章 56: Chapter 56: The Kingdom of Mysteries
Hey guys!
Sorry for the delay. I was swamped for almost two whole weeks without even having the time to write. Hell, one of my weeks was full of exams almost every day.
I barely had the time to finish this. There is probably going some more delay since my studies are hell. But I didn't forget you guys and you don't need to worry about this story and Dreams of the Fool dropping.
This chapter, there is going to mention of texts in religious texts. The only sacred texts I read were the Vedas. Therefore, if there is anything wrong, please don't be offended and tell me what was wrong.
Thanks!
And don't forget to leave comments and stones.
Peace!
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Isaiah was in a state of awe. He looked all around the place
"It-It really is a kingdom." the boy said as he gazed at his Reality Marble.
"Yes. Yes, it is." the giant red-haired man said.
He first looked up and widened his eyes. The sky looked like a normal sky on a sunny day. Not hot nor cold, just right. Except for one thing.
Lines.
Every now and then, crimson-red lines of all sizes would flash every now and then in the bright blue sky. For an instant, the whole sky was covered with lines before clearing up. There were no set intervals between their appearances. If Isaiah were to compare this phenomenon to something, it would be those eye floaters that sometimes appear in people's vision when they get too dizzy.
"Are those the Lines of Death? But I have my glasses on."
"The red-haired man spoke once more with a massive grin,
"As you know, A Reality Marble is a representation of your soul. Those "Lines of Death" are simply a representation of your Mystic Eyes in your soul. It's quite mesmerizing to look at."
Isaiah nodded slowly before looking at another anomaly, the sun.
Or what seems to be the sun when it was a blue sphere with a white center. It also let out occasional flares of energy just like the surface of the sun. Oddly enough, it behaved exactly like a sun. For some reason, the shape and colour didn't affect the source of the kingdom's light.
"Is that what I think it is?" Isaiah asked.
"Umu! That's right! Normally, people would die just by looking at it, but just like with those Lines of Death, it is simply a representation of your connection with the Root."
This time it was the excitable girl in a red dress and gold hair that spoke.
"It's pretty."
"That's right! Perhaps, I shall make a song about it?"
Isaiah then looked down and saw the road outside his castle's gates separated into different paths leading to other locations. One road led to a forest while another led to a large body of water just like the one behind the Stark Mansion. Another led to a large plain of grass and one more led to a mountain range.
One could say it was a whole new world.
However, what took the cake was the path leading to,
"A city?" asked Isaiah.
The city was so large, it stretched beyond what the boy could see.
The woman in the blue battle dress nodded,
"Yes, this is the city within the Kingdom of Mysteries where your citizens live."
Isaiah nodded and observed the city and noticed something odd. The city's structure was weird. There was one part of it that looked like the Era of Renaissance had bloomed once more while another looked like it was re-enacting Ancient Greece. Another part looked like a scene straight out of a manga depicting Ancient Japan. Hell, one looked like a modern city in America. They were all interconnected by roads and bridges. There were also various structures such as towers, arenas, and infrastructure. Hell, right at the center of the city was a huge unfinished tower that seemed to reach for the heavens.
The boy could see the people wandering around and interacting with each other. Isaiah saw them talk, fight, laugh, fish, train, and more.
It was mesmerizing.
"Boy."
Isaiah turned around and looked at the man in golden armour,
"Even if this is your kingdom, do remember that these mongrels are not just citizens." the man said arrogantly,
"As a King, this is your house, your garden, your world. This is your soul, and I will not have a clueless and broken child mess with it." the man snarled.
Isaiah didn't know what to say to the man bearing hostility.
The other moved to speak when another voice spoke,
"Now, now Gil. You shouldn't say those things like that since you know that's not fair. This is his first time here and he still needs to learn about this place."
Isaiah turned to the voice and saw a... man? Woman? An androgynous being with long green hair that reached their legs and a serene face and green eyes. They wore a simply long tunic covering their body and no shoes. They were walking barefoot. Even their voice sounded genderless, but they leaned more on the soft male side.
"Enkidu." the golden man said with a scowl however, Isaiah noticed that there was no hostilité in his voice.
The person turned to Isaiah and smiled,
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, O King. Although Gil won't admit to it, we have all been waiting for you."
Isaiah tilted his head,
"Does that mean you were here before my Reality Marble formed?"
Enkidu's tunic flowed gently in the wind,
"It is more like we were waiting for you to be ready."
Isaiah observed the man,
"Gil said your name was Enkidu." the boy said while pointing at Gil whose eyebrow twitched in anger. "Are you who I think you are?"
The other people looked like they were holding in their snickers at Isaiah's adoption of the nickname.
Enkidu smiled,
"And who do you think I am, O King of Mysteries?"
