Sweets. If anyone asked Veles what he’d missed the most during his imprisonment, one of the first answers would definitely be sweets. Be it a simple fruit like an apple or a carefully prepared cake, it didn’t matter. Veles enjoyed it all. But, the funny part about this was that Veles, an actual Immortal, didn’t need any sustenance to keep himself alive. After all, needing simple things such as food to maintain a non-aging body would be bizarre and pointless. And yet, despite not needing it, Veles had to keep his senses stimulated with those tiny ‘mortal’ needs, because otherwise… his old mind would’ve sunk into deep and dark space, where feeling alive would be just wishful thinking.
He’d been there a couple of times…
“You really are enjoying yourself,” Frea commented. “I found it funny how the books perfectly described your behavior. I honestly expected a stark difference once I met you, but somehow I’m not disappointed.”
This woman was eccentric, Veles didn’t doubt it. Her facial expression was unchanging except for her eyes which would narrow, carefully observe, and judge. Her posture didn’t match her tone, she spoke casually without any reserve, but she simultaneously appeared to be ready to punch him in the face… All in all, she was a weirdo.
“First of all,” Veles pointed at her with the fork he used to eat the cake he’d saved in the mansion’s magical fridge for the dark days, “You sound like a zealous fan and I don’t like it. Second, I’m already annoyed as it is, you are just adding oil to the fire.”
Everyone had a lot on their minds, including Veles himself. The recent events were chaotic beyond the norm, and he needed to think about how to proceed further…
Frea in all her stoic might obviously didn’t care a bit. She simply crossed her arms and said, “I might appear however you want to imagine. I don’t care. Just keep in mind that I’m still evaluating if I should kill you or not. So, we better get this over with before I change my mind.”
“Yes, yes,” He rolled his eyes. “If you studied Iilusig’s book about me, you should know very well how hard it is to kill me.”
What a troublesome chain of events. He had to meet someone who got their hand on the book that included him—there are a couple of them out there, so this wasn’t the first time this had happened… Nonetheless, this was another set of trouble he had to think about. The only saving grace was the fact that her knowledge about him was still in the realm of ‘normal’, because if she knew fine details, she wouldn’t have hesitated to kill him…
“I know, but I don’t think your current strength matches the one described in the books. I only considering cooperation because-”
“Can you two shut up!” Tora shouted at them angrily. Ever since they came down to the kitchen, she’d been rubbing the sides of her head and grimacing. Clearly, she had a few bones to pick.
Now that Veles taught about it, they were in the kitchen indeed. Everyone just followed him once he left the meeting room where the ritual was… It appeared that amidst numerous rooms inside this overpriced mansion, the only useful rooms proved to be the kitchen and basement. Maybe, the private rooms too, only for sleeping though.
“I feel like someone smashed my skull with a sledgehammer. And on top of that, I was bombarded with a bunch of mumbo jumbo stories,” Tora rubbed her head once more then sighed, “And there is an idiot out there who wants to capture, brainwash, and do terrible things to me. So, if I don’t receive a simple and appropriate answer about what’s going on, I will be going ballistic on you all.”
Everyone exchanged silent glances, even Frea stared at Tora weirdly. The girl looked extremely serious like there was nothing capable of stopping her from going absolutely crazy.
“What do you want to know?” Veles was the first to ask. He kind of understood her worries.
“First thing first, from what you talked I gathered that we were part of some fate wielder’s scheme. And it's fixed now?”
Veles placed his fork on the plate and took a second pondering if he should be totally honest or not, but considering everyone was expecting him to provide an appropriate answer and there was no harm to it, he obliged “You can say that, but not everyone was directly affected…”
He then pointed first at Zunna and then Tora, “You two were likely the direct victims.”
Tora just stared at him while Zunna’s cat ears twitched as she pointed at herself, “Me?”
“Oh yeah, the easiest targets to manipulate are young people without a firm hold of their own life, those without purpose, and weaklings in every sense of that word. Immortals like myself basically have unpredictable futures and Davis is entangled by a contract with me. So, he is safe too.”
He left Frea out. She certainly had her ways to deal with such problems.
“Wait, wait, wait. We will forget all this immortal stuff for now,” Tora raised her hand in a universal stop gesture, “By manipulation, you mean those attacks that are categorized as fate whispers? The ones capable of influencing decisions?”
