"Should."
"Should not."
"Should."
"Should not."
"Should-"
"Young master, what are you doing?"
Chao Zhenyu raised his head, staring unfathomably at Tual. He was holding a white flower in his hands, ripping away a petal with each careless phrase. By now, the poor bud was almost bare. Upon seeing the tragic demise of such a beautiful thing, Tual tsk'ed in sympathy.
"I saw some servants playing this game, and thought maybe I should join in too."
Tual widened his eyes, hesitating before bravely asking, "Then, could it be…?"
"Yeah," Chao Zhenyu affirmed. "I'm letting the Gods decide for me."
He pulled out the last petal, before tossing the stem into the air.
…Should not.
"So, she has luck on her side."
Tual's eyes widened even more, lips parting in disbelief. In his surprise, he momentarily stopped dusting the corners of Chao Zhenyu's bedroom. When Chao Zhenyu heard the swishing of the feathers cease, he glanced up at Tual, before laying in his bed once more.
"What? Am I playing it wrong?"
"No- No, young master!" Tual quickly responded, resuming his cleaning. "I was just… uhm, the outcome…?"
How nosy. His laziness and disregard for proper etiquette must have spoiled him.
Maybe it wasn't a bad idea to scare Tual some more.
"The outcome?" Chao Zhenyu twirled the last petal in between his fingers, holding it up just high enough for Tual to see. "Her dear Gods have preserved her life."
"Preserved her life…?" Tual mumbled, lost in thought. Then, in realization, he jolted with a start. "Y-Young master! That- I!"
Chao Zhenyu patiently watched Tual panic. He popped one of those iced cream berries in his mouth. Ever since he first tried them, he'd been addicted since. Besides Tual flailing around as entertainment, this was another rare positive in his rebirth, or whatever it was, so far.
"You have any complaints?" Chao Zhenyu inquired.
"Well, just… y-young master, if I may, using a servants' game to d-decide such a thing… isn't that too… fickle?"
Fickle? Chao Zhenyu immediately thought of another word.
"Are you calling me inconsistent?"
When Tual once again sputtered into thousands of senseless apologies, Chao Zhenyu immediately turned around and filtered his voice out of his mind. After a moment's contemplation, a small smile appeared on his face.
Inconsistent. He, too, was inconsistent.
Chao Zhenyu quietly chuckled.
He then sighed, and motioned towards the door. "Alright, let him in now."
Nodding, Tual did as he was told. Right as he unlocked the door, and before he could even hold it open, an old man furiously barged in. In his arms were countless scrolls, books, and other random devices. Chao Zhenyu wondered why he didn't just use a bag.
After the old man entered, Tual gave a quick nod, before leaving the room.
"Young master Zain!" The old man scolded, placing down what he was carrying on a table. "Is this how you greet your past tutor!? I'll let you know-"
"What?" Chao Zhenyu smirked. "You still came back. Coins hard to come by these days?"
The old man protested incomprehensibly in anger, finger frozen pointing at Chao Zhenyu. After a while, he swung his sleeve, and sat down by the table. Silently, he then glanced at his tormentor still on the bed, before pointing to the seat next to him.
Chao Zhenyu gave the old man a smile, before sitting down.
So this is Ed Menkel, my past history tutor. An "opinionated" man.
He had asked Tual for a little introduction of his past teachers earlier, with the reasoning being that he had forgotten. The request was taken surprisingly well, for Tual had thought nothing of it. Probably because he skipped and then flunked his courses.
"Well," Menkel huffed, seeing as Chao Zhenyu listened. "I'm surprised you actually showed up."
He then looked around, suspicious.
"If you have any plans in store for me, just do them now."
Chao Zhenyu politely smiled, and then spread his arms.
"I have nothing, Tutor Menkel, can't a young master simply want to learn?"
Menkel squinted.
"The first time we met, young master, you had me knock on the wrong door."
He paused, staring at Chao Zhenyu's earnest expression, before continuing.
"It turned out it was a servant girl's. Then, the next time I visited, the door to your room was unexpectedly already open. When I called your name, no one answered, but I saw that you had pens and paper on your table, and behind your bed curtain, there was a silhouette. I went in to get seated, thinking you had a change of heart…"
Chao Zhenyu's smile stiffened.
"It turned out that there, on your bed, was that same servant girl."
…
"Then later, it turned out that the servant girl… was yours," Menkel coldly remarked. "And that, young master Zain, is why coins are hard to come by."
…Ah. Chao Zhenyu felt a massive headache incoming. He had purposefully let Menkel in late to seem like he hadn't really changed, so as to not disturb the sleeping waters. Had he known the extent…
What a scandal. His poor tutor, now reduced to a man who stole a young master's girl. He hadn't expected his past self to go this far.
