Two days. Two more days was what it took for them to arrive in front of the walls that surrounded the massive capital they had seen in the distance. From the moment Kary saw the amorphous shape resting on the underbelly of the plains, she immediately noted the massive area it covered, though through the passage of time and the gradual shortening of the distance, the girl came to the realization that even after seeing the city from afar she had holly underestimated its sheer size. Even the walls that protected the interior from possible threats from the outside were many times the girl’s height, not that using her height as a measure for comparison did the girl or the object being measure any respect, but, since there weren’t any convenient measuring tapes that she could use, she resigned herself to using her own body.
It extended far beyond what she could see from both of the sides as they approached the main gate, where people congregated as they waited for their chance to enter the busy town. There weren’t many of them on the gate, but the process of getting through was just bureaucratic enough that it allowed a queue to be formed in the first place. There were a trio of peasants in brown garb, eyes tired as they held into their farming tools so as to not fall asleep on the grass. Behind the clearly exhausted trio was a carriage, clearly a step above from the simple carts Kary had seen being used by the caravan to store their resources. Different from her sleeping place, the one she saw seemed to be designed so that people could sit inside and enjoy the view leisurely, the only worry of its occupants being the shaking proportioned by the uneven ground.
The carriage was linked to a horse as dark as the night sky, its strength visible in its clearly defined muscles, which were, at that moment, very much not in use, for the carriage was completely inert, its driver patiently waiting for the time when he would once again exert his function. For the people inside of the ratter prestigious-looking carriage, however, such delays were unacceptable, and whoever was responsible for making them wait should be at the very least demoted to the job of cleaning horses’ manure. The constant shouting from inside the confinements of the carriage was seldom interrupted, and if it was, it was due to the voice’s owner need to sporadically stop to quench his throat. After all, shouting so much with such consistency was bound to wear down his voice, and he didn’t want to sound like a dying man while he still had much of his life yet to be lived.
Kary had noticed the shouting long before she could identify its origin, and no doubt the more sensitive and seasoned experts among the caravan had already noticed the ramblings of the mad man long ago. He spoke in a loud, raspy voice, just as pleasant as the orchestra of crickets that insisted in playing when everyone was trying to sleep, his tone carrying a certain noble demeanor, as if he was greater and grander than the people that surrounded him, and that he demanded to be treated as such. Personally, Kary was curious to see what kind of figure it was that kept spouting just as much nonsense as an insane inmate at an asylum, but, after a single glance in Asteria’s direction, she quickly retracted whatever questions she wanted to ask, since it was pretty obvious that the knight was in a pretty bad mood, and the girl absolutely did not want to be the one to worsen it.
Through subdued glances, Kary saw as the knight she had grown quite fond of, despite the rough methods with which she trained the girl’s strength, tried and failed to suppress a sigh, a blend of anger, frustration, and annoyance mixing in with the warm breath that left her mouth. Massaging her temples while taking deep breaths, Asteria managed to contain the outburst that was about to happen, morphing it into a cold expression, serious and calculating, not a glimpse of her earlier frustration to be seen. Seeing this, Kary couldn’t help but swallow the lump of saliva that accumulated on her throat, wondering what type of skill that she had that could possibly do something like that. It was scary, unnatural, and yet, considering everything that the woman had confided Kary over these past weeks, it seemed to be necessary in order for her to survive in her professional environment,
Unflappable, the knight strode forward with big steps, the light armor she wore clinking and clanking as she made her way to the front of the group, and then past it, walking to the gates with an expression as serene as an unperturbed lake, her appearance just catching enough to catch the attention of the guard who had been profusely bowing down and asking for forgiveness from just outside the gaudy carriage. The young knight, after superficially gazing upon the approaching woman, simply dismissed her as some adventurer or the other, preferring to ignore her in favor of continuing to grovel in front of the carriage. It was only when Asteria scoffed just loud enough to be heard that the knight directed his attention towards her, albeit begrudgingly.
