Azia's POV:
The dinner was amazing.
I can remember how long it has been since we got to sit together and have such a peaceful, lovely meal like this. Simple times, just mom, me, and the other person in the room. How simple. I dig it.
We got to hear mom share about her day at work, hear her talk about an upcoming business opportunity, hear her nag about an annoying colleague at work, and all other interesting things throughout her day, all the while occasionally sneak in a scolding for me and Cyril for not attending school that day. I couldn't be happier.
She always does this.
I remember being treated like a crazy person in middle school when I tried talking to my friends about the little information about the marketing industry I learned from mom's dinner talk. It gets better once we got to high school where everyone knows a little of everything, but still, it's just a little odd to talk with children about an adult's work life.
Yet, mom does it for as I can remember. And I loved it.
But all good things come to an end, and dinner was brief. Welp, until tomorrow.
Finally, I got to talk to Cyril, alone.
Of course, I love mom! I would trade 5 Cyril for her, that's a done deal. But meeting her again also fuels my fire like no other!
I'm so itching to do something, I'm practically vibrating in eagerness right now!
Dining with her is simply so invigorating that I felt that I could kick a trillion Conquerors in the throat and then some! I could go butcher Advent right now and carve a sword out of its bones! I could go to hell and slap Satan in the cheeks!
Well, not that Satan has anything to do with the Conquerors, I just reeeeally want to try slapping him one of these days.
And I really feel that I could do that after meeting mom! That's how excited I am!
My whole body literally trembled throughout the dinner, I was so focused on keeping my mouth shut that I ate even less than Cyril. Pathetic!
I just want to talk to someone about the situation, and the will to hold the urge in bursted when mom closed her bedroom door.
Even the sighing, gloomy Cyril couldn't bring my mood down and I hastily drag him to my room.
*Click
"What do you think we should do, Cy?" I asked immediately after Cyril closed the door, pacing around in the limited space.
"About what?" He asked in return.
"You know what I mean! We should at least discuss what to do moving forward!" I already ran out of patience at this point. "Today is already 16 November, so we only have about two months before the Cataclysm. We should at least do something in the meantime!"
Cyril didn't seem to share my mood as he just flop lazily down on the bean bag, thinking.
How annoying!
I already know that he's planning something since he mentioned King Otis, there is no way Cyril will just randomly be interested in attending that kind of event! That's the only reason I tolerate his delayed response.
And to be honest, despite all of my eagerness and willingness to act, I really haven't thought of much to do other than awaken the Xius early and then wait patiently for the Cataclysm. Strategizing isn't really one of my strengths.
The Cataclysm came so suddenly and change the world so drastically that for those lucky enough to survive, it is almost like living on an entirely new planet. Stopping it from happening entirely is out of the question since we don't even know what triggered it in the first place, or if there even was any trigger at all. And because it is so the world before and after are so different, I really couldn't think of anything to do other than to wait.
I doubt that we could do anything now that has any major influence on the factors after the Cataclysm. We simply don't have enough time, nor authority.
Like mom said, both Cyril and I are still students, we have school in the morning and school in the afternoon. And the only way to avoid these duties is to pack your bags and ran as far away from mom reach as possible. Which I, of course, won't. If anything, mom being here is the biggest reason to stay.
Yet, I still couldn't help but feel a little bit powerless.
'At least we didn't regress to being babies, I would die of frustration first.' I practiced positive thinking as I flung myself on the comfy bed, still waiting for a reply.
The moment I lay myself down, I almost slip right into dreamland. It was that comfortable.
It's not just the bed, too. The whole room has an extremely relaxing atmosphere that just turns bodies loose like jellies.
'Of course it did, it is my masterpiece!' I huffed internally, once again breathing in the nice scented air.
I remembered purposefully designing the room to have a very very small working corner and a very large relaxing area. For obvious reasons.
Despite having the exact same size as Cyril's room, mine felt a lot more spacious, yet also cozier.
With an untouched table and a thin, miniature bookcase in one corner, the rest of the room is comfy upon comfy. The queen-size bed for a queen with the softest bedding I could find, a large soft wool carpet underneath, cute cream-white-colored bean bags at every other corner of the room, and even a small bedside section dedicated to only crystals and scented candles! Truly good vibes only!
I even thought as far as picking neutral color curtains that can cover the whole floor-to-ceiling window in the corner of the room, blocking off the bustling city life from my range of sight. Blocking out any negative energy from all the offices around that could potentially reach it way up here.
