Bam's past had come as both a surprise and a piece of good news to Winston.
Surprise because he had figured out Bam's past and what it entailed. A child born and raised for revenge. A being that had been dead, but was granted life again by a God from the outside. And what concerned him was the power inside him.
V. His supposed father and the promised one that would become the fall of the ten families and Jahad alike.
It left some... doubts in his mind.
And good news because it was an unmistakably big part of history, something he could soon when he got to Sequence 3 and became a Scholar of Yore.
But it was not only that.
Another thing was the ascension ritual problem had finally been solved. He could parasitize Bam like Pallez had done to our dear Poet Leonard. Following that, the problem would be solved in it's entirety.
Bam had been outside the tower for millenia. He was, in essence, the perfect target for the ascension ritual. And considering the nature of concealed mode, he would not harm Bam in any way and he might even solve the matter of V inside him entirely.
It was indeed a good plan. And one that had all the room for errors.
And so, he held off from immediately going through with it. And from Hwaryun's own words, Bam would eventually get to the floor of death, where his 'mother' Arlene Grace had took refuge in and his official birthplace, and find out all about his past. Well, for the most part that is.
And apparently, there was also something called the 'revolution road' inside the Hell Train which every irregular must experience to find their full potential with shinsu. Considering all of that, Winston devised a plan.
And by a stroke of luck, a lucky coincidence happened.
Yeon Yirang took note of his Visionary Avatar.
Winston smiled as he bathed in the sunlight atop one of the hotels on the 33rd floor. On his face was a set of shades and his torso was completely naked with shorts covering his lower half.
If she's smart, she should make the other family heads aware of the new organisation that has come out of nowhere. A group of 22 people, all holding a position by the names of the Major Arcana that serve an Old God called the Dominator of the Spirit World and the Embodiment of the Sefirah Castle... It's the ideal grounds for ascension to Godhood.
He smiled. He had always remembered the ascension rituals to sequence 0. For the Fool pathway, it was to fool Time, History or Fate.
And for the Error, it was to take possession of someone undergoing their apotheosis ritual and replace them to ascend to sequence 0.
Both were plenty hard to figure out. As for the Door, he had no idea of it's ascension ritual, so he could not attempt it.
Although that was the main intent behind his supposed declaration of an all out war, he also simply wanted to take down the Jahad Empire. Why would he let them prosper when they wished to take down his friends? It was as simple as that. And with how things were progressing, the moment Yeon Yirang told the others of Adam and his organisation; all of them would become targets for coincidences as more information would become known to the Visionary.
The more you know them, the more they know you. It was the scariest ability of the spectator.
To know all that know thee.
He hummed a peculiar tune and relaxed in the recliner chair.
This is life... just relax and have your avatars take care of everything for you...
Just then, he felt a disturbance in the space around him. And a vision overlapped his senses. Realizing who this was, Winston shook his head with a wry smile.
In the air behind him, a rip in space occurred as a very familiar airship made it's presence known.
And then, from within the airship came a pleasant chuckle and a comment.
"I found you again."
It was none other than Po Bidau Tiara.
Winston smiled at her.
"Congrats. Would you like an award?" He said, sensing her jump down from the ship in her usual white dress. The sunlight reflected off her golden yellow hair, making them glow and her glasses to shine through with reflection.
"Heh." She chuckled and walked up to him.
"I wasn't expecting this. After the storm you've kicked up, resting like this on the 33rd floor is the last thing one would expect of you." She said.
"Why? Is it such a crime to take a rest?" He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm human too you know. I'm not impervious to getting tired. Not yet anyways." He smiled.
Tiara shook her head and made herself comfortable beside him.
"Considering our previous meeting where you transformed into that Machine, I wouldn't be surprised if you were to be honest."
"Speaking of, how's true humanity been treating you?"
Winston, for the first time since she arrived turned to her. Extending his finger, he lowered his shades, just enough for his pupils to meet her's.
Tiara stopped for a moment and said, "Right. I still have to thank you for that. If anything, it feels kind of liberating. It's like I gained something important that I didn't know I was missing.
"Besides that, it's still too early to decide. It's only been a few days since then you know?"
"Eh. Can't relate. I've always been a complete human you know."
"That's a bit mean."
"But it's the truth."
A strange silence persisted between them. Winston's casual and dismissive remarks about her made Tiara feel at a loss.
It wasn't something that was too extreme too. In fact, it seemed as if it were playful banter between common friends.
"You're weird." She said, finality echoing in her tone. Her eyes curved upwards as he looked at Winston's figure with a curious expression.
"I expected a lot of things. But you... are plain weird."
"Weird is good." Winston guffawed. "Weird is interesting. It's better than monotony at least. Better than being common." His eyes again met her's, "You're not quite normal yourself you know."
Tiara dodged his gaze and closed her eyes, "I have my own reputation among the families."
