Ti passed by quickly after I returned to my designated quarters on the fifty-second floor. Despite the initial hubbub, there didn't seem to be much for to do as an Archon, but I still managed to find ways to fill out the ti. First and foremost, I swept the entire place for traces of surveillance, and to my surprise, I couldn't find a single one. I expected at least a few floating orb thingies, but there was nary a hint of them.
That, of course, didn't an that there couldn't be any electronic devices around, like so tiny spy caras hidden between the shelves or sothing. That said, I didn't have any bug detectors on , which ant I couldn't do anything about those. If there were any, that is.
Anyhow, once I swept the quarters, I spent so ti using Far Sight and mostly focusing on the second eting between the directors, but while I was hoping for so new insight into their maybe-nefarious-maybe-not plans, the discussion was exactly as andering and full of bickering as the first ti around. Last, but not least, I focused inwards for a while, tweaking the Leoforr, both to make the enchantnts more stable and to make my current outfit, the vaguely angelic armour with the fancy laurel crown, slightly more comfortable to wear. It kept busy until it was lunchti.
Speaking of which, I hadn't eaten anything since the previous night, as I skipped breakfast to build my alibi, and things had been coming one after the other, with the Directorate's eting and the honour guards and everything. To say that I was famished would've been a bit of an understatent, to the point I even entertained the idea of Phasing back to Critias for a few minutes to buy a chocolate bar or two. In the end, I discarded the thought and patiently waited for my lunch to be delivered right to my room, and while I was less than enthused by the nu, consisting of fried and braised vegetables, brown bread, fruit juice, and so sponge cakes, I still cleaned all my plates.
The previous night's dinner was pretty much the sa, which made wonder: were Celestials vegetarians? Angie's carnivorous tendencies spoke otherwise, and I had seen a couple of farm animals during my expeditions into the nearby settlent, but it wasn't out of the question. I figured it was just another thing I had to ask Jaakobah about once he showed up.
"Archon."
Oh, speak of the devil. Or the not-angel, in this case.
"Co in," I told the dour agent, currently wearing a high-class grey dress uniform with lots and lots of fancy needlework on the hems and lapels and… wait. Is that a cravat? Damn, that's fancy.
Though again, considering that I had a freaking laurel crown, I probably shouldn't be the one to talk. Anyhow, he closed the door behind him and walked over to the eting table, where I just finished my lunch.
"I ca to report, as ordered."
"Then go ahead and do that," I responded a tad impatiently and took a sip from the apple juice that ca with my al. It was served in a needlessly fancy crystal glass, but it was refreshing enough, so I didn't complain.
Jaakobah must've mistaken my action as a subtle hint and presented with a long paper bag with string handles.
"I have procured the wine you ordered. Do you wish to sample it?"
"It's not for . Just put it down over there."
Following my instructions, he placed the bag onto the table with a characteristic, glassy clink, and turned back to , waiting for further instructions. Since I finished my lunch, I figured we might as well move back to the bedroom for the second round of interrogations, but as I stood up, I suddenly felt weak in the knees and had to grab onto the back of the chair to stay upright.
"Archon? Are you all right?"
Despite the words, the stoic healer's face remained completely neutral, and so did his voice.
"It's fine. I'm just feeling a little lightheaded," I told him matter-of-factly, and he acknowledged it with a nod that said it was none of his business. While his attitude felt a little callous, it was also infinitely better than so weird overreaction, so I didn't take him to task over it and instead focused on my breathing.
Truth be told, I had been feeling a little woozy for a while by this point, but I wrote it up to low blood sugar levels. The fact it was getting worse even after I ate so was slightly troubling, so I put my hand onto the poml of Cal.
"I could use so ditation right now," I told them, and thinking that it was addressed to him, Jaakobah nodded along.
"[Do you an that circulation pattern the dragonblood clan head taught you? I already told you that you should not be too reliant on such—]" Cal abruptly fell silent, which felt oddly unnerving. "[Young knight? Don't you feel fatigued?]"
"A little. Why?"
This ti, Jaakobah blinked in mild perplexity. I continued to ignore him and focused on the sword's response.
"[I didn't pay it any attention, but this outfit of yours draws power from your Oaths, just like your armor would.]" I nodded. "[Common sense dictates that an active connection like that should put trendous strain on your body. I do not detect any damage yet, but I suspect it might be the source of your ailnt. Hey, newcor?]"
"[Grudging statent: Interface:Teeny would prefer to be addressed by the official designation bestowed by Archon Polemos.]"
"[Does it really matter? Check my young knight's health, just to be sure.]"
"[Observation: Interface:Teeny didn't hear the word 'please'.]"
