“…and this is the infirmary. The kingdom’s most establish and prominent healers are gathered here. Even if you were to get just a scratch, come here and they will take care of it.” Regio swept his hand towards the room. Looking inside, I could only spot one woman wearing a white robe, busy writing something on a parchment on top of her desk.

“Do people get injured that often in the palace?”

“Not necessarily. Injuries and sicknesses are not commonplace in the vicinity of the palace so the healers spend the most of their time in research under the kingdom’s expense,” Regio said. “You can consider them as researchers with a side-job of being healers.”

“Hmmm.” I scratched my neck. “Remember when you talked about that Immortal who got his limbs reattached—”

“Not reattached. Regenerated.”

“Right,” I said. “I was wondering how they did that. I mean, they must have some pretty sophisticated technology to do that.”

“Technology? What does that have to do with anything?” Without waiting, he continued. “Only the most prominent in healing magic can even aim to become a palace doctor. It’s a position with an incredible amount of prestige.”

“Oh right, magic.” I scratched my head. “Actually, I don’t know anything about magic. Well, anything besides stuff from fantasy stories.” I wasn’t even going to mention movies or video games. Those would just fly over his head since there didn’t seem to be an equivalent here.

“Why is that, grandmother? Doesn’t magic exist in your world?”

“Nope.” If we did, then with our level of technology, I could imagine that my home country would definitely have been a magitech society. That would be pretty awesome in its own way, as long as magic in general didn’t stunt the advance of technology, of course.

“Interesting.”

“Hey! Don’t think we were primitives or anything. Our science had reached the point where we had weapons that could hit something from miles away, techniques for cloning animals for food, and spacecrafts that could reach other planets!”

“Oh? What do you mean by cloning and spacecraft?”

“Um, I’ll tell you later. First things first, tell me all about magic.”

“Well, I’m not really knowledgeable about this subject,” Regio said uncomfortably.

“Oh…”

“Any other questions?” Regio asked as we began walking again.

“Where can I learn how to use it?” I asked.

“Ask father.”

“I’ll ask him later.” While I really did want to learn magic, especially since it was both new and exciting, just like all those fantasy movies I seen, I didn’t want to bother Ranzel again so soon. I had already asked him for permission to go to the city just a few hours ago. I didn’t want to seem like I was ungrateful or spoiled enough to keep asking for more so soon.

“We’re almost done with the tour. Just a few more places.”

“Almost there.” Honestly, I hadn’t really been paying attention to the tour. If I remembered a quarter of the rooms I have been to, I would think that would be plenty enough already. As it was, I could barely remember one-twentieth of the rooms, and that was only because they were special ones like the bathroom. Compounding on that was the fact that there was just no possible way I was going to memorize the directions though all these hallways mazes, but on the bright side, I was sure that I could just ask a guard or servant to guide me through it all so it wasn’t that much of a big deal to me. Even if I got lost, it wasn’t like I was in a dungeon crawl where I could starve to death.

Hm? What if there was nobody there to guide me? Hahaha, what a joke. This was the palace. The possibility of it actually being empty was about as slim as the capital being invaded. How would I know that? Well, in the event of an attack, I was pretty sure that everyone would be fleeing so it would be empty at that time. Heh. The power of logic.

“And this is the last one: the library.” A simple name for a not so simple room. I would have thought it would have a grander title, considering how huge it actually was. There were rows upon rows of bookshelves, each stacked to the brink with books of all kind. Even if I tried, I didn’t think I would be able to read all the titles in here even if you gave a lifetime.

It was only a brief visit, but I knew that this was an important place. I knew that I was going to be back here to—ah, who was I kidding? Besides reading fun novels, what would I do here besides fall asleep? No matter the world, textbooks would forever remain textbooks, especially when I could just get someone to explain it concisely for me. A ten minute monologue versus an hour-long dry read? It was a no-brainer.

On that note, our tour finally came to an end. It was long and informative. I was getting nostalgic just thinking about it, even though technically, I was still on the tail end of the tour. In all honesty, I didn’t really learn that much, but it gave me a feel of the whole palace as well as the many, many servants that worked here. Seriously, I started to recognize some of them after I passed them in the hallway like half a dozen times. Anyways, it was almost time for dinner so we headed back.

~o~

Dinner today was a different affair. It seemed that Ranzel wanted to have a private one with just us two—though, the servants didn’t count, for some reason. I didn’t know why he wanted a private dinner, but it made it more than a bit nervous. I just hoped that whatever he wanted to talk about wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t think I did anything wrong so far. There were maybe one or two mishaps, though not anything that would require his attention. In any case, we were seated at an elegant candlelit table with plenty of dishes on it, as per the usual manner that royalty always seemed to dine on. The cuisine was different for today as well, though it would probably be impossible for me to identity what they were—or even what they were made of.

