Remnant Compilation- Epilogue

(((SERIOUSLY! DON'T READ THIS UNLESS YOU'VE FINISHED REMNANT 3!!!! YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY RUIN THE BOOK FOR YOURSELF!!!!)))

Bonus Content: 2nd Epilogue

“And then you just had to set the fucking bar on fire. Why? Why did you have to do that?” Runner demanded, glaring at what was likely his best friend.

Probably my only friend, too.

Shit.

“Because they were going to kill us!” Ryker said, holding his hands up in disbelief. “What part of, ‘I’m gonna stab you, uhyuck’ did you not understand from the redneck brick wall?”

“I dunno, for them to actually pull a knife? Maybe that part,” Runner said, brushing his hand against the smoldering cloth that was his sleeve. “Can’t stab someone without a knife.”

“What, and would you wait for them to drop their pants, too, or would you assume that if someone said ‘you’ve got a purty mouth’ that we’ve got a problem,” Ryker growled.

Holding his hand up the master-wizard put out the fire that was merrily chewing at a fence post.

“You know what, we need to stop having movie night. You like throwing quotes at me too much. Especially dumb ones,” said Runner feeling rather indignant.

“You’re the dumb one. I have no idea how your wives put up with you, shit-for-brains. I swear to fuck I should stop hanging out with you,” Ryker said, shaking his head.

“But then what would you do on Friday and Saturday nights?” Runner asked with a cackle.

“I dunno, be with my kids maybe? I do have those, too, you know,” said Ryker. “And watching over them is probably easier than you’re stupid ass. Shit, even Al is easier to watch over than you.”

“Obviously. He’s his mother’s son,” Runner said with a nod of his head. “And Srit, my darling Sunshine, was one helluva woman.”

Ryker made a weird nod of his head at that.

“Hey, don’t fantasize about my wife,” Runner said immediately interpreting that look. He knew first hand his friend had a healthy appetite for women.

It was all his wives could do at times to keep him penned him from acquiring new ones.

“I wasn’t, I wasn’t. Though I was definitely agreeing with your assessment of her,” Ryker said and the looked around. “Shit. I think that’s the sheriff. Can we go now? Are you happy?

“None of them fit the recruitment trials and the few that did, failed. No Vinces or Felixs here. Not even a Rene or an Alex. And you can’t take credit for either of those so don’t even start that shit again. Amelia did.”

“Hey at least I-”

“No, those were my worlds that produced them. Well, Miles, really. Those two are just lucky they got most of his genes,” said Ryker absentmindedly.

“You! Stop right there! You’re going to-”

Holding up his right hand Ryker locked the sheriff in a cocoon of magical force.

“See? We should be going. Good sheriff shit-stick here doesn’t want us around anymore. Time to go. We can just… advance this server a few hundred years up and keep an eye on it,” Ryker offered.

“Ugh. Fine. It’s just… so many servers. So many years. So very few guardians,” complained Runner, holding his hands up in front of himself.

He quickly started tapping in the return commands for himself and Ryker.

“I mean, yeah? But we kinda made the requirements really high. Be thankful we found as many as we did,” countered Ryker. “Besides, a lot of them are doing their job. Watching over servers. Should probably have-”

The world around them blinked out and they were suddenly in the GMHub, standing in the departure room.

“Should probably have Felix, Vince, Rene, and Alex all watching servers. Not running around willy-nilly,” Ryker said waving his hands back and forth.

“No. They need to all be ready. I need them. And you,” Runner said, reaching out to poke Ryker in the chest. “If someone activates the guardian trials… we need to move out. As soon as it happens. It’s our biggest chance.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. I’m the one who made the trap. Remember? Dimwit,” Ryker said and rolled his eyes. “We still on for tomorrow? Adele is gonna be my partner.”

“What? What the fuck is that about? Adele can kick my ass by herself. That’s not fair,” said Runner and making a frustrated face. “There’s no point in that at all.”

“Want me to bring Meino instead? She’d fucking sit on you and that’d be that,” Ryker said with a grin. “Don’t blame me that you like’em all thin and wiry.”

“Thin and wiry? Fuck you. I’ll ask Kitten to be my partner,” said Runner in a raised voice.

“Do it. Last time you and her tried to work together she grabbed your ass constantly and you got all huffy after a while,” said Ryker with a laugh as he started to leave the room.

“She cost us the game! You’re an asshole!” shouted Runner at Ryker’s back. “And yeah, tomorrow’s good. I’ll see you then. I’ll handle booting up the racquetball court.”

“Thanks. See ya. Love to your kids from Uncle,” Ryker said, vanishing out of the room and into the hallway beyond.

Runner sighed, closed his eyes, and put a hand over his face.

He’s not wrong.

Everything is going exactly as we thought it would. And it hasn’t even been that long since we started.

Not really.

It just… feels like forever.

Nodding his head, then shaking it, Runner groaned.

