Adam wakes up in the World of Grey Fog. He is alone.

“Where am I? Is this a dream?” he thinks.

Looking around, he sees a vast see of empty mists and silence. There is no wind.

“How the hell does this world work?” Adams asks.

Suddenly, the ringing of church bells can be heard behind him.

He looks back only to see a canvas of grey. Still, he can hear the bells. He walks forward.

“I really am out of options. I hate being lead on the nose like this.” Adams says complaining to the gloomy sky.

Walking toward the direction of the church bells, they get louder and louder.

Clang!

Clang!!

CLANG!!!

The sound of the bells shakes his body and heart. He trudges onward disregarding his shaking body.

Soon, he sees a black patch against the grey and upon moving closer he can see two massive black gates. Familiar writing can be seen on them.

Truth lies behind Unapproachable Light.

“What is it and this Light symbology I keep seeing?” he thinks.

Studying the door, there are glyphs, letters, and other writings on it that are unintelligible to him.

“It looks like I know what I should research for first when I get back,” he says out loud.

The soundwaves from the bells oppress him.

Blinking, all of the mysterious script disappears, and a keyhole appears on the door to his right.

Putting two and two together, he takes out the key he found in his previous vision from his pockets and sticks it in the keyhole and turns it.

The sound from the bells no longer feels overbearing and the doors open.

Creak!

The massive doors open and the smell of incense flows into his nostrils. He then sees an ancient wooden boardroom table with thrones surrounding it. The greatest throne is at the head of the boardroom table. It is solid black with highlights of gold, mithril, and orichalcum. A large jewel can be seen on the top of the backrest of the throne.

“Welp, let’s see what happens,” he thinks.

Looking around and seeing that there is no immediately obvious danger, Adam sits on the black throne.

His hands and arms freeze on the throne’s armrest, and he loses control of his body. He can’t move away from the throne and a sharp pain spreads throughout his body.

He silently screams.

The colors of the visible and invisible spectrum of light appear on his eyes – a kaleidoscopic rainbow.

After five minutes, the pain stops and a soothing sensation fills his body. His body feels much better like all of the clogs and knots within himself have disappeared. Breathing heavily he sigs and says, “Hah, I knew I wouldn’t die.”

“If something wanted me dead here, they would have already killed me. They wouldn’t use such roundabout methods unless they had a weird hobby which to be frank is not out of the question. Although I don’t want to admit it, but I am currently powerless in front of whatever I am facing.”

Looking down at the now smooth table, he can see his own reflection. At first, he looks like a wraith without form and without face or body. Two colorful eyes piece through the grey mist covering him. However, the grey mist on his body rolls back into the world revealing a tall man with a lanky build and black hair. Adam has tanned white skin due to traveling around the past week and his two eyes are full of colors which periodically change to different color scheme after a minute or two. He thinks about covering his body again in the mist and after five minutes, the grey mists start doing just that.

“It looks like I can control the grey fog in this world.” Adam thinks.

He looks at the table empty table and thinks about how nice it would be if he had a pen and paper.

Plop!

An ornate pen appears out of nowhere and a large stack of papers fall neatly on the desk.

Seeing this happen, Adam starts thinking of all kinds of fantastical creatures and mundane items to see the limit of his control of this world.

Three hours later.

After spending his time testing the limits of this space, Adam came up with three conclusions which he wrote down on the paper in front of him:

1. He can summon any inanimate object he has seen in the world of Arda that is smaller than a small wagon. When trying to summon larger objects or living beings, there is great resistance in the World of Grey Fog as the mists and clouds swirl about like a tornado trying to bring these objects to this world. The same goes for any object located in Earth.

2. He can’t use this world to change the essence of his body, but he can use the grey fog to empower his mana and modify his arcane spells.

3. Finally, he learned he can manipulate the objects and physical laws in this world like causing the table, thrones, and himself to float upside down and controlling the grey fog.

After writing this down, he sighs to himself and says to himself, “Why am I even here?”

Then, the World of Grey Fog hearing his question has its grey fog and mists swirl about him and the table and thrones. The surface of the table transforms into a calm sea with mists on it and stars reflecting on its surface. Adam then sees words on its surface.

Liberty. Fraternity. Equality.

Adam’s eyes and mouth are wide open. Getting a hold of himself he says, “It can’t be…”

New World Order.

Debt.

“It can’t be related to the Organization. I have washed myself clean!” he says.

Payment.

Enlighten the World.

“Enlighten the world…” Adam says under his breath.

