================================

Chapter 341: A King’s Test

================================

Of course he was aware of it. Or rather, he had been minding it lately. Why is it indeed that on the most world-shaking events, he was always in the center of it all?

Then, just as he was asking himself this question, Pistareen added a few more words for him to mull over.

“Not only that, but the world had also stopped from giving us heavenly guidance. We can’t get any more instructions…. no one can. And what are left now were just a few working instructions stuck in the annals of our heritage. In short, the world controlled by the Heavenly Guidance had stopped working and that the missions and quests we are all getting now are the result of something in this world changing.”

Then, Pistareen looked at Siva, “Or if I must put it into other terms, the history of the world is being written anew. Everything that has been happening now felt new as if the heavenly guidance that had once whispered to us had vanished. Something or someone had started something and is ushering this coming of a new era.”

—in other words, Siva started this new era.

—but what does he mean by getting instructions?

—is it the newly rising hard quests and missions?

—but he stated it as if the NPCs are also getting these missions and quests for themselves…

—what is going on?

—what does he mean by the world stopped on working?

—what Heavenly Guidance?

—instructions?

—how is it connected to Siva?

—no, he was looking at him.

—he knew it already.

—Rex started it all.

The two men were juggling chaotic thoughts.

In all of the things that they had heard so far, this might perhaps be the most shocking revelation as of yet.

All the NPCs have become aware of something.

Thorn, Volt, and Siva… they gasped and couldn’t breathe for the next few moments as they stared at Pistareen for quite a long time.

“What are you talking about? Haven’t you been the ones giving the missions and quests all this time? Those jobs… aren’t you the one giving us the tasks and rewards of it?”

“It’s hard to explain, but all of these were all given as instructions to us by the heavenly guidance.”

“In what form?”

Pistareen shook his head, “I can’t put it into words aside from a belief. Like how Mana exists within all of us, these ‘missions’ will appear to you and us like instructions. We called it Heavenly Guidance since these [instructions] pertained to information that even we don’t know until the time we have summoned the instructions. It has always been like this since the war, 56 years ago.”

The War of the Braves.

Janus said that that war wasn’t part of his plans, although he allowed it and adjusted his plans according to how it ended.

He knew that these [instructions] came from him.

Siva was the only person who knew that the God of Fates, Janus, is dead. But what he can’t accept is that how the NPCs became aware of it?

Janus shouldn’t have been able to make that huge mistake… unless…

—because he’s so weak he had to resort to this method on giving a chance for this world?

Siva gritted his teeth.

He couldn’t accept it. Because there’s a nagging thought in his mind that all of these are happening because of him.

Maybe it was to disperse the tense confusion on the faces of his guests, Pistareen sighed and bid a calm statement, “Do you know the difference in you and us is that all of you are born Immortals?”

Aside from Scion who didn’t care to all of it and just listened quietly to the side, the three men are totally shaken.

There are rumours in the Net saying that the NPC population of this world pertain to them as the so called [Immortals] because they can still come back even after being eaten alive by monsters or falling from a dangerous cliff —and it’s all thanks to the Insurance System.

But…

To all the info junkies, this was one of the biggest mysteries they wanted to solve but no matter how much prying and digging they do, the NPCs just doesn’t give them the answers.

Siva was the one most shaken.

Because in his mind were two kinds of memories pertaining to two logics: of the real world and this game world of Terroa.

In regards to the talk of them being Immortals, the difference among the [players] being [Immortals] and their so called “Ascension” is fundamentally different and yet closely related.

Gabriel disdainfully told him before: “when we are able to succeed in our ascension and become an Immortal, we become aware of the truth of this world.”

This “awareness’ became Gabriel’s reason to hate Siva and it’s what frustrates him the most.

Thinking about it, this [Truth of this World] has always been connected to his [memories] and was pointing him to a location called Chronos.

And then, the [other guy] in the real world is also pointing him to go to Chronos.

—everything…… is pointing to Chronos!

He could feel a deep connection to this so called [Truth] and [Key], and yet, no matter how much he pried and strained his brain for it, he can’t dig up any clues on his [memories].

“Urgh….” Siva could feel the headache coming.

“Immortals are aware of the [Truth of this World].”

This is what Gabriel told him.

—but what is this [Truth]?

In the sala of Pistareen’s office, Siva held his head that worried the people who were with him.

“Are you okay?” Scion comforted him.

