Grey Nirmala
The streets of Storm City were overflowing.
Men, women, and children filled every corner. Kids ran around laughing, women shopped, men worked. The deeper I walked into the inner parts of Storm City, the more my surroundings changed. Taller, more modern buildings rose up, crushing the smaller, older ones beneath them. People were dressed more neatly, more elegantly. Even the air felt cleaner.
As I kept walking, a well-dressed man who wasn't watching where he was going bumped into me.
"Watch where you're going, brat!"
He snapped, then just kept walking.
I frowned and raised the Rune of Destruction toward him, but stopped myself.
"I'm not taking a life over something like this. I'm not wasting energy on this asshole."
The further I went, the clearer it became just how far this place was from Lineage City, how different it was, and how its people were somehow even worse.
"Is there a problem?"
Ayame had stopped beside me, watching.
"No. Just a small accident."
"Good, then."
Her voice shifted into something more submissive.
"King Orinn is waiting for you at the Jinsad Court."
"The Jinsad Court? What's that supposed to be?"
I raised a brow at her.
Ayame lifted her palm toward me, and Aether gathered in her hand, shaping itself into a map.
"This map shows the primary districts of Storm City," she said, extending it to me.
I took it from her and studied it. Several locations were marked, along with paths leading to them: the Jinsad Court, Aetherim Academy, the towns of Bilda, Niya, and Trawama, and, finally, Magna Tempestas Palace.
"There's a great central church inside the Court. King Orinn will be waiting there."
Ayame spoke in her usual sullen tone.
"Alright, so I'm guessing you're not coming with me from here on."
Ayame nodded.
"The Dream King requested only you, Lord Grey. My presence there would be an insult."
I sighed.
"But you didn't do anything when Lilith said she wanted to kill Orinn."
Ayame nodded again.
"As I said: I do not interfere in the royal family's internal affairs."
I pouted at her.
"I heard some of the other servants at Magna Tempestas call you the Servant of Epiphany. Why?"
Ayame met my eyes.
"Because my service belongs directly to Prince Arinn Legia. And Prince Arinn is light itself, a child honored by the heavens."
"How very impressive," I muttered, rolling my eyes as I glanced back at the map.
"Anyway. See you later." I said.
Ayame bowed.
"I look forward to it, Lord Grey."
I left her behind and headed toward the Jinsad Court.
The Jinsad Court was in the deepest heart of Storm City. By then, the small, old houses had completely vanished, replaced solely by tall, massive, modern buildings. The people here had changed too. Even the way their children walked radiated authority and privilege.
On my right stood Aetherim Academy. I paused to take it in as students of all ages streamed toward its grounds. Aetherim Academy was far larger than Legacy`s Academy. The walls somehow managed to look both modern and reminiscent of an older, medieval age.
I moved on and turned into Legia Street.
Further down were high-ranking, wealthy-looking people. Armed soldiers with different weapons patrolled among them. Every soldier radiated power, but at the center of them was the most striking sight of all.
The colossal Jinsad Court.
I walked toward it, noticing how the soldiers glared at me as I passed.
"Idiots," I muttered.
Their stares annoyed me.
The Jinsad Court was gray, with old-looking windows decorated by war motifs. I stopped before its huge wooden doors, pushed one open, and stepped inside.
The moment I entered, the torches along the corridor walls ignited one after another. A long red carpet stretched out beneath my feet. Doors to numerous courtrooms lined the sides.
"Well, this isn't ominous at all," I said dryly.
"Ayame said Orinn would be in the church, but I don't see any church."
"I am here, Grey."
A distant voice spoke from the very end of the corridor.
I focused on that direction and began walking toward it. There was no one else around, which unsettled me.
Does no one ever commit crimes here?
At the end of the hall, I found a narrow, short tunnel leading into a church.
Three steps in, I emerged into what an inscription named the Church of Tarn.
The ceiling was high, rows of seats filled the space, and the walls were lined with hundreds of books. At the far end stood an altar. Back turned to me, the Dream King was staring at a framed portrait: a man with red horns, long white hair, sharp teeth, long claws, and blazing orange eyes.
"Do you see the order Tarn left us with?" Orinn asked, still facing the painting.
"A complete disappointment."
He finally turned to me and looked down with judgmental eyes.
"The voice inside your head has gone quiet. But I don't care why."
The way he mentioned Hachiko put me on edge. Yes, I'd noticed Hachiko had gone silent, and I was wondering about it, but I didn't exactly have time to dig into that right now.
Orinn snapped his fingers once.
A purple light suffused the room.
