Odyssey of the Guardian Emperor

Alaric easily fell into a routine. He'd wake up in the morning to a report Alistair always had ready and would instruct him further on what to do and what his priorities were. He would then spend a few hours of research with the Keeper's Almanac, reading through the books Elder Gregory had recommended before proceeding to breakfast and his lessons with the Spinmaster Morn'ak.

It normally would have taken two days for the half-cart of supplies to get depleted, but even then, he had more lessons on weaving, materials and enchanting, so it would be at least four days before he'd need to go out to collect more supplies.

That said, he would go out after his three hours with the spinmaster to visit Dara'k outside the demiplane. The Heaven-Crested Eagle was starting to relax a lot more as he visited him, which warmed Alaric's heart. He'd then visit Troy to check on his progress and make sure he'd eaten something before going for lunch himself. (Most times, he dragged Troy to lunch with him.) The rest of the afternoon was spent training with LionHeart.

Scarlett fell into a more training-intensive routine with Alia, which involved more Body Tempering and lessons on Aether Manipulation to bring her to Alaric's level of control.

Lucy found a mentor in Kair'ak, a Heaven-Crested Eagle so proficient in Healing Magic that she was the only one qualified to teach Lucy.

The girl quickly learned how complicated Healing Magic truly was and doubled down on her lessons. In the evening, after dinner, Alaric would attempt to fix the bond with her guardian, only stopping when the pain grew too unbearable. Each time he attempted, the bond grew stronger and more solid. She'd tried swaying his decision to complete it, considering the pain he went through, but Alaric stopped her each time to remind her of the deal they made.

It was a day like any other, a week after Alaric first started his lessons with the Spinmaster Morn'ak, as he was slowly making his way to the stairs up to his room to settle down for the night, when a voice called out to him from behind, "Alaric, wait!"

He'd heard the voice before, but what caught his attention was its tone. It was panicked.

His chest thundered as he turned to see the High Sentinel approaching him, dishevelled and shaken up. The fact that this man was of Saint rank only made Alaric's heart beat even more. This shouldn't have been possible, and yet when the man finally stood in front of Alaric, his unease didn't vanish.

[ A Saint winded… ] Alia's unease echoed through their bond.

"Is something the matter?" Alaric tried to keep from stuttering.

The High Sentinel shook his head, "Not… necessarily." He waved a hand, and a group of branches appeared, adorned with long leaves, all green and scented. Among the branches were candles that Alaric only saw in high-end shops he had no business browsing through.

Alia's sigh was loud in his mind, [ Oh… so that's what this is about. ]

Curiosity clawed at the back of his mind, "What's all this?"

"It's the items you need to perform the Seance," the man replied, "I sent a Stormrunner to procure them from a human town."

Alaric was still confused, "You're out of breath… and you're a Saint."

Ungv'ak went pale at the boy's words, "You're… You're about to attempt to speak to a Constellation, and you're relaxed? You do realise those are beings that transcend Divinity."

Alaric's mouth dropped in understanding at last, "Ah, that! Corv'ak said the chances of the Seance working are very low. I'm more worried about it failing than actually meeting the Constellation Delphi. Thank you for these, though."

"You're welcome?" Ungv'ak raised an eyebrow, "Do you even know what you're going to say if it goes right?"

"All I have are questions," Alaric sighed, "It's all I've had since leaving home. I feel selfish just thinking about it, so if this does work, then I'll focus on being respectful."

The High Sentinel's shoulders dropped, and his nerves vanished, "Sometimes, the difference between you and Soren… is just your face."

A smile split the boy's face, "Aww! Are you complimenting me?"

"Good luck, Soren."

"Thanks, Ungv'ak, and have a good night."

"Shall we talk about the vines?" the man called to a boy climbing up the stairs.

"Maybe some other time," Alaric answered as he vanished from view. At the top, when he was finally alone, he realised he'd just brushed off the High Sentinel on a matter of breaching privacy through the vines he had growing throughout the demiplane.

