Last Command of the Witheld Arc 1: Rebirth

Sarah Avery Vasilias, Great House Scion, Reborn Lvl 1

Skyland

Kimi-Lim was the first non-human Sarah had ever seen. It was impossible to tell whether they were male or female, their features were very delicate and entirely androgynous. They were about a meter and a half tall humanoid and with a very slender, obviously athletic build. The thing that drew Sarah’s eye though, were Kimi-Lim’s long, pointed ears. They solidified the feeling of unreality that Sarah had about this place ever since she got here. Kimi-Lim was a real person who looked just like an elf out of a fantasy novel. It was mind-boggling.

They were dressed in multiple layers of very smartly-cut robes of vibrant orange and yellow that looked like a cross between a Japanese kimono and a martial arts uniform. Kimi-Lim’s facial features were androgynous and fine-featured with huge eyes with molten gold pupils. Their hair was snow-white with literal gold highlights and was worn long and braided in several complicated and fancifully arranged knots that kept it out of their face without sacrificing any style. They had a wide, generous mouth with full, sensual lips. They had painted a single metallic gold stripe in the middle of their lower lip.

“Are you done checking me out?” Kimi-Lim asked amusement in their high voice. “Because if so, then I have a proposition to propose—and you can take that to mean whatever you’d like!” They smiled mischievously, their big golden eyes glittering with laughter. “You can call me…Kimi-Lim. Because that’s my name!”

“Sure,” Sarah said, chuckling, “Sorry, Kimi-Lim, I didn’t mean to stare. My name’s Sara. Uh, Sarah Avery…Vasilias.” She remembered to include her Great House name—Gammon hadn’t answered any questions she had about the culture of Nolm (he claimed that he was too out of the loop to be able to provide meaningful insight), but he did impress upon her that Great Houses were important. She was banking on that importance to try to regain a little control of the conversation.

“Vasilias? Interesting!” Kimi-Lim said, tapping their lip. They narrowed their strange, inhuman eyes and the expression on the creature’s face was calculating. “What is a member of an Imperial noble House doing in a Tutorial Realm? No, don’t answer that, I’m sure you have your reasons. I hope we can be friends, though. It’s so rare to meet a human that doesn’t immediately try to kill you or run away in a panic.” They held out a hand to help Sarah to her feet.

Sarah took the hand and was surprised at Kimi-Lim’s strength. They looked almost frail they were so willowy and lithe, but that physique hid an iron grip. “I hope we can be friends too,” Sarah said, wondering uneasily why anyone would run from Kimi-Lim in a panic. “You’re the first actual person I’ve met here… Would it be rude to ask you, uh, what you, um…are?”

Kimi-Lim’s perfectly-plucked eyebrows rose at the question and they shook their head, “No, I don’t think so anyway. Misra Imris always says that the first step to knowledge is to ask. Well, actually they said, ‘Why do you spend so much time bangin’ your head against a wall Kimi-Lim?! Ask the expert!’ But I take poetic license. I’m the most beautiful Light Mage you’ll ever meet!”

Sarah blinked, not knowing where to start but forging ahead anyway, “Wow. I mean, no you definitely are. Beautiful—I mean, but not like, except you really are quite striking.” She cleared her throat. “What I mean is, I’m a human, you are…”

Kimi-Lim laughed again, their musical voice sounding truly amused. “Oh! Where are you from? I’m an elf, of course, though part of a genetic branch we call solar or sun elves; probably because of some ginpaari and elf couples way back in the line somewhere. Fun fact: most solar elves can photosynthesize!” Their face fell a little and they muttered, “Well, those of who are left, anyway.” They didn’t elaborate.

A strange thing happened when Kimi-Lim said ‘elf’. Sarah didn’t hear that word coming from their mouth. It was just the thing she heard when they told her what they were. It was like watching a foreign film with English dubbing: the word didn’t match up to the mouth movement. She decided to test something out by asking a question.

“You’re actually an elf?” She asked, emphasizing the word. “Wow! I’ve never met an elf before!” The ‘elf’ didn’t appear to be confused by her emphasis.

