《The Way of Truth》 Death and Resurrection (Edited) It is dark. A man is submerged in a pool of still, stale water. He emerges from the pool gasping in the putrid air. It smells of fecal matter. He is wearing a wet coat and drenched trousers. He looks around in the gloom. Fulgin - dark as the moonless and starless night, he sees no reflections of light or the outlines of objects in the dark. ¡°Where am I?¡±, he says, but he does not hear his voice. Still perplexed at his current situation he walks forward through the gloom to discover where he is. The sound of splashing water - the only sound in the dark. He tries to walk in a straight line but due to the absolute darkness and jutting stalagmites and debris on the floor he is not able to. Despite this, he keeps on walking and walking. Small drops of sweat start accumulating at the top of his forehead and his muscles slowly tighten. His nerves are getting to him. Trudging on forward, he realizes that something is different. The surrounding air has gotten colder, and he can hear a new sound - the small rustling of the wind. A chill runs through his neck and spine. He looks back. He sees nothing. Turning, he walks forward quickly. ¡°CCCCRRRRAAAASSSHHHH!!!¡± He slams his head into a wall producing a loud sound and falls back into the water. A throbbing pain pierces his head. His consciousness fading in and out again. Suddenly, tidbits of information and murky images invade his mind. ¡°Blllerrrgbbb!¡± Having trouble breathing, he rises up again gasping for air. After calming himself down he says to himself, ¡°Where am I? Wait, I can hear myself?¡± Surprised, he tries to think why this is the case. ¡°There are two plausible options. Either it is because my previous location did not allow me to hear myself or it is because I crashed into that wall. It would be unfortunate if it was not either of those two options,¡± he thinks. Reflecting upon that thought he decides to walk away from the wall. After a period of time, his surroundings start getting hotter and more humid. About half an hour of walking, he stops and attempts to talk. ¡°Hello.¡± No sound is heard. Nodding to himself, he turns around and starts walking back. Eventually, the air starts to cool again. When the air is significantly colder than before, he stops and says, ¡°Hello.¡± He can hear it. ¡°It seems that what was causing my voice to produce no sound was due to the area I was in and probably not due to me crashing into the wall,¡± he thinks. Proceeding forward again, ¡°CCCCRRRRAAAASSSHHHH!!!¡± He hits the wall. A loud noise echoes through the dark. He can see the frames of his mentor congratulating him for graduating university and murky images of his father(?) teaching him the basics of magic. Then the images cease like a dream and he is once again conscious. Seeing that he gained more information and memories by crashing into the wall, he decides to do something foolish. ¡°Will it be worth it to alert others of my presence here in order to regain my memories?¡± he ponders. Due to his memory loss, the man is dumber than a child. Steeling himself, he rams into the wall. ¡°CCCCRRRRAAAASSSHHHH!!!¡± Again. ¡°CCCCRRRRAAAASSSHHHH!!!¡± And again. ¡°CCCCRRRRAAAASSSHHHH!!!¡± ¡°CCCCRRRRAAAASSSHHHH!!!¡± To be honest, he might have overdone it. ¡°CCCCRRRRAAAASSSHHHH!!!¡± He loses consciousness leaning onto the wall. Flashes of images and scenes of his lives(?) appear before him in rapid succession. More and more information is recalled as he experiences his lives flashing before his eyes. While this is happening, silence permeates the area surrounding the unconscious body. But not for long. ¡°Zowl¡­ Zowl¡­ Zowl¡­ Zowl¡­¡± A new sound permeates the area along with the sound of wind. ¡°Zowl¡­ Zowl¡­ Zowl¡­¡± The sound becomes more distinct and clearer. He regains consciousness. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Zowl¡­ Zowl¡­ ZOWL!!!¡± An ear-piercing screech echoes through the darkness and a whirlwind of air can be felt on his skin. Bright luminescent colors appear in the gloom in the form of a large flying creature. It is barrelling toward him. Shocked and sweating profusely, he sprints away from the wall as fast as his legs can muster. ¡°What the fuck is THAT!!!¡±, he shouts in his mind. He stops thinking and keeps running away from the wall and the creature toward the darkness. Splashing noises can be heard. ¡°ZOWL!!!¡± ¡°ZOWL!!!!¡± ¡°ZOWL!!!!!¡± It appears that the creature is getting closer. He tries to run faster. The air around him is getting hotter and his pants have become louder and more frequent. He runs with all his might. Then, he trips. He falls forward into the water. All he can see is a dark abyss. Madly scrambling up, he keeps running forward, but then he realizes something. Looking back he sees that the creature is two feet away from him. However, it is moving its body side to side and appears to be looking for him. It is also opening what appears to be its mouth but no noise is heard from it. ¡°It seems that that creature finds its prey by sound and specifically by echolocation.¡± he thinks. ¡°But wait, if that is true then shouldn¡¯t it have heard the splashing sounds I made when I passed into this area?¡± Still tense and nervous that the creature may find him, he stands perfectly still observing the creature. The creature glows in the dark allowing him to make out what the creature looks like. It is covered in what appears to be phosphorescent greenish white fur and has two large wings. It has no body and only a head. It has no eyes, large teeth that glow red, and large flaps that are probably ears on the top of its head. The teeth make a circle at the center of its head. It is currently flying back and forth around the perimeter of the area, probably looking for the man. After two hours, the creature appears to be alerted by something and flies away from where the man is at. After another fifteen minutes, the man sighs and sits down in the water - drenched and tired. He thinks about what happened. ¡°What was that creature and where am I?¡± he asks himself. ¡°I remember who I am since I recall my memories both here on Arda and from Earth, but I have no recollection on how I got here,¡± he thinks. ¡°Now is not the time for philosophical skepticism, I must find out where I am and how to get out of here.¡± Recalling the information that he learned from his memories, he thinks, ¡°From what I remember there is no way that creature can be from Earth, it has to be a creature from Arda. Although I am not entirely sure, that thing looks like something from either the Hadal Zone or the Abyss. I wonder why it stopped chasing after me. I am getting a bad feeling about this.¡± ¡°I need some light,¡± he thinks. ¡°Actually, now that I think about it. This will be my first-time using magic in this world.¡± Trembling with excitement, he closes his eyes and starts to think about the magic incantation for light and focuses his mana towards the palm of his hand. A small bright blue light is depicted in his mind and mana from his mana heart circulates from his heart to his brain and back onto the palm of his hand. He opens his eyes. A bright blue spectre lightly bubbles out of the palm of his hand. The blue ball illuminates his surrounding area. He now sees that the ground underneath the water is speckled with browns, blacks, and reds and that even with the light he cannot see the ceiling above him. Due to the danger of monster, he decides to keep on moving forward in order to find a way out of this large cavern. He walks forward alert for any sudden sounds or sights that may be approaching him. Besides the splashing of the water beneath his feet, he hears no sound. Eventually, the water beneath him starts getting murkier and murkier. Noticing this he tenses up a little while still moving forward. Something has hit his head. A chill runs down his spine. His senses are vigilant, and his muscles tighten. He sees nothing. He is alert and ready for whatever creature may be lurking in the dark with sweat pouring out of his forehead and chest. After half an hour of being still and alert, he slowly reaches his hand forward to feel for the thing that he hit if it was still there. At first, the hand touches only air, but after moving it toward his right side he feels something. A black key materializes out of thin air on a hook that is attached to nothing. Lightly pulling on it, it breaks free from its attachment and is now in his hand. Touching it further, it feels like some sort of metal key. Realizing that he has the key, he panics at first. ¡°Is this a trap?¡± he asks somewhat surprised that he can himself speak. Seeing that no obvious mechanism has been activated, he sighs and puts the key in one of his wet coat pockets and heads forward. The blue light in hand lighting the way. The water is now pitch black and above him only darkness can be seen. However, soon spirals of colors can be see lighting up the area he is traveling through and soon sees a giant shadow loom in the distance. Two slabs of black rock pierce the colorful backdrop ¨C ancient and heavy. He feels pressure moving closer to it. Even so, he moves closer to examine it. ¡°I must find out where I¡¯m at and return home,¡± he thinks. The water below him is still pitch black, but it is now moving. Using his little mage light, he illuminates a section of the wall. Most of the wall is fulgin - darker than any black he has ever seen before and has a perfectly smooth texture. He keeps on searching the wall for any sign or clue about what this place is and what time period this dungeon was built. He then spots some garbled script of white letters about two feet above his head. He backs away a little and pours more mana into the palm of his hand. The blue ball gets brighter. He can now see the script. It appears to be in messy English. ¡°Why English?¡± he thinks to himself. The script says, ¡°Truth lies behind Unapproachable Light.¡± He then touches the white letters with the palm of his hand. Something happens. He has inexplicable desire to take out the black key he found earlier. ¡°No, this is a trap!¡± He tries to resist. ¡°AAAGGGNNNNHHH!!!!¡± He screams in agony. The desire overwhelms him and he takes out the key and forcefully rams it into the black stones. It miraculously goes through. The black stones rumble. Maddening scripts of fiery white appear everywhere on the massive stones. He is getting headaches seeing it but soon silence returns. No sound can be heard. Something is coming. Then blindness. The gloom snuffs out his mage light and envelops him in a suffocating embrace. He struggles. He tries to use his magic and sorcery, but they fail to activate. He tries to tear apart the darkness with his arms, but they do nothing. He tries to bite into it, but breaks some of his teeth instead. He kicks into the darkness, but his legs contort and break becoming noodles. He screams out in pain and falls onto the watery floor. The darkness squeezes onto him tighter, pinning him onto the ground. His arms are broken and he is underneath the water. Black water gets into his mouth and lungs. He thinks, ¡°What¡¯s ¡­.happening... ?¡° His consciousness fades and his broken limbs and body go limp. The temperature from his body gets colder and colder. His eyes reflexively open. There is no life or light in them. He who wished to know more met his predestined end today, but it was not so. A great cosmic hymn echoes through the Zone driving back the darkness, the water, the stone, the sky, and all creatures great and small. He wakes up. My Name...