AN: Bonus Chapter for getting 3 Ratings on ScribbleHub as per the Bonus Chapters' Deal there.
Bonus Chapters:
1. 1 Bonus Chapter for 100 PS in a day
2. 2 Bonus Chapters for 150 PS in a day
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Kai was lying on the hard, cemented floor for over an hour now.
Then he sat up.
Kai reached out into his Inventory, taking out the Book. The runic title over it glistened silver under the dim candlelight.
"Come out, Petyr," Kai commanded.
Petyr's blurry figure came out of the body. He looked around before bowing.
When he disappeared, Kai opened the page, having Cersei's tale, The Lioness of Casterly Rock.
After his last Blood Prophecy failed, Kai had no time to do it again. Its use would leave him powerless for some time, he was aware. But with his increased HP, Kai wanted to check if the Act would reveal something more to him.
Kai used the Primordial Theater Skill, imbuing life into the tale.
The surroundings darkened as the smoky veil parted and Cersei walked out.
As always, she looked lovely and cunning. She didn't look at him, though. Her head bobbed around, inspecting her surroundings.
"It's better," Cersei talked to herself, looking down at her naked feet.
Kai hadn't taken her out to listen to her mumblings. "Blood…" he had but just said the word when Cersei's sharp, sweet voice cut him off.
"We must talk," she said, looking at him.
She blushed slightly when her eyes descended on him, Kai noticed. Nonetheless, she had a finality in her tone that he didn't like.
"What is it?" Kai asked flatly. "I am pressed for time if you don't know."
"I know enough," Cersei said, looking all over the ground in search of something to sit on. But there was nothing. She pressed her mouth into a thin line and sat down in front of Kai, crossing her legs on the hard ground.
"Go on, then," Kai said, impatiently. "The homeowner would come anytime now."
"This is home? Heh!" Cersei sneered, running a finger on the dirty floor.
Kai was almost at his limit. One more useless word out of her mouth, and no matter how much he would dislike it, he would use the Blood Prophecy.
"It is about your Luck," Cersei finally said gravely. "I have been thinking…"
"My Luck?" Kai said, astonishingly, cutting her off. "You can think? Even when you are not out?"
Cersei visibly fumed. "Have you ever wondered why its value is so low?" she asked, ignoring Kai's condemning gaze. "I listened your conversation with Petyr. An average Contestant's Luck is around 10, no? Even if you were unlucky, your Luck should have been above 6 or 7. With the value of 2, it isn't a stroke of luck anymore but misfortune."
The answer was plain. Kai never wondered.
He had always considered himself unlucky. No man, or a boy, would consider himself lucky after what had happened with his parents.
A disappeared father, a murdered mother, and two years of running, hiding, and killing had made Kai forget about his luck, to begin with. It had become something that was there, but he just didn't care about it.
That's why when he saw his Luck Stat initially, Kai had cursed, but had blamed no one but himself.
It was something he would manage like he always had. Only recently he had related it to something external, but even that was momentary.
It is just running away from reality by blaming others for my luck, Kai had thought.
Cersei's words were like a hammer, nailing a thought Kai had been trying to pull out of himself.
"Why didn't Petyr emphasized on asking about my Luck in the White Room, then?" Kai asked, more to himself than Cersei.
She answered it, nonetheless.
"That's how it is with ordinary people," Cersei said, contemptuously. "For many, talking about luck is nothing more than you whining over it. You mention luck once, they will ignore it. You mention it twice, they will reject you. And if you mention it often, they will hate you. But they wouldn't truly hate you, but their own ordinary lives."
As much as he didn't like it, Kai found the words reasonable. Her edgy words made him think about everything from a fresh perspective.
"So," Kai whispered, in a trance, "you think my Luck Stat isn't natural?"
"I think there is more to it," Cersei nodded, playing with her hair. "No person can be that unlucky from birth. Give a person enough bad luck, and he would think whatever bad happens is happening because of it."
"The Temple of Hastur…" Kai uttered the words, his eyes narrowing into thin slits.
Cersei stood up. "You know what you must do," she declared.
Kai looked up at her. "There is only one way to find out," he said. "I must visit the Temple and look for an answer myself and there is only one way I can qualify to go there."
Cersei giggled. "If I'm right about all this, you must promise me one thing," she blurted.
"I will promise you nothing," Kai replied. "But speak. Let's hear it out."
"You must upgrade my tale as soon as possible when you can," she said, her cheeks becoming almost hot pink.
Where is this going? Kai frowned. "I will think about it," he said grumpily. "Now, Blood Prophecy!"
*
*
Why didn't it work?
Kai let out a forced smile, asking himself the same question again.
The Blood Ocean had never been so calm. He could blame this failure of Blood Prophecy on the Primordial Tower. Yes. But then what about the last time in the Random World of Game of Thrones?
Selena had come back some time ago.
Even little Hao looked cheery, despite the pale blue bruises on his body.
The boy has quite an endurance, Kai had thought, seeing that. I wonder what his Stats will look like if he were to ever become a Contestant.
For the residents of the Primordial Tower, there was only one way to become a Contestant. Death.
Die, and you will know you were worthy if you would come back to life.
Simple and effective.
Little Hao had claimed a wooden stick from outside, and now was whirling it like a saber in all directions. "Hisssss," the boy whistled through his teeth. "It was like this, ma. Hissss."