Kimi-Lim giggled. “Now you have!”

Well, I guess that answers that? Sarah thought, still not sure what it meant. I guess there are elves here. I guess I’m in Middle Earth. Or the North Pole? Kimi-Lim didn’t look to have a particular ability to make toys—or a talent for dentistry—so Sarah figured they were the fantasy kind.

“So…” Kimi-Lim said, and Sarah detected a bit more intensity in the elf’s voice, “what is a level one Reborn from a noble House of the Eternal Empire doing in a Tutorial Realm? And you’re in an area way outside of your power level: you really shouldn’t be here!”

Sarah felt her irritation flare up and snapped, “Hey, for your information, I was doing fine,” Kimi-Lim cocked a single well-groomed eyebrow skeptically and Sarah blushed. “I mean, I…” she sighed and tried again. “Sorry. Sometimes, I snap when I’m stressed and I don’t think I’ve ever been in a more stressful situation—except maybe climbing up the vine to get here? I’m sure you weren’t trying to… Well. Sorry.”

Kimi-Lim’s mouth widened into another huge smile as they giggled again. “I’ve never met a human before either! I mean, orcs, goblins, and ogres, sure—even the odd ginpaari or three every few years. But never a human. Where did you say you came from?” This time, the strange dubbing effect happened again, but with ‘orcs’, ‘goblins’, and ‘ogres’. Kimi-Lim didn’t say those words, but that’s what Sarah heard. Weirder and weirder.

She wondered if Kimi-Lim had ever encountered someone from another planet before. Sarah made a quick decision to trust the elf, at least a little bit. Gammon had indicated that people from other planets—Far Neighbors he’d called them—were rare, but not unknown.

She said, “I didn’t, but I’m from New Hampshire.” Start small, she thought, see if Kimi-Lim freaks out about the place name.

Kimi-Lim grimaced and asked, “Is New Hampshire like this place? It’s so wet here, I can’t even believe it! I come from the Painted Desert waaaaaaay to the South of the Empire. It’s probably something like, oh, about a million kilometers away. Conservatively.” Kimi-Lim bugged their big eyes comically.

“Wow, that’s…a long way away,” Sarah said. “But I am really glad to see you. I’ve been pretty much alone for I guess years. Except for Gammon, my teacher. And the monsters.” She shuddered.

Kimi-Lim gave her a weird look when she mentioned Gammon, but Sarah couldn’t interpret it. Silence stretched for a short moment before Kimi-Lim suddenly brightened and said, “Oh! Do you wanna meet my dog?!”

They didn’t wait for Sarah to respond and burst into a quick little song in a language Sarah couldn’t understand that trilled up and down in little arpeggios. As soon as the song was done, a tiny, spinning little mote of light appeared in the air between Kimi-Lim and her.

The mote glowed brighter and brighter, spinning faster and faster. It quickly grew into the size of a beach ball and then dripped onto the ground like a drop of liquid sunlight. The sundrop hit the ground and stood up, shaking itself and trotting over to Kimi-Lim. It was a golden retriever made of living light.

“Meet Sunspot,” Kimi-Lim said, “He’s my eidolon!” They bent down, burying their hands in the dog’s fur, scratching his ears and shoulders as Sunspot licked their face all over with a tongue that looked like glowing hot iron.

“He’s incredible!” Sarah said, “Can I pet him?” She inched a little closer.

“Thanks for asking, yes! He’s very friendly, so if you pet him, he’ll pretty much adopt you.” Sunspot was excitedly wagging his tail and circling all around Kimi-Lim before finally sitting down at their feet. Sarah came over and knelt next to them, reaching her hand out hesitantly.

Sunspot glanced up at Kimi-Lim, quivering with anticipation. Kimi-Lim gave a little nod and Sunspot bounded around Sarah, tail wagging and shedding sparks like a Fourth of July sparkler. He took a couple of circuits and then sat down right next to Sarah, looking at her by tilting his head back and staring at her with eyes that looked like twin suns in his orange-yellow face.