Isaiah tilted his head and remembered where he had heard that name.
"Back at Kamar-Taj, I read about a poem called the Epic of Gilgamesh. Enkidu was the name of the person created by the gods to rival Gilgamesh. However, they grew to become friends and managed the kill the Bull of Heavens or so the story went. Are you the Enkidu of that epic?" Isaiah replied.
He saw Gil's face turn to a sneer while Enkidu's face turned melancholic.
"I'm sure you know this by experience but, just like every myth, they always contain a grain of truth in their distortions. Although that story is not a complete one, you are correct about my identity."
The person gave a slight bow,
"My name is Enkidu. A being created from a clump of mud and the hands of the gods, I am also Gilgamesh's best and only friend." Enkidu said.
Isaiah looked at him in wonder, but he had one question that he couldn't contain,
"Are you a guy or a girl?"
Enkidu chuckled,
"I am technically genderless, but you may refer to me as male just like Gil."
Isaiah turned to Gil,
"Then you must be Gilgamesh."
"Hmph! Seems like you finally recognized this king. Rejoice, you are in the presence of the Great King of Uruk and the first hero of humanity!" the man replied with an overly arrogant tone as he spread his arms.
"This-This is amazing. Cù Chulainn, Enkidu, Gilgamesh. Three famous historical and mythological heroes are in my Reality Marble!" Isaiah exclaimed.
He turned to the remaining three people,
"And you guys are? Are you some sort of hero?"
The people could almost see sparkles in the boy's eyes.
The red-haired man flapped his cape back and let out an imposing aura with a laugh,
"That's right! I am Iskandar, the King of Conquerors. I am the man who once conquered almost the whole continent and I wish to help you conquer the world this time too!" He said in a jovial and loud tone.
"Iskandar as in Alexander the Great?" Isaiah asked.
" HAHAHAHA! I was also called by that name by that name by my foes!"
The boy turned to the two women who looked only similar.
The woman in the red dress stepped forward,
"Umu! It is I Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the Emperor of the Roman Empire! Welcome you to your Kingdom, King Isaiah! If you had time, you would have the honour of listening to one of my songs, but alas there was no such time." she exaggeratedly presented herself before giving a sorrowful expression.
Isaiah had recognized her "Umu" and pointed at her,
"You were one of the shadow people behind the fog, aren't you?"
"Umu!"
"And Nero Claudius? Aren't you supposed to be a man? At least that's what the history books say."
Nero laughed with her hands on her waist.
"Probably! It's not like we come from the same world, do we?" she replied.
"You don't? Of course, you don't. The same way I got my Magic circuits, you probably come from that world, don't you? Which means that you were a woman there." I said understood what she meant.
"Umu! Although, I wonder how this Nero was. Was he as talented as me?"
Isaiah shrugged,
"I don't know. Never met the guy."
Nero laughed.
Finally, Isaiah turned to the woman in the blue battle dress.
The woman smiled and pulled her sword out of her sheath before gently placing the tip on the floor.
"My name is Artoria Pendragon and I was the ruler of Britain. It is a pleasure meeting you Isaiah Sharpe."
Isaiah tilted his head,
"Are you supposed to be the female version of King Arthur?"
"In my world, because of my duty as the King of Britain, I was depicted as a male. Most of my mannerism as well as the way I dressed was that of a male. Not that my being a woman hindered my abilities. Perhaps, the King Arthur of your world was male, who knows?"
Isaiah nodded before turning his gaze toward the sword and scabbard.
"Are those the famous Excalibur and Avalon?"
Artoria nodded with a small smile as the sword seemed to glow slightly as if it was proud of being recognized.
"That is right."
Isaiah couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship of the weapon and scabbard. He saw some runes that he theorized to be the language of the fey.
"They're more beautiful than I thought," he said.
"Indeed, they are."
"Does that mean everyone is some sort of hero in this realm?"
The woman nodded,
"It depends on your definition of hero, Isaiah."
The boy tilted his head,
"Definition?"
"What is a hero, Isaiah?" Artoria asked.
The boy needed time to think before answering,
"Hmm. A hero is a person who does good deeds?"
Gilgamesh and Cú Chulainn snorted while the others let out chuckles. The young sorcerer was confused,
"What?"
Artoria looked at the boy amused,
"Well, you're not wrong. That is one definition of a hero, but there is also another definition. A definition that defines this place and another. A hero is a person who performed great deeds in their life and became an object of worship after their death. As such, each and everyone in this realm is a hero no matter the morality or reason for their deeds. They are all heroic spirits."
That's when something clicked in Isaiah and he widened his eyes,
"Like the Throne of Heroes," he whispered.
Artoria nodded,
"That is right. Your Reality Marble, The Kingdom of Mysteries, has apparently emulated itself as another Throne of Heroes due to your connection to the Root."