[ Forget what's not important to you, and he might look the other way. ] Alia advised.

[ Right… ] Her counsel was invaluable, but he would be a fool to have no fear on this matter. [ I'll speak to him on this the next time I see him. ]

[ I'll remind you. ]

He retreated to his room, where he took a shower and dressed in some loose, silky nightwear.

Scattered across the floor in the middle of the room were the items the High Sentinel had just given Alaric. "Right. How do we go about this?"

[ Place thirteen candles around you at equal distances from each other and put the palm leaves around them to form a circle. You'll be sitting in the middle of that when you start meditating. ]

Alaric did as he was told and sat in the middle of his arrangement of candles. A few words in the Old Tongue lit up the thirteen candles all at once. The incense was the first to hit, relaxing Alaric against his will.

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Alaric sat there and took a deep breath. His eyes closed, he focused his thoughts on the Constellation Delphi. There was no room for doubt when his mouth opened to speak, "I seek an audience with the Constellation of Knowledge and Revelation: Delphi."

There was silence for a short moment before everything stopped moving—sound, air and even his heartbeat. Then his eyes opened, glowing a furious neon green, and yet he saw nothing through them. Only darkness, as though they were still closed.

His stomach twisted, and his mind shuddered. He grew dizzy, and the ground started to feel very unstable, yet he didn't fall through. He felt weightless and heavy at the same time, cold and hot at the same time, then everything vanished for an instant like the feeling of nothingness during a teleportation—the moment between disappearing and reappearing.

While his mind and spiritual self struggled to understand up from down, his physical body remained perfectly still except for his glowing eyes, darting beneath the eyelids.

Alaric's mind, however, was somewhere else… or at least, his spiritual self. This felt a lot like when he travelled to the In-Between. Only this time, the realm he was in was not his to claim.

'I didn't expect an immediate reaction,' Alaric gasped.

He looked around. Darkness everywhere. Then, he saw something. Fog wafted through the darkness, then a bit of light illuminated the fog, streaming in from all sides with no source. The fog surrounded him from all sides, obscuring his surroundings, including the ground.

'A bit plain, though,' he thought to himself, taking a step forward in the weightless plane. He could feel the ground, and yet it felt unreal—hard and soft at the same time. Everything here was in constant flux as soon as he paid attention to it.

He walked a few meters and realised it didn't make sense to walk in a place as continuous as this. Who could even function in a place like this?

'It would do well with some hills.'

Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, the world morphed and shifted, growing white hills that sprouted grass as far as the eye could see.

Alaric paused, feeling the ground beneath his feet. It was soft and earthy, covered in a thin film of dew, but the fog there was gone. He looked up, 'And a sun.'

And there it was, bright and searing before clouds rolled in to cover the blue sky and cool the place down. The clouds had come as a response to Alaric's instincts.

He looked around again, standing atop a hill and enjoying the gentle breeze. Only one thing was left, and a part of him told him the being he'd come here to see was indeed watching him.

"You out there?" he called out, "Delphi?"

The plane went still, and the wind stopped blowing long enough for Alaric to understand that he was no longer in control of anything here. His breath went silent as he waited in anticipation, "You call that airhead Jack by the title 'Master' and yet you stand here and address a Constellation so casually."

Alaric calmed his breathing and wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead, "You've been watching."

"I know everything, my dear," the Constellation sounded smug.

"Right," the boy gulped, "I don't really know what to call a Constellation. All the honorifics I was taught apply well to humans, but they would be an insult to beings transcending the Divine."

"Nicely said," the voice came again, this time clear enough that Alaric could tell it was feminine, "Of all the things you could lose by dying, you retained that silver tongue, Soren."

Alaric allowed a smile to grace his lips, "Am I dreaming?"