"[Young knight! Do sothing about this obstinate wench!]"
"[Statent: Interface:Cal's joke drivers are out of date. I recomnd updating them.]"
"[What's a 'driver'? Is that so kind of insult?!]"
Instead of responding to their accusations, the short sword hanging on my left side softly trembled, and as it did, I could feel a wave of warmth flashing over my whole body, giving goosebumps.
"[Diagnosis: Interface:Cal's initial assessnt was correct. There are signs of fatigue and mild internal energy burns across Archon Polemos's body. I recomnd an extended rest to allow natural healing.]"
In retrospect, all of that was pretty obvious, to the point I felt a little silly about overlooking it until now. Knightly equipnt worked by tuning up and supercharging the user's body with mana. The Leoforr, while lacking in terms of raw power output, was using the sa Oath receptacles and mana pathways, and it was creating a constant drain cycle just by wearing it. It was a strain so small it was hard to feel it, especially since the baseline physical enchantnts were masking its effects, but since it had been active for, what, two whole days now? Yeah, that kind of stuff adds up.
Once I understood the problem, I took my weapons out, much to Jaakobah's further confusion and apprehension, and placed them onto the table, right next to the empty plates and the wine bottle. Using my phantom limb, I turned off the Leoforr, and imdiately, two things happened. First, in a flash of light, my Polemos disguise disappeared, and in its place, I was once again wearing my parka, jeans, and outdoor shoes from the ti I was 'kidnapped', so to speak. Secondly, the sense of weariness and lethargy, held in bay by the sa physical enchantnts that were behind the strain that caused them in the first place, washed over like a beach break wave over the sands.
Rolling my shoulders, I took a couple of deep breaths to steady myself and then picked up the swords again. Cal was easy to deal with, as his scabbard had a clasp I could easily fasten to my belt, but Teeny was a different matter. In the end, I decided to carry them in my hand and turned to the increasingly befuddled Agent.
"I need so new clothes."
Blinking, he looked over from head to toe and then gestured towards the door in the back of the… well, this wasn't exactly a 'living room' per se, but for now, let's go with that. Anyhow, I followed the direction where he was pointing, and when I headed over, he quickly lined up behind . I didn't like that, or the silence.
"How are your new subordinates doing?" I asked while reaching for the door handle.
"There were so disagreents about the hierarchy, but they are already resolved. The positions of the Praetorian Prefect, and the Praetorian Guards as well, should be ratified by the end of the week."
"I presu the first one is your new official title," I guessed, and while I wanted to add sothing snappy to the end of that sentence, the thought was completely wiped clean by the sight on the other side of the door. "Is this supposed to be a wardrobe?"
"I think that's the term, yes," Jaakobah answered in an unflappable manner, but even he seed at least a little surprised by the sheer size of the place.
If I had to liken it to sothing, it was closer to a fancy clothes shop than anything, with rows and rows of hangers, boxes full of shoes, and various accessories filling the shelves on the walls. On my left, there was a sea of elegant shirts and coats, while on my right, enough trousers to drown a man, in various cuts and styles, from simple business casual to so fancy cross-breeds between dress uniforms and togas. I had no idea how I managed to miss this during my surveillance-sweep, but for now I decided to bla the fatigue and put it out of my mind.
Under the watch of the stoic Celestial, I took a few adventurous steps into what felt like a hoard of a dragon really, really into fabrics. Without thinking, I unhooked the first article of clothing that caught my interest, and after asuring it against my chest, I turned to the man still standing by the entrance.
"Is everything here in my size?"
"Naturally."
"When did you even have ti to arrange this?"
"It was prepared well before we made contact with you," Jaakobah patiently explained and made a sweeping gesture. "Director Tsephanyah personally ordered for these clothes to be made using your asurents."
I… wasn't entirely sure how I felt about the Celestials knowing my asurents, but there was sothing else I had to point out before anything else.
"Why's everything white?" He looked at like the question was completely preposterous, and I was too tired to get into an argunt over sothing stupid like this. "Never mind. Let look around. In the anti, give the rest of your report."
Jaakobah straightened his back at once and put his hands behind his back.
"The guards assigned to you are currently undergoing dical treatnt. None of them are seriously injured, so by tomorrow, they should be able to enter active duty."
"Glad to hear that," I muttered while comparing two nearly identical white button-up shirts.
"I'm going to have another eting with Primus Khurshid later in the evening, about the duties and authority of the Praetorian Guard."
After saying so, Jaakobah remained silent, waiting for my response, and after going through a few more articles, I exhaled hard and turned to him again.
