Rampant Memory Of Klaus: Diplomacy within the lands of Terravest is tedious work as most races are simply refusing contact with one another.
If you were to ask any human where the dwarves live, they'd point toward the fjords or the Worldwound mountains, but nobody would be able to differ between the hundreds of clans and mountainhomes that make up the dwarves.
Humans are just humans too, not separated into people's from the Sharrian Merchant Republic, nor the former Leydom of Asmod or any of the other human nations that once existed on the continents.
Just the same way, dwarves are dwarves, not members of the Bluestone or the Balefire clans.
This policy of complete isolation has proven quote profitable for those capable of exploiting it, that is to say the Merchants and the Church. These two sides are at opposing sides, as the church preaches against slavery while praising the leaders of the continent for exercising restraint and not conquering lands beyond their races alloted station, while the merchants practice a kind of moral relativism and thusly rake in grandoise profits from the ever-popular slave trade.
One would think that centuries of slavery would have imprinted a desire for freedom and love of justice. However, the land is brutal and life on Terravest even more so, which is why this seemingly abhorrent practice is making a return.
Slavery seals, the cruel artwork of manic mages, are the favoured way to brand those unfortunate enough to be caught and sold as property. Thin, red lines around the throat which use the hosts own mana to implode should their owner desire it.
----------------------------------------
Cruelty is it's own reward.
The dark ones had it right!
And that is why they will always end up in chains.
----------------------------------------
Several days later...
----------------------------------------
These last few days have gone exceptionally well, as most of the court has dispersed for the moment.
Thankfully, it seems like they got the message of me being a useless, mad king for whom it's better if they just pretend does not exist.
One bafoon tried to invite me to a ball of some kind, so I separated his worthless head from his shoulders.
That's surely something that won't come back to bite me in the ass, later~!
Anyways, the only two people that stayed behind, despite sending away their retinues, are the Grand Wizard Asmodeus, which I've learned is a title after all and not his name, and the bumbling, prideful knight that rudely woke me up a few days ago.
Naturally, he didn't cause any more trouble after I flung him out of the window, though his permanent limp does annoy me some.
"Sebastian." An irrate tone escaped me as I addressed Katrins older brother, an imaginary third eye staring into his foot.
Flinching uncomfortably due to my calling, the younger man sighed and then steeled yourself. "Yes, your majesty?"
Well, if nothing else, his fixed attitude is at least somewhat appealing. "Have you managed to buy me the dwarven slaves I sent you to get?"
Nodding, he replied. "I have accomplished my task, though it seems that the slaver has failed to deliver the goods on time."
"I see. Go execute him then and bring the slaves here yourself." With a fidget and expression of disgust, he muttered. "As you wish, your majesty."
Asmodeus chuckled lightly, muffling the sound with a carelessly placed hand as we both watched the knight limp away. "Your majesty, may I ask for what you specifically need dwarven slaves for? Are they your future experiments?"
I took a sip of the tea prepared for us as we relaxed in a garden pavillion, which was right next to the construction site of my laboratory. "Yes and no. They will be needed for when we start digging."
I do plan on experimenting with them, of course. They have longer life spans and are way cheaper than elves. "I see... But why would you need dwarves to dig here? The garden dirt isn't difficult to get through and the pavement tiles will be removed with time."
"Indeed, but I wish to dig deeper then what is needed for the foundation while also not compromising the castle structure in the process or any other facilities." My explanation had him quirking an eyebrow in confusion.
".. how would digging deep compromise the castle, your majesty?" I turned towards the man with an expression of absolute horror. How stupid can someone be?
To my pleasant surprise, one of the many engineers demolishing my royal gardens heard us and offered the mage a look of equivalent disgust and shock, which was for the mage to reconsider his question. "N-never mind that, your majesty! Let us focus on the more interesting things, such as what kind of experiments are you planning for?"
Hmm... I suppose he has been helpful enough, considering that he took care of organising pretty much all of this, despite all of his faults. "A lot of things, really."
Musing mostly to myself, I replied in earnest. "Everything from the classics such as how to extend one's life to the relevancy of the stars."
"Oh..." He appeared disappointed. "Nothing about how your Arcana functions, your majesty? Surely, you do have some interest in your own powers?"
Shrugging with a smile, I let my face twist itself into a knowing grin. "I am, but it is secondary. Knowledge about my power is something that'll come around on its own, in due time."
After all, I have a knight bidden to protect me against all harm.
Imagine my surprise when I learned that the idiot who kicked me out of bed was also the person responsible for keeping me safe and healthy.
Ha... I'll need to fix that leg of his soon. Preliminary scans have shown me that even if his body was healed, the mages that did the healing couldn't fix his damaged nerves.
Naturally, their excuse for it was that my supposedly dark magic was too demonic and thus, too difficult for them to heal. In fact, only a potion of Full Restoration, whatever that is, could help the poor, wounded knight.
