Round Table

Upon returning with a village elder in tow, Arya joins the princess and I in returning upstairs. There, we're led into the main room, then further in, to where I'm sure all the important village meetings take place.
After a long talk between us, a few other people are given entrance, eventually, two of whom appear to be in charge of protecting the princess.
I don't know who the other people are, but they're probably more important than me, so I'll be on my best behaviour.

"Everyone, your attention, please."

One of the strangers calls for attention, then passes it on to Feana.
"A few days ago", she begins, "a human from planet Earth arrived on Larila."
Those who already know glance over at me. The others gasp.

"I have verified it with my own eyes, for this human brought with him an object similar to those He would carry."

I stand up out of my seat and hold the cube out for the Princess to take.

"Sir Ven Hildna, will you help us end this war?"
"Of course."
"Then I, Princess Feana Yve, declare my intent to take the throne."

The thing is, before we invited these people into this discussion, we had plenty of opportunity to arrange this performance in full.
The end of that discussion brought us to this meeting. With this act, this starving village will recover.
That is what we hope, at least...

◇ ◇ ◇

"So, this cube allows him to project memories onto others."

Arya is in the middle of explaining everything to the village elder.
The elder, however, seems unconvinced. "You think that would end the war?"
It's at times like this when having a princess trained in negotiations becomes useful.

"Not entirely, but we could use it to our advantage. I was made subject to its powers, and when I awoke from reminiscence, time had passed."

Right. Every time it's been activated, the people in the room have frozen up.
For some reason, I assumed that this cube would be useful for... uniting everyone's hearts, or something. That's how the previous guy brought 50 years of peace to the world, wasn't it?
"Actually", I begin, "How did He give his memories to everyone? The story I heard said they were 'salvaged' after He returned home, not projected."
Everyone in the room turns to the village elder. She was alive for it, after all. To everyone's surprise, she shakes her head in dismay. "We only have memories of His time on Earth. How he did anything, we don't know."
"But someone else spread his memories, correct?" That's how the story goes. "If I shared memories with Arya, could she then share them with Sera?"
Arya grabs the cube. "Only one way to find out!"
For an object with such a specific ability, I'm starting to understand just how useful it might be, in all sorts of ways.

"I want Sera to see!"
"Wha-"

The cube brightens, and Sera's surprised yelp is cut short. It worked.
This doesn't last for long, however, as Arya quickly places the cube back down.
"Well, if I hold it any longer than that, I'll probably get hurt, and-" Arya's explanation of things gives way to a loud giggle.
"Ven, you-!" Sera can barely get a word out for laughter.
"...you don't need to explain what you saw." I sigh. "It works, then? We can transfer my memories of Earth around."
"Is that useful?" the village elder quizzes.
"..." Silence fills the room.

"What's important is that, for a brief moment, Sera was unable to move."
"Indeed."

The princess takes back control of the topic. "I'd very much like to test the limits of this power, but if we were able to stun even just the commanders of an army, it could turn an impossible battle into a trivial affair."
I expand upon this. "We've only ever tried it with one or two people, and both times, they were right in front of the person holding the cube."

"What we need is a crowd."

◇ ◇ ◇

And so, this meeting is being held. The claim that another Earthling has appeared brings out voices of doubt within the audience.

"You expect us to trust that, within such a short frame of time, two individuals from Earth arrived in our lands?"
"I don't expect you to trust; I expect you to see."

The cube in her hands begins to glow white.

This was the truth of the matter. Our big meeting was, in part, being held to convince key local figures that the tide of war could dramatically change in our favour. That, however, was the secondary goal.
The primary goal of this meeting was to test out the limits of memory projection. We know that, within a small area, multiple people can be ensnared by it... but how many people? How large an area?
The first test will be an extension of our current proof. We even arranged for Arya, Sera, and I to look away. Why? To see whether eye contact between the subject and the user or the cube was necessary.
The results? My vision of reality gives way to a dream.

"Veni Ven..."
"......hmm......?"
"Rise and shine."
"...it's too early. Give me ten more minutes."
"..."
"..."
"If you don't wake up......"
THUD! The vision ends in a flash.

"Haa- haa-" I pant, sweat running down my face. "That was close."
In my hand is the cube. In front of me is a very shocked Feana.

"You moved..."

I look around the room. Everyone except for Arya and Sera remain in the same positions they were before, some looking quite flustered.
All the people who weren't looking in the princess's direction, however, were able to move. It's a bit weird; it felt like I was in the vision, I couldn't see reality, but driven by instinct, my body acted.
I had to. If that vision continued, then-
"That was dangerous!" Arya gasps. "I tried to climb out of bed and I fell right over!"
Whatever the case, it appears that the cube will blind to reality any within proximity, but only stun those who look at it. Maybe that explains why the world didn't pause when everyone was given His memories.

The princess shakes off her surprise and regains her composure.
"With this, I believe it clear what power we have on our hands." She motions towards me. "In that briefest of moments in which you all were dreaming of life on Earth, Sir Hildna here was able to sneak up on me from the other side of the room and take the cube right out of my hands."
Wow, nice improv!

"With this power, we may blind the world to hatred and awaken the people out of this nightmare!"

◇ ◇ ◇

The results of our test were slightly unexpected, but we learned a lot. For any practical want, the cube serves its purpose of disabling the enemy commanders... at least when they're all grouped together.
What we don't yet know is the range of this effect. The village is a small place, and getting everyone to stand out in the cold wouldn't go down well with the people, so there's only one option.
For our next test, we'll have to go somewhere bigger.

"Not only is Lann by the coast, allowing one to get a great view of the capital from the sea, but it's also the closest city to here!" I now find myself trapped in a 1-on-1 conversation with Sera. "Isn't that handy?"
I take back what I said before. Arya and Sera aren't similar at all; Arya would never get this excited about anything.

"Isn't Lann where the enemy is?"
"Yes, but it's a fine place to visit."
"It didn't sound that fine. Wasn't there a rebellion?"
"There was, but... It's a major port, so the trade district and business streets are rather festive, no matter what happens in the west!"
"You sound like you've been there."
"Ehehe, a lot. My family are traders. We pass through the village a lot, but our home is the road."
"Sounds like a fun way to live."

Now that I think about it, Sera doesn't look like many of the other girls in the village. Most of the people I've seen walking around have a similar look to the princess - light hair in blue or green, eyes that range from blue to brown or red. I've seen some variations, but that's the general appearance of people here. Maybe that's why the princess hid here; it'd be easy for her to blend in.
Sera, however, has blonde hair. It didn't stand out to me because, well, everything looks slightly different to what I'm used to, but I don't think I've seen any other blonde people since coming here.

"So... you wanna go?"