Anna got to work, ready to head further into the forest, and packed all the food and tools we would need for our grand adventure.
Arild gave me new clothes made from deer pelts: shoes, a shirt, and pants. I preferred the comfort of my old pants and shoes, but I wore the ones he gave me since they would be better suited for the forest.
They had caught a couple of bears in the pitfall traps, so we now had three bear cloaks that were deep forest green and blended in with our surroundings.
Arild, Anna, and I carried the backpacks that held all our supplies, while Lloyd had nothing.
We didn't expect him to carry anything because he was pretty weak. He was about five feet five inches tall and weighed only 130 pounds. He was seventeen but didn't get much to eat during his childhood, so his growth was stunted. Apparently, he's never done any physical work since he's mostly worked in the imperial library for all his life.
Anna wore the same clothes as when we first came here: skinny jeans and a baggy gray sweatshirt. However, she now wore a dark green bear cloak and carried a backpack made from the same material.
Arild was wearing his deer clothes and nothing else. He carried a backpack like Anna's and walked barefoot with just rags protecting his feet.
Lloyd was dressed in a white dress shirt and black pants with suspenders as if he were going to church. Along with his church clothes, he wore a bear cloak like mine and Anna's, except it fell almost to the ground.
I was dressed in the clothes Arild gave me: a long-sleeve deerskin shirt and pants, and my old shoes were covered in deerskin to help protect them.
After two days, we were ready to venture deeper into the forest. I sought Lloyd's teachings to start speaking to Arild without needing a translator and learn more about this world we now live in.
Arild spoke the language of the forest. When I learned what he called the language, I asked him why it was called that, and he explained the naming sense behind the languages to me.
He knew the main languages in their respective regions, except for the empire, which had its own primary language.
The other areas, such as the desert and ocean, had many languages only the locals could speak, so they developed a primary language for each region to help everyone understand each other.
According to Arild, the same was true for the people of the Asar forest. I asked him how big the Asar forest was, and he failed to answer because he didn't know. He said that the people of the forest never went past a certain point of the forest because it was forbidden and that he wouldn't tell me anymore.
Then I asked Lloyd about the language of the travelers, excited to learn about those who came before us.
When I asked Lloyd about the language of the travelers, he got reticent and had a contemplative look on his face.
"You and your sister are not the first travelers to come here. There have been many before you."
When he said that, I looked at Anna, and she nodded, having already learned what she wanted and needed from Lloyd.
"How many?" I asked him, curious about those who came before me. I knew we couldn't have been so special to be the first and only to go to this world, so now I wanted to know the details of those who came before us.
Maybe we all had something in common for us to have been chosen to come here. Lloyd was still thinking about his answer, probably searching his memory for all the ones he knew of.
"I'm not sure about the exact number since not all of them revealed themselves, but it's believed that there have been hundreds of travelers," he said, which amazed me.
"Hundreds?!" I exclaimed, now drawn into the topic. "How long have they been coming here?" I asked him.
"No one knows; no one knows about the time before the empire. The world was engulfed in war during those days, and many records and documents were lost.
It wasn't until a traveler made the empire that the world began to calm down. When the empire was formed, all the other kingdoms and nations stopped fighting, afraid of the iron fist of the empire."
He explained, telling me about the first traveler they knew of. While I was never interested in history back in my old world, the history here was beginning to captivate me."So the empire was made to stop the fighting?" I asked Lloyd, curious about the traveler who made the empire.
"Yes, his name was Nero Ambrosios, the first emperor of the Ambrosios Empire. He created the empire because he believed that overwhelming force was required to stop the war and threatened all the warring kingdoms and nations, saying that if they didn't stand their troops down, they would face the full might of the empire.
In those days, the empire could easily conquer the world with the weapons made by Nero. After the war, the empire's officials and nobles wanted to expand and exploit the world's fear of the empire by using Nero's weapons.
But Emperor Nero forbade them and told them to focus on securing the empire's power and improving its infrastructure."
Loyd spoke of the first emperor with something akin to reverence. "Emperor Nero is why the empire is still feared to this day. Even after he died, his laws and teachings are still followed. But now I fear the empire is coming to an end."
Lloyd looked sad as he said the empire was ending. For such a young man, he was very patriotic. "What do you mean the empire is coming to an end?" I asked him, earning an angry look from him.
