Chapter 69: Reunion and Choice

  EYSSA POV

  Eyssa woke up with a start, her ears and nose both twitching.

  Something was off.

  She wasn’t bleary. Her eyes blinked in the dim light, but didn’t have the blurriness she was used to. The aches she’d gotten used to – especially in her side and back – were gone. She felt… strong, but somehow light.

  “Eyssa’s up.”

  That voice was familiar. Eyssa was already pushing herself upright, looking toward the warmth she felt from one side. Everything was so… clear and perfect. Not just her sight, but the scents were completely unfiltered, the temperature just about perfect even with one side warmed by a fire.

  A fire?

  Eyssa knew how to make a fire, of course, but it was rare. Heatstones and mana were used far more often, so an actual fire was something for when she was alone on her expeditions. But that thought flew away when she saw the nine others arranged around the fire in a circle, with her completing that circle.

  “Duvad?” she asked, incredulously.

  It was indeed Duvad. The tall, lanky and youthful-looking elf was there, complete and whole, just as he appeared a few moments before his death. He wiggled his tailtip at her, while his hands were busy with a sharpened stick, easing some soft-looking white lump onto the pointed tip.

  “Welcome to the Land of the Dead,” he said in a cheerful voice.

  But Eyssa had already figured that out. To her left was Fisk, his ears raised in amusement, holding another stick with some of the white lumps held out over the fire, slowly turning orange and brown. Vedas was to his left, nibbling on one of the soft things that looked burnt and crisped on the outside, but with some kind of white ichor on the inside.

  Duvad was to the left of Vedas, then Kelas was there, too. The Aravel was fidgeting and rubbing at one of his ears, showing a nervous tic he’d picked up during their journey. He glanced up at Eyssa and flicked his other ear in a greeting.

  To Eyssa’s right, Dashe was trying to cram more of the fluffy white things onto his own stick. He had both arms, and bore no scars, unlike the last time she’d seen him. His tail swayed happily… brushing Gathur to his right, who was looking incredibly awkward in this group of adventurers who had bonded over blood and trials.

  Solen sat casually with her knees up to her chest, looking lithe and youthful again, just like everyone else. She had her mouth full, munching on the weird fluffy… fruits? She gave a small wave with her hand, her tail wrapped around the one she leaned against.

  Which was Tastka, of course. Aside from Kelas, Tastka had been the only one alive when Eyssa last went to sleep, and here she was, youthful and giving a little ear wiggle to Eyssa as well. Like all the others, she wore a simple tunic of some filmy, glossy fabric that defied explanation. Eyssa didn’t know of any fiber that created that without a high-level shaper of some kind working on it.

  She also realized she was wearing the same thing. She pinched the fabric curiously before she looked up once more. One more elf remained in the circle, on Tastka’s right, and to the left of Kelas.

  This one, Eyssa didn’t know. She looked the same age as everyone else – in her prime, with no scars or anything to mar her skin or poise – but she looked awkward and fidgety. She played with a stick in her hands, yet unlike the others she made no attempt to stab one of the fluffy fruits on it. Her ears twitched strangely, and she met Eyssa’s eyes only briefly before returning her attention to the fire.

  “Dead?” Eyssa asked, rubbing her side. She couldn’t feel the scars from the claw that had nearly torn her ribs away. It was as if she were just now an adult, without even the small mishap with her father’s knife marking her skin… and that had happened as a child.

  Tastka finally spoke. “Yes, everyone here is dead. Kelas lasted longer than any of us… but the Aravel do live longer. I was closer than I expected, though.”

  “I can’t… I can’t remember anything. Anything before this life…” Kelas mumbled, still tugging on his ear. His eyes darted about, then his tail curled around his ankle in a childlike reflex. He was nervous – maybe even frightened – Eyssa could tell. Some of the elves here, he hadn’t gotten along well with them… but the presence of the few friends he had did seem to calm him enough that he didn’t bolt in his skittishness.

  The unknown elf was the one who spoke next. “You won’t be able to. You only have the memories of this life. The rest were a part of your body, and you… no longer have that body. It is left behind.”

  Tastka swat at the elf with her tail, and lifted her ears in a pleasant expression to Kelas. “Don’t mind Orpheus, she just isn’t good at talking to elves.”

  Such a strange name. Eyssa stared at the newcomer, and something did seem… off about her, but she couldn’t place it. She instead looked to her sister, while Kelas tried to calm his fidgeting. “So this is what happens after we die?”

  “Mmm, not normally,” Tastka admitted. She squeezed Solen lightly… the two had remained very close after the journey, and Solen had been delighted that Tastka welcomed her back. Everyone had assumed they would become lovers, but the two girls had instead become something else. More like soul-sisters, than just friends or lovers. Many still got the wrong idea, though.

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  Tastka continued, “As Solen already figured out, I’m not just Tastka. Everyone here was told that I had another me in my dreams.” She paused and her ears tilted down in annoyance as one of the fluffy fruits oozed off the stick. “… even in the afterlife I can’t get this right.”

  Fisk handed Eyssa a stick and some of the fluffy fruits, setting them down beside her on the soft, clean grass. “You stick them on the tip and gently heat them until the outside gets firm, then eat them. They’re sweet.”

  Eyssa took the stick without thinking, staring at it and then to Tastka, who was speaking again.

  “As I was saying,” she muttered, sticking another of the white things on her stick. “I’m the other one. The other Tastka. Or to be more accurate, we’re now one and the same. I have all her memories – always did – and lived through everything with all of you.” She paused. “I suppose Duvad never knew, but I would have told him if he’d survived. And he saved all of your lives, so I owe him.”

  “It would have been nice to have come back,” he muttered, but the fighter seemed in good spirits. “I hope you found a good man… or did Solen get you?”