“If you people here call it like that then yes,” Veles replied and even Frea had given her affirmation with a nod.
“Great,” Tora deeply exhaled. Her hand stood on the table as her mana reached her storage ring, and within a second, a small glasslike purple stone appeared between her fingers. Without hesitation, she crushed said stone, leaving it to crumble into a thin dust…
“Informing your family is a brilliant move,” Frea said approvingly, “I would like to see your Argusa family active again.”
“You are family’s acquaintance?” Tora asked, her eyebrows displayed her surprise. The gesture of her crushing the stone was probably a method only her family used if Veles properly judged Frea’s reaction.
This was interesting. Sniffing out the change in topic, Veles started eating his slice of cake again and listened attentively.
“Your mother is from Taggons tribe, a sister tribe to mine. Of course, I know your family, I was even there during the marriage between your parents,” Frea said. Unfortunately, she noticed Veles’s attempt to let the new topic blossom, “But first, I think we deserve a formal introduction from the so-called Immortal Sorcerer?”
He rolled his eyes. Luckily, of all the titles people used to address him with, she chose the most appropriate one.
“I don’t think there is anything else I can add to that,” Veles shrugged, “If you want to know something specific, just ask.”
He was willing to let them know some stuff. Sure, Davis was curious most of the time, but the guy knew he shouldn’t dig much into Veles’s private life. He only hoped these women here would do the same.
Frea narrowed her eyes, “Probably the most important question is… How long do we have?”
“…” Veles paused for a few seconds because he was speechless and impressed. Of course, he knew what she was talking about. However, there was a silent nudge from inside pushing him to play dumb and test the waters, “What are you talking about?”
“How long until you evaporate all of us?” She asked and as she did, everyone's attention intensified. “I’ve read every single detail of Iilusig’s ‘Disciple of Sapphirine Ash’, it’s literally named because the first time he met you, he was greeted by this his hometown turned into blue ash.” She then leaned further in. “So, I’m asking you, how long until your curse destroys us all?”
A subtle. A very subtle grin formed on Veles’s lips as he heard her words. Everyone in the room looked at him in wonder, while only Davis stayed lax, “There is nothing to worry about. My curse is no more.”
However, instead of being relieved, Frea suspiciously asked, “Are you telling the truth? The whole book Iilusig wrote encapsulated twelve hundred years of his life, yet it never mentioned you even getting close to removing your curse.”
“Thousand years?” He snorted as he rounded the number, “That’s nothing, it took me close to four million years just to find the final clue. I suggest you stop comparing me to some ‘powerful’ figures written in some books, reality is far different than their mundane lives.”
“You were cursed?” It was surprisingly Zunna who inserted herself in, her focus appeared to be on an entirely different thing than everyone else’s. For some reason, she appeared genuinely interested in his story.
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And slightly worried?
But Veles debated with himself if he should answer. This bordered on his private line he didn’t want to cross. Fortunately for Zunna, Frea most likely knew all the details and since he had a soft spot for nerdy girls, he decided to answer by being as vague as possible, “I was. Ever since I was twenty-six years old, I had a certain curse plaguing me…”
He paused then stared at the ceiling. It was a very long time since he’d worried that his curse would suddenly go off—he kind of missed that feeling. Long ago, it became his habit to be always aware of the thing snapping in him and causing disaster. However, his time stuck to the rock made him diminish that habit. But maybe, that was the reason why things kept going wrong ever since Olivia released him… Had he grown lazy because there was no higher goal to drive him? Or had he grown complacent?
Veles cleared his throat, there was no point in thinking about that now. He might as well get this over with by entertaining these people with his story and then get to the more important topics, “Let’s keep it simple… at random intervals, the burst of energy would be released from my body that would literally erase everything in a certain radius around me… And what I mean in random intervals, I mean truly random, it could be tomorrow or in a hundred years…”
He noticed that only Frea understood how terrible it was by his brief explanation since she showed clear traces of pity, everyone else, however, appeared clueless. So, he sighed and explained, “Imagine, you form a group of very close friends, but the next day, they all disappear in a flash of blue and it was all your fault… Then imagine you visit a city with millions of souls living in it, you live there for years, forming connections and building relationships. But then one day you wake up, the city is no more, and again, it was all your fault… That was my curse.”
