"Welcome to my palace, strangers."
Arnold knelt down.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty despite these circumstances."
By circumstances he means them invading her palace. She was kind enough to let invaders into her home. If this was his Misteltein days then Lufulur would've punished the invaders even if they didn't steal anything. This would deter any future attempts of invasion.
"You don't need to show such etiquette in my presence. There's no kingdom for me to rule anymore. The title of Queen is all I have. However, it means nothing."
"I see…" Arnold stood up, "My name is Arnold. These are my companions, Rafaela and Tanaera. All of us are from different worlds."
"By different worlds, do you mean outside the dungeon?"
"You know that you're inside a dungeon?"
"Indeed. I've personally seen many worlds as well. It's all thanks to this palace," she glanced up at the ceiling, then at the walls, "It takes me wherever I need to go. It's the only thing I can remember my kingdom by. It's the only good memory I have left."
"What happened to your kingdom after Sceptim killed the royal family?" Arnold asked carefully.
"I don't know. The people might've survived without a royal family or they just perished. It's no concern of mine anymore."
"Why not build another kingdom by starting fresh?"
"….." She closed her eyes, "Even if that was possible then I'd rather die than rule over humans again. They're weak-minded individuals who are afraid of anything outside what they perceive as normal. I was born into a normal family. My people were normal humans. No one possessed the ability to use magic. We had only knights to protect us and swords and bows to fight. You should know what happened when they found out what kind of power I awakened. Right?"
The three of them nodded.
"A soul power is said to be an ability that only a demons can possess. My people feared anything magical in nature. Fairies and druids were hunted down and killed mercilessly. This caused many ecosystems to collapse because there were no magic races to maintain the forests. They burned women and men who were suspected of practicing magic. Heretics or witches, is what they called them. I had to watch every single time as they burned innocent people who didn't mean anyone harm. I never would've expected that I would almost burn at the stake as well. But my family didn't want to see me go that way. They called it barbaric. I had to die by blade. They sent the one who I trusted the most in my family. It turned out that was a mere façade and I was too gullible to realize it."
She lowered her head and clutched the blanket.
"I… wish to experience the outside world. But not from a palace as if I'm in a prison cell. I wish to grow old in a home surrounded by my own family. A family that loves me." Siana fiddled with her long braids as her expression turned downcast, "… Even if I didn't have this power, I'd still be forced to remain here."
"By whom?"
The queen looked at Rafaela who asked.
"Kalda."
"And she is?"
"She's my best friend… well, she was. She's a soul power user like myself. Only… her power changed her. She was exiled from our kingdom because of the danger she caused many people. The two of us lost contact with each other for several years. The two of us only reunited after my family were slain. She… changed when she came back for me."
Sceptim spoke, "I and Her Majesty have known for years that Lady Kalda was in love with her. Her Majesty was the only one who supported Lady Kalda when everyone else scorned her. Alas, she had to leave while the flames of love burned in her heart. It's expected that the years of not seeing the one she loves would cause anger to manifest. She imprisoned Her Majesty inside the palace.."
Arnold looked at the queen. There was a smile on her face. It wasn't one you'd normally show in this kind of situation.
"Why can't you just tell her to stop keeping you here? What does she even have on you?"
"It's not like she has some deep, dark secret of me or anything. It's much more than that… It's related to my power. This power I possess is slowly eating away at my existence. It will continue to do so until I die. Kalda… She found a way to remove this power. The method is… Well, it will require her to sell her soul to a certain individual. She made me swore something to her on a magical oath that I will never be able to escape from."
A magical oath. Arnold knows what it is. It's a contract between two individuals. The deal between the two can be anything. However, the penalty can also be anything. The penalty is decided by the one who makes the contract.
Even death can be a penalty for something as silly as uttering a wrong word.
"What was the condition?" Arnold asked.
"Eh, you know what that is?"
Arnold nodded to Tanaera, "It's like lending money to someone. Only, the debts to be paid has a higher price. Even gods can be tied to a magical oath. So, what did she make you swear to and what was the price if you failed to meet the conditions?"
"…She will sell her soul to that individual to take my powers in exchange for my complete obedience to her."
"She made you swear to that even though she hasn't managed to remove the power yet?"
