"How did someone as young as you find your way down here? Is it possible for children to venture below that accursed mirage above?"

"That guy who just left said that I'm not supposed to be here right now."

"Did they? How have you found yourself amongst us, then?"

"He said something about people sending me down here, I don't know. He just told me to wait so I'm waiting."

"Well, I do wish you'll indulge me, dear child. It has been so long since any object of intrigue has passed through this lonely castle."

"Indulge?"

A different male voice came from behind her.

"How young could you possibly be? When I left the men of my age had chosen to educate their next of kin."

Another female voice came in from behind me. I couldn't see any of them, I was only looking at the grey in front of me, but their voices did not come with a body so I could see where they were.

"I do not believe it fair to judge the state of this child nor his development on the knowledge of a sole word."

A different male voice came in from my left.

"I do believe she was trying to say something before she was quite rudely interrupte-"

"Speak no more, oaf. Have you any purpose other than that of a needless echo?"

Another separate male voice spoke from my right.

"I am glad you two have found a proper excuse to revisit a tired conflict."

"Silence!"

It was the first voice that screamed at the rest. Everyone stopped talking immediately, and she spoke to me again.

"Child, I will rephrase my request so you may understand it. I wish for you to answer my questions, would you accept this request?"

"Why do you bother with this inquisition? His marks are absent, [ ]!"

I didn't quite hear what he said, it just sounded like a random noise that I couldn't explain. I immediately felt a huge pain in my head, and I dropped to the ground. It was like I got hit in the head by a large rock, my ears were ringing so loud that I couldn't even hear myself fall. I immediately felt hands all over me. Three of them were on my head, there must have been another six or seven on my legs and arms. There was one right on the middle of my back.

I laid on the ground shaking in pain for a while, and the ringing only stopped after the shaking did. When I could hear something again, the first person I heard was her.

"You fool! Did you not view his eyes as closed? Do you truly wish to defy the will left for us in their absence?"

"You should aim your anger at the ones above, this reaction is only proof that you have been forgotten."

"I do not care for my memory when I witness a cruel man torture a child needlessly."

"Your hyperbole falls on deaf ears, the child's only obstacle to recovering is your hold on him."

I stopped feeling the hands on my head and back, and I slowly got up. My legs weren't shaking but I felt very dizzy, and as I lifted my head up I tripped over myself and stumbled back a bit. She spoke again.

"This simply will not do."

She snapped her fingers, and I was lifted up by my chest off the ground. When I was put back down, I was sitting. It wasn't hard like the ground I was standing on, no, it was really soft. It was like my bed, but softer. It felt like I was sitting on a cloud.

I lifted my head again, and when I was looking forward I actually saw people, but these weren't random lines or adults, they were people from school. Elle was the farthest from me, with Reynold right next to her. The rest of Reynold's friends were spread around the area in front of me. I looked to my right and saw that far away there were two teachers, Miss Daoust and Mister Savard. When I looked to my left, I saw the person who had picked me up.

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It was me.

I just stared at him without saying anything. The line told me that what I'm seeing right now isn't real. My eyes are closed so it can't be real. It wasn't like looking in a mirror, he didn't really look like me, but he wore my clothes, he had my hair.

"Have I assumed your form?"

"What?"

"Do I look like you, child?"

"Yeah- yeah, you do."

Her voice came back from far away.

"Quite interesting. Please move away from the child, I wish to question him some more."

"He should move away before I move at all."

The third male voice was behind me now.

"I was planning to surprise the child. You are quite the pesky individual."

He walked around the thing I was sitting on, and I looked at him. He wasn't one of Reynold's friends, and he wasn't one of the teachers from the school. Was that-

"Venio Penilago?"

How was he here? I thought he was assassinated centuries ago. Did he escape? How was he still alive? Did he use some sort of magic? Why was he here?

"Well, if I have appeared as myself in front of you that must mean you are a subject of mine."

"I- yeah. I was born in Penilago."

"Well, that is the best of news I have heard since I arrived here. Since he is of my kingdom, do I hear any objections to being the first to question him?"

Nobody spoke, and he walked right in front of me and got on one knee.