For several seconds, he contemplated going off and seeing Nadine.

Or at least, his personal monument to the woman. A quiet place filled with his old statues of her. A place that only he knew.

A moment of thought, concentration, and a flash later, Runner was standing in his personal Nadine garden.

“Good evening,” Runner said, smiling at the most prominent statue of the little merchant-queen.

Exactly as he remembered her, carved in marble, a somewhat nervous expression on her face.

“Haven’t found any new guardians,” Runner said exasperatedly and sat down on the bench in front of her. “Ryker seems to think that’s normal and… well he’s not wrong. It isn’t normal to find guardians. They’re incredibly rare and few and far between. I guess I just want to find more so we can move forward.”

Hesitating, Runner sighed and shook his head.

“That’s not true. I’m hoping to find more, because if we find more, that reminds me that there’s a chance someone will activate the Guardian Trials. That the gates will open, the bell rung, and happy new year and all that shit,” Runner grumbled.

Taking in a steadying breath, Runner studied Nadine’s face.

“Part of me wants to crank the time passage up. Or force a few worlds through some evolutionary changes just to make them be more likely to produce a guardian. They tend to come from worlds that are pressure cookers, after all,” admitted Runner. “But… that wouldn’t actually be kind. It would hurt and destroy people for my gain and benefit alone. And you wouldn’t like that at all. I’d be no better than… Seville, I guess.”

Scratching at his cheek, Runner contemplated Nadine for several more moments.

“If it weren’t for you, I think I’d be making bad choices to this very day, Rabbit,” Runner said finally. “I love you. I still love you. I miss you. But I think… I think you’d be proud of me if you could see me. Proud of what I’ve done and accomplished. And hey… most of it was in your name so… kudos to you.”

Smirking to himself, Runner put his elbow down on his knee and let out a slow breath, setting his chin in his hand.

“I’d love to say I’d trade someone else’s life for your own… but I get the impression you’d find that abhorrent,” said Runner with a chuckle. “And then you’d-”

“Lovey?” asked a voice from inside his own head. “I don’t ever like disturbing you when… when you’re there. But I just found something really strange. I wanted you to look at it and tell me what you thought.”

“Sure thing, Minxy my dear,” Runner said aloud. “Pardon, Rabbit. Gotta go see what the ol’wife has on her Honey-Do list. Gotta keep her happy, ya know.”

Standing up, Runner brushed his hands across his rear end, then popped himself out of existence.

***

“See? It’s not any of the mark ones, twos, or even a one and a half,” Amelia said, pointing a finger at the server. “It’s almost like… a zero? If that’s even possible?”

Runner frowned, turning his head to one side, looking at the server. Trying to figure it out.

Finally, he realized what it was.

Or more accurately, what it had been.

“Oh! It’s the original Otherlife server,” Runner said with a laugh as he realized what it was. “I’m still technically logged into it. I’m the only one, really. I got everyone else off. It’s kinda like what we do so that all of you don’t run any risks in our home-server.”

Turning his head, he looked to the goddess of assassins.

Her hair was growing out now, reaching her shoulders in long brown waves. Her green eyes hadn’t lost any of the strange bend in her personality, however.

She was as she always had been with him.

Twisted up around him and begging to be wrenched into more elaborate kinks.

“You are? Isn’t that… unsafe?” Amelia asked, her brows pressing together. She took his security and his life very seriously.

“Heavens, no. I’m the highest ranking GM on the server. There’s nothing anyone could ever do to me,” Runner explained, his eyes moving back to the server. “Though… something is different. The settings aren’t right. They’re all… messed up. Like someone got ahold of the internal server configuration.”

Holding up his hand Runner idly flicked through the server information.

“Not even the same map, apparently. This is more like… Australia, I guess,” murmured Runner. “I wonder who made changes.”

Pulling up the log, Runner began to dig through all the modifications that’d been made. His heart hammering in his chest at the very first entry, and only hitting against his ribs harder as he went.

“Zeus,” Amelia muttered, apparently reading the same thing he was.

“Indeed. Let’s see what havoc he’s wrecked upon this poor world,” Runner growled. “I didn’t even think he’d come for this one. There was nothing on it. At all. Apparently I underestimated him though. He’s sped this thing up by millions of years and cultivated a handful of NPCs into an entire universe.”

Closing the window, Runner shook his head.

“All from a Remnant of the medical server. Just a Remnant,” he growled. “Though it’s currently paused. It looks like it hasn’t been activated in a while.”

Opening a portal into the server directly, Runner stepped through it. Moving to the last known position Zeus had made changes to.

Which had been an off-server transfer of data.

Standing in the middle of a green field Runner was face to face with a horde of amazingly beautiful women.

One and all they were stunning with figures and builds that would haunt Runner’s fantasies, he was sure.

“Well. Welcome to the pleasure planet, I guess. This is worse than your sex planet,” Runner mumbled.

