168. This Night Has 42 Minutes

[TIDEREIGN Realm Boon unlocked: OATHBIND]

[REVOLVER Spell pending]

[Chamber Three: pending]

[WARNING: Frenzy Imminent]

[TIDEWATCH: You now have 42 minutes to affirm your OATH.]

"42 minutes?"

Serac was so distracted by the news that she barely paid any attention to her first sight of Tidereign. At least it was on solid ground and in breathable air, allowing her to spend a few more seconds to rue her bad luck.

She thought she'd been prepared for the worst, but in truth, she'd underestimated what the 'worst' could look like. Pathsight had sent her a long string of unfamiliar messages, but the upshot was simple: she now had 40-odd minutes to fully engage with the new Realm gimmick… or risk possibly the fastest 'fail state' in Wayfaring history.

In the days leading up to ascension, Serac had spoken often to the one Tidereigner she knew. Bea Sattva, for her part, had been generous with her knowledge, at least insomuch as the Anchored deer woman herself had gleaned said knowledge from her paying customers over the ages.

In short, Tidereign and its denizens existed in a continuous cycle between two distinct states: Day and Night. Both versions of the Realm shared the same physical space, yet were kept completely 'separate' from each other by a liminal boundary. As Day cycled into Night and vice versa, the Realm played host to an entirely different set of populations, societies, and larger ecosystems.

That by itself was tricky enough to wrap your mind around. But the real doozy came when you added [Oathbind] into the mix. For any Wayfarer native to Tidereign (or a Rakshasa tourist with her protean 'trait'), Frenzy was the default state of being, to be reined in only by committing to and continually 'affirming' an [Oath] unique to the individual.

"And how does Pathsight, you know, officiate that?" had been Serac's natural first question to Bea. "What's to stop me from making an [Oath] that says 'I will live to be a hundred'? Technically, as long as I stay alive, Pathsight can't claim that I'm not affirming the [Oath]. So, in that case, would I just get all the benefits of [Oathbind] without any of the drawbacks?"

"Ah, but you see, a Tidereigner's oath is tied to the Day-Night cycle," the Seersmith had explained. "Every Day—or every Night, if you're on that side of the divide—the onus is on the individual to seek out opportunities for affirmation. So, I imagine you could try 'living to a hundred', but unless you can make concrete, per-cycle efforts to do just that, Pathsight would deem your oath to have been breached. All that to say, do be careful how you word your oath before you commit to it."

"Either that," Zacko had chimed in with one of his self-satisfied quips, "or do go ahead and say you'll live to a hundred; just be sure to bring a bushel of apples everywhere you go."

"Apples?" Serac and Bea had rounded on the Manusya simultaneously.

"Yeah. Like my mama always used to say: an apple a day keeps the doc—"

"Alright, so if I'm understanding you correctly, I have to word my [Oath] such that it's actionable on a per-cycle basis. That doesn't sound… too bad? How long are these cycles anyway?"

"Well, back in my days, a Day used to be just that—24 hours, give or take a few. But if the young'uns who come through the Wayside are to be believed, those hours have stretched quite a bit, and the Days are getting longer still. It's hard to give an exact number, but I'd say you've got something like three or four days in a Day."

"Three or four days?" Serac had parroted, having a hell of a time keeping the days straight from the Days. "Well, that definitely doesn't sound too bad. This [Oathbind] thing should be a piece of cake!"

"But that's assuming you end up on the side of Day."

"Oh? Is there reason to suspect things will be much different during the Night cycle?"

At this point, Bea had taken a moment to mull over her answer. And even when she'd given it, she'd never sounded less certain about anything.

"Put it this way, buttercup. I've been doing this longer than most souls have been alive, and I've yet to meet a single Tidereigner from the world of Night."

This had been the cue for Serac to gape in astonishment.

"But… how is that possible? Zacko told me there were so many Tidereigners here at one time they filled up the entire teahouse!"

"Oh, don't get me wrong. Plenty of Tidereigners do pass through here on their way to Manesfera. But as far as I know, they've all been Day-folk. Mrigas like myself. Whatever's going on with the Night-folk, something's preventing them from ascending. Just thought I'd give you a heads-up, that's all."

Presently, Serac regained enough of her composure to take in more of her surroundings.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The Upheavers found themselves on a sloping footpath lined by forests on either side. The road itself was of packed dirt and had a rather well-maintained appearance. Almost as though its very purpose was to welcome new arrivals upon Tidereign's shores. Speaking of shores…

Serac took a tentative gander over one shoulder, careful not to lose her balance. She sometimes still had nightmares of her near-drowning incidents in Pretjord, and she wished dearly to avoid falling into Tidereign's version of the Netherpool. To her relief and fascination, such a body of water didn't exist.

Instead, behind the Upheavers rose and spread the heavens themselves, somehow made discernible by etherial 'folds' that gave the entire sky the appearance of translucent fabric.

"These must be the skyveils Bea mentioned," Zacko observed, voice hushed in a rare moment of genuine awe. "Well, I'll be damned. They really do look like curtains drawn on the whole sky!"

