Nathan found himself in a familiar room that resembled the students' dormitories, only more personalised to signal that it was probably for a year 3 student. As he found out in his visit to Jonathan Schwarz a couple of days ago, the living areas of the students were renovated to suit their style; it was just that Jonathan hadn't.
There were two figures that he remembered deeply in his memory: Eric Runaria, who was at his desk writing something steadily, and his mother, Viviana Modernson, lying sluggishly on the bed, staring at the ceiling in boredom. Nathan still couldn't figure out whether the Eric before him was his father or his twin brother from his demeanour or appearance.
"Come on… Come on…" Viviana murmured loudly to herself to hint Eric to look at her. "Can we do something fun together? You had been writing for 20 minutes already, that's too much work done for one day."
Viviana couldn't see from her angle, but Nathan saw a smile cross Eric's face that he hid tracelessly as he turned around to face her. "I told you, it's an assessment due tomorrow. The professor would kill me if I didn't finish it today." He tried to sound careless, but the speed of his writing visibly increased as he turned back to his work.
"No, he wouldn't!" Viviana complained. "You are the crown prince! Who dares to lay a finger on you?"
Eric shook his head. "That's the reason why I must take responsibility for my work. If I can't even complete an assessment in time, how would people see me as the future king of Runalond?"
"Don't care. I would just abuse my status if I were you," Viviana scoffed. "There are so many things a crown prince can do that others can't, it's boring if you don't do them!"
Nathan cracked up, like mother, like son. He finally figured out whose personality he inherited. It just turned out that Viviana changed as her age progressed. Nathan wondered if the same would happen to him.
"Fine, fine, this can wait." Eric closed his notebook and stood up from his chair. "I'll take care of you first."
"Yay!" Viviana instantly shot up from the bed like a cat, her boredom flying away faster than Nathan turned his head away when she jumped onto Eric, shouting, "That's why I love you!"
Just when the two were embracing each other, or rather, from the corner of Nathan's eyes, Eric trying to push her off him playfully while Viviana wouldn't budge, a knock on the door interrupted their moment.
Without waiting for a reply, the door swung open, and Agnes Paradox saw what was going on in the room. She rolled her eyes like a disappointed parent.
"Wrong timing, Agnes!" Viviana didn't seem to be embarrassed about being seen clinging to Eric's body and held him even tighter. "Come back later."
"How come it's wrong timing every time I see you two together?" Agnes's forehead tightened. "Also, have some respect for the person who's keeping your two's relationship secretive. I could leak it right now if I want to."
At least for casual times, Nathan would comment that Agnes was far more approachable than the son she raised. He was surprised how unpretentious she sounded when she condemned the relationship between a crown prince and the future First Seat of the Rune Arts Federation. Was she simply not aware that Viviana was the strongest Rune Artist of all time in the current era?
"So be it." Agnes sighed and turned around. "It's not urgent anyway."
With Agnes's exit, the light in the room began to dim and blur out perversely. Nathan was left in the chaotic, distorting space, drowning in the resonance of words that could not piece out a full sentence, until everything reset into a different form.
From the look of it, Nathan, as well as the two shadows before him, were still stuck in the Imperial Academy, just somewhere so far up that even he had not visited. He looked around on the fenceless platform, so close yet so far from the cloud. When Nathan stared down, he came to the realisation that perhaps death wasn't the part people were scared of, but the formidability of height itself.
Undoubtedly, they were on the large cupola of the central tower. Nathan had no idea who was the first one to be stupid and brave enough to find a way up here, but he was amazed at how much peace he found on it.
"I'm just playing around with her. The stability of the kingdom remains the paramount of my priority list." The sentence came from Eric Runaria, who was now confirmed by Nathan to be his father. Nathan shook his head at how horribly untruthful his father sounded back then when telling a lie. For the personality that he had always been proud of, the credit had to go to his mother.
"Just playing around. Nice one," Agnes Paradox, easily distinguishable by her hair, gave a humourless laugh. "A complete stranger to you could catch that lie, let alone me. We've known each other for as long as our memory could remember. No wonder it was prophesied that the kingdom would fall into chaos under your hands."
"I'm not trying to lie to you," Eric sounded down. "I'm trying to lie to myself."
"There is no tomorrow where me and her could be together. I will become the king of Runalond, and she will become the First Seat of the Supreme Seven Seats. For our lives' worth, we must paint an absurd picture for the public to see, an irresolvable hatred towards each other." He continued, gazing up at the bright galaxy.
"I sometimes wish I weren't the crown prince of Runalond."
Agnes lifted her glasses; her strict tone almost sounded forced. "Just how stupid can someone be to say that? Do you know how many people envy your position? You would become the highest of the highest, one of the strongest figures of Runalond, who would be written as tales for the future. You are the luckiest, most privileged bastard ever born in this generation. Do you still think that's not enough?"
Eric sighed. "But the problems in life are not always about not having enough. In my case, it's about having too much."
"Unable to be together with the one I love, forever paranoid of the prophecy that may or may not come, troubled by the guilt I feel for my twin brother. All of this is just too much."
"I just… I just…" Eric's lips clashed, unable to find the right words. "Don't feel like I'm Eric Runaria, all I am is just 'the crown prince of Runalond.'"
For once, Agnes couldn't compose a reply to counter his opinion. She looked around and primped her hair, desperately trying to find something to say. She eventually surrendered to a simple "Then what do you want?"