(Edited) Again, he coughs out black water and stands up. He is no longer in the heart of darkness for he sees the twinkling stars in the vaulted night sky. A green and sapphire full moon stares back at him. The wind blows on his wet body, chilling him like an ice cube causing the hairs on his skin to stand up. Seeing this sight, he looks at his surroundings, a clearing surrounded by a dark forest. ¡°I must get to civilization,¡± he thinks. He starts to carefully trek through the forest. The moonlight peaks through the dark canopy but as he treads deeper and deeper into the forest the moonlight becomes dimmer and dimmer until finally it is once again pitch-black. A still silence permeates the wood. Seeing that this is happening, he starts to try to use the power of Sight to find his way through this damned forest. True Sight or Sight as it is called in the shorthand allows an Awakened to have a general idea of his surroundings in a three meter radius. It is well-known that thanks to the developments by Archmage Derrakken that Sight is almost impossible to detect by most monstrous creatures, an indispensable tool for explorer parties. This ability helps the user practice their mana control. But a weird thing occurs when he uses True Sight. He can clearly see his surroundings as if in broad daylight when he looks around with his eyes; however, a weird fog of different colors occasionally appears in his line of sight. This puzzles him. After one hour, the exhaustion of using his mana for Sight and the mental fatigue is bearing down on him. He decides to walk again for another five minutes before deciding to rest. Then, he sees a blinding light with his True Sight. He stumbles backward and closes his eyes. He stops using True Sight and gets back up. He sees a pale, yellow fire in the distance where he saw that blinding light. He takes his time to quietly place a complicated Trap ritual in the nearby area. The mana in his body unwinds like a ball of yarn and wraps itself on the ground below him. He then quietly approaches the fire. The sudden smell of burnt meat mixes with the odor of crisp pine. He then hears voices breaking the silence. ¡°I am telling ya Ram I saw the sky split open like an egg!¡± He creeps toward the voices carefully. ¡°What kind of nonsense are ya spouting Spam?¡± He inches closer and closer. ¡°I¡¯m telling ya the truth, Ram, the sky literally split open like a good crow¡¯s egg over a frying pan!¡± The wind wraps around his face and body, chilling him. ¡°Stop being a delusional idiot, Spam!¡± Sweat drips from the back of his neck. ¡°Why don¡¯t ya believe me, Ram?¡± ¡°Because you are being an idiot!!¡± Over their shouting, he sees them. Two dark trolls roasting and eating dead human meat. He knows because he sees a half - bitten human head with its tongue sticking out. He slowly backs away. They stop. ¡°Do you smell that Ram?¡± ¡°Why indeed I do, Spam!¡± ¡°HUMAN!!!¡± roars Ram. ¡°HUMAN!!!¡± yells Spam. He books it out of there. They grab their large, bony clubs and break a small tree lighting it on fire. The earth shakes. ¡°BOOOM!!!!¡± ¡°BOOOMM!!!!¡± ¡°Where are you?¡± said Spam. ¡°Come here little human I won¡¯t hurt you,¡± said Ram. Their torches light up the forest around them. They see the man off to the distance 750 feet away. ¡°There you are!¡± said Spam. They rush in to kill him, breaking trunks and lighting up the forest canopy. He makes a hard left. They follow him. Another left. They continue the pursuit hoping to taste human flesh. ¡°Um, Spam, is it really a good idea to bring this much fire with us?¡± ¡°Of course, Ram, how else would we able to find the HUUMAN!?!¡± He makes another left and narrowly passes the trolls and zips past the encroaching forest fire. ¡°Spam, we¡¯re surrounded by fire!!¡± ¡°Ouch!!¡± The trolls are now surrounded by fire and smoke. Unfortunately, in their confusion one of their clubs knicks him like a golf ball and he flies into the trunk of a tree. Momentarily stunned and bleeding out through sheer force of will, he makes himself stand up. Some bones are broken. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°You really think I would fall for such a paltry trick, human?¡± Seeing the man, Spam grabs him with its right hand. ¡°Ouch!! Spam, this fire hurts!!¡± ¡°No pain. No gain, Ram.¡± He looks at the human. ¡°Although I am covered in hair, this hair is resistant to fire. Goodbye, human.¡± It then moves its thumb to crush his head. The thumb stops. In fact, Spam can¡¯t move his arms and legs. ¡°WHHAATTT!!¡± In fact, he can¡¯t move his lungs. ¡°Can¡¯t breathe¡­¡± ¡°Spam, don¡¯t how him all for yourself!¡± Ram then runs toward Spam. ¡°Idiot...,¡± Spam thinks. The man looks at the dumb troll running at him and makes a big smile. He clicks his tongue. The rampaging forest fire that the trolls made in chasing him moves away from the trees and underbrush and move towards the dumb troll surrounding hm in a whirlwind of flames. ¡°AAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!¡± ¡°RAAAAMMMMM!!!¡± The winds pick up and clouds filled with lightning roar like a lion. A tree of blue light descends from the night sky and strikes the whirlwind of flame. ¡°CCCRRRAAASSSHHH!!!!¡± The flames disperse and a charred, black corpse remains. It falls to the ground. ¡°Huuummmmmaaaaannnnn!!!!¡± Spam roars in his mind unfortunately; he looks at the human in his hands with a smug grin on his face. No despair can be seen. The man looks at him delighted. He says, ¡°That Spam fella seemed quite close to you. Are you guys relatives, brothers, or lovers?¡± ¡°Stop mocking me!¡± Spam looks at him with the same gaze as before. His face is slightly blue due to oxygen deprivation. ¡°Clearly, you guys are lovers. I am not familiar with troll biology but even if you guys are both male or both female. Who am I to judge?¡± he says laughing. ¡°Despicable human!!¡± ¡°It is a shame that he died being struck with lightning. The Gods are fickle they say. If you were only more patient and listening to that Ram fella, then maybe she could have survived.¡± ¡°HUMAN!!¡± Spam¡¯s face has become bluer. ¡°What, Ram¡¯s a guy? Who knew? And judging by your grip strength, I think you are a guy too. I did not think trolls would be into gay relationships.¡± ¡°Die Human!¡± ¡°What, you guys are actually brothers? But I was sure there was a romantic relationship between you two? Wait, can it be that?!?¡± ¡°Die!¡± ¡°Die!¡± ¡°Die!¡± Spam¡¯s face is now very blue. ¡°I am shocked by your depravity! Please let this man petition all the Gods for their mercy. ¡°Amitabha! Amitabha! ¡­.¡± ¡°DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!!!!!¡± ¡°A spiritu fornicationis Domine, libera nos ¡­.¡± The blue on the troll¡¯s face is darker. ¡°DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!!!!!¡± ¡°O great and mighty, Ezna, whose Hammer echoes throughout the Ages!!!¡± The blue is now almost black. ¡°DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!¡± The troll¡¯s face is pitched black. ¡°¡­¡± The man now stares closely at the troll. The light is gone out of its eyes. It is dead. ¡°Huhh..¡± The man breathes out and releases the spell by clicking his tongue. The troll¡¯s grip loosens, and he gets himself out as the troll falls face first. THUD! The troll crashes into the underbrush. The man, dead tired, attempts to make sure that the troll is dead. ¡°I am certain that these trolls or their campfire made that blinding light since, Sight ¡®sees¡¯ by detecting the mana in the surroundings. What was that light then?¡± ¡°XXIIIIIIIII!!!!¡± An echoing screech can be heard as bright blue storm clouds swirl overhead. They are filled with lightning. ¡°So that is what made that blinding light?¡± He jumps away from the troll. ¡°CCCCRRRAAASSSSSHHHH!!!!¡± A black lightning bolt creates shockwaves around the area. A beast can be seen. It possesses many wings filled with feathers and scales and has many tentacles for arms. It has many yellow, beady eyes on its head and has a gaping may on its body filled with razor-sharp teeth. Electricity can be seen pulsating through its body. The mana in the area kneels before it. The troll beneath it is surely dead and the gaping teeth in its maw start swirling about shredding the troll to bits. After it eats this troll and the charred one, it looks at the human. Although the human is foaming at the mouth, it decides to eat it anyway. It picks the human up with one of its free tentacles. The tentacle dies like a bug curling in on itself like it got zapped by electricity dropping the human. Burnt flesh can be smelled. It collapses on the ground black and blue liquid pouring out of its maw. It takes its black appendages and starts stabbing itself with them and beats it head and body and the ground. It cries out in pain. ¡°XXXXXIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!¡± Nearby trees are blown away and the mana in the vicinity spirals out of control forming upside down waterfalls, whirlwinds, and moving trees. After five hours of an intense struggle, it lies dead surrounded by a pool of its blood. The sky then opens up, DARKNESS can be seen. IT looks at the dead creature and the still barely alive human. IT has no expression. The world of Gray Fog Gray Fog covers the world in its embrace. Ages come and go but here lies Eternity. He wakes up looking at this bleak world. He stands up. He foolishly calls out for anybody to call back to him. Silence answers back. It says you are alone in this world. He breaks down in despair. Then Hope comes down to him. A fulgin, black key dangles in front of him with his name on it in English, Adam. He thinks to himself, ¡°If I seize this key, then all my sorrow and loneliness will vanish.¡± He takes it. The human man wakes up. The World of Arda The fire is dead, only small embers remain. There are not trees as far as human eyes can see. They all disappeared. Adam wakes up. He is surprised that he was not burned or eaten. His memories from last night seem like faint dreams. He looks around and although he saw the dying fire the trolls made, he cannot find the bodies of the trolls. He tries to find that massive black creature that sometimes appears in his memory, but he cannot find it. ¡°Did I smoke weed or ingest some mushrooms by accident?¡± Adam thinks. Realizing that he cannot find any trace of those creatures, he decides to head west to find civilization. As he starts hiking west, he feels for the key he found in that dungeon where he almost drowned ¡­ twice. Taking it out he realizes that this key looks exactly like the key he saw in hid dream. His named, Adam inscribed as white letters on this key. ¡°There are too many coincidences. There must be a connection between this key, that dungeon I was in, and my dream. But what is it?¡± Adam thinks. ¡°I can think of parallels between the name Adam and that door in the dungeon using my knowledge of Earth and the Organization, but is that right? Although I transmigrated here at that dungeon, I don¡¯t know if this vision and dungeon are more related to the destiny of the man who inhabited this body and that I am just an outsider. Or that there really is a connection between my transmigration and this key and door and vision and that I am just unaware of this world¡¯s knowledge of secrets, other worlds, and the divine? Or that it really is somehow a cruel and twisted combination of both? There are really two many possibilities. What I need now is more knowledge.¡± Adam thinks. Steeling himself, he hikes across the treeless forest of stumps in search of civilization. This occurred for two days. He woke up and hiked west and pondered about the key, dream, dungeon, and himself for about an hour or two and then moved on focusing on practicing his mana control and refining his mana in his magic core which is located near his stomach. He was surprised when he found out that there was a bunch of weird, almost foreign mana surrounding his heart. After a few attempts, he realized he use this mana but sensed that it was so far not harmful for him and contained great power. On the third day after several hours, not much has happened besides seeing a large peaceful mooseburg grazing on the shrubbery on the forest floor and truffles. They were discovered by an explorer named Burg during the Great Journey west after the Second Calamity. He originally wanted to name it Burgson since he had one as a pet that saved him from a pack of dire wolves during one of his scouting missions. He treated them like his own children. Unfortunately, there was a dispute with the taxidermists at the time. Eventually, after many fierce negotiations and even a duel, they settled on the name mooseburg, which means Burg¡¯s happy roundness since mooseburgs look like gigantic blobs of fat with massive antlers. He then saw an explorer party hunting some dire wolves after another hour¡¯s journey. Civilization is near. Loomings (Edited) The sun¡¯s rays kiss the blue waters, and the crimson warblers sing an ode to love and death. Down below, a man is walking through small monster trails on the forest floor. This man is searching for something. Something to kill. The man is Adam. ¡°I was lucky that I met that explorer party before nearing the city gate. To think that I would have to pay ten coppers just to enter unless I had an ID or showed proof that I killed a monster in the nearby area. I blew them off on their offer to hunt together since I thought those guys were messing with me, making me do extra work for the city. But the guards confirmed it.