TS5: Chapter 35 (Patreon)

When Thorn returned to the room, Velin was already up, organizing their things for the year-long stay. Thanks to the dimensional rings they carried, they were able to bring everything they could want with them, and she had already made the room quite cozy.

"Thorn, would you mind helping me move the couch closer to the window? I think I want to add an end table," Velin asked.

"Sure." Walking over to the couch, Thorn grabbed it and slid it over a few inches. All of the furniture Velin had gotten out was custom-made to support both his size and weight. He could only be thankful that the room itself was big enough to hold everything.

It was clear that there was some sort of spatial magic at work. The inn didn't look that big from the outside, but the room that he and Velin had been assigned was large enough to hold a massive bed that fit him comfortably. It still had space for a sitting room area by the window, a private bathroom, and a reasonably large closet. Unsure if it was just their room, or if all of the rooms were like this, Thorn looked around at the decorations Velin had put out and smiled.

"It looks really good," he complimented.

"Thanks. I thought that since we'll be here for a year, we might as well make it comfortable," Velin said. "I think they're serving breakfast downstairs."

"Yeah, I smelled it on the way in," Thorn replied.

"Well, I imagine you're hungry after staying up all night," Velin said. "Did you find anything useful in your exploration?"

Biting his lip, Thorn nodded, almost unsure where to start. "I did. In fact, I got to meet Urmag’Tal. Turns out he's my grandfather."

"Your grandfather? And he's here?"

"Well, not him exactly. It's an imprint of his will, a tiny fragment of his consciousness, sort of like what Master Keadore did in The Codex of the Mountain, leaving a piece of himself behind."

"Ah, so like your father, who you met in the Great Forge," Velin said.

"Yeah, exactly. But anyway, he shared some things about the Titans and my past. Did you know that he created the god beasts?"

"I'm sorry, did you say he created god beasts?" Velin asked, her eyebrows rising dramatically.

"Yeah, and came up with the whole avatar thing too. Anyway, it seems it didn't turn out so well. And then there was my dad, who introduced technology to the endless worlds, and that turned out even worse. So everything sort of blew up. I don't know. I'm still trying to figure out the timeline. Everything's all wonky."

Velin must have noticed the faint shadow in Thorn's eyes as he spoke, because her expression grew concerned. She walked over, placing her hand on Thorn's arm. "Are you okay?" She asked. "I'm sure it was a lot to take in."

"It was. Is. Really. I'm still processing it," Thorn said. "But I think I'll be fine. It's just…" He paused, letting out a long sigh. Velin didn't hurry him, her expression calm as she waited for him to continue.

"It's just… I always had this idea that the Titans were all heroes." Again, Thorn paused, unable to finish his thought.

"Are you concerned that you won't be?" Velin asked.

After thinking over the question for a moment, Thorn nodded. "Yeah, I think that's it. I've had this idea that the Titans were all heroic beings, who made the universe better. And now I find out that every one of them seems to have made major mistakes, causing just as much pain and suffering as they alleviated. They brought change to the endless worlds, sure. But if the God Beasts hadn't been created, this whole war would never have happened. And if my dad hadn't created the Atlas Star, his empire wouldn't have fallen apart."

Tugging on Thorn's arm, Velin pulled him over to the couch and pushed him into a seat. Sitting next to him, her hand still resting on his arm as he continued. "I don't know. I guess I've always measured myself as a Titan against this idea that future me is going to bring good to the world. It's a little bit disheartening to find out that that isn't guaranteed."

"It might be disheartening," Velin replied, "but it's also normal."

"Yeah, and maybe that's the problem," Thorn flashed a rueful smile. "It's like I'm finding out that these heroes aren't so heroic anymore."

"I think that's the wrong way to look at it," Velin said.

"What do you mean?"

Taking a moment to organize her thoughts, Velin pulled her notebook out of her dimensional ring with a flip of her hand, opening to a blank page. She produced a pen and drew two columns, labeling one positive and the other negative.

