Above the waters are the earth; Above the earth are the trees; Above the trees are the skies; Above the skies are the stars; Above the stars is God, and above God is nothing. "Why aim higher for the things that aren't even there?" Megravia. The Book Of Reminiscent15:12.
Miya opened his eyes; just like every other day, he was surrounded by the 4 walls of his stone room.
A bed, a desk, a cupboard, and a chair; this is all he had within his room save for the few books that littered about.
He had not once ever layed on his bed, and every time anyone had seen him within his room, he'd either be at his desk or laying down on the floor as he did now.
He got up and moved over to his desk, opening a notebook and taking a seat. He pulled out a fountain pen from its ink and began to write.
It's been about a year since I first met Solomon. He wrote. '11 months'. A hand stretched down from behind Miya and wrote. Miya, ignoring it, continued writing.
Ever since our first meeting in the ''Floating Castle''; I had become his pupil and started studying and training under him after my school classes as part of our agreement.
"Are you ready, Miya?"
He recalled a memory of him and Solomon in the training room within the Floating Castle; Solomon looking down at him with a gleeful smile'drawing his blade from his sheathe. Miya is doing the same.
The training room was not like any other room in the castle, and the training was not like any other training a human could easily partake.
The training room had magic that allowed it to create a scenery of any kind, whether it be in the cold high mountains, stormy seas or in a flaming volcano; it would recreate it with so much perfection that you could even feel the change in temperature.
It would also recreate the creatures that usually lived that area to exist as well. There was nothing it couldn't recreate. But its perfection didn't mean beauty. If you took the wrong step or venture into the home of dangerous monsters, it would lead to death.
And the 2 of them made great use of it all. Solomon would not even mutter a word. He would just cut down mercilessly at Miya. Miya would lose his limbs, his organs, most times his head but it wouldn't matter, in a few seconds he would grow back out of one his limbs then the training would go on, most times before he had even full regenerated.
The limbs he left behind would often remain there littering the place. Since there was no way for those who stayed within the training room to leave it, they would often stay there for an unknown amount of time until someone outside would stop the simulations.
They would change weapons constantly due to Solomon's endless supply of weaponry and fight in the most drastic weather, and most times, the monsters of the area would also appear to make the fighting even more difficult.
None of them saw anything wrong in what they did they fought and fought and fought, only taking a break at the call of someone outside. They did this until one year had almost passed. Throughout this time, Miya's blade had not touched him even once.
"The training room creates a dimension according to the image pictured in one's mind and how they felt of the area. If someone thought of the area as hell, it would appear as hell. That's how it works, basically." Solomon once explained. "It doesn't really matter if the image is real or imaginary. As long as you can picture it, it will come to reality.
"There's a room where people from outside can monitor us and stop the session if there's a risk of us dying." Solomon continued.
"..."
Solomon looked back at Miya, his eyes shimmering under the light. "But we won't be needing that now, would we?" He smiled.
Our training sessions were followed up with study sessions where Reina would accompany us. Miya continued to write.
Ever since I met the creature in the tomb and the man who called himself 'Father Time'. There's only 2 things I've noticed.
The book that I picked up gets a new written page each day; when I originally opened it it only had one page; what was written on it was: 'Megravia'; beneath it 'The Book Of The King'. The rest of the pages were blank.
The 2 meant the same thing , but 'Megravia' was written in this world's language whereas 'The Book of The King' was written in Kanji.
The pages filled up day by day, but the only things written were my past from ever since I was a baby, and it just kept going from there; I only read the parts that talked about what the people around me were thinking. Nothing important, just to pass the time.
Somehow, reading it, I felt like the book wasn't meant for me. I'll wait for the pages to fill up more.
A metal creaking sound came from behind. Miya ignored it.
The second thing I noticed were the dreams I've been having. At least that's what I think they are, I never remember them, and whenever I try to remember them, all I can recall are clips and scenes that appeared like a flickering light.
Monsters pouring from every angle.
A giant that looked like a zombie.
A masked man I had never seen before.
And a boy called Remi.
The boy's face is the only one I can still vividly remember.
He dropped his pen, got up, and turned around. "Alright. Let's go." He spoke to the other Miya that was seated on the bed.
This other Miya was mixed with mechanical limbs. His face was half burnt; a golden prosthetic leg and arm; burns stretching down from his face to the parts that couldn't be seen beneath his clothes.
