Chapter 8: Field Trip (2)

~8.2~

*****

Kye stepped out from the world gate and felt an enormous increase in gravity on the planet where she went to meet Alpha. The planet she arrived on was a mega-earth with far greater gravity, equipped with equally greater flora and fauna. Only a small portion was inhabited by humans. The rest was left as natural as possible.

The “small portion” was a single massive city that dwarfed the size of Arslade, New Tokyo, Drachen City, or even Atlantis City coming in at around five hundred miles across. As big as it was, that was miniscule compared to the size of the planet.

If I recall, this planet orbits a star around fifty percent bigger than Terra’s star.

Kye felt as though she were twenty pounds heavier, though in reality, if she stepped outside of the city, she would be over twice as heavy. The city was equipped with a massive magic circle that lessened the gravity and other effects. Kye’s destination, however, was not in the city. Alpha was on the opposite side of the planet, and Kye had to travel out there to meet up. Out of curiosity, Kye opened her NeuraPhone and checked the stats on the solar system she had just entered.

“The star here is 2,056,000 kilometers across, or 1,297,000 miles. This planet is ten times more massive than Terra and the other main planets, and about twice the diameter. Surface gravity is… two and a half times. And atmospheric pressure is about two times. Use an aether coat.”

““Yes, Princess.””

She flared up her aether before kicking off the ground, Liliana and Aliana following closely. She didn’t even feel the increase from leaving the city since her aether was far more potent than the spell countering the gravity. A short while later, she arrived on the far side of the planet and landed in an opening in the large forest. She only had to wait a few minutes.

“For someone to arrive without my sensing them is not only impressive, but quite rare,” she said as Alpha made her presence known. Kye turned to look at Alpha and was taken aback. She was a very beautiful white-haired girl appearing to be in her early twenties.

“The experience you’ve gained as a mortal will avail you naught with me, Eli,” Alpha said. Kye was having trouble placing the overwhelming sense of familiarity she felt. “You need your true experience. Your true self. The fact that you have had to go through those untold millions of mortal lives sickens me.”

“You knew me before?”

Alpha’s frustration was more than apparent. “I did. I was the second person you met, though you wouldn’t know that even with your memories.”

“You were perhaps present when mother delivered me then?”

Alpha sighed and nodded. “Do you wish to recover your memories?”

“I am not sure.” Kye maintained eye contact with the white-haired girl without fail. “Can you tell me why I don’t have them?”

Alpha nodded. “You chose to seal them. Every memory is still there, present within your soul. I need only enter your soul world and remove the magic you placed long ago.”

Kye’s eyes narrowed. “You say that as if it were easy.” Simply hearing another speak of soul worlds was rare enough, but hearing one casually speak of removing magic implemented inside a soul world was beyond reckless. “Who are you to me?”

“Someone who knew you very well.”

“What if I said no to recovering my memories?”

“I could force it. I can enter the soul world of Elysia Athas anytime. Without the locked memories, you don’t know how to restrict my access.”

“If you did that, do you believe I would be upset with you? And is that a problem for you?”

Alpha hesitated. She looked on into Kye’s eyes and felt as if she were carrying a conversation no different from long before. “You would be upset with me.” She didn’t answer the second question.

But Kye wanted the answer. “The other question?”

Alpha sighed and looked away. “Yes.”

Now Kye was getting frustrated. “Who are you to me?” She gritted her teeth as she stepped forward, still not breaking eye contact. “Why is there an overwhelming sense of familiarity? Why does my heart long for you just seeing you? Are you a wife? I remember Maya, Adele, and Adara, but no others. If I even had others, I don’t know.”

“You didn’t. Just those three.”

“Then who are you?!”

*****

“Greetings, Royal Academy!” said the receptionist as Line approached her desk.

“I trust everything is in order?” Line asked, her eyes darting over to the airship on a platform nearby. The group had just crossed through the world gate from Alcanus in Realm 2 to Erdreich in Realm 3.

The immediate area around the gate was mostly empty, with some floral and stone decorations. The receptionist’s desk was inside the small building closest to the gate courtyard and several larger buildings beyond the receptionist, mostly inns. On either side of the receptionist were several large platforms, most of them empty, but one had an airship capable of transporting several classes worth of students.

The airship had a three decks, one open-air deck on top, and two closed-air decks right below it. The captain’s cabin was on the middle deck. There were no other components to the airship, since it was powered by a large rune on the bottom.

“Yes! We-”

“LIIIIIIIIINE!!!” called a voice familiar to Line, the royals, and some nobles.

“Lady Rosalie?” the instructor was confused. “What are you doing here? Where’s your nephew?”

“Last minute change. I’m coming along as your Erdreich representative. My nephew had sudden…” She stopped short, knowing the raised eyebrow on Line’s face was saying she wasn’t buying it. “Okay, fine, I… persuaded him to switch with me.”

Line nodded and turned back to the receptionist. “Is the captain ready?”

“Yes. He is waiting in the cabin, probably reading webcomics or a novel. I instructed him to leave the cabin door open in case he gets too engrossed in his reading.”

“Same old Captain. Thanks, Helen. We’ll be off now. Once we’re all settled in at Northern Forest, do you want to go out for some lunch? It’s been a while since I was home last.”

Helen nodded. “Of course!”

On the way out, one of the commoner students asked Line how she knew Helen. “Helen is my daughter.”

Then, the same student asked Rosalie who she was. She gave him, and the whole class for that matter, an introduction of the ages that differed greatly from the norm. “Greetings, young students!” She bowed, “Rosalie van Erdreich at your service. I hold the rank of Grand Duke, currently advise the Erdreich government, and serve as representative to the Royal Council.”

“But wouldn’t you be a Grand Duchess?” asked a student.

Rosalie held a hand to her chin and put on the most obvious thinking face she could muster. “One might think that, but I did say rank. My former title was indeed Grand Duchess of Erdreich, my rank then and now is Grand Duke. In our empire, peerage ranks are genderless, while titles do reflect genders.”

“They are different?”

“Yes. Titles are held by a single person at a time. Ranks are held forever, even post-mortem, unless stripped by a sovereign of higher rank, a royal of higher rank, or an imperial. For me, noble sovereigns cannot strip me of my rank. It would take a royal or an imperial,” she glanced at Alethea, “such as you, Lady Alethea, to strip me of my rank.”

Alethea nodded. “Correct.”

“However, one of higher rank than the one that stripped a rank can restore said rank, or grant a different one pending council review.”

“The exception being my mother, who can freely remove or grant any title or rank across the entire empire without review, as she holds absolute authority.”

Rosalie nodded. “Yes. Our society exists because of and functions so well thanks to the power of the Rune Queen. As such, there are none who would oppose her either politically or literally. In fact, there exists only one person in the empire who has the power to defeat her in battle, and that person is loyal to a fault.”

Line eyed Alethea, “Give it a little time, and the daughter is likely to surpass the mother.”

Rosalie chuckled. “Indeed. After that battle a couple months ago, I could accept anything out of those two.”

*****

Revision 12-7-2023