"Everything has a downside," she said. "For every positive thing that happens, there's some sort of negative knock-on effect. Even the best thing in the world has a downside. For example, I think you would agree with me in saying that our relationship is a good thing."

"I would certainly say that," Thorn said, putting his arm around her and pulling her close.

"But by choosing to have a relationship with me, you are giving up potential relationships with other people," Velin said. "And even if you maintain your relationships with the other people, they're going to be different than they may have been had you not committed to our relationship. I don't mean to say that it was the wrong choice, simply that every decision has a cost. This becomes even more tricky since we don't know what the cost of that decision will be."

"All right, I'm following," Thorn said. "But what does this have to do with my shattered vision of being a Titan?"

"Everything," Velin replied. "Your grandfather created the god beasts, providing tremendous opportunity that would not have existed beforehand, both for god beasts and their avatars." As she spoke, she wrote 'god beasts and avatars' down in the positive column. "This did create the opportunity for betrayal, and from what we know, the result has been a war between the god beasts and the humans." Pausing for a moment, she wrote down 'war' in the negatives column.

"Now, we could sit here and debate all day about whether or not the first action was worth the outcome. But nobody can determine exactly what outcome is going to appear, and therefore, it would be impossible when the decision actually has to be made to determine if it's a good decision or not. If we insisted that every decision must be a good decision, we would be forced into inaction because we simply can't guarantee that all of our decisions will be good."

Seeing Thorn looking at her skeptically, Velin laughed. "Stay with me," she said. "I promise this will make sense. You said that learning how your grandfather and your father both brought tragedy to the endless worlds through their decisions has shattered your perception of the heroic nature of titans. But here's a question. Did they abandon the endless worlds once the negative effects of their decisions manifested? Or did they instead try to fix it?"

As he pondered her words, it was as if a light bulb went off in Thorn's head. "In both cases, they took action to fix it," he said. "Whether or not that action completely solved the problem or not, they both tried."

"Precisely, Thorn, heroism isn't about doing the right thing all the time. It's about having the courage to face the mistakes you've made and try to make things better. In that way, I would say that no matter how you slice it, the titans are a heroic race. I would wager that if you go back and look at all of those murals along the walls of the Great Forge, the same story repeated itself over and over again. It was impossible for a Titan not to create waves during the course of their life. How they responded to those waves they had created determined whether they were heroic or not.”

"I guess it all comes down to action," Thorn said, leaning back, his gaze drifting towards the ceiling. "The thing I choose to do reveals who I am."

"After having been at your side all these years, I can safely say that there isn't a stronger, more courageous person in existence." Chuckling, Thorn squeezed Velin tight, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

"That's very sweet of you to say. But enough of this morose introspection," he said, standing up. "What do you say we go get some breakfast and then explore this town? It sounds like it's quite lively out there."

Even though the window was closed, they could hear the faint sounds of the bustling village. Putting her notebook away with a flick of her wrist, Velin stood up and straightened her skirt.

"I think that's a fantastic idea," she said.

At the foot of the bed, a pile of blankets moved, and Akira stuck her head out, blinking sleepily at Thorn.

"Master, you're back," she said. "I wanted to follow you last night, but Lady Velin said I shouldn't."

She was about to continue when her nose twitched, catching the faint scent of breakfast wafting up from the great room. Springing out of bed, she leapt to Thorn's shoulder, poking him in the cheek and gesturing towards the door.

"Master, there's breakfast. We should go quickly before everyone else eats it up."

"All right, all right," Thorn said. "I'm pretty hungry, too, so that's a good idea."

Downstairs, most of the saints and their retainers had already gathered. When Velin and Thorn walked down the steps from the second floor, there was a table waiting for them, where the rest of their team was sitting. As they sat down, Metra passed by with a large tray piled high with food.

"I'll be with you two in just a minute," she said.

"Good morning," Thorn greeted everyone at the table. "How'd you all sleep?"