¡± He scans the area ahead of him with Sight to see if there were any monsters. He sees none. However, after thirty minutes of searching for a wild monster, he finally spots a small, bright light ahead with Sight. A royal blue boar is drinking some water from the stream on the path ahead. It is large, over twelve feet long and five feet high. Its tough, blue hide protect it from other magical creatures like dire wolves and giant firebreathing newts. Red and white tusks jut out from it snout, longer than a man¡¯s hand. Seeing the boar, Adam smiles. ¡°This looks like a good monster to test my skills directly.¡± He walks forward and stops when the boar notices him. ¡°Although this body can use elemental spells, the previous owner specialized in illusion spells.¡± The royal blue boar, looking at Adam, roars loudly and charges at him ¨C its body and tusks flash with blue and red light. Seeing the charging boar, Adam¡¯s mana swirls in his stomach and is launched from his hands as a beam of colorful light. Seeing the kaleidoscopic array of colors heading toward it, the boar tries to dodge it, but trips suddenly on a large rock. Well, it thinks, it tripped on a large rock. The boar missing the beam of green magical energy falls headfirst rolling like a blue ball toward an oak. CRRRAAAASSSHHH!!! Adam seeing the downed boar prepares another type of illusion magic. A purple gas spreads across his surroundings and converges on the boar. The gas looks like it is alive. The boar, angry at missing the intruder, roars loudly and enters a berserker state bulking up. Charging through the gas, the boar, using its sense of smell, rams the puny intruder. Puff! Instead, it runs through a puff of smoke. Still in its berserker rage, the royal blue boar continues to charge at its phantom-like intruder. Adam is currently hiding in the underbrush observing the wild monster. After he shot out that quick beam of light, he immediately hid in the underbrush and his body that the boar saw was replaced by an illusion. His spell Quick Hypnosis quickly hypnotizes opponents who are hit by the beam of mana. ¡°However, this was not the case this time.¡± The boar was affected even though the mana beam missed the opponent. ¡°Although I need more experiments to confirm this, I think if an opponent just sees my mana beam, they fall under the hypnosis.¡± Similarly, his second spell Hallucination spreads a psychedelic gas in front of him. When an opponent breathes in this gas, they are trapped in an illusion of their own making. ¡°However, when I used it this time, I saw that the boar¡¯s mind was trapped in the illusionary space within myself. It seems that it will be stuck there until either I let it out or I run out of mana to maintain the illusion.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how, but I like these improvements.¡± Adam smiles with an evil grin and looks at the struggling boar both in his dreamscape and in the real world. He gave the boar a nightmare it will never forget. After an hour, the boar lies helpless on the ground with it mouth foaming. Its legs are broken and there is blood on his tusk. Puncture marks can be seen on its body. It is blind. Adam is out of breath and exhausted. Maintaining the Hallucination spell for more than an hour seems too much for him. Seeing the helpless, miserable royal blue boar, Adam uses the third of his four illusion spells on a tree branch to finish the boar. ¡°If my other spells were strengthened to such an extent, I am thinking this should be enough to it.¡± Taking the tree branch, his mana flows into it. Black tendrils wrap around it and move around it changing it to a small dagger that was in his imagination. He is exhausted. Holding it with both hands over the foaming boar¡¯s throat. He plunges the black dagger into its throat. It goes through but the black tendrils stick into the boar. ¡°AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The boar shouts like a human. Its eye wide open like it has seen an absolute abomination. Adam releases the dagger and backs away while the boar continually shouts as its life is forcedly dragged away from it. When it dies, a weird silence pervades the forest and blood gushes out of its mouth. It died of a heart explosion. Its tongue is sticking out and its eyes are wide open. Its eyes look as if someone stole its soul and dragged it to a greater nightmare of the Great Torment of Dread Thea and darker than the abyss of the Void Prison. Feeling a little sorry for the monster, Adam pays his respects to it and using a small hunting knife cuts mana stone out of the boar. ¡°I certain that my spells did not have this kind of power then. If I had this kind of power when I met the trolls, I do not think I would have needed to rely on my last charm to strengthen my Inferno and Lightning Ritual. I could have just taken on those two trolls directly using only illusions.¡± It is known fact that the more intelligent a creature is, the more easily it can resist illusions. ¡°There was not hitch in my illusion affecting the boar. I know boars on Earth were relatively smart animals. They are smarter than babies,¡± he thinks. He starts walking away from the boar with the mana stone in a small pouch that he got from the explorer party he met earlier. ¡°I think my illusions should be able to affect intelligent creatures that are not too bright. I still don¡¯t know if my illusion spells can consistently work on most people yet. I will test it out when I get the chance.¡± Steeling himself, he passes by a small babbling brook and sees two crimson warblers in the green moonlight singing a song of love and death. The slightly bigger male warbler approaches the female. It sings to her wanting to mate. The female looking at him deems him unworthy and unleashes a song of her own. Both angry they attack each other in a battle to the death. After a minute of aeronautical acrobatics, the female warbler pierces the heart of the male crimson warbler with her beak. Unwilling, the male falls down to the ground dead while the female warbler returns to her perch singing of her victory. He remembers what the mother of the previous owner of this body said to him as a boy of an ancient legend. It was once said in the old myths that the Goddess Aria fell in love with the God Lamech. Finding out that Lamech had a human lover, Aria fought against Lamech to make him repent and if need be, slay him. However, Lamech, a master of battle, overcame the force of arms of Aria and raped her in his Golden Coliseum. He then made her a prisoner of his dungeon to be his slave. Humiliated and desiring vengeance, Aria trained her body to gain her revenge. After a hundred years, one of Lamech¡¯s human lovers stumbled upon Aria in the dungeon. Moved by Aria¡¯s story, she freed her. Giving her thanks, Aria gave the lady a red dye as a gift. Moving swiftly, Aria then broke through Lamech¡¯s Tower by herself and faced him again at his Golden Coliseum. Although Lamech fought fiercely almost slaying her a few times, she was able to overcome his strength and bisect him with her sword. Thus, Aria became the Goddess of Love and Battle. Due to the titanic battle of the gods, the lady dropped Aria¡¯s red dye down Lamech¡¯s Tower. It fell and landed on two warblers dying them red. Thus, the crimson warblers were born. ¡°It looks like I¡¯ll be able to recall the previous owner¡¯s memories as I experience more things in Arda.¡± Under the moon and stars, Adam climbs a small, rolling hill and sees the great city of Merchant¡¯s Rest. As one of the largest commercial cities in the Kingdom of Baudren, Merchant¡¯s Rest was well-known for being a hub of industry, trade, and commerce in the region and for being a seaport despite being inland. Baldwin¡¯s Canal connects Merchant¡¯s West with the Barbarossa Sea and ship-of-the-line can be seen occasionally inland along with great merchant treasure ships. Lights of all kinds can be seen in the city with the smoke of chimneys creating an artificial cloud. Blues, Yellows, and Reds mix and match and swirl together creating a colorful landscape that pops out of the dark countryside and forest. The road is paved and noises of laughter and shouts echo across the night. Descending the hill, he approaches the city gate with the boar¡¯s mana stone in hand. Having arrived at the city¡¯s north gate, he shows the guards the mana stone. Opening his eyes and mouth wide in shock, the guard lets him in. ¡°I think you might have a talent being an explorer, Sir!¡± the guard says. ¡°Why don¡¯t you apply to be an explorer at the Explorer¡¯s Guild here, Sir?¡± another guard continues. ¡°Thanks for the recommendation,¡± Adam replies smiling. ¡°I want to sell these items anyway. Do you where the guild is at?¡± ¡°Why it is right down that way, Sir.¡± The first guard points in the general direction where the Explorer¡¯s Guild is and tries to explain to Adam how to get there. Adam thanks him and walks toward that direction. Despite being evening, the people of all different walks of life can be seen walking through the city. Merchants¡¯ Rest is a melting pot housing a menagerie of individuals from fair skinned Baudrenians to dark-skinned Serapians, from forest elves to mountain dwarves, from scholarly mages and magicians to the beggars in the alleys. Merchant¡¯s Rest is a vast tapestry of differing cultures, races, classes, and peoples. Reflecting back to his encounter with the boar and the birds Adam thinks, ¡°Why are there boars and birds in Arda? Shouldn¡¯t the animals here have a separate evolutionary path than the one¡¯s on Earth? I know that in evolution certain designs of animals converge again and again; however¡­¡± He looks at a tall broadleaf tree planted near a walkway for pedestrians and sighs. ¡°I lack too much information. I need to get my priorities in order.¡± Passing by some laughing children he thinks, ¡°First, I need money and second I need information. To earn some money, it would be best if I can take advantage of my mathematical knowledge from earth; so, being a temporary math lecturer at the college in the city would work. I can then use the money that I earned to feed myself and build capital for future projects. Since this job is also in the city, I will have enough free time to check books first at the local library and then later at the college archives. I can also learn more about different kinds of illusion magic in my spare time as well since I don¡¯t have to leave the city hunting monsters. I can even research what happened to my body. Once I have accumulated enough knowledge and resources here, I can then move on and explore the greater world of Arda to help regain this body¡¯s past memories,¡± he thinks while he passes through the throngs of people. Passing by an alleyway, he overhears a conversation between three patrol guards. ¡°Who knows? Merchant¡¯s Rest has not been under a Lord or Lady for seventy years. It is possible that the Mayor might ask for a guarantee of the city¡¯s independence from either the Duke or His Majesty.¡± the second guard responds. ¡°Does it really matter?¡± a third guard says. ¡°Why of course, since¡­,¡± the first guard says. ¡°Hey! Get lost. This is official business,¡± the second guard says to Adam. Shrugging his shoulders, Adam moves away from the guards. Their voices trail off as he tries to find the Explorer Guild. Asking around, he eventually moves past the winding streets, maddening crowds and brightly lit buildings and finds the massive Explorer Guild. It is made of stone. Loud noises can be heard inside, and bright light can be seen beaming out the windows. Moving closer, the smell of alcohol wafts in the air. Opening the double doors, he sees rowdy men and women of all shapes and sizes and races laughing and drinking to their hearts content. CRASH! A table and a chair are broken. A woman laughs and flexes her arm. The World of Grey Fog (Edited) Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Samuel, and a rising star in Baudren¡¯s Royal Navy, is currently back in the captain¡¯s quarters sorting out paperwork after killing Bruce ¡®Red Blood¡¯ Tate. ¡°Raiba!?!?