"Yes. I'm sure you've seen the beacon of light shining from the top of my palace, right?"
"Yeah."
"It will allow Kalda to bring that person here. They need to remove my power personally, after all." Siana fiddled with her hair again, "…I don't want this power anymore… It's killed so many. Every world I've travelled to ended up becoming a frozen wasteland. No world can withstand my power for extended periods of time."
"So the people in that town… You killed them."
He recalled how the woman begged her daughter to leave the town before the "palace" reached them. How did she know that the palace was coming towards them specifically? Was it because this town was the last remaining signs of civilization?
"…." Her expression twisted as if she was trying hold in her tears, "…I didn't mean to… I only wanted to find a place where my powers won't hurt anyone…"
"How exactly did this palace get here?"
Sceptim answered, "There are two ways to travel. By flight or by teleportation. We decided to place the palace down here because it's far from any civilization. Well, that's what we thought at first. Those townsfolk refused to leave even when threatened. They died as a result of their stubbornness."
Siana spoke this time, "I tried to tell them to leave as soon as they could but as Sceptim said, they were stubborn and told me that we should be the ones to go. All they wanted was to defend their home. But their lives were in danger the longer they lived in the town. I sent some of my knights to the village to warn them of the danger and ask them to leave. This sanctuary was built to contain my powers without harming the outside world so they would've survived if they had listened. I had to regrettably call my knights back after weeks. The damage my power caused was already done even before we came here because I delayed constructing this sanctuary."
'So, it's their stubbornness that caused their own demise.'
Which led to them cannibalizing each other.
Humans are indeed stupid despite being one of the most intelligent species.
The mother and daughter pair… Why didn't they just leave together? Perhaps the father didn't want to leave so they stayed with him?
If the child had just listened to her mother then she would've survived as well…
Arnold felt like a hole was in his chest.
What was this feeling? Was it sadness? Sorrow? But why was he feeling this way for the death of strangers? Why didn't he feel this way the moment he saw the suffering of those two?
Arnold shook his head in an attempt to get rid of his thoughts.
"…You mentioned building this sanctuary… Are you referring to this mountain…?" he felt stupid asking such a question.
Surely a mountain isn't something a mortal can build?
"Yes, I built it."
"…You built an entire relic tomb?"
'Which makes this woman the god of this place.'
If the game recognizes this place as a relic tomb then that means that Siana is classified as a divine being. The power to freeze not just worlds but time and age itself can be regarded as the power of a god.
"Did your people set all those traps?"
Siana nodded, "Kalda was the one who insisted on doing that to keep out outsiders."
"What about the monsters and corpses at the front entrance?"
They didn't encounter any monsters other than the one below the bridge. Perhaps there are multiple areas with other monsters lurking around?
"The monsters were here long before I built this sanctum. Though, there are some exceptions. The townsfolk built multiple bridges to go to and fro and installed traps to keep other monsters out. The corpses you saw at the entrance… well, Kalda was probably the one who murdered the people who got past all the traps and tried to come inside."
Arnold looked at Tanaera. She was also looking at him.
"…Does Kalda use a scythe of some sort?"
"Ah, yes. She does."
"Hmm… One last thing… Why did you invite us here even though we killed that wolf? You don't seem the least bit upset."
"What does it matter if I get angry at all of you for killing Fridulf? I couldn't go out to see him or even let him come inside because Kalda wouldn't allow it… I was forced to abandon him. But he wouldn't leave the palace grounds. He stayed outside the palace, waiting to be let inside."
Arnold pointed to the greatsword on his back, "…What about this? Whose sword is it?"
"Mine," Sceptim spoke, "I gave it to him to defend himself for when he leaves the tomb. It's yours now since you've earned it."
"Uh… thanks, I guess."
'Earned it…? I killed her dog…'
The guilt was starting to set in but he forced it down. He thought at first that the wolf was hostile for the sake of killing anything it sees but it was only trying to protect the palace.
Siana then spoke, "…I want you to take the artifact that's emitting the beacon of light and get it out of here. Do it before that person can use it to get here."
"But won't you…die?" Rafaela asked worriedly.
"I'd rather die than become someone's obedient pet! Kalda hasn't given her soul away yet so there's still time to take the artifact!"
