The Lone Wanderer

Percy stared at the hut in stunned silence for a few seconds, partly because he hadn’t decided what to say to the woman just yet, and partly because he found her words interesting.

So, this little hut, standing stubbornly against the eroding march of time, had been the home of a titan once…

Maybe he shouldn’t be so surprised about something this minor though. After all, he’d come face to face with living gods and breathing titans before. He’d even bargained with them, or threatened them directly.

Still, this was different. Metatron and Rhaziel were aliens. On top of that, he only had memories of their meetings, since he’d never actually met them himself.

Instead, there was something more real about Remior’s gods. They were humans like him. Or had been once, at least. They’d walked on the same ground as him, breathed the same air. Their actions had influenced everything and everyone he’d ever met, their decisions changing the course of history forever. He’d read stories of them as a child, having grown up taking their existence for granted.

And there was something real about this tiny house too. It stood here, before his actual eyes, its rotting surfaces illuminated by the pale moonlight. It was made of wood: just plain old wood, harvested from trees native to Remior. The craftmanship wasn’t anything special either. Whoever had built the hut: whether it was the titan himself, or one of his ancestors: they clearly hadn’t been very good at this. The mismatched planks left plenty of gaps between them. The roof had probably leaked a ton of water whenever it rained. Still did, in fact.

‘It’s not that different from our house in Bogside town, actually.’ he thought, the nostalgic memory bringing a faint smile to his face.

It was easy to think of the gods as these lofty existences who could shatter mountains and dry up lakes as casually as breathing. But they’d all started as mortals, much like him. Granted, they’d all been Green-borns, so they’d never been quite as weak, nor had they been treated the same. Still…

“I’m guessing Kronos was a commoner?” he asked.

The woman nodded.

“He was. But that used to mean something slightly different, back when Kronos was mortal. It’s quite interesting if you think about it. How languages evolve with our culture. The very words we speak subtly change meaning over time, as if our history is woven into their very fabric.”

“What do you mean?”

Hearing his question, she tapped her lip, seemingly gathering her thoughts.

“Kronos’s predecessor, Iapetus, had already disseminated bloodlines among our people, but the current system of noble Houses hadn’t been established yet. There were a couple of kingdoms around, but peasants made up an even greater fraction of the population than they do today. And they were treated even worse. They were nothing more than objects, meant to serve their kings and queens. Even the Green-borns weren’t protected from their cruelty, as the Divine Order prioritized internal affairs back then, rather than trying to strengthen our world. All the early gods, including Iapetus, had come from the royals themselves.”

“So, how did Kronos even become a god?”

“He snuck around, stealing elixir whenever he could, trying to advance while staying hidden in the shadows. Eventually, he slaughtered all the royals who had mistreated him and his family, before reaching godhood. Then, he killed the other gods too, leaving only Iapetus alive. He was the only one he forgave, purely out of respect for the bloodlines he’d gifted humanity with. Next, he reformed the Order, establishing the system of noble Houses. He was also the one who came up with the rule to protect and support all the Green-borns, realizing this was the key to our world’s prosperity. This all happened before he became a titan himself, mind you.”

Percy frowned. Sneaking around and stealing elixir? That sounded a little familiar. The guy was a proper badass too, having slaughtered many older gods with ease, as soon as he advanced. But that didn’t mean Percy liked him.

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Wanting to probe the woman further, he pushed back a little.

“Is the current system supposed to be an improvement? Most people still live in poverty, and now Remior is drowning in constant war.”

“Perhaps, but the number of people who do get better lives has gone up by several orders of magnitude. From a couple dozen royals, to hundreds of thousands of nobles. Besides, the Order never did this to improve everyone’s living standards. Their goal was to foster the growth of new bloodlines, and the emergence of more gods. We need them, to protect our world from outsiders.”

Percy didn’t like it, but he had no retort. Cruel as it was, the current status quo had done its job. At least, Remior had survived this long, hadn’t it?

