With a clear tinkle, the teacups shattered.
"Oh no… I broke them," Tinasha groaned.
The mystical spirit seated across the table from her made a disappointed
face as she regarded the broken pieces. By appearances alone, she was a
beautiful woman in her midtwenties with long green hair pulled into a
ponytail.
Casting an appalled look at her master, she said, "You should train
yourself in detaching your magic from your emotions, Lady Tinasha."
"I did, a long time ago… I know how to do it," Tinasha replied, sighing.
"It doesn't seem that way."
"I know…"
Regardless of any excuse, Tinasha had broken the teacups.
Before she could clean everything up, the shattered cups and the spilled
tea vanished. The spirit must have disposed of them.
Tinasha thanked her before donning some sealing ornaments. "I
shouldn't have carried breakable items. Next time, I'll use metal cups."
"Will that really solve the problem? Why not deal with the source?
Maybe you can get rid of him."
"I won't do that!"
Tinasha had been acting like this whenever she was free since her
coronation the week before. Naturally, the trigger had been Oscar's
proposal, a total bolt from the blue that had thrown her emotions into
complete turmoil.
With a very human mannerism, the spirit threw her master a sidelong
glance. "I don't know why you're so indecisive. You came here to see him
in the first place, didn't you?"
"Yes, but… But things haven't been like that this whole time! He's
always been so mean to me! All he does is scold me!"
"I wasn't around, so I wouldn't know," the spirit replied crisply.
Tinasha flopped onto the table. Excluding Mila, the lone spirit who had
served Tinasha, the twelve mystical spirits had been inactive for the past
four centuries. Raking a hand through her hair, Tinasha gazed up at the
spirit. "How would you answer him, Lilia?"
"I would say no. It sounds like a lot of trouble."
"…"
Consulting one of the spirits had been a mistake. Face still planted on
the table, Tinasha let out a groan. "Me, marry him? No way… no way at
all."
She remembered what he'd said to her when she was much younger.
"You will reach me, and you'll be happy."
The Oscar who'd disappeared had promised her that. The present Oscar
was the same man, but still very different.
For the past six months, she hadn't so much as dreamed of a future with
him.
Still, the current Oscar knew why she'd come from four hundred years
in the past. There was no way he hadn't picked up on it. And yet he'd told
her, "Don't let it weigh you down anymore."
And that was enough. Tinasha had been so happy that she could have
died right then; she'd truly felt that it was worth it to come to this era.
"But marrying him…"
Tinasha bit back a sigh. She had never put words to her feelings for
Oscar. For the longest time, she'd avoided thinking about that.
There was one thing on which Tinasha was certain. She'd discovered it
after awakening in this era and spending time with him. Even if their paths
diverged, he was someone very dear to her.
It was clear that he was important, but beyond that… she didn't know.
It had never required much thought until now. How was she supposed to
respond now that it was at the forefront of decisions she had to make?
Oscar had apparently mentioned the proposal to Legis and some others,
who had wished her well with Farsas. Meanwhile, her attendant Renart and
the spirits couldn't understand her hesitation.
Had Oscar proposed for purely political reasons, Tinasha would have
given an answer sooner. But that didn't seem to be the case. Just pondering
it made her feel dizzy, so much so that she was grateful for the times when
she was buried in work.
Lilia eyed her agonized master and remarked coolly, "Just marry him if
he wants you."
"I don't know why he's proposed to me, though. Even supposing that on
some wild chance he really does like me and it's not some trick of my
imagination, we're in a different time now… He doesn't know what people
were like in the Dark Age."
When she first awoke in this time, Tinasha had harbored a faint hope
that he might fall in love with her, buoyed up by the fact that they'd been
married in their previous history together. But once she'd snapped out of
that daydream, she realized that she was only a queen with a bloodstained
past.
People only saw one side of Tinasha—a person who'd escaped her own
time period and abandoned the throne to live freely for a short while. If
Oscar knew how she'd subjugated those around her in the past, he definitely
wouldn't feel the same way about her.
Lilia, one of Tinasha's servants since the Dark Age, sipped from her
teacup. "That's true. In those days, you were the type to betray someone in
order to stand on your own two feet."
"Do you really think I was that bad?! I mean, that is how it was, but
still!"
"That's why I suspect the Akashia swordsman might also be planning to
betray you."
"And get a Tuldarr hostage! That would make his motives easier to
understand, but—"
"So should we get rid of him after all?" Lilia asked.
"No!" Tinasha shouted, leaping to her feet.
As Lilia watched her master go brew a new pot of tea, she giggled. "You
know, I'm very glad to find you enjoying yourself. When you told us you
wanted to put yourself in a magic sleep, I thought you'd finally gone crazy."
"I can't believe how much you didn't trust me!" the queen exclaimed,
pouting.
Shortly after abdicating, Tinasha had informed the twelve spirits that she
planned to enter a magic sleep. They were unanimously opposed to that
idea and told her it was ridiculous because they knew it was for Oscar, and
they doubted his claim about traveling backward through time. However, a
closer examination had revealed that the orb responsible was a very real
power that existed outside all laws.
Tinasha decided to ask Lilia about something she'd been contemplating
earlier. "Do you know how time travel is possible? It goes against the laws
of magic."
"I don't know. It may be that it looks like time travel, but it's actually
something else," the green-haired spirit responded.
"Like dismantling the world and reconstructing it based on records? I
hadn't thought of that, but I can't get past the immense scale. A tiny orb
couldn't contain all that."
"Then perhaps it's simply that another law that makes such a thing
possible has been brought in," Lilia said.
"Brought in? From where?"
They were meant to be just chatting and tossing around ideas. But Lilia's
suggestion sent an involuntary jolt through Tinasha, and her hands stilled.
The spirit went on. "It's human foolishness to assume that you
understand everything. We demons live on a different plane of existence,
and even we can't perceive that many other realms. So wouldn't it make
sense that from time to time, someone with unusual powers would be born
somewhere or a mysterious phenomenon would occur?"
"I suppose… that's true," Tinasha replied slowly.
It was extremely rare for someone to be born with strange powers that
were not magic. Those abilities generally entailed postcognition and
precognition, but where such skills originated from was unknown. Ancient
myths would call powers of this nature blessings from the gods. The
research of many mages confirmed that these abilities were distinct from
magic.
As Tinasha poured tea, she sighed. "Now that you mention it, strange
things like that did happen in my past reign… Remember the Harvesting?"
"At those odd old ruins? We never did find out what sort of mechanism
was behind that."
"When it happened, I was more concerned with ending it than with
uncovering the cause, but now that I'm thinking about it again, it really was
weird."
The queen recalled an inexplicable incident that had claimed the lives of
hundreds. A culprit had never been found, nor could anyone hazard a guess
as to why they'd done it. Compared to that, going back in time almost felt
easier to comprehend. She didn't know how the magic orb operated, but it
was clear that whoever used it wanted to alter the past.
Feeling stupefied, Tinasha sipped at her tea. Just then, there was a knock
on the door and Legis entered. "Excuse me, Your Majesty, but I have a
number of reports to make."
"Confidential ones, I assume. What are they?" said Tinasha, correctly
guessing why Legis had come to her chamber, while she was at rest, and not
to the queen's study.
Legis gave a weak smile at how perceptive his queen was. "First of all,
several private requests for marriage talks have come in."
"Again?"
"You are an object of mass destruction, and many hope that will pass to
your progeny," Lilia offered. "Anyone who can draw you over to their
country will kill two birds with one stone."
"Thank you for that brutally honest reminder," Tinasha replied tartly.
For a moment, Legis looked with dread at this spirit who spoke in such
an unreserved manner to her master. However, Tinasha didn't mind it at all,
instead pouring a cup of tea for Legis. "And the rest of the report?"