Kai smiled.
The boy had been telling his mother how incredible Kai was while dealing with the three hooligans. Little Hao had seen nothing, but he could still hear it.
"Aii! They screamed," the boy said, gliding on the ground as his mother prepared broth for the supper. "Big Brother took their Cards after getting the Ids. Then there was a thud. Three times. Fatty's head must have rolled the easiest."
"Little Hao!" Selena rebuked, glaring at the boy. "Is it the time for these things? Where are your manners?"
The boy meekly put the wooden stick down and slumped over the cot. But as soon as his back had touched the wood, the boy sat up back again.
"Big Brother," he called out. "You are a swordsman, right? You must join 100 Zanpakuto School, then."
Kai's eyes shot open.
"That'll be enough out of you," Selena said, now almost fuming. "Don't blurt nonsense."
"It's OK," Kai said. "Let him talk. I am quite curious."
Selena hesitated. But the boy didn't. He seemed already excited enough about it.
"100 Zanpakuto School is the strongest organization below the 12th floor, like the Ancient Mystic Order from the enemy empire," little Hao said, his voice gaining pitch with every word. "The leader of the School is the personal student of one of the Gotei 13 from the Bleach world. Isn't that right, Ma?"
Selena nodded. "Bleach is the world all swordsmen wish to go to. It's like heaven for them," she said. "A place where swordsmen can surpass their limits. If you are a part of 100 Zanpakuto School, your chances of going to the Bleach Random World increases, or so they say. But I doubt that."
Thump!
Kai's heart pounded against his chest.
Learning about the Pokemon Random World had made him excited, but even then he considered it an external power. Only his Movement Technique and Twin-Saber Style truly belonged to him.
Bleach, Kai whispered in his mind. 100 Zanpakuto School…
"Not only that, Big Brother," little Hao said. "The School is supported by one of the three Temples I told you about."
"HAO!" Selena stood up.
Her scream echoed in the small room, the ladle in her hand dripping hot broth on the hard floor. She must have realized the meaning of the boy's words, for her face paled like a dead leaf.
The boy cowered, backing up, his legs shivering.
She looked at Kai. "He… He told you about the… Temples?" she asked, terror gripping her throat.
Kai almost sneered. "Yes," he answered. "That was the deal behind saving him. What? You'd rather see him dead?"
"NO." Selena blurted, sitting down on her haunches in despair. "I have no right to ask this. But I must. Please do not mention the Temples to anyone else. They would know. They always find out."
"I promise," Kai immediately lied. "Can you tell me more about your husband?"
Selena gave Hao an exasperated look. But when she turned around to attend the broth, her voice had calmed down.
"He was the youngest son of Count Sanderson," she said, tasting the broth's saltiness. "Unlike his brothers, my husband became a Priest of the Temple of… (-Selena took a deep breath of courage-)… Temple of Hastur. He was pious and better than most men. After 10 years of service and prayers, he became the High Priest. It was only then he was allowed to marry."
Little Hao must have heard the tale many times. But even he became silent, concentrating on his mother's words.
A proud expression appeared on the boy's face, which hadn't escaped Kai's eyes. Nor had escaped the name of the Temple in which the boy's father had served.
"After a year, I had just come to know him more, when something happened," Selena continued. "One day, he came home muttering incomprehensible things. It scared me. I had never seen him like that. I thought it was related to the Temples, secret as they are, and it would pass with time. But it only became worse.
"First, the Temple threw him out on the grounds of impiety and hubris. Then, the Count, half scared and half ashamed, refused to accept us, either. The only help I could get was from the Empire, but even that came at a cost, as you must have realized already."
The silence became unbearable in the room. But it only took a giggle to wash it away.
"Hehe!" Selena laughed, her face almost buried in the hot pan. "It's been a long time since I talked to someone about it. Usually, it's me and little Hao."
The boy said nothing.
He took out two plates from underneath the wooden cot. They seemed clean enough. One Selena passed to Kai, the other she kept for her and the boy. She put half a loaf of fresh bread into Kai's plate, followed by two big spoonfuls of broth in a bowl.
It was only then did Kai notice the fresh bread. It was hard, just short of going stale.
"Did your husband say something other than the name of the three Temples?" Kai asked, breaking his bread into pieces and pouring the broth over it. "Anything that would have made sense."
Selena shook her head. She put the remaining food, which was almost as much as she had given to Kai, on her and little Hao's plate. As the boy broke the bread merrily into small crumbs, Selena gazed at the roof.
"There was only one sentence," she mumbled. "There was this one sentence which he used to say most of the time…"
Kai forgot the morsel in his hand coming for his mouth.
Selena's voice echoed like an ethereal song as she sang those words.
"Memories and Possibilities are ever more hideous than Realities."
Kai went silent. He repeated and repeated the words in his mind, an unknown chill running down his spine.
Selena mixed the broth into the bread crumbs and used her hand to feed the boy.
Shaking off the troubled thoughts, Kai watched them for some time. It didn't seem much at a glance, but the pair of mother and son seemed to be content, living their hard life happily. Together.
Kai looked at the hand that went to the boy's mouth and he wondered how delicious it must be for little Hao to smile so. The scene slightly shook in front of his eyes, blurring out Selena's figure.
Kai's head drooped as he ate the simple food. The softened bread went down easily. It was just…
… It tasted a little salty.