Everything just got significantly worse.
Every single day I stayed with these people, something new just came up. Now my escape plan had been butchered and with nowhere to go, I had to ride the half destroyed carriage all the way to the new city.
We passed huge agricultural fields on our way here and this city wasn’t far too different from Rozaria with gigantic walls circling the outside. Sylvia had split up with us, taking the other smaller carriage in annoyance due to its size while me, Rumena, Zidane and Laura, followed Nora in the main one. We had reached a mansion, painted in grey with white columns holding up the entrance. It was said that the royal family, owned property in each city and Sylvia, refusing to stay with Nora, fled to another.
The journey had been quiet, with no one really talking and staying awake in case of further attacks. The lawn was vast with a fountain in the middle and a gate surrounding the area. A mansion even putting Jackell’s to shame. I counted all the guards I had seen on the way inside while memorising all the routes and hallways.
Laura stayed by Nora’s side with Zidane following behind me and Rumena. I literally had no clue on my next move because I didn’t even know why we came here. I didn’t bother to ask back in the palace because I had no intention of even coming here, so that was my fault. But even then, I couldn’t help but dwell on that man's words, constantly ringing in my head. “You are not supposed to be here.”
Red carpets, red banners and flags of Vollaria situated across the halls, indicating this wasn’t Nora’s domain alone, but one that the whole royal family could use.
“Where are we going,” I whispered over my shoulder to Zidane.
“The Princess will be starting her campaign soon so we are to follow.”
Yeah. I get that. But why the fuck am I supposed to do?
“Zidane,” Nora raised her hand as she walked, still looking forward, “Can you send a Flypost to Rozaria please? And alert them that Aylanists have been spotted. Give them the location on the map too.”
“Yes Your Highness,” Zidane responded as he bowed his head, turning back to go elsewhere.
“Laura, I advise you to go and rest. I shall have the other servants prepare us food.”
“Thank you Princess,” Laura said, scurrying away.
“Rumena, thank you for your support thus far. You have always been of great help. I suggest you go and get some rest.”
“Thanks,” Rumena said, still holding the axe over her shoulder with a huge smile. And so she left too, leaving me and the-
Eugh.
Can I rest too?
I listened to the clicks of her heel echo across the marble, polished walls. “Axure, care to join me?”
“Not really,” I replied until she finally turned her head back and shot me with that same undefying gaze. “That was just bants,” I added on in a joking manner.
“Bants? What does that even mean?” She raised a brow.
“Nothing, nothing. What do you want?”
We walked into a room, ginormous in size with a bed neatly placed in the middle and ornate furniture surrounded all around. An arch made of gold held a window, situated near the left side of the room with a desk next to it on the right. I looked out of it, seeing the cityscape, with all the other houses of nobility nearby. It seemed in each and every city, the rich and poor lived together, with no city seemingly being split between them. Well, I had only seen two cities thus far but this was what I could say so far.
She stood near the window side with the brightness of the light casting a shadow over her.
“I apologise that you got stringed in those events earlier. It was an unforeseen event, but I would like to commend you for your actions out there.”
“Well Nora, if you were just going to stand there all day, I was going to have to do something.”
“I will ignore that remark. After all, I had killed three of them.”
“Okay, well who are they anyway?”
Nora had a look of slight shock in her face once again.
“You mean you do not know what they are?”
“Well, why else would I ask this question?”
This woman was insufferable.
She peered out of the window, touching it softly when she spoke, “They are those who worship the Shadow Queen. Another group twisted by religion. They are the only group I do not consider human, so I shall never reach my hand out to them. My only goal is to save humans, and they are not.”
“Hmm.”
“With no Mylan in your veins, you contributed to the battlefield. I am sorry you had to even resort to stepping in,” she looked back at me, “Do not worry. I shall not let you go.”
I desperately wanted to slam the table and destroy this whole room the moment she said that. She may think this worked with Zidane but it was for sure not going to work on me. I could not reside with any of these fools anymore, constantly bringing trouble to my life. I had to escape.
“Thanks. But I think I should get some sleep.”
“Yes, you may. I shall be in the residence for today if you need anything. Your room is two doors down, next to where Zidane shall rest. Have a good sleep.”
She even situated me next to Zidane, everything she did, every single action made me grow more and more wary of her. She was a much more manipulative woman than she came off to be. This woman knew exactly how to keep me in check and make me powerless. It made complete sense.
But I decided not to dwell on it. I had gone through far many trials and tribulations-
No. I hadn’t gone through any tribulations.
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I had failed time and time again and it enraged me because all I had been doing was riling up more questions with no answers and ultimately, I put myself in the toughest spot.
Fuck it.
I’m going to sleep.
I got to my room, nothing special and sunk into the bed. I fell into a deep sleep quickly. It almost felt like a painless death.
Part Two
My sleep routine had been butchered.
“Avante, time.”
“4:28 sir.”
I slept for thirteen hours. I had overworked myself in life many times before, but this was taking it to the extreme. I slowly raised myself from my bed, seeing the light from outside invade my room. I was so tired, I had forgotten to even close the curtains.
Daytime had crawled its way out, and the worst part was, I was still tired. I was in sleep debt, rather than deprivation. I needed to get a change of clothes as well. Not just because I had been wearing these for a while now, but I needed something more comfortable to sleep in too. These clothes needed a wash for sure, and in fact, I needed a wash. Stripping down, I headed to the ensuite and proceeded to have a shower. I was surprised this civilization even had a water system but to be fair, the mechanisms behind that weren't incredibly advanced. I could only guess, a system like this was only built for nobles and royals alike. After refreshing my sweaty body, I dried myself down in the clothes hanging as if this were a hotel. And with my refreshed body and mind, I could see to some work.