"A rebellion against the parliamentary system is mounting. We don't
have solid leads, but some nasty individuals are plotting the use of force."
"To assassinate me, you mean? They're welcome to try anytime they
like," the queen responded calmly. She had overwhelming power and
confidence on her side. In her eyes was the strength of someone well
accustomed to fighting for her life, and she didn't seem perturbed in the
least.
While Tinasha partook of her tea, Lilia frowned. "Four hundred years
have passed, and you're still surrounded by enemies?"
"Such is the fate of someone who tries to do something different. It
makes perfect sense."
"Then why don't you sentence them all to death?" Lilia suggested
blithely.
Legis, who was in the process of sitting down at the table, boggled at
that. He shot a questioning glance at Tinasha, who only smiled with her
hands wrapped around her teacup.
"I told you, Lilia, times are different now. First, we should talk to them
and try winning them over. Then we can resort to force, if necessary. If all
they're doing is calling me a little girl with nothing but magic to her name,
they'll be easily dealt with… and we can get rid of them anytime." The
queen gave a brilliant smile. For a moment, however, something as icy as a
river in the night flashed in her eyes, and Legis didn't miss it.
Noticing that he was still frozen in place and hadn't sat down yet,
Tinasha faced him. "What's wrong?"
"Ah… I'm sorry," he answered, planting himself on the chair. Tinasha
put a teacup in front of him. That she brewed and served on her own,
actions quite unlike a queen's, spoke to both her friendliness and her
vigilance against poisoning. Over the past two to three months of talks
about changing the system in Tuldarr, Legis had caught glimpses of such
shrewdness from her. He had to imagine it was typical of one from the Dark
Age.
Legis felt like he might pass out if the conversation continued in this
vein, so he switched topics. "Ah yes, what are you going to do about the
proposal from Farsas? If you're going to accept, then we can reject all the
other ones."
"Aaaahhhh… just when I'd managed to forget…"
"If you can forget about him so easily, perhaps you should say no?" Lilia
suggested.
"N-not so fast," Tinasha protested.
"Why don't you just go and see him? That should give you your answer
much faster than dawdling around here," Lilia countered.
"Dawdling…"
Tinasha deflated at having it put so succinctly. But soon enough, she
stopped massaging her temples in frustration and looked up. "Ah, shall we
get back to work?"
"As you wish."
"Very well."
The queen clapped her hands, and the three of them vanished from the
room. It was just a few moments past noon.
While it was afternoon, it was dim inside the room, owing to the thick
cloths pinned up over the windows.
A girl was sitting on a chair in one corner of the chamber, away from the
sliver of a sunbeam that managed to poke through. Her eyes were shut, but
she wasn't asleep. She simply liked things this way.
Her awareness reached to every corner of this enclosed space, and when
she sensed someone approaching from the hallway, she looked up.
Stretching out a hand, she drew up a spell. Magic requiring no incantation
made the door silently swing inward.
The young man on the other side peered into the room and chuckled.
"All closed off again… Your body needs a little sunlight every so often."
"I don't like it."
"You're hopeless," Valt said as he strode into the room and walked up to
her. He stroked Miralys's glossy silver hair, and she smiled.
"The witch took the throne. Is that all right?"
"Yes. I needed her to."
"How's Farsas?"
"That's also fine for the time being. Akashia remains a bit of a wild card,
though," Valt answered as he pulled over a chair and sat across from
Miralys. He crossed his legs and rested his chin in an arm he set on his
knee. In his light brown eyes was a hint of a shadow.
"It doesn't matter that the king of Farsas fell for her. We only have to
split them up and get her alone. She's the weaker one."
"Really?" asked Miralys.
"Psychologically, and that's what matters."
Force of will was paramount. They knew that there were times when it
could outsmart even the most powerful and change history.
The girl sighed, eyeing the five rings on her right hand. "I'm still
praying that I don't have to face off against her directly. I may be borrowing
your magic, but I'm still no match for a witch."
"I'm working to ensure that doesn't happen. Even though history was
overwritten on a vast scale, plenty of people are still the same as they were.
I have lots of pawns I can move around."
Seeing the future. Orchestrating fate. Those were their weapons.
Valt smiled reassuringly at Miralys… but the expression faded swiftly.
"The world is waiting for one last straw."
"What?"
"It's something my father said. The world is trying to converge on the
future that's closest to how things should have been. Humans continue to
alter it because of their desires. It's a cycle. And so the world is waiting for
one last straw—a final move to restore things to their original form."
"That sounds like something from a dream."
"The next day, my father hanged himself for the first time, and I
understood everything," Valt said as lightly as if he were discussing what
he'd eaten for dinner yesterday, but his words painted a sorrowful picture.
They cast a shadow as dark as the ones the fierce midday sun peeking
through the curtain left on the floor.
Miralys frowned. "Valt?"
"I understood. And yet I—"
Silence.
It was like that dark room rejected and blocked off every fate in the
world. Amid a sense of ennui almost inherited from the futures trying to
converge, a drab melancholy shrouded the chamber.
Miralys stood, reached out for Valt, and clasped his face between her
hands. She leaned close to him and whispered, "I don't want to let you die."
"I'll be fine." The man smiled, yet despite his cheerful expression, he
gave off a gloomy vibe, as if he'd accepted his fate.
It was just about lunchtime, and Oscar was puzzled that Royal Chief Mage
Kumu, Doan, and Als had turned up at the door to his study.
They stood in a row before his desk, docile looks on their faces. Finding
that unsettling, Oscar came right out with it. "What? What happened?"
"To be frank, we have a report to make to you, sire," said Kumu,
stepping forward and passing the king three documents.
Oscar began to scan them, and once he had finished reading everything,
the expression on his face was quite indescribable. "What's going on here?
Magic?"
"More than likely."
According to the papers, ruins had been uncovered the month before in
the mountains of southwest Farsas. Local villagers had happened upon a
cliff eroded by recent heavy rains while foraging in the woods. Beneath the
cliff resided a cave that appeared to be man-made. They had reported this to
the castle.
The mages who led the investigation of the site had judged the ruins to
be centuries old based on the shape of the entrance passageway. However,
no Farsas records described anything like it in that location, leaving the
structure unidentifiable.
Upon returning to the castle and getting equipment in order, the mages
formed a survey team and returned to examine the cavern more thoroughly.
Oscar did recall granting permission for that soon after arriving home
from Tinasha's coronation. And now he was holding the results from that
investigation in his hands.
When he read that none had returned, he scowled with displeasure.
"This is extremely serious. It's hard to believe five court mages have
vanished."
"Unfortunately, it's the truth," replied Kumu.
But the problems didn't end there. In one night, all the residents of the
village near the ruins disappeared. Kumu added, "One mage in the party
arrived late. He's the one who discovered the fate of the other five. Upon
realizing the rest of the group was gone, he inquired at the village if any had
seen them. However, all the locals had vanished as well, so he returned to
the castle."
"Does that mean they went into the ruins and couldn't come out? How
far did that mage search for the others?"
"He only looked around the entrance, where he was supposed to meet
them. When they weren't there, he checked at the village first. It was
probably wise that he didn't venture deeper."
If he had, he might have vanished with the rest, and the issue would not
have come to light until much later.
Oscar puzzled over this account that made less sense by the moment. "If
they went missing after entering the ruins, does that mean all the villagers
went inside, too?"
"That can't be… They were forbidden from doing so, as it was a royal
investigation, so I would find it hard to imagine they'd all get close," Kumu
replied. Then his face visibly darkened. "However, there was an anti-decay
charm at the entrance. But its spell composition was unique."
"Unique how?"
"Much of it was impossible to decipher, suggesting the utilization of
technology outside our magical knowledge… It's possible there's
something very strange inside there."