"Suspiciously good," Mina replied, causing Alph to nod in agreement.

"It's true," he said. "It seems like there was some sort of enchantment at work. I wanted to stay up to see how the village would be populated, and I even took a stimulant to try to keep myself alert. But before I knew it, I had fallen asleep, only waking this morning."

Noticing the faint bloodshot look at the edges of Alph's eyes, Thorn was almost afraid to ask. "What kind of stimulant did you take?"

"Oh, nothing crazy," Alph said. "A custom mixture of a few plants I found on Verdant and the wings of a dust fly. It'll keep me awake for at least the next 90 hours or so. Alert, too. I typically take it when I have an important potion to work on, and I need absolute focus."

"Did you say 90 hours?" Mina asked, staring at Alph.

"Yes, it should be 100. But I lost about 10 hours to sleep last night," Alph said, holding up ten fingers.

"Are there any side effects?"

"No, nothing too bad," Alph replied. "Occasional lucid dreaming. Spontaneous combustion. You know, normal stuff."

"Spontaneous combustion is normal?" Stello asked Corvo, who was sitting next to him.

Chuckling, Corvo nodded.

"Yeah, that's actually one of his milder side effects. Don't worry, he's pretty adept at putting himself out."

Just then, Metra walked over, holding an empty tray, which she tucked under one arm. She pulled out a pad of paper. "What can I get all of you for breakfast?" She asked, looking around the table.

Thorn gestured for Velin to start, and after everyone else had made their order, Thorn swung his finger in a circular motion, indicating everyone at the table. "I'll have one of everything they're having," he said. "You can just double up the order."

Metra didn't seem surprised at all, and simply nodded and smiled at him, before heading back to the kitchen. Watching her walk away, Velin's eyes narrowed slightly. Breakfast was brought out on large trays, and soon the table was covered in food, most of it in front of Thorn. It took an hour and a half to finish breakfast, and when they were done, the team agreed to meet around lunchtime, and then split up, everyone heading out to explore the town.

Thorn took Akira with him, as he and Velin decided to check out the market and some of the stores. As soon as he stepped outside, Thorn felt a wave of nostalgia, and it took him a moment to realize what it was he was feeling. There were villagers all over, chatting with one another as they went about their business, not seeming to notice the newcomers at all. Occasionally, Thorn would see a sidelong glance, but counter to his expectation, they didn't stare that much, treating him instead like a normal, albeit tall, visitor.

The center of the village was filled with small stalls where a variety of goods were displayed. The main village stores that Metra had introduced the night before were all located around the edge of the marketplace, and after walking around for a few minutes, Thorn and Velin headed for Felmer's general goods store.

There were already a number of saints in the store, looking over the things offered and digging for information. As he entered, Thorn passed Tolariah coming out, and she nodded.

"Good morning," Thorn said, lifting his hand in greeting.

"Morning," Tolariah replied. "There's a quest on the board behind the counter," she said, turning to point Thorn towards the large job board and the piece of paper that had been stuck to it. "Only three teams are eligible, and our team and Kitsek's team have both already accepted."

"Thank you," Thorn said. "I'll check it out."

Walking over to the counter, he saw a portly man who looked to be about 50 standing behind it, busily counting a pile of coins.

"I'll be with you in a second," the shopkeeper said. So Thorn took a moment to examine the piece of paper on the job board.

*ding*

[Quest. Collect 10 wolf pelts. Reward 25 denari per wolf pelt, 5 denari per wolf fang. Would you like to accept this quest?]

"That's what it is," Thorn said, turning to Velin, and sharing the notification with her through their E.V.E.s. "This place is exactly like Nova Terra."

"Now that you mention it, it is," Velin said, looking around while Thorn accepted the quest. "I wonder if this is where Kamag’Tal got the inspiration from."

"Welcome to Felmer's General Goods," the shopkeeper said, pushing his coins to the side. "I see that you have an interest in the bounty we just posted. Are you here with one of the challenger teams?"