The Castle

Sato

Up close, the castle looked much larger than it had from such a distance. Its height was truly awe-inspiring. Sato could see over its many towers and turrets. The walls were all brick, ranging from black grey to white grey, with bluish-grey in between. There was moss and vines all over the face of the castle. Up in a tower, a guard shouted, "Raise the gate." A short drawbridge fell, almost a gangplank. There was no moat surrounding the castle, only a thin earthen trench and the creek. Sato couldn't see the purpose of the bridge. The portcullis rose next, and the party was admitted into the courtyard. Sato traversed the length of the courtyard while looking up at the curtain wall surrounding it. Two giant oaken doors, large enough to admit giants, barred the way. Two strong guards opened the doors and admitted them inside. 

The castle was nothing short of extraordinary. Everything looked as though it was built for giants. The main entrance led into a massive hall. In the back of the room, there was a grand spiraling staircase leading up to an overhanging balcony. Every direction had a pair of doors. The walls were clad with ornate tapestries, carvings, and patterns. There were end tables covered in candleabras and books in every nook and corner. A grand chandelier with at least a hundred individual candles hung from the high ceiling above, flanked by big banners. It was truly a sight to behold. Once they had entered, the doors slammed shut with a thunderous crash. 

“You have my word, your friends will be fine. I will admit I didn’t plan on bringing tourists, but my people will accommodate them with the finest we have to offer,” Leo promised laxadistically. He must have detected Sato’s nerves.

“They aren’t tourists. They know about your world now, too, so we are all in this together. If you try to separate us again, I will leave and never look back,” Sato threatened sternly.

“I understand. I apologize if I’ve offended you; it’s just," Leo paused. "It isn't safe for them here. Æurea can be a dangerous place. The Isles have been embroiled in war for many years now, for my whole life, really. I don’t want them to get needlessly hurt.

“Then let them train alongside me,” Sato offered. Leo led Sato up the great staircase and down a long, nondescript hall. 

“Swordsmanship is for only the bravest of warriors. We can train your companions. But I'd advise teaching them other techniques. Perhaps archery or medicine," Leo trailed on. At this point, Sato was pretty fed up with Leo. 

They arrived in a grand library that must have contained ten thousand books. The colourful books were arranged like Tetris blocks. The circular room was shockingly tall. There were five tiers of bookshelves and balconies, and the ladders used to reach them. At the summit of the space was a stained skylight. In the center of the room, there were numerous sitting chairs and tables covered in books. 

In the back of the room was a stone fireplace. Hanging above the fireplace was a katana. It had some red cloth wrapped around the hilt. The blade was black, yet it reflected light brilliantly. To Sato, it was beautiful. He felt the sing of the blade just by gazing upon it. 

“Is that it?” Sato asked, mesmerized.

“Yes. This is the ancient relic that I believe you are destined to wield. It has known many names over the years, but all have been lost to time. The story goes that the blade was shattered in a duel, but the blade repaired itself with the blood of the hero who wielded it." Leo described. It sounded kind of like Kintsugi. 

"Can I hold it?” Sato hoped. Now that Leo mentioned it, Sato could see several break lines all across the blade. They caught and reflected the twilight skylight. 

“Not yet. It is quite fragile until you learn to harness its power. Also, if you touch it even once, it will be bound to you until your death. We can't have that, should you decide not to return, now can we?" Leo smirked oh so forcibly. "But even from this distance, you must hear it calling. These relics aren't just weapons or tools. They live and they breathe. They contain the essence of their previous wielders within them. Some say they can communicate, though I have yet to experience it myself.”

Sato walked over and collapsed into a big red velvet armchair.  “You know this is all a lot, right? I’ve been taking it in stride, but this is all a lot to process. Yesterday, I was just a normal loser teen. What if that's what I want to be tomorrow? Now I'm supposed to be a hero destined to wield an ancient relic in another world?” Sato let his head fall back and closed his eyes. He tried to picture what he wanted to be tomorrow. 

Leo leaned slightly on the arm of the chair. “I think I understand. I was born in Pax Æure to a Duke and a Princess. When the king was executed, my father became the ruler, though he refused the title of king. I went from a no one noble who could just read books and be left mostly unbothered, to the heir to the Three Isles. I was thrust into a world of politics and war that I never wanted. But unlike me, you have a choice. If you want to go home and never return, that is your right. If you want to stay with us, complete your training, and then leave, that is too. You are not and never will be under any duress to stay here. You need to choose your path. I know this is a great burden to place on you, but I can tell that you are strong. Your friends are too. And they get to make the same choice you do.” Sato could feel that Leo was earnest. He believed what he was saying. Sato was pretty good at reading people. Still, he most certainly did not understand.

