“What do you mean?” Serenity didn’t think of Order’s Voice as being a problem in and of itself. When the protection was lost in ten years, yes, there was a problem, but the Voice itself wasn’t the problem.

“Guardians survive by being stronger than most of what they fight, or at the worst only slightly weaker. They’re as strong as anyone can be. Unfortunately, Order’s Voice means that the maximum will go up, and Guardians can’t choose Paths. I knew this was the tradeoff I accepted, but I hoped I’d never have to take the short end.”

Serenity looked at the being, puzzled. “I have a Path. So does Russ.” Serenity thought back to the first time he’d seen Russ’s Status. Had there been a Path on it then? He was pretty sure there had been. He knew for sure that there was one the last time he’d seen it. “His said it was Locked as Guardian, but it’s there.” Serenity stared at the creature. “If my future Paths were limited, it would be more difficult but that’s still not terrible. It’s possible to do most things without the Path.”

“Guardians have a magic core. It lets them perform their abilities or control them better and boosts physical ability, but Order’s Voice has never permitted those with a core to follow its Paths. They simply die, beaten by the power of the Path. A core is valuable where Order’s Guild and Order’s Voice do not tread, but once they reach you it is merely a death sentence.” The rock being’s voice was sorrowful.

Serenity stared at the being. “Haven’t you ever heard of monsters?”

Hours passed while Serenity sat with the being and described the larger structure of the multiverse as he knew it. The Pathed, monsters, dungeons, Settlements, crystals; it was all information that could be learned from the Tutorial, but monsters wouldn’t have a Tutorial and Serenity suspected that the being in front of him had a core.

Serenity hadn’t checked. He didn’t want to be rude, and suspected the being would consider looking at his core to be at best impolite.

Serenity knew the conversation was over when he felt foreign magic sweep through him. Like what Russ used, it was completely Essence-based and felt strange to Serenity. He could vaguely feel the Intent, but he still didn’t like it and blocked it before it reached anything vital.

It wasn’t any more polite when the creature did it to him than it would have been for Serenity.

The rock-being rumbled, “You use your magic strangely, but I do not have time to teach you more. We have already spent too long at this. There’s one test left that you must complete. Show me your soul blade.”

“Uh,” Serenity stalled. He didn’t know how to make a soul blade; he’d never needed to.

The liquid rock seemed surprised. “You’re that untrained? I was not expecting that. Russ should know better.”

“I don’t think he wanted to induct me yet, but he said we need to go to the starlit sea or something like that.”

The rock being shook what passed for a head and stood. “Very well. Follow me.”

Serenity was led down the same corridor that he’d started on, deeper into the ground. Eventually, they reached a small pool of something that looked like water, except that it held the strongest concentrations of magic that Serenity had yet felt on Earth. It was stronger than any ley line he’d entered on Tzintkra, and that dwarfed what he’d seen on Earth.

“You will have to practice when you return home, but this will give me what I need. It is a shortcut, but few take this option because of the pain and the risk. It will force you to manifest your weapon or armor to defend yourself. If you do not, it will kill you by shredding your soul. You can still back out and I will permit you to try again once you know your soul weapon.”

It paused, as if giving Serenity a chance to say something, but continued when he was silent. “When you are ready, walk into the pool. Be certain to concentrate on fighting; you need your weapon. All you need is one hit to get out.”

That was simple enough, so Serenity nodded and waded into the pool.

He’d expected pain since that was what the rock-man had mentioned, but it wasn’t painful at all. Instead, it was intensely pleasurable. In many ways, that was worse than pain would have been; Serenity didn’t want to leave, yet knew he had to fight back.

[Pleasure Resistance increased]

He had to fight back. He needed a weapon; that was the way out.

There was a question: who was he? Thomas, Vengeance, or the Final Reaper? A dragon, a chimera, or an existence from Beyond making its home here now?

It tried to drive him to choose, but Serenity knew that any of them would be a false choice. He was Serenity. Those were all parts of him, some more welcome than others, but he was who and what he was.

A weapon for all of you instead of only part. Wise and foolish in equal measure. I think I have chosen well. Welcome home, Serenity.

The voice sounded familiar but slightly distorted, almost as though it were trying to not be recognized.

The magic of the water seemed to guide him, and in a moment he was holding something. It wasn’t a blade; it wasn’t a weapon of any sort. Instead, he held a piece of - nothing?

A Guardian fights not beasts but other men. A sword is traditional, and so it is a sword you must have.

The nothing he was holding turned into a hilt large enough for both hands yet easy enough to handle with one. There was no blade.

Above all else, you have chosen to be a magician, and one who deals with anything, even that which cannot be dealt with. Your blade must reflect this.

Magic streamed out of the hilt where the blade should have been, then it filled in the nothing of the hilt as though it were a mold. The magic seemed to freeze in place but it didn’t solidify; he could still see through it. He could feel that it drew from him; both mana and essence were required to maintain the sword, though Serenity could feel that when he dismissed it, he’d regain most of what it cost to create in the first place.