“Hey, hey, sex planet grew Vince into what he is. Shut your handsome mouth, or put it to use somewhere else,” Amelia said. “I’m going to dig through the changes. You ask those pretty ladies whats going on.”

Runner rolled his eyes, nodded his head, and then shut the portal behind himself.

Then he pulled the server out of stasis.

All at once, the women came to life. Looking around in every direction, then at one another, as if they were all shocked at what was going on.

“Dearest?” called a rather beautiful looking woman with wings.

“High-King?” asked a human woman in bronze plate armor.

Then everyone began shouting, calling out in a made panic of voices.

One woman, with dark hair, dark eyes, and horns, came over to Runner.

She reminded him of some type of fairy tale creature.

Are they called Fauns? I think Fauns.

“Why are we here?” the woman asked. “Why are you here, Runner Norwood? Did you bring us here?”

The… fuck? She knows my name?

“Uh. How’d you know my name?” Runner asked. “And what’s your name? What are you all doing here?”

“You… don’t know my name,” the woman repeated, her eyes searching his face.

“Nope. How would I know your name? Do I look like a mind-reader?” Runner said with a chuckle. “I’d have to have a name like… well, certainly not Runner.”

One and all, the women and their mass of questions died away. Every pair of eyes slowly turning to Runner.

“What are you?” asked the Faun.

“Me? Uh… I’m a human. Well, that’s not true. I guess here I’d be your Overgod. But uh… what were you all doing here?” Runner asked. “Kinda… following a trail here and trying to figure things out.”

“We… weren’t,” said the beautiful woman with wings. “We were elsewhere. We’d… just won a great victory. We were building our Kingdom. The High-Kingdom.”

“Steve… Steve had just beaten the Queen,” added the Faun. “We were celebrating. He needed a break though because… because he really doesn’t like social things. He’s more of a loner.”

“Steve,” Runner said, not really understanding what the hell was going on.

“High-King Seville,” corrected the woman in plate mail.

Shocked into silence, Runner stood there.

Seville? This… this is where Seville came from.

This was his home world.

“No, he’s still Steve. He’s… he’s who he’s always been,” argued the Faun. “Seville is just his name for the moment. He’ll… he’ll come around. I know it. He was grieving and… and… I don’t remember now. He was grieving and he changed his name.”

Runner looked from the Faun, to the woman with wings, to the Human.

They love him. They knew him as Steve and Seville.

This is definitely where he came from.

Does… that mean Seville is no different than Felix or Vince? Rene or Alex?

Zeus’… guardian.

Except is he being held hostage?

Was Zeus keeping them here against their will?

“Did Steve ever talk to a voice only he could hear?” Runner asked.

“Yes,” said the Faun. “He told me a little about it. It… didn’t sound very friendly. At all. That the voice was making Steve go through a final task. A trial. Making him do things.”

Wincing, Runner frowned at that and looked to the ground.

Seville was Steve.

Steve was being given trials by Zeus, in the same way I’ve done others.

Seville… or Steve… is no different.

In fact, he might even be a prisoner in his own way.

But that doesn’t matter. He’s done too much wrong. He’s-

“Where’s Daddy?” asked a small and beautiful girl. She looked like she couldn’t be older than five, with deep dark hair and wide green eyes.

“Daddy,” Runner repeated.

“Steve! He’s my dad,” said the little girl. “I’m going to call him.”

The small child opened her mouth and began to sing.

It was a song of indomitable strength. Of a man who would brave anything and everything to protect what was his. A figure who stood bravely courageously against the storms of the world and would remain after it rolled over him.

A father, who loved his daughter unconditionally.

Runner swallowed hard, feeling like he suddenly needed to bury his head in the sand for his thoughts.

Nadine would tell me to forgive.

And any man that could instill such love in a child, deserves a chance.

So that’s… what we’ll do.

“I… don’t know where your daddy is,” Runner said, getting down on one knee in front of the little girl. “But my name is Runner. And I do know your daddy. In fact… in fact I bet he and I will be good friends very soon. Until he comes home, I’m going to make sure you and your family are safe. Okay?”

“Okay. Will he be home soon? I miss him,” said the little girl, her lower lip trembling and her eyes starting to water up.

“Oh, soon enough I think. Soon enough. Until then, know that I’ll protect you,” Runner promised.

That’s what we’ll do.

Rescue Seville from himself.

And give them back Steve.

Because that’s what Nadine would want me to do.

In that moment, Runner set up the server to go back into stasis once it the clock hit midnight.

It could remain that way for a little longer while Runner worked on the problem.

“Now, before I go,” Runner murmured, activating a recording program. “Could you sing me Steve’s song again? It was very pretty. I’d like to let my wife hear it. Would you mind?”

“Of course not! This is my Steve song, he’s my daddy,” proclaimed the little girl.

Who then promptly began singing again, while Runner recorded it.