I woke slowly as the rising sun cast bright light upon my closed eyelids. The memory of a dream half remembered rose in my mind. In my half-conscious state, I recalled that the dream was quite significant, so I spent a minute purposefully remembering and reconstructing the events of that strange dream.
In the dream, I was present in the old graveyard. The monsters called me Lord Octavian, and they followed my orders. The man with blue eyes killed Carlos, and I flew off the handle a little bit. I wanted to deny it, but that seemed like something I would do in such a situation.
It was almost like that was a vision of the future. If the negotiation with the monsters went well and I became the leader of the [Fifth Greater Dungeon], I could definitely imagine that happening. Still, a vision of the future seemed incredibly unlikely. I had experienced my fair share of gnarly dreams, and none of them were precognizant.
Throughout history, there have been many stories of lunatics who could see the future. It was said that, in the uncontrolled cauldron of their minds, some hallucinations could see the future. These stories were clearly false, but perhaps the System knew of these stories and decided to grant those with the [Lunatic] trait bouts of pre-cognizance.
Far be it from me to deny an advantage. It was just unfortunate that the vision had to be such a bad one. The future where I impale the [Hero] - whatever that means - would definitely be one to avoid. I spoke of “my nation,” implying that there were other humans living in the territory claimed by the [Fifth Greater Dungeon]. Torturing and killing someone with such a title would probably put me on the fast track to losing the support of the common man.
If possible, I would prevent such a future from occurring. There was the possibility that the Hero’s impalement would happen one way or another, and my resistance would only serve to hasten the completion of the prophecy. I doubted this was the case, however, since it would imply that the Revelation System had perfect knowledge of the future. If the System was truly omniscient, I figured, then it would not need us to defeat the Conquering Horde.
I stood up from my bed of dirt and cleaned up my suit. I dusted off my pants and straightened my tie. Luckily, the dirt I had fallen into was diffuse, and little of it remained once I had brushed my hands against it a few times.
Just as I was about to head back to the campsite, Epsilon began to vibrate. Unlike last time I felt it move, this movement was one of excitement. I looked around, trying to see what Epsilon saw that I didn’t, and a gaping wound in reality was torn open a few feet to my right.
The sound of air pressure equalizing drew my attention to the portal that had just been opened. It was two-dimensional and strangely angular, as if it was made of a dozen small rectangles arranged in an approximately circular shape. The portal looked identical to the one that appeared near the Old Well a few minutes after System Integration save for one thing. On the other side of the portal was a large white room with no windows and dozens of thrones.
Nothing came through the portal unlike last time, but I could see several shambling humanoid creatures step into the large white room. Right, I was supposed to step into the portal.
I remembered the vision and recalled that I was able to make the monsters follow my commands in that future. It couldn’t be that difficult.
I briefly opened my [Menu] and sent Carlos a message.
Vinzadir: I’m leaving to negotiate with the monsters now.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Perhaps that would help alleviate any worry they felt, but I knew such a message would just make them worry more.
Brushing off my lapels and straightening my cuffs, I stepped into the portal.
An instant after I entered the large white room, the portal slid shut behind me. I fixed my face into an expression of disinterested arrogance as I examined the room more closely. I expected to face some kind of questioning, and I knew it would be better for me to look like the [Dungeon Lord] they were expecting.
The most notable feature of the white room was the building-sized throne in its center. This throne was empty, and the thought of a creature that could fill the throne was terrifying. Two dozen human-sized thrones surrounded the central throne, and four strange creatures stood at the four corners of that massive throne.
The first creature resembled a lion, the second was like a calf, and the third had a face like that of a human being, and the fourth looked like an eagle in flight.
-Revelation 4:7
Terror pulsed through my body as I realized that these four creatures were the Cherubim from Revelation. Each had six wings, and each Cherubim must have had more than a hundred eyes. These eyes were looking in every direction, and I could sense that many of those eyes were looking directly at me. The Cherubim were completely stationary, and they stood around the throne of the Lord God like statues.
To see a scene from Revelation that I had heard a hundred times in real life was a strange experience, to say the least. I wanted to fall to my knees and exclaim my faith in the Lord God, but my knowledge of the past few days made me stop. The story in Revelation was simply a warning of a recurring event that had happened many times over the past hundreds of thousands of years. That throne room preceded the Gospel, and there must be some other explanation for why it was there.
Nearly a dozen other portals had formed around me, and humanoid creatures with the heads of dogs stepped through. Those of them that had arrived before me were lumbering toward their smaller thrones beside the Cherubim. A few of them sat in their thrones as I watched and awkwardly tried to approximate a human sitting in a chair.
The Cherubims did not move, and none of the Star Children seemed to pay me any attention. I considered getting to my seat, which I figured was the fifth from the left, when I saw a man step through a portal.
The man looked around, just as confused as I was. Based on his clothing and physical appearance, I figured the man was from the Middle East. He was unmistakably human, unlike everything else present, so I swiftly walked toward him.
“You’re a human, right?” I called out as I walked forward.
The Middle Eastern man smiled, happy to see another human in this strange scene from Revelation. He answered in a language that I didn’t understand but assumed was Arabic.
“English?” I asked.
The man answered in words that I absolutely did not understand, and I took that as a no. I wanted to know where he was from so that I could stop mentally referring to him as “the Middle Eastern man,” so I asked another question.
“American,” I said, pointing at myself. “You?” I carefully enunciated the question, making it clear that I was asking a question.
“Surrey,” the man said. I looked at him in confusion, and he spoke again. “Syria.”
“Oh, you’re Syrian. Got it.” I said, giving the Syrian a thumbs-up in the universal symbol of understanding.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an Asian woman dressed in a lightly torn business-casual outfit. Hearing our half-gestured conversation, she approached me and the Syrian.
I was about to restart that game of charades with the woman when she said, “I speak English.”
“Thank God,” I said, sighing. Her accent was significant, but I could definitely communicate with the woman. “I’m Vincent Blackwell. Nice to meet you.”
“Himekawa Aiko,” the woman said, bowing her head. I awkwardly bowed in response, and the Syrian did the same, mimicking what everyone else was doing. “Do you know what is happening?”