Bab 173: The Existence
Kai shook his head, brought his mind to reality, and then walked towards the tent's entrance.
The guards didn't even spare a glance at him, but Kai's Perception did catch a hint of threat seeping out of them as if in the next moment their swords would come for his back.
There were two barricades in front of Kai as he entered. An official was demanding City-passes from everyone, standing in between them.
"Just ascended," Kai said, nearing him. The official nodded and opened the left barricade for him to pass.
An enormous hall opened itself to him, its walls lined with many counters. Contestants had lined themselves up, keeping a sizable gap between each other. Hard-faced Contestants, wearing a white overcoat with the royal badge on their chests, were making rounds in the Hall. Kai slowly joined a line and waited for his turn.
After some time, Kai found himself facing a woman, formally dressed and quite powerless.
"Code Name," she demanded.
"Red."
The woman didn't even raise as much as an eyebrow and just wrote the name, stamped a seal, and then signed over it hastily. It seemed she had had her fill with all gods, demons, devils, colors, and flowers, and now nothing could grab her attention anymore.
She handed the document to Kai and said, "Next."
Kai followed the signs on the walls to head towards the Portkeys counters, meanwhile going through the instructions mentioned in the document. All was as mentioned by Meg, Kai reflected.
Among the major points was that within the next 6 months, he must participate in the battle once after ascending to the 4th floor for the first time. Then, if he wanted to settle down for a long term in any nation, he must get a job within 6 months after his battle. If he managed to get a job, then he could report this to any local Custom Office and get his City-pass extended. Otherwise, he must take part in another battle that would automatically extend his stay by another 6 months.
Everything is quite methodical about all this, Kai noticed. Why leave the 1st Set as a lawless region then? Yeah, it's big. But with so much time in their hands, they could've gotten it all sorted out in a few centuries, if not decades.
The City of Assignments! As the name of the city ran through his mind, Kai suddenly recalled Meg's words, explaining the reason it was called so. So, Kai thought, smiling, they have deliberately left the 1st Set alone so that the top organizations could have their way with children and their parents. Wonderful!
It took him another hour to get a ticket to the Royal Station of Buckfastleigh.
Kai reached a room whose number matched the one on his ticket. A man in a white overcoat was already waiting for him, it seemed to Kai. "Hurry," the man told him. "You are the last one."
Kai entered the hall-like room and found over 10 men and women staring back at him. In the middle of the room, there was an earthen pot, its edges broken and worn.
"OK," the official said loudly, checking the time on his watch. "I don't have all day. Touch it already, you fools. What're you waiting for?"
They all hurried, pressing their fingers hard against the solid. Kai had heard about the Portkeys from Meg, but this would be his first time. As seconds passed, the faintest hint of anticipation in his heart became nervousness. He lifted his head to see around, and at this exact moment, everything spun.
Kai felt as if someone had hooked him from within around his navel and was pulling him away. As his sight blurred, the only thing he remembered thinking of was that he hadn't eaten something after his arrival. His finger seemed to have been glued to the pot, as he swirled and swirled, and before he knew it, he slammed on the hard floor. His hold over the pot finally loosened.
"Get up!" someone shouted. "I won't have you dirtying the floor here. Take out your City-passes and Portkey tickets."
Kai pushed himself up, gritting his teeth, as the nauseating feeling abated by itself in a few moments. The official exclaimed, checking the documents. "You must have been to a sea-based Random World," he said, giving him back the City-pass. "Sailors seem to be less prone to vomiting after using a portkey to travel."
Kai walked out of the room, his mouth pressed hard. He could feel the hint of bile in his throat, an acidic, burning sensation.
"Here!"
Kai recognized the voice. He looked to his left, and there she was, a red goddess in a purple gown. Meg approached him, turning heads and eyes alike behind her. "Are you alright, master?" she asked, whispering the last word.
"Yeah," he lied. "Have you got the tickets?"
