Prologue (part 3)
"We have been waiting for you, Fourth Ruler of the Golden Throne, Tabitha Obiel."
"Rakhiel Obiel."
"I would've punished you because you lacked manners in addressing me but I guess that shouldn't be the main issue right now."
"Khiel, you mean?"
"Yes, Nessa. She is our time traveler."
"T-Time traveler?!" Like a dumb child, I could only repeat his words. "What...?"
"Now now, please calm down Tabitha." The man named Hanz led me to take a seat at a fallen twig of the tree. "We will explain everything to you."
"You have to travel back in time to save this annoying tree." Nessa explained accurately. "Haven't you been wondering why there are always great calamities that is solved by random people with no background in our history? That's how it works. Time travelling."
"Random people? What do you mean? The only one with no background was Soledad, isn't that the case?"
"Actually no." Rouge had already changed his demeanor from his earlier excited persona and became serious, "The two other rulers inserted themselves into families with big names to provide a stable background to save the tree but anything before the initial connection was blank. I guess the books were altered even within the Duchy. Are the Aurelia Household not properly managing the heirs of each blessed bloodlines?" He asked with a slightly frustrated expression.
"The Aurelia Household had been dissolved right after the tragedy due to the crimes of Lilith Aurelia." The air became heavy immediately and I just realized who these people were at such a deadly late notice.
They were souls blessed with mana guarding or possibly trapped within the same space of the Sacred Tree. Beings who talks as if they know the truth about the Empire.
And also people who could express gloomy expressions at the name of Lilith Aurelia.
Rouge was for Rougeus Malafur.
Nessa was Lanessa Guisen.
Hanz is Hanzen Zarosa.
And of course I already knew that this man in the middle was Rakhiel Obiel.
I truly am stupid when it actual counts. The four great heirs of all time. With such bright futures had died during the tragedy to seal the Sacred Tree with the exception of Rakhiel Obiel.
'This is bad. I probably said a taboo name for them.'
As I thought about that, a hand caressed my head, "We've already guessed about as much as to the Empire's reaction to Lilith's action. As you were saying?" My ancestor broke the heavy atmosphere without any regards to other details.
"A-Anyways, the Aurelia Household had been excommunicated and their land was turned into a slum in the following years. Its only three extended households was nowhere to be seen as if they were abducted away from this land. T-the heir at the time was missing, the h-head was poisoned, and the child that was adopted went missing too." I ever-so-carefully explained.
"I see even that Kalil boy had vanished. Now since the Aurelia Household is gone, there are technically no proper advisors for the blessed bloodlines. That is why, my own descendant, Tabitha was unaware of the details of the Duchy from our time." I definitely feel insulted.
It was the same feeling my father gave me when he caught me having snacks at my study hours while having fun with my brother.
"She doesn't seem to be as unaware as we thought though." Rouge defended me. "But I wonder how'd you learn of some facts only we should know?" But he added, making the others stare at me suspiciously.
Damn it. I can tell them the reason but I'll die of embarrassment. "W-well you see... my Uncle is a great professor and historian." I proudly stated. But they didn't budge. These old ghouls should just quietly ask for a favor.
Crap.
"Fine. Sigh. It is embarrassing to say this but even though Lady Lilith of the Aurelia Clan is considered a criminal, I find her really cool. Aside from the one crime that she did, she was the most prominent and powerful mage of all time." I averted my gaze as I explained truthfully and a chuckle came out of Lanessa Guisen.
"I know right!" Her eyes sparkled proudly, "Indeed. Lili is strong and cool. She looks much handsome than Hanz sometimes too."
"Hey!"
"Why handsome? She was described as otherworldly beautiful in the records though."
"Otherworldly beautiful? I guess you can say that but really, Lili was mostly described as handsome because of her blazing short hair that's like a guys' and she doesn't smile almost ever." Rouge nodded as he elucidated Nessa's description.
"I do have a question though." Lanessa cleared her throat and became serious again. As I nodded, she continued "How was the Cromwell reinstated as a duchy? What about their curse?"
"Well, apparently the body of the eldest son of the Cromwell Family and rumored to be the head of the clan was found next to your bodies. Also it is reported that he had the same symptoms and cause of death as you all such as the drainage of mana from the heart. Later on, the Cromwell Family publicly expressed their condolences about the events that happened at the celebration with injuries that looked like they managed to survive mana drain as well."