The mechanical looked at the other Miya with his one green-eyed iris. His hands were placed over each other on his lap.
He couldn't speak, but he didn't need to. The 2 of them could perfectly predict what each other was saying merely by looking at each other.
"Hm? Why I didn't write about you in the notebook?" He said as he pulled open a cupboard. "Because it wasn't important." He brought out a key and began rolling up a sheet from the ground that was perfectly camouflaged.
The other Miya stared, watching.
"I can add you if you want. You are the original, after all."
The mechanical Miya was the original Miya. The one given birth to by the Graystovs, the one that befriended Reina and the one who walked towards Solomon as a living corpse during the monsters rampage in the Floating Castle.
The other one that appeared fully human was a mere replicant that grew out of one of the originals torn off hands.
Beneath the rolled up sheet was a hatch. Miya pulled it up, and it flipped open like a book leading down to a staircase.
The mechanical Miya waved his non-mechanical arm in disagreement. Standing up, he was the first one to go down the stairs. Miya, following behind, closing the hatch behind them.
The rolled up sheet was torn at the endings, but in the form of a light silver mist, the torn endings reattached to the floor, and another mist spread out concealing the hatch. Camouflaging it in the same colour as the floor.
The way leading down the stairs was dark. Not a single light ray shimmered down beneath the earth. They were silent until they came to a halt before a door.
The mechanical opened it. A light shun from behind it. There was a candle lit chandelier hanging from the ceiling at the centre of the room.
Directly beneath it, a bench and table with a set of tools all covered with dried blood staining the ground.
The tools on the table mainly consisted of farm tools: shears, axes, pitchforks, hammers, long broad nails, and many more of such items, all littered all over it.
The mechanical took off his clothes. Naked, he lied on the bench.
Miya brought out 4 small glass tubes from his pocket containing oil and some cotton.
He picked up the pitchfork and broke the stick, shortening the part closest to the fork, and poured the oil on the fork using the cotton to spread it around, making sure it spread everywhere on the metal.
He then used the dampened cotton to rub the oil around the mechanicals chest. Leaving the cotton on him after he was done.
He carried the long stick he broke of the pitch fork and set it ends aflame using the candle from the chandelier.
"If we're lucky, you might actually die this time." Miya said.
Forcefully driving the pitchfork into the mechanical ls chest. Then, placing the flaming end of the stick between the mechanical's chest and the pitchfork.
The flames came alive. Burning and burning the heat arose and multiplied due to the place being underground and devoid of any air space.
The mechanical, his eyes still fully open as the fire fumed.
Miya threw the stick on the ground, then walked over to the table, picking up the bloodstained axe. Turning to the mechanical, pulling up his arm, aiming at his head.
The 2 Miyas looked each other in the eyes, both showing no emotion.
The axe swung down.
In one of the farmhouses on the outskirts of the village, Reina was there saddled with the responsibility of taking care of her younger siblings while her parents took care of the farm.
Reina was very skilled and known well for being a responsible child who many adults depended on for running errands and such.
But right now, as she diligently took care of her rowdy siblings, she seemed lost in thought.
What's happening? I've just been going along with it because Miya didn't seem bothered , but...
Solomon. He's killing him. No, he has killed him multiple times...but he just rides it off as training. This isn't right. Even after everything Miya went through, Solomon still cuts him down without remorse.
...
what are they even training for? How does Miya keep recovering when he can't even use magic? Why did his hair colour suddenly become black?....
The questions kept adding up, and Reina suddenly realised that she didn't actually know anything about Miya.
She felt a mix of emotions she couldn't explain. Her mind fell deeper into a world of her own thoughts. Until a knock on the door pulled her back to reality.
Just on time too, two of her siblings had picked up kitchen knives and were about to start a sword fight.
She quickly ran to stop them before she attended to the person at the door. I'm never reading them that storybook again.
To her astonishment, the person behind the door was someone she had never expected to see at her doorstep.
It was a boy her age; white-haired tied to a ponytail with a bit of it covering the top of his right eye.
Something about him made her feel....scared.
"Yo!" The white-haired boy greeted with a cheerful smile, revealing all his teeth.
Reina didn't reply; she stood, stunned and confused, letting the expression clearly show on her face.
"Can I come in?" He asked.
"Ah! Sure..." Reina replied as she stepped away from the door, letting him in.
The boy carried a basket filled with loaves of bread and set it on the dining table. "Man, it's been a while since I've been here."
