Chapter 24 - ‘’In-Between’’

  Nikolai tried to look around, but found himself unable to move at all. Everything was different. The stone walls were gone, replaced by a vast, open space.

  Mind-bogglingly enormous pillars dotted the area, with a clear path leading to what looked like a throne. It sat high above a floor that resembled a checkerboard—black and white tiles in patterns that seemed to shift when he wasn’t focusing on them.

  On the throne sat a figure, but making out his form was difficult at best. He seemed to be made of shadows, flickering like dark flames that clung to the figure lounging on the throne lazily.

  Making it even harder to see was the aura of light surrounding him—or her—a glowing radiance that was somehow too bright and not bright enough all at once.

  Nikolai moved, but not of his own volition. The figure beckoned, and Nikolai was drawn forward.

  He couldn’t feel his body at all. He just sort of hung there. The sensation was hard to explain, but deeply disturbing—made worse by his absolute inability to do anything.

  He stopped at the foot of the steps leading up to the throne, and his point of view shifted until he hovered at eye level with the figure.

  For what felt like a long time, the hard-to-make-out figure just sat there, gazing straight at him as if evaluating him. Nikolai tried to speak, but had no more control over his voice than any other part of himself. The figure nodded slowly, seemingly confirming something to himself.

  “Interesting... Yes, I think you just might do. At the very least, it will be interesting,” the figure said, in an unmistakably masculine voice.

  It was a strange voice—layered and overlapping, as though several voices were speaking at once, whispers underlying the main one. Nikolai had trouble even grasping what was being said.

  Still unable to speak, he stared helplessly, now growing annoyed by his own powerlessness.

  “Welcome, Nikolai Travelion, to the Halls of Duality,” the man said.

  Again, Nikolai just stared back. When the figure didn’t speak again, and seemed to expect an answer, he tried glaring—nope, that didn’t work either.

  The figure seemed to understand, and chuckled—a rich, beckoning sound. The whole mystical many voices thing vanished, replacing his voice with a deep male one.

  “Ah, of course. You are unable to speak. Let’s fix that, shall we?” The man waved his hand lazily, and Nikolai instinctively knew he’d been granted permission to speak.

  He stayed silent for a few seconds. Now that he could talk, he wasn’t sure what to say. Eventually, he just blurted out the first thing on his mind.

  “What the bloody hell is this!? Did I die? You don’t exactly give off the angel-here-to-guide-me-to-the-beyond kind of vibe.”

  The light dimmed slightly behind the figure—just enough for Nikolai to make out an amused smile on the man’s face.

  “In turn, you are in my domain. I told you so already. I brought you here on a whim. No, you are not dead, and I am certainly not an angel.”

  “Right. Okay. I’ll just be honest with you—I don’t mean any offense—but I am getting pretty fucking tired of being at the mercy of others. I have no doubt you can crush me like an insect, that I’m so far down the totem pole it isn’t even funny, but please, if you would, tell me why I’m here—or let me get back to the deathtrap I came from...” Nikolai said, his voice laced with exhaustion and annoyance.

  The figure’s smile widened further. “Yes, you will do indeed, I think. Well, Nikolai Travelion, I brought you here to offer you a bargain. You may refuse it, of course, and any memory of our interaction will be erased from your mind. Or you can accept, and a new path will open for you. Will you hear my offer, child?”

  Nikolai wanted to roll his eyes. This divine entity was clearly messing with him. Sure, there might be a bargain to be made—but just get on with it already. “Sure…”

  The figure nodded. “Well, before we proceed, I believe a bit of information regarding my nature might be in order.”

  Nikolai wanted to gnash his nonexistent teeth. “Alright... Go ahead,” he said, trying to keep his voice neutral.

  “I will not speak my name, for names carry weight in any world—and mine especially. My title, however, is the Fey King of Duality, also known as The Twilight Sovereign."

  Nikolai groaned inwardly. Of course it was a fucking faerie... His home had a lot of folklore surrounding faeries, and most of them—no, the vast majority—warned against making deals with them. Or the fey. Or whatever they wanted to be called. He was no expert, and he’d never heard of this particular figure, but still... he probably had to be really bloody careful here.

  The King seemed to read his mind, and his tone grew sterner. “I am not a faerie. I am Fey. The two are not to be confused. Fey are rulers of the in-between, at the top of the totempole as you so eloquently put it. Faeries are silly little creatures living in the mortal world, making mischief and causing chaos.”

  When Nikolai didn’t respond, the figure nodded as if satisfied that his point was understood, then continued.

  “We can appear in most worlds, child—your old one included. I know you, Nikolai. Where you are from. Who you are. I also know that you know of us—what we are—and that bargains with one of the Fey should not be taken lightly.”

  “I have heard something to that effect, yes. Never thought it would be relevant to my own survival one day, but it seems I’m destined not to run out of surprises just yet,” Nikolai said, his tone as respectful as he could make it, which meant just casual really.

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  The figure smiled. “We are nothing but stories to your world, but we are there. We always have been... Now that you understand the gravity of the situation—understand whom you speak to—will you still hear the bargain?”

  Nikolai hesitated, carefully thinking through his answer.

  “I will hear it on one condition—that you swear to me that hearing the proposal will not, in any way, have any consequence for me, except losing my memory of our interaction and nothing more, should I decide not to accept the bargain.”

  He’d tried to phrase it carefully, leaving no gap. Fey, at least as far as he knew, couldn’t lie and couldn’t break a promise. Reality could be different from folklore, of course, but he wasn’t in any position of power here. Extracting an oath could only be a net gain.

  The King laughed. “Oh child, well said! I could find gaps in your words, find wiggle room to do what I wanted around the oath—but it wasn’t bad. Not bad at all. I agree with those terms. I will let you hear the proposal, and I swear there will be no consequence—none at all—for hearing it.”