¡± The Grand Conspiracy Adam wakes up in the World of Grey Fog. He is alone. ¡°Where am I? Is this a dream?¡± he thinks. Looking around, he sees a vast see of empty mists and silence. There is no wind. ¡°How the hell does this world work?¡± Adams asks. Suddenly, the ringing of church bells can be heard behind him. He looks back only to see a canvas of grey. Still, he can hear the bells. He walks forward. ¡°I really am out of options. I hate being lead on the nose like this.¡± Adams says complaining to the gloomy sky. Walking toward the direction of the church bells, they get louder and louder. Clang! Clang!! CLANG!!! The sound of the bells shakes his body and heart. He trudges onward disregarding his shaking body. Soon, he sees a black patch against the grey and upon moving closer he can see two massive black gates. Familiar writing can be seen on them. Truth lies behind Unapproachable Light. ¡°What is it and this Light symbology I keep seeing?¡± he thinks. Studying the door, there are glyphs, letters, and other writings on it that are unintelligible to him. ¡°It looks like I know what I should research for first when I get back,¡± he says out loud. The soundwaves from the bells oppress him. Blinking, all of the mysterious script disappears, and a keyhole appears on the door to his right. Putting two and two together, he takes out the key he found in his previous vision from his pockets and sticks it in the keyhole and turns it. The sound from the bells no longer feels overbearing and the doors open. Creak! The massive doors open and the smell of incense flows into his nostrils. He then sees an ancient wooden boardroom table with thrones surrounding it. The greatest throne is at the head of the boardroom table. It is solid black with highlights of gold, mithril, and orichalcum. A large jewel can be seen on the top of the backrest of the throne. ¡°Welp, let¡¯s see what happens,¡± he thinks. Looking around and seeing that there is no immediately obvious danger, Adam sits on the black throne. His hands and arms freeze on the throne¡¯s armrest, and he loses control of his body. He can¡¯t move away from the throne and a sharp pain spreads throughout his body. He silently screams. The colors of the visible and invisible spectrum of light appear on his eyes ¨C a kaleidoscopic rainbow. After five minutes, the pain stops and a soothing sensation fills his body. His body feels much better like all of the clogs and knots within himself have disappeared. Breathing heavily he sigs and says, ¡°Hah, I knew I wouldn¡¯t die.¡± ¡°If something wanted me dead here, they would have already killed me. They wouldn¡¯t use such roundabout methods unless they had a weird hobby which to be frank is not out of the question. Although I don¡¯t want to admit it, but I am currently powerless in front of whatever I am facing.¡± Looking down at the now smooth table, he can see his own reflection. At first, he looks like a wraith without form and without face or body. Two colorful eyes piece through the grey mist covering him. However, the grey mist on his body rolls back into the world revealing a tall man with a lanky build and black hair. Adam has tanned white skin due to traveling around the past week and his two eyes are full of colors which periodically change to different color scheme after a minute or two. He thinks about covering his body again in the mist and after five minutes, the grey mists start doing just that. ¡°It looks like I can control the grey fog in this world.¡± Adam thinks. He looks at the table empty table and thinks about how nice it would be if he had a pen and paper. Plop! An ornate pen appears out of nowhere and a large stack of papers fall neatly on the desk. Seeing this happen, Adam starts thinking of all kinds of fantastical creatures and mundane items to see the limit of his control of this world. Three hours later. After spending his time testing the limits of this space, Adam came up with three conclusions which he wrote down on the paper in front of him:
  1. He can summon any inanimate object he has seen in the world of Arda that is smaller than a small wagon. When trying to summon larger objects or living beings, there is great resistance in the World of Grey Fog as the mists and clouds swirl about like a tornado trying to bring these objects to this world. The same goes for any object located in Earth.
  2. He can¡¯t use this world to change the essence of his body, but he can use the grey fog to empower his mana and modify his arcane spells.
  3. Finally, he learned he can manipulate the objects and physical laws in this world like causing the table, thrones, and himself to float upside down and controlling the grey fog.
After writing this down, he sighs to himself and says to himself, ¡°Why am I even here?¡± Then, the World of Grey Fog hearing his question has its grey fog and mists swirl about him and the table and thrones. The surface of the table transforms into a calm sea with mists on it and stars reflecting on its surface. Adam then sees words on its surface. Liberty. Fraternity. Equality. Adam¡¯s eyes and mouth are wide open. Getting a hold of himself he says, ¡°It can¡¯t be¡­¡± New World Order. Debt. ¡°It can¡¯t be related to the Organization. I have washed myself clean!¡± he says. Payment. Enlighten the World. ¡°Enlighten the world¡­¡± Adam says under his breath. ¡°Dammit all!!! I am still tied to the Organization. I thought I thoroughly crushed it leaving behind no survivors besides me,¡± he thinks. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Yes. ¡°It can read my mind here?¡± Staring at the table with a piercing gaze, he asks ¡°What are you?¡± You and not you. ¡°Stop speaking in riddles,¡± he says. Remember the Creed. ¡°Those who think themselves free deceive themselves, There is no one that is free: no not one, From the lowest serf to the highest king, All are bound by Absolute Necessity, Absolute Destiny, Absolute Fate¡­.¡± Slamming his fist on the sea Adam says with sweat dripping from his forehead, ¡°I serve only myself. I am my own master. I control my own destiny. Again, why did you bring me here.¡± His fist does not go through the sea like water but hits a hard surface like the table from earlier. Enlighten the World. ¡°Quit it with the riddles!¡± Farwell. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t leave!¡± The words fade away from the see and the starry sea eventually regains its bodily shape. It has returned to its previous form as a table. Adam sighs and looks at the sky. ¡°Dammit all¡­¡± he says. Then, he sees something surprising in the night sky. He sees two still-life paintings. He can see a small and scrawny sailor boy sleeping peacefully in his cabin. He appears to be either thirteen or fourteen years old and is lightly snoring. Looking at the other painting he sees a young lady with blood all over her head and hair and dress. She looks to be dead. The paintings shine in the night sky outshining the stars, but they fall toward the table. They land gracefully. ¡°Huh, what are these supposed to be,¡± Adam thinks. He looks at the painting with the young boy and touches. It disappears into colorful bubbles and seafoam into the table. He can sense that someone has entered the World of Grey Fog. ¡°Where¡­. where am I?¡± Billy says to himself. He looks around the area completely bewildered. ¡°Captain Adrian, Mr. Klein, Rodney, anybody!¡± he yells. He looks around frantically trying to find a way out. He starts to run. ¡°Help!¡± he says. ¡°Anyone!¡± ¡°Please!¡± he says with some tears and snot on his face. Suddenly he hears the ringing of church bells to his left. ¡°Maybe there can be people there that can help me find Captain,¡± he thinks. He starts running toward the direction of the church bells. They get louder and louder. His body is shaking. ¡°No, I can¡¯t stop now. I have to find Captain and Mr. Klein,¡± he says motivating himself. Enduring the pain of his bones and muscles shaking from the sound of the bells, Billy manages to make it to entrance of the two large black doors. He can see writing on the doors, but they look like chicken scratches to him. The bells stop and his muscles and bones stop shaking. ¡°Whew,¡± he says. Creak! The black doors start to open and clouds of burnt incense fills his nostrils. He suddenly feels very heaving almost falling completely to the ground. Looking up ahead, warning signs and danger flashes throughout the neurons in his brain. He looks up regardless. Then, he saw Someone. A person absolutely covered by grey fog and mists with a bright diadem and jewel above his head filled with a blazing black. His face and body absolutely cannot be seen, but two dots of colorful light can be seen on his face. Those are probably his eyes. Billy¡¯s instincts are telling him that this person is more dangerous than any person he has ever met. From Captain Adrian to the Admiral of Baurdren¡¯s navy even to His Majesty himself, this person blows them out of the water in terms of the mana he is emitting. ¡°Am, Am I having an audience with a God!¡± Billy thinks. The person motions for him to take a throne. Billy swallows his saliva and says, ¡°O..O..O-kay!¡± Sweat drips from his forehead and the back of his neck and with shaking body moves toward the throne. The person points at the throne right to his left looking at him. ¡°Y-Yes!¡± Billy does as he is told and slowly but eventually sits on the throne to the left of Adam. He is incredibly nervous and looks at Adam every so often. ¡°Looks like I got na?ve, chicken-hearted boy,¡± Adam thinks to himself. ¡°He should be to deceive,¡± he thinks. The boy can be clearly seen in Adam¡¯s view even though right now he is covered in grey mists. Adam then touches the other still-life painting, and it floats through the table dispersing into bubbles. Billy opens his eyes wide and shouts at the painting disappearing into the table. Adam looks at him. ¡°S..Sorry!¡± he says lowering his head. Adam looks back at the double-doors. Seeing Adam look at the black double-doors, Billy looks at them as well. They open and the sounds of the bells can be heard again. He thinks, ¡°Is there someone else coming here.¡± The doors open and he sees another person covered in grey fog. He can see their face but by their figure, the person is probably a young lady. She pauses for a bit, taken aback at the sight she is seeing. ¡°Is- is that the last person to arrive, my Lord?¡± Billy says to Adam. Adam nods back. The words from the boy snaps her out of her shock and she hardens her resolve and marches toward the throne right next to Adam on his right. Billy can sense a fiery sense of determination emanating from her as she gets closer to them. Clang! Clang! Clang!! Adam then stares directly at Ha-Rin¡¯s face and she flinches at the pressure, but she reorients herself and sits on the throne next to Adam across from Billy. The sound of the bells stop and the tall black doors close shut. Creak! Ha-Rin looks at Billy in front of her, she can¡¯t see their face but she has a good impression of what they are like. ¡°The one across from me seems like a na?ve boy. I don¡¯t sense much mana from him either. Unless it is all an act, I think he is in a predicament similar to mine.¡± Ha-Rin then looks at Adam. ¡°That person doesn¡¯t seem to be human. It is impossible for even dragons to have that much mana. An absolute monster. I should be careful around him and not piss him off.¡± Billy then says, ¡°My¡­my¡­my Lord, why¡­why did you call us here.¡± Adam looks at Billy and thinks, ¡°Quite brave for him, I guess.¡± ¡°Yeah, why am I here?¡± Ha-Rin says. Billy waves his hands trying to gesture that she shouldn¡¯t have said that. ¡°What is it,¡± she says. ¡°P-P-Please, be more respectful to Mr. Black here. I-I think he might be divine,¡± Billy says looking at Adam. Adam nods his head. ¡°So, what if you are God, tell us why we are here,¡± Ha-Rin says. Adam then stares at Ha-Rin for a good five minutes. ¡°What is it?¡± she says. Billy interrupts, ¡°I-I t-think he wants you to be more polite, Miss.