“Y-Yeah… I was just thinking of something…”

Pistareen silently just stared at them, finishing his cup of instant liquid.

“Immortals are aware of the [Truth of this World].”

Siva repeated that thought in his mind.

According to his [memories], an NPC of this world must prove their path to the Heavenly Laws first before they can become aware of the [Truth] or whatever it was. But according to Pistareen, they, the Players, are the [Immortals].

Just what is the difference?

If he had to base this thought to his [memories], then he’d think that the dead Immortals in the God War millions of years ago are them, the Players.

But then again, there is the [Eye of Origins] and its abilities to make people see their “Guardian Spirits” while using it as it is… an Accessory.

“Immortals… Immortals…… Spirits… Ascension...”

Siva unwittingly fell into a deep thought while he murmured as if a Buddhist Monk uttering mantra.

“Immortals are aware of the [Truth of this World].”

The Players are called Immortals…

NPCs ascend to become Immortals…

Immortals are aware of the [Truth of this World].

The Players are not allowed to tell the NPCs of the truth of their world and their existence.

Players log in carrying that truth with them and then log out when they had their fill.

So what is this [Truth] hidden in this world?

Awareness.

That is the [Truth] hidden in this world!

“My God, I’ve always been staring at its face but I still didn’t realize its importance until now…”

“Hm? Rex?”

When Siva thought of this line, he gasped, stood from his seat and backed away from them that he startled Scion, the two, Pistareen, and even the quietly listening and analyzing Cortana.

“Boss, relax… you’re freaking out again.”

Siva was panting, his shoulders going up and down as his mind was still reeling at the result of that sudden epiphany.

“Boss, try to breathe… calm yourself…”

He followed her instructions and held his face as he collapsed at a corner of the room. Scion ran to him with panic as her pretty face showed tears that were threatening to fall if he continued to be like this.

“Rex, you’re scaring me!” She didn’t care if there was Pistareen in there. She was concerned for Siva and she could tell that he is hyperventilating.

These were signs of his anxiety building atop his other anxieties. And the core of it all was his fear of failing on his two most important missions.

“Boss, your neural levels are still rising. Don’t lose your focus. Breathe. Relax. You are in Terroa and Terroa is just a game.”

—just a game….

—Terroa is a game…

—I am in a game world….

—there is no way what I thought is true.

That to all of the Terrans, [Immortal Ascension] is knowing the truth…. that they are inside a game.

—if this is the case, I must talk to Gabriel again.

—is this the reason why he hated me?

—is this the reason why he hated us?

—is this the [Truth] I needed to know?

There were so many shocking thoughts running on his mind right now and he needed to get these thoughts out of his system or he would go crazy.

—because if this is the [Truth] and that Mefisto knows it, then if he ever gets into the Genesis Chamber, he would not only kill my parents, he would also invade Earth… the real world.

So what is the truth?

………the truth…

Siva’s burden had just increased in weight and the shock of it almost made him mentally collapse. He hugged his head and curved into a ball in that tiny corner of the office.

He had really lost his mental composure this time.

“Why are all these things only happening to me?”

Siva let out these words and when Scion heard them, she seemed to have realized something as she hugged Siva and made him rest on her chests as she cried and comforted him.

“It’s okay, Rex, I’m here. I won’t let you take care of all of these things alone. I will never leave you. I’m here. You are not alone in this mission.”

“What mission?” Pistareen asked.

He might have thought that Siva had received a Heavenly Guidance or something.

Even Thorn and Volt picked up a few clues from that encounter in the Cellar Dungeons and from there; they made their minds run... especially Volt, since he made contact with [Rex] in the real world.

In this visit, a simple matter regarding Pistareen’s request had made Siva realize an important detail on his mission. It not only made his burdens a lot heavier, but the consequences of his failure had just transcended in yet another level.

—this fucking place isn’t a game.

Siva dearly wished he could yell these words out to somebody —to someone who was the cause of all of these things in his life.

Just how could a normal teenager handle all of this pressure? Not even the strongest man alive can stay composed after all these revelations.

Saving his brother was one thing but saving the world… this isn’t something he’d signed up for.

Right now, Scion was taking in her role as Siva’s solace and home. She looked at Pistareen and gave her an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry. Can you lend us your bed for a bit?”

He felt confused, “Why?”

Scion didn’t answer and just looked at Siva who, for some reason, had lost it and slept while on her tight embrace.

