3 - The Handbook
Valrion opened his eyes, and a blur of soft light flooded his sight. He blinked several times, adjusting to the irregularity before gazing at a blurred expanse above him. Indiscernible shapes and colors merged like splattered liquid, creating shifting patterns that danced before him. Mostly, they were black and brown.
The next thing he noticed was how constrained he was. He stretched out his limbs but didn’t reach their usual range. As his vision gradually cleared, he gawked at a pair of short, bloated, and wrinkly arms. He flexed the fingers, realizing they were his, so why did they appear that way?
He turned his head to the right and found wooden slats separating him from the other side. Two figures in loose outfits walked by—a man and a woman, judging by their voices. It was dark out there, with just an amber hue coming from what seemed to be lanterns. Though their words were muffled, he could tell they were speaking to one another.
Questions swirled in his mind—who were these people, why couldn’t they speak louder, why couldn’t he speak himself—but these couldn’t linger for long when a sudden growl from his stomach caught him off guard. Before he could process the sensation any further, an odd instinct took over, and he started crying.
It was as though an invisible heaviness pressed down on his chest. With every tear shed, confusion and disbelief overwhelmed him. What was he crying about? He just wanted to feel okay, but the harder he tried to silence himself, the more difficult it became. The realization that he couldn’t even reach the most basic sense of comfort left him feeling disoriented.
He didn’t like this. The emptiness in his stomach or the dampness that clung to his cheeks—everything was foreign, and he knew he wasn’t meant to feel this way.
“Why did you wake up suddenly?” the woman from before asked, speaking in a language that wasn’t his first but one he understood well. She walked closer, approaching him as a dark silhouette. Her large hands wrapped around him, and she lifted and held him in her arms in one smooth motion.
He glanced at the place he had just been: a cradle. It was a strange spot to be, but before he could figure out the reason, the woman gently rocked him, her free hand patting his side. Though he still whimpered, her scent—a blend of sweet honey and wildflowers—somewhat calmed him.
The closest thing he could compare it to was the elderflowers that grew along the path to Heaven’s largest hot spring bath. The tiny, white petals were often scattered in the perpetual stream of water, mingling their delicate fragrance with the steam rising into the air.
Heaven.
His body jerked up in sudden realization, heart racing as he became acutely aware of his current state.
Valrion, the Son of the King of Heaven, born to be the heir of Heaven.
The weight of the truth crashed down on him all at once. Memories rushed in like a landslide, each bringing a sharp pang that throbbed in his head.
Rays of light poured down on the day he was born, casting a golden glow to celebrate his arrival. Never-ending laughter rang out loud as he grew up alongside his younger sister and the other gods around their age. The nods of approval the elders gave him every time he walked past them—silent affirmation of his future role.
“As my son, this is your sacred duty from this moment forward.” His father’s words always sounded cold, but his gaze held unwavering faith.
The Twelve Eidolons sealed within the Vault. His unexpected shortcoming. The disappointed glares he tried to ignore. Those who were powerless to defend him.
His father’s decision that cut deep. The apparent misery of his mother and sister. His banishment. The horror of floating alone in the middle of nowhere. A strange warning about his rebirth in Eru and something about reclaiming what he had lost. A scenery of a house with a woman writhing in agony before their collision, and the void engulfing him.
[Initializing the Handbook.]
Before him, the image reappeared. A third of it overlapped with the woman’s head, but it followed wherever he looked, so he tilted his head sideways to get a better view. The message was identical to the first time he saw it, but it flickered crazily, seemingly unable to sustain its form before vanishing in an instant.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
He could only watch when the movement gradually stabilized. The message hung in place for a while before being replaced by a continuous sequence of sentences.
[Light and shadow answer your call.]
[A path toward reformation unfolds before you.]
[What you choose along it will shape the legacy you seek.]
[Main Quest unlocked: Capture the Twelve Eidolons]
[Main Quest unlocked: A New Era]
[Main Quest unlocked: The Fate of Heaven]
His heart pounded louder against his chest—a sound so strong it throbbed in his ears. The pressure in his head was far more intense than when he had been adrift in the cosmos, and it only heightened when a new image appeared before him.