¡± Adam again nods his head. ¡°Hah¡­¡± she says. Adam again stares directly at her and releases some pressure. ¡°I am terribly sorry,¡± she says bowing her head to him. ¡°I really should stop picking fights with other people stronger than me,¡± she thinks. Adam thinks, ¡°Good, it looks like the both of them acknowledged me as one on the top of the chain of command here. If people don¡¯t know if you are important, then act important and their belief of your importance will follow.¡± Adam then stands up from his throne, the grey mist and clouds following him. He then raises his hands above his head and the grey clouds part revealing a starry sky. ¡°Wow,¡± Billy says. ¡°Very showy,¡± Ha-Rin says, eyes glued at the spectacle. Then the skies and stars transform into a kaleidoscope of mosaics and paintings depicting the creation of Arda and the various catastrophes and calamities it has suffered. Tales of Ages come and gone from the death of the Giants to the disappearance of the True Dragons to the sinking of an entire civilization to the bottom of the ocean and to the Abandonment of the Old Gods, Adam showed them fantastical pieces of art depicting such tragedies, comedies, and dramas. Billy and Ha-Rin stared at these depictions with wonder. Then, the scenes rapidly shift to a scene depicting the current Pantheon in all of their glory from Great Pas to Dread Thea to Mighty Ezna, all of the Pantheon are here ruling over all with justice and compassion. Then, the scenes change again, this time Great Pas is crucified, Dread Thea has a mountain tied around her neck and is drowned at sea, Mighty Ezna is cast into the Sun, and so on. The Pantheon is defeated reduced to nothing. ¡°B-Blasphemy!¡± Billy says shocked. Then, a whirlwind picks up Billy and Ha-Rin. ¡°Hey, I didn¡¯t say anything,¡± Ha-Rin says. They are throne upward toward the sky toward the paintings. Billy and Ha-Rin scream. Then, they hear a loud booming voice. Mene, mene, teckel to the so-called gods and goddesses! For breaking the Covenant, they are found wanting! For their atrocities, they are found wanting! For their lack of virtue, they are found wanting! Mene, mene, teckel to the so-called gods and goddesses! They are found wanting! For breaking the Covenant, their power shall be broken! For their atrocities, they shall die like those they have slain! For their lack of virtue, their names, acts, and deeds shall be forgotten! Mene, mene, teckel to the so-called gods and goddesses! They are found wanting! And with that Billy and Ha-Rin disappear from the World of Grey Fog and return back to Arda. Adam then sits back down on his throne. He is tired with sweat dripping down from his forehead and back. ¡°Hah. That was a good show if I do say so myself,¡± he says. ¡°Besides the names of the deities of the Pantheon, everything else was fake. Chocked up with my own imagination. A good story,¡± he thinks to himself. ¡°As the saying goes, it is easier to believe in a big lie than a small one especially if there is an ounce of truth,¡± he thinks while stretching his arms. ¡°Hah, since I essentially have to resurrect the Organization here, I have to somehow control from the shadows not just governments but also the Pantheon itself.¡± He starts to close his eyes. ¡°Such nonsense¡­¡± Adam drifts to sleep. His lie was much closer to the truth than he realized. Awakening Part One Billy wakes up screaming. AH!!! He falls to the ground. Thud! ¡°Ouch,¡± he says. ¡°Hey, lil¡¯ Billy, knock it off!¡± a gruff voice says. ¡°S-sorry, Mr. Teddy,¡± Billy says apologizing. ¡°Did ya have a nightmare?¡± Teddy asks. ¡°Y-yeah,¡± says Billy, ¡°I d-don¡¯t really remember what happened, b-but I remember that it showed me that the Pantheon needs our help.¡± ¡°Ha! Ha! Ha!¡± laughed Teddy. Billy pouts at him feeling embarrassed. ¡°Hah, it¡¯s fine,¡± the big man says sighing, ¡°if the gods really needed our help, the world is screwed, Billy.¡± ¡°Before going to bed, stop participating in the ghost stories, the other guys keep going. Just sleep like a log like I do,¡± says Teddy. ¡°Remember to take care of yourself, I¡¯ll forgive you this time,¡± the man says getting up from his bunk bed. The bell for breakfast rings. ¡°T-thank you, Mr. Teddy!¡± Billy says smiling. ¡°What a ray of sunshine,¡± Theodore thinks. Billy hurriedly gets ready and heads toward the mess hall for breakfast. If there is one thing that Billy loves, it¡¯s food. He is one of the first ones in the hall and gets his breakfast. Because of that his mind shifted about figuring out what he dreamt to a juicy, delectable, mouth-watering breakfast. The captain has allowed the chef to indulge a bit for today¡¯s meals due to the recent victory. Flapjacks, butter, potatoes, and monstrous pork are all served for today¡¯s breakfast, and there is even some old eggs of some flying monsters being served as well. Looking at his plate with delight, Billy digs into his meal. ¡°Hah, look what we have here,¡± a young voice says to him. Billy looks behind him and sees a posse of young boys a little bigger than him. A boy with yellow hair stands in front of them like he is their leader. He looks pretentious. A person you would not normally see working with commoners. ¡°How can you be eating first when you did not even contribute much to the last battle, B-billy,¡± he says with a mocking stutter at the end. ¡°I-its b-because the C-captain said it was first come, f-first¡­¡± ¡°What first come, first serve,¡± the young boy says, ¡°Just because something is permitted, does not mean it should be done.¡± Billy looks down. ¡°Hey! Stop with the harassment,¡± a man says to the yellow-haired boy. ¡°Mr. Teddy!¡± ¡°Theodore Payne,¡± the young boy says gritting your teeth. ¡°Maybe one of ya wet nurses dropped ya at birth, because ya not as bright as even myself?¡± he says. !!! He points his finger at him and says, ¡°You dare!¡± ¡°Exactly, don¡¯t cha ¡®member what the Captain said, ¡®everyone¡¯s background and bloodline doesn¡¯t matter, only their ability.¡¯ Are ya challenging the Captain¡¯s authority?¡± he asks back. ¡°You!!¡± ¡°Stop being an idiot!!¡± ¡°Alexander. Theodore.¡± The hustle and bustle of the mess hall becomes silent. They look at the entrance of the mess hall and see the Captain along with his First Mate, Klein. ¡°Yes, Captain Adrian, Sir,¡± they both say saluting him. Soon everyone in the mess likewise salutes the Captain. ¡°At ease,¡± he says. Looking at Theodore and young Alexander, he says, ¡°Cease your quarrelling.¡± ¡°Yes, Captain!¡± they both exclaim. The Captain along with Klein go to the chef for their breakfast. Billy then thinks to himself, ¡°I wonder what that dream I had means? It doesn¡¯t make any sense. I should ask the Captain or Mr. Klein for some advice when they are free.¡± After getting his breakfast and setting it on an empty table, the Captain says, ¡°After breakfast, I want you all on deck. I have an important announcement to make regarding our next mission.¡± After a brief pause of silence in the mess hall, it returns to its jovial atmosphere of food and merriment. About an hour later, everyone is on the deck of the ship looking at Captain Adrian on the forecastle at the stern of the ship. He says, ¡°His Grace, has commanded us to sail west toward the island of Nublar. The Admiralty has received a level three distress call from Nublar¡¯s port last night via a magic line.¡± The distress calls that the Baudren Navy has established can be divided into five levels. A level one distress call is not a life-threatening situation and is usually sent if a port wants some more help and support from the Baudren such as guarding and patrolling the area as well as helping with maintenance of the port. A level two distress call occurs when a hazard or danger is encroaching upon the port but the port town is confident that it can deal with it using its own forces. A level three distress call means that a disaster is approaching a port town such that it cannot handle on its own. Most distress calls are in between level one and level three. ¡°We will get there within one week. Be prepared everyone,¡± he says. Billy stares at the Captain and Klein and then at everyone else and thinks, ¡°I hope nothing bad happens.¡± A weird nagging feeling tugs at him, but he dismisses it; instead focusing on the breakfast before. While Billy sails toward the port on the island of Nublar, someone else wakes up on her bed. KYAAA! A scream can be heard echoing across the palace. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. A lady with black hair and a sharp face is lying on a large bed. She looks pale. Sweat drips down from her forehead. ¡°My Lady!¡± Two people barge through the door, a butler and a maid. ¡°Are you alright, Princess!¡± the maid says. ¡°How are you, my lady?¡± the butler asks seeing that she seems to be not heavily injured. Remembering what happened in that Zone, headaches wrack her head causing her to wince in pain while holding onto her head. Due to the commotion and the screaming, a sizeable group of maids, guards, and other palace servants start to gather around the door. ¡°Would you like some ice, my Lady?¡± the butler asks. The maid with brown hair says, ¡°Stay still, Princess.¡± Then, the maid says some weird but beautiful words and green light appears on her hands, and she lays her hands on Ha-Rin. The butler shoos away the servants and vassals congregating around the door. Piecing everything together, Ha-Rin says, ¡°Who are you people?¡± Although Ha-Rin is Korean, due to her memories mixing some of the previous owner¡¯s memories, she was able to speak the native language. Unfortunately, most of her knowledge of Arda and the Holy Ezna Empire is down the toilet. ¡°I am, Mordecai Mantini, your head butler,¡± the butler says turning to her and bowing. ¡°My name is Jane Nika,¡± says the maid with brown hair, ¡°I am your personal maid.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t know you,¡± Ha-Rin says, ¡°In fact, who am I?¡± The butler then squints his eyes at her and says, ¡°Do you remember who you are?¡± Ha-Rin thinks and says, ¡°I remember distant scenes of people calling me Zana but that¡¯s about it.¡± ¡°This looks bad,¡± Mordecai thinks, ¡°From her gaze and posture, it looks like she really is seeing us for the first time. In fact, looking at how she speaks and her mannerisms it looks like she even forgot all of her lessons in etiquette which should be ingrained even in her body if not her mind.¡± ¡°I am so sorry, Princess!¡± Jane says. She starts to cry. ¡°It is fine, Jane. Please speak more freely with me. You to Mordecai,¡± she says. ¡°I really hate the stuffy atmosphere and stiffness of the upper class,¡± she thinks. Mordecai says, ¡°How much do you remember, Princess?¡± ¡°Truthfully, almost nothing besides some common sense and my name, Zana,¡± she says. Mordecai replies, ¡°Strictly speaking you have two names, Princess. The name Zana is your informal name that you use with those close you while your royal name is Zanatera Katerina Alexios Ezna.¡± ¡°Good to know,¡± she says. ¡°There, there, Jane.¡± Sniff. Mordecai continues, ¡°My lady, you are the Second Princess of the Holy Ezna Empire, the White Lily of the Empire. Due to the innate lack of mana control, your constitution is weaker than normal commoners. You often get sick.¡± Mordecai says the last line with regret. ¡°From what I remember on Earth after the Calamity, people with weak mana control often got sick with Mana Sickness,¡± she thinks. ¡°What are my symptoms,¡± she asks Mordecai. ¡°Luckily, due to the already advance science of biology and medicine on Earth, those crazy lab coats were able to classify all diseases related to mana deficiency and lack of mana control.¡± Mordecai says, ¡°You often get chills, weakness, fevers, and even delusions, my Lady.¡± ¡°That is too broad. I need more information,¡± Ha-Rin thinks. ¡°Is there anything else?¡± she asks. Mordecai ponders her question a bit more and remembers something. He says, ¡°Actually, I think the last time you were sick and confined to bed, I saw that there were some blue spots on your forehead. Besides that, there was nothing else that I am aware of.¡± ¡°Shit!¡± she shouts in her mind. ¡°I know what my sickness is, Blue Mana Fever.