“What are you two doing here?” Uriel asked with raised brows; her sharp gaze seared into Lillian and Feyrith.
A bead of sweat ran down Feyrith’s back, a slow, lulling churn in his stomach. It had been a while since he had felt this overwhelming aura, enough to bring anyone to kneel. His eyes eyed the spear Uriel held in her hand. An ivory white with gold accents running along its shaft. Any player would drool over a weapon like this, yet it wasn’t even the administrator’s true weapon.
He took in a deep breath and tried to calm down his nerves. Lillian was frozen as well, her eyes pointed toward the ground.
“Would you believe us if we said we were lost?” Feyrith spoke, a quaver in his voice.
As he spoke, Feyrith noticed the shade of Uriel’s pupils changing colour, her brilliant purple eyes turning a deep red. She knows that I lied.
The administrator had used one of the skills she was most known for, the one Feyrith came all this way to get. All-seeing Eyes.
He gulped, paying attention to the increased stiffness in the air. Uriel slammed her spear on the ground below her, causing a tremor to spread throughout the garden. Feyrith turned his head over to Lillian, who nodded as her body shook.
“So, you two would have me believe that you so happened to get into an area exclusive to my priests and stumbled your way into my sanctuary?” Uriel asked.
“Why wouldn’t we?” Lillian spoke. “Administrator.”
Uriel’s eyes flashed green and widened. Her aura grew even stronger, Feyrith finding hard to breathe.
Administrator. That word had certainly set something off in Uriel, just as Lillian had planned. Uriel, the guardian of the 76th floor, revered as its goddess, its protector, sent by the heavens themselves. A position that couldn’t have been farther from that of an administrator, which both residents and players knew as devilish beings that ruled over the tower floors. Aside from a few oddities, most Administrators kept their identities a secret, acting through their followers.
“Where did you get that information?” Uriel asked, her teeth gnashed together.
“Why don’t you figure that out yourself?” Lillian spoke, her gaze turned from the ground to Uriel’s eyes, as she slowly walked up to the goddess.
“I, Lillian Silverveil, give full consent for my memories to be read.” She declared; her palm held forward. Uriel’s eyes flashed as she held both her hands over Lillian’s.
Feyrith watched in anticipation, Uriel’s expression shifting and her aura withdrawn. Another ability that stemmed from All-seeing Eyes, giving Uriel full access to view and experience Lillian’s memories. The key word there being, Lillian’s memories.
The concept named Skills was truly enigmatic and interesting and this loophole only reconfirmed that fact to Feyrith. His fingers were crossed as time passed by him, hours turning into seconds.
Eventually, Uriel let down her hands, falling silent. Lillian stepped back and walked next to Feyrith, a wry grin on her mouth.
“Would it be presumptuous of me to call this mission a success?” She asked. Feyrith smiled back at her.
“We’ll see.”
Uriel’s eyes turned up as she stared at both Lillian and Feyrith.
“You two are very interesting existences,” She muttered.
“Do tell,” She spoke “Why did you two come here?”
“It’s not too special, really.” Lillian replied with a smile. “We just want a deity’s blessing.” Uriel’s brows furrowed as she thumped her spear down once more.
“Princess.” Uriel spoke in a grave tone. “You do realise what you’re asking for, right?”
“Sure.” Lillian replied, a daring grin on her face.
“You’re the Valkyrie’s daughter, yet you don’t realise that I never granted neither your mother nor father my blessing.” Uriel spoke. “What makes you think I will grant, not just you, but the mage here, my blessing?”
“Isn’t that something you should answer yourself?” Lillian asked back in reply. Feyrith gulped again, watching the two’s interaction. Such daring and nonchalant reply to an administrator. He didn’t know any other player or resident capable of such a feat, especially if they were armed with the knowledge he and Lillian had. How entertaining.
Lillian was determined, confident; that smile on her face only there to boast about how effective her plan was. Even with her less-than innocuous acts, when Uriel read Lillian’s memories, the princess had already won.
“Hahaha!” Uriel guffawed. Her eyes were still sharp, but were noticeably less hostile than earlier. As Feyrith had thought, she was happy with Lillian’s reply.
“I see.” Uriel spoke. “You’re very interesting princess, you too mage.” Her eyes flashed in multiple colours as she held out her palms.
“Come here, the two of you. I’ll grant you temporary access to the tower window.” She said, waving the pair over.
Feyrith stepped forward, Uriel hovering her palm over his head.
