Tiredness, fatigue, and exhaustion were feelings that rarely showed themselves nowadays. Endurance was a wonderful thing, pushing the waking hours further with every point, but there were still tis it felt like my mind had been wrung dry of all its energy.
Our Council etings had a way of doing that.
Tedium, the very definition of the word, was the only way to describe it. I wished they were easier, and I wasn't responsible for so many people and so many different projects, but I was the one to build the City, I couldn't leave now.
No matter how much I wanted to.
"Hey, buddy!" Austin jogged up next to . "Howya doin'?"
A deep, cathartic groan was only half my response. "What is it, Austin? I'm tired and a warm cozy bed is calling my na."
"Oh, co on," he said slapping on the back, "You know there's no rest for the wicked." His laughs at his own joke weren't mirrored and I only stared at him to get to the point.
"I just got out of a four-hour eting, I'm not really in the mood for your... you." Failing to find an adequate word, I just waved at him vaguely from head to toe.
"I know, I've been waiting for you to finish." He said.
"So you knew I was in a eting and waited to ambush after I was out?" I asked rather... discourteously before thinking of sothing else, "Why weren't you in there with if you knew?"
He scoffed, "And be this energetic and lively," he motioned at my disheveled appearance, "No thank you. I wouldn't be caught dead in there."
I stopped walking and turned to face him square, "What is it, Austin? I want to go to bed."
He lost the sarcasm for a mont and spoke truly, "I wanted to talk to you." Then rushed to say. "It's fine, though, it can wait."
"No, no. Might as well knock everything out in the sa day. Can we do it in my room at least?" I said. It was rare for Austin to not be flippant and I'd known him long enough that when he tried to brush sothing off like it didn't matter, it was likely the exact opposite.
"Sure," he said, following behind to my part of the Castle.
After everyone settled in, a few rooms were left vacant. That being the case, I was able to expand from my office/bedroom combination and have three separate rooms connected on the sa wing.
My forge in one room, my bedroom in another, and my office in the last.
It basically cut off from the rest of the wing, but that was fine. Being far enough away from others let forge anyti I wanted without worrying about noise. Gabriel's enchantnts made sure of that.
As soon as I learned a Rune for noise cancellation, they would get an upgrade.
The walk from the eting room to my bedroom wasn't long. Up a floor and over a few hallways and we were there.
My flop onto my soft fur-covered bed was rather dramatic but well-deserved in my opinion. Comfortable and relaxed, I let Austin start the conversation.
He took a seat in a chair off to the side and fiddled with his hands. A bad sign if there ever was one. Austin looking for the right words.
"I was wondering what your plans were now?"
"After the Winter we had? I'm not sure. That was what our eting was about." I sighed, "We've achieved everything we've set out to achieve. I'm nearing my evolution as well as the others, we got the Noble Title, and everyone is ready for what may co."
"And about the ticking ti bomb in the South?"
"Still up in the air," my face tightened thinking about the discussion we had about that. "So want to set off imdiately while others want to wait for more information. All we have is rumors and hearsay."
"Have you considered what's going to happen down there?" Austin pointedly asked.
Sensing a deeper question, I allowed him to continue, "Everyone on this side of the Mountains has heard about it by now. Everyone will be planning sothing."
"And? What does that have to do with anything?" I asked.
Instead of elaborating, he changed direction, "Have you thought about what'll happen if we fail?"
"Well, that's a rather pessimistic thought," I responded.
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"Chris, I'm serious." he was. He wasn't laughing or smiling.
Taking a deep sigh, "I have. It'd be stupid not to consider it."
"Our protection will end. Any nearby force will be able to co and do what they want with our Planet. We aren't even D-rank yet, and if that happens, it won't end well." Austin said pointedly.
"I know, Austin, but what do you want to do about it?" I asked, "If that happens, we can only hope that we can persevere."
Austin shook his head, "How many tis in history has a more advanced civilization t a less advanced one and it go well for the lesser?"
Not once, I thought. "I understand, but I can't change the outco just because I want to. We will either succeed or we won't. All we can do is show up and do our best." Before he could ask sothing else or take the conversation in a different direction, I interrupted, "What is this about, Austin? You know I don't like this... convolution. Tell it to straight."
It was his turn to sigh. "I'm worried." His face was heavy and he slumped forward. "Extrely worried."
A joke comparing him to Abigail ca to mind but I didn't voice it. He was being serious and now wasn't the ti for a joke.
"Worried about what, exactly? You obviously have a point to this conversation."
"You haven't seen the World. The state that it's in." his eyes were sad. Not brimming with tears, but a distant sad, mourning about things past. "It's- It's not pretty."