  Nikolai paused to think, then asked, “And the ‘if I refuse’ part?”

  Another smile. “Ah, of course. Should you hear the proposal and refuse, you will lose your memory of our interaction and nothing else. You will be back where you were, without any kind of adverse effect or thread of connection to myself—or to anything or anyone I know. How is that?”

  Nikolai dissected what the King had said a few times in his mind. Seeing no issues, he finally agreed.

  “Okay, King of Duality. I will hear your proposal under the terms previously stated.”

  “Good, then listen closely. You have reached what people in your current world name the third stage. You are to be offered a reward—a path, one that suits your nature and personality as the gods see it. As it so happens, I disagreed with their assessment and intervened. My offer is this: I will grant you a unique class, one with much greater potential for growth. In return, you will join my court,” the king said.

  ‘And there it is…’ Nikolai thought. The oath of eternal servitude for power. The old deal with the devil—or in this case, the king of the Fae.

  “Can I ask for details before making a decision?” Nikolai asked.

  The king gestured for him to go on, and Nikolai considered what he wanted to ask. Then he said, “I feel that ‘join my court’ is a bit vague. What does joining your court entail exactly?”

  “It will have a number of consequences for you, child, but also privileges. I find myself in need of filling a specific position—that of the seventh prince. You would become a potential candidate for that title. You would be bound to our laws and experience changes in yourself, and over time, perhaps become one of us,” the king explained.

  A prince!? He wanted to make him a prince? He’d heard of people with too much time and wealth becoming eccentric, but this was a bit over the top, wasn’t it?

  “A prince?” he asked. “You want to make me a Fae prince? Also, what do you mean when you say I’d ‘become one of you’? I would become Fae? There are stories of kidnapped children, but I’m not exactly a child anymore…”

  The king scoffed. “You are a child to us, Nikolai—barely a toddler, in fact. From our perspective, you should barely be allowed to walk outside alone.”

  Nikolai thought about that, and had to admit it made sense in a ‘if I was immortal and had lived thousands of years, what would a human barely into his twenties look like to me?’ kind of way.

  He sighed.

  “As for your other questions—yes, I would make you a potential suitor for the position of Seventh Prince of the Duality Court. I will not explain why. It is enough that I will it so. A human cannot take such a position, however, so you would need to change. Worry not—the change will be gradual, the full transformation voluntary, mostly. Changing you all at once would be soul-rending.”

  Nikolai was quiet for a long while, deep in thought. He went over everything that had happened to him, trying to understand the steps that had led to this moment. Obviously, the easy way out was just to refuse and go back to what he’d been doing. But was that the right choice?

  He said that the Fae existed in my old world… so would that mean this is potentially a way back? Could I eventually go home—if I managed to become a bloody Fae prince?

  “What would my responsibilities entail? I’m sure you want something from me, right? I’m not exactly keen to sign a contract of eternal servitude…” Nikolai said.

  The king chuckled. “Dear child, we all serve in one way or another. Coincidence and luck have their place, but fate is a powerful force. I swear upon my name that you will be as free as you are now. You can do what you want, live how you want, and bear the consequences of your choices as you want. Should you ascend to the throne of a prince, your responsibilities would increase, of course—as it is with all royals. You will serve, yes—but you would become powerful, child, and have the freedom to exercise that power as you see fit.”

  The ambition that had burned within him since attaining magic stirred dangerously. He wanted to be careful, wanted not to be rash—but would doing this really be so bad? Sure, he would become something else… but he might just live forever, which was insane in an of itself.. A lot could happen if the timescale was eternity. So what spoke against it?

  Hell, if he became a prince, didn’t that mean he might one day ascend to the very throne in front of him?

  “Last question… Will I be able to go back to my own world?” Nikolai asked.

  The king smiled, and this time, it was gentler.

  “Yes. But your old life is gone, Nikolai, you will need to accept that. We can interact with mortals, even live in and rule worlds, should we wish it—but only those that have been integrated. You could visit and even interact with your family, but you would not be able to stay for long. The magic is simply too thin there to sustain our presence.”

  “But I could visit?” Nikolai asked more quietly.

  “You could,” the king agreed.

  Nikolai stared up at the king. “Alright… I’ll do it. I’ll take the bloody bargain on the following terms: I will not be a slave, I will not be forced to do anything I find morally repellent, I will not be forced to do something I don’t want to do… and I want a damn butler!”

  The king seemed to pause, then asked, “A butler?”

  Nikolai grinned. “Yes. I despise cooking, cleaning—essentially taking care of myself by myself. I want to focus on obtaining strength. To become powerful enough to give everyone and everything the finger, and have them shove off. Also, a noble needs a right-hand man to take care of things for him, right? So yeah—a butler. A good one!”

  The king laughed. “I agree to your terms. But I have terms of my own. You will not need to take orders from anyone but myself—but should I call, you will answer. You must obey the laws of the Fae and accept the punishment I deem necessary should you not. If you accept these terms, then the bargain is struck!”

  Nikolai hesitated for a few seconds, then an old gaming term rushed through his mind.

  Yolo. You only live once!

  “I agree!” he said, and the world turned dark. He felt the pull on his mind and soul as he was flung through space—or whatever it was he was in.

  The king’s chuckle followed him into the darkness. It was merry… but he couldn’t help but feel it was perhaps just the tiniest bit sinister as well. Last parting words followed him into the abyss, ‘’I give you ten years to grow, upon which the trial of succesion will be held. Succeed and power awaits, fail and you might find death that death is sometimes prefferable..’’

  Nikolai mentally cursed the king as his consciousness faded, why was he not surprised, he should have guessed something like this would happen..

  Bloody Fae..