Book 4 - Chapter 45 (Patreon)

Brin looked to Cid for help, but the Prime just nodded at him as if to say, Go on.

Brin cleared his throat. “Where to start? I suppose I’ll start from the beginning. No, let’s go to the end and then wrap around to the beginning afterwards. A few years ago I was with Cadwy right before he died. He knew he was soon to die, and we had a short conversation. He answered a few questions I had, and then asked me for a last request. He asked me to come find you and tell you what happened to him. If not for that… I probably would’ve let it lie. You may be better off not knowing.”

Lan clenched his jaw, and Nesta’s hands worked her overcoat in worry. She said, “After he went missing, the army branded him a deserter. Eventually, we consulted a powerful [Weaver] and all she could tell us was that he had remarried.

Brin sighed. “[Weavers] are the worst.”

“So it isn’t true?”

“It is,” said Brin. “But it’s leaving out the most important details. Let’s go back to the beginning again. Something like sixteen years ago, Cadwy Baines was on patrol near the border when he was captured by Arcaenean forces and imprisoned. While in prison, he caught the eye of a [Witch], a powerful one by the name of Aberfa Beynon. She was one of Arcaena’s direct disciples. She forced him to join her household, and she married him completely against his will.”

“How could you know that?” asked Lan, speaking for the first time.

“They both admitted it. [Witches] are completely shameless and Cadwy had no reason to lie. See, I was brought into the Beynon household as well and forced to serve her. I saw it all first-hand.”

At this point Cid began to glare at Brin, which wasn’t fair. He was telling them all the important parts. So what if he was leaving out one tiny little detail?

“And was he happy there?” asked Nesta.

Brin thought about lying to soften the blow, but found that he couldn’t. Even for pity, he couldn’t stand the idea of covering for Aberfa’s crimes.

“No,” he said coldly. “Aberfa could force Cadwy to stay with her. She could force him to serve her, but she couldn’t force him to love her. In all the time I knew him, he never smiled and he never frowned. He never did anything unless he was directly commanded to, never even speaking unless he had to. He resisted her to the end.”

“Oh,” said Nesta.

Lan raised his nose in the air and was breathing heavily, but otherwise didn’t speak.

Brin launched into the rest of the story, and the words came easily. He told it all without emotion, as if watching himself from a distance. “A few years before he died, Aberfa ventured out across Frenaria on a secret expedition to the Wastes to seek out a Burrow Kingdom. She took a small number of servants with her. I was among them, and so was Cadwy. I don’t know if Arcaena commanded her to go or if it was her idea; what I do know is that no one actually expected her to succeed. When we actually found one, no one was more surprised than Aberfa herself. She couldn’t stand the idea of turning an army of millions of undead over to Arcaena, so she tried to keep them for herself. When that failed, she ran, hoping to get to Steamshield and warn the [King] in exchange for protection. The undead caught up to us in a small town named Travin’s Bog. Cadwy was killed on the spot. Aberfa was taken for torture and a fate worse than death. I managed to survive by hiding in a cellar where the cold enchantments messed up the heat vision of the undead. And that… is the fate of Cadwy Baines.”

Brin stopped his story, giving them time to process it. While he waited, an unexpected notification appeared.

Mission Succeeded. Mission 2: Bring word of your father’s death to your half-siblings.

2 out of 3 siblings informed. This is considered adequate for mission completion.

You receive strength of arm to match your strength of character.

+100% Strength attribute growth

Filial Piety is now complete.

That was crazy. The System didn’t give rewards out early. That just didn’t happen. But he had an idea of who to thank. He bowed his head a little and whispered, “Thank you, Tenerer.”

Actually, it wasn’t me this time. That’s all I can say.

He would need some time to unpack that little message, but he didn’t have it now. Lan was shaking his head. “No. I don’t buy that. A [Witch] is captured and a [Scout] is killed, but a pre-System Day child gets away? And why were you there at all? She brings minimal servants, but a little boy, that’s who she chooses? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Brin shrugged. “Sorry, that’s what happened.”

Cid glared extra hard at Brin, but what was he supposed to do?