"What happens if we touch it?" Renna the scholar asked no one in particular, before going ahead and volunteering herself as the test subject. The pink frog bent down and reached out with a webbed hand, managing to make contact with a lace of gossamer that was knotted to the ground.

[RENATE SANDVIK Status Effect: UNMOORED]

[21!], [37!], [24!], …

[Mana loss: -5, -3, -4, …]

A double whammy of Health and Mana loss! Not only that, but the effect's moniker gave Serac real pause. Hey, isn't 'Unmoored' also what happened to Trippy Version One?

Thankfully, the damage rates were quite mild, and Renna was able to remove the status effect simply by letting go of the skyveil. Even so, Serac had to side-eye her frog friend with growing concern for her safety. For all her outward 'maturity', whenever there's an opportunity to learn new things, Renna can be just as reckless as me or Zacko…

"I guess that answers that," Zacko chimed in again. He then pointed directly overhead. "And that right there answers the question of which cycle we ended up in."

Both girls followed the Manusya's gaze. High, high above them hung a full moon, surface glowing with variegated ocher. It lent the whole night sky (presumably) as well as the gossamer strands of its veils a kind of dark-brown overtone. 'Umber'—just like I saw in the Seerflame.

"Huh," Serac remarked mildly. Due to the information overload, Pathsight's ominous warnings had temporarily taken a backseat. But not for long. "So this is Night—the side of Tidereign even Bea has never seen. I wish I could just set out and explore the place, but first, I've gotta sort out this [Oathbind] business. Um, could the two of you give me a second while I—"

Serac was unable to finish her sentence. She suddenly keeled over as if Poise-broken, but in truth, she merely felt very light-headed. No. Not merely. For this was worse than Poise-break. This was—

"Serac!" Renna rushed to her side, her wide-set eyes drawn to the middle of her brow in concern. "You're already exhibiting the signs of Frenzy. Whatever you need to do, I suggest you do it soon."

There it was again. Serac was instantly transported to that episode atop Pretjord's Realmtree. Those frightening few seconds where the world became a red haze and her friends became demonic shadows.

"You got this, Princess. Take your time and get it right," one of the shadows encouraged her in a guttural growl.

Funnily enough, it was the 'Princess' that helped ground Serac and overlay a picture of Zacko onto the demonic presence. Because, even after all the waffling about Serac possibly being a 'King' and Renna being the real 'Princess', the Manusya had stuck to his original nickname for his Rakshasa partner.

Despite her imminent Frenzy, Serac managed to keep relatively calm. The Peach-monger wasn't here to 'save' her this time, but she didn't need them. She had her friends for moral support and 'local' guidance in the form of a preemptive tutorial.

"But that still leaves the question of"—Serac had asked back at the Wayside Lotus—"why couldn't I make my oath something ridiculously easy? Like, I dunno, I will sit and meditate for at least ten seconds a day."

"You and your loopholes!" Bea had shaken her head (and great big antlers) in amusement. "I suppose there's nothing to stop you from registering a trifling oath… if you're also happy for your Oathborn to be just as useless."

"Oathborn?"

"It's a manifestation of Primal aura that fights by your side," Bea had elaborated. "You might call it a familiar… maybe a summon, or—"

"Or a stand," Zacko had offered another one of his Manesferanisms, looking oddly tickled as he did.

"Sure," Bea had agreed with a slightly bemused frown. "The point is, the forces that govern the flow of magic through Tidereign are sensitive to the weight and sincerity of a Wayfarer's oath. The more serious and self-affirming the oath, the stronger the aura that feeds into your familiar/summon/… ehm, stand. I've even heard tell of Wayfarers who tried your loophole and got saddled with Oathborns that were more nuisance than asset!"

"It makes sense," Renna had offered her balanced view. "As with many things to do with Pathsight, the core traits are also trade-offs unto themselves. In Naraka, you could stack negative status effects to buff your damage output. Yakshas live with constant [Hunger], but it's what allows us to turn the Realms' bounties into useful consumables. Next up in Tidereign, [Binding] yourself to a risky [Oath] is the way to summon a powerful ally."

Serac had nodded along fervently, getting just as excited as Zacko at the idea of her own 'stand', whatever the hell that meant.

"Having said that," Renna had added, "in your particular case, it's worth considering whether a 'trifling' [Oath] might be more beneficial in the long run."

"Huh? Why's that?"

"Simply because you're plenty strong and versatile as is. Maybe a powerful familiar born of a strenuous [Oath] is more trouble than it's worth. As I said, just something to consider. But, knowing you, I can already guess how you'd want to play this…"

You're not wrong, Renna, Serac now mused inwardly, as she reflected on their earlier conversation. You do know me. And there's no chance in hell I'm passing up something this fun—no matter the risk!

[OATHBIND activated]

[OATH registered: I will never say 'no' to the thrills and spills on my Path, when I could say 'hell yes' instead!]

[REVOLVER Spell unlocked]

[Chamber Three: HAIR TO HAIR]

[Oathborn: VOIDLING]

[TIDEWATCH: Your OATH has been affirmed.]

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