Adonis followed my gaze, then looked back at me. "What?" He asked, studying me. He doesn't see that? Before my hand left the console table, I heard a subtle humming. My head snapped towards the noise. "Hey, what's that thingy doing?" Rein asked from behind me.
The cases had a mix of what looked like silver gears, gyros, and cogs outfitted with gems and engravings in a script that I couldn't read. The hum seemed to be coming from the case at the edge. It had a dulled blue crystal-like orb in it, no larger than the size of a plum.
My hand instinctively recoiled, but not before seeing it flicker with a strange azure light. "Did you get a good look at it, Rein?" I asked, still entranced. She shook her head no.
"No, I thought I saw some writing on it, though." She walked towards the edge of the table, kneeling so she was at eye level with the orb. Her eyes were wide and filled with curiosity. I thought about the scratch marks on the floor, but this is a little bit more interesting. I probed the glass case with my finger, and the orb lit up again.
Is it… reacting to me? Or maybe it's sensitive to mana… If that's even a thing.
"Rein, try to touch it." I asked, my eyes still fixed on the case. Adonis made his way over, also studying the orb. "Adonis, do you know what these artifact things are?"
Rein's hand hovered over the case, but nothing happened. Strange, I wasn't channeling any mana when I tried, at least not intentionally, so I guess there's no point in asking her to try that. Adonis's shoulders bobbed.
"I'm not entirely sure," He poked at the case, eyebrows knit in careful concentration. "I have heard sometimes people return from their trials with strange objects."
I turned to face him. "Trials?"
He mentioned something about trials earlier when he was talking about how Dean became a sword saint.
"Oh yeah," He said through a squint. "You're clueless," I shrugged. Can't argue with the truth.
"The trials are where the most powerful mages receive their reigns. If they are strong enough to get past the five stages of trials." Passion started to well in the young prince, excitedly gritting his teeth like a mad scientist. "Those mages are called Aberrants, and they are the only ones who've interacted with the deities that rule the realms the trials are in." He continued
Dean said we have three gates to those realms here, and that's why Alestrios was so heavily sought after. And Adonis mentioned Dean killed one of the deities but why would he do that, I wondered. The gears in my brain started to turn trying to thread the pieces of this mystery into something digestable.
"What's a reign? And does my Dad have one since he beat one of these realms?" I asked, I slid my hand under my elbow and cradled my chin between my thumb and index finger.
"All I know is it makes the abberants the most powerful people on the continent far outclassing the academy professors and the top mages of Alestrios. I'm not sure if your Dad has one." He looked upward thoughtfully.
"Yeah, and it's also the only other way to get an elemental affinity that isn't one of the main four. Usually, people go in parties but most never make it past the first trial." Rein chimed in.
"Yeah, that too. The Aberrants might as well be gods themselves, there are only five in Alestrios." Adonis said.
I still have a lot of questions but I can't expect to get what I need from a bunch of kids. Maybe the answers are in this room, I turned looking at the bookshelves and loose paper. Aberrants… before I died Melrez called me Heavens Aberration. Could that— no.
"I can tell you that sword saint status is given to the non-mages or ones without an affinity who also complete the trials and meet a deity." Adonis finished.
I turned my attention back to the case with the orb and ran my fingers along the edge. The orb lit up again but this time energy pulsated from it. A warm tingle crawled up my arm. At the same time, I felt a lip on the glass and lifted the lid revealing the orb sitting atop a red pillow. It was glowing steadily now and I could make out some of the writing that crossed in an x over the orb.
"What are you doing?" Rein asked in a concerned whisper. "Go back to your room if you're gonna start acting all scared, Rein." Adonis teased. Rein's nose wrinkled in annoyance. She stuck her tongue out at her brother and then returned her attention to the case.
"Yeah, I guess I should leave the strange glowing orb alone, huh?" I said, closing the lid. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to investigate this thing again, but I don't want to drag these two into anything I'm too unsure about. Despite my burning curiosity.
As for those scratch marks, that's a different story. I made my way over to the bookshelves opposite the king's desk. They covered the back wall leaving about a body width of space on either side at the end of the wall and were as tall as the ceiling. A thin seem bisected the bookshelves where they were pushed together. The faint smell of vanilla mixed with dried wood filled my nose. These books must be old. I crouched inspecting the scratched floor to the left. There was a row of neat striations like something had been dragged across the floor.
If I hadn't seen the way the doors to the study opened I might have dismissed it. But it seems like the shelves slide open. My first hidden layer? extradimensional space? My curiosity mixed with a subtle excitement as I began to look for a way to open it. I tugged at a few books. Ok, they didn't go with the classic.
"What are you doing now?" Adonis asked. The siblings were huddled close behind me eyeing me suspiciously. Adonis had his arms crossed leaning over my shoulder and Rein was shadowing my movements. "Can I not be excited about books?" I said focused on the shelves. Their silence was deafening. I mindlessly pointed at the scratches. "I think this bookshelf is some kind of door." I traced my fingers under the shelves. Nothing. How does this thing open, I wondered.