  Solen made a rude gesture with her hand, but snickered softly. Tastka just flicked an ear in amusement.

  “Solen and I became quite close, but not in that way,” Tastka clarified. “Gathur is here because I told him when we mated, but I had other lovers.”

  Gathur mumbled, “I wondered why I was here among all of you…”

  Fisk tilted one ear up. “That does bring up the question again, though. Why are we here? I mean, just us? Is this what we do from now on? We don’t even need to eat this, do we? I’m not hungry, and I don’t even feel my heartbeat.”

  This made Eyssa twitch. She hadn’t noticed that, in her disorientation. She poked one of the fluffy fruits on the stick and held it out over the crackling warmth of the fire. Somehow, she knew that this fire wouldn’t burn her. She raised her voice as well. “So you’re my sister, but not. And who is this um… Orpheus?” Her tongue stumbled over the strange name.

  “I am the one who arranged this meeting,” Orpheus said, her words strange yet somehow understood. “This is beyond Tastka’s ability right now, but I owed her a favor for some… mistakes.” She rolled the stick in her fingers. “I am not an elf, you only see me as one. Tastka spent time as one of you, but I am… something like her leader.”

  Tastka waved a hand, “It isn’t important. None of you will remember any of this, but I wanted to give you a chance to change what will happen. This is not the Land of the Dead… this is a special place, just for us, just for right now.”

  Dashe lifted a hand to catch her attention. “What does happen when we die?” As a healer, he had often wondered that. Eyssa had, as well, but wasn’t surprised that Dashe asked first.

  As she slowly turned her stick, rotating it so the fruit didn’t burn, Tastka made a dismissive swish with her tail. “Your spirit lives on, but you lose your memories. Soon after, you are reborn… probably into another elf. You will still be you, much like Tastka was me… if I had been born an elf, in your clan. That’s why I didn’t remember anything else while I was her. Tastka is me, living a life among you all. But the real me is older, and has other memories as well.”

  Kelas perked up. “Like an Aravel…?” He looked at Tastka, perplexed. “This is confusing…”

  Tastka chuckled, “You have no idea. Sadly, this is probably the last time we can speak like this.” She squeezed Solen gently, the other elf just closing her eyes contentedly. She had died without regrets, Eyssa knew, and now seemed at peace with this strangeness.

  “So… that is what we would be doing, and you interrupted it?” Eyssa asked, finally catching up with everything that had been said.

  “Temporarily,” Tastka confirmed. “You are all here so I can enjoy your company one last time. You’ve all helped me – the one Tastka had inside her – far more than you can ever imagine. You’ve helped the world, even. Every future elf owes you a debt… so I can offer a reward, I think. But you have to choose it. You have to want it.”

  Eyssa glanced around, as did all the others. Eyes were met, ears flicked, snouts twitched. It was good to see everyone again. Not to mention being healthy instead of dealing with her failing health and aching, ancient injuries. “What kind of reward?”

  “As I said,” Tastka replied. “You get to choose.” She bit down and swallowed her fluffy fruit, relishing it for a long moment before resuming. She lifted a finger in the air.

  “First, you can have your memories erased and be born again, as normal.” Her ears lifted. “There’s nothing wrong with this. It won’t hurt, and you’ll still be you… but all the memories of your life will be gone. You’ll start all over again.”

  Another finger went up. “If you like, I can instead keep your memories, but only hidden away. You will not remember them… but someday, something may happen that brings them back. You won’t remember this conversation, you won’t remember why, but they’ll return. Maybe this next life. Maybe after you’ve been born eight times, or more. I don’t know.”

  Eyssa tilted her ears down, unsure why that would be a choice. It seemed… unnatural. While she thought, she took a bite out of the fluffy fruit, crunching through the thin, crisped skin to the strange goo within. Heat flooded her mouth, and she’s sure she would have burnt her lips and tongue if that were possible here. Instead, it was a rush of sweetness, intense like the sap of a sweet-tree. Her eyes widened.

  “And third,” Tastka continued. “The spirits that some other elves spoke of on your journey… the ones that controlled the wind, or the sun, or the trees. You did not believe they were real, and they are not…”

  She paused. “Yet.”

  Everyone looked up at Tastka now, tails stilling and expressions startled. Orpheus shuffled where she sat, while Tastka was just holding up her third finger. Even Solen tilted her head back, looking at her soul-sister curiously.

  “The world becomes more complicated, and quests need to come from more than dragons,” Tastka explained. “Other beings, beings who will create and give out quests, will be created soon. But these beings will not have spirits, not truly. Not unless they are gifted one.”

  She spread her hand open, then offered it to us palm-up. “You can be the base of one of these beings… if you wish. It will give you power, but responsibility. You will live many lifetimes, but never directly as an elf. You will be something else, a part of the world that keeps it normal and smooth, and defend against the things that would harm everyone.”

  Eyssa twitched. That sounded grand, yet… so much responsibility. Forever, apart from yet helping her people. Helping… her sister.

  Eyssa understood then. Of all of them, she’d spoken to Tastka the most about the strange being in her dreams… with the likely exception of Solen, who knew all of Tastka’s secrets. She saw confusion in the eyes of the others, all except Solen. Solen, who sat with a content, unsurprised expression.

  “You…” Eyssa murmured. “You’re the one who made the System, aren’t you?”

  Everyone’s ears perked up, attention suddenly on Tastka. Yet the elf wiggled her sharpened stick, and plucked another fruit up to place on the tip.

  “Think about your answer,” she replied, as if Eyssa hadn’t asked the question. “We have time. Enjoy your marshmallows and consider carefully.”

  Her ears lifted in a warm expression. “I love you all, and I want to give you only what you truly want.”

  All These Worlds...