Far, far north of the Free Kingdoms of Men, hundreds of thousands of miles away from the Evening Forest, in a land where the grasses of the meadows are beautifully lush and green, the trees brimming with life, the light-blue sky was clear and cotton-white clouds hung across the horizon like paintings hand-made by maestros.
Here the land was rich and fertile, even more so than the lands of the other Kingdoms and Empires of Men; that if one were to step foot in this land of life, one would feel like they were in the territories governed by the High Elven race of Avalen.
Deep in this land, further than the first cities along its borders, following the Imperial White Road through the numerous highways, the countless farm lands, in between gated fortresses and imposing citadels, lays the most glorious city known to Men!
It had shimmering and towering walls that looked metallic, yet white as the snow on the highest mountain-peaks. The walls were adorned with metallic silver and gold magical reinforcement arrays and engravings, in such a scale that it would make one’s eyes pop out and jaws wide open. Up-above its air-space, hundreds of magical airships darted in and out of the city. Floating islands powered by powerful magic were lined with numerous barracks garrisoned with thousands of their Enchanted Knights and well-armed soldiers to ensure the safety of their skies.
In the center of this exalted city, lies probably one of the most awe-inspiring palaces in the entire Eternal Realm. So large and grand in size, it would take days to fully tour the whole of it. In one such corner of this palace, was a tower that branched out long and wide bridges to other parts of the structure. And in its top-most part, was an office that looked to be for someone that held much authority.
A feathered quill was writing on one of the many stacked documents in this office’s solitary work table. The office was large, enough for at least a hundred people to lie down in. It was filled with expensive decoration, and a chandelier the size of an elephant lit up the room. But this wasn’t what would catch one’s eye in this room, but the fact that the quill was writing by itself! It seemed to have a mind of its own as it reviewed and signed all the documents on the table.
In front of the single but gigantic window pane of this office, stood a man with hair white as the clouds. His eyes were strikingly deep-blue, and although he was not the most handsome of men, the aura he exuded was enough for every person to feel compelled to get down on one knee. He was donned with a white cloak with an engraved golden insignia of a book with wings stabbed by a golden sword on his back. The man was looking outside of the window, and yet it could be felt that his vision is fixated on something so far away.
“Greetings, Your Highness, Prime Exemplar.” A person donned with the same cloak but with a purple insignia entered the office and knelt down on one knee in greeting.
“I have come to deliver news from the Reconnaissance Legion. Last night, the Mages responsible for extreme wide ranged sensory magic [Far Seeing Sense] have detected a strong magical anomaly in the far west of the Free Kingdoms.” The person who was still on one knee reported with his clearest voice possible.
“What does Imperial Headquarters say?” the man who still had his back turned, was still quietly looking out the huge window, he seemed to be thinking about something.
“Imperial Headquarters have given the permission to investigate. They have given His Excellency full authority on how to handle this situation.” The person respectfully replied.
“I see..” the man, who looked to be in his early 30’s finally turned towards the man. He commanded, “Send a tactical squad that excels in recon activit-… No, wait. Initiate some of the best trainees with a trial by combat. Only one person shall be allowed to go. The other Kingdoms are always watching us closely; we cannot let them know that we have noticed something in their territory. They must not possess power that they are too weak to control. Treat this mission as discreetly as possible.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” The man got on his feet, put his right-palm on his chest and bowed, “Ven Eternum.”
“For Humanity.” The majestic man said in reply to the salute.
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Arterion woke up in an unknown location. Gone was his shabby and dirty clothing, replaced by a long glittering white robe. It looked plain but he felt comfortable, like the robe itself was part of his own body. It felt natural in the weirdest of ways.
But what he found most bizarre was the place he found himself in. The world looked like it was endless, with the skies as blue as the seas and clouds as white as angelic light. The ground he was standing in was crystal clear and resembled a huge mirror. If one were to look down at it, they would get dizzy wondering if they were standing upside-down or not. It was so clear that he noticed his face changed from looking like a beggar to a handsome and striking noble that he once looked like.
“Where am I?” Arterion blurted out in a daze. He turned around to look for anything in his surroundings that could give him clues, but to no avail.
It was when he was finally about to give up that a he saw something in the distance. It looked to an arch, upon which crawled thorny vines that grew numerous roses. In the middle of the arch, a petite, dried, and macabre looking tree can be seen. He knew this tree well; as it was last thing he saw and talked to when he was dying. Seeing that there was nothing else in this mirror-like world, he decided to walk towards the arch.
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As Arterion was closing in, he noticed something on the tree. Well to be accurate, he noticed ‘someone’ on the tree. In the left branch of the two branches of the dead tree, was a figure clothed in the same robes he was in. From her flowing hair that was black as night, he deduced it to be a woman.
Just from her back alone, Arterion knew that this woman would be the most perfect being he had ever seen in his life. He just felt like he was walking towards the presence of a god of the Realm. A few meters away and he felt like he needed to prostrate to this person. He swallowed down all his nonsense thoughts as he was overcome with desire to know where he was, and this person might just help with that.
