Chapter 18 Past
16 years ago
“Young prince, we will leave the breakfast in the garden” a voice calls to him from behind the door.
A young boy playing with a small dog looked up at the door. A shadow of several women can be seen coming and going all hours of the day. Dropping off food, clothes, books, toys, even animals. This was how he had lived for the majority of his life.
The boy got up from his bed, the small dog following behind him. Outside the room, was a flower garden with a thousand different colors. The myriads of plants and flowers hid the room inside itself. No one would ever know that a room exists here without prior knowledge. While he eats the breakfast that was prepared for him, he hears human voices. The young boy was surprised, no one was allowed to see him. No one should be in this garden.
“The famous prince hidden inside the palace. No one ever thought the king would hide you in the north flower garden. Even your father, the Duke of the North, did not know where you were hidden.” an old man with eight flying swords appears in front of the young prince. “A hostage that was not allowed to be seen by anyone. Do you even know how to speak?”
“.......what do you want?” The young prince felt scared. Something about this man is setting off a danger alarm in his head.
The old man took the prince’s arm and felt his pulse. He was so fast that the prince did not understand what just happened. One second he was in front of him, the next second he was feeling his pulse, as if time itself had stopped.
“Haha, this is why the emperor took you hostage and locked you away. This much talent, even I am jealous. If your talent were fostered, humanity might be able to annihilate all monsters in the future.” The old man said, chuckling. He looked up at the prince’s eyes, held his gaze, and smiled. “Unfortunately, I am the faithful servant of the emperor, not humanity”
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“We can't spare the heir. We can't allow a second Yabui to appear” an old man with 8 swords floating behind him said
Four people are standing in the air watching the massacre below.
Gorgeous villas, tea houses, and market squares were built into the mountain range, leaning out from the cliffside like mushroom caps. This city was once known as the jewel of the Celestial Empire, millions of people travel from all over the world to come here. The city walls are manned by the famous thunderous aura masters. Citizens' and visitors' safety are ensured. But at this moment, that city is being besieged by gigantic monster waves and the aura masters are nowhere to be seen. The town is burning, people are devoured, and mana is dispersed into the air like miasma.
“Is Yabui dead? Are you sure?” a mage wearing ornate black robes is shaking and looking around in a panic.
“Dead for sure. That poison melts the mana veins.” A woman with a gigantic ax on her back and a glowing cape said
“What about the boy? Did you kill him already?” A young man wearing silver tiger armor asked the old man.
“He was given to the priests. His talents were too great to simply kill off.”
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The young prince was chained to a stone table. Priests in black robes were chanting incoherent sutra. He looked around him trying to find a way to escape. The room is filled with rolls of stone tables with children tied on top of it.
“He is quite beautiful. His mother’s gift I assume, and that talent from his father. What a blessing for humanity” a priest said
“The master will be pleased with this offering,” another priest said, then bowed low. In front of them, a greenish-blue statue so gigantic only the lower body could be seen. Instead of feet and toes, a thousand tentacles. A statue of some demon god. The prince realized these people were cultists. People that worship monsters. People who lost faith in humanity and instead chose oblivion for their kind at the hands of monsters.
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One of the priests walked over to him and slit his throat without saying a word. The prince was slowly choking on his blood. The chanting grew louder, and the other children tied to the stone tables next to him started to scream in pain. Some of them exploded into piles of flesh. The blood and mana are being sucked into the gigantic statue in front of them. The prince could hear screams for hours until it suddenly stopped.
Sounds of explosions and flying swords could be seen speeding through the air above him. Someone must have come to raid this cult. The prince’s consciousness is slowly slipping away.
“Duke Feng! There are children here!” A voice called out in the darkness
A handsome middle-aged man with white hair appears above the prince. He was wearing white-silver armor with a Sakura flower embroidered on the chest plate, the signet of the valley of flowers. Their eyes met, and the prince could see horror in his eyes, sadness, pity.
“..........the hidden son of Duke Yabui. His throat was cut too much blood loss. We were too late.” The Duke grabbed his hand. “If I could not save you, I will make sure to avenge you”
“The master has come!” One of the priests could be heard, panic in his voice. “Everyone must run, we can't die here! We must continue the work, run!”
The Duke disappeared from the prince’s line of sight. He must be chasing after the priests.