…So when Tual said "opinionated", did he mean that in terms of his outlook on what he taught… or did he mean that in terms of his opinion on me?
"I… apologize," Chao Zhenyu said, unsure of what to even say. "This…"
"Hmph, forget it. Since I'm here and the young master's here, then let's not waste our precious time. Tell me, what have you managed to learn since then?"
Chao Zhenyu hesitated. He didn't expect to be interrogated.
"There are Gods…" Ethel's snarky voice echoed in his mind. "Control, Conjuring, uh, Nature…"
The more he spoke, the more Menkel's face darkened.
"There's a Lord of Darkness… and…"
"And? AND!?" Menkel suddenly jumped out of his seat, fist clenched in anger. Trembling, he pointed his finger at the ceiling, spewing furiously. "Is this how they teach the young lords of this realm!? Is THIS how they PAY THEIR RESPECT!? This corruption-"
He struck his hand out, as if to smack all the scrolls off the table. But right as he was about to do so, he caught Chao Zhenyu's blank face in the corner of his eye. His hand paused in mid-air, before resignedly lowering to his side.
Menkel raspily sighed, flicking his sleeve.
And then, he said quietly: "This is abuse.
Chao Zhenyu's eyes flickered. Seeing how he was still quietly watching him, Menkel took a long pause in contemplation. Then, he decided to continue.
"One by one, these hearts of beasts and wolves pay their visits in the name of tutorship," He rasped. "One by one they climb into the young lords' rooms, pleasing them in the stead of knowledge. In the end, what do they learn? Nothing. No. They are ruined."
Hearing Menkel rant so seriously, Chao Zhenyu couldn't help but laugh. Against Menkel's glare, Chao Zhenyu tried his best to regain his composure.
"Sir Menkel," Chao Zhenyu snorted. "You have visited me in the name of tutorship. And instead of our precious lesson time, you are pleasing me with entertainment. And… you are in my room."
Menkel smacked the table.
"Who asked you to not have your own study!? And be serious! What I'm telling you is more important than anything you could learn right now!!"
"Alright," Chao Zhenyu nonchalantly responded. "I'm listening."
"Do you understand, young master?" Menkel stressed.
"Yes, I understand. I'm surrounded by wolves and beasts and whatever…"
Then, with a softer tone, as if talking to himself, Chao Zhenyu continued.
"And they're all trying to ruin me."
Giving Chao Zhenyu a long look, Menkel once again deeply sighed. He then took out a scroll and unravelled it, revealing a detailed, exquisite map.
"The map of the modern world. Take a close look, young master."
There were two main land masses, on the left and on the right, with countless islands and larger blocks in the middle. Red lines dictated boundaries between forces, their names etched on with black ink. Not all of it was established, however, for covering most parts of the map were drawn on wisps of cloud and smoke.
"Isn't this a history lesson?" Chao Zhenyu sarcastically remarked. "I didn't realize you were also my tutor for rhetoric and politics."
"Quiet!" Merkel scolded. "Who knows what your other tutors will teach you? And bah, who decided those course names anyways? Politics and history have always been more intertwined. How can current events not be reflected in the past? How can so much blood be shed without past wars and massacres?"
Chao Zhenyu's head hurt. He massaged his temples.
Then, Menkel traced over the center of the map, over the slim ocean in between the land masses.
"See how thin the ocean is? In the long past, it's said that all the land in the world used to be connected, until…"
Menkel snapped with his fingers, and a small glow was emitted from the tip of his nails. The dots of light spread onto the map, until where there used to be an ocean and emerging rivers, there were now black cracks. And in the center of them, was the image of a blade pointing out of the map itself.
"...The first beads of blood stained the world."
Chao Zhenyu widened his eyes. Magic? He had never seen anything like this before.
This map… Was it rare? For if it was, then this Menkel…
"But seeing as how the young master knows nothing, let's go back to the basics."
Chao Zhenyu rolled his eyes, but his gaze was still fixed on the scroll. As he thought, the coarse fabric once again changed, the image of the map becoming that of three symbols. The one on the left was a downwards arrow through the center of a circle. The one on the right was similar, the only difference being an upwards arrow. And the one on the center was both of them combined.
"Before the existence of humans, there was only a dead world." Menkel taught. "And yet, emerging from the cosmic, there came Chaos, Balance, and Order."
He pointed at each of the symbols from left to right respectively.
"We call these three primordial Gods the 'Axis.'"
The map then changed again, lines emerging from the three symbols.
