Backlund, capital of the Loen Kingdom. Inside an opulent villa.
A young woman sat before a cracked bronze mirror.
"Mirror, mirror, I command you to awaken in the name of the Hall family."
Nothing.
She tried a few more times, ultimately giving up after some minutes.
Audrey Hall puffed her cheeks in frustration and muttered, "I guess father was lying. There's nothing special about this mirror."
As the words left her lips, a deep crimson erupted from the mirror, swallowing her whole.
.....
In the Sonia Sea, a three-masted ship cruised against the stormy waves.
On deck, Alger Wilson stood, unaffected by the waves.
He held a bottle with bubbles, frost, and wind swirling within.
"Still missing Ghost Shark's blood..."
From the space between his hand and the bottle, crimson flared, engulfing his entirety.
.....
Audrey Hall opened her eyes to an endless gray fog.
A man stood opposite her, seemingly as disoriented.
A short distance away stood a third figure—Zhou Mingrui.
All three pairs of eyes met.
However, Zhou Mingrui—or rather, his projection—appeared far loftier than the two others. Much more grand. Much more... divine.
The two couldn't help but assume him to be their summoner.
"Sir, where are we?" Audrey Hall hesitantly asked, her voice shaky.
"And what... do you plan to do?" Alger spoke, suppressing his hesitance, unlike the girl before him.
'Where are we? I would like to know too...' Zhou silently thought.
Not only did the two strangers speak the same Loen tongue, they also shared the same tense, uneasy energy.
'Did I summon these two here? They must be as afraid and confused as I am. To them, this must defy all logic.'
Zhou instinctively carved two paths in his mind.
First was to play the helpless victim, win their trust, and watch events unfold from there.
Another was to preserve the aura of mystery, subtly influencing events from there on while gaining information from their reactions.
However, time would not wait for Zhou to deliberate, so he took the second option.
"An attempt," Zhou spoke, with a chuckle, calm and deliberate.
"Sir," Audrey Hall said, "is the attempt complete? May we return?"
Alger Wilson was equally keen, but composure held from years of experience.
"Yes, you may. All you have to do is formally ask," Zhou said.
"Th-thank you... sir. This divine kingdom of yours is truly magnificent, but I feel much more at ease when I'm at home," Audrey Hall spoke with slightly less hesitance.
'Don't we all? And... divine kingdom? Doesn't really feel like one. Shouldn't there be at least a throne?'
In response to his thoughts, the gray fog stirred, rubble emerging from the mist. The rubble came together to form massive pillars, a glacial dome, all coming together in a grand palace around the three.
'Incredible! It seems to be the embodiment of my thoughts, or maybe, a game hack?'
Zhou extended his fingers in an authoritative manner, and a long mottled table emerged from the mist at the palace's centre. Twenty-two bronze seats in total.
Zhou walked gracefully to the tallest seat—throne—at the table's end.
Audrey and Alger approached cautiously before taking their seats, the ones closest, yet still distanced, from Zhou.
"Sir, how may we address you?"
'Zhou Mingrui... Klein Moretti... no...' Zhou pondered.
He faintly recalled the image from the divination and decided to trust his fortune.
He crossed his fingers, placed them just below his chin, and spoke with a faint elegance, "If you wish to address me..."
"You may call me..."
Zhou paused, before speaking amiably and calmly, "...The Fool."
"The Fool..." Audrey muttered. "Honourable Mr. Fool, this is truly extraordinary. I have always longed for such miracles! Please, what must I do to become a beyonder?" Audrey spoke with zero hesitance, mad enthusiasm.
'Beyonder...? I would like to know that myself.'
Alger broke the silence after studying the lady's fog-shrouded figure. "I bet you're from the Loen. To become a beyonder, join a church. Try the Evernight Goddess's or the Lord of Storms'. Most people won't meet a beyonder in their entire lives, but they do exist, fighting against the dangers growing in the darkness."
"A church? But I don't wish to lose my freedom," Audrey insisted, pouting inside.
"Then your choices narrow to royalty or a millennium-old nobility."
"Are there other options?"
Alger kept silent in thought before speaking hesitantly, "Well, I do have two sets of sequence 9 potion formulas."
'Sequence 9...?' Zhou murmured.
"You do? Which two?" Audrey spoke, her eyes gleaming.
"The first is called Sailor, while the second is Spectator—it grants keen perception..."
Zhou listened in deep thought. 'The potions grant supernatural powers? The sequence must have levels. This gray fog, transmigration... Are all these related to Beyonder powers?'
After a minute, Audrey spoke, "Mr. Fool, this gentleman and I have struck a deal. Considering your immense strength, would you please witness our pact?"
"Consider it done," Mr. Fool spoke with calm and elegance.
"Splendid! Mr. Fool, could you please hold a few more gatherings such as this?"
'Gatherings?'
"Mr. Fool," Alger spoke, "you have powers beyond our imagination. There must be trivial matters you wish not to deal with. We could be of assistance."
'Hmm... Frequent gatherings raise the risk of exposure. However, information gathered could be a boon towards my return home. I need... to welcome the unknown.'
"Per your request, on Mondays, at three in the afternoon. Try your best to be alone at the time."
"If gatherings will be frequent from now on, then shouldn't we give ourselves codenames? For secrecy," Audrey added.
"Good idea," Zhou calmly said.
