Chapter 35: 6.X Interlude: A Princess' Desire

Caris Zenoia Kattleyna... As a princess of the Empire, she always knew that her role was highly important to the survival of her home. An only child, her birth rendered her mother unable to rear more children for the throne, leaving a young girl to be the sole heiress to an Empire spanning a third of the [Shallow Deep].

As a child, Zenoia was trained in all matters related to ruling. From proper manners to statesmanship, every bit of knowledge she that needed to succeed her father in the future was drilled right into her mind. She never had a proper childhood, and Mother could only do so much to give her the attention that she needed as a growing woman.

As such, as soon as she was granted at least some semblance of autonomy, Zenoia used every bit of opportunity she had to leave the Imperial Palace.

[Yagokoro] was a bleak place for a child, and Zenoia's curiosity only grew the older she got. Books about the world beyond the Empire filled her dreams as tales of [Somatics] fueled her spirit for adventure. There will be times where she pretended to have a [Manifest], hoping that her sheer determination would somehow make the gods gift her with the means to leave. After all, a [Somatic] was too important not to use for the Empire's benefit, even if it was a princess like her.

But of course, life didn't work that way. Or so she thought...

"Finally..."

Closing the door to her room, Shizu let out a massive sigh before quickly making her way to her bed. Letting all pretenses of decorum out the window, the princess loosened her restrictive clothing, letting her body breath as she splayed herself out onto her sheets. Without the scrutinizing eye of the public, the princess could finally act in the way that she truly wanted. Not that she wasn't doing it halfway in broad daylight already...

"Mother would be furious..." she chuckled to herself.

Breathing out a yawn of epic proportions, Shizu relaxed as her eyes glued themselves onto the wooden ceiling above her. The bed on her back wasn't as soft or comfortable as the one she had in her room, but she wasn't picky enough to make enough of a fuss about it. And even then, she just had too many lingering thoughts running through her mind at the moment. Now was the time to let them wander while trying to figure out what to do with the new discoveries that casually changed her life in just the span of a few hours...

"An [Eld God]..."

Shizu had never expected the gods to be real. Sure, she was fascinated by their so-called influence throughout the world, but she honestly thought that were simply natural occurrences that haven't been properly explained yet. She rued the Imperial researchers that always used the 'Elden Excuse,' as she would call it, to avoid properly explaining every new strange phenomenon that appeared throughout the world. Even within the walls of their city, they would still refuse to put in enough effort to actually jot down the exact reasons as to why they existed.

But now...

Closing her eyes, the Imperial Princess felt something within her mind click. The mystical power she acquired from her ordeal was now something that she could summon at will; a gift from the [Eld God] Guidance herself.

"[Code Watcher]..."

In the same way as the world around Moriya changed with his words, her own lips oozed with power as the name of her ability escaped her throat. She didn't know where or how she came up with such a name, but she could only assume that it was also the work of the [Eld God] Guidance.

Opening her eyes, her golden irises were replaced with a stark darkness as the world as she knew it disappeared. Everything became shaded with a hue of dark green, ones and zeroes flowing all around her as her mind drank it all in. Somehow, Shizu could tell that there was a pattern somewhere in all of the garbled mess that her eyes could now perceive. At the back of her mind, memories of events that have yet to pass appeared once more, a written out story showing the horrible and wicked tales that were about to happen in the immediate future. The burden of knowledge was something she always knew was a heavy affair, but she never truly imagined just how much it would weigh on her heart.

"If only..."

Her dark eyes squinted as she strained her future sight. She knew that her eyes were capable of so much more, but they weren't as important as knowing what the future held for her beloved Empire.

"Just... a little bit..."

Blood began dripping from her nose as the horrors of war played themselves out in her mind. The images weren't clear, but they were more than enough to shock the sheltered princess into submission. Her eyes watered as she forced herself to look, to see if she could somehow prevent such a tragedy.

"There.... a way...."

The longer her new eyes were turned on, the more it felt as if her mind was about to melt from the strain. Even so, she powered through for the sake of all she held dear. Even if her father refused to let her leave the city, she still wished for peace to reign throughout the [Shallow Deep].

However, it was simply too much.

"Hah... hah...."

The Imperial Princess panted as she quickly closed her eyes, blinking the Elden numbers off of her vision as the world returned to its rightful state. Her eyes felt like they were on fire, and the wetness coming from her nose was something that she probably had to address before tomorrow came.

Absently tugging at her kimono, she used the collar of her dress to wipe away whatever fluids had stained her face. It wasn't as if anyone would even notice anyway, especially her mother.

Curling into her sheets, Shizu thought about the revelations that her new gift had given her.

The world was but a game to the gods. She knew little about them, of course, but the [Eld God] Guidance's words while she was in excruciating pain inferred as such. The god spouted foreign concepts such as 'character design,' and 'major bugs' that never really made sense to her, and the way that the god's power easily remade her very soul and being into lines of gibberish words still haunted her even now. Especially so, now that she could also see the world around her in the same way that the [Eld God] did.

"The truth..." she hauntingly mumbled to herself. "What is the truth..."

While her grown-up body was a nice gift to be given to her, the existential crisis that the truth gave her was simply far more brutal than she had ever thought possible. The numbness in her chest was something entirely foreign to her, having lived her life to be as cheerful as possible for the people around her. She knew of the other [Stars] in existence from beyond [The Seam], but she never expected the gods to be this... this.... "Normal?"

And that wasn't to mention the so-called 'quests' that Moriya constantly insisted on taking from her. The feeling of losing one's autonomy was terrifying, but a part of her still knew that what she did was the right thing to do. It was what her [Code Watcher] told her to do. And if what it showed her was going to come to pass, then she needed to help the Stranger to get strong as fast as possible.

Letting out a deep breath, Shizu tried her best to drift off into a deep sleep. Her worries about the future were the least of her worries right now. In fact, her immediate future would probably be rife with danger if she was truly destined to accompany Moriya throughout his travels. However, the promise of a different future was still on the table. They had direct contact with an [Eld God], after all. And if Moriya thought that they could petition Her to change their fates, then it would all be worth it.

"An adventure..."

Either way, wasn't that what she always wanted? To leave the confines of [Yagokoro] and [Kotosa] and strike it out into the wider world of the [Shallow Deep]? Now that she had what was ostensibly a [Manifest], she now had all the excuses she needed to tell Father that she was going out to hone her power. And she wouldn't even be lying!

"Heh... Hehe..."

Shizu let out a light chuckle into her sheets. The prospect of adventure was making her heart pound. It might be what the [Eld God] had written for her, but if it was, then she would make sure to thank Her for giving her the opportunity to do so.

"Oh, mighty Guidance, thank you..."

With a whisper of thanks, the Imperial Princess finally let herself nod off. The world was about to change. And whether or not it was for the better or for worse, she knew that she had a major part to play in the events to come.

Hopefully, her future sight wasn't as perfect as she thought they were.

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