"The current emperor is nothing but an old puppet for the officials while the princes and princesses are tearing apart the empire trying to become the next emperor or empress.
The officials are now abolishing the laws that emperor Nero made all those years ago for their gain. The empire is already beginning to fall apart due to its corruption and power struggles. I fear the wars all those years ago will start again if the empire falls."
When he said that, I felt scared; nothing would be more dangerous than living in a country during a civil war, let alone a world war.
"What are the chances that the empire falls?" I asked, fearful of the answer. "It depends on who wins the succession. If the officials don't ruin the empire before a successor is chosen, then maybe the first princess could keep it together for five years, if not resolve the situation completely. If the princes win, I fear a civil war will break out immediately."
That confused me; why would only the first princess be able to save the empire while all the others would end up destroying it? So I asked Lloyd.
"The first princess, Isabel Ambrosios, is the most capable out of all the emperor's children; when it comes to matters of state and even military issues, Princess Isabel is the best. But most importantly, she is the firstborn to the emperor's first wife, while the rest are children of his concubines so she is the successor to the throne by birthright.
While this would generally settle the matter of succession, Princess Isabel refuses to marry any of the men who have proposed to her, making the nobles worry about who her successor would be. Her siblings have all already married with children and even taken concubines, but she hasn't yet.
He continued telling me about the imperial family's power struggle. There were five leading contenders for the throne.
They were the first Princess, Isabel; the second Prince, Alex; the third Prince, Pyros; the eighth Prince, Leon; and the sixth Princess, Maria.
After he named the contenders, I was confused by his number of children. How many princesses and princes were there?
"What happened to the others?" I asked Lloyd when I could already guess the answer. "They were either killed or driven away from the empire into exile.
The second and third princes were the main culprits behind this. After they killed the first prince and had his body scattered around the empire, never to be buried, the massacre began.
All those who lacked the power to survive were killed or ran away in fear for their lives." He explained that the leading contenders were the only imperials left besides the emperor; the empress and the concubines were all killed or driven away, similarly to the princes and princesses.
The summary was that Princess Isabel was the most worthy and competent among the contenders but lacked the backing of the nobles because she refused to marry any of them.
The second and third princes were the most aggressive of the contenders, preferring to kill those who stood in their way simply.
The eighth prince and the sixth princess were the schemers. They were trying to eliminate the second and third prince by pitting them against each other while waiting for their chance to strike.
"If Princess Isabel just needs to marry to secure her position, then why doesn't she?" I questioned the big elephant in the room.
There were many possible reasons, and they all said something about Princess Isabel.
"No one knows since she's never said the exact reason. What is known is that she's denied all marriage proposals for her hand and that she's even killed some of the ones who proposed to her.
After she killed some of them, they all stopped sending marriage proposals, and those who were in her faction started leaving her."
"So who's winning?" I asked, thinking it was the second prince. "When I was last in the capital, the third prince was considered the strongest candidate. He still should be since he has control of the army."
"So why hasn't he already won the throne?" I asked Lloyd. That would be because the nobles have raised their armies. They never would've been able to before because of the empire's laws, but the officials abolished the law, keeping the nobles from creating their armies for their gain," he said.
"So, what kind of numbers are we talking about?" I asked about the numbers the armies had.
"I'm not sure about the nobles' armies, but the imperial army should stand at five hundred thousand strong. It was around two million, but the officials cut it down after being paid by the nobles."
Learning all this information about the empire was a bit overwhelming and worrying, especially since we couldn't do anything about it.
Lloyd then took out a book and held it protectively. "Michael, I have something to ask of you," he said with incredible difficulty.
"My teacher gave me this book to keep out of the hands of the princes fearful of what they could do with the knowledge held within it.
We were initially going to give it to Princess Isabel but couldn't because the third prince learned of it and has sent his men after me."
He then took a deep breath and asked what he wanted: "I need your help getting this book to Princess Isabel so I can save my country. I understand you must reach the forest's heart to rid yourself of whatever is ailing you. I will continue to teach you and your sister what I can and help you if you promise to help me with this task."
After he finished asking me for my help, I looked at Anna and waited for her answer. We already had a quest to get to the heart of the forest. Now, we had a quest to save the Ambrosios empire and maybe the whole world.
The last thing I would want to do was forget to ask my sister for her opinion.