“Valkana has agreed to escort you tomorrow.” It was probably because I had a confused expression on my face, but he soon clarified. “The twenty-fifth princess.”

“Ah.” I really couldn’t say much to that.

“Valkana is a hard-working and kind child so I hope you will get to know her.”

“I heard that she has five generations of descendants.”

“Yes, but they’re your descendants as well. I’m sure you will have a chance to meet them at the Royal Compound in the city.”

“The Royal Compound?”

Ranzel was patient in explaining. Basically, the Royal Compound was what essentially amounted to a giant apartment complex in the city. As the palace started to lack space because of the number of descendants that kept being churned out, most of the later generations were moved to the Compound which was protected by royal guards. However, to maintain the prestige of royal blood, they had strict rules to abide by. Those too prosperous or simply stifling under those rules could strike out on their own, and many did. Outcroppings of noble houses, both minor and major, with ties to the crown soon appeared, though at that point, they received little, if any, assistance from the palace. Some of these houses fell into ruin over time or were simply extinguished, but none of that was the concern of the palace.

“Yes, I’d like to visit there.” I could barely imagine what it would feel like. I remembered those stories of the main characters—from time travel, coma, stasis, or such—finding themselves in the future and seeing their descendants. I guess it would be something like that. It made me wonder how they would act when they find out that I had the status of being the mother of the king, which would essentially mean that I was technically their ancestor. Their faces…it was times like these that I wished that a camera existed. I quickly asked the king if there was something like that, and to my surprise, there was. However, it was a clunky, magical spell that required the participants to be relatively still for ten minutes. So yeah, that wasn’t going to work to capture the expressions of surprise, even if I knew magic.

Actually, that reminded me.

“Ranzel, do you think I can learn magic?” I knew that I shouldn’t be asking for this so soon after my first request, but I couldn’t help it. The allure of magic, of doing the impossible, was too much for me to resist.

“What kind?” Ranzel simply asked as he ate what looked like a carrot stick.

“Um, what is there?”

“Too many specialized paths to talk about,” Ranzel said. “I’ll assign a general magic teacher so you can try out a little of each type of magic.”

I nodded my head. That was probably for the best.

“Don’t be shy to choose one of the darker magic. While many kingdoms ban some magic or another like necromancy, I do not do that here. I believe that it’s like a gun; it depends on the wielder.” Ranzel continued to eat while he talked. “This extends to all forms of combat including the melee and ranged arts. There are very little bans, and mostly for certain issues like human experimentation. Those are limited to prisoners of war.”

My face turned a little green at his last statement.

“It’s a necessity, especially in this warring world.”

I couldn’t refute that, but at the same time, I didn’t approve of it. However, I knew that Ranzel grew up under the values that my other self taught so I couldn’t think that it was anything except this world that had changed him. It must have been something drastic, and even just knowing the vague little I did about his immense history, I knew that there was probably plenty of possibilities to choose from. It did make me wonder if I would become the same way, if I had spent that much time here.

The thing that stuck out to me was a phrase I remembered from my past. The world wasn’t black or white; it was composed of shades of gray. The world was similar to yourself, so it would eventually change you, subtly. From a lighter shade to a darker shade. If my other self was here, would she recognize Ranzel as her son? That thought struck a note in my heart.

“Can you tell me about her? About your real mother?”

Ranzel paused for a moment, his fork with its morsel almost reaching his mouth. As if in slow motion, that hand fell and laid his fork gently on his plate. “Why the sudden urge?”

“It’s not sudden. I had always wanted to know.”

“Why?”

“To understand,” I said gingerly.

“You are your own person. You don’t need to feel pressured to be someone else.”

“That’s not it. I want to understand her. From that, maybe…just maybe, I can come to an answer.” The words came out of me, though I wasn’t sure what I was talking about. An answer to what question? I didn’t even know the question. It just felt like an answer—some answer, any answer—would help illuminate it all. It was a feeling rather than anything coming from logic. Just when I was about to add something else to it, he began to speak.

“My mother was a gentle woman, always smiling even when the pain became too much,” Ranzel said. “She made mistakes. Many mistakes. To be human is to err, but she always bounced back from it. I remembered that she used to always play the virtual reality games with me as I was growing up. She always did love those games.”