"Tell him that they have no duties until I trained them up to my satisfaction."
"I sincerely doubt the Board of Directors would agree with this," he pointed out with just a hint of a frown. "They put your safety before any other matters."
"No, they just want to keep under watch," I responded offhandedly and put a white blazer in front of . "How does this look?"
"I'm… not well-versed in terms of fashion."
"Neither am I," I admitted, and after taking another look, I put it back on the racks. "In any case, if they kick up a fuss, tell them to shove their opinions up where the sun doesn't shine."
"If you insist," the man by the door shrugged, and after a long beat, he asked. "Is there anything else?"
"Yes, lots of things, actually." Pausing, I set a pair of dress shoes that caught my eye aside before turning back to him. "First, before I forget it: do you eat at?"
"Are you asking in particular?"
"No, just in general. Or is there so special reason why only vegetables are served here?"
Jaakobah thought way longer and harder about the question that I considered necessary, but ultimately responded with, "According to the historical records, the Second True Archon lived an ascetic life."
"No, I didn't," the response slipped out from so weird back-room of my mind, and even the short sword, currently tucked into my belt at my back, agreed with .
"[Clarification: Archon Polemos led by example, practicing austerity during the famines caused by the war on the Abyssal Usurper. Post-war, Teeny's records indicate that he dined lavishly, and analysis based on post-reincarnation understanding indicates that high cholesterol levels and extended alcohol consumption after the passing of Archon Deus might have contributed to the first incarnation's—]"
"Stop, I don't care," I cut Teeny short and shook my head. I couldn't exactly confirm whether or not they were telling the truth, since most of the mory fragnts I inadvertently took in either faded away, or got absorbed and lost in my own mories, making them difficult to intentionally recall, but what I heard just now definitely made sense.
"Were you talking to the Spear of Destiny?"
"Yes. Don't mind it," I answered Jaakobah's inquiry and dove into the rows of various legwear in front of , only to pause and add, "For the record, tell the kitchen staff that they can ease up on the vegetarian nu. Oh, and while you're there, also tell them to be more subtle with the poison."
"Poison? Were you poisoned?"
For the first ti, my very own 'Praetorian Prefect' sounded alard, but I dismissed him with a wave of my hand, without even looking up from the trousers in front of .
"No, of course not. It's just to keep them on their toes." That exchange was followed by an awkward silence, so to get over it, I forcefully cleared my throat and threw another question at the man by the door. "Never mind that, and answer this instead: What are the anings of the various numbers of wings, and how do they relate to Celestial hierarchy?"
"What… exactly do you an by that?"
Finally settling on a straight-cut white trousers, made of a thick fabric that reminded of denim, but was also weirdly soft to the touch, I faced him again to clarify my question.
"So far, I understand that Seraphs are people with six wings, and Cherubim are people like you, with four wings. Explain that whole system to , from the ground up."
Jaakobah still looked rather confounded by my request, but spending so much ti explaining stuff to the day before must've already desensitized him to weird questions, and he gathered his wits remarkably quickly.
"Currently, there are five castes of Celestials, approved by the Bureau of Celestial Rights and Purity. Until recently, the purest of Elysium were the Seraphs, signified by the possession of three pairs of wings."
"Until recently?" I prompted him while moving on to the accessory section, though I was mainly looking for socks and underwear only.
"As of your return, as an Ophanim, you naturally stand at the pinnacle."
"The particulars, Jaakobah. Get to the particulars," I half requested, half groaned while still searching the shelves.
"Ophanim used to be the purest scions of the purest bloodlines. Possessing six burning wings, they all controlled so aspect of the Celestial Flas from which we were born."
"Wait, we're getting too particular now," I cut in again, with a pair of remarkably modern boxed shorts in my hands. They were white too, because of course they were. More importantly, I turned to the self-promoted Prefect with a frown. "Let's leave the mythological origins for later, and focus on the wings and the other stuff."
"Understood."
"Good. Also, what was that about the 'aspect of the Celestial Flas' again?"
Once again, Jaakobah's face darkened, but it only lasted for a split-second before he assud his usual power face.
"Powers beyond mortal ans only granted to the Ophanim."
"What's mine?"
"… Don't you know that?"
"Do you?" I asked back, and after a long beat, he actually shook his head.
"I'm afraid I do not know the details. I'm not a historian."
"Maybe for the better. Your historians suck," I quipped to move the conversation along and made a ntal note to ask Teeny about this later. Hopefully, it'll be sothing I could fake with so elbow grease, and I also had sothing to do about the wing situation sooner or later as well. Oh, excuse , the burning wing situation. Lest I forget. "You were talking about the Ophanim in the past tense."