"You've been here before?" Reina asked, a tone of nervousness in her voice.
"Mm, but back then, you weren't around." He looked around a bit before he took a seat.
All of Reina's siblings immediately went and started climbing and playing with the boy aside from her only sister. The boy treated them all kindly and played along with them.
Reina took a seat in a chair beside them, taking the littlest one that clung to her, her sister, into her arms and brought her to her chest.
She stared at the boy as she cradled her baby sister. Her fear had calmed down, but her mind was still slightly agitated.
"You don't have to be that nervous that I'm here. It's normal for classmates to visit each other, isn't it? The boy spoke out of nowhere, looking directly into her eyes.
Purple Reina thought as she avoided his eyes, hesitating for a moment. "Yeah..."
What's wrong with me? I've seen him plenty of times before; we've been classmates since forever, so what if he has purple eyes?! She sighed. Maybe I just need some water.
She tried to get up, but her little sister wouldn't let her, continuously tug her gown whenever she tried to stand and make weird sounds.
"Hm? What's wrong? Do you need something?" But her sister didn't reply. Instead, the little girl broke into a loud wail of tears.
"Huh? Why are you crying?" Reina began cradling her soothingly and saying calming words, trying the best she could to calm her down.
The other siblings played with the boy roughly, pulling his hair and cheeks and bitting his arm all while spitting a hoard of questions at him.
"Okay, okay. Calm down." The boy spoke while laughing. Gently getting them off him.
As the boys got down, they immediately started running and playing around the living room.
Reina, being totally used to it, tried to get the boys to stop all while still cradling her sister but because of her sister's endless wails and tears she decided it was better to calm her down first before going after the little devils.
"You didn't come to school for a while. What happened?" The boy asked.
"Ah! Sorry, this really isn't the time." Reina could barely hear him through her sisters wails.
"I'm just curious." He stood up and stretched.
He isn't letting this go. She suddenly felt annoyed. "Some stuff....came up." But as she recalled the memories from the forest to the floating castle, fear and uneasiness washed over her.
"What stuff?"
She got pissed again. "Look, I'd really like to talk about this, but -" her words cut short, and so did her annoyance.
Something drooped between her fingers, and looking down, she saw a red liquid she had oddly become familiar with. It flowed out of both of her baby sisters ears and rested on her fingers.
"Blood?" She spoke aloud.
Then, her 4 little brothers ran out from behind and hurdled over the one they were chasing.
When they all got up, blood flowed out the bloodshot eyes of all their happy faces.
"Hah! Mion! You look just like the demon from the story!" One of the siblings said, pointing at another.
"Huh?! No way! Nico looks more like the demon." He pointed at another.
"I'm not a demon! Raeon is! He's the worst out of all of us." The other sibling retorted.
"What're you saying?" The last sibling said.
One of the siblings immediately got up and started running. "Run away from the demon!" He yelled. Two of his siblings followed after him as the last started the chase.
Reina's eyes followed the boy's until a looming shadow covered her face.
She flinched, her back sinking into the backrest of the chair as she looked forward speechlessly at the boy, breathing heavily. At this point, the wails of her sister, which she held tightly to her chest, meant nothing to her.
The boy, caressing her hair, pulled it closer to his nose.
Reina's body was tensed with fear, and before she knew it, she was frozen.
The boy sniffed her hair. "You smell like him. Were you with him?"
"..."
"Hahaha! You're speechless," he laughed as he let the strands of hair he held droop down his fingers; gently placing his hand on her cheek, his face forever a smile as he let his smile slowly run down her neck. "That's pretty cute."
The young boys ran around outside in the fields, still continuing their game. Their eyes were still bleeding as the demon chased them around; they laughed and screamed in the joy and excitement they shared.
They looked peaceful, delighted, and happy; bringing a warmth to the heart with their innocence.
Suddenly, the demon came to a halt.
His eyes were more bloodshot than the rest.
His brothers turned to look at him when they stopped hearing his roars.
The demon clutched to his stomach and walked back as if staggered; a hurl of dark-red blood splurted on the ground.
The demon's eyes clattered against their walls. He couldn't keep his feet on the ground, blood splatter covered his jaw, and his world turned as he vomited a second time; his body landed sideways on a splatter of his own blood.
The demon rolled onto his back. He didn't even have the strength to move his limbs. His eyes were now fully blood and carried the weight of heavy bags. He looked up at the sky, barely able to breathe.