Pistareen frowned but he nodded.

Just what had happened to him that he collapsed like that?

*****

One could even hear the silent breathing through the tiny gap in the door of the break room on his office.

The three men only spent them a glance as they sat back down at the sofa.

In Thorn and Volt’s minds, Siva is an empty shell.

He hasn’t told anyone yet about his condition.

—including Scion.

“He’s fatigued.” Thorn said and Volt listened just as Pistareen was waiting for Thorn to go on, “He’s been stuck in his office since his fight with that Dragon. Who knows what he’s been doing? But I was sure that I saw him preparing something else for the castle’s inhabitants and before we left, he placed the missions on his Mission Board for the members to do while he was gone.”

Volt looked at Pistareen on the side and inhaled deep before he asked him, “Is it really that way; that we are called Immortals by you guys?”

“Some of you live after a few days from dying though there are more who dies permanently. But all the same, ever since you guys started appearing five–six years ago, that was also when the Heavenly Guidance had started to rain down on us more fluently... as if someone have always planned it to be that way a long long time ago. But that’s not the more important matter. What’s more important is that if it wasn’t for Siva, I wouldn’t have chosen to move this year. I would have waited it out.”

“Because you think he started the change?”

“My Intel does not lie. It all began in that incident in Dragona. Because of that, the forces that’s been long asleep in the shadows of the forests and the cities had started to move and they are all trying to get as much piece of the pie in the bigger picture as fast as possible.”

Pistareen stood up and walked towards his desk but he didn’t sit down and instead stood by the wide window, staring at the view outside of it.

“Voltaire, why did you agree so immediately to the idea of being king earlier?”

“Because I think it was fun.”

“Is that all?”

“Well, truthfully, I’ve always wanted to be a King Candidate for a while now, but because of school and my work here and with some other stuffs I’ve always delayed registration.”

“Then you’re treating this as an opportunity?”

“Why not?”

Pistareen chuckled and turned around, “Let’s use the preface of a mutual benefit during this entire endeavor; you promise me that you will do your best to be king and then I promise you that you will receive my full support. After that…”

Volt also thought of the same thing and he asked the old wizard, “What if I win?”

“Then you become King.”

Suddenly, Thorn and Volt stopped thinking. They have been taking the topic lightly all this time but when they heard Pistareen declared the straight fact just like that, a sudden insight came to them.

They both glanced at the direction of the slightly closed door and seeing Scion humming a tune as she nursed Siva. Her back at them, they suddenly remembered that to Siva, this [game] involved not only his life… but theirs.

For some reason, they exchanged glances as they pondered at the notion of becoming a King a little bit deeper.

Right.

What if Volt wins and become a King? What then?

He only asked that in passing but to see Pistareen wear that serious look on his face, Volt felt that for some reason, he was being scolded by him for taking the matter not seriously.

That to treat the matter of the throne in passing is offending him greatly.

Volte felt ashamed of himself. He recalled the talk he had with [Rex] in the world and recalled how he first felt as he ‘realized’ just then how much he had just been ‘saying in passing’ how he will not leave Rex alone in his mission to search for his baby brother.

—all in the pretext of being his friend.

“How fucking empty those words were.” He told himself. If he hadn’t had that talk with [Rex] and had been informed of the consequences of his own actions, he wouldn’t even realize just how much he had been underestimating the issue.

It hasn’t been that long since he had that talk with [Rex] and yet now, he was displaying his immature ‘self’ again regarding a very serious matter.

Volt then thought of why Pistareen had decided to make his move this time after all those years of being passive.

“It’s because of Siva.”

Because Siva brought and heralded the coming of a new era to the Terrans by just appearing, that the Pistareen who had been waiting and bidding for more time, had decided to step in to save this country.

The passively still and unmoving world of Terroa started to move and turn; the muddy waters had become murkier; the balance of forces shifting as the scale tilts and staggers; forces hidden in the deep and dark recesses of society were jolted to awakening —all becoming visible at the light shed by the one who was named “Siva”.

Volt paused to mull it over.

Thorn saw the look in his eyes and felt that for a very odd reason, he seemed to have grown older.

“Ah, he matured.”

He felt surprised and yet happy. For Thorn, all of these things happening around him were parts and morsels of his sworn purpose.

For someone of his background, growing up with his own values is a challenge as when you are surrounded by the poisonous events of Politics all your life, it was hard not to be inflicted of it.