¡± When the dungeons first appeared on Earth, there was mass hysteria with many people losing there lives from the monsters spewing out of the dungeons and the chaos caused by people due to the breakdown of society. This lasted for about ten years. During this time, many new diseases appeared on the scene of history. One of them was Blue Mana Fever. At the height of this insanity, Blue Mana Fever swept across China, India, the Middle East and eventually made its way to Europe where it killed one-fourth of the population in that section of the world while chaos still reigned. Once society was able to stabilize and beat back the monster back into their dungeons, leaders started focusing on eradicating this disease. Due to breakthroughs by Roth¡¯s Pharmaceuticals, an antidote was created from dungeon and monster materials saving countless lives. ¡°I need to get my hands on the materials to create that antidote and find someone to make it for me,¡± she thinks. Ha-Rin says to Mordecai, ¡°Do we have any alchemists in the palace?¡± Mordecai says, ¡°Yes, we have Master Gormenghast. Right now, he is his study trying to solve your condition.¡± ¡°Take me to him,¡± she says and looking to Jane she continues, ¡°Jane, please follow me as well.¡± ¡°Yes Princess!¡± Jane says. The sadness on her face is now gone although it is still wet with tears. Having Mordecai lead the way, the trio arrive at Master Gormenghast¡¯s study. Mordecai knocks on the door and says, ¡°Lady Zana would like to see you.¡± The doors open revealing an old man with a white beard and a tall wizard hat. ¡°I greet the White Lily of the Empire, Lady Zanatera,¡± he says while slightly bowing his head and taking off his hat. Putting his head back on his head, he asks, ¡°What do you need from me, Lady Zana?¡± Mordecai looks straight at him although he is tense, while Jane fidgets at his gaze. Ha-Rin is unfazed. ¡°Although I don¡¯t know how those lab coats made the antidote, I do know what dungeon materials were needed to make it since we often get their requests from the Hunter¡¯s Guild in Korea. Unfortunately, they might have different names here,¡± she thinks. Zana then says, ¡°I am looking for some ingredients for a potion.¡± ¡°What are they, Lady Zana?¡± he says back. Zana then starts reciting the description of each of the ingredients that she saw in the Hunter¡¯s Guild when she was still on Earth. As one expects of the palace of an Imperial Princess, they are not lacking in anything. Gormenghast says, ¡°Yes, we have all of these ingredients, Lady Zana. In fact, they are all in my study except for the Scarlet Tears which are in storage.¡± Ha-Rin then gets straight to the point, ¡°I think if you combine all those ingredients into a potion, I believe that it will help me overcome my sickness.¡± ¡°What makes you so confident,¡± he replies without any honorifics. Mordecai and Jane glare at him. Zana says, ¡°I saw it in my dream. That the potion that will cure me will have those ingredients.¡± ¡°HA! HA! HA!¡± Gormenghast laughs and says, ¡°That can¡¯t really be it right, Princess? Do you take me for a fool?¡± Mordecai clenches his hand. Zana shakes her head and says, ¡°At least try it.¡± Some tears can be seen dripping from her eyes. ¡°My Lady, it has been hard on you right?¡± Jane says. She hugs Zana comforting her. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be so heartless as to deny a crying maiden now, would you?¡± ¡°Stop your crying,¡± he says. ¡°Pathetic. Stop being so stupid. It disgusts me,¡± he says. ¡°Master Gormenghast!¡± yells Mordecai. ¡°Oh, Fuck you!¡± Ha-Rin says. Jane stares at both of them in shock. Master Gormenghast sighs and says, ¡°I hate those who lie to my face. If you really want me to do this, Lady Zana, then I am obligated to.¡± ¡°This fellow is perceptive,¡± she thinks. ¡°Fine, I will forgive you this one time. Just try to make the potion,¡± she says to him. ¡°Your will be done,¡± he says. Then, Princess Zana leaves the study with Mordecai and Jane following her. The alchemist Gormenghast is alone in his study. He sighs and says to himself, ¡°It seemed that she really did lose her memory.¡± Zana, Jane, and Mordecai walk down the hall. Zana then asks Jane, ¡°Is he always like this to me before?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, Princess, you and Master Gormenghast are like oil and water,¡± she replies. ¡°You must be tired, my Lady. Please get some rest for now,¡± Mordecai continues. ¡°Fine, fine,¡± Ha-Rin says. ¡°May Mighty Ezna protect you as He protected His flock,¡± Mordecai says. Suddenly, memories flood into her mind causing her to stagger. ¡°Princess, are you alright?¡± Jane asks. For a moment, Ha-Rin recalls that a mighty being greater than any giant or dragon greater than any SSS-rank calamity, a force of nature itself is completely broken extinguishing the light of stars. The broken body is thrown into the sun causing the greater light of day to explode into a frenzy. An appendage of light touches her. She falls on the ground. ¡°My Lady!¡± ¡°Princess!¡± Zana¡¯s two servants pick her up on the ground and place her on her bed in her room. Gormenghast rushes into her room. Jane glare at him and Mordecai says, ¡°What business do you have with Her Highness?¡± Ignoring them, he looks at Zana and feels her temperature with his hand. ¡°She is burning up,¡± he says. He looks at them and says, ¡°Give me an hour. I will have an elixir made according to the Princess¡¯ wishes by then.¡± He then hurries out of the room. Although still in shock, seeing his serious expression both the maid and the butler decide to put their trust in the elixir. ¡°Come on, my Lady, although you may have a weak body, your will is that of iron,¡± Mordecai says. ¡°Princess! Hang on! Please stay with us!¡± Jane yells. After what appeared to be like a century, Master Gormenghast enters the room again with a red elixir made from the Princess¡¯s suggestions. Jane and Mordecai look at him and he nods back to them. Moving them away from Princess Zana, he takes the cap of the potion bottle and places it in her mouth. ¡°Drink up, Princess,¡± he says. She barely drinks any at first which has the three of them worried, but she starts drinking more and more of the tonic gaining more strength every time. She finishes the tonic and soon the fever breaks giving everybody a sigh of relief. ¡°Sleep well, Lady Zana,¡± says Gormenghast looking at her pale but now calm face. ¡°I am expecting great things from you,¡± he whispers to himself. Jane tearfully thanks Master Gromenghast and Mordecai thanks him as well. ¡°I am sorry for the commotion I caused earlier,¡± he says bowing. ¡°Since the Princess has already forgiven you, I too forgive you,¡± says Jane. ¡°Me as well,¡± Mordecai says a little begrudgingly. ¡°Farewell,¡± he says. Soon Master Gormenghast leaves and due to matters related to the management of the palace Mordecai also leaves. The maid, Jane, stays with Princess Zana watching over her. Meanwhile, images flash by Ha-Rin¡¯s mind of the past and a possible future. Awakening Part Two Ha-Rin¡¯s mind is in a daze. Her consciousness fading in and out. However, after some time she sees not darkness but light, absolutely blinding light. An everlasting fire. A dragon roar thunders across the skies. Raiba, the Storm Dragon of the End, the Destroyer of Two Continents, peaks his face through the dark storm clouds. Thunderheads and thunderbolts streak across the sky the clouds whirling like tornadoes the air itself an enemy of all life. Looking at the Storm Dragon, Ha-Rin is filled with dread. She is frightened in place. Raiba proceeds to consume her, but it was not so. A great whirlwind of fire consumes the world even Ha-Rin herself, yet she feels no pain. Darkness besets her. Then, opening her eyes she sees that she in a green hill overlooking a city of Arda. She hears the sounds of war, and she looks back. A great blinding light faster than sound overwhelms her, and she sees everyone melt like candles but before her consciousness fades, she sees a figure cloaked with the very flames of the Sun. It points at her. Now, everything is dark. A black abyss stretches forth its tentacles toward her inching ever closer. Her eyes and ears are shut seeing no light and hearing no sounds. Then a great power overflows from her, a familiar revitalizing power, pushing back the darkness turning night into day. She wakes up. She feels great, in fact, better than great. ¡°I feel like this body might be able to handle some of my sword training from Earth now,¡± she thinks. She then thinks about her recent dream, ¡°I need to get stronger. Whatever that dream means, it does not look good for me either way.¡± Sunlight flitters between the purple curtains and a sound of silence permeates the room. She lightly slaps her cheeks and thinks, ¡°Focus, Ha-Rin. Nothing good will come about dwelling on the past.¡± Ha-Rin looks at her surroundings again more clearly, admiring the artwork and d¨¦cor of the room. They give the impression of old, regal king ruling from ages past. Passing over the items in the room, she looks at her maid Jane sleeping silently. Ha-Rin who is now Princess Zana moves out of the bed and slightly pushes Jane to wake her up. ¡°Huh¡­,¡± Jane says half-asleep. She yawns. ¡°Ah! Princess! I am so glad that you are okay!¡± she says hugging Zana. Noticing that she is hugging royalty, she says, ¡°Sorry, for my rudeness, my Lady.¡± ¡°It is fine, Jane. I am glad that you are always here for me,¡± Zana says. ¡°My lady, do you have your memory back?¡± Jane asks. Zana shakes her head. ¡°However, I do remember now that when I was young child, you would play hide and seek with me in the palace,¡± Zana says smiling. ¡°I am so glad that you remember at least a little bit,¡± Jane says hugging her. ¡°Also, Jane, do you know the name of this city? I still don¡¯t remember,¡± Zana asks. ¡°Why yes, I do, my Lady! We are in the city of Tel-Vanna, located in the northern heartland of the Empire,¡± Jane says. Then, Jane¡¯s eyes opened wide, and she exclaims, ¡°You have mana in your body!¡± Noticing Jane¡¯s remark, Zana is at first surprised but remembering the sensation earlier. She thinks, ¡°That good feeling from earlier must have been when the antidote unshackled my mana from the Blue Mana Fever. Luckily, my body is not in shock due to my mana flowing through it.¡± She looks at her hands noticing that they are no longer pale. ¡°It¡¯s a miracle,¡± Jane says, ¡°Praise Great Pas! May He return and give us a Second Life.¡± After making the sign of the square, she says to Zana, ¡°My Lady, please let me tell the others about this wonderful occasion! We will celebrate right away.¡± Zana still in deep thought and only half-listening says, ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Thanks, my Lady!¡± Jane then hurries to others in the palace leaping with joy. ¡°Actually, wait¡­,¡± Zana says a step to late. Sighing, she thinks, ¡°It¡¯s fine. They would have found out about it eventually. Since it looks like I have access to mana now, I should try some meditation exercises I learned on Earth.¡± She peels her eyes away from the door and sits on her bed cross-legged. She then starts using the breathing exercises she developed as Hunter on Earth to sense the mana within her and mold it to her will. At first, there is nothing only emptiness. No color, no depth, no texture, no movement, but then a dazzling light appears within her mind. It shines brighter and brighter until the light shrinks back down into a puddle within the void. Looking at the small puddle in her mind, she thinks, ¡°It looks like a success. I can sense mana in my body. It¡¯s good that I remembered this technique back on Earth. Also, since the mana coalesced as a puddle, then that should mean that I have an affinity for water magic in this life. I have mixed feelings about this.¡± In her previous life, Ha-Rin was a magic swordswoman who specialized in fire magic and was known as the Ever-Burning Flame. Remembering her past nickname, she cringes and says to herself, ¡°I am not a battle junkie.¡± She then continues to meditate and gain control over her newly accessible mana. While Ha-Rin is in denial of her true nature, Jane is currently hurrying about the palace, informing others of her Lady¡¯s recovery and triumph over her illness. ¡°Really, how wonderful!¡± many of the servants say. ¡°Let us celebrate,¡± Jane says, ¡°we should host a banquet for celebration!¡± Infected with her enthusiasm, the servants she meets nod in agreement and they tell others the same news. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Eventually, the halls of the manor are filled with life with butlers, maids, and guards running to and fro busily preparing a banquet. Jane then sees Mordecai talking to Master Gormenghast and hurries over to them. ¡°Lord Mordecai, Master Gormenghast, let us host a banquet for the Princess!¡± she exclaims. Noticing her shouting at them, Mordecai says, ¡°We can speak more of how Princess knew of the cure later. You can just ask her about it during the banquet.¡± Sighing, Gormenghast says, ¡°Fine, Mordecai. I will wait until then.¡± Disappointment flashes across from his face. He says to Mordecai and to the approaching Jane, ¡°I will be taking my leave now. Don¡¯t worry I will attend the banquet later today.¡± He then leaves the room. ¡°Lord Mordecai, we must prepare a banquet celebrating the Princess¡¯ recovery. Come with me,¡± she says dragging Mordecai by the arm. ¡°Wait...¡± he says helplessly. ¡°To the dining hall!¡± she says excitedly. While the butler and maid prepare a celebration for their Lady, a boy staggers on his feet coughing up sea water. It is Billy. ¡°Captain! Mr. Klein! Mr. Teddy! A-anybody!¡± he screams. No response. It is dusk and the sun¡¯s light will soon disappear turning day into night. Billy, being an orphaned street urchin, starts to find some dead sticks and other flammable material in order to make a fire. He finds some dead sticks some pieces of wet cloth and some berries from the bushes nearby. Digging a small pit in the ground and placing the sticks there, he starts a fire manually in order to conserve his mana. It is now dark, and stars are scattered across the high heaven. The moon peaks her head behind some clouds. Her green tint lights up the darkened world below. The small fire is burning well and Billy can be seen next to it trying to remember what happened. ¡°I think Mr. Teddy told me to something? Aha!¡± ¡°Hey, Billy. Go up on deck and mop it. Cap¡¯ns orders. Yes, Mr. Teddy.¡± ¡°Okay, I remember that I was mopping deck and that the Captain told us that we were going to the island of Nublar in response to their distress call. Is there anything else, Bill? Come on think harder!¡± Billy thinks. Then Billy remembers. Billy was mopping deck of the ship during night. Small lamps of magelight light up the ship¡¯s deck allowing him to see where he is going. While taking a break from mopping, he looks at the sea and night sky. The sea is surprisingly calm but pitch black like the abyss while the starry sky has only a few clouds blocking their light. He then looks at the moon. That green¡¯s moon hypnotic beauty awes him in her majesty and he says to himself quietly, ¡°Wow.¡± He can then see a small shadow on the moon¡¯s surface, and it soon gets bigger and bigger. He tries to stare at it to understand what is happening. The shadow gets bigger and bigger when he realizes that the shadow is not a bird or flying monster. ¡°A person?¡± he thinks. Then, a person cloaked in darkness stares at him and the ship from above. Their face and figure is blurred. He can¡¯t sense their presence or any mana on them. ¡°Am I hallucinating?¡± he thinks. He only hears incomprehensible sounds like the sound of metal clanging and scraping together. Then he hears a lovely voice. ¡°Filthy dogs of Pas.¡± Soon, a great bolt of blue lightning rockets toward Billy. ¡°Get out of the way!¡± Captain Adrian shoves Billy out of the way. A massive explosion occurs. BOOOMMM!!!! The blue lightening cracks the entire ship into two pieces causing it to sink into the water. Billy is thrown into the water beneath the cacophony of deafening magical explosions occurring above its surface. ¡°Am I going to die?¡± he thinks. Then, darkness starts to overtake him, but before it does, he hears a voice, ¡°Be still.¡± ¡°The Deity from before!¡± he thinks. ¡°Was he the reason I lived?¡± ¡°Where is this place?¡± he asks. ¡°I don¡¯t see that person here. If they did find me, then the only thing I think I can do is roll over and die,¡± he says. The gap between a Deity and a mortal is that great. ¡°Let me pray to the Lord and thank him for saving me,¡± he continues. ¡°I will try to ask for the Lord¡¯s name next time,¡± he thinks. He then starts to pray to Adam thanking him for saving him. He then starts to think about Mr. Teddy and the Captain. He breaks down. ¡°C-captain¡­¡± Some tears can be seen in his eyes. He curls up by the fire and cries himself to sleep. The palace lights up with a kaleidoscope of colors illuminating the night. Loud noises of laughter, hollering, and crashing can be heard inside the palace. Princess Zana is currently enjoying her dinner with everyone else at the dining table. Ornate chinaware, polished silverware and magical candelabra are placed on table flaunting the wealth and power of the Empire. The Princess¡¯ Captain of Guard is standing beside the double doors leading into the dining room. Her subordinates dot the perimeter, both inside and outside the dining room. Various nobles that were staying in the Tel-Vanna were invited to this banquet by Mordecai, and other important characters such as the representatives of various guilds in the city were invited as well. Master Gormenghast was currently lecturing some ¡®captive¡¯ ignorant nobles on the subtle difference and between a spell and a ritual and the history of their creation and the current theories on why they work. ¡°Have you not wondered why a ritual must be done in a certain pattern and way like a spell but one requires a physical medium while the other does not? Well, there is current a current theory proposed by the Headmaster of the Institute of Magic which says that spells are really a type of ritual and that the medium in spells are words and thoughts themselves¡­.¡± While Gormenghast is currently ranting about this or that magical theory to some unfortunate nobles, Princess Zana is currently eating and discussing her current condition to her trusted butler, Mordecai. ¡°Congratulations, on your recovery, Your Highness,¡± Mordecai says. ¡°Thank you, Mordecai,¡± Zana responds. ¡°My memory is stilly fuzzy from before I fell, so would you mind supporting me until I have bearings?¡± she asks. ¡°It would be an honor, my Lady. Even if you were perfectly fine, I would still support you until death, Princess,¡± he responds. Nodding her head, she uses her fork and knife to grab piece of succulent monster meat along with some potato and rice-like carbohydrates. Juices from the meat mix with absorbent rice and potatoes causing a chain reaction of euphoria in her mouth. While still somewhat entranced by the food, Mordecai says, ¡°Also, my Lady, I must tell that His Highness the First Prince will be visiting in two months. So, I implore you to find a weapon to practice, my Lady.¡± ¡°I was going to do that anyway, Mordecai,¡± Zana says, ¡°However, why are you asking me to do this?¡± ¡°You may not remember, but according to the legend, Emperor Ezna, made martial prowess and honor a virtue when he founded the Empire after the Great Journey. This tradition continues on even now, where even women are not exempt from this custom. Since you are no longer sick, it is possible that you may have to uphold your honor in a duel against the various noble houses. There was a silent agreement in not challenging you to a duel due to your ill health, my Lady,¡± Mordecai explains. ¡°Hmm, that sounds nice actually,¡± she says. ¡°Pardon me, my Lady,¡± Mordecai says. ¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± she replies. ¡°How much power do I wield within the Empire, Mordecai?¡± she asks before biting down on a piece of succulent meat. ¡°Pardon me, my Lady, but out of all your Imperial siblings, you have the weakest claim to the Phoenix Throne; however, my Lady, since you are now healed of your disease, you can strive to become Empress if you wish or you can pursue other respectable occupations,¡± Mordecai replies. ¡°I can actually become the Empress?¡± Ha-Rin asks. ¡°I thought that at best only the first-born where the heirs of kingdoms,¡± she says. ¡°That may be true of some of the uncivilized kingdoms around the Empire, but the next ruler of the Empire is always chosen from the Imperial Family by the seven Lord-Electors ever since its founding by Emperor Ezna,¡± he says. ¡°That¡¯s good to know,¡± she says after finishing the last bite of her food. ¡°Before I leave, can you tell me about any legendary figures or deities associated with fire or the Sun?¡± Zana asks. ¡°That seems like an oddly specific question, my Lady, but from my memory there are several figures such as Ignis, Galahad, Raziel, ¡­¡± Crash! BOOM!! A large explosion echoes through the dining hall and black smoke fills the room. ¡°Protect the Princess!¡± the Captain of the Guard says. Shouts of agony, fury, and fanatism echo across the dining hall. The clanging of metal can be heard as well along with the dying gasps of the living. A cloaked man somehow makes it pass the guards in the chaos and yells, ¡°Praise the Sun!¡± Ha-Rin snickers in her mind. Awakening Final Part Ha-Rin prepares for the assassin¡¯s attack, but she then feels a wave of killing intent by her side. The strongest she felt in this life. She looks quickly. It¡¯s Jane. Jane disappears. The sound of tearing flesh is heard, then the hard taps of heels. She looks ahead. She sees that the assassin¡¯s head and appendages have been severed from their body, and she sees Jane a standing atop the corpse like a wild beast, a surgical butcher holding two massive knives that look more like short swords. She spits on the assassin¡¯s body and says, ¡°Filthy animal.¡± She is covered in blood and licks some of the blood on her knife. ¡°Hmm? Probably someone from the Western Provinces,¡± she mutters to herself. Ha-Rin is shocked. She looks at Jane with mouth a gape. ¡°What?¡± Zana says to herself quietly. ¡°Wait, wasn¡¯t Jane the first one to detect that I had mana and had recovered from my illness. I should have been more suspicious then. She was proficient in sensing mana, but that doesn¡¯t mean she should be an OP killing machine!¡± Ha-Rin screams in her mind. Jane looks back at Princess Zana and noticing her blank stare panics, her face blushes red. Then, swinging the blood away from her blades, she puts them back in their sheathes under her skirt and skips toward the Princess, the battle still raging behind her. ¡°Are you okay, Princess?¡± Jane asks. ¡°P-please don¡¯t be afraid,¡± she continues stuttering a little. ¡°Afraid? Why would I be afraid, Jane?¡± Princess Zana replies. ¡°I think you were pretty cool, Jane,¡± she continues. ¡°Oh, Princess!¡± Jane says motioning to hug her. The clash of the battle still echoing behind her. ¡°Wait! Not now, Jane. Look at your clothes,¡± Zana says. She looks at her clothes. Soaked red with blood. Torn here and there due to her extreme movements. Jane says, ¡°I am so sorry, Princess! This one has been acting inappropriately. Please¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, I know you are sorry Jane. I forgive you so please stop thinking that your life is worth so little,¡± Zana says interrupting Jane. Blood and viscera are slathered across the dining room walls behind them. ¡°Princess!¡± Jane says with some tears in her eyes. ¡°Actually, I have a question, Jane,¡± Princess Zana asks. ¡°What is the question, Princess?¡± Jane says. Zana says, ¡°How¡­¡± BBOOOMMMM!!! A loud sound wave interrupts Zana¡¯s question. Both Jane and Zana look at the source of the sound. The Captain of the Guard is currently clashing with the leader of the assassins. Miraculously, only assassins have been slain so far. They had the initiative with their surprise attack, but they were overwhelmed by the power of the Captain of the Guard and Master Gormenghast and the numbers and training of the Princess¡¯ guard. ¡°It looks like Captain Sarah is going to end this charade, Princess,¡± Jane says confidently. Although she has been sitting on the side lines, Ha-Rin has been paying attention to the tides of the battle but even an untrained spectator can see that the assassins are radically outclassed by her guards. ¡°Are they brain-dead? Why did whoever wants me dead send such weak-ass assassins? Why did they even agree to it!? These guys must be crazy!