Oscar leaned back in his chair. He crossed his legs over the top of his
desk, rakishly. Brooding, he inquired, "Do you think we should bring
Akashia?"
All three had expected him to say that, and they didn't respond initially.
After a short pause, Kumu spoke falteringly. "I don't believe that you
should be there, Your Majesty. We don't know what we'd be walking into.
It's terrible what happened to the people who were lost, but we think we
should seal off the entire site…"
"So you're suggesting we cut our losses?"
These three members of Oscar's inner circle had likely wanted to keep
this from him. Akashia was the best tool in all of Farsas for dealing with
unknown spells.
When Oscar was still crown prince, he had actually traveled on foot with
Lazar to a sealed-off magical ruin.
However, bringing Akashia to this mysterious situation would mean
exposing the king to danger. The person most suited for the job was also the
one they absolutely couldn't afford to lose.
Utterly stuck and possessing no good ideas, the three had decided this
was not something to conceal from their liege and wound up delivering the
news to him. They all held their breath as they awaited Oscar's judgment.
After closing his eyes and thinking, Oscar abruptly swung his legs off
the desk and got to his feet. "So it's either living up to expectations or going
against them? I don't really care either way, but… I'll go."
Kumu, Doan, and Als restrained themselves from expressing aloud that
they knew he'd say that.
They'd anticipated this from the start. Oscar's personality was such that
there was no way he'd approve of sealing off the ruins. In fact, that would
actively bother him.
Oscar had an inkling about his subordinates' feelings but ignored them
as he issued orders quite naturally. "We should go quick. Be ready to
explore the site tomorrow."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The three men bowed and left the study.
In the hall, they exchanged looks and sighed.
As the report had indicated, the entrance to the ruins really did look like it
had originally been buried inside a cliff.
The entryway under the cliff was supported by gigantic stones, the
surfaces of which had traces of mud. Someone had probably plastered over
the ruins with rocks and wet dirt. Chance had exposed it, and now many
people were missing.
"If we're going to seal it off anyway, I'd like to record why we elected
to do so," Oscar muttered as he gazed up at the entrance, washed clean by
the rain.
The party had teleported there and were checking over their equipment
one more time before going inside. No one except the king spoke, for they
were all too nervous.
Oscar called Doan and General Granfort to his side and issued some
simple instructions. On this expedition, they were in charge of the mages
and the officers, respectively.
Ordinarily, Als would be present, but since Oscar had left the castle, Als
had remained there instead. Too many people in the search party would
limit maneuverability, so it totaled only thirteen members.
"Should something happen, retreat. Protect yourself first and foremost."
All nodded in assent to that, though it was coming from a king who did
not tend to prioritize protecting himself.
Chief Mage Kumu remained at the entrance. His role would be to
communicate with Doan—who was heading inside—and relay any findings
back to the castle. Oscar scanned the faces of his team, who were all ready,
and nodded. "Then here we go."
With that unceremonious start, Oscar led the way into the cave. The
little dragon on his shoulders yawned.
Doan hurried after him with a glowing ball of magic light. "This is too
clean for a ruin from hundreds of years ago. It may very well be true that
some unknown technology is at work."
"There's no seams on these walls at all," remarked Oscar. The surfaces
above, below, and on their sides were smooth, obviously cut by human
hands. However, the high level of magic evident in such design far
exceeded the norm for the time period the structure would've come from.
Oscar rapped on a wall. "Time hasn't worn at them at all, just like
Tinasha."
"I beg of you never to say that to her, Your Majesty."
"You know, she actually studied pretty hard even after coming to
Farsas."
The queen of the Magic Empire had worked hard to make up for her
four-hundred-year gap, and now enjoyed a place as the most preeminent
mage of the era. Perhaps she could've told them what this strange place
was?
The group proceeded carefully down the passage, which was
reminiscent of the underground labyrinth beneath Farsas Castle.
No traps seemed to be laid, which made the straight, even route all the
more monotonous. After walking for fifteen minutes, Oscar turned back to
Doan with a frown and asked, "Was the mountain this big? We've gone
pretty far back."
"It's quite strange… Judging by the distance, we should soon reach the
other side and exit to the open air. Yet…"
They had come in via a cavern in the side of a mountain, which itself
wasn't all that large. Surely, they'd reach the opposite end before long if
they continued. However, the path before them appeared as lengthy as when
they'd set out, the end of it dark. Oscar and Doan both grew uneasy.
Several minutes later, a shout changed everything.
"Your Majesty!" came a sharp call from the back of the party. Oscar and
Doan whirled around instantly.
"What happened?!" Oscar demanded, seized with apprehension.
Granfort should have been at the very rear of the group, but he was not the
one to reply.
A soldier gulped and then answered tremulously, "The general…
vanished."
"He what?"
After a beat, the whole party turned to look back. No matter how they
strained their eyes, they couldn't spot the general.
"Hardly any time, and we've lost another person," Oscar whispered sourly,
scratching at his temple. He couldn't sense anything, and neither could
Doan, who was alert for any magic in the air.
Granfort wasn't the only one to vanish, either. The soldier and two
mages just ahead of him had vanished as well. It was someone in front of
them who'd happened to turn back and realize what was wrong.
The whole group stopped there to examine the walls and floor but could
find nothing out of the ordinary. Doan contacted Kumu, then once he was
done, he looked up at his king with a grave expression. "Your Majesty, let's
head back. This is too dangerous."
"Hmm."
"If you must conduct a search, we should request aid from Tuldarr. None
of our mages have any idea what happened."
"You do have a point," Oscar admitted. Doan was suggesting they ask
Tinasha for help. Royal sword in hand, Oscar considered his options.
He'd expected something like this to happen, but it was more bizarre
than he'd imagined. If they kept going, they were liable to lose the entire
party.
"I guess we'll go back," the king said to himself, coming to a decision
after some deliberation. Just as he opened his mouth to issue the order, he
detected something strange.
Oscar glanced at the ground and noticed it shimmering a hazy white.
Faintly, he could make out a spell composition there.
"Fall back!" he cried, grabbing Doan and leaping farther down the path.
It was too sudden for the others to react, however, and they winked out
of sight, stunned looks on their faces.
Oscar clicked his tongue in frustration. Doan tugged on his sleeve. "YYour Majesty!"
Oscar turned to look deeper into the passage and was struck speechless
to see the path ahead glowing.
What's more, the light was coming toward them, expanding outward bit
by bit. The king glanced over his shoulder and understood that the light that
had swallowed up the soldiers behind was also creeping closer.
The trap was closing in from both sides, making it impossible to escape.
In the end, the glow filled the entire passageway and caught the last two.
When he came to, Oscar was in a rock chamber he'd never seen before.
He hadn't lost consciousness, but his memories were disconnected. At
some point, he'd found himself standing in this small room. He could
remember being on the path with Doan up until moments before, but now
he was alone.
"What is this place?"
The rock chamber wasn't very big. He could walk the length of one of
its sides in ten paces. There was no furniture, and swords and magic
implements were scattered across the floor like so much trash.
"Damn it… Did we all get separated?" Oscar whispered, checking to
make sure he had Akashia in his right hand and Nark on his shoulder.
Noticing its master's gaze, the dragon cocked its head. Oscar petted it as he
scanned the room.
There was a single door. Judging there to be nothing else of importance
around, Oscar opened it and went out. The first priority was locating the
rest of the investigation team. He prayed they were all safe.
"I suppose it's been a while since I explored some ruins on my own,"
Oscar mused with no small degree of pride, recalling the days of his youth
when all he did was sneak out of the castle. The door led to the same type of
passageway the party had been on before they'd disappeared, although
likely a different one.
