Side Story 1 Part 3: Laputa
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When Myrddin found himself awake, he yawned and stretched finding himself strangely refreshed. Feeling that he was being suspended by the nape of robes he quickly twisted his head backwards to see Black holding him up.

“Adam, why are you holding me by the scruff of my robes?” Myrddin questioned, genuinely lost until he recalled the moments before he was knocked out. “Why did you knock me out!?”

Black didn’t respond and instead pointed down with her other hand. Myrddin obeyed and instantly zeroed in the floating clouds and the ground below them. 

“GHIYIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Black tossed Myrddin back onto the grass, away from the edge. She ignored all the wary looks casted his way by wyvern riders as she did a little dance while snapping her fingers enjoying the way Myrddin twitched on the ground.

“No wonder we were not able to find it. It turns out that we’ve been searching in the wrong place all this time.” Lei Yan said, his eyes full of wonder as he looked at the very ground beneath him. “How did the emperor construct such a place?” Black said nothing.

After a resentful glare from Myrddin, the group followed Black as she walked up the stone stairs leading up the mountain. The trek up was long and silent as an oppressive atmosphere descended upon them. The mountain looked beautiful from afar but there were no chirps of birds, no squirrels chewing on seeds, no deers stalking through the forest. No hint of sound except the rustling of leaves and the harsh wind against their faces.

It was a lifeless mountain.

What greeted the group when they ascended atop the flight of stairs was the words [Laputa] carved into the cavern entrance in ancient script. Sculptures of drachens, the holy dragon knights of the Black God, guarded the entrance to the cavern.

“This is?” Lei Yan asked as he looked towards Black.

“Laputa was originally the prototype for the Orbital City Elysium. You’ve heard of it right?” Black asked. Lei Yan naturally heard of the Orbital City that floated at the edge of the sky, the divine realm of the Black God that would descend every so often to the Eternal City. “The Black God originally lived here before the creation of Elysium.”

“Don’t worry, although you’ll be disappointed if you want to witness the Black God.” Black said as she motioned them to follow her into the entrance. “The Black God rarely comes here anymore.” The inside was brightly lit by an unknown light source, the marble floors and walls completely different from the giant stone archway from outside. 

“Why would the Sage Emperor’s Mausoleum be here?” Lei Yan muttered to himself. The hallway inside was wide enough for dragons to comfortably walk inside, but Lei Yan and his guards huddled together as they eyed the passing sculptures and doorways with trepidation as they witnessed the grand sculptures and jewels that were used to decorate a simple hallway. The amount of time craftsmen had to sacrifice in order to carve the sculptures on the columns, perhaps not just by human hands.

It made Lei Yan realize how insignificant the Imperial Palace that he thought was equal to even the Eternal City was as he finally witnessed a real divine abode, or at least a former one. The group finally stopped at one of the doorways several floors down. They had used an unknown device that lowered the platform they were on to different floors.

Myrddin eyed his surroundings in fascination as he took in all the runes and magic used in the construction of the Black God’s former abode. It was Elysium if the skin was torn off revealing all its internal structures. Myrddin even saw runes and magic techniques that were used in ancient times as described by the books.

Lei Yan didn’t know which floor they were on but he was sure they had moved nearer to the center of the floating mountain as the air began to become stale. It was a similar large room only the tiles were black with doorways spaced generously between. Upon closer inspection above almost all the doorways were words carved in the same ancient script that Laputa was written in. Lei Yan strained his eyes as he tried to make out the ancestor of all modern script. “Lionel... Qian Yang... Min Yue Zhu... Atler... Destri... Tomoki... Tanaka... Mirine...”

The group only stopped in front of a doorway with the name Hei Yao Shen. “Hei Yao Shen...” Lei Yan pronounced the name out loud. The name lingering on his tongue. “Is this?” 

Black nodded. “That’s the tomb of the Sage Emperor, all of his treasured belongings during his life were buried here. You can look but remember to not bring anything out of here except for Manusya.” After the words left her mouth, the doorway opened by itself to reveal a large room, but nowhere near the grandness of the shrine built in the Sage Emperor’s name in the Xuan Dynasty. 

It was not littered in gold or shining with the treasure of legends like Lei Yan expected. Rather it was plain to the point that it didn’t seem to the tomb of an ordinary emperor or king. The left wall consisted of bookshelves while the right was filled with numerous sorts of momento. The most eye-catching was naturally the Holy Sword Manusya embedded in a pedestal in all its gold and white glory. Next was the coffin made of an unknown black material gilded in gold with the emblem of the Xuan Dynasty.

However what caused the group’s gaze to linger the most was the enormous painting that took up the majority of the wall behind the holy sword. It was a portrait of two people; a man of tall stature with pointed ears, handsome and dignified wearing plain black robes and the other a woman who hadn’t seemed to have her coming of age ceremony yet but possessed divine beauty that caused all others to become dull with two golden flower accessories attached to both sides of her head above her ears.