"No…"

"I mean, how awesome is it that I'm speaking to a Constellation? My whole life, I thought Constellations were just a faith written in the Old Tongue that we followed to guide us through our lives," Alaric answered, a hint of excitement in his voice. He was speaking to an actual Constellation. That had to top his list of achievements.

"We do not tend to interfere directly with humans," the voice came again. "How have you been, Soren?"

"I've seen better days," Alaric shrugged, "Although it feels odd to be called Soren when I don't have his memories."

"Don't worry… You'll get those memories back soon enough. They are yours, as are the memories of every other human that's ever achieved reincarnation," the Constellation responded.

"I'm… not the only one?"

"Of course not," Delphi laughed, "Death is just a part of a cycle on the Valerian continent. Past memories for everyone else often show up as dreams. You've probably read some riveting stories of adventures from worlds. Many reincarnated souls find themselves mesmerised by dreams of their past selves and either seek out that adventure or write about it."

"I thought dreams were hopes," Alaric wondered.

"That depends on how you look at it," Delphi chuckled, "You'll find that almost every human you meet has once dreamt of a life without demons. Over a thousand years ago, when the world was plagued by a different kind of horror. You can write such dreams off as hopes in a world filled with darkness. They never feel real anyway."

Alaric was now silent. He wanted to pause and contemplate what the Constellation was saying. As the Constellation of Knowledge, her words must have held deep meaning.

'A world… without demons?' he gasped.

Having listened to Delphi for only a minute, his mind was spinning. She'd already told him so much that he was almost forgetting why he'd performed the Seance in the first place. It came back to him a moment later, "I… didn't think this would work. And even if it did, I wasn't sure if I would ask this."

"You're worried using a Seance to prove your identity to them would be disrespectful," the Constellation's voice whispered into his ear, rippling through the whole plane.

Alaric nodded, "You see right through me."

"You're predictable," Delphi answered, "So, I'll offer you some advice. Value your opinion a little bit more. If you called on me with a Seance because you got bullied into it, I'd be mad."

"Oh!" Alaric went pale.

The constellation chuckled, "So, there is your answer."

Alaric's breath quickened, and he looked up and about. The world was starting to shake, and he knew this was Dephi's way of throwing him out.

"Wait," he blurted out, "You have more information than any source I might ever get in this life, and I hate to think you'll let me come back here whenever I feel like it."

"I will."

Alaric's mind popped, "…what?"

"I said I'll let you come back here whenever you feel like it," the Constellation responded nonchalantly. To prove this, the plane stopped trembling.

Alaric steadied himself, "I-I… I don't understand."

"You will.. someday. Even if I offered to tell you everything, there are things beyond your comprehension, so don't get greedy and you'll be fine," the Constellation shrugged, "Also, keep in mind that whenever you come here, time moves faster on your continent, so be careful about when you come here, and don't take too much time when you do."

The hills shook and crumbled into white mist before Alaric's eyesight went black. Before he knew it, he woke up to the sight of burnt candles in a dimly lit room.

The candles had burnt out, and on the ground, scribbled in ash, was a message:

"I took the liberty of restoring your strength and fatigue. I won't do that next time.

Yours truly, Delphi."

Alaric walked up to the large curtains and pulled them open to see a rising sun. A few minutes with Delphi had cost him a night. He stretched his muscles and marvelled at how refreshed he felt. Whatever Delphi had down had not only cured his fatigue, but it had also filled his aether reserves, healed the stiffness in his muscles and erased all signs of sleep from his body.

He was more than refreshed.

[ What happened? ] Alia's voice filtered into his mind.

[ The Seance worked… but what felt like a few minutes there was the whole night here. ] Alaric responded. He cast his gaze upon the landscape of the demiplane and sighed, witnessing eight scenes through vines growing throughout the town. [ We won't be proving my identity to Rail'ak and the others. If they can't accept what's in front of them, then no miracle will work for them. ]

[ You should do this more often. ] The guardian chuckled.