The reactions varied, but most of them displayed understanding.
Veles added, “It is a miracle I’m still somewhat sane.” He then nodded at Frea, “She has all the right to be cautious of me…”
“I’m sorry…” Zunna mumbled apologetically, but then she tilted her head and stared at him with the clear intention to change the topic “Are you really millions of years old? You don’t…”
“He doesn’t appear that way?” It was Davis who said, “Yeah, I often forget he is old.”
It did sting a little when somebody called him old, but Veles couldn’t deny it. He lived a long life. As for the fantasies everyone formed about Immortals and long-lived people, it wasn’t his problem, he was his own person and would never change.
But there was another problem, they all had accepted this information rather casually, “I don’t see much of a surprise here…”
Tora, Zunna, and Frea exchanged looks before Frea decided to speak, “Since the appearance of dungeons, similar cases like yours kept appearing,” She then gestured toward Tora, “Her second mother is Arachna, their species first appeared inside the dungeon. The same could be said for Night Elves, Burgins, and such.”
Frea then showed the book about Veles, “Similarly, there are dungeons that carried remnants of ancient otherworldly civilizations, one of those dungeons was where I found information about you… Also, throughout history, there have been cases of reincarnators from different worlds or ancient eras. Although rare, there were also examples of new dungeons appearing with powerful mages residing in them…”
She stopped because she’d realized Veles had been lost in taught. How could he not? When he first learned about the whole concept of dungeons, he was sure they were the usual types he was already familiar with.
He was certain they were the ones the world itself created just to prevent mana overload that could cause natural disasters, it was the typical type he encountered on many different worlds he visited. But there was also the possibility they were created by this thing called Heaven to test mortals and provide them with challenges and rewards…
But all those speculations were obviously wrong. If what Frea said was entirely true, then even he had no idea what was going on. It was a new discovery, which jolted the back of his mind, urging him to ask millions of questions to get to the bottom of it…
“We are getting off track again,” Tora interrupted his train of thought, “Our current situation is more important than sharing stories and digging into each other's pasts.”
She was right. It would be a lie if Veles said that their current situation wasn’t worrying. Especially considering that guy named Basar. Shame Veles couldn’t kill him back then, the guy was geared to the teeth with various gadgets…
“Ever since the appearance of Heaven, everything has been thrown in turmoil,” Tora said, then looked at Veles, “Although, by your story so far, I guess you are responsible for that event…”
“Can’t really blame me for that,” he replied.
“Whatever.” Tora disregarded him entirely, she looked at Frea and fearlessly asked, “Can you tell me what’s going on? Who are those bastards targeting my sister and me? And why is that idiot Basar so keen on capturing me?”
Frea blinked and adjusted her glasses, “I don’t know much. I’m from the one of Skljavi tribes and we do not communicate much with other nations of Acelia. However, I can tell you that the young noble who tried to capture you belongs to a recently risen organization made from many different new generation nobles who aren’t in the line of succession.”
She continued, “They caught the eye of many high Staged individuals because their numbers are truly ridiculous, at least a third of current nobles are either direct members of their organization or are in close contact with them.” She then glanced quickly between Veles and Davis. “They are extremely power hungry and are willing to cross all boundaries to gain that power. Which often includes getting in touch with demons, forcing other families into submission, and enslaving gifted individuals without a backing.”
Veles understood why she looked at him and Davis. Her words perfectly described how that draconic individual back in Koria had treated him. They first wanted to ‘recruit’ him but once he refused, they went the hard way route…
“But… it doesn’t make sense,” Tora scratched her head, “How is it possible for a group that big to be never heard of? And more importantly, what is their point in doing all of this?”
Oh… Veles understood what was going on. The answer was quite simple.
Frea just confirmed it, “They never hid themselves. Nobles have a duty to socialize with other families. The certain more powerful ones just took it to another level and formed their own circle. As for their motives, well, that’s quite simple. Most of them are outcasts of their families, you know how fierce succession for the head of a noble family could be, and most of the time, those who are most gifted in the family receive all the attention and resources, while those on the lower end receive mostly scraps.”
Despite her expression not displaying much, Frea appeared to enjoy explaining stuff.