"I'm not a naive teenager, Austin, I expected as much."
"No," he said firmly, "You haven't seen it. Experienced it."
"And you have?" My retort was tinted with a bit of heat at the insinuation.
He didn't respond for a second but eventually nodded slowly. "Finding Marcus wasn't my first stop."
That wasn't how he described his journey. Not in his letters or how he described it in person.
"Plenty of other cities, or ruins, now, were in between there and here. Death was only the beginning." seeing Austin choked up was... saddening. "People are cruel."
I wanted to ask why he left that part out but it was rather obvious.
"I've seen cruelty. We've had murders and assaults. I've had to deal with more people than I care to admit." I said, thinking back on the execution I partook in. While it was necessary, and I didn't feel guilty, it was still another life I had reaped.
"Do you know how many people I've killed?" Austin's question was off-topic.
We killed the thieves in the tutorial together, and what happened to Christian, a few more during our journey North, but other than that, he was off on his own. If we split the thieves, we were about equal.
I had the 'Mindbreaker' and the execution in town, but I assud Austin had a few during his travels.
"I don't know, thirty-sothing?" I said. It was near my own number. I didn't count the thralls. Those weren't people anymore.
"Over a hundred."
"..." I didn't know how to respond.
"Would be thugs. Thieves after my stuff. Hell, murderers who wanted to kill purely for the sake of killing. Or people who wanted to kill just for the essence." His voice was rising. "One group even tried to enslave ."
"I'm sorry, Austin." That was all I could say. How else was I supposed to respond?
"Don't be," he waved off, "All of them deserved it. I'm telling you this to paint the picture. You've done well. You turned an area into a safe haven and for that, you should be proud. But in doing so, you've blinded yourself of the horrors that happen elsewhere."
"You've seen The Fort, yes?" He asked and I nodded, "That would be considered one of the good ones."
Denial flashed in my head. The Fort was awful. People wore rags and fought for food. The slums were just as large in area as the rest of the City.
Austin noticed my face, "Now you understand. Of everywhere with a pylon, not all of them are just. Even just is too much, so are downright evil."
I took in his words but all it did was confuse further. What was his point? He didn't say all this for no reason, "I understand. What is it that truly worries you?"
"You do."
I stuttered for a second. Austin and I were close, but we never really had hearts-to-hearts like this. It wasn't our style. "I understand your worry, but I will be fine."
A flash of sothing else appeared briefly. Not anger or sadness, "I'm not worried for your life, but your... intolerance."
Confusion colored my face, "My intolerance?"
"What do you think will happen in the South?" He said, "Everyone knows about it. People will co from every corner of the East to fight for what may co. It's common knowledge that the outco of failure is death. Civilization is only just picking up the pieces. If we don't succeed, and outside forces are allowed to invade, we will fall. Everyone with a brain knows that.
"Even the most cruel and self-centered understand the position they're in. All creeds and ideals will be there. From the most evil of scum to the most holy of saints."
I was beginning to understand what he was leading up to but I asked him plainly, "What are you getting at?"
"Your dad's philosophy has made you rigid. Unbending when it cos to morals and criminality or things that are similar. Don't deny it, because I've seen it." He said.
My imdiate, knee-jerk reaction was to do as he said and deny it, but I held my tongue. "I will not compromise my ideals, you know that." My words were sowhat harsh, "I swore to him that I wouldn't."
Austin was exacerbated, "And I'm not asking you to. All I ask is that you will be tolerant."
"This test is more important than you!" He spat, "I need to know that you won't ruin it! If we get down there with everyone that arrives, there can be no infighting."
Before he could get further into his rant, I held up my hand to stall him. "I agree."
He looked confused and like he wanted to say more, but couldn't. Agreeing with his point took the wind out of his sails.
"You agree?" He asked.
"Yes." I answered, "This test is more important than . I was never going to go down there with the intent to police anyone. The reason I've beco so rigid, as you put it, is because I have to. People need to know that Laws will be upheld here and that actions have consequences. I'm intolerant because that's what is required.
"When we arrive, it won't be my intention to force my ideals on everyone there. I don't care about what any of them do. The World isn't my responsibility. Only my small piece of it is."
Austin looked confused, "After everything that happened with Tracy and what I heard about you almost getting into a fight with The Fort over a difference of opinion?"
"No," I scoffed, "I almost beat him senseless because he was being a jackass."
"So if you see soone that goes against your 'Code', you're not going to kill them?" His air quotes around Code was slightly insulting but I understand where he was coming from.
"No." I said, "At least not until the test is over."
I smirked, "After that, they're fair ga."
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