Oscar had changed locations so suddenly that he couldn't be sure of
where he was, but one thing he did know was that this structure had to be
vast. The path was plainly constructed and yet plenty bright, despite no sign
of a light source. Doors similar to the one Oscar had come through lined the
sides, each a few dozen paces apart. His door was situated at the end of the
corridor.
"I guess it saves me the trouble of choosing left or right," Oscar
remarked as he set off. He didn't sense any sort of mechanisms, but there
was no room to get careless. While making his way toward another door, he
remained vigilant against any traps.
"All right—"
Before Oscar had time to wonder what was beyond the door, he detected
something abnormal and leaped back. No sooner had he done so than a
white blade sped past where he'd been standing.
A moment later, an expressionless assailant was standing before him.
The young man clad in black wore light equipment and gripped a dagger in
each hand. Everyone knew that those who wielded twin blades were
descendants of an assassin clan.
Taking a deep breath, Oscar readied Akashia. "Nark, get back."
Obeying its master's order, the dragon flew up to the ceiling. The
assailant struck without giving Oscar so much as a moment. Crouching low,
he closed the distance between them with frightening speed.
Oscar used Akashia to repel the left dagger, which had been aimed at his
legs. He instantly pulled Akashia back and up to parry the right, which had
been lancing for his chest.
The motions all occurred within the span of a second. Assassins were
known for their inhumanly honed speed.
Yet Oscar was swifter.
Without waiting for the man to stab at him again, Oscar kicked up at his
torso. The assassin jumped back to minimize the blow, however. He was
more talented than the average military officer, and Oscar smirked despite
himself. Caustically, he inquired, "You're tougher than I thought. Are you
the guardian of this place or something?"
His opponent didn't respond—instead readying their weapons. Oscar
had wanted to gather a little information, but his opponent didn't seem to
feel like talking.
I can't waste too much time. I still don't know what happened to my
people.
Oscar switched modes. When the assassin leaped for him, he moved
right in for him, too. This threw off his assailant, delaying his reaction.
That spelled the end of the fight. With no groaning or grimacing in pain,
the black-clad man disappeared once his belly was ripped open. It was like
he was never anything but a phantom.
Astonished, Oscar looked all around. He'd felt the stab through his
sword, but no one was there. There were no traces of blood on Akashia's
blade, either.
"What in the world was that?" Oscar said, shaking his head.
He opened the door he'd meant to before the attack.
Beyond it was a tiny rock chamber, the same as the one Oscar had appeared
in, with nothing inside.
Oscar checked all around the room before heading back into the hallway
and setting off again. Each time he arrived at a new room, another assassin
would appear with no warning. This happened five times in succession.
Sometimes, it was a pair of people, too. Occasionally, they attacked with
swords or magic—it all seemed random. All the attackers had in common
was that they never spoke, and they vanished without a trace upon
sustaining a mortal wound.
"What is going on? Are these ruins just full of ghosts?" Oscar grumbled,
unable to make sense of anything, but then he remembered Tinasha saying
ghosts didn't exist. In that case, this had to be the result of some magical
contrivance.
Puzzled, Oscar continued his search. After he defeated the tenth
assailant, the path veered to the right. He peered down the bend cautiously.
It looked like a pretty major branching off. Constructing a map in his head,
Oscar turned the corner.
The eleventh assailant appeared there, and Oscar's eyes went wide.
"Hold on…"
This was a familiar face.
But something was different.
The young woman's long black locks were swaying, as if her hair itself
had sentience.
Her eyes were dark as night, and her skin was white as porcelain. Her
beauty was cool, clear, and utterly unforgettable.
However, her face was more childish than that of the woman he knew.
The mage girl looked no more than thirteen. Oscar's voice exposed his
fearful confusion as he called, "Tinasha?"
She didn't answer, remaining expressionless. Instead, she launched balls
of light from her hands. The orbs zigzagged toward him with differing
speeds, closing in.
Holding his breath, Oscar took a step forward and sliced through the
spells holding the two orbs together. By the time he did, a black vortex was
already upon him. Even as he hesitated, Oscar plunged his sword into the
center of it, shattering the vital key hidden inside the spell.
He was prepared for the vortex to injure his arms, yet he only felt a
rubbery snap. After nullifying three spells, he closed in on the girl floating
in the air. One slice from Akashia tore apart her protective barrier.
He reached his empty hand out to grab her throat.
But in that split second, she disappeared, materializing behind him.
Oscar sensed dense and powerful magic, and a shiver ran through him.
"Ngh!"
He leaped forward without looking back. At the same time, Nark landed
on his shoulder and spewed fire behind him, offsetting the girl's own
conjured flames. Prickling heat seared Oscar's skin, and the temperature
skyrocketed.
It was fortunate nothing worse occurred. If Nark hadn't been there,
Oscar could have been killed.
"You saved me, Nark," he said, racing forward and then turning back to
face the beautiful girl. Her expression hadn't changed.
With her gaze fixed on him all the while, she raised her right hand, and
invisible blades sped forward. Of those razors that sought to encircle him,
Oscar cleaved through only the ones that barred the way forward as he
pressed in close to the girl. Once more, she tried to weave a spell.
Akashia was faster than her teleportation magic, however. It hit her
upstretched arm, and her spell dissolved.
A grim, bitter look on his face, Oscar brought his sword down.
The girl's dark eyes widened.
With her arm and head lopped off, the girl's frame wavered for just a
moment before vanishing.
"Disgusting," Oscar spat, feeling a deep sense of despondence.
At the start, he'd been fairly uncertain over whether he should attack
her. But Nark's hostile attitude toward the girl convinced Oscar that it
wasn't the real Tinasha.
Once he understood that, it simplified things. As Tinasha herself had
once said, she was far stronger in such a narrow space and at close range. In
fact, this girl's speed and reflexes had been much slower than those of the
woman he knew.
"I'm going to have nightmares about that. Ugh, awful," Oscar said,
heaving a long sigh as if he could expel that nasty aftertaste.
Nark chirped at him comfortingly, and with a grimace, the king set back
off on the path.
Assailants continued to appear relentlessly.
They varied in strength, making it impossible to pinpoint the origin of
their manifestation. The girl from earlier was the only one Oscar
recognized.
As he ventured on, dispatching enemies, he kept a mental map of the
increasingly mazelike tunnels. He checked his progress first to avoid
running into dead ends.
After Oscar departed a tiny, empty room, Nark gave a shrill cry. Before
Oscar could even wonder at it, he saw a woman dressed in a white mage's
costume. Instinctively, he readied Akashia.
Recognizing him, the woman widened her eyes. Her delicate lips opened
to say something, but she had to rush to grab her sword and parry away
Akashia's sharp slash.
However, the royal sword's second thrust was faster. She narrowly
fended it off while adjusting her stance.
"O-Oscar, wait!"
"You really look just like her," he stated calmly as he lunged for her a
third time.
She turned her blade diagonally to catch the blow, but Oscar twisted
Akashia along the way, hooking it onto her slender sword and knocking the
other weapon to the ground. Flustered, Tinasha next found herself with
Oscar slamming her shoulders back against the rock wall with his left arm.
He used the hand still gripping Akashia to grab her wrist, pressing his body
weight against her to trap her between him and the wall.
She struggled against his hold, trying to escape. Losing her composure,
she shouted at him, "I said wait! You're too close! Way too close!"
"The more I look at you, the more you seem identical to her."
"I'm the real Tinasha!" she protested.
Oscar swooped in close, then kissed her ear. Before his eyes, her ivory
white earlobe turned a deep red.
"W-wait… seriously!" She pleaded with him in a reedy voice that
sounded on the verge of tears.
For a bit, Oscar stared blankly at her. Her beauty was even more striking
when her face was flushed. Just as she was about to beg him again, he
suddenly burst out laughing. Oscar released her and bent down to pick up
her sword. "What are you doing here?"