He grew up in the stories of his mother, about her life in the 21st century where technology was yet to take over the lives of people, and the world still had a few colors left before it all became dull.

Now, Earth is a technological paradise and with all of the advancement of technologies, there was so little more that the humans have yet to see.

And because they were bored of it, war broke out for the control over the moon resources which is the reason why the World Government rose into prominence to prevent such a war from ever happening again.

—but it didn’t mean that humans will stop moving.

If he had not stumbled upon that secret in his own father’s computer, he wouldn’t even dare to get in this game who he only once thought to have been a mere recreational haven.

He wanted to know the truth so he bought the NLD and went inside… and falling in love in it.

To Thorn, now, Terroa is not just a game. It was a home to him... the home of his late mother’s every story that filled his younger days with colors and sense of excitement.

He had long decided to protect this world and that is also why he built the Tower of Sol and invited all its members personally.

“Did he realize something?”

As Thorn was looking at Volt who became silent in front of him, he also mulled over the events that might happen from now.

Pistareen’s words awoken some thoughts within them and they discovered that they couldn’t have imagined this happening to them if they hadn’t met Siva.

Volt rearranged his past while Thorn thought of the future… and then, here at the present, Siva is the one piloting the direction where Terroa will end up.

The winds of his events had caused storms, and with these storms come the new wave of events carrying the prospective of a future not controlled by a so called Heavenly Guidance that gave the NPCs their [instructions].

In this new and unexplored era, the guide holding the lantern along the way is undoubtedly Siva.

But Siva also has his own troubles and they were even the kinds that even adults will not get out of mentally unscathed... maybe not even alive…

Because there was AG….

And then Mefisto…

Then there are the organizations in Terroa who will not stand idly by while someone else stole their light and glory…

Finally, there are also the normal players who will be jealous of his fame and will always find ways to bring him down and tear him apart…

Siva is alone against all of them.

For a mere teenager to carry this task, he would need people who will have his back whether he wants it or not.

And so……

Volt inhaled deep and raised his head to look at Pistareen with a serious expression, “I’m sorry I was quiet… I was just… thinking of a few things.”

Pistareen looked at him and a satisfied smile then beamed on his lips, “I’m glad you understood.”

Thorn blinked at this change of aura on the Grand Elder Mage and he couldn’t help asking: “So you were just testing us?”

Pistareen wore that ‘sage’ smile as he glanced at the break room where Scion was still humming as she nursed Siva like a mother duck snuggling her baby chick.

“Let me tell you honestly.” When he spoke, he also opened his palm and in it, floated a globe of gaseous plasma of Mana made up of fine strands that entirely served the purpose of a holo panel.

When the two men saw this, Pistareen, with his tone somber and forlorn, spoke to them: “What I told you about the Heavenly Guidance is all true, and that all of the things that happened until lately have all been part of its huge design.”

Thorn: “And by lately, you mean…”

“Yes… until the events in Dragona.”

Volt and Thorn exchanged looks.

They were there and they saw it all happen.

In the globe were words, [instructions], but it’s not anything like the [Window] players see when they receive a Quest or a Mission. It was different in that what they were seeing in Pistareen’s hand is a set of ‘riddling’ instructions that told him of only his (1) Task to undertake; (2) If you Fail; and then (3) If you Succeed:

Task: Save the Kingdom from Corruption

If you fail: Disband the Temple and live a new life

If you succeed: Find a successor and retire

Simple and direct [instructions], and the two were blinking in surprise as they read the three short and simple lines of words.

But as simple as they might seem, the contents of the “Failure Instruction” pertained to a very heavy and very exacting kind of consequence.

And yet, just as they wanted to voice out a few of their bugging questions, Pistareen spoke to them with an exacting voice of helplessness:

“I received this Instruction three decades ago, in the very next day King Altair had gone missing. It is the last Instruction that I have received.”

Volt and Thorn connected the dots.

Indeed, Siva started everything and it became his chance to complete his [Instructions].

Pistareen was preparing for the eventuality that he would fail the task. But all the more, he was also preparing for what will happen next if he do succeeds.

But even more than that, this is still a talk that will result in the future of The Kingdom. Being its King is not a simple game. And that is why he had to test Volt’s maturity if he was flexible, no, if he was at least capable enough to be up to the task.

.

.

================================

The two worlds are moving…

.....and the players of AG’s game do the same.

================================