Rider
patreon
Marks of time
🕑 Added 2023-01-24 12:00:05 +0000 UTC‘It is me. Sorry for only being able to speak like this, but many eyes might be watching us right now. Try not to mention my name, and please explain the current situation of the Empire to my friend here. I’ll be listening from inside her.’
Olivia nodded, and Meg retreated her hand from Olivia’s cheek.
After shaking her head to clear her sudden dizziness, Olivia invited Meg to speak inside the palace, where the maids served them some warm tea.
Olivia began speaking as Meg was enjoying her tea and partaking in some cookies on the side.
“After the Great Calamity 20 years ago, the entire continent was in disarray. The seal inside the Kingdom of Pain broke apart with the Calamity, so Crow and I ran away from that place as fast as we could...”
“Calamity?” asked Meg.
Olivia looked surprised as she asked: “You don’t know? A sudden natural calamity hit the entire continent 20 years back. People had died in the billions, and some seals broke apart. The entire continent is in the dark about the source of the disaster, and even if Crow seems to know more about it, he never agreed to tell me, so that’s the extent of what I know as well.”
<That must be the detonation of your divinity.>
‘I figured, but 20 years? Why did it take me so long to wake up?’
<It didn’t. You lost the concept of time and space as you traveled the destruction dimension looking for this soul.>
‘So I looked for it for 20 years?… I forgot what unbinding yourself from any other concept feels like.’
With Meg falling silent, Olivia continued: “The Kingdom of Pain was hit the hardest. The horror sealed inside has possessed the king, and the previously free and happy kingdom has become a place of pain and misery. People are being enslaved and tortured just for that thing’s entertainment - “
Meg swallowed the piece of cookie she was eating and interrupted. “I already know about Pain. Or at least, I already knew what was going to happen. What I need to know now is Endora’s situation.”
Olivia nodded and said: “When I arrived in Noth, father had already started rebelling against Endora, but using Crow’s strength, I put an end to the rebellion and took the crown from him before Elise had to intervene.”
After a bit of back and forth, I made a deal with Elise to remain under Endora’s control as a favor to the Emperor, but we’ve been acting independently from the rest of the Empire ever since.
“As for what happened with the rest of Endora… after his disappearance along with Caitlin, the - “
Meg suddenly interrupted by spitting all the contents of her mouth on the table, a part of it even arriving on Olivia’s dress.
‘Big brother. Stop yelling in my head.’
‘Sorry. Ask Olivia what happened to Caitlin.’
“I apologize about that.” Said Meg with a red face. “What happened with Caitlin?”
Olivia shook her head: “She’s also been missing along with him, and no one could find her anywhere. Elise has been searching, as were all the ascended, but that was limited to Endora’s territory. Still, with her strength, Caitlin shouldn’t be in that much trouble, or at least Elise thinks so.”
“What shell was she at before disappearing?” asked Meg.
“Seventh shell, from what I’ve heard. She was the strongest ascended in the entire Empire.”
“Alright. Continue.”
“So, with the Emperor and Caitlin gone, Elise took over since she was the next closest person to him. She used Asteria’s strength to remove all traces of rebellion after the Emperor’s disappearance and kept the Empire almost whole, except Sorrow and the old Endora Kingdom’s territory.”
“I know about Sorrow. What happened with Endora Kingdom’s territory?”
“Got taken over by King Tarquin, and he didn’t want to listen to any of Elise’s orders. With his strength, Elise gave up and allowed him to do as he pleased in there, so while there has been no declaration of rebellion and the territory still carried Endora’s name, it didn’t have much to do with the Empire anymore.”
‘That must be Tarquin from the Death Empire… It looks like I at least managed to control him.’ Exclaimed Seth.
“The Empire continued its development and rebuilding of the damage made by the Calamity while at the same time searching for the missing Emperor and his Consort, but even after 20 years of searching, no clues were found about any of them. It was like both of them disappeared into thin air.”
“Anything else you want to know?”
“Do the names Maya, Hollie, Henrietta, Tiana …” Meg continued naming all of Seth’s students and concubines one at a time, hoping any of them might ring a bell. Seth even added some other people he knew, hoping that another happy incident like the one with Caitlin might happen. “...ring any bell?”
“Well, by Iris, I guess you mean Elise’s host. She’s fine, just completely suppressed. Other than that, I also heard the names Pearl and Lisa, but I don’t know anything about their situation.”
‘So Elise is possessing Iris...’
“Olivia. One more question. What level was the Emperor at before he disappeared?” asked Meg.
“Level? Fifth shell ascended; why?” asked Olivia in confusion.
“Nothing important. What about you? Why haven’t you become an ascended?” asked Meg.
Olivia looked at the wrinkling skin on her hand and shook her head: “I just never got the chance… With the Emperor gone and no one spending time on teaching new ascended anymore, their numbers have been dwindling, and I never went through the hassle of trying to become one. It doesn’t matter anyway since I’ve been more than happy with the life you’ve given me. Thank you.”