As I listened to him speak, it felt like that person was definitely not me. Yet, at the same time, I recognized some of my traits in her. It made me feel some regrets. I especially and fervently wished that I was still on Earth to be able to play those VR games! Oh, the dream of virtual reality had been so utterly close…

“Early on, she learned to lower her head.” His face seemed to darken slightly. “I remember that vivid memory of someone yelling at her. She lowered her head then, and she kept lowering her head in the future. For both her mistakes and my own. My mother became especially forgiving. She didn’t start that way, but the harsh life weighed heavily on her.

“I was twenty-four when I was brought to this world, to fight and die for a land that I did not believe in. Even when I went from battle to battle, as a necessity of survival, there were times that I couldn’t help but wonder. You see, my mother, she lived for me. There was nothing else in her life except me. My initial existence was, perhaps, the cause of that; my birth had separated her from the life she should have led. I doubt that she lived for longer than a year after my disappearance.”

“That’s…” I wanted to speak out, but I didn’t dare say anything. What happened to my parents? To my siblings? If I had gotten pregnant at the time, would they abandon me just like that, or did something happen to them? It made me feel confused, but I listened on.

“I wanted to know what happened to her, and maybe return, at least to say good bye. For hundreds of years, I studied space magic in order to achieve that. I didn’t know if I could go back or just see through a window, but I needed the closure. However, even after all these years, I had found nothing. I hired many researchers and poured so much into the project, but in the end, I had gained nothing. In the end, I simply accepted it and moved on.”

Heavy. That was the only thought on my mind. All of this was too heavy, so much so that it was hard for me to speak. We simply sat in silence. Well, he continued to eat, but I just sat there.

“Are you not hungry?”

“I…um…” Instead of speaking, I picked up my fork and started eating. At least that way, I wouldn’t have to say anything.

“I suppose your presence is therapeutic. I see in you my mother before the world had broken her in,” Ranzel said casually, almost too casually. “There is nothing I’m asking of you. I simply want to see you live a happy life. You are free to choose whatever path you wish; I will not restrict you.”

“Um…thanks…?” I really did not have any words for this. There was even this creeping feeling in my back like I wanted to hide under the tablecloth, just to get away from his stare that seemed to contained so much more now. It felt like I didn’t even notice anything before, but now that I did, it was hard to handle.

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Just like that, the dinner ended on an awkward note.

~o~

I groggily woke up to the light shining on my face. I really wasn’t energetic this morning, but I couldn’t say why. That was because I didn’t really remember anything that happened after dinner. I didn’t even remember how I got to bed. It didn’t seem like I got much rest. Did I have some kind of dream or nightmare? Ugh, I still wanted to sleep. I turned to the side and threw my blanket over my head. Ah, sweet bliss—ack?!

My blanket was taken away, and I was exposed to the full glory of the morning’s sun. It was too bright! At the edge of my hearing, I could hear a faint, complex noise that slowly gained in volume until I could finally comprehend what it was. Words.

“Your Highness, I beseech you. Please wake up properly for once.”

“I abhor your words and deny you at once. Return my blanket posthaste,” I mumbled out as I tried to covered my face with my pillow. “Please.”

Ah! My pillow was taken away. I scrambled to cover my eyes with my arms, but they proved insufficient for the task of true darkness. Truly, the battle was already lost. Feebly giving up my resistance, I rolled over to the side of the bed where Alina was standing next to. I looked up at her with blurry eyes.

“No,” Alina said.

I tried pouting.

“No means no.”

I sighed deeply as I gave up. Without much else to do, I slowly got up from the bed and slipped into my slippers. I stretched out my arms, rotated my neck, reached down to my toes, and twisted my waist. No, not at the same time; I’m not superhuman. With the morning stretches out of the way, I waited politely for the maids to strip me of my clothes and put on something new for me. It was always a new dress everyday, and it wasn’t really my decision what I got to wear. Not that I objected since these were super expensive clothes of such quality that I would never have been able to wear these back on Earth. However, I blinked in surprise when I saw they were actually giving me pants instead of a skirt.

“Is there a special occasion?” I asked.

Alina stared at me strangely. “Aren’t you going into the capital today, Your Highness?”

Oh, that was right! I quickly nodded my head in assent. Today was the day. I couldn’t help but be excited about it. Perhaps it was the natural explorer in me that wanted to go out and see new things. I was nervous and antsy the whole time. If I was jumping up and down, I would probably have completed that image. By the time I was done with some light make-up and my clothes thrown on, the maids were just about ready to throw me out. Well, it was still a bit early for the meet-up so I went to the cafeteria and got some food. Of course, I was incessantly pampered by them through the whole process, making it take longer than it really should have.