"I thought the light might make you more comfortable. I commend you for your lack of fear. After all, standing before you is someone who could erase you in an instant."
I rolled my eyes at his words.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Can you just explain why you called me here already?"
Orinn clasped his hands behind his back and narrowed his blue eyes.
"Cogito, ergo sum. Solum ego et illi in hac terra sumus. Sub diis, fatum obscurans."
He said suddenly.
"What does that even mean?" I lifted a brow.
"An ancient tongue. Far above your understanding. Anyway, yes. Let me explain why I summoned you here."
Orinn flexed his fingers behind his back, and a throne of lightning formed behind him. He sat down with ease and fixed his sharp gaze on me.
"Do you know why I want those runes so badly, Grey Nirmala?"
He pointed at me.
I shrugged.
"No. And honestly, I don't really care."
Orinn didn't react to that.
"That, right there, is why. All realms need order. Order and dominion. I watched my brothers die. I watched my father die. My grandfather. And believe me, Grey, they all made the same stupid mistake. They trusted people."
I frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean? How do you die from trusting people?"
Orinn chuckled.
"Trust may carry you some distance, but only so far. The more you trust others, the less secure you feel in yourself. I want only order, Grey, not useless trust."
I stared up at the Dream King.
"And what kind of order is that supposed to be?"
He took a deep breath.
"One that is strong and unbreakable. One that will never collapse, even in our darkest hour."
"A bloody path," I answered.
His face darkened.
"If blood must be spilled for this purpose, I will not hesitate You cannot win a war without getting your hands drenched in blood. In this world, power is everything. Only the strongest survive and rule."
He raised his hand, and a small sheet of paper materialized in the air. He released it; it drifted gently down into my hand.
I looked at what was written on it:
"Za monpojekayel gunozagu pomonkayim limonponemta kanozapota kazamon monfauhfaje gujehukaykayim yafa tazauhfael."
"What the hell? Is this a language or just scrambled words?"
My voice and face were full of confusion.
"The writing is the tongue of the Pillars," Orinn said. "Translated, it reads: 'A world that only knows chaos can never truly be saved.'"
I looked at it again, tracing each word.
"How many of these Pillars are there? I can't keep up with who's what anymore. Everything you people talk about feels so far above my head."
"Have you ever heard the tragedy of the child who sought freedom, Grey?"
Orinn ignored my question and replaced it with his own.
I shook my head. Annoyed that he ignored my question like that.
"Was I supposed to?"
I asked with arrogance.
The Dream King began to move his hands through the air, and the world around us began to shift, trembling.
Instinctively, I stepped back, but the change had already taken hold.
Suddenly, I was standing on water.
No matter how hard I tried to sink, I didn't.
Orinn walked past me and gestured for me to follow.
I did so, despite myself.
"What is this place?" I asked, awed.
He turned, a chilling smile spreading across his face.
"This is the sea. And above us is the Sun."
I kicked at the water, but not a single drop moved.
"Weird."
Far ahead, Orinn stopped walking and waited.
I jogged to catch up, glancing around.
"Are you going to explain any of this now?" I snapped.
He said nothing, instead, he grabbed me by the back of the neck.
I didn't even have time to react. I tried to pull away, but his grip was iron.
Wind roared at my back, and golden Aether particles gathered around him, shifting toward a bluish shade as circling streams of air formed around us.
We ascended.
In mere seconds, I found myself at the highest sky, staring straight into the Purple Sun.
"You can look directly at it. Your Aether will keep your eyes from burning," Orinn said as I stared up, wide-eyed.
"Why are we here, or rather, how are we even here?"
"Don't ask. Just listen and watch," he said.
Orinn still wasn't looking at me. All his focus was fixed on the Sun.
"Once upon a time, there was a child who wanted to fly toward freedom," he began.
"For the sake of that freedom, the child's father crafted two great wings for him, out of fallen feathers, threads from blankets, leather straps from his sandals, and beeswax. But the father gave the child a warning: 'Do not soar too low, or the sea will claim you. Do not soar too high, or the Sun will melt the wax. Soar only in middle.'"
I watched him, knowing there had to be a reason he was telling me this.
"But…" Orinn continued, "once the child tasted the joy of flight, once the world lay beneath his feet, he no longer wished to stay in middle. He wanted to soar higher, closer to the Sun. So the child kept going up, and up, and up, just to taste that freedom."
"And the child succeeded; he found himself face to face with the Sun. He opened his arms to it. And then something else happened.