"From them came the Gods we worship now, manifestations of the three original deities. As the young master mentioned before: Control, Conjuring, Nature, and so on and so forth. The Gods may have names, but we do not know of them. As such, we call them by what they command. It is from these Gods, then, that magic exists as you know of it."
"So how many Gods are there?" Chao Zhenyu indifferently asked.
"That we do not know," Menkel explained. "Each God, after all, is only known through the people-"
"Alright, alright," Chao Zhenyu interjected. "Continue with your history lesson."
Menkel sighed, before giving Chao Zhenyu another look. The boy's body was faced against the scroll, but his eyes were attentively focused on it. And every time he rambled, Chao Zhenyu would sarcastically respond, but Menkel could tell he was listening.
Has he really changed? Menkel shook his head with a smile. He chose to believe what was in front of him, and so, he continued.
"But as the world developed, and as beasts evolved into men, Chaos threatened everything. Mountains fell, oceans evaporated, and entire souls were disintegrated."
The map changed, portraying each sentence.
"Faced with the very destruction of the world, the Gods could not idly stand by anymore. Thus, Balance shifted, the manifestations raised Their hands, and Order drew Their sword…"
Chao Zhenyu watched on.
"Piercing Chaos's very being! Their body fell from the skies onto the world, but no matter how They thrashed, Order's sword fixed Them in place. From Chaos's blood, came the ebb and flow of magic. With a roar, the land cracked open, becoming what we know of it today."
And with that, the map returned to its previous state.
"So where are we now?" Chao Zhenyu could honestly care less about the Gods, if he even believed it at all. Knowing they existed, and that magic existed, was enough for him.
He had to get his hands on that map, however.
"...Young master," Menkel sighed once more, before pointing at the left land mass. "Remember the Lords of Darkness? We are here, in Necrosia, the dark realm."
"Lords of Darkness". Lords. So there's more than one.
"And the right land mass is Lumina, or more widely known as the Empire of Light. In between there are various forces. There's the Unified Ring, those scattered islands you see, and others that aren't so important.
You must be wondering why we are split this way. Despite what people might say, there's no such thing as light or dark magic. In reality, we are simply held backby traditions…"
Okay. Chao Zhenyu was beginning to understand where this "opinionated" tag was coming from. From his own biased view, he could kind of see why he was in the "dark realm". At the very least, it didn't surprise him.
Dark is dark. Light is light. Why make it so complicated? What does it even matter?
"Ah, forget it," Menkel sighed, for the hundredth time. "Let's conclude our lesson for now, young master. Short, but quite heavy to sit through."
Before Menkel left the room, he gave a final wave. Then Chao Zhenyu sat alone, pondering through everything he had just learned.
Magic came from the Gods. Or at least that's what Menkel said.
Then when the name of a God was listed after a person's…
Chao Zhenyu thought back to the signs in the halls. Of "Everitt Valefor of Control."
And then he thought back to the conversation with Ethel. The coming-of-age ceremony. The "being blessed by a God."
He spun a pen in his hand. Slowly, he connected the dots.
It seems like this coming-of-age ceremony… is more important than I thought.
After Menkel, Sir Hawford arrived. This man was a lot more eloquent and cool-headed, what he had expected from a noble's tutor. As such, it was also a lot less fun. Chao Zhenyu wondered why his mother would choose such a bore, or what differences he and the past tutor Arron had. Was this "heart of beasts and wolves" preferred? Then why was Menkel selected?
Faced with that always calm, pleasing face, Chao Zhenyu actually began to prefer Menkel. Even if Sir Hawford, who knew what to say and what not to, was easier to deal with. For an ethics tutor of all things, the only guidance that came out of his mouth were the most uncontroversial basics- stupid shit like "Do not harm your family unless you have a reason to" and "Killing is a complex topic that greatly depends on circumstance". The only upside about him was his soothing voice.
"...And although we are of Chaos, there are still matters most of us should abide by…"
Chao Zhenyu tilted his head. "I'm a believer of Balance."
Sir Hawford paused, still smiling, before he repeated what he said.
"And although we are of Balance, there are still matters most of us should abide by…"
"I don't like the sound of that," Chao Zhenyu interjected. "I'm now a supporter of Order."
"...And although we are of Order-"
With a hum, Chao Zhenyu got up from his table, before moving to his bed.
"Good," He yawned. "Now keep repeating that sentence. If I hear you stop…"
"Of course," Sir Hawford immediately replied, sweat on his brow. "And although we are of Order…"
As Sir Hawford's voice repeated in the background, Chao Zhenyu closed his eyes. Perfect. He had attended his lectures today- He deserved an afternoon nap.
And as for Sir Hawford, who ironically taught ethics, Chao Zhenyu could care less.