“Dammit all!!! I am still tied to the Organization. I thought I thoroughly crushed it leaving behind no survivors besides me,” he thinks.

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Yes.

“It can read my mind here?”

Staring at the table with a piercing gaze, he asks “What are you?”

You and not you.

“Stop speaking in riddles,” he says.

Remember the Creed.

“Those who think themselves free deceive themselves,

There is no one that is free: no not one,

From the lowest serf to the highest king,

All are bound by Absolute Necessity, Absolute Destiny, Absolute Fate….”

Slamming his fist on the sea Adam says with sweat dripping from his forehead, “I serve only myself. I am my own master. I control my own destiny. Again, why did you bring me here.”

His fist does not go through the sea like water but hits a hard surface like the table from earlier.

Enlighten the World.

“Quit it with the riddles!”

Farwell.

“Hey, don’t leave!”

The words fade away from the see and the starry sea eventually regains its bodily shape. It has returned to its previous form as a table.

Adam sighs and looks at the sky.

“Dammit all…” he says.

Then, he sees something surprising in the night sky. He sees two still-life paintings. He can see a small and scrawny sailor boy sleeping peacefully in his cabin. He appears to be either thirteen or fourteen years old and is lightly snoring. Looking at the other painting he sees a young lady with blood all over her head and hair and dress. She looks to be dead. The paintings shine in the night sky outshining the stars, but they fall toward the table. They land gracefully.

“Huh, what are these supposed to be,” Adam thinks.

He looks at the painting with the young boy and touches. It disappears into colorful bubbles and seafoam into the table. He can sense that someone has entered the World of Grey Fog.

“Where…. where am I?” Billy says to himself.

He looks around the area completely bewildered.

“Captain Adrian, Mr. Klein, Rodney, anybody!” he yells.

He looks around frantically trying to find a way out. He starts to run.

“Help!” he says.

“Anyone!”

“Please!” he says with some tears and snot on his face.

Suddenly he hears the ringing of church bells to his left.

“Maybe there can be people there that can help me find Captain,” he thinks.

He starts running toward the direction of the church bells.

They get louder and louder.

His body is shaking.

“No, I can’t stop now. I have to find Captain and Mr. Klein,” he says motivating himself.

Enduring the pain of his bones and muscles shaking from the sound of the bells, Billy manages to make it to entrance of the two large black doors.

He can see writing on the doors, but they look like chicken scratches to him. The bells stop and his muscles and bones stop shaking.

“Whew,” he says.

Creak!

The black doors start to open and clouds of burnt incense fills his nostrils. He suddenly feels very heaving almost falling completely to the ground. Looking up ahead, warning signs and danger flashes throughout the neurons in his brain. He looks up regardless. Then, he saw Someone. A person absolutely covered by grey fog and mists with a bright diadem and jewel above his head filled with a blazing black. His face and body absolutely cannot be seen, but two dots of colorful light can be seen on his face. Those are probably his eyes. Billy’s instincts are telling him that this person is more dangerous than any person he has ever met. From Captain Adrian to the Admiral of Baurdren’s navy even to His Majesty himself, this person blows them out of the water in terms of the mana he is emitting.

“Am, Am I having an audience with a God!” Billy thinks.

The person motions for him to take a throne.

Billy swallows his saliva and says, “O..O..O-kay!”

Sweat drips from his forehead and the back of his neck and with shaking body moves toward the throne.

The person points at the throne right to his left looking at him.

“Y-Yes!”

Billy does as he is told and slowly but eventually sits on the throne to the left of Adam. He is incredibly nervous and looks at Adam every so often.

“Looks like I got naïve, chicken-hearted boy,” Adam thinks to himself.

“He should be to deceive,” he thinks.

The boy can be clearly seen in Adam’s view even though right now he is covered in grey mists.

Adam then touches the other still-life painting, and it floats through the table dispersing into bubbles.

Billy opens his eyes wide and shouts at the painting disappearing into the table.

Adam looks at him.

“S..Sorry!” he says lowering his head.

Adam looks back at the double-doors.

Seeing Adam look at the black double-doors, Billy looks at them as well.

They open and the sounds of the bells can be heard again.

He thinks, “Is there someone else coming here.”

The doors open and he sees another person covered in grey fog. He can see their face but by their figure, the person is probably a young lady. She pauses for a bit, taken aback at the sight she is seeing.

“Is- is that the last person to arrive, my Lord?” Billy says to Adam.

Adam nods back.