"The Sun melted the wax. The wings came apart. The child no longer soar. Arms still open, he fell, straight into his death."
Orinn stepped closer to the blazing Sun and, in that moment, let go of me.
"Wait a sec—"
Before I could finish, I was falling.
I plunged through the clouds.
His voice echoed through the sky.
"This story doesn't have a happy ending, Grey. Freedom or death? Let it be a warning. Your excessive ambition and disobedience will become your downfall. That child wasn't born to fly, but he flew anyway. Was he a fool who ignored his father's warning?
"Or was he an angel who flew for freedom?"
His words branded themselves into my mind, but I didn't have time to answer.
First, I had to survive.
My eyes dropped to the world below.
The sea was waiting.
I thrust the Rune of Destruction downward, dragging the surrounding Aether into it, at least enough to slow myself.
I sighed and pulled the rune back.
I'd been trying to solve everything with Destruction.
This time, I would use every weapon I had in my arsenal.
I could feel the Rune of Creation calling to me.
I answered.
I channeled Aether into Creation and straightened my posture.
A second before hitting the water, I activated it, raised my hands, flung my arms wide, and golden light flooded the sky.
"King's Dance."
Hachiko's lost voice echoed faintly in my ears.
When I came to my senses, I looked down to see where I was standing.
On the deck of a ship made entirely of golden Aether.
"Your talent is truly unmatched, Fates Masterpiece," Orinn said as he descended from above.
The Dream King landed on the golden ship and looked at me with pleased eyes.
"King's Dance," he repeated in a dark tone.
"In this world, everyone has a role to play, but yours… yours is unlike any other. Surrounded by many, understood by none."
His smile faded, and he raised a hand toward me.
"Your trial is only beginning, Fates Masterpiece."
Every cell in my body screamed at me to attack him. To stop whatever he was about to do.
"Don't bother," he said.
I aimed both Concept Runes at him anyway.
"Don't be so dramatic, brat. I've already proven your chances of beating me are less than zero."
"I don't care how strong or smart you think you are. Like you said yourself, I'm a Masterpiece."
Orinn scowled.
"You're just a brat who got his hands on some power."
He swept his hands through the air, and hundreds of Aetheric particles rose up. They gathered, forming a colossal blue hammer.
Orinn swung his hand down.
The hammer fell with it.
I looked for somewhere to run, but there was no escape from its impact range.
I hastily funneled Aether into Destruction and released it. The force surged toward the hammer, but it did nothing.
"See you later. If you survive," Orinn said coolly.
I tried to push more power into Destruction, but it still wasn't enough.
The hammer slammed into me.
The ground split. A huge pit opened beneath my feet.
To dull the agony of the impact, I pushed Destruction and Creation together, but even as I did, I was still falling.
The pit was dark; I couldn't see the bottom.
The massive hammer pinned me, driving me down faster and faster.
Cursing, I poured everything I had into Destruction, fixing my mind on one single point:
Survive.
Destruction began devouring the Aether that formed the hammer.
I pushed harder, accelerating the consumption.
The hammer's structure began to dissolve. The more Destruction ate, the more the hammer's crushing weight lessened.
Within seconds, Destruction had devoured it completely, leaving only drifting, ownerless Aether behind.
I pulled that loose Aether into myself and fed it to the Rune of Creation.
I turned and saw light.
The ground.
"If you don't do something, we're dead," Hachiko's voice echoed faintly from below.
"I know!"
I gritted my teeth and tried to shape something with Creation to halt my descent.
"Come on! Come on!"
I shut my eyes and let Creation guide me.
Orinn's tragic story flashed through my mind.
I crossed my arms over my chest and sent Creation to my back.
With a burst of purple-gold light, I soared.
Two golden wings unfurled from my back, and I shot upward.
But when I reached the top, there was no opening left.
"Damn it!"
I slammed my fist into the hard soil.
"Why does everything have to be so difficult?!"
My shout echoed up and down the pit.
"There's no way out from here," Hachiko said flatly.
"You could at least try going down and figuring it out from there, you know?"
"But I don't know what's waiting down there. If I make the wrong move, I don't know what it'll cost."
"Then let me go," he said.
"What? What's that supposed to mean?"
His solution threw me off-guard.
"You're just in my head. How are you going to get a physical form?"
"Somehow, you'll have to use Creation to give me a body."
"And how am I supposed to do that? I barely managed to make wings for myself. Making a body for you is going to be hell."
"For fuck's sake, Grey! You're the one who told me this yourself, have a little faith," Hachiko snapped.
Hachiko raising his voice at me stung, but I swallowed it down.
