There wasn’t much to do after being dismissed. I was exhausted but couldn’t sleep. Nobody seemed to be doing anything except lounging and socializing on in the many lounges I had access to. To top matters off, I wasn’t entirely convinced dad ever left his throne considering he was always there every time I visited.
Without anything productive to do, I made my way back to my room to be greeted by a fuming Marcelle and a snoring Ulli. At first, I thought Marcelle was going to punch me in the nose when she stomped up but she stopped short just a few inches from my face and glared. I was pleasantly surprised by the sweet smell of strawberries on her breath but it reminded me of Kalli and I took a step back.
Marcelle noticed my mood and stopped scowling. She gave an exasperated sigh and said, “Can you please stop doing that? It makes me look incompetent when you leave me behind all the time. I get that you might not want me but don’t make me undesirable to anyone else in the process. I can’t go back to the bottom. I’ve come too far.”
“What are you talking about?” I grumbled as I flopped on one of the couches. “You’re not the one stuck here. What’s so good about this place, anyway?”
“Where do I start?” She asked. “No crime? No empty bellies. Whatever we need is essentially provided. With the number of consorts your father takes, we hardly have to do any work. Sure, I got assigned to you, but I don’t mind. The perks will be the same if you accept me.”
“Accept you?” I asked.
“You know…” she trailed off.
“Ugh,” I groaned, refusing to think of anyone but Kalli. “Can I just reject you now so you can get back in line for my dad?”
Marcelle shook her head. “Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Sure, once you complete your training, you will be free to do as you wish. For now, and until you officially choose your first consort, you’re stuck with us.”
“I’m tired,” I lied. “I want to get some sleep.”
“Understood,” she droned, making herself comfortable on a couch opposite me. “Please let me know if you decide to go out again.”
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I lost track of time staring at the ceiling before sleep finally claimed me. The world of dreams that I used to share with Kalli was as desolate as ever. No blissful dream took over to guide me through the night. I found myself sitting in the room Kalli and I had crafted for ourselves to hang out. It was spooky how quiet my head became in Kalli’s absence.
Sulking over it didn’t do any good, so I sat and closed my eyes to meditate. Infusing mana with emotion was second nature by that point. The only difference was the essence of my mana changed. No longer did I feel any sense of curiosity. The rage I’d felt when I overwhelmed Rasputin was gone as well. The only thing left in my core with a sense of sorrow that threatened to consume me.
I took this raw emotion and infused it into my mana, letting it permeate my body until I shivered uncontrollably. I focused on the feeling and what I was going to do to make it go away.
I made another vow and added a thread to my core. “I will find you.”
Nothing happened. I waited a few seconds and tried again. Again, there was no change to the vow or my mana. Was it because I was locked out of the system? Could I no longer use powerful magic?
I knew I could use elemental magic. I’d managed flames already. I had to figure out what else I could do. Remastering teleportation was going to be key if I wanted to find a way off Origin.
“Wake up!” Marcelle’s voice echoed through the dream.
I tried to focus on what I needed to do. The last thing I needed was to be distracted by an annoying would-be suitor.
“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” Ulli’s slightly more cheerful voice chanted. The dream world began to shake.
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I opened my eyes to find Ulli bouncing around me and shaking me vigorously. When she saw I was awake, she squealed. “He’s up! He’s up! He’s up!”
Behind her, Marcelle grumbled. “Great. Now get ready. Your father wants you in the arena by first light.”
“First light?” I moaned, trying to roll over with little success. Ulli wouldn’t let go. “I just went to sleep. Bug me in the morning.”
“It is morning,” Ulli chirped. “You slept for ten hours.”
My eyes shot open. Ten hours? I’d just entered the dream world minutes ago, hadn’t I? Nights seemed normal length when I spent my dreams with Kalli. Why was solo dreaming different? The only thing I could think of was focusing on my emotions.
Groaning, I pulled myself up to a seated position and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. “I need a few minutes.”
“Well, you don’t have them,” Marcelle said, crossing her arms. “The Creator summoned you personally. You do not want to make him wait.”
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“Do I have time for a bath?” I grumbled, staggering to my feet.
“You’d better take a bath,” Marcelle ordered, pushing me toward the bathroom. “You can’t meet the creator at anything less than your best. Just hurry.”
I grumbled something about being forced to bathe Then again, I did ask to take one so I wasted no time stripping off my robe and jumping in. After a quick scrub, I made my way back to my room to find Marcelle and Ulli standing next to a plate of food and a change of clothes.
The clothes looked like a karate gi and were very brightly colored. I frowned at the yellow and white outfit and asked, “What’s wrong with my clothes?”
Marcelle sniffed at me as if she didn’t trust me to wash properly. “You arrived with a single outfit and it was tattered and filthy. I sent it off to be repaired. In the meantime wear this training outfit. It will make The Creator happy.”
I stared at the two girls until Marcelle realized my problem and forced Ulli to turn around with her. Then I quickly shucked the robe I’d been wearing and pulled on the gaudy outfit. Surprisingly, it fit perfectly as though it was made for me. Then again, it probably was. I cleared my throat which informed Marcelle and Ulli that it was safe to turn around.
“We ordered you a selection of food for breakfast,” Marcelle explained, holding up a tray of food. “Help yourself.”