Sarah laughed at the quintessential dogness of the incredible animal. She patted Sunspot’s head, feeling encouraged as the dog pressed his head into her hand, trying for the good scratches. His fur felt like sun-warmed silk under her fingers and Sarah marvelled at how soft he was.

“I’ve never seen anything like him! You called him… what was that, an eidolon?” Sarah said, scratching Sunspot behind his ears.

Kimi-Lim plopped down on a glowing patch of air, crossing their legs beneath them with another calculating look on their face. “Okay, so you’ve never seen an elf, I can understand that: the world’s a big place and frankly, there are probably about as many of us out there as there are of you. Outside of the Empire anyway.” They narrowed their eyes suspiciously and continued, “But you’re a Vasilias and you don’t know what an eidolon is? Who are you?” The playfulness that had been present in most of Kimi-Lim’s earlier speech was entirely gone. Sarah felt an air of sudden and palpable menace rise from the slight elf.

“I already told you,” Sarah said, feeling a little bit of anger rise in her. She felt Sunspot lean into her scratches and the anger melted away as she continued to pet him. She took a deep breath, “My name is Sarah. Yes, I have that Vasilias name, but it’s not really mine. My mom’s name is Deborah and my dad’s name is,” she choked a little and then continued, “um, was Bryan Avery. Not Vasilias. God… I’m not even from this planet.”

Kimi-Lim’s intensity retracted a little bit and Sarah suddenly realized that they had been very subtly employing their anima in a way she wasn’t even aware you could do. Her instinct was to get angry, but Kimi-Lim was obviously in a better position here. It wouldn’t help anything to let her temper get away from her so she clamped down on her irritation and waited for Kimi-Lim’s reaction.

Kimi-Lim sat back on their heels, tiny frame looking natural perched like that. They had placed their staff in their lap and Sarah noticed it had retracted until it was just a half meter long. The elf seemed incapable of remaining completely still (it would have driven Gammon nuts to see someone as restless as Kimi-Lim) but was full of tiny movements. They sat there, quietly thinking and though it stretched uncomfortably long, Sarah didn’t push. Sunspot stayed right where he was, obviously enjoying the attention.

“The planet you’re from… it doesn’t have elves? Or eidolons?” Kimi-Lim asked.

Sarah shook her head, “None of that. Not tensa either.”

“No magic?!” Kimi-Lim exclaimed, their eyes wide.

“…Magic?” Sarah cleared her throat, “I was… well. You call it magic?”

Kimi-Lim frowned, looking around, “Yes, of course it’s called magic. It’s those stuffy Empire types who try and quantify and qualify—they get so stuck up about calling it etheric sciences. It just makes them sound like they’re ignoring the obvious. The System, too, I guess.”

“Huh…” Sarah grinned, “That’s very interesting. I’d heard that I’d be laughed at if I called these powers ‘magic’.”

“Do you know what the words to my little song mean? The one I used to summon Sunspot.”

Sarah laughed and shook her head, “Uh, no. I have no idea.”

Kimi-Lim laughed too and said, “It’s basically, ‘Heeeere Sunspot, Sunspot, Sunspot’.” They giggled again. “It’s his Chant. Imperial ‘Etheric Researchers’ would tell you eidolons are semi-real manifestations of tensa given sapience by complex anima constructs. Or maybe they’d say that they’re tensa projections by extra-dimensional entities called forth by blah blah blah.” They waved a hand dismissively, “They don’t actually know. They study and study, pick and pick. All they uncover is more questions.” They beckoned to Sunspot and the light dog got up and trotted over, shimmering and fading away like a heat mirage as he went.

“Now Sunspot is back within my anima. He lives there when he’s not out here, and he lends me his strength. We’ve been friends for years: he was my first graft. A gift from a parent.” Their face seemed to cloud over for a moment but it passed so quickly Sarah might have assumed it had never happened.

“He’s amazing, truly.” Sarah said. “And really, thanks for your help…” She stood up, feeling a little awkward. “But y’know. I’ve gotta…” She paused and then decided to take a chance. “No. That’s dumb. I met you for a reason, so fuck it.”