"Why us?"
"You're here for valuable treasures, aren't you?" Sceptim suddenly spoke, "The thing that will bring that personage here is the same thing that allows this palace to move at our command. We have no further use for it. We decided to stay with Her Majesty in her final moments. I'm sure the artifact will be of use to adventurers such as yourselves."
"What is this artifact called exactly…?"
Arnold's interest was piqued. If it can teleport an entire palace or give it the power of levitation then it must be a powerful artifact.
Siana silently climbed out of her bed. She beckoned them to follow her.
Arnold and the other two followed after her when she began walking towards the balcony. Sceptim followed them from behind.
Arnold looked out the window.
'So I'm not imagining things, there really are different worlds outside every room inside the palace. Is this the power of the artifact?'
Considering its power to teleport things, it's certainly possible to see the different places the palace had teleported to before.
Think of it like humans storing their memories inside their brains. In this case, the palace itself was the brain.
That said, although the landscape looked vastly different and there was a sky above, the land was still frozen like the inside of the Frozen Sanctum.
Arnold looked at the young woman who was walking with her head turned away from the horizon.
'How many worlds have you destroyed?'
The five of them reached the balcony. The balcony suddenly vibrated and began moving upwards with some invisible magical force.
"Is this one of the worlds your power destroyed?" Rafaela asked.
There was a brief pause before Siana responded:
"….Yes. The artifact that allows the palace to move shows us these worlds outside the palace's windows almost like how we see things in our memories. I've lost count how many worlds I've travelled to and how many different night skies I've seen in my palace. If you take the artifact then I can finally say goodbye to those memories. Seeing the worlds I destroyed… well, it's not something to be proud of."
The floating platform stopped on the highest point of the palace. There was another platform. The beam of light was originating from the top of that platform.
"There it is." Siana pointed towards it.
Arnold wasted no time in heading over to the beacon of light and pulling out his hologram card.
To others it seemed like a small piece of gold but to him—
· Fragment of World Ring(☆)
Arnold had goosebumps on his skin.
His first Star-class artifact was within reach.
"This is one of three fragments of a certain ring. This fragment is only capable of world teleportation and levitation," Siana spoke, "I found it on one of the worlds we visited. It was placed on a note inside a room in some castle. I believe the castle belonged to a demigod given the riches we discovered."
Siana held up her hand. A single page manifested above her hands.
'Not only does she have a Star artifact but inventory as well? What else did this woman find?'
Siana held out the page to the three of them. Rafaela—who was the closest to Siana—took the page.
Arnold and Tanaera approached Rafaela and looked at what was written on the page.
It read:
· The Ring of the Nine Realms - Its origins started before arcane's existence became known throughout the realms of mortal and god. It was a time when the Timeline Gods still governed the realms and before the existence of humans. There existed a ring capable of rejecting and controlling the laws of any world's natural order, thus it was named the "World Ring". This ring held too much power as it gave its wearer the ability to turn back time, control probabilities, manipulate space how they see fit and lessen the gap between mortal and god. It became something that gods feared, much like Aether. The Timeline Gods used their powers to break this artifact, sealing and dividing its abilities into three fragments and sending them to faraway locations. Three individuals were chosen to guard the ring's fragments, thus becoming the three "Lords of the Ring".
One of the Lords, known as Prome Ex Mathiuz, disappeared without taking the ring, thus abandoning his responsibilities. His whereabouts are unknown. I suspect he may have abandoned his responsibility of the ring because he wanted to pursue what life is like as a human. The ring fragment will be under the protection of Sir Gederick, the God of War. A guardian of equal strength to the other Lords hasn't appeared so it remains without a permanent guardian... Sir Gederick is a capable fighter, however, he is rather irresponsible. He's away from his castle most of the time which is very worrying.
I am writing this to whoever may inherit this artifact: Do not abuse this power. Use it for good. That is all I can ask of you.
-World Hopper and Artifact Enthusiast, H.S.
'I'm sure this isn't the item description that I saw in the game.'
A World Ring was only capable of teleportation in the game. Arnold knew something was up when he heard that the palace could fly with the artifact's power.
Could this fragment be the prototype version of the artifact that they used in the game? There were several World Rings in Star Fantasy, all of which could be obtained through events or even on the SP shop for millions of SP.
