The Prince of Demons

Luna

Why am I trapped in here? Sure, Lux and Ikol departed today, but that was no reason for <Remembrance of Memory> to trap me inside it. What event was I even reliving? I looked around, seeing that I was in Umbra. What time of being in Umbra was this? From what I was seeing the time was likely towards the end of my previous life, I just wasn't sure when. I saw what I think was mid-twenties me waiting at a street café. Ah, so not that long before I was sent back. But why? Krahinn's explanation on this <Spell> was not overly helpful as it had a nasty habit of triggering itself if your control slipped. Why did mine? This was mildly concerning as nothing came to mind as to what triggered it. Who was previous me waiting for? Was I just sipping coffee in a café? I looked at my face a bit better; clearly, I had been crying. Was this after Nautilus died? The answer of who I was waiting for revealed itself to be Hras, which also confirmed this was soon after the death of Nautilus.

I'm sorry Hras, we never stood a chance against the Eternal Emperor. He fought with me to the bitter end, no matter how insurmountable the odds against us became. Reflecting on it, our resistance was borderline lunacy. This did remind me that I needed to find Hras this time around which was difficult given Modinar was annihilated by the Void King. Is Hras even still alive? Hras was decent looking, with light tan skin, wavy brown hair, and dark brown eyes that went well with his slim build. He took the seat across from past me who simply glared at him. Was I just a bezka to everyone when I was upset? Previous me rubbed my face, taking a deep, composing breath. Hras looked immensely upset as well looking at him better. Oh. This meeting. What reminded me of this? Seeing Ryker? That hardly seemed to be significant enough for me to cast <Remembrance of Memory>. Ryker wasn't even alive at this point in time.

"So, how is the grand return?" Hras asked sarcastically to break the ice.

"Everything is different; I can hardly recognize this place." I shot back. The streets were a lot cleaner, and full of guards. Nil, you really went full dictator in your grief as the Eternal Emperor.

"At least it still exists." Hras pointed out drily.

"Modinar still an uninhabitable pile of ash?" I checked. I needed to get Nil to explain that <Magic> to me, as I had no idea how it worked.

"Yes, it is still a pile of ash." Hras spat at me.

"Sorry, that was insensitive of me. I'm just bitter as nothing killed a dear friend of mine." I sighed back.

"Even he should still be healing from that duel." Hras grumbled as the two of us nodded in agreement.

"Which is what brings us here today. I would like to take advantage of the fact nothing should be recovering to try and defeat him." I informed Hras.

"Isn't that a bit dishonorable?" Hras taunted with a smirk. Not that it overly mattered against him; he was way out of our league.

"Do you want to fight him in a fair fight?" I challenged right back.

"Not overly. I also am a fan of while he is weakened." Hras conceded. We overlooked something kind of obvious. Not that the me of then would have cared, I was too bitter about Nautilus dying at the Eternal Emperor's hands.

"I have a few allies that are a bit apprehensive of his ex-fiancée joining our cause before we proceed." Hras stated matter-of-factually. Past me let out a sigh.

"It was for maybe a month, and I fled to Avon, so I didn't have to. Ugh. There's a reason he's single." I defended myself as I shuddered.

I'm looking at her. I'm not sure the Eternal Emperor ever touched the idea of marriage again after the first time. It likely hurt something deep inside him that I fled like I did. I could only imagine that rejection and how bitter it made him. He didn't deserve that; I should have at least rejected his proposal in person rather than flee like I did. No use crying about a timeline that technically didn't even exist anymore. It still gnawed at me why I was remembering this. Did I just cast it by pure accident? Was some part of my brain trying to tell me something? Past me was ranting at Hras for his crack about me being Nil's ex-fiancé with a bit too much fervor.

"I will relay your vehement protests back to them. In the meantime, would you like a tour of the new capital?" Hras informed me.

"Sure." I grumbled. I knew I just wanted revenge anyway I could back then.

Hras and I began walking around Umbra, seeing all the things the Eternal Emperor had changed. It's a lot more than I realized looking back. He upgraded a lot of the infrastructure of the city as a whole. Some of his reasoning was a bit sinister, but for the most part it was to help the citizens of Umbra. The two of us wove through the streets, gauging the degree to which the Eternal Emperor had increased the military; it was brutally obvious that he had spared no expense in increasing the power of Speranza. Did I have a death wish back then? How could I have looked at all of this and thought we stood a chance with our meager resources? At least by the end I finally began accepting we were hilariously outclassed by him. It was all for naught in the end.

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Alas, the two of us reached what I assumed was the key moment my brain remembered: The Hero's Statue. What a sadistic name for what it is. You know Nil, this was incredible forled up of you to do.
I knew Nil was way different than last time, but this was a bit hard to overlook. He was consumed by grief which is what lead to the monster of the Eternal Emperor. Doesn't overly justify it, but I know the nonstop tragedy and pain got to him. The two of us were looking stone-faced at the body of Ryker, which was ripped apart by Nil's <Spacetime Magic>. Ryker's head was impaled on a spear, as his pieces were strung around him in a mockingly heroic pose all of which was entombed in <Sever>, isolated from existence for time ever lasting to preserve it. I noticed it even had a little plaque at the bottom crediting the Eternal Emperor as the artist. It was displayed proudly by him in the square on the road to the castle. It was truly a macabre end for someone who fought and resisted him so hard. Seriously past me, why did I look at that and think the whole rebellion against the Eternal Emperor was going to end well?

