Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 179: A Great Burden

Camelot looked the same as always as it came into view, half-medieval, half-modern buildings laid out in a carefully planned layout to maximize the use of space.

Hopefully, this impression held true and the issue at hand was reasonably small-scale, rather than being a massive problem of cataclysmic proportions, simmering just under the surface.

“Over here.” Elena “called out” barely louder than a whisper, but perfectly serviceable for Isaac to hear.

Isaac ran over, using [Sneak] to reduce his “noticeability”. Having him blast through this place at top speed without that would have alarmed basically everyone who saw him. He hadn’t activated it at a high enough level to trigger the “someone’s sneaking in” defensive [Skills] and enchantments, but sufficient to avoid alarming casual observers.

“So, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Arthur got his Heir [Class] and said that he wanted to thoroughly investigate everything. That was fine for about two days and then I realized he hadn’t slept or showered in all that time.”

“Doesn’t he only need to sleep a few seconds at this point?” Isaac frowned. Before the [System], people had given up on sleep for a few days for important projects. It still hadn’t been very smart, but not wanting to lose around eight hours every day had at least been understandable. Someone not being able to spare a few seconds a day … that wasn’t a good sign.

“Exactly,” Elena said.

“And what do you want me to do about that? I’m guessing you tried talking to him, too?”

“I tried, and he told me he was busy. I tried again, and he locked the door. At this point, it’s either a mess involving the fact that he’s got an Heir-[Class] and someone else with another Heir-[Class] might help talk him down …”

“…or?” Isaac asked.

“Or you can help me club him on the head, drag him out here, and then I’ll wash him with the [Fire Hose].” Elena finished with a sigh.

Isaac slightly chuckled but stopped when she glared at him.

Elena quickly lead him to the door to the same training room where Arthur had first talked to him seriously.

“Arthur, this is getting ridiculous. Open the door, shower, and take a few seconds to sleep.” Elena ordered.

“One more hour, then I’ll be done,” Arthur called back, sounding strangely elated.

“One more hour, then I’m breaking the door down, having Isaac drag you out into the courtyard and washing you whether you want to or not. And then we’re not going to let you back in there until you’ve slept.” Elena replied.

“And you’re going along with that, Isaac?” Arthur asked.

“I was ready to do that right now.” Isaac told him, then cast his privacy [Skill] to ask Elena “Are you sure you want to wait?”

“One hour more or less doesn’t matter at this point. If he can finish his conspiracy board in that time, good. If not, we can deal with this forcefully anyway.” She said.

“Conspiracy board?” Isaac asked.

“He gathered up every whiteboard in Camelot and the last time he let me look, half of them were covered in unintelligible scribbles.”

Isaac winced “This ends in an hour, either way.”

***

“Alright, done,” Arthur called and opened the door a few minutes before said door would have been history.

He … neither looked nor smelled very good. Isaac constantly kept his sense of smell reduced to a minimum as the modern world, well, stank, but even that was enough to tell that Arthur smelled horrible. He’d also clearly not washed or changed his clothes in a long time.

“First things first, wash up, then sleep,” Elena ordered.

“I …” Arthur gestured at the inside of the room, but she cut him off again “That’ll take literally seconds. You can either do so willingly or …”

A soft azure glow emanated from Elena’s hand, shooting up into a hovering ball of water that could alternatively blast through solid steel or clean off an unsanitary individual with all the grace and care of a sandblaster.

Arthur threw a pleading look at Isaac but wasn’t getting any help on that end either.

“It’ll take literally five minutes to take care of yourself, it’ll be easier on all of us if I don’t have to make you.”

Arthur just sighed and marched into the nearby changing room, shaking his head. A few seconds later, water began to run, followed by soft snores.

Isaac laughed “And that’s that. I wonder what was so important he stayed awake for several days straight?”

He poked his head into the training room and as it turned out, Elena’s description of “every whiteboard in Camelot” had been vastly insufficient to describe the sheer mess that the room had been turned into.