It is a sanctuary!
Well, actually, it does get a bit stuffy in the summer.
But thus is the price one pays for absolute comfort, and not even what the AC can't fix! It is a masterpiece, shshhh!
However, that same sanctuary is now being defiled by a stick wiggling around on my precious bean bag, it annoyed me to no end.
"C'mom Cy, just spit it out already." I lazily spoke to the ceiling, still laying on the comfy bed.
I have to admit, the fiercely burning passion earlier dimmed down a bit because of this room, once again confirming the enormous power its holds.
I waited patiently for an answer, yet again.
I really was about to doze off when I finally hear a sigh.
"I got it," Cyril's voice sounded, breaking the peaceful silence of the sanctuary. "get up, will you?"
"Says you." I sprung myself up, facing the already-standing Cyril.
"We need a sponsor." Immediately, Cyril spoke.
"Sponsor? For what?" I titled my head, wondering why he suddenly started speaking nonsense.
To my knowledge, money loses all purposes pretty soon after the cataclysm. For obvious reasons.
Nations and their independent societies will soon fall one by one, leaving behind only two separate sides, humanity and the Conquerors. As such, the only real currency is trust, kindness, and well, power. It's not a stable structure, but we adapt.
'Oh, is he talking about a power sponsor? Does he want to be an apostle or something? Cyril??'
Just as my face started to turn weird, Cyril answered.
"I'm talking about money." He grinned, his clarification only making the situation more confusing.
"Uhh… Why?" I asked. "For what?"
"Well, it's mostly for my Xius, but you will be benefited also." Cyril started to explain before I found a way to choke him and all his pauses to death. "Simply put, I am planning to make an artificial artifact."
"What!?" I was stunned. "You are out of your mind."
The bastard has finally gone crazy!
'Artifact'.
This was one of the major changes after the cataclysm, 'Artifacts' started to make themselves known. Its power and purposed are varied, but after observing for a while, humanity is able to conclude one thing. Artifacts are tools has the power to straight up goes against the common rule of nature, with very little or no cost at all.
Some artifacts may grant flight, others super strength. Some can heal diseases and some are even capable of manipulating reality to a certain extent. That powers it came along coupled with the fact that there is no price to pay naturally makes every piece of artifact very desirable to anyone's eyes.
Eventually, people also started classifying artifacts into different groups, New, Ancient, Mythical, and the most unstable and taboo of them all, Artificial.
"I won't allow it." My face hardens, looking straight at the still casual-looking Cyril.
"We don't have a choice, Aza." He raised an eyebrow. "This is the fastest way to get stronger prior to the Cataclysm itself, or do you want to sit still and do nothing?"
"We can still awaken our Xius early and train with it, it is already an advantage over us in the past." I answered without hesitation. "We will stick to this plan if making artificial artifacts is your only suggestion."
To be honest, awakening a bit early won't really help that much. It will certainly help, but I just don't know if it's enough for us to make a huge, immediate difference. It is rather unlikely.
Cyril probably has the same thought, that is why he is suggesting this. However, that's not going to happen, anything is better than crafting an artificial artifact.
Contrary to natural ones, artificial artifacts have a limited lifespan and often come with much less potent power. However, of course, that much isn't what makes it frowned upon, more power is always welcome in desperate times after all. The reason lies in the fundamental of these monstrosities, it is about the creation of these tools.
'Artificial' artifacts, or sometimes referred to as Blood Artifacts, are made using human life as sacrifices.
Disgusting. Is it not enough that millions have already died? Some fucker just really has to go ahead and kill some more.
I couldn't comprehend the logic of it at all, just thinking about it made me angry. Remembering the literal mountains of human corpses as the result of this fact being published in the past, my fist can not help but clenches a bit tighter.
I glared at Cyril, this is something that I will absolutely not compromise on.
Cyril stares back, full of annoyance.
The fact that his green eyes were completely devoid of any sympathy frustrated me.
"... Fine." After an uncomfortably intense battle of the gazes, Cyril finally gave up. "Fuck, let's not do it, then. However, we still need a sponsor."
"...Why?" I asked, still glaring at him.
"We all know that money will lose value fast," He brushed off my glare casually. "but not fast enough to hinder the rich from doing stupid stuff."
I finally understand his words.
"The auction." I nodded. "You should have led with that."
"You would have rejected attending the auction too if I brought it up first." Cyril scoffed.
He is probably right.