"Tell me, how long has it been since I roamed above?"

"Can you please stop talking like that?"

I heard a few of them gasp. He didn't look angry, but rather surprised. Kind of happy.

"Well, you just met your king and you instruct him on conduct? I suppose I should be overjoyed that my kingdom has raised such brazen youth."

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Do not apologize."

He was smiling at me.

"You are right. I can not expect you to understand what I say just because I understand it. I will ask my question in a different way. How long has it been since I was king?"

"Maybe a thousand years? How did you get do-"

"Let me ask you a few more questions before I answer any of yours. I assume the kingdom of Penilago is still alive?"

"Uh, sort of?"

"What do you mean by "sort of"? Does Penilago thrive or has it been reduced to ruin in your childhood?"

"The country "Penilago" became a bigger country."

"Did we conquer the entire continent? Which one of the kings achieved such a feat? Was it my son? Perhaps my grandson?"

"No, we, we uh-"

His smile started to disappear, he looked at me with his eyes further closed than before.

"Well, it is better to tell me, child."

"We made a deal with Icuria and Arten and became a new country with them. We did take over Maedorran and Tidugo but only together with them."

The rest of the people there laughed, and he put his head down on his hand that was on his knee. I heard the voice of the one that looked like Reynold tease him.

"Well, look at that. You're not even a king anymore! You're just a random person who will be remembered as the founder of a failed empire."

"You're quite hilarious. Did you think of that insult yourself or did she whisper it to you?"

The rest of them stopped laughing except for the one that looked like me. He laughed louder than the rest of them did together, and he laughed for so long that he eventually was on his knees. Only after a while did he finally stop. The first king raised his head from his hands and looked back at me. He didn't look sad, he didn't look like he was feeling anything. He just sat there with a bland face.

"Well, child, I fear your answers to the questions I had prepared. What do you wish to ask of me?"

"How did you get here?"

"Well, I see you are still curious about that."

He paused and put his chin in his right hand.

"I will have to answer this question carefully. I can not promise that you will understand what I speak of, but you must promise that you will not question me further. If I ask you a question, I will respond to it myself. Do not talk until I specifically say you can. Do you understand this?"

He was speaking lower than he was before. His face changed from nothing to a serious expression. He looked like the principal. I nodded my head at him.

"I require a heard response, my child. You may be hurt more than you could ever imagine should you ask for more than I can tell you. Do you promise that you will accept the answer I provide?"

"Yes, I promise."

"Very well."

He removed his head from his hand and got up from the ground. He turned around and slowly walked a few steps away from me before speaking again in his normal voice.

"Do you know what it is like to argue with them? I founded a kingdom from the rubble of restless conflict and led people who shunned me into an era of greatness. I defied the fate that was written for me, the fate that would have me maimed, beaten, and dejected, and I was rewarded with the sound of my name chanted by a crowd of joyous citizens. Even if I am forgotten, I will undoubtedly claim a role in the future of this world until everything is reduced to dust, yet I can not claim that any of my achievements outweigh that miraculous exchange."

The rest of the people there were silently watching him. They couldn't stand still. Some of them crossed their arms in front, others held them behind their back. The one who looked like Reynold walked away over to where the people who looked like teachers were sitting.

"The seven of them, each with a will that yearned for violent retribution against me were somehow eased into this solution. I lost track of time after barely convincing the first to grant me so much as a moment's audience, and by the end, it felt as though I had experienced twenty lifetimes. Lifetimes that were spent grasping at a palpable explanation for them, hoping that they would not interrupt me with a snap of their fingers and send me to some torturous eternity. I argued, yet I displayed respect. I rebutted, and I acknowledged defeat. I trod the line of proof, it was the only existence between me and an endless plummet."

Everyone else started to slowly back away. Only the one who looked like me stayed where he was.

"I was rewarded with a gift greater than any empire, greater than any existence I could ever know. A promise from their collective, a promise of respect that they would uphold. So I find myself here, under a protection that no being can measure up to. Now, what say you, Celio?"

How did you know my name?

"So you got here after your meeting with the seven lords of Terra?"

I didn't say that.