O, glorious Sun.
Shine your grace upon us yet,
We bastards, done.
[The ‘Subject’ is requested to wake up.]
“The ‘Subject’ tells you to shut up, Ephe,” I groaned, rolling onto my side in the comfortable bed and dragging the blanket over my head, as if it could block the echo in my skull.
When no further comments came from Ephe, I should’ve rejoiced, closed my eyes, and slipped back into dreams. But instead, I felt guilty.
So I sighed, lowering the blanket. “What time is it?”
[Current time: 6:25 AM.]
“What’s so urgent at this hour?” I groaned, blinking my eyes open. “You didn’t wake me up like this yesterday.”
[The Ruler of Calcan Castle cannot stay idle.]
[Enough rest.]
“I liked the older version of you,” I yawned, pushing myself upright and stretching what little sleep still clung to me. “Before I… put on that Crown of yours.”
[Does the ‘Subject’ wish Ephemera to return to that version?]
“No,” I replied, giving up on the idea of joking. “So, I’m up. What is it that I need to do?”
[New directive: Explore.]
“I must be losing my mind,” I chuckled. “Because I know you didn’t just tell me to go back out there, with those savages running through the trees.”
[Mental State: Deteriorating.]
[Probability of Auditory Hallucinations: Null.]
“That means you really want me out there?” I asked, pointing toward the window with my chin.
[Yes.]
[The ‘Subject’ wanted to understand His Powers.]
[He understands Them now.]
[The Broken Laws must be restored.]
[Reward: Julia’s revi-]
“All right, all right, stop,” I cut in, my voice echoing through the large room. “I’ll go, okay?”
Mood officially ruined.
I threw the blanket aside and stood from the bed, a king-sized monument far too large for a widower, in a castle far too large for a single person.
This room and this wing of the castle only became known to me after I put on the Crown.
Somehow, that action unlocked something inside my head, mapping every corridor, every sealed chamber, every hidden stairway of Calcan Castle, as well as the location of the toilet, directly into my brain.
It was a strange awareness, knowing where everything was. Stranger still was the feeling of the Crown itself, still there on my head, though invisible and untouchable.
After the 'initializing' process completed, the Crown had assimilated with me, making me, as Ephe put it, the Rightful Owner of Calcan Castle. Or so she claimed.
This new version of Ephe was more talkative than before, but not by much, still caught in riddles, repetition of sentences that she knew would annoy me, and a deliberate refusal to explain anything that might actually help.
Over the two days since I’d decided to take the Crown, I’d tried to learn more about this world, understanding its workings and what the Custodians truly wanted me to do here.
But besides the layout of the Castle and a basic rundown of my new abilities, all the Crown and Ephe ever gave me were the same half-answers and her favorite word: Patience.
Yet, at the same time, she was the only thing that kept me sane, busy enough not to jump off the balcony again.
Still, in my anger as I was now, I would never tell her that.
“Any direction you want me to explore? Or should I just head to where I almost died last time?” I asked sardonically, moving towards the toilet.
[Any Direction the ‘Subject’ wishes to take.]
“Of course,” I muttered, waiting for the echoes to vanish before I entered the toilet.
I knew I shouldn’t feel embarrassed for having what could have been an omnipresent being watching me do my business, but doing them in silence at least gave me a sense of comfort.
The only comfort there was, actually, since the toilet was… lacking in most ways.
It wasn’t the ceramic toilets I grew used to, the bidets, or the soft toilet paper. Here, the so-called toilet paper felt like sandpaper, the toilet was carved out of a white stone, with a hole so deep I couldn’t see the bottom of it.
But one thing was clear in my mind because of the Crown.
Whatever had left my body fell beneath the castle, where a large underground river flowed, its destination or direction unknown to me.
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“All done,” I sighed, leaving the toilet, washing my hands with the bucket of water I placed near the toilet’s exit, and making my way downstairs after grabbing a few weirdly-shaped apples.
When I received all the knowledge of the Castle’s layout, I had also received a pleasant surprise.
By following a winding series of halls to the southern wing, I’d found the source of that sweet scent I’d noticed on the day I went outside.
A wild garden stretched before me, two hundred square feet of violet and blue blossoms releasing a heavenly scent I’d spent an hour basking in the previous day.
But the best part of that garden was also its greatest abomination, a defiance of the forest beyond the Castle’s reach.
Between the sea of flowers, small fruit-bearing trees sprawled out, producing a fruit that was a strange mix of apple, pear, and kiwi in both look and taste.
Not that I was in any position to complain; they were the only source of food I had inside the Castle.
As for water... well, I preferred not to dwell on its suspiciously subterranean origins, or on the narrow, creek-shaped valley that wound near the garden’s eastern edge before curving past the Castle and flowing, coincidentally of course, toward the same direction as the stream I’d drunk from a few days ago.
Suffice it to say, the blissful ignorance and the amount of water boiling I’d done since discovering this perfectly safe source of hydration had been the key to preserving both my mental stability and my stomach.
Still, I couldn’t help but wonder how an enormous Castle and a small, suspiciously well-kept patch of fruit trees could remain unnoticed in a forest crawling with those savages.
The northern and western sides of Calcan Castle stood exposed among the colossal trees, while the east and south were bordered only by the creek and that strange grove, as if nature itself had drawn a line between the Castle’s reach and the forest itself.
And since knowing the layout of the place offered no real answers, I turned to my ever-reliable source of information, Ephe, only to be left on read like a desperate teenager.