His brothers walked up and stood over him. Smiling.
"He's down!"
"This is our chance!"
"Defeat the demon!"
The children happily raised their feet and rained down rampant stomps on the demon.
The demon watched as his brothers crushed him beneath their heels. And a weak smile grew on his battered and bloody face.
His eyes had grown dull, and he no longer felt pain. He was happy.
A transparent body grew out of the demon, radiant purple with a light misty air of the same colour floating about it, and shimmers of light flowed out.
The body had the same smiling face as that of the demon but no scars, no blood, no tears. The body's growth led to its ascension as the curtains of light that attached it to the demon were slowly coming loose.
To the eyes of the normal, this was a mystifying sight, but to the boys, it was a thrill.
"Just a bit more!" They cried excitedly as they continued to stomp on him. Blood began flowing from their lips.
"Hey," the boy said. "To be honest, I never really thought of you as much, but seeing you now, I think I'm starting to love you."
Reina couldn't believe what she was hearing.
He gently caressed her cheek, running his hand down to her chin and gently lifting it up; "so what do you say? Do you love me too?"
The boy's eyes looked loving and caring, and his touch was gentle; an honest and sincere smile mixed with a light blush on his cheeks along with the innocence of his youth, made out the entirety of the boy.
"No." Reina shivered as frickles of sweat ran down her disgust filled face.
The boy's eyes lost their shimmer. He kept his smile, even at the sight of an expression he knew all too well. "Hahh, that's too bad," the boy sighed.
"Well, I really did come just to visit," he said as he walked to the door. Reina shuffled away, staring at the boy while still clutching her now silent sister.
He laughed. "Say 'hi' to Miya for me; See you later, Reina." Reverting back to his old self, he gave her a cheerful smile and left the house, shutting the door behind him.
Immediately as the door shut, frost patches rapidly grew all over Reina's body but not to her awareness. Her mind became instantly flooded with the state of her brothers, and she immediately ran out of the house, not daring to leave her sister behind.
She ran around carelessly, her eyes searching about, she never stopped moving, her breathe became frost and her entire body was shaking; when she found their gory lifeless bodies on the floor; she released a terrible cry as she stumbled before them.
In a feeble attempt, she drew them to her body as she wept. It was only when she started seeing the frost grow on their bodies that she noticed that her powers were active.
She had to rushingly place them all back on the floor, including her sister, who seemed to have suffered the worst out of the frost and shuffled back.
She apologized as she watched the frost continuously growing on their bodies. She couldn't even touch them. The small area of land around her had frozen, so she couldn't even go closer to them.
She sat there on the icy floor, dirty and weeping, as she continued to cry for help, not knowing what to do.
The sight was too much.
The pain was too much.
But the suffering continued.
She continued to cry, but she had already noticed that none of them were breathing.
Soon, her father and a bunch of other farmers who had heard her wails arrived at the scene. They looked at the children then at Reina.
They couldn't make heads or tails of it but they rushed to the children's aid regardless.
And the father said to a farmer. "Call Solomon."
Solomon sat at a desk in a golden furnished room, spinning a pen between his fingers, blankly looking up to the ceiling. Erenea was cleaning around the room, and the twins were happily giggling between themselves.
"Hey Erenea, how do you think the creature died?" Solomon asked.
Erenea turned to look at him, stopping what she was doing."The creature's dead? How do you know?"
"Miya told us about it, remember."
"Well, I don't know much about the creature, so I just assumed he teleported away like he usually does."
"Yeah, that's true, we've been trying to get close to him for years, but he'd always just teleport away." Nael said.
"Yeah, its way of teleporting was rather unique." Solomon said.
"What do you mean?" Neal asked.
"He's talking about how the creature never left any mana traces behind." Erenea said.
"Huh?" Both of the twins looked confused.
"Whenever you use magic, there's always a trace, but somehow, the creature manages to use magic without leaving any traces."
"Oh! That's so cool!" Neal exclaimed.
"But how does it manage to do that?" Nael asked.
"Who knows?" Solomon said, shifting his head to the side. "But I'm sure he's dead." He giggled faintly.
"The creature always moved around with that old tower. Before I met up with Reina in the forest, that same tower suddenly appeared behind me.
I checked inside, but no one was there, just paintings underground, a bunch of old documents in a language I couldn't recognize.