Asmodeus looked utterly dejected after hearing this. "I see.. though I wish I could somehow make his majesty change their mind."
With that admission made by the Grand Wizard, I turned around in order to face him. "Asmodeus, with how pushy you're being, I can only assume that you are plotting to either copy or steal my power for yourself."
An eyebrow was quirked at him as the mages expression twisted toward intense panic, causing me to stifle a laugh before continuing. "My only question here is; why do you need it so badly?"
"Your majesty..." He trailed off with an uncertain tone, but before he could continue, a royal guard clad in black garb came running towards us, then bowed and saluted before exclaiming. "Your majesty! The special prisoner has been prepared for your weekly visit~."
The man's tone was very cheery, sadistically so, even. "I see. Very well then, please show me the way, my good man~."
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
As I stood up, I turned my head towards Asmodeus with a slight grimace. "You should know that I am not a very ambitious man, Grand Wizard. As such, I have no problem with sharing power with others, especially those who prove themselves useful to my cause."
Asmodeus practically leapt from the pavilion in order to kneel in front of me. "I will do my utmost to serve your will, your majesty!"
Quick to catch on, is he?
Oh well, good for us both.
Now then, who might this special prisoner be?
I have only the briefest flashes of familiar torture.
Haas.. another victim of my previous self, I guess.
----------------------------------------
A few minutes later...
----------------------------------------
The darkened halls of the castle prison look about exactly as you would expect: black slate flooring, glistening steel bars, recently-fixed ceelings, support columns made out what seemed like carved, roman concrete...
Oh, who am I kidding? This place looks like the palace of an edgy teenager. Every guard we've passed by seems to be a brooding, completely disinterested man, almost giving me the impression that I could make some very decent friends around here. That said, we soon reached first cell block of the prison and my view completely and utterly changed.
Abhorrent, long decomposed corpses of rodents litter the cracked, heavy concrete floor as the ceeling leaks dirty, infected water from what is definitely the sewage canal above. The formerly glistening steel of the cells and the decently accomodated prisoners within them are like heaven in comparison to what I am seeing here.
Hmmm...
Deep underground, check.
Bad for your health, check.
Royalty goes here with escort, check.
...
Yup, this is definitely an oubliette~.
Which means that, whomever is to be found here, is definitely someone I want dead as soon as possible, while also being unable to directly execute. Hmm..
An intake of breath that went a little too deep woke me from my thoughts as I fought the urge to retch, though perhaps by doing so I would be able to make this place smell a little better. Thankfully, my mysterious, smiling escort and I have seemingly reached our destination. A prison cell at the very end of the block, without a single guard and no light pouring through. Its stench overpowered everything I sensed so far and actually brought the vomit up to my throat, but I still managed to fight it back somehow, almost as if I was very much used to doing so.
Then again, this is supposed to be a "weekly" visit, even though I will surely not be continuing this ridiculous tradition of my person now that my true self controls this body. Honestly, I cannot figure out if my previous incarnation was intelligent or not~. "Your majesty, from what I understand, you have trouble with your memories as of late, so I shall warn you that the prisoner is still dangerous, no matter how she may appear!"
A slow nod was offered as I tried not to move too much out of fear from letting my retch gain any ground. "Thank you for the warning. You may wait outside but don't go too far away."
He seemed somewhat dejected after I said this, but followed my order without a word. "As you wish, your majesty."
With that said, I finally entered the cell with a grimace. The torch sconces turned on by themselves as bluish runework flared with mana and I felt a drain on my reserves, though not all of the torches blazed with fire as the runes were clearly in a state of total disrepair, with uprooted tiles, cracked walls and plenty of clawed, nail-like markings all around.
Still, it was more than enough to reveal the prisoner within the cell. A terribly anorexic woman with her left hand and both legs in chains, uncomfortably fixated to the center of the room. The cuffs around her arm and legs seem to have been nailed into her flesh and the rotting, infected hole within her free hand indicated that it was once bound as well, though I cannot seem to find the chain anywhere.
Tens of half-eaten, dead rodents sourround her wretched body, their stench making it nigh-impossible to actually approach her. "Who... are... you?" A voice, hoarse and yet somehow powerful, echoed throughout the cell and beyond, as I was struck with flashes of memory. A little girl running around alongside a happy boy as their parents watched, in clear disdain.
Flashes of scoldings, of beatings and untold hatred. Of dynastic shields being broken by the strikes of a hammer. "Vivian." My own voice erupted from my throat as hot tears flowed freely down my cheeks.
Her head shot up, hey grey-ed out, dehydrated eyes staring right at me, even though I am certain that she cannot see a thing. "Klaus." She realized, her tone instantly seeping with contempt and spite, yet also with uncertainty. "No. You aren't him. You can't be him. Your footsteps, your aura, your entire being is different."