¡± Ha-Rin thinks. Captain Sarah grips her two-handed sword with both hands now and brings it above her shoulders. She says, ¡°Gorm, strengthen me!¡± Sarah then launches toward the leader of the assassins. Before she reaches them, Gormenghast quickly dual-casts an earth and wind elemental support spell on Sarah causing her power and speed to dramatically increase. ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAH!¡± The person underneath the cloak laughs crazily and attacks Sarah without abandon along with all their minions. The assassins shout, ¡°For Revolution!¡± The leader and everyone behind them are bisected while the rest of the assassins are thrown back by the shockwave. The arms of the assassin¡¯s leader is exposed revealing colorful tattoos and slender arms. They twitch, but then the hands clap together making a gesture of prayer. Magical energy pours into the room allowing the leader to unbisect herself. She says, ¡°Gotcha.¡± ¡°What?¡± Zana says. A swirling sensation overcomes her and she finds herself no longer in the opulent palace but in a dark alley. ¡°It¡¯s quite hard to teleport far,¡± someone says to Zana. She looks at the voice. It¡¯s the leader of the assassins. ¡°Especially, if you have to drag a filthy heathen,¡± the leader says. She takes off her cloak covering her face and body. It reveals a tall, strong dark-skinned woman probably in her mid-thirties. Colorful tattoos of various kinds cover her face and arms from ancient languages to weird scenes of a person breaking chains that bind them. She looks at Zana crazily. Several knives and swords can be seen strapped onto her body. She takes one sword and throws it at Zana¡¯s feet. Her eyes then roll back into her head and then she shouts toward the sky, ¡°May the Lady in Red, bless this sacrifice!¡± A booming sound is heard. Zana quickly picks up the sword looks at her opponent. The assassin is now looking at her like a little lamb. There are several openings, but Zana decides to block the next attack to test her strength. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The assassin in glee swings one of her swords toward Zana while she grips the other sword with her free hand. Zana sees everything. The assassin leader is much slower than before. She deftly deflects the sword coming at her and then blocks the assassin¡¯s next sword. ¡°Weak,¡± Zana thinks. The assassin is weaker than before. She then slashes at the assassin scratching her on her right side. Outraged, the assassin furiously rushes forward with her two swords flames bursting forth from their blades. Zana casts a spell on her sword. It is engulfed in water. SCHHHHH! The fire and water create a fog that covers the whole area. The assassin jumps back and then runs behind Zana. Zana is still. She can sense an attack is coming. Slash! Sching! Swords collide. Zana is pushed back. She is kicked in the gut. The assassin like wind disappears back into the mists. ¡°Dammit!¡± she thinks. ¡°HAHAHA! You are still too weak, Zana Ezna!¡± the assassin says. A silence looms over the battlefield. The assassin¡¯s voice echoing throughout the battlefield asks, ¡°Do you want to make a deal, Princess?¡± ¡°A deal? Aren¡¯t you trying to kill me?¡± Zana retorts to the fog. ¡°No, we just want you to be a sacrifice for our Lady in Red,¡± the assassin says. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the same thing?¡± Zana retorts again. ¡°Not quite,¡± the assassin says, ¡°Just become a believer in our Lady.¡± ¡°Is that all?¡± Zana asks. ¡°You must receive our mark as well,¡± the assassin responds. ¡°Fine,¡± Zana says. ¡°Let me try using that,¡± she thinks while focusing mana on her eyes. The assassin then appears out of the mists and approaches Princess Zana. ¡°Come to me and I will bestow upon you the mark of the Lady in Red,¡± she says. Zana slowly approaches the assassin¡¯s leader. ¡°What¡¯s you name?¡± she asks. ¡°You can call me, ¡®Red¡¯¡± Red says. ¡°A pseudonym?¡± Zana thinks. ¡°We are all united by our Lady¡¯s dream,¡± Red says, ¡°Now become a part of it.¡± The assassin throws some of her knives at Zana and leaps upon her with her two swords over her head. Zana dodges those knives, but she is then dismembered by the assassin¡¯s two swords. ¡°HAHAHAHA! Die Imperial dog!¡± But then she notices Zana¡¯s body disintegrates into water. A sword aims for her neck. ¡°YOU BITTTCCHH!¡± Red attempts to block with her two swords. The sword did not aim for her neck. Slash! It aimed for her right arm. ¡°AAAHHHHH!¡± The assassin falls down and screams. Zana steps on the assassins¡¯ free hand making her let go of the other sword. True Sight coupled with a mirage of water. Zana is out of breadth from doing those two things simultaneously along with the focused swing of her sword. She looks down at the assassin. ¡°Who are you?¡± Zana asks. ¡°The Liberator, the Breaker of Chains, the Queen of Revolution, will kill you filthy heretics and¡­¡± A booming sound is heard again. The assassin¡¯s face pales. ¡°No, No, NO!!! OUR REVENGE!!!¡± she yells in terror. The assassin leader returns once again to her bisected state. Guts and viscera pour out from her body. Although she has seen such horrors in her previous life, Zana¡¯s body reacts uncontrollably. She falls to her knees and vomits. ¡°My Lady!¡± a woman says. She then looks to her right and sees right outside the alley Jane. Jane runs up to her and hugs her. ¡°Everything will be fine now, Princess,¡± she says. Jane removes the cloak she is now wearing and places it around Princess Zana. ¡°Thanks, Jane,¡± she says. Jane helps Zana up from the ground. She looks at pile of flesh on the ground. ¡°What happened here, Princess?¡± she asks. ¡°It¡¯s a long story, Jane,¡± Zana says, ¡°I won.¡± Jane holds her tightly, ¡°I am just glad you are safe, my Lady.¡± Soon Captain Sarah and Master Gormenghast arrive along with the Princess¡¯ guards. Captain Sarah kneels down before the Princess and says, ¡°I am sorry this vassal did not stop danger from befalling, Her Highness.¡± Zana looks down at Sarah. Her face is pale, and she is sweating profusely. She is trembling slightly. Zana sighs and says, ¡°You have done your best, Captain. What¡¯s past is past.¡± Master Gormenghast then approaches Princess Zana and says while bowing to her, ¡°Please let us escort you back to the palace, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± she says. ¡°You don¡¯t mind if I call you Gorm?¡± Zana asks. ¡°I do not mind, Princess. Now, please come here so we can form a proper perimeter around you, Princess,¡± Master Gormenghast says. Princess Zana along with Jane walks toward Gormenghast and Sarah and soon a perimeter of guards encircles the Princess. More guards rush into the scene, but they are heading to the alley. They are probably investigating the assassin that tried to kill her. Soon some people in robes can be seen walking toward the alley. Captain Sarah then proceeds to lead the group safely back to the palace. Zana speaks to Gorm in front of her and asks, ¡°Do you know who or what group sent those assassins after me?¡± Onlookers of various nationalities look and wave at the flight of guards passing through the city. ¡°It is one of the newer cults that sprang up within the Empire,¡± Master Gormenghast says. ¡°They call themselves the Liberation Army. The official name the Empire has given them is Cult of Strife. They are a new cult that the Empire noticed one hundred years ago when they attempted to assassinate Empress Temara III,¡± he continues. ¡°What do they want?¡± Zana asks. Some people in the city catch sight of the Empress and start waving their hands and shouting. ¡°Mass revolution across all of Arda,¡± Master Gormenghast says. He continues, ¡°For what reason, we are not entirely sure, but we have found out their fondness of revolution stems from some sort of vengeance they wish to enact on the Holy Pantheon.¡± ¡°Why did they attack me?¡± Zana asks. ¡°They probably thought you are the weak link,¡± Master Gormenghast replies. Zana looks at him quizzically. ¡°That¡¯s all? You really don¡¯t think there is more behind this attack,¡± she asks. He sighs. ¡°I really am not sure, my Lady,¡± he replies. ¡°At best, I really just think that they are crazy,¡± he says. Frustrated she says, ¡°That sounds like a bullshit reason.¡± ¡°Pardon your language, my Lady,¡± he replies. ¡°Fine,¡± she says. ¡°I know that it does not sound convincing, my Lady, but trust me. The more Revolutionaries you meet, the more you will realize, my Lady, that they have lost all sense of rationality and stability,¡± he says. ¡°I don¡¯t think they are crazy, Gorm,¡± Zana says reminiscing of the revolutions that occurred on Earth. ¡°You will realize in due time, my Lady,¡± Gormenghast says. They are now at the front gate of the palace. ¡°Thank you for the information, Gorm,¡± Princess Zana says. ¡°It is my pleasure, my Lady,¡± he says. They all walk in.
It is now early morning in Merchant¡¯s Rest. The morning mists from the Radain River have crawled up from the river¡¯s banks and have engulfed the entire city of Merchant¡¯s Rest in their laziness. Various shops and stores are just now opening, and one can see some of their owners still yawning. They are still tired. A man is walking down these misty streets through the city. He is wearing a coat and a monocle. It is Adam. It has been almost a week since the last meeting in the World of Grey Fog and Adam is currently walking towards his new workplace. When he realized that in the World of Grey Fog, he can understand what that small boy and the young girl were saying he had a brilliant idea. ¡°If I summon an object with writing I don¡¯t understand, will I be able to understand it¡± Testing it out, his conjecture was proven correct. He walks through some winding alleys of the foggy city and overhears some of the conversations of the guards. ¡°Don¡¯t ya think that it¡¯s high time that this city will be under Lady Elizabeth¡¯s rule?¡± one guards says. ¡°Nah, I think it¡¯s going to fall under Lord Milton¡¯s jurisdiction,¡± another guard says. ¡°Don¡¯t you think us being independent under a mayor is good enough?¡± a guard interjects. ¡°Nah,¡± they both say. ¡°Ah, local politics,¡± Adam thinks. Moving pass the guards, he exits the alleyways and enters a main road that leads all the way to the library. He directs his mind toward other things. He reminisces on the many different experiments he tried the pass few days. First, he tried to summon those stone tablets he saw before, but that failed. Those tablets did not appear. For another experiment, he summoned something from the World of Grey Fog and put it on his person so that he could take it with him to Arda. That also failed, but he was able to take small items from Arda, modify them in the World of Grey Fog, and then take them out; however, he really can¡¯t modify them to much or else he won¡¯t be able to take them out. The second to last experiment he did was see what would happen to his body on Arda when he entered the World of Grey Fog. He talked the inn keeper and paid him five half-coopers (that penny-pincher!) to check on his room during his afternoon nap. If he was there, he would wake him up and if he was not there, he asked him to leave the room. When the time of the experiment came, the innkeeper entered his room and realized that he was not there. After his afternoon nap, the afternoon asked where he went and Adam replied, ¡°You see I specialize in illusion magic.¡± And then he showed him a basic illusion spell. He was quite mesmerized by it, but since I performed a spell on him without his consent, he asked for two whole copper! (A real penny-pincher!) Now, since Adam figured out that he can read any book, he decided to work at the city¡¯s library as a translator. He is now approaching Merchant¡¯s Rest¡¯s magnificent library. The Library of Merchant¡¯s Rest is the second largest library in the Kingdom of Baudren after the Crystal Library in the Kingdom¡¯s Capital. It is an ancient library, but it also belongs to the state. Hence, the City Mayor has been allowing people to borrow books from the library; however, there are many places in the library where access is restricted. But today is the going to be the first day when Adam will have access to a restricted section of the library. ¡°I hope I did not apply for this position for nothing,¡± he thinks. He enters the library.