The words from the boy snaps her out of her shock and she hardens her resolve and marches toward the throne right next to Adam on his right. Billy can sense a fiery sense of determination emanating from her as she gets closer to them.

Clang! Clang! Clang!!

Adam then stares directly at Ha-Rin’s face and she flinches at the pressure, but she reorients herself and sits on the throne next to Adam across from Billy.

The sound of the bells stop and the tall black doors close shut.

Creak!

Ha-Rin looks at Billy in front of her, she can’t see their face but she has a good impression of what they are like.

“The one across from me seems like a naïve boy. I don’t sense much mana from him either. Unless it is all an act, I think he is in a predicament similar to mine.”

Ha-Rin then looks at Adam.

“That person doesn’t seem to be human. It is impossible for even dragons to have that much mana. An absolute monster. I should be careful around him and not piss him off.”

Billy then says, “My…my…my Lord, why…why did you call us here.”

Adam looks at Billy and thinks, “Quite brave for him, I guess.”

“Yeah, why am I here?” Ha-Rin says.

Billy waves his hands trying to gesture that she shouldn’t have said that.

“What is it,” she says.

“P-P-Please, be more respectful to Mr. Black here. I-I think he might be divine,” Billy says looking at Adam.

Adam nods his head.

“So, what if you are God, tell us why we are here,” Ha-Rin says.

Adam then stares at Ha-Rin for a good five minutes.

“What is it?” she says.

Billy interrupts, “I-I t-think he wants you to be more polite, Miss.”

Adam again nods his head.

“Hah…” she says.

Adam again stares directly at her and releases some pressure.

“I am terribly sorry,” she says bowing her head to him.

“I really should stop picking fights with other people stronger than me,” she thinks.

Adam thinks, “Good, it looks like the both of them acknowledged me as one on the top of the chain of command here. If people don’t know if you are important, then act important and their belief of your importance will follow.”

Adam then stands up from his throne, the grey mist and clouds following him. He then raises his hands above his head and the grey clouds part revealing a starry sky.

“Wow,” Billy says.

“Very showy,” Ha-Rin says, eyes glued at the spectacle.

Then the skies and stars transform into a kaleidoscope of mosaics and paintings depicting the creation of Arda and the various catastrophes and calamities it has suffered. Tales of Ages come and gone from the death of the Giants to the disappearance of the True Dragons to the sinking of an entire civilization to the bottom of the ocean and to the Abandonment of the Old Gods, Adam showed them fantastical pieces of art depicting such tragedies, comedies, and dramas.

Billy and Ha-Rin stared at these depictions with wonder.

Then, the scenes rapidly shift to a scene depicting the current Pantheon in all of their glory from Great Pas to Dread Thea to Mighty Ezna, all of the Pantheon are here ruling over all with justice and compassion. Then, the scenes change again, this time Great Pas is crucified, Dread Thea has a mountain tied around her neck and is drowned at sea, Mighty Ezna is cast into the Sun, and so on. The Pantheon is defeated reduced to nothing.

“B-Blasphemy!” Billy says shocked.

Then, a whirlwind picks up Billy and Ha-Rin.

“Hey, I didn’t say anything,” Ha-Rin says.

They are throne upward toward the sky toward the paintings.

Billy and Ha-Rin scream.

Then, they hear a loud booming voice.

Mene, mene, teckel to the so-called gods and goddesses!

For breaking the Covenant, they are found wanting!

For their atrocities, they are found wanting!

For their lack of virtue, they are found wanting!

Mene, mene, teckel to the so-called gods and goddesses!

They are found wanting!

For breaking the Covenant, their power shall be broken!

For their atrocities, they shall die like those they have slain!

For their lack of virtue, their names, acts, and deeds shall be forgotten!

Mene, mene, teckel to the so-called gods and goddesses!

They are found wanting!

And with that Billy and Ha-Rin disappear from the World of Grey Fog and return back to Arda.

Adam then sits back down on his throne. He is tired with sweat dripping down from his forehead and back.

“Hah. That was a good show if I do say so myself,” he says.

“Besides the names of the deities of the Pantheon, everything else was fake. Chocked up with my own imagination. A good story,” he thinks to himself.

“As the saying goes, it is easier to believe in a big lie than a small one especially if there is an ounce of truth,” he thinks while stretching his arms.

“Hah, since I essentially have to resurrect the Organization here, I have to somehow control from the shadows not just governments but also the Pantheon itself.”

He starts to close his eyes.

“Such nonsense…”

Adam drifts to sleep.

His lie was much closer to the truth than he realized.