His expression, once pleading, almost desperate, turned cold as he narrowed his eyes at the woman who dared to interrupt his conversation with the father of one of the dukes of the kingdom. He didn’t knew what kind of penalization he would receive due to insisting on upholding what had been asked of him, but, considering the old man’s reputation, it wouldn’t be anything good. That was why he was making such an extraneous effort into placating the noble’s temper, to the point where he didn’t even mind that he was humiliating himself in front of peasants. After all, it was not as if that trio would dare to try to do anything to him, a noble himself, although with a much lower standing than the one with whom he was talking, but a noble nonetheless. Even if they decided to ignore all the red flags that would be promptly raised up once they decided to talk to any authority about it, their concern would be simply dismissed and the knight would most likely walk away with all the freedom his position warranted.
With a haughty face belonging to arrogant fools who failed to realize the situation they were getting themselves into, the young knight, a mere hooky in comparison to Asteria and the group she led, turned fully towards the woman, sizing her body from head to toes, his slimy gaze fluctuating towards the curves of his body just as naturally as a moth that had it firmly ingrained within its instincts that it should always move towards the light, regardless of the consequences that would come after. Just as a jeweler couldn’t resist the sight of a beautiful gem, this noble, raised without being told a single no, could not hold himself together at the sight of a pretty lady.
He was about to call her out to shoo her away and, perhaps, invite her to do something more later that day, but a single glance at her eyes, which had been growing narrower and narrower as his gaze toured her body, were enough to leave him petrified on the spot. They were sharp, piercing, as if they could see the knight’s very soul. They had an undecipherable depth that seemed to drag him towards it, swirling, swirling, getting closer and closer to the darkness in the center, a sinking hole that seemed to grow with every passing moment, until that was all that he could perceive. In a trance, he tried to look around, his movements sluggish, far from what should be reasonable to expect from a knight, but, no matter which direction he looked at, the darkness that surrounding him was cold, oppressing, and all-encompassing.
He started to feel physically bad after a while, his mind struggling to keep his body from collapsing into the ground into fetal position. As he fought the urge to puke the contents of the feeling breakfast he had eaten before moving out to the gates, he felt his heart begin to beat faster and faster, as if trying to free itself from his body, jumping up and down with such a velocity that it made the rookie visibly flinch as he grasped the place where his heart was located. It became much harder to get oxygen towards his lungs, and he could feel his consciousness beginning to falter as he failed to get enough air inside to make his body function properly. At the same time, he began to hear a strange, continuous, grating noise in his ears, which only got louder as he struggled more and more to resist the sweet release of unconsciousness. After all, he had no idea what would happen to him once he became defenseless, and, because of that, he fought with all his might to keep himself in a condition capable of fighting.
The ringing on his ears got lauder as a small white dot began to form in the middle of his vision, a little speck of light to shine brightly upon this encroaching darkness. Relief filled the man as he thought that he would be saved, but reality refused to allow him to walk away unscathed. As the white dot grew, turning dark into a light so bright that it almost blinded the man, the ringing on his ears only got louder, drowning the sounds of both his incessantly beating heart and the screams that left his mouth. There was so much stuff happening, so much sensory stimulation at the same time, that the man didn’t knew what to tackle with his two flimsy, trembling hands. He didn’t know whether he should gouge his eyes out, rip his ears off, or punch a hole through his chest, though thankfully none of these options were needed in the end, as the blinding light, after encompassing him in much the same way the darkness had done in what felt like an eternity prior, slowly gave way to the colors of the world that he hadn’t even realized he so dearly missed.