“There’s something else,” said Nesta. “Lan was too young to remember Cadwy, but I wasn’t. I remember him. And you know something? You don’t look like him at all.”

Lan sniffed out a derisive laugh. “Heh, you know, I thought you were about to say–”

“You look almost exactly like my brother Gerin, however,” Nesta finished.

“What?” asked Lan.

Lew looked stunned as well. “What are you saying, dear?”

“Brin isu Yambul, that means ‘Scar the Mistaken’ in Frenarian, does it not? More a description than a name. Do you have another? And while you’re at it, tell me true: Are you my brother?”

“Yes, he is!” Cid said before Brin could respond. “That is what he came here to tell you. Isn’t it, Brin?”

All the cool detachment fled, and Brin was suddenly aware of every emotion. Fear he'd be rejected, guilt of not really caring that Cadwy was dead, revulsion at all the memories Aberfa had shown him. He managed to answer. “It is. I am. I didn’t just grow up in Aberfa’s household. I was their son. My name back then was Aberthol Beynon.”

Nesta lifted her hand to her mouth, covering an ‘O’ of shock as if she hadn’t been the one to figure it out in the first place.

“No way. No way that’s true,” said Lan.

“It’s true,” said Brin. “I took an axe chop to the head that night. I only survived because Aberfa was an [Enchantress] as well as a [Witch] and gave me the Mother’s Knot.”

The rest of the conversation was spent with Nesta and Lan begging for more details. What life was like, what Cadwy was like, and more details on the fateful night that he died. Brin told them all he could, having learned a good amount during his nightmare lessons with Aberfa.

As the reality of it all sank into them, Nesta reacted with tears and Lan with growing anger. He’d imagined Cadwy to be a villain his entire life, and it was hard to let go of the idea.

“We didn’t even get a stipend for his death because they say he deserted! Meanwhile you had our father doting on you while you were living like a lord and became a knight!” Lan accused.

“A lord? Aberfa spent my entire life trying to torture me into insanity! And Cadwy, he did nothing! Never a kind smile, never an encouraging world, nothing at all,” Brin said, heat rising in his own voice.

“You must have hated him,” Nesta said.

Brin massaged his temples. Was that really how Aberthol had felt? No, from what he’d seen, he didn’t think so. “He was the only one who never hurt me. He was my favorite person in the world.”

Then it was his turn to ask questions, and Nesta gave him a completely different vision of the man. He was a kind father sometimes, but also often impatient. She told him about the time they flew kites in the fields outside town in the spring, and the time that Gerin cried because his was the only father in the neighborhood who couldn’t make things, so Cadwy had learned to whittle and gifted the boy a wooden horse. Cadwy had a favorite meal to make when Myfanwy didn’t want to cook, a cheese, rabbit, and radish stew, which was apparently much better than it sounded.

Brin's stories were less fun. "One time, when we were living in the castle, I found a stuffed bunny on the ground and I knew immediately that I had to have it. I'd never had a toy before. I took it and hid it from Aberfa, only taking him and out playing with him when I knew she wasn't around. He was my little secret and my best friend. Then one day, he started moving and talking on his own. And then... and then one day he pulled out a knife and started cutting me. Turns out, he was the familiar of another [Witch] the entire time."

That was the story that finally broke him. He told the entire story entirely deadpan, but then when it was over he found tear in his eyes and he couldn't speak. Stupid, he was so stupid because that hadn't even happened to him. It had happened to Aberthol, and Brin didn't even know if that was the whole story. He'd put it together from bits and pieces, little comments that Aberfa had made here and there.

But he had been tortured by Basil Bunny. First in real life, and then a dozen times more in Aberfa's nightmares. He'd been tortured every way that Aberthol had, with the only advantage being that he had known it wasn't real and could wake up at any time. It had still hurt.

Brin showed them some of the scars Basil had left him, including the spiral-shaped one on his forearm.

