Being back on the road, or rather the rugged, still slightly soggy path through the mountains, was strangely liberating. Sure, we had travelled extensively in the area around the tower, often making trips lasting multiple days and covering more distance than we currently had made from it, but now, knowing that we wouldn’t turn around at some point made the entire experience different. The path might be one we had walked before, but we, the people walking it, had changed, or something along those lines.
Another thing making it somewhat weird was the knowledge that we had said farewell to Lia, possibly farewell for a fairly long time if I wasn’t able to create some sort of beacon, allowing me to step back and forth without the extensive time I had spent immersed in the Astral River and the realm of Shadows around the tower, learning their details intimately and thus getting a feel for the area. Given that it had taken me multiple months, and I wasn’t certain across what sort of distances I would be able to detect that familiar area, I wasn’t sure I could make something similar easily. Maybe once we eventually reached our destination, I might be able to step back and forth between there and the tower, but again, it would take some time and experimentation. For now, it had been farewell, though a slightly odd one.
The farewell had been a weird mix of subdued emotions and casual affection; none of us truly knew how to say farewell in a meaningful way, so we ended up with a brief embrace before we simply walked away. A part of me felt there was supposed to be some sort of gravitas, maybe dramatic music playing in the background or wide, panning shots of the valley we had shaped over the last few days, possibly a crowd of people, all waving and cheering. Granted, the lack of people might have been due to our departure being just after dusk, not around dawn when one would expect, but still, it felt as if something had been missing. I just couldn’t pin down what that ephemeral ‘something’ was.
“What do you think? How did other groups out there fare over the winter?” Luna asked, simply talking to pass the time as we continued to set one foot before the other. Silva was a little ahead of us, scouting and remaining vigilant, allowing us to relax just a little. Comparatively, I was well aware that missing Lia and, to a lesser degree, Alex made our group weaker than it had been, though not to the point that I would have been willing to recruit any of the locals we had encountered. They were all either lacking in the strength department, even if the enchantment had assuaged that to a certain degree or in the brains department, in some cases, even both. Additionally, a few people were simply assholes, no two ways about it, and certainly not people I would be willing to travel with for any length of time. So, now that it was only the three of us, we would have to be a little more cautious and vigilant, maybe keep an eye out to see if we could find somebody to take Lia’s place, as unlikely as that was. And as disloyal as it felt, having a fourth and fifth person could be useful.
“Some will have died, others will have endured,” I shrugged, shaking myself out of my contemplative thoughts, “Overall, I don’t think the impact we had on the area around the tower was all that profound, at least not on the lowest level. I’d bet that people managed to figure out how to conjure water on their own. It’s not like it’s a terribly complicated concept. As long as the one in question has at least some affinity to Water, simply wishing for water hard enough would work and once that first step is taken, things get a lot easier. And a drowning person will wish for water and gladly take it wherever it comes from.”
“Mh, probably true,” she nodded, “And there are enough Gods out there who’d lend a hand, too. Maybe not exactly in the way people would expect, or with a price they don’t enjoy paying, but they would lend a hand to grow their flock.”
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“Always remember, the shepherd doesn’t tend the flock because he likes sheep, even if some of them might. The shepherd tends his flock so he can shear them for their wool and slaughter some of them for their meat,” I reminded her, though the relationship we had with Hecate was strange in that regard. I couldn’t see the usual give-and-take between deity and devout, though whether that meant I was blind to that particular truth or if Lady Hecate’s game was an entirely different one, I couldn’t tell.
The only real exchange we had engaged in was one of knowledge and ideas, not the usual power, making the relationship more akin to one between students and teacher or maybe fellow researchers at some sort of symposium, both sides contributing to a greater body of knowledge. Sure, Lady Hecate had a great deal more knowledge and nigh-infinitely more experience, but we were only starting out. Maybe, depending on our individual lifespans, we might eventually reach a point where we could give actual contributions to that greater body of knowledge and even advance Lady Hecate’s understanding.
For a moment, I had to grin at the idea of Lady Hecate carefully nurturing students across dozens, or maybe hundreds, of worlds, who know how many there might be. If even a fraction of those students reached a level at which they could contribute to Her understanding and thus further Her domain, it might just make up for the lack of an organised church. Plus, the lack of an organised church also meant Lady Hecate didn’t need to spend whatever divine resources the other gods had to spend on their followers, possibly giving Her another advantage. It was an interesting idea, though I doubted I’d be able to learn whether it was truth or just a wild figment of my imagination soon. This sounded like something the Lady would only tell those who had gained enough power to be considered Her peers.
“It’ll be cool to meet new people again,” Luna mused a few minutes later, breaking me out of my thoughts once more.
“We hardly met everyone around Denver Springs, you know? Just those with an interest in meeting us or coming to the tower. And even of those we met, I know I hardly know any of them. Outside of my students, I’d say I know a bare handful back there and with my students, the topics were mostly focused on magic. Again, I wouldn’t claim to know them,” I shrugged, getting a grin in return.
“That’s because you can be just a little bit intimidating, Mom,” she stretched the ‘little out while holding up her hands, indicating a distance of maybe two inches between her fingers, while the other hand showed a much, much greater length, making the joke fairly obvious. “And not terribly social to boot, you don’t want to talk with most people and, believe me, they noticed fairly quickly. You are many things, Mom, and I love you deeply, but ‘subtle’ is not one of those things you are. You either remain entirely unnoticed thanks to your magic, or you command the attention of the room.”
There was no answer I could give but a slightly annoyed snort, especially as I knew her words to be true. Granted, a bit part of that was thanks to the relative inexperience everyone had with the more arcane parts of the system, meaning some of the markings of power on my body were seen as more extraordinary than they actually were, but that didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t a social operator and couldn’t be bothered to try learning.
“Well, I’m sure wherever we go next, you’ll find a few people somewhere around. It's not like humans didn’t spread across the globe before the change, though I’m fairly certain that many communities died due to it. It would be interesting to see just how many of the older communities did, like some of the remote tribes. On the one hand, they might not rely on modern technology as everyone else did, but on the other hand, even a few Shattered amongst them might be enough to tip the balance,” I thought out loud, wondering how much of their heritage those tribes would have preserved. It likely depended on local circumstances, with no simple, general answer being possible. Especially in the north, where we were heading, the various tribes had likely adopted modern technology and the doom that came with it during the change simply out of a combination of necessity and convenience. Still, it would be interesting to see how the various groups out there had adapted and managed to overcome the challenges posed to them.