"To be honest, even I would think that they intentionally showed off that they were secretly helping the issue of Life Drain of the Sacred Tree but acting as if they're fine even if not compensated. I guess you can guess what happened after that." The four of them had a disgusted look on their face as they tried to grasp the story.
"What cunning wenches. And you don't say the duchy families just awarded them after tossing out the Aurelia clan?" Nessa gritted her teeth. I could understand her feelings, even I, who's unassociated with the events, think it was fishy.
"The Cromwell Family had managed to get the hearts of the people and it had become the first trigger to the civil war." Their expressions worsened and the temperature dropped frighteningly.
"Sigh. Let's not talk about events that will also be affected by the time travel either way. So should we explain more about your mission instead? I understand it's a bit hard to wrap your head around the concept and responsibility but we have smaller objectives than you can follow so that it won't burden you much." Hanzen focused on explaining the details of the mission first and the others slowly nodded as well.
I feel kind of feel woozy about all this. I just heard that I'll be time travelling a few minutes ago, realized that I'm talking to my role models while growing up, and now I'm being pushed to a mission to save the tree from dying. And is it just me or their clothes look more stylish.
Even Lanessa wasn't wearing a dress and instead wore something that could be called pants for males. I wonder how advanced the civilization from back then were.
I guess the war had deteriorated the livelihood and technology of the whole Empire.
With the four great heirs concentrating their powers on a square position towards the sacred tree, a bark fell out. Eventually the bark was thinning out and turning lighter as it fell to the ground like a feather spanning at least half a meter long and a quarter wide. It definitely looks like a sacred mana paper.
I could only imagine the weight of the responsibility given to me upon realizing that they nonchalantly cut out a piece of the Sacred Tree to become a list of objectives for this mission.
Objectives:
1. Find traces of the 10 Ribbons.
2. Eliminate if possible or compromise, your choice.
3. Stop said Ribbons from repeating what happened during the Tragedy.
4. Befriend and help Erazubeth Kalil.
"What are the 10 Ribbons?"
"They are a special group with hidden high-ranking mages. I don't know what it says on your history books but they are the actual main perpetrators about the Tragedy." Rouge stated.
"They go by colors of their specified mana pigmentation but I don't think it's important to enumerate those." Hanz smiled.
"Isn't mana color important? I think I shou-"
A finger. Nessa drilled her finger on my temple. "It's not important in our generation, brat." I should be the one calling you brat though.
My numerous-greats' grandfather Rakhiel Obiel removed Nessa next to me, "You probably won't understand right now but one thing you shouldn't compare from our time to yours is the amount of mana in the Empire."
"Huh? What do you mean...?"
"He's saying that unlike in your timeline, mana is abundant in ours." Hanzen continued.
"But we still also have abundant mana right now..."
I tried to refute them proudly with my mana experiments but they only gave me a pitying gaze except for Nessa who stared, frustrated, at the Sacred Tree.
The 'Creator of Mana' was dying, after all.
"I see. So our mana is declining due to the dying Sacred Tree... and that's why I have to save it lest our society would plummet back to uncivilized era."
"Actually, there is no need to be dependent on mana for technology. However the dangerous cases that would occur is the revival of mana beasts and living forests, and the rare issues of witches. Soledad was accused to be a witch before she saved the people and turned the land into an Empire." Rouge detailed.
"But not everyone is like Soledad. Before her, gifted people were only seen once in every millions of newborn children and even when growing up, civilians had to be wary of mana-heavy areas to not get poisoned." Nessa added and finally looked at me with a grim glow on her eyes, "What we're trying to say is, if you choose not to save this tree in front of you, it will just rot in the next ten years and disappear like dust. But a sprout will blossom once again to cycle back the missing mana from this earth and the events that had happened from the earliest records as well as the most gruesome histories will repeat itself."
"So you can either choose to let it go albeit putting the current generation and so at risk, or going back to the past despite being in dangerous situations" Rakhiel worded my options and observed me quietly. Everyone did.
I don't want my family to suffer from the upcoming decline of mana. With our position in mind, the only reason we are in power was because we are of blessed bloodline thus in other words, blessed with mana. But what would happen if our only leverage was turned to dust one day? Not only ours but the existing authoritative families keeping the Empire running. Civil wars might start again. I don't want that.
And what about me? I may be blessed by mana and the throne but I am not omnipotent. I am also just a child leaning for support from mana.
I understand now. Mana was truly a blessing although toxic when handled or taken without precaution.