The man bore a great resemblance to Lei Yan, their features sixty to seventy percent similar. But the woman bore even greater resemblance to the woman who led them here, especially with the same bangs and sidelocks. The only difference was the eye color and the level of beauty the woman in the painting possessed.

“Was your ancestor related to the Sage Emperor?” Lei Yan, he couldn’t help but question whether his meeting with the person who led him here to be fate or perhaps destiny. Or maybe the Sage Emperor wallowed in grief because of the state of the Xuan Dynasty and arranged for him to meet Adam.

“You could say that we are connected because of the Sage Emperor, yes.” Black said but looked away back to the painting, seemingly cut off from the world. Lei Yan looked towards Myrddin who shook his head, indicating that he shouldn’t question any further. 

Myrddin moved towards the bookshelves where he inspected the contents free from the complicated emotion of the other occupants of the room. To his great amusement most of them weren’t martial arts manuals or sword manuals but rather miscellaneous items like diaries or handwritten recipe books. Myrddin picked up a few and flipped through them.

Lei Yan and his group seeing Myrddin moved began to inspect the surroundings as well. One half taking out empty parchments in order to copy the contents of the books, the important and meaningful ones first and the personal ones last.

On the other side were numerous items displayed: a wooden training sword, a sword with only half its blade, a hairpin made with inexperienced hands, necklaces with no other value than its beauty. They were miscellaneous items a person would receive or gift as he or she grew older until their dying breath.

Rather than a collection of the Sage Emperor’s greatest treasures, it was a memorial to the life he lived.

Finally, Lei Yan turned his sight onto the holy sword. His heart pumped with nervousness yet bursting with expectation. His followers all watched as he solemnly walked towards the sword that would determine his fate. Each step up the pedestal pulsed with memories of his childhood and the suffering he endured. He hesitated only but a moment before he grasped the sword with both hands. The moment his body made contact with the Holy Sword Manusya a golden aura enveloped his body and his eyes gained a golden hue and a vacant gaze.

“Your highness?” One of the shadow guards asked as he watched Lei Yan’s body freeze under the golden light. There was no response and the shadow guards began to trade glances unsure of what to do. 

Before one of them could go up towards Lei Yan, Black chose to speak. “Don’t bother. Right now he is undergoing the trial of Manusya in order to gain the right to wield the holy sword.” She turned to look at the followers of the fourteenth prince with an enigmatic smile and invisible pressure emanating from her body. “You didn’t think that gaining the holy sword would be as simple as pulling it out, did you?” Luckily for the shadow guards who were drowned in cold sweat, Black soon turned her gaze away. 

The guards didn’t know how long they waited, but while they waited they had finished transcribing all the books in the room as well as catalogued all the items with detailed illustrations of them for analysis when they returned. Kang Yang stared at Lei Yan the whole time unmoving like a stone statue.

During this time Lei Yan would sometimes grimace, smile, break out in cold sweat, furrow his brows in concentration and display a myriad of expressions but the vacant look in his eyes was ever present. Finally the golden hue in Lei Yan’s eyes disappeared and he broke gasping for breath but...

The scraping sound of the holy sword being released from the pedestal could be heard as Lei Yan triumphantly raised it in the air. Wind billowed from his body as a great pressure emanated from him, like god of war.


“You aren’t going to watch me to make sure I keep my end of the bargain?” Lei Yan asked as he shook Black’s hand, this time without the previous pressure. A calm smile graced Lei Yan’s face as he stared at Black.

Black released Lei Yan’s hand. “The sword will naturally be returned to the Black God upon the time of agreement. It’s a contract with the Black God after all.” Black smiled too as her hair fluttered in the wind, the group having returned outside where the wyverns had been left. 

“Well, I guess I’ll see you the next time we meet.” Lei Yan saluted farewell as he jumped onto his wyvern, his followers already sitting in their saddles. 

“Wait a moment.” Black said as she pulled a crystal bottle with a vibrant red liquid inside of it and tossed it to Lei Yan who deftly caught it. “It’s Titan’s blood.” She said to the confused look on Lei Yan’s face.

“Why do you-” Lei Yan started to speak before he smiled wryly and shook his head. “I’ll be sure to pay you back someday!” With that vow said Lei Yan led his followers off of Laputa. The floating mountain becoming blurry once more before turning completely invisible to Lei Yan.

“He seems to have changed a bit.” Myrddin commented as he watched Lei Yan and his group disappear into the horizon. “So where to next? We can fly to the Everstorm Lands now with these wyverns.”

Black shook her head. “We’re returning to Elysium.”

“What why?” 

“I’ve lost interest.” Black said as she turned to star at the mountain where her memories lay buried. “Besides something has happened in the Fractured Lands.”


Drool escaped her lips as her aroma tickled her nose. Aldris twirled her blond locks careful not to dirty the waxed table anymore than she had to. She stiffened as she sat up straight in the chair no longer fidgeting as someone walked through the door and into the restaurant.

“There’s actually a customer!” 

Aldris ducked her head as her eyes connected with the man. He was tall, wore beautiful white robes and carried a white mage staff. She wrapped her dusty cloak even tighter around her.

