“Smart child. I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Margrethe’s voice pulled everyone’s attention back to her as she gestured in the air, clearly looking at information from the Voice.

“Here we go … Target prohibited by Guild Oath? What? What’s a chimera?” Margrethe’s voice conflicted with Echo’s objection that she was not a child.

Serenity didn’t know. It wasn’t something he’d ever run into in either of his lives - at least, not that he could think of immediately. He'd thought about it since it had appeared on his Status and felt like he probably should know, but he couldn't remember.

“Ancient mythology. A mix of creatures that can’t mix. Theory is that it was made up by people seeing skeletons and trying to describe the creature without knowing what they were. Or something like that.” Lancaster looked at the incredulous expressions on everyone’s faces. “What, I’m not allowed to read?”

Serenity looked around the room. Lancaster, Echo, and Kerr seemed relaxed. Sillon was glaring at Margrethe, while Margrethe continued tapping at her interface.

“I don't remember anything in my Oath about chimeras. All I’ve got - here.” Margrethe shared a couple messages.

[Knife Oath override: Target identified as incomplete chimera. Faith in good nature detected. Continued evaluation recommended]

“That’s from the first time I shot you. I didn’t see the message, but it’s probably why I dropped the bow and didn’t get a second shot off before I had to run.”

[Knife Oath override: Target identified as good-natured chimera with high likelihood of encouraging local and extended success. No evidence of insanity found. Target prohibited by Guild Oath.]

Margrethe didn’t have to say anything about the second message.

Serenity groaned inwardly as he read the two messages. He knew why it called him an “incomplete chimera” in the first but not the second - he’d formed his Core in between. That was also when his Species had changed on his Status.

He was going to have to reveal his secret, wasn’t he? He wasn’t sure how Margrethe or Sillon would react. Echo and Lancaster … hopefully would be accepting. Monsters hadn’t been a thing on Earth, after all, and they already knew he was different. Kerr … he was pretty sure Kerr would be just fine with it. She knew what Serenity really meant, after all. Not just the name or the title, but what it meant to have that title.

Maybe he could work up to it. Maybe that would help.

He kept his voice soft and nonconfrontational the question. “So, when exactly is it that people go insane? That’s kind of important to me right now.”

Margrethe started upright. “You - you’ve already started forming a Core? Is that - is that why your eyes are glowing? I should check-”

She started to get up and move to Serenity, but both Sillon and Kerr jumped out of their seats to stop her before she could reach him.

“Argh, they’re glowing again? Stupid ability that turns itself on…” Serenity grumbled as he concentrated to return his eyes to normal. “No, it’s not related at all. I’m not sure why they started glowing this time.”

Sillon piped up. “It was while you were talking to Entherys. When you asked Kerr to gag him?”

“When I was thinking of - memories. Yeah, I can see where that would do it. I’ll have to be more careful. That’s going to be a real headache. But no,” Serenity turned back to Margrethe, “It’s definitely not related. Also, you two can let her go. She’s not intending to attack me right now, is she?”

“N-no. I just want to check. I still don’t understand why I can’t sense the corruption.”

Once Sillon and Kerr let her go, she stepped to Serenity, laid her wrist on his forehead, and checked him - thoroughly. Twice. “Nothing. I don’t understand.”

Margrethe collapsed back on her couch.

The timing was as good as it was going to get - and Serenity did have a theory.

“The problem happens when the core first forms, doesn’t it? People get a little erratic, maybe things don’t work quite right. Memory issues … all sorts of problems. By the time it’s done forming, if you don’t take care of it, they’re completely gone and it’s like a different person is there.” He was pretty sure that a lot of it was brain damage. That might not - probably didn’t - fully explain it, but … it would make sense.

He’d never felt anything like what he was describing, but then … his core’s integration had been handled by Order’s Voice, starting with a quest reward unique item. At least, he thought it was unique.

“Y-yes, that’s pretty accurate for a rough description.” Margrethe stared at him. “You know something.”

“Yes … “ Serenity couldn’t help but pause. He really didn’t want to say this, but there wasn’t a better way out. “You see - I wish you’d talked to me. Because … I … I’d better just say it. I already have a Core. I think that’s why it called me incomplete the first time but not the second. Order’s Voice - well, if you can’t trust the Voice, who can you trust? It handled everything. So - it didn’t damage me, and as far as I can tell, I’m not going insane. What I don’t understand is that you said monsters can’t follow the Paths. I’m on the Paths.”

“You - you should sunder it. I can help you with that, minimize the damage - we can - we can save you!” Margrethe was smiling through her tears.

Serenity couldn’t decide if he was amused at Margrethe’s enthusiasm or irritated by her insistence. He suspected the fact that she’d tried to kill him twice wasn’t helping. The fact that she couldn’t have kept him dead helped, but even so he was irritated with her.

Serenity pulled up his Status screen, and went into Path selection to make sure it said what he thought it would. When it did, he flicked it to Margrethe and the others and stated, “There are two problems with that. Here’s the first one.”

Paths Available (Choice of Tier 0 or Tier 1 enabled by Tutorial)

Tier 0

Human

Tier 1

Not Currently Eligible

Your Core is insufficient to support a Tier 1 Path. Continue developing your Core to enable this option.

“I thought you weren’t Human.”

That wasn’t the reaction he’d expected from Margrethe. It was fair. He could see why she might assume he wasn’t human. The name on his Status had changed when he gained a Core, too.

“I’m not, exactly. It’s still apparently the only Path I have available at the moment.” Serenity didn’t see any point in trying to claim to be Human. It was interesting that his Status agreed with the messages from Margrethe. Chimera must mean something specific.