And that work, would be studying in the silence this early morning provided me. Thankfully, for once this world was handing things to me on a plate with a bookshelf embedded in the wall next to my bed, and so I scanned through it.
I wanted to learn more about Mylan, because that was something I heavily lacked. So to progress in my strength, learning more about what I had to possibly face, was the best course of action. Nora had mentioned repeatedly that I had no Mylan, which was a phenomenon in this world and even though I could not use it, I could learn the science behind it and maybe do something with it.
Picking up numerous different books, I briefly remembered the book Jay had handed to me. “The art of Mylan” I muttered, attempting to look for something similar. And so I did.
Mylan Masteries - Written by Orion Lee
What an ominous name.
The room design was similar to Nora’s but quite a bit smaller, still providing me with a desk. I sat and dived into the contents of it.
“There are two forms of Mylan,” I read aloud, “Mylan and Cosmo Mylan. Two of the same essence but differing in methodology. Mylan being the essence of life, excreted from all humans, trees, nature alike, resides in the air around us. It is let out from the sea, the grass you even walk on and even the flowers in your garden. Mylan is everywhere and those who master the Cosmo’s, are able to harness the Mylan from their surroundings. However, most who are unable to master themselves, are placed in the regular category. Mylan flows through our veins, in our blood and is stored within us allowing us to use it performing incredible deeds.”
I thought for a moment.
If Mylan supposedly is something humans and creatures of this world are born with, is it safe to say it’s produced from human cells on an atomic scale?
Maybe that is what I am missing and due to life being created on this habitable planet, it’s not a far stretch. According to Orion, Mylan is excreted by nature. Sort of like how trees excrete oxygen, this world also excretes Mylan.
Okay so that makes some sense. So Mylan is something not created from thin air, it is genuinely the biological component of this world that created life here. On earth, our planet simply didn’t have any form of Mylan, but here, life was practically born from it. So in that case, does that mean human cells produce Mylan and store it within, for humans to somehow channel that into real life matter? Or is it some form of massless energy that is somehow converted into physical things, like fire or water?
I continued to read on.
“They come in many different forms and masteries, often practiced under the notion of it being an Art. We have: Fire, Ice and water, Earth, Lightning, Blood Arts, Light Arts and Gravity.”
I paused for a moment, rejogging my memory over one of the pages I had read from ‘The Art Of Mylan’ from Jay. This list seemed to be missing something from here.
Shadow arts.
I read on.
“In Vollaria, there are different stages one can reach. Those being: Alchemist, Rona, Conjurers, Great Sages and Reapers. Each of them are different levels of being able to hone their Mylan, and increase their internal storages. Each arts, having their own intricate pathways to mastering, those who increase their stages are bestowed those ranks. In modern Vollaria, the stage of Mylan you are considered to be, one's future doors are opened greatly to many different opportunities in the Empire. Whether it be working in the Royal Knights who employ Conjurers, or the military who mainly employ Alchemists. However, those aiming for the top are not even granted a title. They merely remain known as Reapers. Only a handful of beings remain at the very top and are granted with such a title.”
So Zidane is a Conjurer. But with there being so many different pathways into each Mylan art, there must be different levels within those stages. Because then that poses the question, what differentiates a Reaper with a Conjurer. How big is the gap in strength?
And so I continued, “And lastly, the one who stands above all. Valleria, granted that very title by the King himself, he is a man unparalleled by no one and the pinnacle of strength in today's world.”
I was only into page one of the hundreds left, and this was just scratching the surface of Mylan. But I had formulated some decent theories based on what I had learnt so far and I was sure most of the book mainly focused on techniques and how to actually use the Mylan Arts. To which barely benefited me since I had none.
I closed the book, telling myself I should come back to it later.
If Mylan is possibly produced from human cells, I wonder if humans of this world have an extra store within their body, or if each individual cell has another layer to store it. In a sense, human cells stored Glycogen and other molecules necessary for life and Glycogen essentially was sugars needed for energy. Maybe these people had Mylan stored too.
But how was it produced? Was the question.
Humans had to eat food, so what did humans of Vollaria consume to be able to even produce such things. It couldn’t be made from nothing, that was ridiculous. In any case, I had to research it more. Perhaps, I would have to become a microscopic biologist in this world and look into human cells.
I shook my head, refuting my own thoughts.
No! What am I thinking? I don’t want to stay in this tarnished world. I need to escape this place then find a way home another way.
Wait. Can’t I just escape now? Hasn’t my presence been established in this mansion already? Meaning I’m free to walk wherever I want? I could just get up, leave and disappear.
The issue with that was what would Nora do then? Send out a national manhunt? I could not predict perfectly but I decided to see if I could at least explore the city, Ballaad.
I could at least look around the districts, maybe get a feel of the city and plan on what to do next. I perhaps needed to jump onto my next invention since dynamites weren’t good enough yet.
“One day I’m going to nuke this place I swear,” I thought in bitterness.
And so I quietly left the room, attempting to make as little noise as I packed all my belongings, placing all my dynamites into all the small pockets and pouches. I walked past Zidane's room quietly and walked over to the front door downstairs. Maids didn’t seem to be active as of yet either, but the guards shouldn’t have been a problem either since they already knew my face. Reaching for the doors to open them, I was suddenly stopped in my tracks to a stern voice, hissing from below a metallic helmet.
“You are not to leave the abode.”
I looked to my left and right, two guards stood with swords resting beneath their palms like statues. I could practically feel their slicing glare from the tiny gap in the helmet.
“Why?” I asked.
“On Her Majesty’s orders.”
Fucking Norrrraaaaaaaaa!!!!!
My nails dug into my skin as I held a fist in my right hand, staring down onto the floor. And what made matters far worse for me, was another voice booming from behind.
“Where are you going? Axure?” Zidane said.