Sounds of hundreds of footsteps, the priests are running away. But the prince could see them falling in the distance, and then they started to spasm. Their bodies are becoming bloated. Their skins turn inside out, blue fish scales can be seen coming out of their mouth. Giant fish heads are pushing their way out of their human skins, tearing them to pieces on the way out. They are turning into giant fish monsters.
Extremely strong fishy smells suddenly overwhelmed the room. He felt like something else was coming. The statue was coming to life, it was moving. The stone tentacles are squirming. The prince felt something coming down from above. Despite his instinct telling him not to look up, he could not control his own body. He tried to close his eyes but felt it slowly opening.
He saw it.
Giant head with tentacles for skin, falling from the sky like the sun. It was smiling at him. Human body parts are squirming in its eyes and skin.
The prince screamed. His body and flesh exploded from the inside.
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Darkness.
The prince remembers the pain he felt before his death, and yet, his consciousness still exists. Floating in the vast emptiness. He kept floating, allowing the darkness to take him.
Suddenly a bright light found him. The voice of a child.
“We found you too late, our chosen.” a bright voice
“We could not intervene when the great enemy had such influence. We could not allow them to know that we are awake.” The bright voice dimmed a little. “We are sorry, our chosen. We could not save your family”
“But we can still save you.” The brightness returned to the voice. “Your body was destroyed. We can recover your body to some extent, but not completely. A section of our power is being used to hide from the great enemies, and more are being used to hold back their influence.”
“You must get stronger. We need our chosen to fight their influence.” The bright voice has become almost a whisper. “Our chosen, you must become strong. You must help us.”
The prince felt something. He felt. He has feelings again. He slowly opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was a transparent screen in front of him.
The planet’s guidance has activated
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“Are you a prince?” Tear have round eyes.
“I am not sure actually. After that I spent most of my life in the countryside, recovering from my injuries and piecing together my memories. Learning to use my powers and learning about the curses put on my body. I am not quite sure if these curses are from before or after my death. I am not sure who put it on me, the priests or the monster” Jace looks up at the sleeping Ruin in the tree hole. “I am not sure if I am the prince that was brought back or I am something that was created from him.”
“You know after hearing that, my secret is not such a big deal.” Tear nods to herself. “You can see my information with your traits?”
“Yea”
“But people’s names are always changing, how does the trait decide which name is correct?” Tear asked
“I have thought about this. I think the trait only shows the information that the person recognized.” Jace said while looking at her. “For example, if someone believes that their name is Tom but they are Jim and was brainwashed to believe that he is Tom, the trait would show that he is Tom. But since the trait sees the truth of things, it might give me a hint that this person could be under the influence of brainwashing”
“What an interesting power……….what does it mean to be chosen by the planet?” Year's eyes are sparkling. She is interested in romantic things.
“I am not sure. I know that I have to become stronger to help the planet fight these cults and the great enemies, whatever they are.” Jace remembered that thing and felt his hair stand on end. “I think they might be gods. The power I saw, even the planet is unable to fight them, and their influence is expanding by the cult. Tear, we can't even look at it. Just being near it will drive humans insane. If they are not gods, then they have god-like powers.”
“We will figure it out. What is the planet like? She must be a beautiful, mature woman?” Tear asked while imagining something.
“Haha, no. I couldn't see it. I think that I didn't have a body at that time. It sounded like a small child. A scared, lonely child, but bright and cheerful.” Jace smiles while thinking about that voice.
“We will help the planet, Jace. Now that you have me, we can do it.” Tear grabs his hand. “What about before that? The people who took you hostage burned your hometown and killed your family. Is the emperor of the Celestial Empire involved?”
“This is a lot to think about at once. Let's deal with one problem at a time. When we are alone, you can call me Yulian.” Jace caresses her hair. “Before I met you, I was obsessed with revenge. But that rage has become faint, because of you.”
Tear and Yulian spend a long time together under the dragon tree.
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Female Dorm
A dozen shadows in black robes are moving silently across the vast hall. Each of them carrying a black daggers, red Runes glowing along the blade. The group moved towards one of the rooms at the end of the hallway. They slip into the room as if they were real shadows.
“.........” One of the shadows moved around the room, searching for something. He found rolls of chains in the closet, classical-style dresses, and tons and tons of books. The rest of the shadows were covering all exits of the room.
“This is the correct room. She is not here. She hasn't been back for a while” The shadow that seemed to be the leader ran a finger across the study desk, and layers of dust fell away. He motioned to the other shadows and they quickly disappeared outside the window.