From a small distance, Asteria watched the whole scene unfold, her eyes, still as narrow as those of a snake, never once breaking contact with the man’s eyes. She silently observed as the effects of one of her most prized skills, [Primordial void], took hold of the young fool. It was a scene she had seen countless times before, but, at the same time, she couldn’t help but shiver every time she had to use it, be it in order to give someone a lesson or to make sure that someone would never approach her again. She quivered not just because of the intense mana consumption, which caused the mana in her body to flow in droves towards her eyes, leaving behind an empty, exhausted vessel, but also because of how cruel the skill itself was. Sure, she had obtained this skill through years upon years of glaring at people, and she used it for self-defense and nothing more, but the short and long term effects of the skill were the reason as to why she seldom made use of it.
Making the victim sink into endless despair, losing themselves amidst the empty void of their own heads, wondering around for eons, unable to find an exit, their minds playing tricks on them, giving them false hope of escaping, only to break it immediately after. If that wasn’t enough to leave a lasting scar in the victim’s psyche, there were also the growing heart palpitations, which only made whoever had garnered enough attention from Asteria more and more anxious, making them feel as if they had a time limit to find their way out, otherwise they would be forced to watch as their heart forcefully leaved their bodies. Of course, such a thing would never happen, but the terror of the unknown void was a powerful amplifier of emotions. For the grand finale, the skill tortured the victim some more through sensory overload, drilling in loud sounds and blinding lights, until the victim was finally brought back to reality, where they belonged, and where they would forever suffer the aftermath of [Primordial void], as there were no psychologists on this world yet.
It was cruel, ruthless, and a wholly unnecessary process in most cases, a skill so brutal that Asteria refused to wield it unless it was really necessary. Sure, without any context, one could argue that the young knight’s actions didn’t warrant such a show of force, but the toned woman was well aware of his reputation, and she refused to allow him to paint black with his wretched hands the lives of anyone else. She had heard of the tales regarding the man before her, the terrible things he had done to others simply because he had the power to do so. More importantly, he had seen him drag girls from the street and into the knight’s academia, his position just important enough that the teachers there refused to lift a finger to save the commoner whose life would be forever changed against their will.
It was never a pretty sight; to see women scream, beg for them to be spared, to offer him all the riches in the world in order to save their chastity. But the beast was never satisfied. The beast craved for carnal affection more than anyone at the academia, to the point where even his “friends” were put off by his behavior. Thankfully, they were well aware that what the knight was doing was awful in so, so many levels, but still, they never acted. They watched from afar, never taking the risk of losing their political standing, their behind-the-scenes dealings, their advantages on the administrative game, in order to help a commoner, for those were expendable, contrary to them. At least, that was what they believed. If the common folk were mere pawns on the game of chess, unlikely to ever reach a position better than the one they held now, then their parents had taught them that they were supposed to aim to be kings. Irreplaceable, high enough in the political ladder that they could count themselves untouchable, capable of only being seen eye-to-eye by people of equal standing.
Asteria had seen many men, and even some women, despite their usual position as objects to be married off, acting as if they owned their world, and that the academia was their playground, often going around with their cronies doing whatever they pleased, undeterred by laws or social norms, since, as they were far from the prying eyes of their families, they could simply say that any rumors about them were spread in bad faith, and that they would never do something so hideous. Of course, that wouldn’t work for some of the more prominent families, where the usage of spies was quite common, but for those that could afford it? They made sure to abuse their title as much as they could.
Now that Asteria was face to face with the thirsty beast, though, she would make sure that he would be forever unable to ruin any more lives. He, himself, would still be alive, although whether the husk that she had left behind could still be considered a human was up for debate. The man could hear, speak, and do every action he was capable of before [Endless void] dragged him into the worst of his nightmares, but, if left to his own devices, he would simply wither away, his mind now unable to comprehend the fact that he needed to eat and drink to stay alive. Gone was the time when he would be able to enjoy some fine wine and play with the most beautiful women money could afford him, gone were the days when he would leave the academia’s ground only to come back dragging an unconscious person by the hair.