“What exactly is all this training for? What are your true intentions for me? I don’t imagine you want to train me to use your weapon just for fun,” Sato inquired.

“I can share specifics with you in the war room after dinner. Your companions should be there to hear it, but in short, you are correct. I need your help to save my home and my people,” Leo confirmed. Sato went silent, and he remained so until they arrived in the dining hall. 

Sato and Leo descended the great stairwell and then turned back and walked down some steps towards what looked like a cellar. The entrance was through two giant oaken doors that rivaled the size of the front doors. One of the doors was already propped open for them by a single guard. The interior of the hall was even more massive than the doors suggested. It looked like a large stone church. Sato looked up, and his stomach sank. The ceiling was easily 80 feet above them. It made him dizzy. 

The hall's enormity was rivaled only by its sparsity. There were only three tables, even though it could have fit at least a dozen tables of the same size. The two long tables vertical to the door were at least forty feet long. They were void of settings. At the center of the back of the hall, on a raised wooden platform, was a shorter head table. This table looked out horizontally onto the other tables. 

The Queen and Princesses were already seated. Sitting next to the Queen was a man who could only have been Leo's father, the Duke. He wore a floppy, wide-brimmed hat with a feather in it. His tunic was not dissimilar to Leo’s red coat in colouration, although accented with far more blue. He was a large, imposing man with a thick, pointed, brown beard. The couple sat in high-backed embroidered chairs of dark painted pine with scarlet velvet cushions. The remaining chairs were simpler, shorter, and seemingly, much more manageable.

Leo led Sato to a seat nearer the Princesses than the Duke. Sato was grateful for that. Leo kissed his mother on the cheek and then sat at the end of the table, as far from the Duke as possible. Leo was summoned to sit by Princess Jo, rather unsurprisingly. Much more surprisingly, he made her move down to him. Sato moved over to allow her to sit next to Leo. He was now closest to the quiet Princess Samantha. Sato smiled, but she didn't seem to notice. No bother.

Rebe, Daniel, Bruno, and the birdman arrived not long after them. Earl, was it? Sato moved down to sit between his friends. Daniel was seated next to the Princesses Samantha, and Rebe next to Bruno. All were between The Duke and Leo. Sato noticed Leo had not once looked up while his father was at the table. When he finally did, he was gritting his teeth. Sato locked eyes with Leo, and his expression vanished. He tilted his head with a forced smile.

The head table was decked out in decadent dishes, not one of which was familiar to Sato’s eyes. The table was piled high with all kinds of food. Bountiful cornucopias of fruits and vegetables. A varitable rainbow of different breads. Plentiful weird-looking pies and pastries. Teeming pitchers of water and wine. Several large, scary-looking, whole-roasted fish, though a notable absence of anything resembling poultry or meat. Yet, still a good number of different cheeses. 

“I'm starving. What does a girl have to do for a chicken leg?” Sato gave a nod disguised as one of acknowledgment. His head was someplace else. Rebe continued talking, but once again, it barely registered with Sato. Rebe went quiet for the rest of the meal. 

 The Duke stood up, goblet overflowing with wine. He gestured towards Sato. “Welcome, Heroes, Champions of Earth. I apologize for not meeting you at the gate. I was caught up in stately matters, but I trust my wife greeted you fondly, and Earl bored you greatly. My name is Leonidas Welles, Duke of Æurea. It is my honour to host you in our lovely Castle. It is the best castle in all of Æurea, so I assure you, you are safe here. Sato of Otherword, we hope you will accept our invitation to train with our swordsmaster, Coelpress. Every swordsmaster worth a damn has trained under him. A toast to our extinguished guests. I could say much more, but I don’t want to stop you all from eating a moment longer. Please, dig in.”

Everything Sato picked at was far from distasteful. In fact, most of it was quite delicious. It was all surprisingly very well seasoned. Still, he didn't have much of an appetite. He was anxious to learn why he was here. By the time he was done, most of the table was still covered in food. They had barely made a dent in the feast. 

Once he finished, the Duke excused himself to the war room. Earl followed, like a parrot on the Duke's shoulder. The Queen left to put Jo to bed. Jo hugged Leo goodnight and went to bed without protest. She seemed too happy to complain. After dinner had concluded, Leo directed the remaining party to the war room. 