Seth sighed as he looked at the over 50 years old woman before saying to Meg. ‘We got enough as of now. We should leave, Meg.’
“I need to go now. Thank you for answering my questions.” Meg nodded and placed the cookie she was eating down while standing up simultaneously.
“You’re leaving? So soon? Where to?”
“I have a lot of things to do and only a little time. I can’t tell you, but please don’t mention this conversation to anyone else, and take care of Noth. I hope we can meet again.”
Olivia nodded with a thoughtful look before saying: “If you’re in a hurry, there’s an ascended here sent by Elise to protect me. With Crow around, I don’t need him, so if you want to, I can ask him to take you where you want to go. That will make it easier for you to move around.”
Seth pondered for a moment before having Meg agree to it.
Olivia sent word with one of her maids, and shortly after, a young man clad in pure white robes, carrying Asteria’s mark on the chest of his uniform, walked in.
Bowing respectfully towards Olivia, he asked: “You called for me, Your Majesty?”
“Stephen, I have an important mission for you. This girl here is…” Olivia stopped as her face reddened, realizing she didn’t know Meg’s name, but Meg spared her the embarrassment and said softly: “Meg.”
“…Meg, yes.” Continued Olivia. “She has an important mission from Elise. She needs to arrive somewhere quickly. Can I trust you to take care of it?”
Stephen looked between the two with a strange face before nodding reluctantly.
“I’m not joking around, Stephen. If she loses a single hair on her head, I can guarantee Elise will stop at nothing before having your head. Treat this seriously.” Said Olivia, the calmness from her face disappearing, replaced by a stern look.
Stephen gulped with a solemn nod, and Olivia turned towards Meg. “I hope we can see each other again as well.”
Meg smiled and bowed again before following Stephen toward the palace’s balcony.
“Where to, My Lady?” asked Stephen once they reached outside.
“Take me to the Endora Kingdom. As fast as you can.”
Stephen paled and asked again: “The crazy king’s territory? A- are you sure that’s safe, my lady?”
After Meg nodded to reaffirm her words, Stephen sighed, and both of them got covered in air energy, starting to fly east towards Endora kingdom’s territory.
‘Peak fourth shell. Pretty good. This will shorten the time needed to reach Endora quite a lot.’
< He’s a first-generation Asteria ascended.>
‘Oh…’
As the two flew off into the distance, Olivia continued watching them as they quickly disappeared from her sight. With them gone, a black Crow appeared out of nowhere and perched itself on Olivia’s shoulder.
“I need to inform the Council of his return.” Said the Crow in a deep voice.
Olivia smiled and lifted her hand, scratching the crow’s neck while shaking her head. “If you do that, I will jump from this balcony, and you’ll be left without anyone to keep you alive.”
The crow was stunned, speechless, and turned its eyes on the smiling Olivia. “Mistress, you don’t - “
Olivia looked back and interrupted him. “Do I look like I’m joking? He saved my life, and there must be a reason he chose not to send you away. I won’t say anything about you not doing like you were told, as always, but I won’t allow you to mess up his plans.”
The crow lowered its head: “Mistress, the differences between you two… You can’t still be?….”
Olivia sighed with a lost look before turning around and walking back in. Crow turned his head towards the east for a moment before sighing as well and choosing to forget what he saw.
—
Stephen and Meg continued flying slowly towards the east, with Stephen taking a few curious glances at Meg from time to time but never actually daring to say anything to her.
“Is there anything wrong?” asked Meg eventually, getting tired of his sneaky glances.
“No, My Lady. I was just wondering... What would someone like you be doing inside that horrible place? Are you really acting on the Empress’s orders?”
‘Horrible place… what a mess has become of my paradise…’ muttered Seth with a sigh. ‘Tell him that horrible place is your home.’
After Meg repeated Seth’s words, Stephen gulped audibly and didn’t bother her anymore.
It took two months of flying with little to no breaks until they finally reached what was known as Endora’s capital, but the sight in front of them managed to startle even Seth.
While Stephen was looking all around as if expecting enemies to appear out of nowhere, Seth’s eyes remained fixed on the endless hole that had replaced the mighty capital he had worked on building with his family.
‘What do you think, system? Did he do it before or after breaking my divinity?’ asked Seth in a clear cold voice.
<20 years have passed, so an accurate prediction is still impossible, but judging from the uneven edges and the small pillars remaining at the center, he appeared to have already been heavily wounded when he broke this area’s time.>
‘So after our fight… at least we know that the chances of them being erased are lower.’
‘Kronos, oh Kronos, you stuck your nose where you shouldn’t have. You wait for me. I’ll pry open the little hole you’re recovering into and rip your divinity from your soul with my bare hands.’
“My lady, we should hurry up and leave. This place is unsafe, and the mad king might choose to come after us any moment.”
Meg was looking in astonishment at the massive hole in the ground and got startled by Stephen’s words. As she was about to say something, Seth interjected.
‘It’s enough, Meg. I’ve seen enough. Tell him to take us to the Dream Kingdom.’