After that, I walked to the courtyard where I was supposed to meet up with the twenty-fifth princess and took a seat on a bench. It was still thirty minutes, but I wanted to come early just in case.

~o~

“Jennifer, is it?”

That voice made me snap out of my daze. I was almost on the brink of sleep, so much so that it took me a second before the haze fogging my mind cleared. When I looked up, I found a tall woman bound in a full suit of knight’s armor standing before. Without a helmet on, her long red hair flowed down to her waist and her angular face had a majestic quality, enhanced by eyes of sharp jade. She was not a pretty girl by any estimate, but she carried herself with a fierce confidence. Mounted on her back was a shield and double-bladed axe.

“Are you Jennifer?” the woman asked again.

I slowly nodded. “Valkana?”

“I’m here to escort you.” Her voice was soft yet demanding.

I felt a bit of apprehension. This was the first time I had been in the presence of another Immortal besides Ranzel. The difference in demeanor was actually a bit awe-inspiring. I supposed that I had gotten too used to the relaxed attitude that the king had towards me. Nevertheless, I stood up from the bench.

Yet, Valkana didn’t move. She stood there, staring at me.

“Um, are you okay?”

She blinked in surprise. “Forgive me. It is not everyday that I see the ancestor of my line.”

I weakly smiled. “Don’t worry. It was a surprise to me too.”

“I can imagine,” Valkana said as she smiled back. “Even as his children, father never spoke to us of his life before his kingship. The beginning of our line had always been a mystery. To see such in the flesh is overwhelming.”

“I understand.”

“May I touch you?”

That gave me pause since it was a strange request, but it seemed harmless enough. I nodded my assent. Valkan pulled off her gauntlet and gently brushed my cheek with her fingers. They were rough, the crevices in her fingers seeming as hard as battle-worn scars. It was like sandpaper, only more rougher.

“Soft like a baby’s bottom.” Valkana slowly retracted her hand. “I had heard you were beautiful, but I never imagined to such an extent.”

I felt like turning my eyes away. I wasn’t beautiful, not to that extent anyways. On Earth, there were plenty of models and actresses who were so much more pretty than I was.

“You do not believe?”

“I’m sure there are prettier girls.”

“Mayhaps in their youth, but such things are fleeting and hard to retain come puberty. By adulthood, I have seen none last against the harshness of the Ashran sun.”

I guess they didn’t really have the concept of skin care. That actually made me kind of worried. Would I have the same kind of skin after a few years of living here? Rough skin may be fine for a boy, but for a girl, it was fatal! As you could see, I still hadn’t adjust my priorities yet.

“Jennifer, we have dallied for too long. Mind you a detour to the Royal Compound? There are many that are curious about the Great Mother.”

“The Great what?” I asked as my eyes widened.

“The Great Mother. She who bore into the world the Legendary Hero King who released us from the Great Nightmare. The progenitor of our royal line.” Seeing my confusion, she continued. “You.”

“M-me? How can it be me?”

“How could it not?” she asked with confusion in her voice.

“Well. That’s, um, I’m. I guess?”

“Have confidence in yourself!” Valkana practically roared out that statement. I shrunk back from her loud voice. “You have given two boons to this kingdom. None can claim such an achievement!”

“Boons…?”

“One is the king,” she proclaimed. “And the other is yourself.”

A chill went down my spine as I saw the light in her eyes. I knew she was technically my granddaughter, but this was too much!

“Ahem.” Valkana coughed into her hand, her cheek slightly reddening. “Mayhaps we should begin our trip?”

It was only now that I noticed that the attention of the entire courtyard was now on us. A crowd of servants, palace workers, and guards had even gathered just to see this spectacle. I was at a loss for words, but I slowly managed to regain my composure.

“Yeah, let’s leave.”

I followed behind Valkana as she led the way out. I didn’t know the way through the many hallways, and even though I was going through it now, I knew that I wasn’t going to remember any of it. I thought about asking them to make me a map, but logic inserted itself into here; a map of the palace would be really bad if it fell into the wrong hands. I could imagine it being especially hard on newcomers to the palace. It wasn’t long before we reached the giant double doors of the entrance, both of which were wide open with armored guards stationed at either side.

Beyond that was the outer courtyard, a splendor of flowers that made a fairy tale image. Lined up alongside on both sides of the pathway were columns of guards, stoic and still in their watch. I couldn’t stop gawking as we made our way past them to the gated doors between the fences that blocked off the palace from the outer city. There were crowds of people outside, sitting and hawking their wares just outside the gates to those that came to take a look at the impressive visage of the castle and its occupant. Upon noticing our coming, they seemed to started chattering excitedly and massing outside the gates.