“Shut it!”

Aldris closed her eyes as she took in the melodic voice, the man’s presence weakening as he walked passed her and sat on a stool in front of the bar. “You can’t exactly blame me Adam, I’ve been going here for over years and I’m the only one here.”

“Not anyone could find this door you know? I’m surprised the second customer was even human.” 

Aldris released her held breath, as she quietly waited for her order. The chatter of the owner and the regular bringing a pleasant lull to the near empty restaurant. “So warm...” 

Clack

Aldris jolted awake as her face turned red. She took a quick peek to see a hand place a plate of bread along with a glass of water onto the table. “Here’s some bread, ah don’t worry this is complementary along with the water.”

Aldris nodded as she watched the owner walk away, the silk dress she had on completely incongruent with the image of a chef. But Aldris’ attention was soon directed away by the tantalizing smell of the bread. “Hot!” Aldris dropped the bread back onto the plate and blew on her hands.

Taking more care, Aldris waited until the steaming bread cooled a bit more before she reached out once more. “So soft...” Aldris said as the aroma rose from the two torn pieces of bread. Placing one piece down Aldris blew on the bread until it no longer steamed and took a small bit. “Soft!”

Delight flashed through Aldris’ eyes as she took another bite and another. It was the softest bread Aldris had ever eaten in her life, the airy flesh practically melted in her mouth and created a nice complement to the crunchy exterior. One, two, and three bread all disappeared in quick fashion as a sigh of contentment escaped from her pink lips.

A chuckle brought Aldris back to reality as she looked up to see the smiling face of the owner, her purple eyes shining with mirth. “Here’s your order, spaghetti pasta with tomato and meat sauce. Go ahead try it.”

Aldris looked down once more away from the radiant beauty. She picked up a fork and rolled up a bite, the thin noodles mixed with abundant sauce with little clumps of meat  and speckled with white season in between. Gulping her drool down once more Aldris shoved the fork into her mouth.

Delicious

Those were her honest thoughts. The meat had been stewed in the robust sauce. She didn’t know how good the meat was but Aldris could tell it was nothing like the meat that was used by her mother years ago at the farm. The little bits of melted cheese and herbs flavor dispersed in her mouth, enhancing the robust meat and sauce even further. The savory flavor with the sweet and tartness of the tomato made sauce, it was irresistible to Aldris who had not eaten this dish since she left home to become a knight. 

Aldrus kept eating bite after bite, and a sweet and sour feeling began to well up in her chest. 

“Hey you alright?”

Aldris looked up to see the owner’s concerned gaze on her. It was only then she realized her cheeks had become wet with tears. “N-no, I’m fine.” She brought her sleeves and wiped away her tears. 

“Stop, geeze. Don’t you know it's bad to wipe your face with dirty clothes?” A slender hand stopped her. Aldris looked up in surprise, despite her thin stature she was still a knight with all the required strength. Yet the delicate looking owner of the restaurant was able to easily stop her from moving. So caught up in her surprise she could not stop the owner from wiping her tears with a handkerchief.

Aldris blinked in surprise at the gentle touch and even more tears began to fall from her eyes. “Thanks, mum.”

The air in the room stiffened. The man in the white robes practically slammed his glass onto the table before swerving to look back in shock. The owner froze for a moment, before the movement continued. “Don’t think about anything, just finish the food.”

Aldris could feel her face burn with shame at her reflexive response. “...yes”

Aldris quickly finished her spaghetti uncaring of the mess she made in her hurry. “Thank you for the meal!” Aldris stood up her stomach turning.

“Hold on!” The owner once more left the counter when she saw Aldris leaving. “Geez, your face is a mess.” Once more the black cloth wiped away the excess sauce that covered around her lips. Her stomach churned even more and her face burned again. 

“Thank you.”

By the time she Aldris regained her higher cognitive abilities she was already outside in the woods, a handkerchief in her hand and a full stomach. She looked behind her to see nothing but woods, and then at the moon. The item in her hand telling her that it was not a dream.

“Captain!”

Aldris turned to see one of her subordinates, her fiery red hair shining under the pale moonlight as she saluted. “At ease, what is going on Oldrin?”

The red haired female, “We were worried when you didn’t return so I was sent to make sure you were okay.” 

Aldris shook her head. “It’s nothing, I was just thinking so I just walked a little longer in the woods that’s all. We’re returning back to Elysium tomorrow after all.”


I feel like the story has derailed from my initial intentions. After this arc in the Xuan Dynasty, we are going to have to go back to the main point. :P

Main reason I decided to do this arc was because I wanted to feature Myrddin more as well as the fact that writing an immortal god makes it very hard not to just skip around. I feel that it would be a cheap move to just have time skips this fast, but after going to this arc, I decided that I’m going to do time skips!

So according to my thread concerning the reader’s preferred chapter length...I’m a big outlier...Maybe I should shorten my chapters? Going to try that now.  Or do you guys prefer the longer chapters?

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