When I reached the final step, I walked into the throne room, its reflective floor gleaming beneath the dim light of the rising sun, and the row of black-crimson spikes that were still standing firm in the spot where I had struck the ground a few days ago.
The great table that lay nearby was gone, taken apart piece by piece and hidden away in a side room, out of sight and out of mind.
What point was there in such a massive table for only one man? None, really. Without it, the room felt wider, easier to breathe in.
But I stopped short, turning toward the spikes and watching as they shifted, merging into a single pillar.
“Oh, Captain, My Captain,” I said, walking closer, “Show me all those stats again.”
Subject: Elio Welchia
Age: 28
Health: Stable
Mental State: Deteriorating
Reign Index: 0.03%
Reigncraft: Seed - Level 1
Abilities:
- Law of Continuance
- Veilstep
- Denial
? Free Slot: 1
Passive Abilities:
- Law of Truth
- Language: Westgod Terminia; Helnuro
? Free Slot: 1
Current Directive: Explore
“Wonderful,” I muttered, watching the writing of living embers hover in the air. “Would that be the extent of your explanations today as well, Ephe?“
[The Language Barrier has been Removed.]
[Current Directive Unchanged: Explore.]
“I see what it is you want me to do,” I sighed, finally piecing together what ‘Explore’ meant in this case.
Nothing at all.
Meaning, that they wanted me to go out and see for myself what I find. Whether by walking or by finding those savages again, and attempting to reason with them.
Apparently, the harsh language they spoke was Helnuro, a piece of knowledge that became a Passive Ability the moment I put on the Crown.
Or at least that is what I deduced from what I saw, felt, and attempted to reason from Ephe’s messages.
However, it bothered me knowing that I could’ve been wrong and the consequences that could bring.
“If things go south, I expect that you will let me know like last time,” I added, watching the living embers die out.
[Certainly.]
I could’ve argued or threatened for more, but that may have worsened this relationship I had with these… beings, whatever they might have been. And maybe, finding things out on my own, would lead to a faster way for all of us to get what we wanted.
But at this point, all I was doing was maybe coping with the way things were, with all the unknown both in my head and all around me.
When Hannibal Barca crossed the Alps, he did not know if he, his armies, or his plan would work, yet he still crossed the Alps.
So I will do the same, walking into this unknown with the minimal things I knew, hoping that it would lead me back to my wife, to my Julia.
The weather outside didn’t bother me anymore, not with the clothes I had now.
The outfit would’ve probably earned me a few stares back on Earth and a good laugh from Julia, but what it offered mattered more than how ridiculous it looked.
White trousers and a matching tunic lay beneath a long golden vest that hung past my knees, paired with brown leather boots and fastened by a black, inscribed leather belt. The whole thing seemed to be made of some special material that shielded my skin from the harsh light of this world while keeping a cool breeze flowing beneath.
Naturally, Ephe didn’t care to explain how it worked.
The only real problem was how blindingly the golden vest caught the light that filtered through the colossal trees, even this early in the morning.
Whoever had lived in Calcan Castle before me clearly had deep pockets and better eyes than I did, though wearing it made me feel less like the ruler of a castle and more like a white-haired pimp dressed for business.
But being no pimp and a law-abiding citizen, I sighed in my air-conditioned, shining clothes, walking down the same path I used a few days prior, hoping that now that we understood each other, the savages would at least listen to what I had to say before taking it upon themselves to remove my head.
A hope that proved true, although for different reasons.
The savages weren’t there anymore.
Even after waiting near that part of the creek for three hours, nobody came to loose arrows or jump like a man-made monkey from one tree to another.
“Ephe,” I said, ripping a small part of the tree bark so I could play with it in my hands, “Should I just leave?”
[The ‘Subject is Free to Decide.]
[Directive Unchanged: Explore.]
“Thank God for your deep well of knowledge, Ephe,” I muttered, dropping the bark and following the creek downstream for a few minutes.
Instant regret washed over me as I was met by an unearthly screech tearing through the air above the treeline.
The sound hit like a shockwave, making the ground itself tremble as if some calamity were drawing near. I threw myself flat and clamped my hands over my ears, hoping to muffle the noise, but curiosity, damn it, forced my eyes upward.
And maybe calling IT a calamity was an understatement.
For above me moved something that defied reason: a serpent, no, a dragon, the kind depicted in old East Asian mythology, its long body twisting through the sky in fluid, impossible motion. Parts of his body appeared and disappeared across the clearing, racing eastward.
But even that description failed it as I looked for a better angle.
The creature’s body shimmered a breathtaking jade-green, yet the light played across it wrong... it was too soft to be scaled as the eastern dragons of legend would have it, but instead it was feathered.
Why was that description reminding me of something?
Only to find an answer to my own question a second later, as I found the source of the screech.
Beneath its enormous head, eight vast wings beat in rhythm, stirring the treetops like blades of grass under a hurricane.
But as it swept past, the tip of one of the colossal trees brushed against its body, dislodging a single feather that spiraled down through the canopy.
Still, my mind cared for no such thing. I could only stare, paralyzed between awe and fear, as a half-forgotten image I’ve seen twice during college surfaced at the front of my mind.
An image of an Old God from Aztec mythology.
“Quetzalcoatl,” I breathed, the word trembling out of me as the last of the creature’s serpentine form flew past my sight. Only for my gaze to fall to the ground fifty feet away, where a single jade feather, nearly four feet long, rested.
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