Corrin went and sat down in a chair near the wall, holding his head. The idea of Vesterii's brother having come to kill Lukas, who was practically him, was terrifying. Why did they want Corrin and Lukas dead? He mentioned that he's loyal to a king, not a queen. What could that even mean?
"Corrin, what's your perspective?"
Corrin looked up in shock. He hadn't even been paying attention. Omna was looking at him.
"When I went to get Lukas, I saw these huge spiders everywhere, and Lukas was attached to the ceiling in webs…"
Corrin explained his perspective, though when he got near the end, he stopped for a moment.
"That man… Nevarii, I think his name was. He mentioned being loyal to a king."
Axel nodded his head.
"I was worried that was the case. So, they're not loyal to the Shem but to the Mostiis Empire."
Corrin turned to Axel.
"I've heard that name before, but who really are they?"
"The Mostiis Empire is a large desert kingdom to the south of Vrebathia and the Canlian Kingdom. They're just about as bad as the Shem."
Omna set his hand on his chin.
"That's very interesting. So, just like in the War of the Gods. Shem and Mostiis are both enemies of the Anees. But this Nevarii sounds dangerous. Did he look similar to your sister's killer, Tutsoi?"
Tutsoi went back and leaned on the wall.
"I… never saw his face, back when it happened a year ago. But I recognized his voice. And his sinister smile. It had to be him."
Tutsoi clenched his fist.
"I hate him."
Corrin looks away. He doesn't know what to say. Omna breaks the ice after a few moments of silence.
"Lukas Hisstion. If you would come with me for a moment, we have much to discuss. Tutsoi, take Corrin and Axel to a place to stay in the palace. For the time being, you are all priorities in the council's eyes."
Tutsoi nods and takes Corrin and Axel away. The walk to the rooms is quiet.
"So, you guys have rooms in your… council-house then?"
Corrin hopes that he can get a conversation out of it, but he doesn't.
"Yes."
Corrin notes Tutsoi's tough but cracking personality for later. They soon walk into a room with four beds.
"You two can stay here. It's not much, but it's already triple as safe here as anywhere else in the city. Lukas will be in shortly, probably. You'll have an extra bed, but I don't think you guys will care."
Corrin walks forward.
"So, wait, Tutsoi."
Tutsoi is about to turn and leave.
"The… beasts. Are they only spiders?"
Corrin sees a glimmer of pain in Tutsoi's eyes.
"No. They're nightmarish, the spiders are the least of them all."
Tutsoi immediately turns to leave; it's clear he doesn't want to talk right now. Axel found his way to a bed.
"It's still only noon, so I'm sure we'll eat something soon."
Corrin knew that Omna was telling Lukas that he and Corrin had the same soul. Corrin still found that shocking. Their own mother had split them apart as children.
Corrin turned to Axel.
"Why did my mother split my soul in two?"
Axel took a deep breath as he sat on one of the beds.
"I was never supposed to know much. To them, I was just an old man who knew your father's father. I guess I'm probably that to you as well. All I heard is that because of your family heirloom being the shard, they wanted you to be Anees, not half-Anees. Because only Anees can use it, of course."
Corrin remembered that Axel had his shard, and it made him angry.
"Hey, wait a minute. You took my shard. The last thing I remember before coming to this realm was you taking my shard and calling it property of the Vrebathian Empire."
Axel sighed.
"Yes, that is what happened, isn't it? I didn't mean it with any malicious intent, Corrin. You have to understand that the shard is extremely powerful. We didn't understand its true rarity or power when we sent you off to fight the queen. If we had, you never would have gone. It's simply too dangerous to be in the hands of a sixteen-year-old."
Corrin gritted his teeth.
"You can't steal a family heirloom like that, no matter how powerful it is. Also, might I add, I don't like this Vrebathian Empire idea. Vrebathia has hardly been a nation for a few months, to declare the king the emperor is a little much while you're still stabilizing the nation, right?"
Axel nodded his head.
"Well, the Vrebathian Empire was actually going to be a conglomeration of different kingdoms and duchies. All it would create is a centralized ruling force overseeing the rest of the kingdoms. They could act mostly independently."