“You can guess where all of that leads,” Frea continued. “You get a bunch of power-hungry brats with a little power on their hand, and when you put them all in one room, things like what’s happening right now will occur...”
“It just doesn’t make sense…” Tora mumbled. “Why the hell are people targeting me and my family?”
It was Frea’s turn to be a little confused, “You truly don’t know why your family’s specialty is summoning?”
“What are you talking about?” Tora asked. “I know we are branded as the magical family of summoners, but how can be that used by others?”
“If you don’t know then it isn’t on me to tell you,” Frea said. Meanwhile, she flashed a small warning glare at Veles since he perfectly well knew what was going on with Tora—he even mentioned it not long ago.
Anyway, he would respect Frea’s warning and keep his mouth shut.
Tora rolled her eyes, “Ye, ye. I know how this works. I heard the exact same words from my older siblings a thousand times. But screw that. What are we going to do?”
“Nothing.” “Nothing.” Veles and Frea replied at the same time. He then gestured for her to continue.
“You broke the emergency crystal. I guess your father is already on his feet, searching for a way to fix everything,” Frea then looked at Veles, “As for you and your ‘friend’. I’m willing to provide you with protection. However, we must first set some things straight.”
Veles ignored how she sarcastically called Davis his friend, she could think whatever she wanted. “I’m listening…”
“Before we discuss anything we are going to sign a contract,” Frea said.
“Sure, I don’t mind.”
“I’m not stupid,” Frea warned, her eyes narrowing, “I know a typical contract won’t work on you. You scammed Iilusig a dozen times. So, what I mean by signing the contract is that the contract we are going to sign will be one of yours.”
It was Veles’s turn to glare at her…
“Do you have any idea what are you asking of me?”
She may have learned a couple of stories about him, but what she was asking right now, was over the top.
“In fact, I do,” Frea crossed her arms, “We are going to sign a mutual cooperation contract. And on top of that, I want two hundred years as a down payment.”
Having enough of her fantasies, Veles further leaned on the kitchen counter as his glare deepened, “If you do know. Then you are also aware that I take my contracts and promises very seriously. So, I ask you. Are you sure you want to do that?”
“Yes,” she firmly said, then her hand pointed at Vera. “If you could extend the life of a simple bird, I don’t see a problem as to why you couldn’t do the same with me. You even gave Iilusig almost seven hundred years of life, the joy he described in the story is something I always was curious about.”
This last part made Veles’s glare turn into a grin, “It looks like you don’t know much then. Iilusig paid the price for those seven hundred years, and so will Vera. But are you willing to pay it too?”
“Yes.” Her answer was immediate, making him slightly intrigued.
“Very well,” Veles gave in. “However, there is another problem. I don’t have ‘materials’ for another contract and I owe Davis two for his friends which means you have to ask him to give you a priority.”
Davis’s face perfectly displayed ‘Why are you dragging me into all of this?’. And even before Frea could say anything, Davis said strongly, “Keep me out of this and do as you wish!”
The urge to smack him was truly hard to ignore, the idiot had no idea what he was dealing with. Maybe, if Veles wasn’t a worry wat and actually shared some knowledge with Davis, this would’ve happened.
“Fine,” Veles grumbled. “Have it your way woman. But know that you are going to help with ‘materials’. You know what I mean by that, right?”
“I do, and it appears you’ve already started gathering them?”
She’d seen the basement and the circle he drew, huh?
“Then it's settled,” Veles said. “However, I truly hope you don’t have many acquaintances who are fate wielders because if you do, I doubt you will have any time to help me.”
She was smart. She quickly grasped what he was talking about, her hand was already stuck into the glowing part of her grimoire, searching for something. Moments later, she brought out a single stone tablet and immediately started reading it.
With each line she read, her strong bearing slowly crumbled.
“What have you done?” She mumbled. Her eyes were still stuck to the tablet.
“It’s funny how a small and cheap ritual can destroy a well-crafted structure of fate,” Veles said, he was already back to eating the cake. “If I were in your place, I would focus on saving the ones closest to you-”
He didn’t even have time to finish, Frea grabbed Zunna by the shoulder and dragged her through the blue portal.
“How annoying,” Veles mumbled between the bites and stared at where Frea’s portal disappeared. “Another anomaly to deal with. I should’ve taken things slowly…”