Chapter 5:
It has been 2 weeks since Autumn arrived in this world and most of the time he spent was either on his room resting or in Eugene's lab where he would be subjected to many harassments. He was supposed to meet Thororg'gon but Eugene recommended against it saying that there will be many complications. At last, Autumn was able to meet his saviour and a meeting was arranged.
Autumn stood in front of a tall mirror and examined himself. He was being dressed for his meeting. It was a formal attire that the maids brought him and this time Emily was helping him. He was embarrassed but he could not allow himself to be poorly dressed in front of his saviour.
What he wore was a formal attire resembling the fashions of the 18th century but with less gaud and minimal vibrant colours. The clothes suited him he could not deny that. He had been wearing clothes of best qualities but what he wore now as the most extravagant.
After clothing, the next thing they did was comb back his hair and tie them to reveal the two horns on either side of his forehead. His recently trimmed silk-like hair was now tidier and his hairstyle complemented his face. He did not have any facial hair, naturally and his golden eyes glowed like a gem.
"You look great." Emily complimented.
"Thank you, but all the credit goes to you."
She blushed and tried to hide her face.
Now that they were done with all the appearance-related work they had to wait for their escort. Autumn was nervous and cannot help but vibrate his legs. He has been practising his etiquette with Emily and other maids for a few days and Emily confirmed him that he was ready but Autumn could not shake away his fear.
"Everything is going to be alright." She comforted Autumn.
"I can't help but feel nervous about meeting my saviour for the first time."
"This won't be you first. Don't you remember you have already met him once before."
"I have but at that time I was partially blind and could not see him. I am afraid that I might greet someone else thinking it was him."
"Don't worry it will be impossible and I will also be there with you all the time."
"Thank you that will be a lot of help."
"Knock, knock, knock," With three clear knocks the door opened and Amanda revealed herself.
"It's time to go."
"Okay then let's go."
All three of them headed towards the throne room and for some reason, Autumn felt as if they were rushing rapidly. On his visit to Eugene Autumn has walked some of these halls many times before but this time he felt it was too short. In reality, all of this was a placebo but it didn't matter because the gate was visible behind that gate was Thororg'gon, ruler of this underground castle.
Autumn's steps started to dwindle when he saw two giant iron sculptures standing before the titanic door. It reminded him of the times he used to place his toys near his room to guard it against unspeakable monsters of the night. This time it was different because of this time the toys where 3 meters tall and the door was 15 high.
The iron statues had two visors like eyeholes each stuffed with a glowing crystal. When they got closer the Iron statues moved like a living being and opened the door for them. Their movements were so organic that Autumn started to doubt for a moment if the statues before them were made from iron textured flesh. He instinctively tried to turn and run but Emily and Amanda tugged his clothes and used their bodies to hide the part where they were pulling Autumn.
Autumn tried to keep a straight face and with Emily and Amanda leading him he managed to walk through the door. Before he passed the iron statues he examined them and saw intricate twists and stretch resembling a muscle structure underneath a skin, in the current case, iron skin. He can't explain this yet but what he saw was a living organism even though it was made out of metal.
After crossing the alive iron statues Autumn was greeted with another astounding surprise. What he saw can only be explained as an image from fantasy novels. There were many creatures inside the room that he has only in his imaginations.
Starting on his right the closest to him was the anthropomorphic white fox, who must have been from a kids' cartoon. The fox had many humanoid features like hands and torso. Next to the anthropomorphic fox was a tree giant resembling an ape-human hybrid; it stood strong at the height of 5 meters and outshined the impressiveness of the previous Iron statues. Next to the tree giant was a floating pool of water housing a mermaid-like being. This mermaid-like creature was different from the typical mermaids and did not have a human upper body but it only resembled a human while retaining the features of fish.
On his left, he saw Eugene the short evil scientist looking man who looked like a sore thumb in the presence of other magnificent beings and next to him was an avian anthropomorphic raptor dressed in brown tunic and pants. If dinosaurs would have survived till modern times and developed human intelligence then this exactly how they would have looked like. And finally, a female red-skinned devil dressed as a secretary. She had long horns emerging from her forehead and she had a pair of folded batwings tucked on her back adding the flexible tail with a heart-shaped tip hanging from her waist she looked menacing. She was only 1.5 meters tall but her presence was of someone in a high position.
Even with these unique individuals on the sides what was on his front was what he found most surprising. In his front stood three figures, the first was another one of those iron statues but this one was smaller. Even though it was smaller Autumn was more scared of him than the others. If the precious Iron statues were muscle head goons then the present one was a well-trained soldier that has been killing his whole life. Unlike the previous one, this one also wore armour over his already menacing iron body.
Besides the iron statue was an adult male who is in his late forties. He was dressed elegantly like an important person with his neatly trimmed beard and neatly cut hairs. He looked entirely human but some part of Autumn told him that this wasn't the truth. Now that he thinks about it, was any of the maids also human? He wanted to dive into his thoughts but the third figure was what pulled eyes and didn't let it go.