Corrin still didn't like the idea, but he didn't know what to say anymore. So he didn't say anything. Corrin just explored the room they were in.
One part of the room was of particular interest to Corrin: a bookshelf. He wasn't very good at reading, but he still could, which was something most peasants couldn't have said. He looked through the books. Most of them seemed to be history, with names Corrin might expect: "Delving into the past of Avitou City" and "The War of the Gods: How a single war changed the fate of the realms," but one seemed to interest Corrin more than the others: "The Cornimax."
Corrin looked at the cover; all it said on it was, "The Cornimax". Corrin sat down with it and opened its pages.
This book is and was created for the sole purpose of conglomerating everything we, as Anees, know about the Cornimax and its history.
Corrin looked at the table of contents. It had things like: 'Chapter 1: Meaning of the name Cornimax', 'Chapter 2: How the Cornimax was created'.
Corrin looked through the first chapter slowly:
'Cornimax', which directly translates from the ancient language to 'The Gods Strength', derives from the word 'Cor-ni', which means 'God', and 'Max', which means 'Strength' or 'Power'. 'Cor-ni' is another name for the word 'Corrin', which means 'Guardian'.
Corrin looked at it for a moment. He never knew his name's meaning, but he sure wasn't expecting to find it in a book like this. He thought his name's meaning was cool, but he couldn't understand how he could be called a guardian. He's never guarded anything; he couldn't even protect the people he cared for.
He flipped through a few pages, trying not to dwell on his name's meaning.
The Holy Goddess created the Cornimax, which the Guardians used in their efforts to protect the mortals of this world.
Corrin flipped through a few more. This is what he was looking for.
SHARD OF TIME: The Shard of Time is the second smallest shard of the Cornimax. Despite this, all time in the world is stored within it and can be called upon if whoever wields it can withstand the power residing inside of it. Fallis, the guardian of the Erthari, was entrusted by Rotix to take the Shard of Time to protect his people.
This greatly fascinated Corrin, so he continued reading.
The Shard of Time, to the knowledge provided to the general public as of writing this book, can: See into the Future briefly, view the past, and slow time around the user.
Corrin took it in. He had been able to slow time around him before, so perhaps that was the reason.
However, unknown to Rotix, the Shard of Time possessed, alongside all the time in the world, a single sliver of the power in the world. The tip of the shard contains a small, unseen by the eye, amount of the Shard of Power within it. This caused the Shard of Time to be incredibly powerful, though Fallis never discovered this. It was discovered when Fallis went into hiding soon after the war began, and Rotix was left with the Shard of Time.
As Corrin read this, somebody opened the door to the room. It was Lukas. Lukas turned to Corrin and then sat down on a bed, looking uncomfortable. They sat in silence for a few moments before Lukas spoke up.
"So… who came first, do you think?"
Corrin closed the book and set it on a nightstand.
"What are you talking about?"
Lukas looks at Corrin.
"You know what I'm talking about. Which soul came first? Was there more you or more me?"
Corrin felt uncomfortable talking about being a single soul.
"I don't know. I guess we were both first?"
A moment of awkward silence followed. Then Lukas spoke while staring down towards the ground.
"Did you ever know our parents?"
"I knew our father."
Lukas slowly looked at Corrin.
"Knew. Does that mean…?"
Corrin nodded his head.
"He was killed when the Shem raided our town."
Lukas seemed confused.
"Why would an Empire raid a town? What do they have to gain?"
"A lot, actually."
Suddenly, the door flew open, and Tutsoi walked through.
"Lukas, Corrin. Omna has decided Nevarii."
He took a quick sigh.
"But first, we need to eat something. Follow me."
Corrin and Lukas shot up, and Lukas quickly left the room. But Corrin turned and looked at Axel, who was getting up slowly.
Axel sighed
"This is property of the Vrebathian Empire. I will let you borrow it under the Vrebathian Banner, but you must swear that you will return it when we get back to the Holy Realm."
Corrin nodded and caught the shard Axel threw his way. He soon followed suit and ran out of the room. He pulled the gemstone over his neck again, tucking it into his clothing. He was ready.