"Correct. There had been no Ophanim born since the death of the Second True Archon."
"And that's why the Seraphim are the current top dogs."
"In a manner of speaking, yes."
In the anti, I assembled an outfit I considered semi-presentable and looked for a nice corner where I could change. Once I settled on the spot, mostly hidden by a line of thick coats and capes, I gestured for Jaakobah to continue.
"Cherubim, such as myself, were once the majority of the population within Elysium, but generation after generation, our numbers have dwindled."
"Is that why the towers are so empty?"
"The original Migdáls were erected in the age of Deus, so it is possible. As far as my personal experience is concerned, they had always been mostly empty."
Humming along, I peeled myself out of my previous outfit and folded everything up before placing them onto a nearby stool.
"What about the rest of the people, living outside?"
"The Malakim, you an? Their lot is to work the land, as decreed by Deus."
"Are they all two-winged?"
"That's correct."
"What about the Celestials outside of the Elysium?"
"You're talking about the Ishim." He paused as if waiting for so kind of reaction, but I was too busy quickly putting on the new underwear to give any kind of input. "Ishim are the two-winged descendants of Cherubim, though, in very rare occasions, they might be the descendants of the Seraphim as well. By law, they would have to leave the Migdáls to be raised by and live with the Malakim, but it had beco tradition to arrange for such newborns to be adopted into human families, and only reveal their heritages later in life."
"So you guys are aware that being a peasant sucks, and instead of doing sothing about it, you have a whole system designed to dodge demoting your kids into a lower caste?"
Jaakobah's frown deepened, though I could only catch a glimpse of it from behind my makeshift screen made of clothes.
"This was sothing decreed by Deus, and approved by Archon Polemas. That is to say, by you."
"Maybe, but do you seriously think this whole system was supposed to still be running, completely unchanged, in the year of… sothing-sothing twenty-first century?"
He apparently couldn't find the right answer to that and remained silent while I finished changing. Stepping out into the open, I beheld myself through Far Sight, and all things considered, I looked decently presentable. At the mont, I was wearing a pair of dress shoes, the already ntioned denim-ish pants, a double-breasted suit jacket with silver buttons, and a thin button-up shirt with a mandarin collar, without a tie. The only thing I reused from my previous attire was the belt, since it housed the Leoforr, and both my weapons were hanging from it once again. For Teeny's, I had to use a leather belt loop I'd found among the accessories, and while it wasn't exactly the right size, it was good enough. Needless to say, all of that was pure white, including the belt loop, and while it wasn't exactly 'my colour', I felt that I looked at least okay in it.
Jaakobah also looked over, but instead of comnting on my attire, he just let out a soft hum and told , "Director Tsephanyah is also concerned over the segregation between the Malakim and the rest of our society. Maybe you could discuss the topic with him in the future?"
My gut reaction was to nod, but I forcefully stilled my head, closed my eyes, and exhaled a long breath to center myself. Rember, ; I wasn't here to reform Celestial society. I already had waaay too many things to worry about, and pretending to be Polemos was very different from actually being in charge of an entire country, civilization, or whatever term the Elysium would be labelled with.
I only needed to figure out the general situation, differentiate the good guys from the bad guys, and then once I was in the clear, say adios and return to my loving girlfriends' side and pretend that this whole interzzo never happened. I really wasn't cut out to be a statesman anyway; it was too much responsibility.
But speaking of the girls, it's been a while since I last checked on them, so I used the opportunity to Far Glance at them, followed by a click of my tongue.
"Well, I guess that's it for now," I whispered just loud enough for Jaakobah to hear, and then raised my voice to the usual level. "I'm afraid we have to cut this conversation short. I have so business to attend."
"… Are you planning on leaving the Migdál again?"
"Yes," I told him without any reservations and picked up my previous outfit.
"If the directors learn of this, they won't be happy."
"You're reporting to . Why do you care whether they're happy or not?"
Snorting dismissively, I walked over to the bedroom and deposited the folded clothes onto the bed before turning back to Jaakobah. The man looked unusually conflicted, and when our eyes t, he opened his mouth with an expression that was halfway between determined and resigned.
"In that case, I'll accompany you."
"No, you won't," I denied him on the spot, but he didn't kick up a fuss. "You have a eting with Kane anyway, don't you?"
"It's true, yet as your only official guard on duty…"
"Just let it go. You can't stop , and you couldn't keep up with even if you tried." He apparently didn't need any more convincing and showed his loss by lightly shrugging his shoulders. Gesturing towards the entrance, I waved my hand and said, "Off you go then." He turned on his heel right away, but before he could take a step, I hurriedly called after him, "Oh, just one more thing. Tell the kitchen that you're going to bring my dinner. Be here at eight, sharp."