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Few were the times Asteria had even considered using that skill, even fewer the times when she actually used it. But every single instance of her frying the brains of someone were deeply ingrained into her mind, nightmares that kept her awake at night, sweating profusely as she brooded over the choices she had had, the decisions that had led her to that point, never ending regrets that refused to cease haunting her. It was terrifying, to see the light in someone’s eyes slowly drain as their brain turned to mush under the torture, knowing that they would never ever recover from her act. Every use of her skill added a heavy weight to her very soul, a constant remind of what she had taken, a shackle, tying her to her victims, constricting her, reminding her through the pain of the much too small holes that secured her limbs of her decision of summarily executing someone, forcefully taking away their will and forcing them to live the rest of their lives like a zombie, responding only to external stimuli, bound to die a miserable death.
And yet, this time she barely even flinched before resigning herself to use her skill, for she knew the bastard in front of her, and he, he was one of the few people that she didn’t mind using her skill on. She had personally witnessed the horrors committed by him, slowed by his peer, and, to some degree, by her as well. A single glance at his face told her more than she had ever wanted to know about him, his gaze licking her all over, the slimy expression on his face making her more disgusted the more she was forced to look at it. He seemed to be so full of himself all the time, so much confidence trapped in such a mediocre person, a boy who thought himself to be king, above the knighthood where he unfortunately belonged to, above the laws that allowed this still-crawling kingdom to flourish. For a few more moments, she stared at the shell of a man that kneed before her, her expression a mix of complete disgust and pity. She spat on the ground in front of him, before marching onwards towards the closed gate, where the man’s companion stood, unbothered by anything and anyone around him, looking just as gone as the first knight.
He looked at the sky, his grey eyes completely focused on the clouds above. It was only after Asteria gently tapped on his shoulder that he seemed to remember where he was. With his cheeks slightly tinged red, he cleared his throat before addressing the woman before her, his tone much more professional than anything the beast from before could ever achieve. Asteria smiled lightly, he stone face finally crumbling at the sight of a decent knight, seeing as there was still hope for the knighthood, and that not all knights were foolish sons of prominent nobles trying to make a name for themselves.
“What do you want… my lady?” Though the last past left his mouth with clear hesitation, a testament to his lack of actual experience, as a knight, Asteria couldn’t help but be a little proud of her juniors. After all, even when the man in front of herself was unaccustomed to both his job and being polite to commoners, he was certainly trying, which was already much better than how some other people pretending to be knights acted. Without missing a beat, she replied to the daydreamer:
“Me and my group just returned from a journey from far away, and we are very, very tired. We wanted to enter the city right away in order to turn in our report, but it seems that something happened to the capital that forced the closure of the gates. I was just wondering if you had any information on what may be going on inside…”
“Oh… oh! I see! Well… my lady, the reason why the gates were closed is because someone dared to rob the crown of the fifth prince! I don’t know what in the gods’ name the person who did this was thinking, but I doubt they were straight in the head. After all, they made the whole city go into lockdown until they are found, so that the little prince stops with his tantrum! Sure, the crown, made out of gold and all that, is probably worth more than what I will earn throughout my whole life, and I know for a fact that the little prince loved to flaunt his status to anyone that cared to hear, and even to those who couldn’t care less, but who would be stupid enough to try to steal from the crowns?!”
“I… see. The situation sure changed since we left town, huh? Well, I guess that was to be expected, considering just how much time we spent out in the ruins”
“The ruins?” Hearing the question, Asteria simply smiled, a predatory, toothy grin that she often showed Kary whenever she wanted to torture her with more training.
“Yes, the old ruins of Táfos. I suppose you heard of us, right? The group sent by the king in order to study those moldy ruins, comprising of knights, adventurers, researchers, and the five elders from the Institute”
“Oh yeah, I’ve heard about you! I was told to allow you guys to pass, and, not that I don’t believe in you, for that I will need some credential to prove that you folks are, in fact, who you claim to be. Don’t worry; it doesn’t need to be anything substantial. Maybe bring here one of the adventurers you took from us, and I might feel inclined to open this gate” At that, Asteria’s smile only widened, as she reached into her pocket, showing the knight the silver badge that identified her as a knight, its shiny plating reflecting the light of the sun.