It was a Dragon and not just a dragon, The Dragon. If there was any Dragon king in the world the one in front of him will be it. The dragon was so massive that its smallest tooth will be taller than the tallest human being. The dragon was covered in layers of metallic scales that reflected all kinds of colours and its tucked wings made it impossible for Autumn to imagine the full wingspan. The horns on its head were beautifully arranged like a crown befitting his position. If someone told Autumn that this dragon was the king of the world he would not hesitate to believe it. Like a man watching a natural disaster Autumn was so amazed by the dragon that his conscience vanished and only when the adult male beside the dragon spoke his recovered himself.
"Welcome Amon, we were expecting you."
"It is an honour to be in the presence of such impressive individuals." He bowed swiftly and kept his head down. Autumn almost choked but Emily secretly nudged him with her elbow. Even though he practised his line millions of time he still wasn't able to perform on his best. He thanked Emily for thousands of times in his heart for being with him.
"I am sorry that I am meeting you this way. My real body requires some rest due to some personal reasons." He said while tapping the dragons head.
'I was right he wasn't a normal old man.'
"I am delighted that you have allowed me to meet you in person. I am sincerely blessed in your presence."
Autumn kept his head down while speaking and notice others whispering and all of them seemed impressed. Well except for one.
"Hahahaha." He chuckled. "It was a good decision of mine to bring you back. I must pat my back on this one."
When no one laughed Thororg'gon's mood fouled and he started to sulk. Autumn was reminded of a scene where an adult would make a joke but no one would laugh.
"EEhemm." The Man cleared his throat and continued. "Do you remember the time we first met?"
"Yes, as clear as the daylight. That time you told me that you would require my abilities."
"Yes, that and I am very happy to inform you that the time has come when I need your help."
"Your word is my command."
"Listen, Amon, I have been in this world for so long that I can't remember when I came into existence and in my whole life I have gathered knowledge and distributed prosperity to all but due to some conditions I haven't been able to contact with any intelligent life for few hundred years. I relied on my subjects to bring me knowledge of the outside world but the world is vast and my people lack numbers. Now that my condition is like this they have refused to leave me alone."
"This is where you come in Amon, from your conversations with Eugene we concluded that you were a storyteller and your skills are exactly what we need. If you choose to help me not only will you gain my support but it might also help you bring back your memories. I can't promise you that all your memories will be restored but most of it will." "So what is your say in all this?"
"I agree," Autumn replied instantly. He doesn't know why he did that, was it because of his man's code, was it because he wanted to regain his memories as fast as he can, or was it his curiosity as a storyteller. He didn't know what it was but he didn't regret it at all.
"Then from this day, you shall be known as Amon Augustus Thor. I bless you that the dangers of the outside world don't harm you, I bless you that you are victorious in your battles and I bless you that you shall have a fraction of my strength."
Everyone in the produced a sound surprise and stared Autumn with wide eyes. The iron statue was the one to react the most and was stunned at this announcement. Even the maids could not help but react in shock.
Seeing as no was going to calm down on their own, their master announced, "Are there any objections with my decisions."
Everyone recovered themselves and took the required befitting pose.
"Are there any problems with my decision? Tell me, Wies."
"I have no objections at all." said the Anthromorphic Fox.
"Thamu."
"None…. At…. All…." The tree giant replied.
"Calypso."
"None, my liege."
"Eugene."
"No objections from me."
"Tyran."
"I have none."
"Charlotte."
"None at all My lord."
"Kairo." He asked the figure beside him. "Kairo I asked, do you have any objection?"
"I do my lord."
The sound of gasp emerged with a unison.
"What is it Kairo? Why do you object to my decision?"
"I believe that the person before us is not worthy of your gifts. I highly doubt he even knows what those gifts meant."
It was true that Autumn was oblivious to this world and those blessings meant nothing but words of encouragement and prayer to him. Currently, Kairo was oblivious to the fact that by questioning his master he has disrespected him. In the heat of anger, he might have forgotten this but everyone else except Autumn didn't. Thororg'gon was left with no choice he has to confront Kairo or else his authority as their master will suffer.
"Are you telling me to take back the blessing that I just gave?" the room temperature dropped and chills started to run down the spines. Kairo was suffering the most as he was the target of Thororg'gon's hostility.
Understanding what just happened Kairo bent on the floor with his forehead touching the ground and begged.
"I am sorry, master. I was blinded with anger and hatred."
"Kairo you just committed a great mistake and you shall be punished for this but not today. I want to postpone your punishment but for now, your position as my personal guard has been revoked and will be given to Wies. Do you understand?"
"I understand and accept."
He turned towards Autumn neglecting the bowing Kairo.
"I am sorry Amon my subject has shown you something rude."
"Please there is no need to apologize at all I am not at all offended."
"Offended or not it doesn't change the fact that we have committed a shameful act towards our guest as an apology before you leave I want to give you the best education that I can offer and also I would like you to have some gifts for your travels." "Now Emily and Amanda can you escort our guest to his chambers."
Autumn went to his room accompanied by Amanda and Emily leaving the tensed environment behind.
…