"Well, since your moniker is derived from the tarot... Mm, oh! I've decided! My pseudonym shall be... Justice!"
Alger stood quietly before speaking, "The Hanged Man."
"Perfect!" Audrey exclaimed. "We might as well call ourselves... the Tarot Club!"
After a moment to breathe, Audrey calmed herself down and brought up another matter in excitement, "Mr. Hanged Man, I heard that Emperor Roselle actually created a unique deck of tarot cards—paper cards, to be exact."
"That's right," Alger responded. "It's said that Emperor Roselle saw the Blasphemy Slate, and that those cards hide the mysteries of the twenty-two paths of the divine."
"Twenty-two paths of the divine..." Audrey muttered, in awe and longing.
Just then, Zhou Mingrui's headache worsened. It had started some time ago, but barely noticeable.
He could feel his connection to the two begin to weaken, and after it was cut, the 'projections' of the two would disappear, and their consciousnesses would return to their bodies.
"Let us end today's gathering here," Zhou spoke in a low voice.
"By your will," Audrey and Alger spoke in unison.
Zhou smiled faintly before cutting the connection with his will, and the two corresponding crimson stars receded.
The gray fog fell into silence.
Suddenly, Zhou Mingrui felt a crushing heaviness. Darkness shrouded his vision until dazzling light welcomed him.
He was back in his apartment, on the floor.
After a long silence, he sighed, "Looks like I won't be going home any time soon. What was that foggy world?"
Images of a mom and dad sitting together at dinnertime flashed through his mind.
His eyes dropped with solemnity. He stood up, looked at the mirror, and muttered under his breath, "I guess, now, I'm really Klein."
...
The three-masted ship continued raging through the howling storm.
Alger stood in a cabin, his gaze locked on a person-sized splinter in the wooden wall, which allowed rain to pour in.
A blond man wearing a lightning-embroidered robe—same as Alger—burst into the room.
"What happened?"
"The captain escaped," Alger spoke with irritation. "Didn't realize he still had some Beyonder strength left."
"Forget it. We'll still get credit for finding this ghost ship, from the Tudor era no less. Even as a 'Sailor,' he won't last long in those raging waters," the blond man said convincingly.
Alger's gaze was hooked on the splintered wall, which began knitting itself back together, as if sentient.
On the ship's deck, Alger watched as the rudder and the sail moved independently.
The first mate, second mate, and crew were not present. Other than him and the blond man, no other living person was on board.
Alger looked into the raging sea and couldn't help but think of The Fool again, letting out a long breath.
"A new era has begun."
...
Empress Borough, Backlund. Inside an opulent villa.
Audrey Hall pinched her cheeks, gazing at the shattered glass on her dressing table.
'It wasn't a dream.' She curled her lips into a grin.
Knock, knock.
"Who is it?" Audrey straightened her dress and posture.
"My lady, it's time for the ceremony," spoke Audrey's maid, Annie, from behind the door.
Before Audrey let Annie in, she quickly pushed the broken mirror fragments into a drawer.
Annie, alongside servants, began to move in a show of dresses, accessories, powder, etc.
She was ready.
After a few knocks, Earl Hall himself entered the room.
"The brightest jewel of Backlund. Time to go," he said warmly.
"Father!" Audrey pouted. "Please stop calling me that."
"Alright. Then what about—my greatest pride!" Earl Hall chuckled.
...
Pritz Harbor Naval Base—Oak Island.
Audrey stepped out of the carriage, hand in her father's.
She froze at the sight at the harbor's centre—a ship of steel, gleaming under the gray sky.
"Holy Lord of Storms!"
"By the Saints..."
"An ironclad warship!"
The crowd murmured all sorts of chants, stunned. Even Audrey had a tightened chest.
This was beyond anything humanity had built so far. A god of the sea forged from human hands!
A machine flying with the use of gasbags descended from the sky, visible firearms lined on its husk, as well as an insignia depicting two long swords crowned in ruby light—the emblem of House Augustus.
The King's airship.
Audrey held her breath as it touched down.
Red-uniformed guards descended in two rows, rifles gleaming on their shoulders.
Then came the King himself—George III—followed by his queen and children.
Aguesid Negan, the Prime Minister, stepped forward.
"Ladies and gentlemen, before you stands a ship that will alter the course of history.
"This ship measures one-hundred one meters in length, twenty-one in width. Her armor belt—forty-five centimeters of solid steel. Displacement—ten-thousand and sixty tons. She bears four 305-millimetre main guns, six rapid-fire cannons, twelve six-pounders, eighteen machine guns, and four torpedo launchers. Sails at sixteen knots. She is, in every sense, the lord of the sea."
A murmur louder than the ocean rolled through the crowd.
Aguesid turned towards the King and bowed. "Your Majesty, please, grant her a name."
George III gave a warm smile. "She was born here, and will set sail from here. She shall be named The Pritz."
"The Pritz!"
"The Pritz!"
The crowd erupted in cheers, echoing across the waves.
Cannons fired in salute.
The ship's engines roared to life as the giant began to move.
Two of her cannons fired in demonstration, hitting an uninhabited island ahead.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
When silence returned, Aguesid continued with a fierce voice, "Whether it be the seven pirates who call themselves Admirals, or the four who call themselves Kings, their doomsday begins now. The age of pirates is over!
"The era of cannons and warships has begun!"
At this point, nothing more than cheers could erupt.