"Does that the people of my world too?"
"Perhaps? Perhaps not?"
Isaiah was shocked. He knew what the Throne of Heroes was. It was supposed to be a realm outside of the world axis and managed by the collective unconsciousness of mankind of that world, Alaya.
"But that's not all!" Nero suddenly exclaimed.
"Huh?" Isaiah turned to her
"Umu! There is a reason your Reality Marble is not called the Throne of Heroes, but the Kingdom of Mysteries."
"Why?"
"I'm sure you will find out if you search for the answer, King Isaiah! We can't give you all the answers. Now, I must leave and give the honour of showing myself to others! Bye!" Nero replied before bolting out of the place.
"Wait!" Isaiah called out, but she disappeared.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw it was Iskandar,
"You should not worry, young King! You must learn the art of Conquest in order to improve yourself. You must conquer your heart, mind, and the people to be the King of this Kingdom. I shall now leave and let you be. But remember, in here, we are all your citizens even with our history!" Iskandar said before jumping out of the balcony and into the air. As he fell, a huge war chariot pulled by two bulky bulls materialized around him. Iskandar the Great grabbed its reins and flew away all the while letting out boisterous laughter.
Gil let out another sneer,
"That buffoon can't help with his theatrics, can't he?"
Enkidu placated the man by gently patting his shoulder,
"Now, Now Gil. we must leave Isaiah to explore his Kingdom."
Enkidu turned to Isaiah,
"Once again, welcome to your Kingdom, King Isaiah. It would be better for you to explore the realm on your own. After all, a king must know everything about his kingdom."
Isaiah nodded,
"And just like Iskandar said. You can always call for us, even Gil. Although, he could be a tad stubborn."
"Oi,"
The green-haired person laughed gently before leaving with Gil. There was only Artoria left with him. Cú Chulainn had disappeared during their conversation.
"What about you Miss Pendragon?" Isaiah asked.
"As a knight, it is my duty to accompany you unless you don't want to?"
The boy looked at her before looking toward the city,
"I think I'll be fine."
Artoria heated her sword and nodded,
"Very well. Then I shall take my leave." the woman said before going for the exit leaving him alone on the balcony.
The boy gazed at the city,
"The Kingdom of Mysteries, huh? I think I get what Nero was talking about," he said out loud.
Indeed, due to his connection to the Root, he had been granted the ability to wield mana through the use of Magic circuits. Unlike him, Solomon of his world apparently had a metaphysical organ with the capacity to generate mana while he had a "nervous system" in his soul. His version of mana manipulation does not originate from his world, but from another world. In that world, there is almost no magic, and the world had been overtaken by magecraft which works on the principle of mysteries.
Due to his connection to the Root as well as that world, Isaiah's Reality Marble has been moulded to accommodate Mysteries or miracles. He'll, the fact he could use the First True Magic is Mystery itself. And due to his Reality Marble as well as his Magic Circuit, he could incorporate the concept of Mysteries in his spells unlike the sorcerers of his world who manipulated the multitude of energies present in the universe to manipulate reality. His spells could work on a conceptual level.
Isaiah looked up in the sky at the blue "sun" as he thought about the meaning of all this. He then looked around and saw that everyone had left.
"Why don't we go to the village?" he said out loud.
The boy exited the balcony and began to walk in the castle's hallway. Even when this was the first time he walked through the castle, he had an almost intuitive sense of direction. It was as if he could vaguely sense where everything was in this realm.
Of course, it was his Reality Marble.
He continued to walk down the hall and saw many frames hanging off the walls. He looked at one and was surprised at the contents. It was one of his memories. The picture moved as it showed a memory of his first birthday party after finding out about his father. The way the memory moved made him remember of those moving picture frames from Harry Potter.
He saw another frame. This one was depicting his training under Master Hamir. It was when he first started learning Magic. He saw himself trying to unsuccessfully control Eldritch Magic while Master Hamir was observing him stoically.
As he continued to walk down the hallways, he saw more and more frames. This only served to confuse him. Although a Reality Marble is a representation of one's inner soul, according to the meagre amount of knowledge he had gleaned in the Root, it wouldn't allow one to see memories.
On the other hand, he was the only one with a Reality Marble to his knowledge which made it hard to verify the facts.
"Does the Kingdom of Mysteries function as my mindscape?" he asked himself before chuckling to himself, "I now have voices in my head,"
He walked down an immense set of stairs before reaching for the large pairs of doors. As if they detected him, the doors opened themselves.
Smiling, Isaiah walked out of the castle and began walking toward the city As he approached the city, he saw more and more activity. Looking around, the disorienting variety of the different parts of the city amazed him. The contrast was so huge, it was like they were mini-countries within the city.