I bit my tongue and activated Creation.
I tried to picture a body Hachiko could handle easily.
I glanced over my shoulder at my wings, then clasped my hands and channeled Aether there.
I closed my eyes and focused.
Bright purple light poured from my hands; a small chirping sound came from within it.
I opened my eyes and looked at Hachiko.
"Seriously? The best you could think of was a tiny bird?"
I shrugged.
A tiny bird sat in my palm, right side purple, left side yellow.
"Sorry, but flying and manipulating Aether at the same time isn't exactly easy. Do you have any idea how hard it is to create a body?"
I shot back.
The little heterochromatic bird rolled its eyes. Soft chirps escaped its beak.
"When this is over, we're going to talk about—"
I let go.
Hachiko plummeted.
"Go to hell!" he yelled.
The little bird flapped desperately, but failed miserably.
I watched for a few seconds until he slipped from sight.
Then a loud thud echoed up from below.
Grinning, I lowered myself.
As I descended, I saw the light again, but this time it wasn't alone. Purple torches lined the walls. Strange carved images marked the stone.
"Little help…?"
Hachiko's weak voice came from a corner of the floor.
I searched for him and found him lying there. Feathers scattered everywhere, one eye missing, beak cracked.
I crouched beside him and picked one of his fallen feather. I examined the feather and then grinned.
"You don't look so good."
A smirk tugged at my lips.
He tried to bite me with his broken beak, failing miserably.
"You bastard. Ever heard of physics?"
He wheezed.
"Sorry, my dear companion, but I genuinely didn't think you'd flop that hard."
I said, dripping with mockery.
He tried to peck me again. Failed again.
"Anyway, can you maybe give me a stronger, tougher body this time?" he asked.
I folded my arms.
"I think being a tiny, stupid bird suits you fine."
"Stop talking shit."
He squinted his remaining eye at me.
Rolling my eyes, I cupped him in both hands.
"Alright, alright, have it your way. But this time, I'm trying something different. I'll just send you Aether, and you decide the form."
The little bird nodded.
I smirked again and pushed Aether into him.
I didn't really know how to do it. I tried to do what I'd done for my wings and his first body, but without overthinking it this time.
It took longer than before. I was still figuring it out.
While doing it, I reclaimed the Aether from my wings and spread it back through my body.
Hachiko's tiny form glowed with golden light and began to change.
I shut my eyes against it because of the light, waiting until I felt the Aether drain thin.
When I opened them, the small bird was gone.
In its place stood a dog, an Akita-like creature with pure white fur traced by golden markings.
"How do I look?" he asked, inspecting himself.
"I don't know, you look kind of friendly," I said.
He sniffed himself.
"At least I can stay like this for a while. I'll switch again later if I need to."
I nodded.
"Makes sense. Still weird seeing you as an animal. I always imagined you as some annoying little kid."
"Yeah, I know. I can read your thoughts," Hachiko snorted.
He turned away and stared into the dark tunnel ahead of us.
"I think that's the way we're supposed to go."
"No shit." I said with the pure intent to annoy my fellow companion.
He glanced back, then forward again.
I chuckled and stepped to his side, resting a hand on his back.
"Hey. It's actually kind of nice being able to talk to you again."
He didn't answer, but his canine face stretched into something like a smile.
"Same here, The Monarch of Autism."
"Hey!" I playfully slapped his back.
Hachiko burst out laughing.
I took a deep breath and looked ahead.
"A long, dark road is waiting for us," I said.
Hachiko lifted his white tail tipped with gold.
"Yeah."
I lifted my hand from his back and kept both Runes ready.
"At the slightest sign of anything weird, warn me." I conditioned him.
He barked in agreement.
Orinn's question echoed through my mind. But this time I had the time to answer.
"The ones who call themselves fools aren't the true fools. The ones who think they're geniuses are."
I murmured to myself.
"I agree,"
A mocking, feminine voice said behind me.
Hachiko and I spun around fast.
My eyes went wide at the sight.
Standing there was a pink rabbit.
A white rabbit mask with long white ears, a pink hooded outfit, and in her hand, a bloody knife.
I couldn't see her face, but the murderous intent pouring off her was unmistakable.
The Pink Bunny twirled the bloody blade in her hand, then pointed it at me.
"You have no idea how much I've missed playing with you, Fates Masterpiece."
The Pink Bunny threw the bloody knife at air and the knife vanished. Then with a devilish voice she laughed. As the malevolent laughter died out, she spoke with a tone of joy.
"If I was you, I would've started to run by now."