It seemed to be done, so he swung the sword in front of him.

And he was standing on a grassy plain only a few feet from Russ.

Russ seemed startled and stared at the sword as if hypnotized. “The hells. Never use that sword in front of another Guardian.”

“Unless I need to. Why not?” Serenity wasn’t about to sign up to a “never”.

“No, I mean it. Use Merge first. However much I hate the idea of that, the sword is worse. I don’t want other Guardians out for your head.” Russ kept staring at the sword until Serenity dismissed it.

“What’s wrong with it?” Serenity was sure he’d done it right; the voice in the pool had sounded pleased, at least, and the sword felt right in his hands.

“It shows too much of who and what you are. I should’ve expected it; soulblades always do.” Russ’s mouth twitched. Was that a smile? “It shouldn’t be a big problem. A lot of us prefer not to show off our soulblades.”

Well, that made sense. Serenity decided to ask a question that had been bothering him for a while. “Who was that? The rock-person made of magma? I never got around to asking.”

“He founded the Guardians, but you’ll only ever meet him here. He accepts every new member. When Guardians get together, we sometimes debate who he is. I think he’s the planet itself; it would explain so much, like why we traditionally guard other Talents that can help direct us to where we’re needed and why we are called against almost any sort of major supernatural killer, even ones that don’t attack humans. Still, if that’s who he is, he seems to like Humanity more than I’d really expect of a planet.” Russ shrugged. “He’s been asked, he doesn’t answer.”

“So what do you call him?” It probably wasn’t necessary to have a name, but it rarely hurt.

Russ shrugged. “The first Guardian. It’s all we’re sure of about him.”

Serenity’s first glimpse of the Sea didn’t look Starlit. He couldn’t be certain since he couldn’t see either stars or the sun, but he felt a warmth in his face that usually meant sunlight. Russ noticed Serenity’s puzzled expression and explained. “We’re not there yet. This is the Guardian Sea and we can use it to reach the Starlit Sea, but it’s still a long walk.”

They walked through the rolling, grass-covered hills towards the shoreline. Interestingly, the shore wasn’t sandy; it seemed like the Guardian Sea had cut into the surrounding land. It reminded Serenity more of a river or perhaps a large lake, though he could see the waves. If this were the real world, for this to be a lake it would have to be a large one with a noticeable wind to have that much wave.

“Hurry,” Russ told Serenity when they reached the shore and turned to follow the shoreline instead of walking into the water. “I want to get past here before -”

“Russ!” A woman’s voice hailed them from a distance.

Russ’s voice was barely audible as he continued, “anyone notices.”

“You have a new trainee already, I see. It’s quick for you, didn’t Garion join only a couple years ago? I hadn’t heard you were training anyone.” By the time she finished speaking, the woman had caught up with them. “I’m Helena, one of the two European Guardians.”

Serenity wondered a little why she didn’t comment on his appearance, but it didn’t seem right to ask. “Serenity.”

“Four,” Russ corrected her.

“Those two don’t count, they’re not going to come help us.”

Russ sighed. “How will they know you need help if you don’t call them? I know Jack at least would drop what he was doing and come help.”

Serenity listened to the two obvious friends bicker as they walked along the shore.

It was no more than five minutes later when Serenity suddenly felt something tug at him from the direction of the Sea. He turned. “Wha?”

The shoreline was slightly above the sea here; the waves ran into a bank that was mostly rocks but only a few feet high. He didn’t see anything, but there was definitely something that wanted his attention.

“What’s that?” Serenity looked out into the water, but all he could see was the water; like glass, water wasn’t translucent to his normal vision. Serenity called on his Essence Sight and caught a glimpse of something beneath the waves.

It wasn’t enough to make it clear, so he concentrated on triggering his Mana Sight as well. That was still more difficult, since it wasn’t packaged in a Path Skill, but now that he’d remembered, it didn’t take long. Whatever it was sat less than a foot away from the bank in a few inches of water. Serenity expected it to be easily visible to normal sight.

The others had taken a few more steps by the time he spoke, but his words grabbed their attention and they walked back to him. Russ seemed to be searching the area Serenity indicated, while Helena simply looked at the spot where Serenity saw something.

“There’s Death magic down there.” Serenity understood why it’d grabbed his attention when he realized it was Death magic. It was simply something he’d noticed, rather than something actively done by the item.

Russ turned to Serenity then noticed Helena’s expression. “Do you know what it might be?”

“It’s a phylactery. Or something close enough that it doesn’t make a difference. A revenant spirit, trapped, that can possess others’ bodies if they touch the thing. I hoped the Sea would purify it, I didn’t have any other options.” The words seemed to spill out of Helena as though she’d wanted to say them all along.

“That’s not what the Sea is good against. It works best against corruptive magics, you know that,” Russ scolded Helena.