Starting to get frustrated I pulled at the end of the bookshelf gently to see if it would budge. I let out a sigh and scanned the room. The desk caught my attention. I made my way over with the siblings in tow and sat in the chair. I leaned my head to the side checking under the desk, and then inspected the top.
Everything seems normal. "How about you guys stop hovering and help find something useful." The pair's expressions sobered as they made a half-turn before stopping in sync.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Rein asked, lifting a piece of loose paper from the desk, eyeing it briefly. "I'm not sure how Father would feel about us doing this and we've been gone for a while."
Good point. I'm surprised no one has come for us yet. But she only added to the growing sense of urgency. "Then you go be lookout. Since you're practically shaking with fear." Adonis said, heading towards the console tables. "No, I'm not!" She retorted. "But fine, I'll play lookout. For Canaan." She stormed out.
Turning my attention back to the desk, I noticed an inkwell with three ink containers. There was no dust on the one to the right. It could be from regular use, but the rest of it looked pretty neglected in comparison. I lifted the lid carefully. It was empty, but it had a plate and crystal at the bottom like the one Adonis used to open the door. "Adonis." His head jerked from the case he was examining. "Yeah?" He answered.
"How do you work these things?" I gestured at the inkwell.
"Well, normally you take a quill and dab it in one of the wells and write…" An awkward silence clung to the room for a few seconds. My face was blank as we stared at each other.
"No," I shook my head. "No, I mean- just come here," I waived him over.
"Oohh." He raised his hand. "A mana lock." Before I could ask "It's sensitive to a user's unique mana signature, but like for the door since I'm his son I can fool it if I manipulate the flow of my mana." I looked at the inkwell. Fascinating, a little like fingerprint recognition. Does that mean someone's mana signature is tied to their lineage? "Don't worry about not knowing. The royal family has early access to a bunch of tech like this before it goes public."
His hand hovered over the container it emitted a pulse and a metallic click resounded through the room. The door to the study slid shut. The shelves jerked, a cloud of dust rolled off the top. Then they slid apart slowly. I rose from the chair barely noticing we had been locked in. The low rumble of the shelves parting stopped.
On the other side was a mid-sized metallic semi-circular room. Large square metal plates made up the floor, a metal workbench was erected in the middle of the strange room. The ceiling was one circular panel that doubled as a light. The walls were covered by one long bookshelf that spread out from the opening in a semi-circle outlining the room. Carefully maintained plants were placed on shelves some of whoms vines reached the floor. And diagrams hung like clothes off a clothesline
Adonis and I hesitantly approached the strange room. Stacks of leather-bound journals sat on the workbench next to what looked like welding tools, copper wire, stray circuit boards, and other unfinished devices with exposed wiring that looked a little bit too advanced for the people here or this time period.
"What is this?" Adonis asked more amazement than question.
"I-I'm not entirely sure," I responded walking up to the desk gently brushing a diagram out of my face.
I picked up one of the journals and flipped it open to a random page. My eyes widened."Gabriele Veneziano, Yoichiro Nambu, Otto Hahn, Albert Einstein…" I mumbled. The journal nearly fell from my hands. My heartbeat quickened as my mind began to spin. These are scientists and physicists from my world.
What is this place? This world? Am I not the only one who was sent here? And what kind of research was this person doing? My eyes flickered back and forth between the parts on the table and the journals. Was this the king's room? Adonis's little trick worked on the mana lock but that could just mean he has access to it. I flipped frantically to another page. It had a strange symbol on it or maybe an insignia. It looked like a sun inside a crescent moon.
My fingers traced along the words. There were physics equations and sketches of polyhedrons and more of that script I can't read."I shared my knowledge with my followers…" Adonis interrupted my train of thought.
"Uh… Canaan?" He placed his hand on my shoulder.
They have magic here, so why research science from my world? "Canaan!" Adonis said more firmly. "Yeah, yeah what is it?" I responded, frowning in concentration.
"Just making sure you weren't going to pee your pants. What did you read in there?" He peeked over my shoulder. "I can't even read any of that. Are you sure you're ok?" I looked back at the page. He can't read any of it?
Reading here was more like recognizing colors than actually reading or, at least, what it felt like in my previous life. I had no way of knowing if this was in Latin script or some unknown language here.
Then the low rumbling of voices caught my attention. A shout followed shortly after. I looked at Adonis. "What now?" I asked. Adonis was staring at something on the floor. I followed his gaze, it was a vent. The meeting, I thought. I tucked the journal into my waistband and let my tunic fall over it. Hopefully, no one will miss this. I followed Adonis to the vent.
Strange lab conveniently placed over the meeting room. Who exactly is King Orenthal?