"Hey! Do you finally believe it's really me?!"
"Of course I do. I was only teasing."
"…"
Tinasha glared at him reproachfully, and Oscar smirked.
After taking three deep breaths in and out, Tinasha stopped shaking with
rage and faced Oscar. Sword back in hand, she pointed at him. "A magic
attack made contact with the barrier around you, so I went to Farsas to see
what had happened. I heard about the situation from Als, then went to the
ruins and spoke to Kumu, and now I'm here."
"What barrier? I had a barrier?"
"You've had it the whole time. It's set to be invisible."
"Since when?"
"Your coronation."
"That's pretty far back," Oscar said, rifling through his memories. Yes,
he did recall having a barrier put on him. But something else had happened
after that. "Didn't you undo it?"
"I did not. I only enhanced it and camouflaged it," Tinasha explained,
and she stuck out her tongue.
So she'd lied about undoing it back during the coronation. And true
enough, when he faced off against Druza's forbidden curse, some sort of
magic protection the mages had known nothing about had protected him.
He barked out a dry laugh upon finally learning the truth.
Tinasha went on matter-of-factly. "It's my barrier, so it's connected to
me. I'll know when it repels magic. Did you battle a mage?"
Oscar recalled the fight with the girl. He'd thought his arms would get
seriously burned, yet he escaped relatively unharmed. He pointed at
Tinasha, grimacing. "I fought a younger version of you."
"Oh… so I'm recorded, too, then?" she replied, pulling a face.
Confused, Oscar asked, "Recorded? What does that mean, and what
attacked me?"
Tinasha winced. "In short, this place is… a repository of sorts that
records people and preserves them."
"What?"
It was rare that Oscar didn't immediately grasp the meaning.
Tinasha frowned. "I'm not sure how it operates, but this place captures
people and creates duplicates of them. Normally, these copies are merely
storage vessels that contain information, but when they sense an intruder,
they will materialize to eliminate them."
"So that's what I fought?"
"Yes. In Tuldarr, it's known as the Harvesting. Four hundred years ago, I
also came here in search of missing people. It caught me and made a
duplicate of me. I thought I'd escaped before the process was finished, but
it looks like I was wrong."
"You've been here before?!"
"I wouldn't have been able to find you otherwise. It's only because I got
close that I was able to rely on my sense for the barrier on you to forcibly
teleport closer," she explained in a huff, cheeks puffed out in annoyance. It
looked like she'd taken his teasing seriously.
Tinasha had divulged some useful information. Tuldarr possessed
records of these ruins and Tinasha was involved. Oscar looked down at her.
"So were you the one who blocked off the entrance? It was buried inside a
cliff."
"You mean the entrance that you came in from? No. I destroyed all the
entrances. This place isn't inside a mountain; I don't know where it is,
exactly. Four centuries ago, I came in from a spot in Tuldarr."
"It has multiple entrances?"
"Yes. It can transfer those within and abduct any who are close by. Other
entrances may exist, too."
It was certainly quite the account. Shaking off the last of his shock,
Oscar posed another question. "Why do you call it the Harvesting? That's a
really unsettling name. What happens to the people this place abducts? Are
they used to grow mushrooms or something?"
"What an unpleasant mental image… There are no mushrooms. They
should be asleep in their duplicates' chambers. I'll show you."
"Thanks," Oscar responded honestly, and Tinasha smiled. It had been a
long time since he'd seen her cute side, and he found himself grinning back
at her.
The last time we met was when I proposed.
She hadn't given him her reply yet, but Oscar felt no particular sense of
urgency.
Tinasha was quite an awkward person. If someone told her to decide
with her feelings, she would be lost in confusion for a while. He didn't
intend to rush her. She could take her time discovering an answer.
That said, judging by how she looked now, she'd forgotten all about the
matter. The young queen had come running in a panic, her mind clearly
occupied by the emergency.
"It's this way, Oscar," Tinasha called, beckoning to him. The two set off
along the twisting, turning path.
While she paused here and there to waver over which way to go, they
made solid progress without needing to turn back at all. Oscar was truly
relieved for the rescue. While he'd been trying not to think about it, he had
actually lost faith that he'd be able to save everyone.
Oscar glanced at Tinasha walking alongside him and felt the desire to
stroke her hair. He asked, "So when a duplicate is defeated, does the person
who was captured get freed?"
"They do not. They were all left to sleep, so they eventually die of
starvation. The last time I was here, I was devastated to find a mountain of
skeletons and bones. That's why we call it the Harvesting."
"Yeah, I can't imagine anyone would be happy to see something like
that…"
The initial search party had vanished three days ago. Oscar hoped they
hadn't perished yet.
That made Oscar remember the investigative team he'd come in with.
"So was everyone else on my team sent to a random place in the ruins like I
was?"
"Hmm, they're probably all asleep. I think you were separated because
you have Akashia. That made the ruins judge you to be something
abnormal. The structure has a disposal chamber," Tinasha explained
dispassionately.
"Is that why?" Oscar said, glancing down at his beloved sword. True
enough, that room he'd been deposited in was the only one littered with
assorted objects. The others had all been empty. Perhaps that had been the
area for isolating magic implements.
"That's just a guess, though. This place seems to operate automatically.
Honestly, it's all a bunch of things that ordinary magic technology can't
detect. It gives me the creeps," Tinasha admitted with a scowl.
Even for her, these ruins were a mystery.
"Automatic…," Oscar repeated. "So there's no one here pulling the
strings? Not even a demonic spirit of some kind?"
"At the very least, there wasn't anyone four hundred years ago. This
place is a complete enigma."
What was this Harvesting that had been going on for four centuries?
Before Oscar could think too deeply on it, he sensed something and
popped his head up. A new assailant had appeared. He was about to ready
Akashia to face off against this unknown male mage when the man abruptly
exploded.
Surely, Tinasha must have been responsible, and without so much as an
incantation or gesture, either. Impressed and awed, Oscar commented,
"You're really something, you know that?"
"This seems to have no end. It's all just information, which is how it
constructs duplicates."
"Human copies, huh? If that's not normally possible, does that mean that
there was a mage capable of the feat long ago?"
"No. The laws of magic are immutable, whether past or present… This
place employs something that should, by all rights, be impossible, even for
me or a high-ranking demon."
"Something outside the laws of magic… Has there never been anything
like that before?"
After an awkward pause, Tinasha replied, "That magic orb."
Oscar recalled the little sphere that had allowed the two of them to meet
in the first place. The object's very existence undeniably defied the laws of
magic.
Bitterly, Tinasha elaborated. "Ultimately, my people failed to destroy the
ruins the last time. We didn't break its automatic defense mechanism."
"So you destroyed the entrances instead?"
"As a last resort, yes. But if it can create other openings elsewhere, then
there will be no end to it."
Nodding to himself, Oscar turned the issue over in his head. While the
nature of this place was unknown, it had clearly been constructed by a
sentient being. And if it was made by something that defied the laws of
magic, its goal really might be simply to record humans.
Record, collect, store.
Who would review all that information? An absurd mental image of a
child lining up a collection of colorful glass marbles on a sunny windowsill
surfaced in Oscar's mind.
Children are often cruel. They don't consider others' suffering.
Oscar sighed, fed up with his silly musings.
The pair rounded one corner after the next, making progress while defeating
enemies. At last, they reached a large door at the end of the passageway.
Tinasha placed her hand on it, then paused and looked over her shoulder to
Oscar. "How many people have been captured?"
"An entire small village… and our people from the castle. Altogether, a
little over three hundred."
"That's so many!" she exclaimed, removing her palm from the door and
crossing her arms. After scowling for some time, she glanced up at Oscar.
"I'm going to open a transportation array here. You go wake the people
inside. They'll be within cocoons, but you can tear through them."
