shrugged. “Sometimes. Generally when you already know about it or at least can know about it, but sometimes it’ll tell you things that aren’t obvious or give context or extra detail. It’s correct but not always complete.”

Liam obviously looked at his Status. He seemed distracted for a moment, then asked, “My Condition is Healthy but I have a Title? What’s that?”

“A permanent change, usually something the Voice wants to record. Sometimes it comes with a bonus ability, generally something strongly related to how you get the Title.” Serenity couldn’t remember if he’d added anything to the Earthling’s Guide about Titles. He probably hadn’t, which meant he probably should. “What is it? If you don’t mind, that is?”

Liam frowned for a moment, then the Title appeared in front of Serenity.

Blessing of Self

This blessing from an unknown deity will shelter you from any outside influences that will attempt to change who you are, how you perceive a situation, or how you react to a situation. It will not affect attempts to convince you of things; only magical coercion is deflected. Sufficiently powerful attacks can overcome this Blessing. Your mana will be consumed to provide protection when required.

Blaze whistled. “That’s a nice Blessing. What’s even nicer is that whoever the deity that gave it to you is, he doesn’t expect anything back for it. Most deific blessings are given to worshipers or in exchange for a service, and most aren’t that generous either. The fact that it takes your mana probably explains part of it, but it’s still huge. That should work against a lot of dungeon creatures, too.”

Was it Serenity’s imagination or did Blaze emphasize the words whoever the deity that gave it to you? Knowing Blaze, Serenity suspected he wasn’t imagining things. He also wasn’t about to say a word about it in public; he didn’t want to talk about maybe being a god. On top of that, he hadn’t deliberately granted a Blessing and didn’t have any idea how he’d done it accidentally. 

Serenity was grateful that he was on Earth right now. The odds were good that no one would connect him to this; Earthlings, or at least most Americans, were used to connecting the word “god” to something a lot bigger than the stumbling steps Serenity was taking. He was a demi-god at the most and in many ways closer to an angel in power, even if he didn’t serve a deity. Not that he wanted to be compared to an angel, either; that seemed at least as likely to get him into trouble as claiming to be a god.

Couldn’t he just skip the whole thing?

Serenity knew that wasn’t possible. He’d changed, just like the first time Vengeance died. At the time, he’d had no way to revive himself; by the time he had the capability, he’d adjusted enough that being alive again felt weird rather than good. Serenity suspected the same thing would happen this time. In many ways, that was a good thing; the fact that it was encoded into one of his Paths made it unlikely that he’d ever find a way to free himself completely. 

Seeing Liam check his Status reminded Serenity that it had been a while since he checked his own. This was a good time to check, too, since what he’d just done had a good chance to have progressed his Path; it was Dungeon Deity, after all, and he’d definitely done something deific.

Level 82? That was a much, much bigger jump than he’d expected. If he remembered correctly, he was only Level 46 the last time he checked; sure, that was a while back, but he hadn’t really been doing anything with dungeons so he hadn’t expected it to move. He still didn’t know why it moved that far.

Sometimes the Voice’s judgements on your learning were odd. The only case Serenity could think of where a clearly noncombat Path would level quickly was if you demonstrated mastery of a Skill you were about to reach, and he certainly didn’t know what that was. 

Well, there was one other option. The Paths that were the most likely to level in huge jumps were the extremely specialized combat Paths. They’d jump if you figured out how to make their specialty work or defeated the specific enemy or whatever the Path was aimed at. Dungeon Deity didn’t feel like that sort of Path to Serenity, but maybe whatever made the Night Fire was especially opposed to dungeons or something?

Well, whatever the reason for it, Serenity would happily take the levels. 46 to 82 meant two new Skills. What were they?

Serenity almost wanted to laugh. He could guess why the Night Fire was there and why removing it was such a huge jump in his Path: it was a curse, one he must have somehow used Faith energy to break. Maybe that was the reason for the vision?

“Did you get a Title too?” Liam interrupted Serenity’s examination of his Status.

“No,” Serenity stated. “I have a high enough Resistance to that sort of thing that I’m not sure a Title would do me any good anyway.”

Lillene

The disguise was never meant to hold forever. If it gives everyone plausible deniability, it’s done its entire job, at least as far as Bethany Rothmer is concerned.

Most people who figure it out are going to assume that there’s a body double involved. Serenity didn’t think of that, but it would have been a great excuse if he had. It’s probably what his mother will tell him to say if he’s ever asked.