"Oh, but this story has a happy ending," Brin said when he had control of his voice again. "I killed Basil Bunny and I mocked him as he was dying. The [Archmage] Lumina killed his [Witch], too, the [Great Witch] Awnadil. Aberfa was tortured and twisted into a monster. I found a [Hunter] with a peerless tracking Skill, and we tracked her down and killed her once and for all."

"And now we're poised to bring the fight to the Queendom itself," said Cid.

A look passed between Lew and Nesta, so Brin said, "Lew already told us how you think that the war isn't going to happen, and from a strategy perspective it makes sense. How can you invade a neighboring country when you're already facing an invasion yourself? But I think Arcaena missed something when she set all this up. I think she underestimated how much we hate her."

That seemed to light a spark in Lan’s eyes, and though he said nothing Brin got the feeling he’d made more of an impact on him than he’d meant to. He just wondered if it was for the better, for either of them. Nesta looked like she’d aged ten years during the night.

Before he departed, Nesta had one last request.

“Will you tell my mother what you told us? It will be better coming from a knight than from me or my brother.”

“If you think it’ll help, then I will,” said Brin.

“Thank you. I’ll warn you, mother and father are a traditional household. It may seem a bit, um, strange to you,” said Nesta.

When Brin left, the cool morning air was perhaps the most refreshing he’d ever felt in his life. The meeting hadn’t gone poorly, all things considered, and now it was done. He honestly hoped he’d get the chance to visit them again, and thought it would be nice to meet his nieces and nephews.

“I’m glad that’s over with,” said Brin, walking down the street. It was still a few hours before dawn, but there were a surprising number of people on the street. Many soldiers, but also a lot of regular people who strode quickly and talked in whispers.

“Is it really over?” asked Cid.

“What do you mean?”

“I was just wondering. It seems like there are still parts of your story left unsaid,” said Cid.

“I think I covered the main points,” said Brin.

“But there are details that don’t match up. For one, you told them that Cadwy died nearly three years ago, but you left Travin’s Bog only two years ago,” said Cid.

Brin sighed. “Do you really want to know?”

“I think I’d like to finally have the whole truth out, so that I don’t need to fear what new horrible revelation still might be lurking,” said Cid.

“Fine. I didn’t have any memories after I woke up in Travin’s Bog. I didn’t even remember my name. A [Weaver] guided me to Cadwy, who’d been reanimated as an undead. I used a potion of Turn Undead on him, and that’s when we had our final conversation where he told me about his old family,” said Brin.

“That’s horrible. Go on,” said Cid.

“It's not that bad. It's not even as bad as I let on to the Baines siblings just now, because I don't actually remember any of the stuff that happened to Aberthol. At least, I didn't until Aberfa found me again. See, she was forced to turn her power back onto herself and became a monster, Arcaena's punishment for a traitor. Aberfa chose to make herself a nightmare monster and tried to resume her original goal of torturing me into insanity, but this time in my dreams. During that time, I convinced her to tell me about our lives before we all died, which she did.”

“She did? Why?” asked Cid.

Brin shrugged. “That’s [Witches] for you. She thought that by resuming our roles as mother and son, teacher and student, it would give her more power over me. Everything I learned about Cadwy and Aberthol came from that.”

“And then what?”

“That’s it. That’s the whole story,” said Brin. “Minus the parts that I’ve sworn an Oath not to talk about.”

That and the fact that he was from another world. But did he really have to give away all of his secrets? Besides, one of them kind of led into the other.

Cid pinched the bridge between his nose and then took a long shaky breath. “Thank you for telling me. It couldn’t have been easy for you.”

Brin shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Honestly, I don’t know where to start with any of this. If any one of these things had happened to me, I think I would’ve gone mad.”

After Brin's minor breakdown earlier, he wasn't in any danger from his emotions so he was able to look at it with a bit of distance. "Humans have a remarkable ability to acclimate. When I was in the middle of it, everything felt like normal life. It wasn't until it was over that I could look back and realize how unbearable all of it was. Plus, killing Aberfa was very therapeutic."

Cid laughed, in nervous, uncertain wheezes. “I'll bet it was. You’ll let me know if there’s anything I can do to help?”