<Administrator ???? has granted you a temporary connection to the Window>
<Existing User detected, releasing Innate Trait>
In a few moments, Feyrith saw a few lines of text appear in front of him, a familiar mechanical voice chiming in his ears. The lines of text quickly flashed by, disappearing from his sight.
“You two wish for a blessing, right?” Uriel muttered. A red light shone from her palms and enveloped Feyrith and Lillian, a blanket of warmth enveloping them. Feyrith froze for a moment, but then his eyes turned cold and the sensation left his body.
<Receiving status, Type: Blessing [Uriel’s Chosen]>
<Title, [Uriel’s Chosen], granted>
<Skill [Truth-seeking eyes], granted>
“There you go.” Uriel spoke, lowering her arms.
YES! Feyrith screamed in his mind. He received the skill he wanted from Uriel’s blessing, a predecessor to All-seeing, Truth-seeking eyes. If that was all, he would have been more than happy, but then Uriel spoke up.
“While I’m at it, I should give the two of you a gift as well.” She spoke. “Seems fit for an occasion such as this.”
Uriel held out her hands and tore through the space in front of her; a large rift forming there.
When he peeked through the small opening, Feyrith could see a number of invaluable artifacts and items inside of the rift. A greedy, gluttonous gaze appeared in his eyes, a craving forming his stomach as his mouth watered, and a pang of pain ran through his body.
“Let’s see. What would be good?” She wondered aloud.
“Is there anything that catches your eyes?” She asked, turning her head behind her.
<Connection to Window has been revoked>
“Bingo!” Lillian exclaimed.
The pair left Uriel’s Garden. They had obtained everything they had wanted from the administrator and more. Lillian’s plan hadn’t just been a success, but a jackpot.
“As expected from me.” Lillian spoke smugly, as the pair walked down the now-empty hallways of the temple.
They had been in the garden for longer than they had though, as all the followers of the temple had left and went to the main prayer hall, doing their yearly ritual for the feast of realisation.
“It’s getting pretty late.” Feyrith mumbled.
“It should be fine. We have a few more hours until we must head back to the palace.”
“Yeah, we should get revenge on that group of serfs that made the carriage shake earlier.”
“You have some pretty good ideas, number two.” Lillian smiled.
“Psycho.” Feyrith said, sending a disgusted stare toward Lillian as he slowly backed away from her.
“You’re the one who said it.” Lillian chuckled.
“Good job earlier, your plan worked out great.” Feyrith said, his tone soft.
“Though Uriel has always been a terrifying figure to me; so hot and cold.” Feyrith shuddered.
“Agreed, boss-battle Uriel was a pain to beat; Massive damage output, as well as self-healing!” Lillian complained. “What were those developers thinking!?”
“I know it was part of the plan, but when Uriel released her aura, I was scared of my life.” Feyrith spoke, his eyes staring into Lillian.
“You’re the one who lied to her.” Lillian teased.
“It was your plan!” Feyrith retorted.
“...” Stopping dead in her tracks, Lillian simply stared into Feyrith’s eyes, causing him to audibly gulp.
“Ahem, ahem!” Quickly regretting his decision, Feyrith began to cough.
“ANYWAY,” He yelled out. “We need to find a time to brew the potion, preferably before we head into the tower.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve already got it covered.” Lillian replied, a wry smile on her face.
The city was quite empty today.
Barring the guards on patrol, there were practically no residents present.
This made it both more difficult and easier to walk around. Any movement that the two made was extra noticeable and suspicious. On the plus side, there were way fewer people that could spot them. Avoiding the guards also meant avoiding anyone who could potentially see them.
“You should wear this.” Lillian spoke, grabbing a dark grey cloak from inside of her pouch.
Feyrith took the cloak from Lillian, wrapping it around his body. It had a slightly sweet smell, pleasant to his nose. Turning next to him, he saw Lillian wrapped around in a similar-looking clock.
“Let’s go.” She spoke as they made their way into an alleyway.
They walked through the cramped alleyways, Feyrith following behind the fast-moving Lillian, his breath growing ragged.
After what felt like an eternity, they reached their destination: the slums. It was, just like the city, completely deserted, not a single resident in sight. Odd.
Putting that thought out of mind, Feyrith continued to follow Lillian, until they reached the Ancient Alchemist’s laboratory once more.
They headed down the trapdoor, reaching the lab’s main area.