"And how come you found me again? Is it to attack me again?"
"It was supposed to be. I could at least try with another strategy I figured. But now, as I'm here, I can't help but think of that ambition as a distant dream."
Winston took off his shades and stared at the sky. There, he could see a flock of sea gulls flying north.
"...This is the first time I'm seeing sea gulls here." He said.
"Avian species are rare to begin with. Most of them lie on the upper floors and are extremely aggressive and predatory." She said, adjusting the glasses on her face. "You seem to have seen them on the outside."
"I have." Winston said. "Birds are... one of my favourites, you can say. They're so free. Gliding above everything in the sky."
A short silence followed.
"You hungry?"
Tiara looked at him in shock, but then, a mischievous smirk made it's way across her face.
"What's this? Are you inviting me on a date?"
"Eh. Maybe, maybe not. What do you think? Princess?" Winston grinned at her, who only met his mischievous smile with her own.
~~~
~~~
A wheel spun rapidly at irregular intervals as it stood amid a world made out of shinsu. The never ending loops of wager, fire, roots, metal and every other ancient element mingled in the air, all performing cyclical movements as per the directions of the wheel.
The wheel was irregular in it's appearance. The outer lining of the wheel was a silver snake with irregular scaly patterns. On it's outskirts, eight irregular symbols, unknown in origin were embossed with an unknown material that glowed a dark black.
From the center, 8 points extended and pointed to each of the symbols, forever shifting in length and size. Sometimes, the arrows would go beyond the radius of the wheel and sometimes would disappear completely.
Below the wheel was a red humanoid creature, wrapped around the edge of the wheel and held it up with his lanky arms.
And above the wheel sat a winged creature that resembled closely, the description of a Sphinx.
The wheel spun and spun and spun. The world around it shifted with each turn. The infinite loops of elemental shinsu that were around the wheel also shifted their flow and creatured platforms, soon to be destroyed by the next spin.
It was the Wheel of Fortune.
The Snake of Silver that grants Luck.
The King of Misfortune.
It was unknown where it was. But it was arranging, not only it's immediate environment, but also all of the tower. Seizing control over everything, the fate and destiny of all beings in the tower.
But such a thing was still too far to be held. The natural order of life needed to sustain such a thing would be nothing short of an angel. Before that, the Wheel could only do what would amount to parlor tricks in front of someone like Ouroborous or Will Auceptin; the angels of Wheel of Fortune path.
However, that didn't mean it was entirely useless.
"Hah!" Someone huffed at the far edges of it's area.
A pilgrim had arrived.
And not just any pilgrim...
"Wow! This is sick, Evan!"
"Language, Princess!"
It was none other than Princess Yuri and her trusted Companion, Evan Edrock.
The first pilgrim of the Wheel of Fortune were these two.
The wheel hummed in delight, even though it was perfectly able to form speech as an avatar. Most probably trying to appear as an ancient figure that controls fate.
The two High Rankers in the distance slowly began to grow closer, their eyes scanning this strange scenery.
An ocean of shinsu lay before them. It was to the point that even powerful rankers would find it hard to move around, yet, to these two monsters, it was nothing of the sort.
Evan expertly stepped onto the different structure the spins produced, his eyes figuring out where the next structure was going to form.
And as they reached just 100 meters distance from it, Yuri Jahad began to gush over how cool the wheel looked.
As for Evan, he was stunned.
"...beautiful." A singular word came out of his mouth.
"Truly beautiful." His eyes shone with a light. He looked upon this... strange thing with a sprt of reverence one could only hope to give to their gods.
Yet, Evan, for all he was worth, knew this wasn't a true master of Fate.
It was something that had just begun to form connections with it.
Is it... no... that can't be. There's no way this is an ancient God right? One that governs over Fate? It wouldn't make sense for that to be the case.
Evan though, continuing to look at the wheel while ignoring Yuri.
But then again, it can't be confirmed. The old times had many gods that simply went into hiding or went dormant. Evan pinched his chin. But then, his thoughts process was interrupted by a quick smack to his head.
Smack!
"What the hell?!"
"Why are you looking at that?! You aren't even replying! You seem like you're enchanted!"
"I was thinking! You dumb Princess!"
"What did you call me!?"
"Aaah! Sorry!"
It would seem the first pilgrims of the Wheel of Fortune were as eccentric as they were strong.
~~~
~~~
A/N: There might not be another chapter until 22. I have an important test coming up so we'll have to hold off on that.
Besides, the next one will be chapter 100! It'll be the first time any of my stories have lasted so long, so I'll try to make that 2 to 3 times as long if possible.
Anyway, the hell train arc will start in just a few more chapters, where I'll do a time skip and start with the arc. If I end up going as planned(which is highly improbable), the entire arc won't be that long and I'll be ending the 2nd Volume in some time as well.
So throw some stones and drink some water.
Cheers~~