Altered Destiny

Ch. 20

I have officially outstripped the scenes I had a perhaps overly-detailed plan for. I do still have a plan for what's gonna happen, it's just more of an outline than a play-by-play synopsis. I kinda expect updates to slow, but then again, I have improvised stuff for this before, so we'll see what happens!

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Life could change so quickly. Ingressus had known that since he was ten years old, when a landslide had buried the camp his group had stayed in. Two Voltaris had died, Ageron had broken his leg, and the survivors were left with nothing but what they'd had on them when the landslide came. It was the earliest Ingressus could remember moving camps, though he knew it must've happened before in his lifetime.

It had been a very different kind of change this time, but it was still a change. Barely five days before, he had been a lone Voltaris, uprooted long ago from his home and family and clan and currently existing– hiding– away from the outside world that sought his head, unlikely to ever leave or see his people again. And now he was a full clan Master, entrusted with and accepted by Voltar, and the Nestoris Master was in league with him. His clan hadn't had allies in all their exile, except for the occasional mercenary band that they bought off with stolen money.

Everything had changed. And yet, at the same time, it felt like nothing had. Despite Aegus's agreement to help him, he was really no closer to actually ending his clan's exile. He was no closer to finding the solution to the resonances. Until he could figure that out, he still had nothing to present to the other three Masters that would make them listen to him. Despite Voltar, despite his new ally, he was in the same place he'd been a week ago: in Ataraxia, papers spread across his desk and stuck to the walls, wracking his brain daily for answers while people walked the paths outside, chatting to each other and going about their days as they always had.

Were it not for the presence of Voltar, Ingressus would've believed it was all a dream. Achillean and Aegus had left for Nestoria again, with an agreement between the three to keep in touch. And Galleous had left for the funeral a few days before. Ingressus was the only one in Ataraxia who knew of the events down by the shore. He still took out Voltar and his father's sword– in the safety and secrecy of his room, far from prying eyes– staring at them and reminding himself that yes, they were real, that Aegus and the Guardians hadn't been a dream.

But of course, the fact that it wasn't a dream meant that he had some decisions to remake. He had stayed in Ataraxia this long for lack of anywhere else to go, but now... surely his place was with his people, back in the Barrier Mountains, leading them from one place of shelter to the next and planning defenses and supply runs into the rest of Ardonia, just as generations of Masters had done before him.

But Ingressus knew the futility of repeating the old ways. It was why he had contacted Aegus, why he had been trying to fix the resonances in the first place. To return to the mountains, simply to reenact the same old roles as his predecessors... would he truly be doing them more good that way, than here? Here, he could keep researching the resonances, keep looking for the answer that had to be out there.

Ingressus lifted the axehead from the grindstone, inspecting its edge. His skills at actually forging tools were still nothing to be impressed by, but sharpening an axe or a sword was easy enough.

It all really came down to where he would be of the most use to his people. To stay in Ataraxia and continue to pursue the resonances would be uncertain and risky, but it would carry the ultimate reward if he succeeded. To return to the mountains and lead his clan there would be... well, he couldn't call it any more safe or certain, but it would be a simpler task. And he would know, for certain, that what he was doing was helping his clan. He would be kidding himself if he didn't at least acknowledge the possibility that he was wasting his time with the resonances. He might not find anything, and then where would his clan be?