"You look pale descendant. You don't have to worry about whether it will change your family situation if you go back."
I'm thinking of the opposite actually?
"Khiel's right. The world will be brainwashed into thinking you're on a separate accepted vacation before you go, and the only thing that's going to be affected by your actions is the Sacred Tree. You can also only travel at night so the next time you get back here will be morning in front of your house, as if you just arrived home from your vacation." Hanzen explained.
"Oh and if you're worried about dangerous situations, when you end up dying there you'll just be transported back in this timeline and we can send you back in time for atleast three times with a cool down period." Rouge nonchalantly explicated yet cheerfully.
I feel my breath hitched instantaneously. "D-D-Die...?"
"Rouge, you idiot."
"Oh dear. Tabitha, breathe properly child."
"Here! Eat this and calm down. Mana is also nerves for mages." Rouge shoved something in my mouth and I swallowed it without a thought.
Everyone responded quickly and calmly to my concerns. Am I the weird one for being distressed about the mission?
I recovered fairly quickly after that. "What did you made me eat? My mana level is growing intensely."
"Oh it's a tree bark." I coughed out immediately after hearing Rouge's answer. "You'll earn mana by eating it but that's only for the blessed bloodlines. And the mana won't ever be dispelled from you. It is also the hidden choice. The third option is for you to eat the whole Sacred Tree, sit on the Golden Throne, and even if the mana declines around you, you'll be left unscathed about the decline. Even at a bite, you'll earn a sacred ability called Heart of Mana. Oh! OH! Look at that! Your mana circle rised from a five to six."
"Mana circle? Sacred ability? I'm really confused, I don't understand all the things you've just said." I poured out my inner frustration.
"You don't know those?" Rouge's face crumpled and worriedly scanned my head with his eyes. "I really hate this timeline" he said ominously, tears were forming already as he turned to Rakhiel. "You poor thing" he hugged me gently and crying as I awkwardly embrace him back. Is our situation really that bad?
"You don't know Mana Screen?" I shook my head and Nessa who asked the question looked as if the world was falling. "I see. Maybe that's why your clothes looked shabby..."
"These are high-branded clothes, though?"
"These? Yeah maybe when we were kids. Your civilization went backwards after the Tragedy, huh?" Nessa scoffed, looking unpleased as she examined my dress.
"Don't worry. She'll experience a whole new world once she time travels to ours and Tabitha will earn her own reason to save the Sacred Tree just like the other rulers of the Golden Throne." Rakhiel declared calmly and caressed my head.
Such gentle souls. They dare call me naive when they're this soft.
Yet for some reason I'm letting them do this to me.
If it were other people, I would've already threatened to burn them alive.
Maybe... it's because they're stronger than me and they can turn me into dust with no issue.
"Tabitha you're pale again." Hanz pointed out.
I shook my head "I just had a momentary scary thought." and chuckled awkwardly.
After some time everyone flinched and looked at the Sacred Tree. "We're being summoned back. Once you've officially determined in going back in time, you'll feel sleepy and you'll wake up at a specific period in time. Now, this is a gift." Khiel moved toward me and his finger touched my forehead. The other three did the same thing and various mana colors surrounded me before getting absorbed by my body.
"What was that?"
"The basic essentials of a proper heir. At least in our timeline. It will also be of use once you time travel but I do have to remind you that you can't use all for now. First you need to get used to it and it's like a game where you can unlock your abilities. Well, I guess the easiest way to access your mana circle data is through the Magic Screen then registering within the database as a professional or a student." Hanz explained.
"It's much easier once you've experienced it yourself. Anyway we'll get going now." Nessa said and turned her back on me.
"Descendant, I do have to warn you. Although we've said that the Sacred Tree will be the only one directly affected by your actions, please proceed with caution as major events might trigger an indirect change. But it is true that anyone who is permitted to acquire the Heart of Mana is favored by the tree so maybe my warning is just unnecessary. It is rumored to be lenient with life itself thus it might not reverse the living in this timeline and only save more lives." Khiel smiled. He added once again with mana-imbued speech, "Remember well. Once you wake up after travelling in time, move your head to the right."
"What?" Before my question could be answered to, Khiel and everyone else smiled at me, their souls dispersing away as if they were never there and I was left alone infront of the creepy tree. Damn it.
I should've left before they could leave me alone. I get the feeling that a person will jump down from the tree and tackle me- "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" with that thought, an unknown entity had indeed tackled me from above.