"I don't know, but I've decided on something…"
"This throne, I don't want it anymore."
Nathan expected fury to come out of Agnes's mouth, but all that came was plainness.
"Sure, if that's what you want." Agnes sat beside Eric and looked up just like he did. "I never managed to convince you of many things; I might as well not try. You know, sometimes escaping some responsibilities won't hurt."
"I have a plan, Agnes," Eric said. "But I need you to turn a blind eye to it."
Silently, Agnes fell onto her back and rested her arms behind her head, and, as if she were enjoying a nice vacation, she closed her eyes comfortably.
After that, the same reality distortion occurred again, and Nathan found himself in a palace, luxuriously decorated but absent light.
The only person who entered Nathan's sight was Agnes Paradox. She leaned against a double door with her arms crossed, eavesdropping on the conversation inside. What came out of the room were two completely identical voices. It almost felt like somebody was talking to themselves.
"My brother, ever since you've been incarcerated here, I've been telling you the tales of the outside. If you kill me right now and replace me as the true Eric Runaria, nobody could tell us apart. Do you know what that means?"
"I understand… I've expected this day to come. I mean, I've never meant to be alive at all, have I? I have no hope left for either this world or myself. At least my executor is you, my dearest brother."
"I'm afraid you would have to suffer for a bit longer, Erik. From now on, the throne is yours to take. I no longer have any desire left to rule this conflicted kingdom."
"…This has to be a test, right?"
"I'm afraid not. I've had enough of this title, enough of the responsibilities and expectations the world forced on me. The tomorrow I dream of is not rotting on a throne, to have to turn against the very one I love, to imprison my kin in a lightless chamber until his death, to face a future that is prophesied to end in my hands."
"Brother… I…"
"I'm sorry, Erik, from our birth, I've always owed you such an unbearable favour. Please, this will be the last time."
"Brother… If I were to take the throne, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to give it back…"
"See? You are more fit for a king than I."
"…"
Their voices began to quiet down for Nathan, and whether this also applied to the sighing Agnes Paradox by the door was a hard question to answer.
Agnes's body remained concrete as the other members of the environment fell apart into pieces, reconverging into a place that resembled a court but with a dark chrysalis at the back. Nathan swallowed, triggering memories of what the chrysalis represented.
"For the last time, have you made up your mind to be banished to Lostburg forever, as a rejected member of society, the very antithesis of your being?" A solemn man with half-white, half-black hair announced to Eric Runaria below. Interestingly, he was not sitting on the throne that seemed to want an owner. Agnes Paradox stood in the company of shadows by the wall, her expression completely enveloped by darkness.
"I have," Eric replied without hesitation. "Only then can I save my life."
The man, clearly the head of the Paradox Clan before Agnes, nodded in complimenting acknowledgment. "A wise decision, Prince Erik. Better to live a wretched life than to die a good death."
Nathan wasn't focused on them, however. His eyes were locked on Agnes, who almost blended into the background. Even in a situation like this, she remained dead silent, and nothing could be deciphered from her ever-unassuming face. It almost felt like she was watching a play, not something that she took part in that could change the fate of Runalond forever. Thinking about that, Nathan thanked her deeply, even though he knew she could not hear. Without her, Nathan would not be standing here right now.
And finally, the fragmented memories were flipped to their last page. Nathan, Eric, Viviana, and Agnes stood among an unending sea of daffodils dancing elegantly with the calm breeze. It was impossible for Nathan not to feel astonished by the beauty of this landscape that he had never known existed. His memories were dragged to a few months ago, where Granny Bella lived. It seemed like her place was a replica of this breathtaking scenery, perhaps because this was a place that buried her very own story.
"Farewell, Eric. We will certainly meet each other again in the future. Unfortunately, whether we are still ourselves at that time is unknown."
"Don't worry, Agnes, people don't really change that easily." Eric swallowed, looking at Agnes in an apologetic sorrow. "If possible, remain in contact with me, hm?"
"If that's what you wish," Agnes sighed again, but among all the sighs that Nathan had heard come out of her mouth, this one was the only one that truly felt relieving. "To be honest, from all these years, I've always treated you as my younger brother. Now we have to bid farewell… It's not an easy feeling, you know?"
"Don't you think about stealing him from me!" Viviana grasped onto Eric's arms defensively, like a cat hissing at invaders.
"Sorry, not a fan of incest." Agnes squeezed out a smile. "You two are a match made in heaven, a fool and a maniac."
"Whatever," Viviana dismissed. "Everything aside, Agnes, thank you so much for helping us. Because of this, everything else you've done is forgiven, deal?"
Agnes laughed. She sounded exhausted.
"You are… a very unique girl, to say the least. Not his fault that he fell for you," Agnes concluded, her youthful voice carrying a sense of burden that usually only came with age. "Enough, I have other things to do; we shall part now."
With that, Agnes turned around and strolled habitually towards the distance where Endnest was almost visible. Her hair fluttered in the wind, tangling the black and white strands together in a chaotic yet deeply artistic beauty.
"Farewell, sister." Eric lowered his head.
"Agnes, seriously! Thank you for everything you have done!" Viviana shouted from behind, jumping in excitement. "I will never forget you!"
Agnes's footsteps froze; after an imperceptible hesitation, she continued walking again, leaving her final words to be carried by the wind.
"Just helping a friend."
And the landscape before Nathan collapsed.