Meg nodded. "Next train is in half an hour," she said. "Would you like to eat something meanwhile?"
"God, no!" Kai spat. "How long would it take to reach the nation?"
"3 hours," Meg answered. "Let's have supper on the train then."
To that, Kai agreed.
*
*
The coaches were clean on the train.
They were about to reach their destination. Kai had bread, eggs, and tea, a light meal to stomach the food. Meg had added a cut of venison and wine in place of tea to her supper.
"There will be an auction after a week, master," she said, passing him the newspaper. "If you are lucky… Ahem! If we are lucky, then we might get a pair of good sabers for you as well."
Fangs were good, but with the increasing difficulties, Kai was bound to face even stronger enemies. It was more so when he would compress the Main Missions of three floors into one, raising the overall grade. Not to mention, the Tournament of Worth was on the horizon.
Kai nodded at Meg, rolling the Iron Coin across his knuckles.
The train was losing its momentum with every second now. "Don't worry," Meg said, giggling, noticing the Iron Coin. "Even the High Priest wouldn't have guessed that we would arrive here."
"He can, using the sacrifices, though," Kai retaliated. "Or am I wrong?"
"No." She shook her head. "We aren't 1st Set Contestants anymore, master. The quality of sacrifices increases with a Contestant's Stats and floor. And once we get accepted as the Tournament of Worth's Candidates tomorrow, even he wouldn't be able to know anything about us."
Her words did make sense to him.
Yet, something felt wrong. An eerie sensation, a distant thread of an unseen web attached to the back of his neck. Or was it some aftereffect of portkey travel?
Sigh! Kai stood up, seeing the platform approaching from the window. I will go with my instincts then.
The master and servant stepped out of the train and headed for the exit.
They were already in the city, Kai realized, as he saw the humongous Wall beyond the last train's carriage looming over the roofless station.
He put his thumb over the Iron Coin, which was still in his left hand, his heart pounding for some inexplicable reason. Meg was walking a step ahead of him, her head bobbing around in all directions.
She had already asked what he was trying to say before teleportation. But Kai brushed it off, saying that he was making some jest. Suddenly, as he was thinking of the White Room, Kai recalled the words he had seen just before he arrived in the Primordial Tower.
Constant Vigilance!
"Hey!" Kai called out to her. "What these…"
She looked over her shoulder, and their eyes matched. His pure hazels looked into his deep, wild browns. Kai blinked.
Then she was gone.
His heart bombarded his chest, and his thumb, like an automatic switch, pressed over the coin, breaking it in half easily as if it was forged to be broken.
Only then did Kai notice he couldn't hear anything. And how could he? There was no one around him. Every single person had vanished, leaving behind the platform in deathly silence.
Then, out of nowhere, the sound of light steps echoed behind him.
"Turn around," an unknown, ancient voice rippled.
Kai's body betrayed him, turning around involuntarily. If they could, his eyes would have widened, seeing the person… no, the existence he was now looking at.
Wearing pale yellow robes was an Existence.
The Existence's skin was as white as Selene's scales. He had a bald head, and there were two curved, white horns over, rising high from his forehead. His right eye was shut tight, and his left eye was a mass of purple, covered in many black rings of concentric circles with what looked like three commas on the innermost ring.
The Existence adjusted his right hand a little, and Kai saw he was holding something.
A wand. Around 15 inches long, and had round spheres along its length. Quite ordinary.
But Meg had once drawn this exact wand for him at his request, for she had told him this was the strongest Wand in the Random World of Harry Potter. The Elder Wand!
And now, even Kai's heart had refused to listen to his thoughts, calming down by itself.
"Come, then," the Existence smiled. "We are looking forward to our nice evening walk."
**************
AN: The use We here is the Royal WE; used by a single person who is a monarch or holds a high office to refer to themselves. A more general term for the use of a WE, US, or OUR to refer to oneself is nosism. Example: Queen Victoria said, "We are not amused." Here she is using the royal WE
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