His eyes told that he had many questions, yet Jaakobah remained silent and only nodded deferentially before leaving the place. I waited for a while longer and made sure through Far Sight that he left the floor before I cast my long-range glance at my girlfriends again. They were inside the underground base's reception room, along with my sisters, all of them in casual clothes. Penny was pacing up and down in the middle of the chamber, while Elly, Snowy, and Judy were sitting on one of the padded benches set against the wall opposite to the door leading into the teleport closet. Furthermore, Judy, in particular, was holding a large sign saying 'We're ready when you are' written on it in big yet impeccable hand-written letters.
That was much faster than expected. I thought it would take them more ti to gather everyone for the ergency eting, yet in just half a day, they sohow managed to do it, and based on the cluster of red dots I could sense nearby, they probably gathered not just all the Fauns, Knights, and people related to , but quite a few others as well.
Slightly impressed by their efficiency, I rolled my head, stretched my back, made sure my clothes were in order, and then Phased right into the teleport closet.
"Hi, girls," I spoke up at the sa ti I opened the door, trying to sound as cheery as possible, yet it still startled everyone like I was a spooky ghost, or a poltergeist, or worse yet, a taxman. "I hope you didn't have to wait too lo—"
"Brother!"
Before I could finish, I was almost tackled off my feet and back into the closet by Penny, and Snowy soon followed after her, though with considerably less velocity.
"Hi, Chief. Yes, we've been waiting for over half an hour," Judy grumbled even while she walked over to my side and looked over from head to toe.
"Wow? Where did you get those clothes?" Elly asked the question that was most likely on my dear assistant's mind, only for Penny to snap at her for her trouble.
"Is that really the first thing you ask of him after he escaped his kidnappers!?"
"They already t yesterday, so she wasn't as worried as you are," Snowy explained to her, and while my knightlier sister sent an annoyed glance her way, she didn't refute her words.
anwhile, I carefully peeled Penny off my side and told the princess, "Consider it a disguise. How do I look?"
Elly took my question seriously but thought for so long that Snowy managed to beat her to the punch.
"It's fine, but I think your usual colors suit you better."
"Yes. That's exactly what I wanted to say!"
Elly's agreent made Snowy smile, but my attention was rather drawn to the girl who remained silent until now.
"Is there a problem, Dormouse?"
"I'm just thinking," she said, sounding unusually absent-minded. "Say, Chief? You disappeared for a while, and then you returned with new powers and a white outfit. Does that make you 'Leonard the White'?"
"Is that a trope?" Elly uttered in a mixture of surprise and curiosity, and Judy shrugged in a way that said 'Maybe it is?', much to my knightly sister's chagrin, as she continued to huff and puff about how their reaction didn't fit the gravitas of the situation.
"Let's leave the ta-stuff for later. I have a eting in the evening, so I have to be back by eight."
"Get back? What do you an 'get back'? To where?" Penny continued to bombard with questions, not giving enough ti to answer. Not that I could even if I wanted to, since the conversation already moved on in the anti.
"That ans we have seven hours? More than enough!" Elly declared, and I only just realized that she sneaked up to my side, catching in a bear hug.
"Princess?"
"I'm charging my Leonium reserves," she told unabashedly. "You've been gone for too long!"
"… It's been less than a day."
"Leonium is a non-renewable resource," Judy answered in her stead and hugged from the other side. "We need to stockpile as much as possible whenever we can."
"Hey! Unfair!" Penny cried out and tried to grab again, but she didn't have much space between the girls. Snowy, on the other hand, seed to be content with just watching over us with a delighted smile, and didn't fight the others for any untapped Leonium fields.
Since good little sisters deserved affection, I used the opportunity to rustle her hair with my good left hand, and after a long beat, I began to peel myself out of the three-way embrace I was trapped in.
"Let's leave the mushy stuff for after the eting, okay?"
"I'm fine with that."
Judy's response was followed up by a nod from the princess and an unexpected question from Penny, her finger trained on Teeny.
"Hey? Where did that sword co from?"
"I'll explain everything in detail," I told her and started walking towards the door leading into the main hall. "I have a ton of things to talk about though, so in case I forget about it, please remind ."
anwhile, I opened up the heavy tal door, and the mont I did, a wall of excited sounds washed over . Looking through the gap, I blinked in surprise, glanced at my girlfriends, looked through the door again, and then buried my face in my palm.
"Girls… When I told you to gather everyone, I didn't an it this literally…"
User Comments
0 comments from readers