"Oh, I don't like the sound of that one bit…"
"They function as human storage vaults. However, once you open the
cocoons, a large number of guardians should appear. I'll take care of those."
"By yourself?"
"I'll be fine. But I may not be able to keep it up for very long, so hurry,"
Tinasha said. She flashed Oscar a smile but didn't meet his gaze. There was
something ephemeral in her face that worried him.
Still, he intended to take the queen of Tuldarr at her word. She wouldn't
have made the declaration if she wasn't prepared.
"If you feel you're in danger, call for me. Don't get yourself hurt,"
Tinasha cautioned.
"I'll do my best."
After flashing Oscar a wry look, she began her incantation. Her dark
eyes urged him to go.
Oscar nodded and pushed open the door.
On the other side lay a vast, cavernous space.
There was something of a mystical quality to the air, like one might find
in a cathedral. What Oscar saw inside astonished him.
"Whoa…"
The floor was littered with pods the size of adult humans. Each of the
white, translucent things was rooted to the ground. Oscar peered into the
closest one and saw a man slumped over, his eyes closed. Inside the pod
next to him was a skeleton.
These were the cocoons Tinasha had mentioned. Oscar grimaced to see
the repugnant things for himself, his stomach turning unpleasantly
A hand tapped him on the shoulder. Tinasha had finished opening the
array. "I'm ready. Go ahead now."
She left Oscar to move deeper into the room. Seemingly in response to
her intrusion, a dozen or so guardians materialized in front of the wall at the
back of the room. Oscar noticed there was an intricate spell design etched
into the surface.
Tinasha stopped. She did not draw her sword but instead outstretched
her arms.
"My word defines a metal that shall not become blade. A rift of
negation. A painless span of time."
The queen's voice sent shock waves through the chamber. The air
changed. More than twenty crescent-shaped crimson blades appeared in
midair. After a short inhale, Tinasha whispered in a lyrical voice.
"I reject you."
The words flew for the guardians, who met them expressionlessly.
While Tinasha manipulated the blades, she cried out, "Karr! Senn!"
"Yeah, yeah."
"You called?"
In response to their master's summons, two mystical spirits teleported in
on either side of Tinasha. Taking in the scene before them, they frowned.
"We're back here? I hate this place."
"Carry out your orders without complaint, Karr."
Even as they spoke, the two spirits wove elaborate spells. Their intense
magic attacks fell upon the guardians like rain.
The guardians, who varied in appearance and gender, vanished one after
another, mowed down by magic. However, more appeared just as quickly to
take the places of their defeated comrades.
Keeping an eye on the battle at the far end of the room, Oscar moved
from one cocoon to the next.
Once he found the one he was looking for, he used Akashia to cut it
open. The unsettling pod began to dissolve from the laceration and oozed
out, losing its shape. Oscar gave a light kick to the man sleeping inside.
"Doan, wake up!"
After several seconds, the mage groaned. Oscar grabbed Doan's arm and
hauled him to his feet. When Oscar saw that Doan was blinking his eyes
open, Oscar barked orders at him. "There's a transportation array set up at
the door. Cut through the cocoons and help the people inside escape. Get
our people from the castle to help once they're awake!"
Doan's expression grew serious. He looked all around him and then shot
up. "Y-yes, Your Majesty…"
He probably didn't fully understand the situation, but he headed off to
rescue the people sealed up near the door.
Oscar continued opening up the cocoons around him, which mainly
contained the Farsas investigative team. The king shook them awake and
issued his orders. Once all of his subjects were awake, Oscar hurried for the
pods at the back of the chamber.
Karr frowned to see sweat beading on his master's forehead. He and Senn
were helping Tinasha battle back the guardians while protecting the
cocoons, but she was also maintaining the transportation array
simultaneously. It was taxing work to keep a teleportation spell from an
unknown location to the outside world going. And while Tinasha was doing
that, she was also casting attack magic.
Karr pushed his queen behind him. "Call another two or three, little
girl."
For a moment, she gaped at him, but she quickly nodded in agreement.
"Itz, Saiha, Mila, come here."
New spirits appeared. Their faces grew tense once they beheld the
situation.
Tinasha sighed and issued orders. "Hold things down here… and try not
to hurt anyone."
"Yes, my lady," they replied reverently, which reassured Tinasha to
some degree. The queen of Tuldarr took in a deep breath and began a new
incantation.
Over a hundred guardians had appeared already, attacking relentlessly.
No matter how many fell, new phantoms materialized instantaneously.
Tinasha and her spirits couldn't use magic on too large a scale, so while
they were far stronger than the phantoms, this war of attrition was slowly
but surely pressing them to exhaustion. Even if Tinasha called more spirits,
the vast size of the chamber and the cocoons posed limitations that would
make it difficult for them to fight. While it wasn't ideal, all they could do in
this situation was keep at it.
"Over there! We're opening that one!" shouted a Farsas soldier among a
group.
They ran over to a cocoon behind Tinasha and the spirits, shouting to
one another as they did. However, they were brought up short by the
distinctive and peculiar sight of the spirits.
Tinasha turned and faced the soldiers with a smile. "Please, go ahead."
That snapped them back to their senses, and they quickly cut into the
nearest cocoons. Then the group escorted the emaciated villagers to the
door.
Unfortunately, a phantom appeared by them. By the time Tinasha
noticed, the guardian was about to bring his sword down upon a child. A
wave of her hand was all it took to crush the thing. The soldiers helped the
kid toward the safety of the door.
Tinasha breathed a sigh as she watched the child's mother carry him off.
Her relief was fleeting, however, as she nearly lost her balance from
twisting herself backward to stop the guardian.
"Ah!"
Her arms flailed in the air but could find no purchase—until she fell
back against a man who was there to steady her. He pulled her fully upright
and gazed searchingly into her dark eyes.
"That was close."
"Oscar!"
"Can you keep going for a little longer?" he asked fervently,
unwaveringly.
Tinasha smiled. She loved hearing him urge her to fight and the feeling
of his unshakable belief in her.
And she wanted to fulfill his request. She wished to stand tall, even if
she was alone.
The world was neither a kind place nor a cruel one. It simply existed as
it was.
Everything was both exceptional and commonplace. Only what was
possible would happen.
Tinasha understood that, which was why she refused to quit.
"I'm all right. I can keep going," she assured Oscar with a nod,
straightening her posture to face her enemies.
The young woman told herself there was nothing she couldn't
overcome.
Nearly fifteen minutes after the battle began, the Farsas investigative team
had rescued roughly 90 percent of the people from the cocoon chamber.
As Tinasha watched the soldiers opening the remaining dozen or so
cocoons scattered around the corners of the room, her face suddenly
contorted in pain. "Ngh…"
Something was applying pressure to close the transportation array, and
the force of it was falling on the caster, Tinasha. That unknown power
weighed down on her with brutal intensity. The attack sought to wipe the
spell away. Anyone besides the queen of Tuldarr would have crumpled and
perished beneath the force of the opposition.
Even Tinasha would have difficulty holding out against this until
everyone could escape.
The color drained from her face, but her dark eyes remained fierce and
determined. Oscar, who was fighting by her side with Akashia in hand, was
the first to notice.
"Tinasha?"
He gave her a concerned look and used his thumb to wipe away the
sweat gathering on her forehead. Tinasha's eyes closed in a pained blink.
"The enemy… is trying to block me… It's trying to force my portal
closed…"
Oscar watched the signs of desperate struggle cross Tinasha's face, and
then he had a thought.
Look ahead.
New guardians weren't popping up as quickly as before, nor were there
as many of them.
That alone wasn't enough to conclude that the enemy's power was
waning. But perhaps it was diverting some amount of strength into that
force working against Tinasha.
Glancing at the faintly glowing spell design carved into the back wall,
Oscar made up his mind. "Tinasha, let me have your sight."