“Welcome.” The woman spoke with her back still turned. Arterion was just about to speak but the woman suddenly blurted out a welcome. Her voice was dreamy and magical, like it came from the sweetest of dreams. The voice was reverberating that Arterion looked around as he thought that there was actually more than one person that spoke. But around him was still the mirror-like world with nothing but the woman on the tree and him.
“I know what you’re thinking. ‘Where am I’, ‘What happened’, When did I get here’, ‘Who is this woman’, ‘Why am I here.’” The woman chuckled and finally turned towards Arterion.
It was at that moment that Arterion finally saw the woman’s heavenly face. Her features were beyond perfect that even the harshest of critics would declare that not a single flaw can be seen on her. Her skin was white as the clouds above, her lips were as red as the roses growing on the arch, and her eyebrows were as black and beautiful as her hair. Her breasts were plump and full, and her behind was even more so.
But in contrast to her heavenly appearance and body, her eyes radiated sinister and extremely evil aura. It was crimson-red that looked like they were burning with Hell Flames. The pupils were long slits of wriggling black lines that was more reptile than human. On her sclera, black magical lines glowed in and out of existence. Her eyes were disturbing, and seemed to be pronounced further because it varied greatly with the rest of her look.
“You’re quite the greedy boy aren’t you, wanting to know everything at once. Well, I’ll answer who I am. I am you, and you are me.”
“Wh-what?” Arterion was still in a daze with her looks as he was hit with an unexpected answer. Just then, he looked down to the mirror-like ground, and what he saw shocked him. He looked exactly like the woman on the tree! And when he looked back to the woman, the woman turned into someone that looked exactly like himself! The purple eyes, the deep brunette hair, and the chiseled face, everything looked exactly the same.
“I am you… and you are me?” Arterion uttered a whisper that only he himself could hear. He looked confused and conflicted. What the hell is going on?!
Seeing Arterion’s flustered reaction, the woman chuckled and everything went back to normal. Arterion was himself again, and the woman was the same heavenly figure once more. At this time, millions of questions were dawning on Arterion’s mind that made his head start hurting a bit. He caressed his forehead over and over in hopes of calming himself down and at least finding some answers to all these unanswered questions.
“It should be soon.” The woman said in a mysterious tone.
“Hey, wait. Where are we and what happened when I ate that apple you gave me? You were that tree in the middle of the field of roses, right?” Arterion asked in a pleading tone. He was desperate for answers right now and every time the woman spoke in an ambiguous tone, it made his head hurt a little.
“Tree..? Field of roses..? Apple..? Fufu.. AHAHAHA! I see, I see. You’re really interesting!” The woman answered in a weird way while giggling for quite a while. The sound of her giggling was melodious but it seemed to worsen Arterion’s headache. All of a sudden, Arterion was letting out silent screams because of the pain. He fell down to his knees and clutched his head with both hands but nothing was working.
“Urgh.. rghh.. What did you do to me..? Who are you really?” Arterion grunted some questions again. He was in so much pain but he still wanted answers.
“I will only answer once you ask that right questions. Currently, everything you ask does not concern you. Hmm.. let me give you an example of a right question..” The woman replied an answer more peculiar than the last.
Arterion’s head was starting to feel like it would explode any moment now. He was grabbing his hair and pulling out in desperation. It felt like bugs were gnawing at his brain, the intense sensation was just too hard to bear. Arterion was uncontrollably salivating as he stared at the laughing woman sitting on the tree.
“Wh-what.. do.. you mean by right questio-“
“Do you love your parents?” The woman cut-in and asked in a casual tone.
“What?”
“I asked you the most befitting question for you right now. Do you love your parents? Answer it.”
“Urgh.. Of course I love the-“
“Liar.”
Suddenly, Arterion’s vision blacked-out. The mirror world was gone; the woman on the tree was gone. The splitting headache was gone. All that remained was pitch-black darkness. Arterion felt like he was suspended on the deepest part of the ocean. It was cold, and his movements were slowed like he was underwater.
It was quiet at first, but after a while, he heard terrifying screams ringing out to his ears. The screams were grating and horrifying, as if a lot of people were being skinned alive, all at the same time. Arterion felt his skin crawl at the sound, and even tried covering his ears but the screaming was still loud and clear. He closed his eyes to focus on drowning out the sound, but he couldn’t do anything to rid of it.
It was when he opened his eyes that everything finally made sense.
He was back at the camp, just outside of Evening Forest. He recognized the spring dawn breeze hitting his face, as well as the tents he personally laid out with some of the other slaves. He recognized the feeling of cool grass beneath his feet, and the light-blue sky up above.
But he didn’t recognize the stench that permeated in the air nor the bloody scene around him. He didn’t recognize the bloody longsword in his right hand; stained with coagulated blood, with bits and pieces of meat and other meat-like matter around its edges. He didn’t recognize his own body, when he felt two heartbeats from both sides of his chests.
He looked around and he couldn’t control himself as he vomited everything he ate for the past days. He was nauseous of the smell of several pieces of smattered guts on his feet. It was there he saw a decapitated head that had his face stuck in a moment of sorrow and incredulity. He recognized this man that was older than him by a few years and was the leader of the caravan he belonged to.
Lorence’s decapitated head rolled away with his sudden movement.