In contrast to the previous one, where each message was encased in a display large enough for just a single sentence, what unfolded now was at least ten times bigger, containing various words and numbers. Four blocks, arranged vertically at the center, immediately drew his attention. Their gray tones stood out against the similarly colored background.
[Quests]
[Eidolons]
[Spells]
[Blessings]
The last two options were dimmed among them, but of course, [Eidolons] intrigued him the most. He cast his eyes downward on the dark blue circle at the bottom. Inside it, four types of information were laid out neatly.
[Level: 1]
[EXP: 0/105]
[Health: 262/276]
[Mana: 23/23]
He also noticed [Status: Hungry] positioned on the right of the circle. In the brief moment it took him to process, he identified it as the grumbling in his stomach, but it was the least of his concerns. His gaze finally shifted to the top center of the image, where two lines of text rested on a fading clock symbol.
[Tuesday, March 9, 5723]
[21:18]
March 9, 5723.
The last time he had been in Heaven, the year in Eru was 4721.
He had traveled a thousand years into the future.
A bitter cold pierced through his bones. Shuddering, every nerve of his tingled with a sharp sting, leaving him wide-eyed. Had he died? No—he didn’t have the memory of dying, nor the sensation of it. Not that he knew exactly what death felt like, but he would have at least felt something. The last thing he remembered was crashing into a woman who was giving birth. Could it be that he had been reincarnated as her newborn child? It seemed the most logical explanation, but was logic even significant here?
Thousands of hows and whys filled his mind, but none seemed to capture the essence of his bewilderment, leaving him with just one question: what was he supposed to do now?
For starters, what exactly was he reading? Quests? Blessings? All those random letters and numbers? He had known “exp” being used for both “expire” and “experience”. Given how everything was laid out—like how EXP was listed under the level—he assumed it must refer to the latter. He would reach level two once his EXP hit 135, but how could he gain it? What would he get from it?
Aside from eidolons, the only other things his mind could register were mana and spells— though the latter only if his assumption was correct.
[Proceed with Main Quests to unlock Spells.]
[Proceed with Main Quests to unlock Blessings.]
The messages flashed in the center of his display, smaller than the ones he had seen so far but still readable from his distance. Could it be that gaining EXP was also dependent on completing quests?
He also realized how the warnings appeared when he concentrated on [Spells] and [Blessings], as if he were sending a request to know everything about them. Could this thing called the Handbook read his mind and record it? He narrowed his eyes at [Eidolons], as this was what intrigued him the most.
Different than before, the time and date were replaced by a box labeled “Eidolons” as twelve symmetrical portraits came into view: four per line, divided into three rows. Beneath each picture was a series of question marks, likely placeholders for their names, though he didn’t need them. The faint outlines of shapes inside each box were enough for him to recognize them all—from the mightiest dragon to the meekest cervitaur.
Show me the quests, he wanted to say, but all that escaped his lips were mewls. As expected, a new section appeared. Just like with [Eidolons], a box labeled “Quests” now overlayed the time and date on the display.
[Main Quest
Capture the Twelve Eidolons (0/12)
A New Era
The Fate of Heaven]
As he focused on each quest, they expanded one by one, revealing the details in the empty space on the right side of the display.
[Capture the Twelve Eidolons (0/12)
➤ This is your chance to redeem yourself. The Twelve Eidolons are now roaming freely across Eru, but you have no idea where or what they’re doing. Find the first lead on their whereabouts.]
[A New Era
➤ You’ve been reborn in Eru. Take time to explore and get familiar with your new environment.]
[The Fate of Heaven
➤ A thousand years have passed since your banishment from Heaven, but you’ll never be able to escape your past. You’re eager to learn about the current state of Heaven.]
The friction against his body, the sound and light passing overhead, the tension beneath his skin, the words that rang true to his current life—putting two and two together, he concluded that this was more real than not. He wasn’t imagining things, but could he trust the so-called Handbook?