'Did the people build it like this or was it the Reality Marble?'
As he entered the city, no one seemed to pay attention to him which he was honestly grateful for. He didn't want to deal with the fact he was now the king of an entire realm. As he continued to walk, he saw many people talking amongst each other. At one point, he thought he saw a store selling goods.
Where the money and items came from? He didn't know and he's not going to question it. However, at the center of the city, there was a tall, circular and incomplete tower.
'Woah! That's like many times taller than even the Empire State Building!'
To be honest, the tower itself seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite place it in his memories.
'Impressive isn't it?" asked a male voice said.
Isaiah turned to his left and saw a man wearing some sort of clothes that looked like a cross between the Medieval and Victorian Eras. He looked like a man in his thirties with dark blond or brown, he wasn't sure, hair and a goatee. He also had a leather-bound with a pen attached to it in his right hand.
"It is," replied Isaiah as he nodded.
It's not like he was lying.
The man smirked and stroked his beard,
"It was said that this tower was built by the people who wanted to make a name for themselves. They wanted the top to reach the heavens where they could reach God. However, unhappy with this development as humans are not meant to reach the Heavens on their own, God struck the tower down and disrupted the work by confusing the language of the workers making it so they wouldn't understand each other anymore, hence the complete interruption of the tower's creation."
The man chuckled,
"Quite the story of the feeble humans trying to reach for what they couldn't have. If I made a piece about it, I would probably be lynched or praised depending on the crowd. Most likely lynched though." he said with a hint of humour.
When the man talked about the tower's story, Isaiah finally remembered where he heard about this tower,
"That's the Tower of Babel," he said with a whisper.
Although he was not religious, he had once read the Bible simply out of curiosity. He wanted to find out about religions and their meaning.
"That's right. Some see it as the fact that one should not reach for God as they are mere ants in front of him or the fact that this tower is a display of God's might. Or simply this story is an attempt at the diversity of language in this world. However, I see it differently."
"Really?"
"This story depicts human nature. The nature to improve themselves, the nature to seek the unknown. Humanity was geared to search, research, to learn. It is an excellent story with varying subjects such as the perseverance of the humans and the "villain"" he said with air quotes," being God, blocking their path. The protagonist, Humanity, was seen as a weak race against the omnipotent power of the Lord who resided in a place not meant for mere humans! This story is a tragedy that would most likely fall into the underdog story style. Except the underdog didn't win. This tower could be a symbol of Humanity's thirst for knowledge!" the man said with a dramatic expression.
"He's weird." Isaiah thought.
"I don't know I can say much about it, but that's one way to look at it."
"Indeed! Stories are meant to be read or watched with not one, but multiple perspectives. It wouldn't be much of a story if there is only one way to look at it."
The man turned to Isaiah and smirked,
"Just like you."
"Me?"
"Yes! You, you are a protagonist! Just like Humanity was the protagonist of that story, you are the protagonist of this story!"
"What story?"
"The very fact that you saw that is proof!" the man said as he pointed at the representation of the Root.
"The Root?"
"Yes."
"Is that so?"
The man looked at the boy quizzically,
"Is that it?"
Isaiah shrugged,
"I mean what do you want me to say?"
The older male looked at Isaiah and laughed,
"HAHAHAHA! Yes, what can you say!? Indeed! I'll be watching you, King Isaiah. You will make one hell of a story."
"You know who I am?" asked the boy.
The man nodded,
"Of course, there is not one person here who doesn't. Although, they probably don't recognize you since this is your first time here."
"Then how did you recognize me?"
The man smiled cheekily,
"Since you are the protagonist."
Isaiah couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, but he didn't question it.
"And you? Who are you, Mister?"
"I am William Shakespeare. A poet and a playwright. Perhaps, you've heard of me?"
Isaiah's eyes widened,
"Yeah. I've heard about you. You wrote Romeo and Juliet along with Hamlet, right."
Pleased by the reaction, Shakespear gave a gentleman bow,
"Among others. It is a pleasure meeting you, King Isaiah. Have you read my other works?"
However, Isaiah cringed,
"Sorry. I haven't exactly read them yet. I only heard of them."
"Oh." a depressive aura surrounded the artist.
"Although, I'll read it later. I've always wanted to read your works."
"Really!?" the aura disappeared and the smile returned.
"Isaiah nodded,
"Yeah."
"Sensational!" the man exclaimed.
While the man celebrated by himself, something caught Isaiah's attention.
He turned and saw a duo of people walking together. It was a man and a woman. The man however looked around in awe and kept asking the woman questions.
However, what caught Isaiah's attention was the man's identity. He tilted his head in utter confusion,
"Dad?"
Tony hearing him turned toward Isaiah,
"Isaiah?"
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