“Sure. But this helped, I think. Coming here and getting it out. There are people who know, of course, but I’ve never sat down and told the entire story before. Thank you for making me do this,” said Brin.

“That’s what Primes are for,” said Cid.

They spent the rest of the night at a public house, talking about safer, more normal things. Cid drank more than Brin had ever seen him, and they both ignored all of the owner’s attempts at suggesting that they leave so that he could close for the night.

It wasn’t until the hour was so late that it was early again and Cid was deep in his cups that Brin remembered the Achievement he’d received. He’d been sharing everything in his life, so he might as well add this.

“You got a hundred percent Strength attribute growth? That’s ridiculous. You’re going to shoot above us again, assuming we ever get more real training time,” said Cid.

“But the weird thing is that it gave me the Achievement even though I only talked to two out of three. Even the notification made a note about it, it said it’s considered sufficient,” said Brin.

“The obvious answer is that Gerin is already dead,” said Cid. “You’ve told all your living siblings. Mission accomplished.”

Brin drummed his fingers on the table. “That’s the most likely reason, but I don’t think that’s it.”

If Gerin was dead, he thought it was more likely the System would inform him and then refuse to give him the full rewards. No, this felt like something else. Any time the System had been weird with him was when it had been balancing the scales, where one god was acting to offset the actions of another.

Even that didn’t feel quite right. No, this felt more like the [Blessing of the Hidden Guardian]. That Achievement hadn’t given him anything at first, because the favor of a dragon was already too great of a reward.

Was this like that? The System didn’t want to give him extra motivation to find his brother, because finding him would already be too beneficial on its own? It could easily be the other way, too. It would be unfair for the System to encourage Brin to seek out Gerin because of the incredible danger he’d face along the way.

“We need to find Gerin as soon as possible,” said Brin.

“Hm? Yes,” said Cid. His expression was a little glazed, and Brin was getting the impression that he’d had enough Brin-craziness for one day.

When morning came, Brin went to the home of Cadwy’s wife, Myfanwy Price. He went alone this time, not feeling the need to bring Cid as a safety blanket. He’d done this conversation once now, and the second time didn’t seem as daunting.

He quickly learned what Nesta had meant by a traditional household. Myfanwy didn’t sit the entire time he was there, instead she stood silently near the door to the kitchen. Brin sat at the dining table opposite her husband, and though bread and cheese was set in front of both of them, the husband didn’t eat so neither did Brin.

He told the entire story to the man, and both Prices listened to the entire thing with stony expressions and no follow-up questions. He left when the story was done, and just sent one last Invisible Eye back. Myfanwy had five children still living at home; the oldest was thirteen.

Honestly, he found he didn’t care if he ever met them. His part here was done.

That was all just as well, because if the town had been oddly busy during the night, it was in an uproar now. A [Herald] was standing in the city square, and he was shouting at the gathered crowd to go and bring their friends and neighbors, because he had important news that they would all need to hear.

Maybe the bulk of the crowd missed the rows and rows of soldiers just down the street and out of sight, but Brin sure didn’t.

Rather than brave the crowds, Brin kept an Invisible Eye on them and went to find Cid. He found the Prime sitting on a bench outside the public house where he’d left him. He was leaning his head back, resting it against the wall with his eyes closed.

“There’s something you should see,” Brin said.

Cid’s eyes snapped open. They were bloodshot, but the Prime didn’t seem especially drunk. A [Knight’s] Vitality was extremely capable of resisting poisons, even when he would rather it didn’t.

“What is it?”

Rather than answer, Brin projected the town square onto a screen so they both could watch.

The [Herald] apparently decided that the crowd had grown large enough.

“Due to the unforeseen and unprecedented threat of goblins to the mainland of Prinnash, it has been decided that the available defenders will not be sufficient to protect this fair city. Therefore, under the direction of the High Council, the suffrage of the King, and by the order of Lord Mordelet, the city of Canibri in Prinnash will be evacuated.”

The crowd roared in outrage or perhaps shock, and the [Herald] shouted over them. “Let all preparations be done in order and civility. In three days time, all citizens of Canibri are ordered to vacate, under penalty of law.”