There were countless messily scrawled notes covering almost every available surface, some written in modern English using the Latin alphabet, while others might as well have been written in hieroglyphs. Upon closer inspection, said hieroglyphs turned out to have been the medieval alphabet, which Isaac was thankfully familiar with due to Hildebrand’s knowledge, but even so, the old English was beyond his capacity to read.

That could easily be chalked up to the fact that Arthur now had the knowledge from someone who’d lived during that period, but there was an additional issue. The handwriting was from multiple people. Not just a mere two people, modern Arthur and [Heir] Arthur, but several additional people, including one that reminded him of Elena’s writing, as well one that looked suspiciously like Isaac’s.

What. The. Fuck!

“Are you sure he’s been alone down here?” Isaac said.

“Absolutely, why are you asking?” Elena replied, sounding puzzled.

“There is multiple people’s handwriting here.” Isaac said, “Could they have teleported in?”

“This place is also our emergency fallback point in case of invasion or a [Raid Boss] attack. Sneaking in here wouldn’t have been worth it.” Elena frowned.

“Can you read the old English bits?” Isaac asked.

“Not really. I can barely recognize the letters, let alone understand English with one and a half millennia’s worth of changes. Lack of changes, anyway.” She said as she studied a crudely-drawn picture of a dragon with “where?” drawn around it in several different writing styles.

“Let’s wait for him outside the changing room.” Isaac suggested, “We’re not going to figure out what this is supposed to mean.”

He really hoped there was a reason for all this because if Arthur had written all of this in the throes of a manic episode … that wasn’t good.

“Hey, guys, what do you think?” Arthur called when he emerged from the changing room a few minutes later, still unshaven and wearing sweatpants and a bathrobe rather than anything more outdoor-sensible.

“The outfit or the conspiracy board?” Isaac asked.

“That the outfit sucks isn’t something I need you to tell me, there wasn’t anything else available.” Arthur replied, “Now don’t tell me you didn’t at least take a peak?”

“We did, and we didn’t understand anything,” Elena told him.

“How are you feeling?” Isaac asked “About becoming [Arthur Pendragon’s Heir], I mean. Heir-[Classes] can be rough, I know that.”

Arthur’s happy demeanor was suddenly turned up to eleven as he beamed at Isaac “Never better.”

He marched into the room of crazy without gesturing for them to follow as he continued to talk. Once all three were inside, Isaac pulled the door shut behind him and waited for the explanation.

“I know you both know how weird I felt about the historical Arthur, and hearing about the other timeline didn’t help, but now ….” He spread his arms wide and spun in place like a little kid in a candy store, still beaming “It’s like all of that doesn’t matter anymore like all that weight dropped off my shoulders. I’m worthy. I’m worthy, and the universe itself agrees! I know what I have to do, and I know how I’m going to start. And you can’t even imagine all the useful things I got. I mean, the information alone, the advice of the ancients …”

He trailed off, staring into the distance, lost in thought.

“Beware of handsome French knights sniffing around your significant other?” Isaac dryly suggested.

Elena chuckled while Arthur gave a deep belly laugh that went on for almost thirty seconds as he doubled over.

He wiped at his eye as he replied “Thanks, I needed that. But here’s the thing, that never happened, the whole adultery mess is actually a really late addition, hundreds of years after the fact. So no need to worry.”

Then, he shrugged “Besides, it’s 2023, divorce is a thing. Incidentally, so is polyamory.”

“So, if you’re not spiraling over your namesake or the other timeline, then what’s all this?” Elena asked, gesturing around.

“Research!” Arthur proclaimed.

Isaac was finally satisfied that there were no negative preternatural effects in play and concluded that Arthur was just riding the high of having all his burdens vanish … days later. At this point, if he didn’t get to the freaking point soon, a bucket of ice water was sounding more and more tempting.

“You locked yourself into an underground room for days, not washing, sleeping, or talking to anyone, you threw a book at Steff’s head. Not to mention that this was written by multiple people even though you were alone down here.” Elena sighed “Please tell me this isn’t as crazy as it looks?”

“Spoilsport.” Arthur gave them a playful pout, then turned to Isaac “How many memories did you get with your Heir-[Class]? Flashes of memories, impressions of battle, and a whole lot of instincts and life experience, and that’s it? No lifetime’s worth of memories?”