"Hmm?"
The young woman's eyes grew round and wide, but she nodded and
touched his hand, whispering a short incantation.
"Please don't go overboard…"
"There are times when that's the only option. I'll be fine," Oscar said.
Then he took a deep breath.
The world changed immediately.
It wasn't just the magic in the air; he'd already been able to see that.
Lines of even thicker magic emerged all over the place.
Tinasha's vision allowed him to see that multiple layers were
intertwined within that complex, overly elaborate design on the wall. The
network of luminous threads was like ivy, entirely covering some portions
of the stone facade. Oscar stared at it coldly.
He squeezed Tinasha's hand tightly. "Stay right here."
Leaving her with those few powerful words, Oscar took off. Slipping
through the vanguard of the five spirits, he charged into the army of
guardians. A stroke of Akashia repelled the blades that came rushing to
meet him from all directions.
Magic hurled at the king vanished before finding its mark, probably
thanks to the spirits. Still perched on Oscar's shoulder, Nark extended its
neck and breathed flame to drive away the phantoms pursuing him from the
sides.
If I waste time here, I'm going to get swallowed up.
Oscar cut down a guardian blocking his way and continued his advance.
Before long, he was at the wall. With his gaze still trained on it, he
swung Akashia and cleaved through a guardian trying to attack him from
behind. As he stared up at the glowing surface, his gaze lingered on one
point in the center.
"That's it."
Several paces to the right, a large, transparent crystal sphere was
embedded in the wall. It was large enough to reach the floor. An intricate
spell configuration rested within it, and Oscar recognized that the complex
magic was revolving in place.
Oscar moved to the orb and stabbed Akashia into it without hesitation.
A clear cracking sounded through the chamber.
Akashia's hilt grew hot. But it passed in a second, and the crystal sphere
shattered to pieces. Just like the guardians, the shards that went flying
vanished into thin air like phantoms.
Then the entire room lurched. A horrible, violent sound like metal
grating together echoed from every direction.
"Ngh…"
The uncomfortable sensation of a rapid pressure change swept over
everyone. Reflexively, Oscar put his hands on his ears as screams erupted
from all over. Some were even doubled over on the ground, clutching their
heads.
Yet the pandemonium ceased as quickly as it came.
Oscar looked around and found that all the guardians had vanished. The
wall that had shone brightly with power was now dark.
"You destroyed… the core?" Tinasha whispered, disbelief plain in her
tone. Oscar turned back to see her free from the pressure that had been
weighing on her, but also astonished. When Tinasha was surprised, she
looked just like a little kid. It was precious. Just looking at her made him
start laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"Your face."
"Is now the time?!"
Her outraged reaction only amused him further. Oscar was about to take
a step when he heard a low voice full of resentment mutter in his ear, "You
damn insider…"
When Oscar looked around, no one was there.
"What? Some kind of trick?" he wondered aloud. After shaking his
head, he hurried to Tinasha's side.
She was still shocked at how abruptly everything had come to an end.
"How did you do that…?"
"What do you mean, 'how'? It had one of those vital points."
"Yes, but there were many others that looked just as genuine. How did
you know that one was the true core?"
"Intuition."
"You really are something abnormal," Tinasha replied with a sigh. Her
expression was a mix of exasperation and admiration.
The enigmatic ruins that even the Witch Killer Queen and her spirits
could do nothing about four hundred years ago had now been
unceremoniously silenced and their mechanism dismantled by the Akashia
swordsman.
All the villagers had been safely evacuated. Tinasha was the last one to
depart the ruins. She looked back at the cave passageway, checking to make
sure no one was there, then lifted a hand toward the entrance. Lightning
shot from her palm, sending deep tremors far back along the passage.
The rupture set off a cave-in that culminated in the collapse of the access
to the ruins.
Tinasha watched until the shaking ceased, then turned back around with
a shrug. "This should do. Since the mechanism is destroyed, we could have
left it open and intact, but I wouldn't feel right about that."
"Yep. Thanks, you really saved us," Oscar replied.
"I should be thanking you for destroying the core."
Her dark eyes were narrowed, as if she were gazing into some distant
past. That calm, self-possessed, and yet melancholic gaze was the hallmark
of Tinasha's queenly persona. It was clear she was thinking of the people of
Tuldarr she had failed to rescue. The look drew Oscar in inexorably.
Rather than act upon that feeling, however, he decided to inquire about a
different matter. "What do you think made those ruins in the first place?"
"Hmm… I'm curious, but I don't have any clue at all. It's something
outside the laws of magic, which means I haven't the faintest idea."
"But aren't there lots of things humans don't know about on other planes
of existence?"
Indeed, Tinasha was the one who informed Oscar that their world was
like an endless stack of transparent pages all existing in the same place.
Humans only comprehended a fraction of the total pages. Oscar's remark
was meant to point out that something on a different plane might exist
outside the usual rules.
However, Tinasha shook her head. "I think you may have
misunderstood. The laws of magic are called that because they exist on the
laws of magic's plane of existence, but they do apply to other planes as
well. That's why humans can use spells here… It's no different from the
laws of our so-called world itself. Even though our world is made up of
multiple planes of existence, it is not divided into those separate planes—
it's all one world. My degree of sight may be different from yours, but that
doesn't change what exists, does it?"
With a snap of Tinasha's fingers, a pale spray of magic flared to life.
Oscar could see it because of the magical sight drills she had put him
through. And as the preeminent mage of her era, Tinasha could view much,
much more than he could. But that didn't mean the world itself was
different.
"Thus, it's possible that a law outside the laws of magic exists. But one
that contradicts the laws of magic cannot exist on another plane. That would
be like repudiating the world itself."
"I… think I get it?" Oscar answered doubtfully. He had a vague sense of
comprehension. The clear water near the pond's surface and the water down
at the bottom were very different, but they both shared the characteristic of
being from the same pond.
With that in mind, he asked, "Then what about something beyond this
world?"
Tinasha's eyes widened like a cat's. "What?"
"You said that the different planes of this world all share the same laws.
So then what if it's coming from outside all that?"
"From beyond the world… What is that supposed to mean? Don't bring
up something so absurd from out of the blue."
"You're the one who said that something going against a law of magic
would put it at odds with the world."
"But that doesn't mean jumping straight to the idea that another world
might exist."
"Has it been proved that one doesn't?" Oscar pressed. For him, these
were all perfectly natural questions to ask.
Tinasha fell silent, utterly flummoxed. She pressed a hand to her mouth.
"It hasn't been… proved, no… But even so… it's impossible to verify the
nonexistence of anything past our world."
"Yeah, I bet it would be. There's no telling how many different planes
there are here," Oscar reasoned. His remark about another world had been
an off-the-cuff musing. Verifying it any further would be difficult. Yet the
subdued look in Tinasha's dark eyes betrayed that she was stuck on the
possibility.
She was sinking deep into the ocean of her thoughts. Oscar watched her
studiously.
He was well acquainted with the siren's beauty she possessed.
Tinasha was a queen and a young girl all at once. A fearsome mage…
and just a very adorable person.
Finally noticing Oscar's eyes upon her, Tinasha looked up. For a second,
her face paled as if she'd remembered something, then she immediately
turned red. As Oscar watched steam virtually pour off her face, he recalled
that she hadn't given him an answer to his proposal yet.
She was clearly wavering over what she should say. With a serious
expression, Oscar said, "You can give me an answer whenever you're
ready."
The proposal must have seemed a preemptive strike with no warning.
Tinasha jumped like a cat when its tail was pulled. Blushing even deeper,
she looked down and away. "I'm very sorry for keeping you waiting…"
"No, I don't mind. How many marriage proposals have you gotten since
then? I know other countries must have sent some."
A pause. "Seven."
