Castle Bosporus
3:15 AM
After two hours of participating in the group chat, I turned off notifications and opened my eyes. It was pretty clear that we wouldn’t be able to get much done through this method of communication. Over the course of two hours of communication, we were barely able to agree that “dying is bad” and complete basic introductions. I was sure that the group chat would keep going for a little bit, but I was no longer a necessary part of it. I had already introduced myself.
When I opened my eyes, I looked around at my surroundings. I was in a lounge that was filled with fine upholstered seats, expensive silver chandeliers, beautiful rugs, and marble fireplaces. Wood had been stacked near the fireplaces, but no fire was burning. The gas lamps and chandeliers around the lounge lit it in a warm orange glow, giving the room an air of comfortable ease. Bookshelves lined the walls of the lounge, and various writing tools sat atop the thick wooden tables that filled the room. The books were all written in English, though they contained information which was not held in any physical book in the Old World. Books on the history of Ferrum, biographies of famous historical figures of Rubigo, and even various works of fiction were contained on those shelves. The tables held pieces of paper, notebooks, fountain pens, and pre-sharpened pencils.
In terms of the occupants of this lounge, it only contained Melkior, Dendrite, and me. The lounge was only a few hundred feet from the Great Hall, so Apostles who didn’t go with Kojiro and Svenheim to meet the new Seventh Apostle stopped in that room. Over the last two hours, however, the other Apostles slowly trickled out to explore the Castle. The entourage of sorcerers which had been following Melkior, Dendrite, and me had not followed us into the lounge. This was probably for the best because, while the room was pretty big, it wasn’t big enough to hold eighteen people comfortably. I was uncertain if the sorcerers had left to go somewhere else. Perhaps - I believed this option to be more likely - all fifteen of them were standing patiently in the hallway like loyal dogs awaiting the return of their masters.
I sat on a comfortable leather couch. Its legs and base seemed to be made of thick wood, and yet the couch creaked slightly when I sat upon it. The couch had a softness that helped me relax at the end of that harrowing day filled with violence, injury, and emotional turmoil. Though, it would be incorrect to say that I needed any physical recuperation. I felt like I could run a marathon, and I definitely could. I felt like I had just recently woken from a full-night’s sleep. This feeling was in stark contrast to the exhaustion and pain that filled my old Revenant body in its final moments.
A book sat on my lap. I had been reading it whenever the conversation in the group chat slowed. The book had caught my eye when I first entered the lounge. It was called “On the Empire of Mitrikova and the Founding of the Free Cities.” I remembered that the Revenants spawned in the three Free Cities: Osiris, New Arcadia, and Fulvang. Perhaps, I thought, this book would give me a better understanding of the starting cities. I skimmed through most of the book. It was mostly interested in historical battles and the ruling families of the Free Cities, and I wasn’t particularly interested in those subjects. What did catch my attention, however, was one topic which the book covered with a level of disinterest: the Patricians. They were described as the nine most powerful Imperials (I also didn’t know what that word meant), and each controlled a large swathe of Rubigo. The book spoke of the Patricians as if the reader would naturally know everything about the subject matter. All I could glean was that: they’re powerful in some way, they control large parts of Rubigo, and there’s nine of them. Beyond that, I guessed based on context clues that their power was either magical or militaristic. I also figured that their power was derived from their blood because the power of the Patrician was usually inherited by the oldest child of the previous Patrician. I put the book to the side. Trying to gain information on the Patricians through reading was a waste of time when I could just ask one of the sorcerers about the topic.
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I rose from the couch, causing it to creak ominously. Was the wood here weaker than normal wood? I couldn’t be sure.
“Hey, Melkior, Dendrite,” I said, “I think I’m gonna head out. I want to look around the castle.”
“Alright,” Melkior said. “Just make sure to be at the Great Hall at noon tomorrow. We’re going to be holding an actual strategy meeting. Make sure not to oversleep.”
“I don’t think I could sleep,” I said honestly. “I’m so full of energy that I want to run laps around the Castle.”
“Have fun with that,” Melkior said. His eyes were closed, and his fingers were tapping upon an unseen keyboard. I could tell at a glance that he was writing an angry response to something Svenheim or Kojiro said.
I looked over at Dendrite to see that he was too busy reading a leather-bound tome to pay much attention to my departure. The book he held in his hands was entitled “Shadow Magic and its Uses.”
I exited the lounge through a light wooden door. I made sure to not apply too much force when I opened it for fear that I might break something. Upon exiting out into the hallway, I saw three masked sorcerers standing there silently. I felt like walking, so I grunted wordlessly and started walking in the direction opposite the three sorcerers. One of them started following me, and I could tell by the sound of her steps that this one was the woman who had emerged as the leader of the sorcerers when we walked to the Great Hall.