“Can you hand me the ingredients?” Feyrith asked, stationing himself in front of one of the lab’s tables.
“They’re all in here.” Lillian replied. She placed her pouch on the table and headed toward the other shelves.
“My turn to take over.” Feyrith muttered as he stretched his hands. He grabbed a few vials laid out on nearby tables and placed them in front of him.
He closed his eyes and returned to that place, bookshelves forming around him. Draught of Ent.
He sifted through, searching for the recipe he needed. The shelves began to shrink and disappear, slowly condensing into one, with a book placed neatly in its centre. He grabbed it and quickly skimmed through its contents; the information contained inside it travelling through his mind.
He opened his eyes and his body began to move, reaching into Lillian’s pouch and grabbing all of ingredients he needed. Dimensional storage sure is amazing.
Working efficiently, like he had done to process thousands of times before, Feyrith lit a small fire and began to extract the essence from the leaf of Ent, leaving it alone to work on the draught’s other components. He was completely focused on the brewing process, the world around him turning into a void.
After a while, 5 vials were left in front of Feyrith, 3 of them full and 2 empty.
“All we have to do is mix these together.” He spoke, turning to Lillian leaned against the wall waiting for him.
“How did you memorise that entire process?” Lillian asked, her eyes turned to the vials.
“I never did well on exams, but my mind is an encyclopaedia full of useless facts about Pandora’s Tower.” He replied with a grin.
He picked up the first vial, pouring half of it into one of the empty ones. He repeated this with the other two. The once empty vial was now glowing a translucent azure, deep and dark. He picked this one up once more and poured half of it into the remaining empty vial. Done.
He capped the two vials and placed them into Lillian’s pouch.
“Let’s go.” He spoke. They made their way out of the laboratory and back to the abandoned house, slamming the trapdoor down.
Upon leaving the abandoned house, Feyrith stopped walking, noticing the brilliant sky above him. It was no longer quite sunny, but also far from dark.
The sky was just warm, almost pastel. It looked like it was made of oil paint, various hues and shades of different colours coming together to create a simple, yet stunning view.
“It sure is pretty.” Feyrith mumbled.
“Yeah.” Lillian said. The two of them paused for a moment to admire the sight, standing in place without a single worry in the world.
A beautiful view for an important day.
“Greetings, Princess Lillian, young Lord Feyrith. His majesty has instructed me to fetch the two of you.” Upon reaching the royal palace, the sky now dark, a butler familiar to Feyrith greeted the two.
“Please lead the way then, Sir Victor.” Lillian replied, as they left the carriage the carriage.
The two were escorted through the royal palace, going in the direction of the royal chambers. This was the moment Feyrith had been dreading, for multiple reasons.
Still, he steeled himself, he wouldn’t want to be the reason the first part of Lillian’s 3-month plan ended up failing. It wasn’t like he cared, but he wouldn’t have been able to live down the humiliation if it did happen.
He turned next to him, his eyes turned to the poker-faced Lillian, walking with such ease and poise.
They passed by the palace’s main hall, currently set-up with lots of large circular tables, a variety of figures lounging around, and engaging in conversation. It was quite noisy, enough to hurt Feyrith ears. The feast of realisation was quite the hectic event after all, and even without it even starting, celebrations were already in full-throttle.
“We have arrived, your majesty.” Victor spoke, stopping in front of a familiar door. He bowed and left Lillian and Feyrith to their own devices, the two staring at the door in front of them. They turned to each other and Feyrith gave Lillian a nod, prompting her to knock on the door.
Knock knock.
“It is Lillian and Feyrith.” Lillian spoke. A short bout of silence followed her knocking before a booming voice came from inside of the chambers.
“You may enter.”
Lillian opened the door, signalling Feyrith to walk in first. The two entered the royal chambers where they saw Therian sitting on his throne. Adelaide sat next to him, with Sylvia at a small table at the far end of the room.
Feyrith walked before the throne and kneeled, his breath shaky.
“Greetings, your majesty.” Feyrith spoke.
The atmosphere was stiff, with not a single creak of squeak. Slowly Therian looked at Feyrith and Lillian staring at them from upon his throne.
“It’s a very important day today, so I believe you both know why I called you here?” He asked. Given permission to speak, Feyrith opened his mouth.
“Yes, your majesty.” He replied.
“Very well, then.” Therian spoke, getting out of his chair. “Let us head to the main hall. The guests are waiting for us.”