“The name’s Asteria, commander of the third special platoon under the king king, absent on my post for the past half a year due to a mission I was personally recommended to, the one about exploring some old stones that were once a city. Does this ring any bell?” Listening to that remark, the knight’s heart sank, as he tried to come with some excuse as to why he hadn’t recognized the living legend in front of him. Like many other rookie knights, he was well aware of the legendary figure of Asteria, though the fame gathered by a single commoner, and woman at that, did cause quite the commotion among the knights. He admired the person that managed to rise to such heights through her own efforts, and he aimed to, perhaps one day, become a legend worth telling as well, hopefully not for his infamy. Yet, despite knowing every legend and every rumor related to the woman in front of him, to the point where he could perfectly describe her appearance, he was completely incapable of recognizing her.
“…Sorry, commander, for not recognizing you. It’s just that… hah… today has been quite the long day, and it isn’t even lunch time yet! I swear, if I have to bear with Derrick again tomorrow, I might ask to be transferred to somewhere else. It’s quite impressive, the way he manages to be annoying to everybody, no matter if they are commoners of nobles that could kill him without anyone bothering to investigate. How in the world did someone like him even become a knight?!” Seeing the mischievous grin that adorned Asteria’s face, the young knight stopped dead on their tracks, stunned for a moment by the proximity of his goddess. Though some might call it blasphemy, the man had no qualms about saying that the goddess that he followed was none other than the knight in front of him, his guiding light, the person who, despite probably not even knowing who he was, completely changed his life for the better. With a sigh, he gave up on the conversation.
“Sorry, I’m just venting on you. I’ll go open the gates now”
“It’s fine. Your concerns are very valid, but thankfully, you won’t need to bear with that sorry excuse for a knight any longer. As for your question about who he did become a knight, I feel like you already know the answer, and you’re just unwilling to admit it”
“Huh? What? Why?”
“This you should find out yourself. Otherwise it’ll be no fun!” With that, she turned her back to young knight, before walking back to her tent, ignoring both the trio of commoners and still blabbering mad man inside the carriage. She spared a single glance towards the once Derrick, the womanizer who was in both dreams and nightmares of the common folk. Seeing him on this vegetable-like state, she was almost sorry for what she had done to him. Almost. No amount of self-doubting would change the fact that she had only gotten rid of a pile of garbage that no one had the courage to take out. Turning one last time towards the young knight, still in a daze after interacting with the idol he held in the highest of pedestals, she left one last remark, this time with a bone-chilling tone, capable of making even the hottest of volcanoes freeze over, the most powerful of fire dragons wish they had brought a jacket, the unruliest of elementals scampering back to their natural habitats.
“Oh, I never said anything about Derrick, all right? Neither you nor I ever made a reference to him, and whatever you heard, no you didn’t” With these parting words, she made her way to her caravan, which had been patiently waiting for her to get an answer as to why they were still there, and not in the Guild, reporting their finds and earning exorbitant amounts of money. Looking around, Asteria could see Tom polishing his axe despite her being quite sure that he didn’t need to, though she knew that he always did that whenever he was bored. Instead of interacting with other people, or even simply enjoying a hobby, this weird big fella preferred to spend his alone time doing more work. She appreciated the dedication to the craft, but at the same time she felt like this was a bit of a waste. After all, despite his shady appearance and his off-putting size, Tom was one of the nicest guys she had ever had the pleasure to befriend.
On the other end of the spectrum, however, was the pair of brother and sister, who was sitting together as they usually did. They gazed at no particular point, simply staring into the distance; their reasons unknown, for no one had the guts to go ask them about it. Watching that scene, however, Asteria noticed something quite unusual, something she could probably even call a first. Different from her brother, Anna’s eyes, usually fogged and distanced, almost detached from reality itself, seemed to not only show some meaning behind them, but they also seemed to be fixated on a particular someone, a being that Asteria had saved on a whim, and with whom she had been growing closer and closer over the course of the expedition, someone that, by this point, she didn’t want to let go.