Her green eyes met Kimi-Lim’s orange eyes and she nodded after looking into their eyes for a long moment. She said, “I’m trying to find the Prize and then fight this Guardian called Entresis for its key all so I can get out of here and find the person I was transported here with and I really need help. Do you think you could help me out?”

One of Kimi-Lim’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Now that’s something that actually makes me believe you’re not a Vasilias.”

Sarah looked at them blankly, “I’m obviously missing something.”

“No noble of an Imperial House would ask for help from an elf. Not and expect to actually receive it.” Their voice had gone strangely cold. “There’s a bit of a…history between my people and the Empire.”

Sarah scratched her head uncomfortably and said, “Look, I have no idea what kind of history there is between you and whatever empire you keep talking about. I’m going to level with you Kimi-Lim. I arrived here on Nolm a few years ago—and there’s a story let me tell you! I was completely naked and laid out on a ledge with some crazy bird attacking me.” Sarah grimaced, remembering the confusing time. “I was scared, I didn’t know what was going on and suddenly, while this bird was attacking me, a text box appeared in front of me asking me if I wanted a tutorial. I selected ‘yes’ and then was teleported here. Well, not here; down there.” She pointed towards the Vine.

“That seems… improbable,” Kimi-Lim said.

She chuckled and said, “No kidding. I’ve been in the valley below, training for years with this guy named Gammon and now I need to find this Prize thing so I can finally get out of here and do what I’ve been wanting to do since I came here.”

Kimi-Lim perked up, “And what’s that?”

Sarah growled with frustration and said, “Find Griffin! That old bastard, Adam or Gustav or whatever—the Vasilias guy who destroyed Earth, was all about us both going. We were separated before I could see him, but I’d know if he were gone.” She glared at Kimi-Lim as if she were challenging the elf to disagree. “I’d know.”

Kimi-Lim nodded slowly, “As you say.” They shrugged, “I’d love to help you find your gryphon—they’re choice mounts and if you were separated when you came here, I’d also be searching for it. But I’m on a Quest of my own. I seek Entresis the Guardian of the Tutorial Realm. It has something I need.”

“Nope,” Sarah held up a hand, “gonna stop you right there. Not a gryphon. Griffin. My fiancee.”

Kimi-Lim blinked their big orange eyes, mystified, and said, “You named your gryphon ‘Griffin’ and you’re going to marry it?” Sarah was about to clarify it further when she caught the look in Kimi-Lim’s eyes.

“Oh. Ha. You’re good.” Sarah grinned, shaking a finger. She stood up from where she’d been crouched with Sunspot. She walked over to the cliff’s edge, looking down and out at the landscape. “I have no idea what this Prize even looks like. But it’s supposed to give me some ethershards and grafts.”

Kimi-Lim joined Sarah and pointed out over the jungle. “This floating island is huge. The Valley of Entresis is located in the middle of it, about two days' worth of rough hiking from here. I have my own business in the Valley with Entresis…”

They glanced over at Sarah, “Look, no offense, but you’re a level one Reborn. You haven’t even got a Class yet. You seem nice and I like your spirit—from another world and everything! But the monster guarding your prize and even on the rest of the Skyland? Well, they make the jungle giant you nearly got eaten by look like puppies in comparison. You’re probably going to die here, so…” They shrugged, “I have my own Quest.”

“Look, I am not going to die here in this cheap video-game rip-off world!” Sarah growled, still staring at the Vine. “If you won’t help me, I guess you won’t help. But whatever level I am, it’s not going to stop me. I got up the Vine and made it up here, I can do this on my own too.”

Kimi-Lim sighed and looked at her with a considering gaze for a long time before they sighed and said, “I do like your spirit, Sarah.”

Sarah turned away from the cliff’s edge. She’d spotted a path that she could use to climb down the cliff face. It wasn’t entirely sheer and there were plenty of hand-and-footholds. It’d be easier than the Vine, and she could search for the Prize along the way.

“Thanks again for the rescue, Kimi-Lim,” Sarah said and meant it. “I wish we could’ve worked together more.”