My assumption of the creature was always a human spirit who had somehow taken a human form with a lingering attachment to that tower, but now I feel like there was more than that." The picture of the book and cloak flashed in Solomon's mind."..."
A spirit with a physical form, I guess that can explain why it was able to use magic without leaving any traces of mana. Only spirits can do that. Erenea thought. But is that possible? She looked at Solomon.
Solomon stood up from the chair, still spinning the pen between his fingers.
"Maybe he was waiting for someone, someone who could free him, and after he was freed, he left the tower for me as a present." Solomon said as he slowly walked around. But he also brought Miya directly to the castle , which means it knew about how I was planning to meet him, but how?
"Hm? But why would the creature do that?" Nael asked.
"Well, it's not like it doesn't know how much we've been chasing after him. Maybe he sent it to us as a reward after his passing." Neal said.
"But what would've made it think we'd want the castle?" Nael asked.
"Umm, Instinct?"
A short moment passed. "...are you trying to say he did suicide?" Erenea asked, looking directly at Solomon. Everyone looked at her wide-eyed.
"Suicide." Solomon spoke, looking away from Erenea and taking a few steps, looking at nothing in particular. "No, I don't think so. If it was suicide he could've killed himself a long time ago....but then again; it wouldn't be wrong to assume that he had been waiting to die."
"Ah! So the person he was waiting for, was it Miya?" Nael asked.
There was silence. Solomon stared to the sky outside the window.
"Erenea. Can you tell me exactly how you failed to transport Miya."
Erenea looked slightly annoyed, but she answered regardless. "How much do you want to know?"
"As much as you deem important." Solomon sunk back into his chair, relaxing as he crossed his legs up on his desk and closed his eyes.
"My teleportation ability comes in 3 stages. First, I trap my target in a domain created by my mana. This causes the target's view of the world to alter rapidly. This will also affect the target's brain cramming it with multiple thoughts and emotions, allowing me to enter the second phase.
When the brains of living beings are jumbled with thoughts or a high amount of emotions, their bodies reflexively release mana that was stored within it; during this process, my mana within the domain can seep into the target's body and rip it apart. This stage can be very painful to the target and is most likely to cause immediate death; thus, I go through their memories and replay their happiest moments in life. The target would perceive the memory as if he or she is actually reliving it so they won't even notice the pain."
Nael looked bored.
"You could even say that during the second stage, the target is taken to a whole other world.
Finally, in the last stage, I take the broken down pieces of the target's body and attach it to my dragon form, and then I fly them to the set location."
"Huh? But that doesn't sound like teleportation." Neal said.
"Exactly! I thought teleportation was just appearing and disappearing somewhere else!" Nael yelled. Solomon opened his eyes.
"Well, it's like that for some people, but my case is different due to circumstances." Erenea said as she looked at Solomon with empty eyes.
The twins both looked confused.
"Nael, Neal. Humans can't normally use or handle the powers of other species unless they've been exposed to their mana at least once. That's why for Erenea to be able to start teleporting Miya and Reina freely, like she does for us, she needed to first get their bodies to adapt to their mana." Solomon said as he got up and approached the twins.
"Oh!" The twins both smiled at each other. "That makes sense."
"But Erenea, I actually have no memory of ever going through this process. Did my memory get erased?" Solomon asked as he happily patted both of the twins.
"No...for some reason, your body was immediately able to adapt to my mana, so there was no need to go through the usual process." Meiv answered.
"And how long does this process usually take?"
"Usually 2 minutes."
"Did it take 2 minutes for both Miya and Reina, then?"
"Well, for Reina, yes; but for Miya, it only took 5 seconds."
Solomon giggled faintly. He left the twins and walked to Erenea, who was standing still. "Now explain how you managed to lose Miya." He started down at her wide-eyed, his smile almost like a me laugh.
The twins started at them silently.
"..."Erenea sighed. "I didn't lose him... he was taken." Solomon giggled.
Erenea put her face down to the floor, her brows furrowed as she avoided his face. "When I was in my dragon form, I moved in the astral world where only spirits exist; immediately I entered the astral world, it felt like something was missing but it was only after I had arrived the forest with Reina that I realised what it was."
"But why did you travel through the astral world?" Neal asked.
"Because -"
"That's enough." Solomon interrupted, walking away from Erenea, a triumphant look on his face as he sunk into the couch.
Everyone was confused.
"What is it now?" Erenea asked, the annoyance still on her face.