"Wow. Which nations?" Oscar inquired, making no effort to hide his
displeasure.
"What's with that face?! I'm not telling you! They all just want to have
me as their weapon anyway!" Tinasha cried, looking ready to fight.
"Hmm, I wouldn't be so sure."
Undoubtedly, lots of foreign powers coveted Tinasha as an instrument of
war, but Oscar didn't think that was the only motivation. He knew that on
the day of her coronation, she must have unknowingly captivated the hearts
of many who witnessed her in the flesh.
But I'm the one who knows her better than any other.
Tinasha pouted at Oscar, then, in a small voice, asked, "What is it you
like about me…?"
"How weird you are."
"What sort of an answer is that?" Tinasha shot back, deflated. But she
picked herself back up quickly enough and let out a long exhale to reset her
mood. Brushing long strands of black hair from her face, the queen of
Tuldarr looked up at Oscar with a profound quality to her gaze. "You know
nothing about me."
A gentle breeze whooshed past.
The rescued villagers received medical care and were then escorted back
to their homes, starting with those who had the energy to move. More help
arrived from the castle before long, and the atmosphere grew thick with
activity and conversation. However, no one disturbed Oscar and Tinasha.
Peering toward Tuldarr to the northwest, Tinasha stated, "They called
me the ice queen. You'll find all sorts of things if you research my history—
not everything, though. I made decisions that would be considered
unthinkable in this era. That's the sort of person I am."
The words were soft, but her voice was tinged with pain. Slowly,
Tinasha's dark eyes closed as if that could lock up the night.
"I don't intend to make excuses and say that I had to do what I did
because it was the Dark Age and because I was the queen… After I
abdicated, I went to see my parents once under the strictest secrecy. It was
the first and last time I met with them. We could barely hold a conversation,
and it wasn't like I could live with them or anything… I missed my parents
to death when I was little, but I had no idea what to do upon finally
reuniting. In the end, I chose to put myself to sleep using magic… That's
how coldhearted I am."
The halting way Tinasha spoke made her sound no different than a little
girl.
Her eyes remained closed. Oscar could see her awkward former self in
her expression, and he grinned with fondness.
"I know you'll regret it once you realize who I am. Spending your life
with me, that is…"
"Oh yeah? Tell me everything, then."
"…"
Her silence was neither a yes nor a no.
Tinasha simply stood there, rooted in place and all alone, just as she
undoubtedly had four centuries ago.
Oscar reached out to brush a thumb along her cheek. "You can tell me
whatever you like. I don't mind if you keep some things hidden. Whatever
you need, I'm fine either way. Knowing everything won't change the way I
feel."
"That's a lot of up-front promises you may not be able to make good
on."
"Careful not to sell me too short."
Her long lashes stirred. Tinasha gazed up at Oscar, black eyes
glimmering and damp. A trackless sea of loneliness rocked within them.
The next words from Oscar's lips sank deep into her soul.
"Your oddities are amusing, and I enjoy your strengths and your
weaknesses. I like the decisions you make, how you carry yourself, how
childish you are, and the queen in you as well. I think the way you live your
life is beautiful, even if that's only one part of who you are."
Knowing everything wasn't necessary to Oscar. Even if he did, he
wouldn't come to regret his actions.
He knew how deeply compassionate she was—the way she was as
innocent as a little girl and how she could choose to be queen.
That look of longing for the way the people lived on the night he found
her gazing toward the city during the festival was all he needed to
understand about her. That was likely the moment he began falling in love
with her. The only thing was that he couldn't allow himself to feel that way
at the time.
Tinasha winced. A red flush tinted her pale complexion. "I don't
understand your taste."
"You don't have to. My preferences are mine. Let me keep them."
Tinasha puffed up her cheeks, pouting. "Just so you know, I never hoped
for anything from you."
"Is that right?"
"I came here to be useful to you."
"I know. Like an uninvited bride."
"That's totally wrong!" Tinasha balled her hands into fists. But once
she'd settled back down, she asked in a much calmer voice, "So you really
think you won't have any regrets?"
"Nope."
This was his choice. He wouldn't lament it. And should such a day
come, he wouldn't cower from the past.
Staring straight into her dark eyes still heavy with worry, Oscar said, "I
want to live my life with you. Can't I be selfish and follow my heart just
once in my lifetime?"
Just like how she had once abandoned everything to go and see him.
If he had to devote his entire life to his country, he would spend it at her
side.
The way he bared his heart to Tinasha left her too overwhelmed to
speak. But soon enough, she lifted her head, biting her lip. "I understand. I
also kept you waiting without any word from me at all. I've spent too long
dawdling, so I will give you my answer now."
"You were dawdling, were you?"
"Hush!"
Tinasha took a deep breath and straightened up. Her face suddenly
shifted from that of a girl's into something sincere and serious.
Clear, strangely familiar eyes fixed directly on Oscar. "If you'll have
me, then I gratefully accept your proposal."
As hard as quartz. That was what her emotions were like. It wasn't
merely a crush, or an attachment, or puppy love—she had made up her
mind to live with him.
Tinasha stumbled a little once she finished her sentence, perhaps from
all the recent strain. Oscar wrapped her in an embrace. The feel of her
delicate frame enclosed within his arms made him break into a smile. He
was so happy, he didn't know what to do. Oscar felt like a boy again.
When he pressed a kiss to the smooth skin of her cheek, she blushed and
looked away. "You're too close."
"Get used to it," Oscar replied, his words succinct but full of affection,
as he savored the feeling of his bride in his arms.
Neither of them paid any mind to the shocked citizens all around them.
The king of Farsas had chosen this awkward woman to be his partner in
life. His wish was that she would always be smiling; his hope was that her
loneliness would abate. He would cherish her more than anything and walk
through life at her side.
Oscar was confident that he would never meet anyone better to spend
his days with.
Tinasha wriggled free and floated up into the air to keep from being crushed
to death in Oscar's embrace. She pressed her palms to her cheeks, which
were still flushed pink. "I ran off to come help you, so I need to be getting
back. I had one of the spirits impersonate me, but people will probably
figure that out before long."
"A queen shouldn't be sneaking out," Oscar scolded.
"You of all people do not get to say that! You put yourself on your own
survey team!" she cried.
She was about to teleport away when Oscar grabbed her hand. "Once I
get back to Farsas Castle, I'm going to send you an official messenger and
letter."
"Oh? Do you mean you want to go public with our engagement?"
"Of course. Or maybe I should go harass those seven countries," he said
arrogantly.
Frowning, Tinasha replied, "Don't." Lowering herself a little, she placed
a hand on Oscar's shoulder. "You better not tell me you assumed I'd
definitely say yes."
"I didn't think that. You're completely unpredictable, after all."
"Hmph." Tinasha stuck out her lower lip.
It doesn't feel real yet.
For her, Oscar was someone who was accessible, in a sense, but also
someone she could never dare to stand beside.
All this time, Tinasha had believed he had no interest in her and so left
her feelings about him alone. Now that she knew she was wrong, she
wanted to bury herself in a hole for how strangely embarrassing it all felt.
His gaze and hands on her made it difficult to relax. Would she really get
used to it someday?
Oscar reached for Tinasha's cheek and laid a gentle hand along it. He
seemed reluctant to part. "Come see me anytime."
"I will take you up on that," Tinasha answered with a pleased smile, and
then she vanished.
Oscar smiled wryly as he mulled over the many ways she would make
for an unprecedented queen of Farsas.
While they couldn't marry for another year, there were preparations to
be done now. First, Oscar needed to propose to her formally. As he drew up
a list in his head of all the things he needed to do, Oscar turned around and
stepped into the transportation array that took him and his attendants back
home.
Something like a hunch told him that within what he believed to be luck,
there were many overlapping memories.