They walked down a long hallway adorned with red carpets and a great many portraits. Two guards stood at the entry and admitted all but Princess Samantha, who was forced to wait outside. Leo seemed bothered by this but said nothing. The Princess was visibly furious. The door appeared to be wrought of a dark metal, perhaps iron, with many little bumps all across the surface. They looked like little hills and valleys. It closed like a bank vault door behind them.

The war room was not nearly as large as Sato had expected. He had begun to assume every room in this castle would be giant. It was roughly the size of a small big top tent. The Duke and his lieutenants were already deep in the midst of forming a stratagem. Among them was Earl, and several other men he didn't recognize. Some wore armor, and others noble garb. Sato overheard Earl say something about a 'Sire Fredrickson.' In the back of the room, next to the pink-haired lady from the gatehouse, stood a strange-looking man cloaked in shadow. 

The Duke looked up as they shuffled in. The room went silent. Standing, the Duke was much less intimidating. He was much shorter than he seemed. Earl stood more than a head higher. He had a belly that made Bruno look thin. Without his floppy hat, he was perfectly bald.

They were bent over a large octagonal table in the center of the room. It looked like a diorama. There was a thick layer of some sort of clay all across the surface of the table. The clay was carved into the shape of a large island, surrounded, on all sides, by tall waves. On the island, there were three-dimensional mountains and valleys, forests and lakes. The intricacy of the carving 'clayscape' was astounding. Town, castles, and villages were all marked with different symbols. Some of the larger ones were tangible. Sato managed to spot the miniature clay-carved castle that must be the very castle they were inside. It was more coastal than he would have guessed. 

Units were represented by intricately whittled wooden figurines. Many of the villages were covered in skull-shaped figurines. The Duke was moving about horsehead figurines and men holding spears, likely representing cavalry and infantry, respectively. There were other figurines Sato couldn't quite decipher. The most common of which looked a bit like a characterized sun with large beams shooting out in each of the cardinal directions. All three units seemed to be surrounding and cutting off the skull units at one of the villages near the north end of the map. 

“Welcome to our war room. But the real war is everywhere else." The Duke gesticulated as he spoke. The Isles of Pax Æure have been embroiled in war for several decades now. With our neighbors to the west, with the other Isles, and with ourselves. Æurea is not quite as rich in resources as it might have once been, in the time of the Progenitors. Animals are rare, metals are sparse, and all the habitable land is inhabited. In short, these are resource wars. All the same, the years of fighting have created great animosity. Every one of our advisories and allies is fighting for the most valuable resource in the world: dry land."

"That is the status quo. Now it's not only the living we are at war with. The most pressing threat and dire threat, and the reason we have sought out your aid is the Rott Plague."

“What is the Rott Plague?” Daniel questioned.

“Rott is a common blight on our world. It consumes life and breeds death. The Undien, our enemy, are the reanimated bodies of the casualties of this war on all sides. They are literally crawling up out of the ground from whence they were buried. We don’t know what animates them. Most likely a powerful coven of witches, known as the Green Growers. We also have rumors of some necro-prophet who could be responsible. What we do know for certain is what they want: our land and our lives."

"They are intelligent?" Daniel inquired.

"Not individually, no. They are savage and wild beasts. No different from animals. But the witches are cunning," the Duke answered. "Put simply, we are outnumbered. There are a lot more dead than living on the Isles. When our numbers wane, their ranks are replenished. We are better armed and armoured, but that alone will not save us. We will surely fail and perish. They are targeting our farms and fields, most likely to cut off our most important resource, one they don’t need: food."

"Not because they are unable to breach the castles and walled villages," Daniel questioned.

"That as well," the Duke dismissed. “If we can’t stop them, they will surely consume our world.” The Duke performatively knocked over all the units facing the skulls. 

“So our inaction may result in the annihilation of your world?” Sato pondered.

“Almost certainly,” Earl interjected. 

Leo led the trio out of the war room, while the others continued to discuss. Outside, the Princess was waiting, clearly having listened to the entire meeting. The guards seemed not to mind, as long as she didn't enter.

“This is a lot. We need time to think it over,” Sato stated. “We need a week. We will have decided by then."

"Of course. Take as long as you need," Leo replied. "But don’t needlessly delay. Every day the Undien threat grows, in number and in power." Sato nodded in acknowledgement. 

And with that, they began the long journey home.