“Sounds about right.” Isaac said, unsure of where he was going with this “It’s like that with all Heir-[Classes] that are based on myths, rather than history. You get the experiences, but not the memories. The going theory was that those people weren’t real and instead, the [Class] was based on the myth, a gestalt of all the impressions people have of the figure. So the bearer gets all the knowledge the mythological figure should have without the associated memories.”

“But no one’s proven that, right?” Arthur questioned.

“No. I’m guessing you figured something out?” Isaac said, intrigued.

Arthur continued to walk around the room, gesturing at various scribbles and diagrams.

“See, of all the impressions, of all the flashes of memory, do you know what’s missing? Merlin! Nimue! All the magical beings! And then I kept looking, kept thinking back to all the stories I’d heard and I remember most of the knights but a few were missing. Some were later additions, I know that they’re fake, but of the original lot, the only one who wasn’t there was Galehaut!”

“Who’s that?” Isaac asked, for once stumped on a question of mythology.

“One of the knights of the Round Table, he was part giant.” Elena explained, “So you’re saying that all the magic is missing from the memories that are meant to be Arth- … you know what, let’s just going to call the historical person Pendragon, alright?”

Arthur and Isaac nodded.

“So Pendragon’s memories don’t have any magic in them. What about Hildebrand?” she asked.

Isaac didn’t reply directly, instead unleashed a two-minute stream of profanity strong enough to peel paint.

“Wow, I don’t think I even recognize half those languages, let alone the insults,” Elena observed.

“And he hasn’t even repeated himself once,” Arthur added.

Isaac was nowhere near done, but those comments finally convinced him to stop.

“So I’m guessing you hadn’t figured that out?” Elena asked.

“Nope, no one did.” Isaac sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose “But I don’t think anyone has a concrete memory of magic, magical effects, or even artifacts. I didn’t even know what any of my magical weapons looked like before I summoned them.”

“So all the magic is missing from both your inherited memories? Why?” Elena asked further.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out!” Arthur exclaimed “See, I’ve been checking for what’s there, and what isn’t, and how that matches up to historical facts, both with Arthur and Hildebrand. And then, I figured something out: they only match where magic didn’t play a big role. The more magic was involved, the more inaccurate things are. Arthur’s, sorry, Pendragon’s tale is shaped by Merlin, who was a wizard, and aside from the big historical facts like the various foreign invasions, doesn’t match history at all.

“So what if magic itself got scrubbed from history, what if that’s why no magical artifacts have ever been found, no dragon bones, no unicorn horns, no nothing? What if that scrubbing affected even the magical recollections we were blessed with?”

“The gods,” Elena said. It wasn’t a question.

“So your hypothesis is that there was magic here, on Earth, and then it was removed?” Isaac asked, “It makes sense, but how the fuck are we supposed to prove that?”

Arthur hung his head “Yeah, that’s the problem. We know that magic exists, that at least some of the myths involving the gods are real, but everything else, who knows?”

“One more problem: there are Heir-[Classes] for people who are completely fictional. Sherlock Holmes, for example, has one. I also know for a fact that it comes without any concrete memories. Once a character has become a part of public consciousness, their powers can be gained.” Isaac explained.

“Doesn’t that make it easy to separate out the fully fictional people?” Arthur pointed out.

Elena sighed and shook her head “Someone might build memories out of the freshly gained experience and their imagination.”

“Bloody Hell,” Arthur swore.

“I think I might have an idea about how to find out more.” Elena said “Loki can’t lie, right? And as a neutral god, his actions don’t automatically tilt the balance in a specific way?”

“He doesn’t lie, but he could, in theory. And when he acts, something needs to happen to compensate. So if he helps us create order, he needs to add chaos.”

“Do you think he might help in exchange for funny chaos?” Elena asked.

“Maybe, but are you sure that’s a good idea?” Isaac asked.

“Don’t worry, I have an idea.” Elena said, then called out “Oh Loki, I have a deal for you: fix this situation, give us all answers to the questions we asked during the last ten minutes and I will arrange to have a head of government pantsed. On live television.”