Yes, surprisingly, Anna’s eyes seemed to follow Kary’s every movement, regardless of how small or insignificant they were, from her running from her newfound friends or from the rise and fall of her chest after she had grown tired and lied down on the grass. If Asteria looked carefully, she could even see the beginning of a smile forming on Anna’s usual stoic face, a stark contrast to how she had acted during the entirety of the trip. For a moment, the knight even entertained the thought that Anna would try to steal Kary away from her, but, after some basic pondering, she realized that doing such a thing did not suit the adventurer’s style, and that she would probably prefer to go through a much more silent route, maybe kidnapping, in order to secure the girl all to herself.
In the distance, she could see the researchers and scholars playing various games, from card games to simple table-top games they had brought with them. The sight in front of her resembled less a caravan full of veterans and more a picnic sponsored by the castle. It was a surprisingly wholesome scene, an almost complete contrast to the ruckus from the start of the way back, though that still paled in comparison to the excitement felt by both scholars and adventurers during the very first day of their long, long journey, when they knew little of what awaited them, lured to Táfos by the promise of gold and knowledge. Honestly, Asteria couldn’t really blame them for taking upon themselves the mission of uncovering the secrets of a civilization long gone, since she knew that, if she was given the choice, she would have jumped at the opportunity without sparing it a second thought or a moment of research, which, in retrospect, seemed to be a rather bad idea, especially now that the knight was fully aware of the dangers lurking around the ruined city.
Cleaning her throat, she prepared to address the people she had been with for the past almost six months, people with whom she grown some sense of camaraderie through their shared burdens and challenges. Sadly, not everything can last forever, and the expedition that had made so many stranger met and even befriend each other had come to its end. After thinking for a moment about the most efficient way of gathering everyone’s attention, she simply went with the most basic choice: shouting as loud as her vocal chords allowed her to.
“HEY! EVERYONE! PAY ATTENTION FOR A MOMENT, PLEASE!” After she assessed that all eyes were on her, she continued, this time in a more subdued voice. “I appreciate the patience you have all shown today as we were forced to wait outside the gates for reasons nobody was aware of. Thankfully, the guard at the gate was reasonable enough to allow us to pass through the gate, an exception allowed by the king or his court. Once again, I thank you all for the collaboration for these past six months. I know not every single one of you is satisfied with the result of the exploration, and many wished that they could have studied more, but, for now, I ask that everyone rest once reach the palace, for the audience with the king is sure to leave most of you completely spent. With all that said, let us raise our heads up and march forward, for our journey is not complete without our victorious march through the city to the castle. Come, men, get up, pick up your things, pack whatever you need, and begging marching. You have five minutes to finish everything up. Should the count reach zero with you still arranging your luggage, fret not, for you will be left behind… So? What are you waiting for? Get these cards and games packed before I feed them to the horses!”
Within a few moments, they were already moving towards the massive gate that loomed over them, its imposing form raised just high enough to let them all pass. Seeing the approaching bars of steel, Kary couldn’t help but feel excited, as it would be her first time entering a big city, the closest she would probably ever get to her original world. At the same time, the skeptical part of her mind was forced to look at things from a more logical point, wondering just how much smaller this so called ‘capital’ would be when compared to the cities of her formal world. After all, even the city she came from, despite not even being the capital of her state, had a population on the hundreds of thousands, and she knew that there was no way it would live up to the standards she had grown used to. After what felt an eternity of waiting (though it couldn’t be more than five minutes), they were finally crossing the threshold of the fabled capital, heart of the kingdom. Looking up at the menacing bars that comprised the raised gate, Kary failed to conceal her excitement as the thought that they had finally, finally, after two months of walking and training and sleeping and feeling sore all the time, they had reached the big city.