'This means that it's an item from the pre-alpha.'
Liam has never heard about this artifact's true origins. None of his guildmates mentioned it either. Beta testers were instructed and monitored by the development team members so they couldn't just travel anywhere they wanted. Even travelling to other worlds was forbidden at first.
'They probably removed it from the game when the game was done with its development. Why did they do that? This item would've been very popular among the top guilds. Anyway, who the hell is "Prome Ex Mathiuz"? Was it some god?'
"Now you know," Siana broke the silence, "You may take it. Sell it, keep it, it doesn't matter to me anymore. I've found my sanctuary so I have no need for material valuables where I'm going."
"…Are you saying you're fine with dying here?"
"What else is there to live for? I have two choices, young man. It's either become a slave to someone I considered my friend or suffocate under the overwhelming pressure of my own power. Which would you choose if you were in my position?"
She looked at all three of them.
They kept silent.
It certainly seems to be a dead-end for her.
"Have you ever tried transferring the power to another host? Soul powers can be passed down, after all." Tanaera suggested.
'Right, there's that as well.'
"Is that true?" Siana had hope in her eyes. However, a shadow loomed over her face the next moment, "No… I cannot burden others with this power… What were my struggles for? What was the killing for? I've hurt so many people. Killed so many because I wanted a home to call my own. Burdening another person will only end up causing more deaths."
Tanaera opened her mouth to speak but closed it.
There were no comforting words to tell her.
There was no hope for her.
Arnold suddenly walked towards the young woman. He lifted his arm. She continued standing there with her head lowered.
Arnold put his hand around her back and pulled her in. She gasped to this sudden action. Her head landed on his chest. Her ears turned red.
"….."
They stood in silence.
Siana clutched Arnold's coat and cried silently.
Arnold noticed that Sceptim was looking at him with a smile.
Siana's crying became louder. Arnold could feel his coat being soaked as she pulled harder on it.
Soon, her wailing echo could be heard across the frozen horizon.
◇◇◇
Siana quietly separated herself from Arnold after a few minutes.
Sceptim took out a handkerchief which he handed to her. She wiped her face with it.
"Thank you… I never knew my first hug would have this much of an impact on me. I lost my composure and showed a pathetic side of myself."
"…I'm sorry that we can't do much else besides honoring your request. We'll make sure to keep the artifact safe. My master can hide it on her shadow world."
"Hey, wait a second," Arnold turned to Rafaela when he heard what she said, "That thing is coming with me. Do you realize how rare teleportation mages are in my world? The humans are so primitive that we haven't found a way to even build teleportation portals yet. How am I supposed to travel from the academy to the city I rule?"
He'll create a teleportation device in the future himself but he lacks the required materials at the moment. He wants to build one in his city first before distributing the methods to build portals to other nations for money. Of course, he'll need to buy the materials from the Dwarven nations first. Only they had what he needs.
"So you want to use an artifact—which is possibly as old as the Nine Realms—as a convenient tool for travelling around? That artifact needs to be stored away so that no one can misuse its power. Not to mention the fact that a possibility exists that one of the two other lords want to combine the fragments to control reality itself."
"I'm taking that artifact back to my world."
"I won't allow that."
Arnold and Rafaela glared at each other.
"You know that I can melt you with one of my divine rays, right?"
"Not if I cut your hands off first. I'm faster than you."
The two's conversation suddenly took a dangerous turn.
Siana suddenly chuckled. The two looked at her.
"Ah, sorry for interrupting you. This is my first time seeing how real friends bicker with each other."
""We're not friends.""
The two said at the same time.
Rafaela looked away, seemingly giving up, "Your life will be in danger if the wrong people find out what that artifact really is. I hope you die."
"I'll just beat them up." Arnold said with a puffed chest and a confident smirk.
"And what if they're stronger than you? Who will you rely on to buff you?"
"I won't need buffs once I get my hands on the item I'm looking for."
"You still have to get through two martial gods so don't act so arrogant."
"…The two of you are really strange." Tanaera muttered something.
Siana headed over to the pillar that the artifact was laying on. She picked it up and brought it over to them. Strangely enough, the beacon of light was still burning.