“Interesting idea.” Isaac sighed “I hope this goes well.”

But nothing happened for a good long while and Arthur went right back to explaining his theories until suddenly, Elena shifted position almost as if she’d gained superspeed for a couple of seconds.

“Divine visit?” Isaac asked, scaring the bejesus out of Arthur.

Elena just nodded mutely, eyes wide, then mouthed “Holy crap.”

“So what is the answer?” Isaac asked.

“He wants payment upfront,” Elena said.

“I really hope you didn’t promise more than you can deliver,” Arthur said and Elena grinned viciously.

“I am an Asrai, a fairy, and all fairies are capable of great and dangerous mischief. I don’t use that trick, ever, but I think that this is an appropriate opportunity. Given how low-Level even heads of state normally are, the magic should take hold easily, especially with the effect not being exceedingly damaging.”

Isaac winced. Elena was already on his “do not fu- er, mess with” list, but he mentally underlined that entry once more.

“Now we just wait for divine intervention?” Arthur asked, “I’m hungry, if no one objects, I’m heading over to the cafeteria and eating a horse.”

Elena grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Just one more thing, Mr. Who was down here with you?”

“No one?”

“So you were varying your handwriting, including mimicking mine and Elena’s just for shits and giggles?” Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, that is your handwriting,” Arthur said.

Elena turned to Isaac and sweetly asked “Would you mind fetching a mop? I predict a certain someone is about to have a few gallons of ice water dumped on his head.”

“Spoilsport.” Arthur muttered “That’s one of the central [Skills] of my new [Class], [My Round Table]. I had enough points saved up to buy it. It lets me summon shades of people who’ve worked for or with me and use them to write things and do basic manual labor, like writing on boards.”

“That can’t be all it does,” Isaac observed.

“Nope, it’s actually really cool. There are two parts to it. The first lets me add anyone who’s worked for me as a shade, up to twelve people. They can’t do much, but if they decide to formally join the new Round Table, then I can either accept them as is, or I can grant them an Heir-[Class] belonging to any knight of the Round Table and then accept them, which makes the associated shade way stronger.

“Once they’re a part of the Round Table, that’s when the fun begins. The basic idea is that no knight is ever alone, so I can either deploy these shades as my personal army, with each being roughly a tenth as strong as the person it’s modeled after, or I can send it along one with one other member of the Table. It can then either back them up as is or add its stats to them and let them use weaker versions of a few [Skills].”

“Weaker how?” Isaac asked. Even weakened, being able to borrow someone else’s [Skills] was a huge game-changer.

“Only three [Skills], or one central [Skill], active [Skills] can only be used a few times a day, either three times or until their total mana cost exceeds five hundred, whichever happens first. Passive [Skills] only work for ten minutes a day, central passive [Skills] only work for one minute every day. And cooldown [Skills] can only be used once a week.” Arthur rattled off.

Basically, you needed to hoard those uses like they were worth their weight in gold. But really, they were that useful. Imagine Elena or some other squishy caster casting [I Am The Sword] and tearing apart a monster of titanic proportions with a single charge. Or Isaac himself borrowing one of her large spells, something he shouldn’t have access to and no one could easily plan around? The opportunities were endless.

“So, would you like to formally join the Round Table of Camelot?” Arthur asked, megawatt smile right back on his face at full force “It’s a group of equals, it’s right there in the name.”

Isaac sighed and shook his head sadly “I know it’s meant to be a circle of equals, but depending on my fourth Evolution options, there might be some kind of conflict, they might change. I’ll join the instant I have it, though. Shouldn’t take long, though.”

Arthur nodded “How about you, Elena?”

“Of course, but we should make this a more formal ceremony.” She said, “This is a big deal, and we need to treat it like it is.”

“That just leaves one question: who else do you want to invite?” Isaac asked.

“Well, everyone who was at the Starhail, for starters.” Arthur said “And then we check if the number of slots increases at the [Skill] levels. Then …”

It took a while, but eventually, they managed to hammer out a complete and thorough plan, though its implementation would take a while longer.

But even with all they’d gained, this day had thrown up a ton of very uncomfortable questions as well.