I looked down at the plate. It was filled with sausages, bacon, and a variety of other meats I didn’t recognize along with eggs, bagels, and donuts. It was way too much for just one person. I looked up to see Ulli licking her lips as she watched in silence.
“Would you two like to join me?” I asked, offering Ulli a donut.
She reached out but didn’t take it, looking to Marcelle for permission. She nodded and Ulli smiled, helping herself to a donut and a slice of bacon. Marcelle made herself a plate as well and we quickly ate breakfast.
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“Why do you have to wait for me to eat?” I asked while following Marcelle and Ulli down the hall.
“You’re our master,” Ulli explained. “We only eat when you say we can eat.”
Marcelle cleared her throat and Ulli stiffened. “That’s not exactly how it works. We are allowed to eat but we must do so discreetly unless invited to join you. The same goes for sleeping and relieving ourselves.”
“And you said this was a good life?” I asked, wondering how anyone could live like that, let alone want to.
Marcelle gave me a knowing smile. “It sounds bad on the surface but life up here is typically pleasant. We live happy lives if we devote ourselves to service.”
“Only women?” I asked.
Marcelle rubbed her chin for a moment. “At the moment, you’re the only lord up here aside from The Creator. That’s also why it’s a good deal for us. Most of us spend our entire lives waiting to be chosen. An unattached lady enjoys a life of privilege. It is a thousand times better than-“
“Than what?” I asked when she trailed off.
“Than life outside of the tower,” she replied reluctantly. “Life for the unrecognized is little more than existence. Nothing is provided in the streets. Nothing at all.”
I wondered why dad would let something like that happen if he truly controlled the system. Even as a manipulator, I was able to make food out of pebbles. Couldn’t dad do better than that? And why was he infatuated with women?
Before I had a chance to ask any more questions, we arrived at an open-air courtyard with a circle painted on the ground. Merlin stood waiting for me with an angry look on his face. He spoke in a low voice. “Leave us.”
I looked back just in time to see Marcelle and Ulli slink around a corner and out of sight. When I didn’t come any closer, he spoke again. “You nearly died because you’re weak. That’s not to say you don’t have potential. It just means you’ve never trained properly. We are going to remedy that. Come, step inside the circle.”
“What is this?” I asked, hesitating. “If you want to see how strong I am, take off the parental block and I’ll show you what I can do.”
“That’s the problem,” he explained. “You shouldn’t rely on the system. We are above that. Get over here now.”
My legs complied before my mind did. Did he just use a mind control skill on me? Since there wasn’t much I could do about it, I decided to go with the flow. However, that didn’t mean I couldn’t ask questions. “Why did you bring me here? It can’t be a coincidence that I ended up here when I tried to teleport to Kalli.”
Dad shrugged. “Do I need a reason? Now, get down on the ground and give me fifty sit-ups.”
I frowned, not understanding why he was treating this like a gym class. “Yeah, you do need a reason. I can’t just pause my life because you want to be my dad all of a sudden.”
“Now,” he commanded and I found myself on my butt straining to do sit-ups. Exercising was never my strong point. After watching me strain for a while, he continued the lecture. “You are continually getting yourself in trouble out there. I’ve been watching ever since you appeared that day. You have a strong grasp of your powers yet you continue to squander them.”
“I, ugh, use, oof, my, ah, powers, argh, just, oof, fine!” I managed to say as I completed my third sit-up.
Dad groaned as he watched me struggle. “What is wrong with you, boy? Use your mana. Stop acting like a peasant.”
Mana? Why did it never occur to me to use mana for mundane daily activities before? A simple application of mana to my abdomen and I was a machine. “Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten…forty-nine, fifty.”
Dad gave me a nod of approval before saying, “Okay, now push-ups. Same thing. Give me fifty.”
Having gotten my wind back, I asked more questions as I flipped over and did as he asked. “If you’ve been watching me all this time, why didn’t you help when I was in trouble? For that matter, why are adults so scared to help out when people try to take over the world?”
“You aren’t just any people,” he replied. “You are my children. Those in power know that to invoke the wrath of my children is to suffer a painful death.”
“Lots of people tried to kill me,” I complained. “I don’t remember you going postal on any of them.”
Dad laughed. “You were beneath my notice until recently. Then you picked a fight with your brother.”
“He picked the fight,” I corrected. “You just sat back and watched while he killed Kalli.”
He watched me finish with his arms crossed. “He didn’t kill her, she killed herself trying to save you. It was quite noble. Now do squats.”
“It wasn’t noble!” I roared, already standing to do squats. “And you could have stopped it. She didn’t have to die.”
“Everything happens for a reason,” he said flippantly. “Look on the bright side. Perhaps she will reincarnate and you will find her in a couple hundred years. Or perhaps she’s moved on and you can be reunited with her when you cross over. Don’t look at death as a bad thing. Be happy for those who’ve made the transition.”
Even with mana to assist me, I still felt the burn in my muscles. Sending light element mana to soothe them helped a little but it was obvious that, physically, I was out of shape.
Then there was the fact that I didn’t have an answer for my dad. I’d never given much thought to life after death except that I’d met two death gods and helped two people cross over. Was Kalli there? If she was, why couldn’t I visit her?
I looked up at my dad and asked, “Why can’t I leave Origin?”
“You will,” he replied. “In time. Now, I want you to repeat what you did ten times and then run.”
“How far?” I asked.
“Until I say you can stop,” he replied before teleporting away with a pop and a puff of smoke.