"A lot's happened." An automatic reply was given as I approached her, kicking away all the dead rats, each rodent completely drained of blood.
"An instant excuse..." She muttered and sighed. "So it is you..." Flinching as I came closer to her and causing her chains to rattle, I felt a great shame welling up from within me. So far, nobody I met has managed to bring out the emotions of my past self this powerfully, much less an emotion other than hatred or spite.
A crimson tendril ripped into existence as I explored her ravaged from, finding several organs to be damaged beyond what could be considered a total failure. She had a collapsed lung filled with dust, her bones were nearly all broken, her skull was fractured and much, much else. "How in the world are you even alive?"
This made her give out a hoarse, shattered laugh. "I've been keeping myself alive by magic, you know that full well." She kicked an uprooted tile with her broken foot. "You even tried to seal my mana away, but then never bothered to have the enchantment repaired once I broke it."
Magic?... come to think of it, she could barely speak when I came in but now shes talking normally. Is that also the power of her magic? Perhaps, its some kind of self-empowering arcana?
Either way, every instinct in my body is telling me to free this woman, as if her torment has been my shame for a very long, long time. "I'll ask again, who are you?" She repeated her question, her withered gaze actually making me stumble a bit. "I am.. Klaus, but I am also not him." Quickly recovering from the effects of her voice, I formed my trusty scalpel and raised my hand up high.
She shivered, yet appeared confused. "I see... you approach me with a weapon... is it finally time for my torment to end?" Her question was filled with intensity, a deep longing that made me want to scream. Shame. Shame!
So much shame.
I want to rip myself out of my own skin.
But it didn't make me hesitate for long, as I sliced her other hand free from its chains and took it into my own, begingin to undo the bracing that kept the cuffs in place. Her expression twisted with many, many differing emotions. "Klaus.. are you.. freeing me?" Her magic was still coursing through her throat, but she seemed to be unable to find the right words.
"I am." Her rusted shackles fell down to the floor with a loud thud and instantly, I could hear the panicked steps of my escorting guard rushing towards here. "Your majesty! Your majesty!" He yelled out but I did not reply.
"... why?.. why now? After all this time?" Her tone bordered on hope and danced with fury. "Stuff happened, I lost a lot of my memories. When I look at you, I feel nothing but regret and shame, Vivian." Saying her name caused me to blink. "And.. you're the only person so far whose name I remembered, at least in part."
She looked at me in amazement and befuddlement as her dead eyes sprang to life. "That's it? You're freeing a potentially dangerous enemy just because it feels bad to look at her? What's stopping you from just leaving me here to rot and die?! That's what worked out for you so far!"
Her words made me stop for a moment as my shame turned to anger. "Alright, fuck you. I'm not freeing you, I'm just putting you under house arrest. Will that do, your highness?" She blinked in surprise as a slight smirk etched itself on her blackened lips. "Hmph, yes. That is better."
"YOUR MAJESTY?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! You cannot release her! She will kill us a-." As soon as he entered the cell, I let go of my scalpel and promptly choked the man, an invisible black tendril writhing around his neck before loudly snapping it. Vivian's mouth flung itself open, gaping at me and the now deceased guard, revealing her rotten teeth in the process.
Just another wound to add onto the ledger. "Y-you.. I wanted to do that for so long!" She exclaimed in frustration as I blinked in momentary confusion. "Errr, was he someone important?"
Vivian burst out into chuckles. "Him? He's just scum you picked up off of the streets in order to torment me!" Her reply was full of spite, despite the laughter. It stung, so I guess her words are the truth. "I see."
Then I made short work of her other cuffs and promptly put her on my back, giving the corpse-looking woman a piggyback ride. "Well.. isn't this nostalgic?" She mused, mostly to herself as I turned to walk out of the cell. She was light, too light. So light that her weight felt as if I was carrying a mountain.
My silence made her quieten as she just laid her head on my neck, dry skin scraping against mine as the remainder of her once beautiful dress ripped itself into even smaller pieces of cloth, just by being moved. "H-hey, Klaus?..." She seemed tired, exhausted beyond belief. "Yes?"
"What.. what do you remember.. other than my name?" Her question caused me to stop and think, wondering how I should answer. "I.. I don't actually remember anything, just flashes of a happy childhood while our parents look at us with disapproving gazes. Hell, you could be my sister for all I know."
She let out a light laugh. "I'm not, but we were really close back then.." She trailed off as I continued walking, looking straight into the blackened hallway in front of me. Was it always this long? "What happened to change that?"
I could almost see her smile with melancholy. "A lot of stuff..." Her answer caused me to nod in understanding. This was neither the place nor the time to speak of it all.
But I just couldn't shake the feeling that she also didn't really want me to remember...