“Shouldn’t we go by the back exit or something,” I asked nervously. This seemed far too public for my liking. I had imagined that a trip to the city would be something like dressing up in a dark cloak with guards watching our backs from the shadows as we traveled through the city incognito.

“Why? They would recognize us anyways.” Valkana’s stride didn’t falter in the slightest, though mine did for a second. “I come out often enough that nobody blinks an eye anymore. They are just curious about you.”

“Curious. Right,” I said skeptically.

“The rumors about you have been rampant.”

“And just who was spreading those rumors?”

“Mayhaps a palace servant or a high noble who was at your summoning ceremony.”

“Were you there too?”

“Of course. It was an important occasion that the high nobles from all around the kingdom attended. It would be unthinkable for the second generation of the royal line not to attend.”

“The second generation? That means Ranzel is the first?” I asked as we reached the gates. The guards there quickly opened it wide as a troop of armored guards flooded out to open a path through the crowd for us.

“Yes. You’d be the zeroth generation.” We started walking through the opened path as the crowd increased in fervor. Hands and arms were reaching out past the guards even as they used the shaft of their polearms to hold back the tide. A few fingers brushed past me, grasping at my clothes. I started becoming afraid that they would rip them off me.

“It…it’ll be hard to visit town like this…”

“It will pass.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.” I ducked away at the dirt-encrusted hand that almost grasped at my face. That was close. My heart was beating in my chest.

“We’ll head to the Royal Compound first, if you do not mind.”

“That’s…that’s fine.” I was a bit distracted as my eyes were glancing left and right. “Ah!”

A feminine hand pulled a couple of strands of my hair out of my head. Valkana stopped and turned, glancing around at the crowd as if seeing them for the first time. Her face tightened. I had a bad feeling about this.

“Wait, Valkana, you don’t need to—”

“The next person who touches the Great Mother will lose that hand!” Her yell reverberated through the crowd. Every arm that had been reaching out past the guards quickly snaked back. She turned to look at me. “Better?”

I nodded on reflex. That was one way of handling it. The crowd seemed to have calmed down, as if their crazed mania from a moment before was just a dream. I had to admit that Valkana had quite the influence of these people. Whether that was from her own innate charisma or her reputation, I didn’t know, but either way, it was effective enough, but did she really have to call me Great Mother? Now, there was no way this moniker wouldn’t stick. I became exasperated just thinking about it. It was through this calmed crowd that we made our way towards the Royal Compound.

~o~

I sincerely regretted my decision to visit the Royal Compound. As I stood on the elevated, being watched by the rather large crowd of people that were completely composed of my descendants and their loved ones, I couldn’t help but feel that this was all a bad idea. I was curious—intensely so—about my descendants, but they were all looking at me with a starry gaze like I was some kind of messiah. I swallowed the saliva in my mouth in nervousness. Looking to the side of the stage, I saw Valkana motioning enthusiastically to me. She wanted me to say a speech, but how did she expect me to create one on the spot? And besides that, I wasn’t even an orator anyways. I was getting stage fright just by standing here!

“Good afternoon.” My voice spread loudly throughout the area, seeming to slightly echo. The megaphone effect was actually from a spell Valkana casted just before I came on stage. Hearing my greeting, the crowd went positively wild, yelling and cheering with abandon. Was this supposed to make me less nervous? Off to the side, Valkana was nodding happily in approval even though I had only said two words. It was only now that I realized that I seemed to have a cult following with my granddaughter as my biggest fan. This was not how I imagined spending my trip to the city on. Sighing in my heart, I knew that I had to continue before the crowd got restless. “Many of you know me as…the Gr…Great Mother.”

I barely choked those words out, but the crowd burst into cheers. It was almost too embarrassing to use that title, especially since I wasn’t actually the birth mother of anyone. Sometimes, I hated the weird situations that I seem to always get myself into.

“What some of you don’t know is that my name is Jennifer Ro. Most people call me Jen, though.” I immediately regretted saying that last part. I hadn’t meant to, but my nervousness got to me, and I spouted the first thing on my mind. I licked my brutally dry lips. “Well, I came to this world from another world very recently, but I’m glad to see everyone here is happy and healthy.”

The loud applause and cheers made me feel even more ashamed. Was this what it felt like to be an pop singer? What do I do now, what do I do now? Should I sing a song? I glanced at the side to Valkana, but she wasn’t even paying attention to me; she was looking out at the crowd with a bright smile. So bright that I felt almost bad that I was inevitably going to ruin this somehow.

Well, she should have thought about that before she tossed me into this mess!