“That’s the worst problem, if I sunder my Core it probably traps me off the Paths. I’m … backwards, apparently. The second problem is that sundering it would certainly kill me. Becoming undead isn’t exactly on my list of preferred options today.”

That got everyone’s attention.

“What? So - that’s why - “ Kerr seemed to have put something together. Serenity wasn’t sure exactly what, but this wasn't the time to ask.

“Didn’t know that? It’s a problem with really high affinities, no matter what the affinity is. Makes people really, really hard to kill permanently. It’s different depending on the affinity - other affinities don’t become undead, generally. I have an extraordinarily high Death affinity, so killing me - well, unless you take the right precautions I’ll just come back as an undead of some sort. I expect you’ll understand if I don’t tell you what those precautions are.” Serenity had a half-smile on his face. He’d found that particular fact out the hard way the first time someone killed him.

“I don’t need saving, and neither do the people around me need to be saved from me.” Serenity’s face was solemn again as he turned to Matgrethe. “I understand why you tried to kill me, and while I’m not exactly happy about it, if you give me your word you won’t try again without talking to me first, I’ll trust you. Especially since it sounds like you can’t directly attack me. Just - please don’t attack the people around me.”

Margrethe seemed to still be looking at the screen he’d shared. He wasn’t sure she’d actually heard anything he’d said.

“I don’t understand. That’s … that’s not how it works. A Core prevents Paths. They don’t work together. But - but the Voice doesn’t make mistakes… Is that … is that why I don’t sense corruption? But … but then … what about the others …?” Margrethe had stopped crying and seemed horrified.

Others?

What made me think I was unique? Maybe I’m just way too proud … it would make sense. Order’s Voice has never been known for being creative. Did it just … modify me to be like something that already exists?

That would explain my Status.

Why doesn’t Margrethe know about it - them - us - then?

It was probably best to ask. “Others? Have you met other people with - ?”

Margrethe didn’t take her eyes off the message as she answered. “I don’t know. I’ve met people who said they needed a Core. They, uh …”

Serenity finished it for her. “Didn’t make it?”

“...yes. I… I’ve never met anyone I knew wasn’t getting corrupted before but maybe … no. It can’t be. It protected you but not them, so there’s something different about you.”

“Would you have described the people you’re talking about as having good intentions?” Serenity was still looking at the messages Margrethe had shared, and that seemed an important piece.

“No..? Oh! You think - you think others could have been fine but I didn’t think they were … good, so I was able to kill them?” Margrethe looked hopeful for a moment, then devastated. “How many people have I killed that I didn’t need to?”

Serenity let her cry for a moment before interrupting. “Probably none.” His voice was cold.

Margrethe clearly hadn’t thought through the implications of those messages.

Margrethe lifted her tear-streaked face. “What? But - if they’re not being corrupted - “

“If your group - Guild? - didn’t believe you should kill them, you’d have been told. Yet you clearly weren’t. I suspect they want to restrict how many people have - are - whatever I am. Instead of giving you instructions, they hid something in your Oath. Did you ever read the full Oath?”

There was no excuse for not knowing the details of an Oath, but Serenity knew it was all too common.

“Uh … I know the words of the Oath - “

She hadn’t. There was a reason Serenity preferred simple intent-based Oaths. They had their own issues, but they were less likely to completely blindside you. Written Oaths … you said a summary, but not necessarily all of the details. Serenity knew details mattered.

“Oaths can be tricky things. Check into that when the Tutorial’s over. We’ll talk about this more later. For now, you need to think. Will you agree to stop trying to kill me without at least talking to me about it first?”

Margrethe gave a hiccuping laugh. “Yes - I mean - I never expected you to forgive me for it. When you walked in here - I figured I was dead. I was just hoping to warn you all. So that - so that you’d know, maybe - maybe someone could - but now … it seems so …”

“I think this may be a first for me too. Doesn’t matter. We’ll talk more later, after we’ve both had a chance to think. I want to know more about your Guild. Maybe come up with a way to keep them from hunting me. Kind of sounds like that could happen.”

The tears on Margrethe’s face had mostly dried. She sounded positively perky. “Can you tell me more about yourself? About how you got this way? Do you know? You said Order’s Voice intervened -”

“No. No. Just - no. I have a pretty good guess and yes it’s from the Voice but that’s all I’ll say.” Serenity didn’t even want to hint about that secret. His Core was more than enough. Rissa, Lancaster, and Echo knew about the “dream”, but they were new to the Order and Order’s Voice. They didn’t have the context. Margrethe probably did - and she’d surely report to her Guild. Serenity couldn’t afford that. Her reporting him as a chimera would be bad enough, even though they probably wouldn’t set out to kill him over it.

On the way out, Serenity asked his friends to keep the entire discussion secret. He was pretty sure the fact that he had a Core would eventually get out, but the longer it stayed quiet, the better.

That evening, Rissa was at dinner when Serenity broke the news to the rest of his friends that the threat was handled. He didn’t say who the archer was, or what happened to Entherys, and for some reason neither Echo nor Lancaster spoke up.

All he would say was that he was safe, and it was a misunderstanding on the woman’s part - he didn’t blame her, it was logical, just wrong.

Serenity was pretty sure Doyle thought he’d killed Entherys. Doyle seemed to approve.

He was also pretty sure Nightwitch knew he hadn’t killed the man.

He had no luck distracting everyone from badgering him until he brought up the Great Dungeon. Once it was mentioned, Echo started helping instead of sniping at him and everyone started planning how they would start the assault.

End of Arc 1