"Um? Solomon? Is everything alright?" Nael asked.
"Do you need something?" Neal asked.
"It's over." Solomon said, sighing a breath of relief.
Everyone was still confused.
"You finally gave up?" Erenea asked; the twins exclaimed. "What! Really?!"
"No. No." Solomon laughed. "I've discovered the identity of the creature."
"Oh. Alri- Eh?" Erenea said.
"What?! How?!" Nael yelled.
"Nael, stop yelling, please." Neal said.
Erenea started at him silently. "And who do you think it is?"
"Erenea, are you familiar with Levero Gavstadi?" Solomon asked, turning on his back.
Erenea shook her head, "But I've heard of him."
"What?! Who doesn't know him?! He was one of the best authors of all time, not much of him is known but everyone that's ever read his books call him a genius and even till now everyone still remembers the stories he made." Nael said excitedly.
"He featured In all genres and his works dealt heavily with psychology, philosophy and both weapon and architectural infrastructure..." Nael continued, "but suddenly, he stopped releasing any new books."
"Was that when he died?" Erenea asked.
"No one knows." Nael said.
Solomon stood up and walked towards the door. "It wasn't." He said before walking out.
Nael looked puzzled, but all of them thought it'd be best to just keep silent and follow Solomon.
They walked down the golden hall with the giant tree at it's centre. Slowly spiralling down the stairs to the ground floor.
There was a silence, then Solomon spoke. "Nael, what was the last book of Levero Gavstadi."
"It was a romance story called 'The Tales of Time'. It was released 13th B.D.T. " Nael replied.
"Wrong."
"Huh? No, I'm not!"
"The last book he ever wrote was a single copy. Released on the 1st B.D.T. " Solomon said, smiling as he walked. The golden light of the tree radiated brightly on his back. "The Book was seized and taken directly to the 5 Kings at the time. They gathered together to read the book but try as they might. They could never get past the first page."
...silence.
"Why was that?" Nael asked.
"Why do you think?" Solomon asked, turning back with a wide grin.
....
"Time...?" Erenea suggested softly a serious look on his face.
"Oh? Why do you think that?" Solomon asked as he turned to Erenea.
"...if you take into account all the stories you hear of Father Time, it might be possible." Erenea said.
"But that doesn't mean it couldn't be something else. Because if it were true that Father Time had involvement with Levero, then that would mean..." Neal contested.
"Death." Nael said as if declaring judgement.
....
"Unlike the other Casualties, Father Time was a human, and any involvement with him would lead to a straight death sentence." Solomon said as he kept going lower.
"But..." Neal, agitated, turned to her sister, who looked emotionless. "There was no proof."
"For the Kings that was proof enough." Solomon said. His eyes began to shine like gold as he stared at the light gleaming down from the tree.
They were approaching the garden at the foot of the tree.
"They buried him. In a prison deep below the Earth. Tied to a stake and burnt by the flames of the great dragon Lisfiax."
Nael let out a short wimper.
The group came to a halt a few feet away from the garden.
"So that's how he died." Ernea said. She watched as Neal walked closer to her sister and gently took her hand.
"Levero didn't die." Solomon stated.
"Huh?" The girls said all together.
Solomon, his eyes on the tree. Closed his eyes and began swaying his head gently as if listening to a tune, a smile on his face.
"That's not possible. No one can withstand that dragons flames." Erenea proclaimed.
A gentle humming sound filled the room, but none of them paid any mind.
"He didn't." Solomon said. "Levero burned and burned till his ashes mixed with his skin, till his body turned to mould and smoke filled his organs."
The twins widened their eyes. Solomon looked back at them with a smile. His hair raising, radiating gold. His hair tie burned to a crisp.
"Levero was...immortal?" Erenea asked.
"Not immortal." Nael said.
"Cursed." Neal said. The two twins said as if hypnotised.
A voice began singing. The voice of a little boy. A beautiful voice.
Solomon laughed as he danced. "Cursed. Cursed by time. An undying body, a soul that had reached the gates of the afterlife but could never cross."
... but that'll mean he never died. Erenea thought. So was the reason why he never left any mana traces because his soul had become accustomed to the feeling of death.
"But why would Father Time keep him alive?"
"Why not?" Solomon laughed. Erenea stared at him, confused. "A slave is better alive than dead. Regardless of its condition."
Erenea's expression was the mixture of disgust and speechlessness.
