"Thank you." It was rare for the boy to be so visibly moved by emotion, even rarer for him to genuinely appreciate someone's actions.
After all, every action had a reason behind it—every word spoken, every movement made, all in service of that reason.
But how often did the motivation behind those actions come from pure love for another?
With Azuleth's acceptance, there was only one thing left to do...
Kuzan let go of her hand, handing Fiana's limp body back to her care, gently laying her down into her arms. His gaze, soft and intense, met Azuleth's, and the quiet weight of it was felt by both.
Then, without another word...
The boy began to undress, slowly removing his shirt.
[Narrator's Voice]
The Atomic Bombs that pulverized the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leaving nothing but devastation...
Project X-Ray, a bizarre initiative involving the use of bats to deliver bombs, testing the very limits of military absurdity...
The various experiments involving the cloning of animals long since extinct, a spectacle of nature defying science.
Every moment, experiments are carried out worldwide by elite agencies and the military, shocking in their scope and brutality.
Unethical? They're beyond that. They're experiments that would scar any sane human mind.
One retired army officer once said,
"Chemical weaponry, biology warfare, where one thing ends and another begins, genes—if you can imagine it, it's happening somewhere in the world, in a lab where the sun doesn't shine."
But with so many projects underway, the costs of keeping them running are astronomical. Each agency fights tooth and nail for its share, showcasing their research, begging for funding. But in the early 2000s, one project stood above the rest.
Code name: Project Ark
It received so much support that it left the heads of other military branches scratching their heads. Whispers circulated that even President Bosch had given the order to proceed.
But calling it a "project" was a stretch. With 1% of the entire military budget for the year dedicated to it, every department—every branch—was left in awe. All focused on one single question.
A project so secretive that anyone who could be coerced, threatened, or forced into participating did so. Scientists abandoned decades of work, traveled great distances to return to the U.S., and some were even released from enemy nations after the U.S. threatened war, all to contribute their expertise to this one endeavor.
Nations around the world were baffled. It made no sense. How could a single project command so much support? What could it possibly be?
And when the scientists, their lives at risk, finally revealed the project's purpose, the world laughed. It sounded like a bad joke—a question more suited to a school paper than a multi-billion-dollar military operation.
The question?
"How would one revitalize humanity from the medieval era to the mordern age?"
It seemed absurd, yet it had sparked the greatest think tank in history. For a month, the world's brightest minds studied everything—from humanity's discoveries, to mathematics, physics, medicine, and inventions. The lead scientist, Dr. Albert Payne, a world renowned expert, even titled their work "The Compendium of Humanity."
The scientists were given every resource they could ever need—money was no object. Yet, even with limitless funding, the task of completing the prompt took an immense toll on them. The debates, the constant discussions, the sleepless nights—it all drained them to exhaustion. When they finally completed their task, they were spent, and not a single one of them could explain what had truly been achieved.
But the question remained: why did this project even exist in the first place? And where exactly was this compendium now?
Unknown to even the scientists that worked on the project, there was only one copy ever made—the original, housed securely within the White House. It sat in a compartment so secret that only the sitting president, upon taking office, was aware of its existence. It was kept in a space just as protected as the nuclear missile launch codes, hidden from the public eye, sealed away.
As for the copy? That was sent off to another lab, to be 'printed'.
After all, compiling the Compendium was only half the work...
[Unknown POV]
With a single fluid movement, Kuzan shrugged off his shirt and tossed it to Azuleth's waiting arms.
She caught it instinctively, as if the weight of the garment confirmed everything she'd ever longed for.
Her fingers tightened around it, clinging to the fabric with an intensity that would shame her usual regality. She held it close, her knuckles white, unwilling to let go.
To her, this simple shirt was worth more than any treasure in the royal vault, more than even Excalibur, her most trusted weapon.
And it wasn't just sentimental. Hidden within its seams was knowledge—knowledge powerful enough to reshape kingdoms, but that wasn't what mattered to her.
"SNIFF, SNIFF."
She inhaled deeply, burying her face in the fabric, her normally composed expression breaking as she indulged in the scent. She needed this—more than air itself.
Kuzan watched, stunned.
'Who could have guessed she'd use it like that?' he thought, bewildered. 'When I had Captain Strydum make it for me, I thought I'd outwitted everyone. In hindsight… it's more useful than I could've imagined.'