"What's going on? Didn't you say that the artifact is responsible for the light?"
"I wasn't lying. It really is responsible for the light. Well, it was the sole reason for the light but I cast some illusion magic to fool Kalda. She's not that far from the sanctuary. If she suspects something is wrong then she'll immediately run back." Siana replied to Rafaela.
"When will she be back?"
"I have no clue. It depends what she's doing outside the sanctuary. She told me yesterday that she'll look for more Winter Elves to enslave. If you leave right now then you might get a headstart. I probably don't need to tell you this but she'll hunt you down."
"Is she strong?"
Sceptim answered Arnold, "I'm the strongest of Her Majesty's knights which is why I'm the leader. But Kalda is much stronger than me. I've never beaten her in a fight before."
'Even this guy can't beat that woman…?'
Sceptim looked over at Tanaera, "You are a mage, right? Don't fight Lady Kalda."
"Why?"
"Lady Kalda's soul power allows her to nullify any kind of magic you throw at her."
"She can nullify spells…? Was she the one who enchanted the palace's front door with antimagic?"
Sceptim nodded.
Tanaera looked at Arnold, "If we encounter this woman then you're on your own out there. Hmm, actually… I can still provide my summons as backup since they're conjured beasts."
'I doubt black magic summons will be good enough.'
Summons retain levels equal to 20% of their summoners using normal summoning magic(this includes black summoning). People with summoner classes and those that possess summoner artifacts can summon monsters with 70% of their levels.
Special summoning classes can summon any type of monster on any level with no restriction. These summon classes are very rare.
"It'll be impossible to fight with your weak summons. It seems I'll have to fight her alone."
"No," said Siana, "I have something here that can help summon stronger monsters."
Saying so, she held out her hands. A small scroll manifested.
Arnold's eyes widened when he saw the logo on the red candlewax.
"Is that… a [Class Exchange] scroll?"
"You know what it is? I found several of these throughout my travels."
"What does it do?" Tanaera seemed interested after what Siana said.
"I gave one to one of my knights in the past. They were able to become a mage for a short duration despite being professional swordsmen."
"These may be consumable items but they're very rare, Miss Siana…" Arnold said dumbfounded.
'Well, I can understand her curiosity. It's not like she has a status to show her what it was.'
But she was able to find out what they do after testing it. Still, they lost a valuable artifact in the process.
"Do you… have another scroll in the basement?" Arnold asked with hope in his heart.
"Yes. Would you like one? Actually, I'd like you to take them all. I don't really need them."
Exchange scrolls were as their name implies: You can exchange half of your experience points to use another class on the same class category for a short duration. For example, Novice Swordsmen can become Novice Pyromancers and Novice Pyromancers can become Novice Priests.
Of course, you're not limited to a class on the same category as your own class. You can choose classes that are below your class category but never above.
"I'll take them all, Miss Siana."
Siana nodded. A box manifested on the ground out of thin air.
"You're welcome to explore the weapons room if you'd like." Siana said after Arnold put the box away in his magic bag.
Arnold looked at Rafaela and Tanaera.
This didn't feel right. It felt like they were robbing someone on the verge of death.
She's going to die anyway so what does it matter, is probably what others would say if they were in Arnold's shoes. Well, not Luke at least. Wasn't there something they could do?
Tanaera and Rafaela looked at him.
Were they wondering what he was going to do?
"Sir Arnold? What's wrong? Are you not going to the weapons room?" Siana asked in confusion.
Arnold looked away from Tanaera and Rafaela.
He walked over to the alter where the fragment laid on earlier.
He took the fragment out… and placed it on the alter.
"What are you doing!?" Siana ran over to him, "Every second the fragment is on that alter is a second which allows that person to get closer to coming to this world!"
Arnold caught Siana's hand that was about to pick the fragment back up.
He looked up at the palace.
Majestic. That was all he could come up with while looking at this towering skyscraper. It had seen many worlds throughout the years Siana had been travelling and harbors artifacts unbeknownst to him.
He had to force down his desire to explore the palace.
"Sir Arnold…?" Siana looked up at him.
He was drawn to her sky blue eyes that held no light and no inkling of hope.
It was like he was looking at a husk of a human being.
"Do you want to make your dreams come true?"