The twins were motionless, and a second voice began singing, the voice of a little girl accompanying the boy's.
Golden feathers rose from the ground, and the whole room began to change. Everything turned gray and water filled the ground. All that remained the same was the garden and it's tree, it's light ever radiant.
"Levero Gavstadi, slave to the man of time and cursed to be undying, suffered under the eternal flames of the great dragon of war."
Waves took shape randomly all over the water. The golden feathers swayed round. A flute, a lyre, a harp, a symphony of songs began to play.
Solomon danced. His body flowed with his song.
"Pity the keeper took on him and spent 3 months extinguishing his flames. Untying his restraints and setting him free."
Animals of different kinds came to shape, translucent and radiant, their heads raised to the light under the tree.
"Once released, Levero disappeared, and so was the accursed book filled with blasphemies."
Erenea, staggering, her eyes drooping. "The Book...why...was it so important? Why did it... command such punishment."
Mist flowed round Solomon in a golden radiance, and a trumpet sounded. Its waves merged all into one, and all gold and sound came together. All animals joined as one. Erenea bowed to the ground.
Light left Solomon, and he merged it all into one. The radiance had all left his eyes, his hair had lost its flow; to the glowing radiance of the sun formed above his head. Brighter than the stars.
The boy's voice had gone silent, so too the girl's. Solomon stared at the light above him. Smiling with relief.
He then answered the daught- he then answered Erenea's question. "Horros, blasphemies, prophecies, the end of life, and the denial of all the truths we believed in. On a single page, he had more than enough information that could drive one mad. But all were false, and none could be proven true."
Solomon looked at the great tree. "That was The Book of The King. That was the Megravia."
Solomon kept silent as if awaiting a response. "The handwork of your father and his slave. So what will you do? Will you join him in creating such a world? Continue the mad killings of Father Time or remain in your beloved tree as your children continue to cry and suffer." Solomon wore his usual smirk on his face.
There was a silence that seemed neverending. Solomon smile grew, and then he looked to the side. As if he had just made a change of plans, he looked again at the sun he had made its beautiful rays of wavy light, and he raised his index finger to it. Bowing his head. "Ledebeli."
He moved his finger down to the tree, the world vibrated, and golden light left images of Solomon's movement, the light tracing his movement. Solomon positionioned his hanf as if firing a bullet with his index and using his thumb as the hammer.
All that large amount of light rushingly concentrated to his index finger.
The world became hazy, and the vibrations grew strong, strong, and strong. It left the world blurry; the only clear images, Solomon and the garden before him.
A maddening smile on his face as the light rotated before his finger growing ever smaller but creating a heavy rush of wind.
No sound, but so much power was felt from such a tiny thing the size of a rice grain.
Once more. Solomon laughed.
And his light fired.
BOOOOOOMMM!!! The girls were still stuck in a trance as Solomon's body flew straight past them, breaking into a wall. His hair was disarranged and a mess as he fell unto the floor. The twins were the first to slowly trace their heads back, still stuck in a trance, Erenea followed she still being on one knee.
As Solomon staggered up, Erenea was the first to regain her senses. "Solomon!" She yelled, surprised. The twins then regained their senses and flew to Solomon's aid.
"Are you okay?"
"What happened?"
"Ahaha...I failed." Solomon grunted as he got up.
The twins looked worried and confused. Erenea got up and looked at the garden, then back at Solomon. "Did you try to get into the garden?"
"Yup." Solomon said as he adjusted his neck. And began tying his hair.
"Are you crazy?!" Nael asked.
"No one can get into the garden!" Neal proclaimed.
"I know! I know! I just wanted to try my luck. Hehehe." Solomon replied cheerfully.
Erenea walked up to Solomon. They stared at each other, but right before Erenea could say anything, a blue light began glowing from her eyes.
"Yes? Wait, what? Calm down. Reina?" She looked at Solomon with worried eyes. She grew scales out of her arm and plucked one out it began to float.
Voices poured out from it. "Please! Please! My children! My children! Please!" It was a man's voice.
"Tell me what happened." Solomon said calmly.
"Please! Please! I can't lose my kids...I can't...please I can't please...I can't! Please, Solomon!" The man begged. His voice shaking with unsteady breathes.
Solomon turned to the others. "Let's go." Nodding to Erenea, and in a flash, they disappeared. The tree of the garden standing mighty in all its splendor.