Kuzan knew how things would go, but he wasn't entirely naive. Knowing he was bound for another world, he'd prepared himself, thinking far ahead.
'Despite having read the original source material for the 'story' I was currently a part of, I understood very little the principles of transmigration if you could call it that. Trying to apply logic to the illogical was as fun as it was difficult. Still, thankfully it seems my various hypotheses were enough.'
With a spark of ambition, he'd realized he could bring anything with him that he was physically carrying at the moment of "transmission." But deciding what to bring hadn't been nearly as simple.
Weaponry? He didn't need it—his own body was enough. Besides, this world likely had weaponry regarding the imagination. A thought that Kuzan confirmed after learning of the five artifacts Azuleth had so graciously provided to him for reaserch.
Food? He had no doubt he'd find prey. Besides, his space was limited. He couldn't have very well carried crates of supplies into his final fight against Musashi.
No. There was only one thing of unparalleled value, something that wouldn't weigh him down yet would be priceless beyond measure.
Knowledge.
Still, even with the future in mind, could a man really waste so much time on an endless heap of knowledge with an endless stream of challenges breathing down his neck? Preparing for a journey that he might never return from was task enough.
How was he supposed to be a scholar, warrior, and strategist all at once?
THE SOLUTION?
Outsourcing the work!
'Funny how Dorian's astronaut wire idea first sparked this whole thing,' he mused, recalling the absurd notion that led to his solution.
THE ANSWER?
Microfilm!
Kuzan designed a shirt that served not only as clothing but as the condensed compendium of an entire civilization's achievements.
Ten rolls of 35mm microfilm, each one holding up to 6,000 pages, concealed in the seams. Scientists who initiated the second phase of Project Ark estimated he could embed nearly 60,000 pages in that shirt. That meant he could pack in the Compendium of Humanity, which when completed ran "only" ~57,000.
Recipes, poetry, stories—it wasn't just what anyone would deem "useful"; it was the entire culture of another world, stitched between fibers now nestled close against Queen Azuleth's chest.
It was a novel idea. So ingenious, it even fooled the mechanism that brought him to this world.
'I didn't think whatever's snatching people through space and time would allow me to pass with such a dangerous advantage up my sleeve,' he thought, marveling at his success. 'But somehow, I slipped through.'
Whether it be by sheer luck or brilliance, without even fully being aware of the weight and significance of his achievement, Kuzan did what countless mortals had failed to do since time immoral.
He tricked the Gods.
'And I'll do it again', he thought, his fist clenched, ready to fulfill their prupose.
Ready to satiate their hunger.
'I will never become somebody's plaything.'
Yet, as his heart surged, he forced himself to release his hand, grounding himself. 'That's a battle for another day. I need to stay focused on what's in front of me.'
For all his insight and strategic prowess, Kuzan's predictions, his logic, were only guesses based on probabilities. Even his uncanny ability to read people had its limits—it paled compared to true foresight.
And he knew only one person with that gift, a rare ability to glimpse not just likely outcomes but the unchanging truth. It was foresight so far beyond him, a gift that, if held by someone ruthless or power-hungry, might have already brought the world to its knees.
That person—Azuleth, the one who had just seen through his best-laid plans—sat across from him now, smiling with that quiet, knowing confidence only she could wield. She raised a finger to her lips.
"Our little secret." Though not spoken aloud, Kuzan was not nearly as thick-skinned to ignore their meaning.
His heart tugged at the act.
He felt himself nearly losing to the greatest advantage he had ever faced.
A love so profound, so pure, it was willing to burn everything else asunder.
It was beautiful.
And it was tragic.
Yet, his resolve held firm.
"Is everything I'll need ready?" he asked, fully aware that this question would catch anyone else unprepared. He'd given no prior instructions, had made no specific demands, but he asked nonetheless, knowing she would already know what he needed, even better than he did.
It would have been absurd to ask anyone else. But with her, it was a question that didn't need asking.
"Of course, my dear." She paused her quiet indulgence, pulling his shirt just slightly away from her face, her voice soft with a tenderness she hadn't shown since her youth. There was a warmth there that would have stirred even the cold heart of the retired Emperor to life.
Yet that smile, that gentle devotion, was reserved for only one.
Not for her family. Not for her friends. Not even for the kingdom she ruled.
It was a loyalty, fierce and unwavering, bound solely to him.
For the man she loved.
She would give up the world.
"Anything for you."