"W-W-What?" Gar'al's eyes widened so wide.
Among all the countless questions he had rehearsed and answered, this question was not among.
Was it possible for an entity that ruled part of existence to not know a person that lived in his empire, even if he didn't want to?
Was it possible for a father to not recognize his own child?
And that exact reason made his heart sink. 'Could I actually not be his son?' his mind started racing. It wasn't a random guess at all. He knew he was different from the rest, so that might have been a possibility. But he still had to give an answer,
"I-I am Gar'el ro'lel Ra'gnar." He no longer shouted, but he still made sure to say his full name in case he was going to be asked another question that could hurt him.
"Why are you here?" the voice asked again.
The question this time could be acceptable considering his previous question. So Gar'el answered, "I am here for the 'Descent'."
The descent was the ceremony he wanted to avoid until, he heard the bell that signified it was time. It was a tradition all the children of the emperor undertook at a certain age.
It also meant something else, the announcement that a new successor candidate had entered the succession race. And he was the 2000th child, hence the reason he wanted to avoid it.
But avoiding it would make him less of his family and he didn't want to be seen as lesser of his family. If anything, he wanted to be like the rest in the huge family. So even though he saw no point, he didn't want to avoid it.
"Please let me descend." He said after firming his will and tightening his fist.
"Good." That was all the emperor said and his vision blurred.
He didn't even resist it; he was totally powerless in the first place.
…
'What is this feeling?' He opened his eyes slightly in thought as he felt a change in the environment he was.
A strong wind brushed through his skin and with a nice smell that made him feel strangely at peace, 'So where am I?' his eyes fluttered open as he wanted to take in the scenery in.
He saw white floating objects and a bluish background that made it look beautiful. 'Where could this be?' then he looked down but,
'Am I falling?' then he snapped his eyes wide open and looked again and he could feel himself falling through the air.
"W-Wait, when they meant descend, they didn't mean DESCEND RIGHT?" He roared as he made the realization.
"SHITTTTT…. ARGHHHHHHHH"
Realizing it too late, he landed straight into the ground with a loud bang,
"Arrrgggghhhh…" The immediate pain rippled through him as he tried to adjust his fallen body. His body tore in various places, his bones and muscles broke and tore into pieces. And blood began pooling all over him, his vision became a bit blurry as he kept bleeding.
'Will, I really die like this?' he couldn't move his body, so he could only have thoughts.
'Ha, at least I wouldn't disgrace the family in the end.' He had a light smile on his face.
As his eyes were closing,
"….you…"
"…alright..." the distant voice of a person approached. And before his blurry eyes went blank, he saw the most perfect body he had seen in his life.
'No, no, no' he started shouting to his body take one last look but, he went blank.
Then strangely, his eyes fluttered open again and he jumped in fright at the situation. Quickly taking a look around, he sighed as sat on the ground.
He could see and feel it, he wasn't in the place he suddenly fell from. No, he was back in his home. And, the throne room for that matter.
Taking a closer look, he noticed he was now at the top of the staircase. 'Wait, if I'm here, does that mean.' He swallowed a gulp as he slowly turned his body and saw the foot of the throne, he had never seen.
"I'm sorry for dying, I'll take any punishment." He didn't need to see more apart from the throne, he fell to the ground and apologized.
However, there was no response, but he still didn't raise his head up. Only after noticing something wrong did he raise his head slowly to look at the throne.
"Ehh?" He looked at the throne dumbfounded. It was empty at the moment, but it was weird. He had heard that the emperor had never had to leave his throne, but now it was empty. He couldn't understand the situation.
"Where?" He started calling out to the air, expecting one of the guards to approach and respond but there was still nothing like that. And looking down the stairs, it was way too long. 'I don't even think I can make it down.' The ground was literally its depth of its own.
So with nothing to do, he took a step forward and examined the throne. According to what he knew, this throne was like the control center of the entire empire. From here, anything could be seen and done.
It was literally its own power on its own, and it was just left empty.
The throne was black, with a rough body and it floated above the ground. Not so much, but a few centimeters up.
Then a thought came to him, 'Wait, this might be my last time seeing something like this anyways, so,' With a new smile on his face, he reached out and touched the armrest of the throne.
Expecting something to happen, he quickly removed it. However, nothing happened.
'Hmm, in that case?' he looked around on last time and the sat on the throne.
"Ha, so it feels like this" regardless of the bland and plain look, it was truly very comfortable and before he could feel any other sensation.
"You like it?" A voice suddenly echoed through the throne room.
Ga'rel didn't waste any time and immediately jumped out and bowed his head deeply. It was a voice he had heard before, and recently at that.
"Emperor, I accept any punishment." He didn't have any excuse. And though he didn't want to die yet, or he didn't know if he was dead. But this time, he wouldn't mind if he was killed.
But the voice didn't reply, 'Wait, he asked me a question.' After realizing this, he slammed his head on the floor until it bled and said,
"Forgive me, Emperor, but it was comfortable."
"You don't desire it?" The emperor's voice resounded again.
"No, Emperor, I just want to live comfortably."
"What if the empire falls today?"
"T-That's-" he didn't know how to reply to that question. But, he still had to respond and honestly at that.
"I will most likely die too." He replied as honest as he could. He couldn't defeat his guard for crying out loud. Any force bold enough to launch an attack on them will also have to be an existence force too.
So, finding and killing him will be cake.
"And do you want power that can stop it?" Another question was thrown.
"Power? Honestly, I don't mind dying at all for the right cause, but if I can, I want to live a long life. However, power, I think it would be better to achieve that myself." He didn't know why, but he found himself speaking comfortably with the emperor.
"Yourself?"
"Yes, I feel receiving power from someone brings about expectations, but when it is achieved by one's self. It becomes more surprising, interesting and fun." And everything he was saying, he meant it.
"…" It felt like the emperor was considering something and he spoke again, "You can sit when the time comes."
"You have succeeded your descent."
"W-What?" Ga'rel couldn't even understand what he was saying. And before he could ask, his vision blurred again and when it fluttered open again.
"Urghhh…" he was met with intense pain. Looking around, it seemed he was back in the place where he crashed but inside a house.
"Huh? You're awake?" A female voice snapped him out of his thoughts and she quickly rushed out of the room