The only places he’d seen that were arguably better were Atlantis and Felmara. The former only remained peaceful due to Ea’s Decree. It made their alchemists valuable, allowing them to collaborate amicably with other races. As for the latter… well, their prosperity had been built on the suffering of others.

Alas, Percy was too tired, and in too much pain to reform Remior tonight. Besides, he had a more pressing concern at the forefront of his mind.

“How do you know all this?” he couldn’t help but ask.

What he actually wanted to know, was whether the woman was a member of the Divine Root. It would explain how she was privy to all this ancient information. At the same time, it would also be the worst-case scenario for him.

But he didn’t want to be too direct about it. If she truly was his enemy, he’d rather not clue her in. And maybe he was wrong, and this was all just a big coincidence.

“What can I say? I’m a student of history. I enjoy learning about our world’s past.” she shrugged. “Besides, none of this is a secret.”

Hearing her response, Percy relaxed a little. Maybe he’d misjudged her? The Divine Order might not be in the business of spreading high-level information about Decrees and other races, but they weren’t entirely cryptic about less important stuff.

People already knew about the three titans who had led the Order in the past. Hell, they’d built statues of them on every temple, so people had seen their faces too. Looking into ancient history wasn’t forbidden. It was just that very few people ever bothered.

‘Regardless, I should still be careful of what I say in front of her…’

Whether she was affiliated with the Order or not, the fact remained that he’d seen her before, somewhere. No matter how hard he dug, he failed to place her, the elusive information always slipping off the edge of his mind.

In any case, since he’d recognized her, she could also recognize him, so it was still in his best interest to cut the meeting short.

“It’s getting a bit late. Thanks for the history lesson, but I’ll be going.” he said, casually waving her goodbye.

“Wait.” she said just as he was about to turn around, stopping him in his tracks.

Percy swallowed hard, afraid that he got busted. Though her next words weren’t what he was expecting.

“Don’t you want to check the hut out from inside?”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Isn’t that against the rules?” he asked, gesturing at the signs.

The woman chuckled, her voice ringing like a bell’s chime.

“Do you see anyone else around? The fence is just plain wood. Even the runes are only to preserve the hut. Nobody will know: we’ll just steal a peak and get out.”

Percy had to admit, he was slightly tempted. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious to see where the titan had lived as a mortal. The bed where he’d slept as a child.

But he shook his head.

“Thanks for the offer. I’m sure it would be fun. Especially with such pretty company. Though I don’t think I want to disrespect the place.”

It wasn’t a lie exactly. He really felt grateful to the Order and the titans over everything they’d done for Remior, despite his current conflict with them. However, his priority was to put some distance from the woman before she pieced everything together. Not to mention that his status as a fugitive made it a terrible idea to start breaking city rules.

She laughed again.

“I didn’t know you were such a stickler for the rules. Maybe it’s those glowing eyes of yours? They make you look like more of a troublemaker.”

Ignoring him, she strode forward, climbing over the fence. Evidently, she intended to go through with this, with or without him.

“Ah, but please don’t tell anyone about me.” she hurriedly yelled, right before entering the hut. “Name’s Clarity by the way.”

“I’m Noland.” Percy shouted back, already grabbing the opportunity to walk away as fast as possible.

His heart was still racing, the conversation playing over and over again in his mind as he tried to make sense of it. Had he given anything away? Had she seemed suspicious of anything he’d said?

He didn’t think he had… The woman: Clarity: was quite odd, but she’d seemed entirely focused on the hut. Maybe he’d just confused her with somebody else?

‘Yeah… On second thought, I don’t think she’s with the Order… Probably some crazy woman, with a soft spot for history…’

Thinking of all the members of the Root or the Order he’d interacted with, he just couldn’t picture any of them dressed in a bunch of cheap rags. Nor could he imagine any of them engaging in a casual conversation with a random Red-born. For all her quirks, the woman was definitely quite approachable.

‘Well, whatever. We should change inns tomorrow, just in case.’