The idea of hosting a grand and luxurious auction right after the death of millions of humans is not sane.
Moreover, it was broadcasted throughout the whole nation. I remember watching the broadcast with confusion and anger in the refugee camp full of cries while the rich people spend money to their heart content.
Joining in is not what I would prefer.
It was an auction of, you guessed it, newly emerged artifacts after the cataclysm. Probably all of the easily spotted or flashy ones are confiscated by the authority for the purpose of this auction.
It is so unjust to the point of even years later, artifact owners around this region still carried the stigma of being spoiled pigs. Cyril probably got called that a lot.
In that batch of artifacts, I am sure that there are a couple of 'artificial' ones. But those are probably unintentionally created throughout the course of the first wave, as countless people lose their lives, the fact that it could be intentionally crafted would be revealed much later on. Now that I have regressed, preferably never.
I hate the idea, but in our position, there is probably nothing we can't do to stop it. And if there is no stopping the auction, we might as well join it.
Or am I thinking it's better because of Cy's manipulation? 'Damn the manipulative asshole, this is scary. He even announced it too.' I lamented.
"... Is there no other options?" I hesitantly asked.
"I suggest getting rid of your useless pride right now if you don't want us to just sit around doing nothing until the cataclysm." Cyril replied in annoyance. "Or do you have a better idea?"
I don't.
However, there is still a problem.
"We have to be rich rich to attend it, though," I questioned. "Who do we even know has that kind of money?"
Cyril grin, his smile really creeps me out every time.
"We do know him, though?" He answered. "Everyone knows him."
"..." I was quick to catch on this time. It must be the doing of the twin telepath thingy, other than that, there is no chance I could comprehend his thought process "... no way."
"We are going for the top dog!" Cyril ignored my whimper and proudly declared, his non-existence chest puffing up. "We are going to make King Otis our sponsor!"
"Insane!" I screamed in response.
How dare he strikes a pose with that nonsense pouring out of his mouth!
King Otis, the Pioneer, genius scientist, and ruler of Oppelia. As his once citizen, I have mixed feelings about this guy.
Unlike the other nations nowadays which are mostly atheist, Oppelia is rather 'religious' in its own way. The citizen here has a strong, blinding belief. But not for any gods, their belief lay with 'The Pioneer'.
They believe in a genius, the leader of the era, a walking miracle, the 'Pioneer'. It's a title bestowed to only the most brilliant mind in the region, voted by the citizen themself. Even Oppelia's calendar reflects this strong fate, using the pioneer name as a marking for the era, and their ruling years to keep track of time.
For example, I still remember the day of the cataclysm is on 3rd January, year 15 of Otis.
The people's faith in their King is immense, and in return, the King's power is absolute. But that is the very reason why it was possible for the authority to confiscate all of the discovered artifacts for the auction. It was done under King Otis' name. And the nation has only gone from bad to even worst as time goes by, until there was no more Oppelia at all.
This Pioneer was later more often refer as the dumbass, or by some bad words that I didn't want to even recount.
King Otis himself was not seen again after his nation's fall. Even then, there is a minority of citizen that still prays in his name. A very little, dwindling minority if I remember correctly.
Well, that's tomorrow's business. Currently, King Otis still has the absolute faith of the people.
He is someone in power and is absolutely not someone Cyril can bullshit to.
Yet, the annoying glint in his eyes only shone brighter in the time I took to think.
"How are you going to do it?" I calmly asked. If he starts spouting nonsense again, at least then I have a valid reason to whack him in the head. "You are going to do it this Friday, right?"
"Obviously," He smiled. "I don't think he will make any more appearances until the new year, and that would be too close for my liking."
"How?" I repeated my question.
Cyril silently pointed at his head with a smug look, then slowly, he redirected his finger to my face.
I cracked my knuckles. If this behavior is not punished, he will just be even more annoying in the future.
"Stop stop!" Cy yelled. "I meant with our knowledge! We are from the future, aren't we?"
"What?" I titled my head. "Why would he believe us? Even mom probably won't believe us, you said it yourself?"
"Otis is not like mom, stupid." Cy clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "Mom's great, but she is also not a 'King' of a nation, won't Otis at least be aware of their existence?"
I fucking got what he is hinting at now.
Damn Cyril, he claims to be all tired and lazy. What blatant lies! This insane guy, how the hell does anyone judge him to be smarter than me!? His plan is plain crazy.
He is trying to swindle a King!