"Ryker deserves a proper burial." Hras spat bitterly as he looked at the statue.

"I doubt either of us are breaking that <Spell> without a division of guards descending upon us." I sulked with him.

"One day we will give him the hero's burial he deserves." Hras swore. Yea, that never happened. The Eternal Emperor despised Ryker, and made sure the world knew his memory was to be disgraced for eternity.

"Seriously though, why am I reliving this memory?" I muttered to myself as past me and Hras made a bunch of hollow statements about how we could do better. Hras even threw in a vow on Ryker's grave at one point.

But it didn't end; the memory continued to unfold. Why? My meeting with Hras and seeing Ryker's corpse should have been the important part of this event. What more did I need to see? Maybe I really did cast it by accident and just need to wait for Dad or Nil to wake me. Krahinn truly did undersell how awful this <Spell> was; I was not sure I ever could forgive him for teaching me this <Spell>. Why would I want to be able to sleep peacefully when I could randomly get stuck in a memory in the place of a nice dream? I sighed as I kept following past me and Hras around Umbra, hoping I would wake up soon. It was exhausting seeing past me act like a complete buffoon; I could only imagine how many times Krahinn saw past him acting in a way that he wished he could backhand himself for being so stupid. Things were changing as I now was getting the opportunity to see past me act this dumb with all the people that died in vain against the Eternal Emperor.

"Please not have said something dumber than I'm thinking I did." I grumbled as I saw Hras's allies.

Wait a second, huh. I forgot about Enry. Snake in the grass. Nil was rubbing off on me, as that was something he'd think or say, but it was an accurate description of her as she was a spy for the Eternal Emperor. It was funny looking back seeing something so dangerous just lying in wait, and past me had no idea. How I never died until the end of the world was nothing short of a miracle of the Lords. As I chuckled at that, the memory faded around me. What? That was it? Seeing Enry again? I barely glanced at her. Crap. What did she look like again? Did I somehow see her around the castle? I didn't know much about her, and what I did know was likely all fake information. What part of me cared about that? Was it just some coincidence that the memory ended there, upon seeing someone who eventually betrayed us? Would it be betrayal? She was never on our side to begin with; Enry was always loyal to the Eternal Emperor. I had no idea why I apparently decided to relive that memory. I looked around, seeing that it was just before sunrise. I sighed, as I mentally prepared to climb up the castle. I hopped out of the window, grabbed the stones, and scaled up to Krahinn's favorite spire to perch on. As per usual, one of his eyes was following me a bit amused within moments. I wish I could move super fast or teleport. It would make this much easier; unfortunately, neither of my <Magics> were well suited to that type of effect. I mean, I could move fast, just nothing like Lux or Ipnerslei. It took me about five minutes to reach Krahinn who was pretending to be asleep. Could you just once not make me grovel a bit?

"I mean, I could. I'm not going to." Krahinn informed me with a smirk. I didn't shield my mind, so of course he read it. Thanks Krahinn.

"Any time." Krahinn taunted. I took a deep breath as I shielded my thoughts from his intrusions.

"Oh mighty, insightful Krahinn, I once again require your insight, as I am a moron who needs the wisdom of the <Eternal> King." I tried while keeping my voice as level as possible.

"Hmmmm." Krahinn mused, pretending to think it over.

"It's about the worst <Spell> to ever exist." I added on, hoping it would sway him.

"What about it?" Krahinn inquired. Oh, thank the Lords he decided to be helpful without more groveling.

"I just had the lovely time of reliving a memory, but I have no idea why. I'm not even sure what detail of the memory was important to me to remember. What could have caused it?" I asked him.

"See, the worst part is, when it is like that, the <Spell> does not space itself well over the part of the memory it cares about. It could be the beginning of it, the end, the middle, or in truly rare cases parts that were just outside the bounds of what you watched. I can say with absolutely certainty that part of you has realized something, or at least suspects it enough, that as you slept it tried showing or warning or illustrating that information to you somehow. Could be someone you forgot, a behavior that reminds you of someone in the past, or a litany of other things." Krahinn explained for me. Great, that narrowed it down so much. I let out a frustrated sigh.

"Is there any method of narrowing it down?" I checked, hoping for an answer better than the one that came to mind.

"Eventually, you will witness enough events that are around the same point or show the same thing that you should be able to piece it together." Krahinn assured me with a shiza eating grin.

"Great." I sighed in annoyance.

"Isn't it?" Krahinn mocked me. Stupid bird teaching me this <Spell>. Now the issue is, what am I trying to show myself?