Royal Problems (3)

“Complications?” I asked. “Like what?”

“First, the entrance exams for this school start in less than a week,” the king said. “You would need to get her there by then, and in the event of her failing you’d need to bring her back.

“Second, we can’t safely teleport you all the way there. We can get you as close as Shadow Shore, but any further would put you at risk of being found. You’ll have to manage the rest of the way however you can.

“Third, you will have to spend about two weeks in Paxsilva before knowing what to do next,” Pink Head said. “The school is very strict about getting the results out so you’ll have to stay within the general vicinity of Dragons Hollow, and in all likelihood you won’t be able to stay inconspicuous for that long. You’ll likely get attacked during that time.

“And the last thing, although this has little to do with the situation itself,” he said. “You know too much, so if you refuse I’ll have to dispose of you personally. If you complete this quest however there will be benefits, the most appealing of which being that you get to live. That being said, do you accept this task?”

“Yes,” I said. Not like I really had any other options to begin with.

“Good, now let’s make a contract.”

“A contract?”

“Yes,” he said. “A magical soul-binding contract that makes it so that if you break it you’ll undergo a special disease that makes you go through a very painful near death experience for a time of about a couple of days to a lot of months depending on the severity of the contract. That kind of contract.”

“Oh,” I said. “Before I bind my soul, what exactly are the specifics of this contract?”

A piece of paper then materialized in front of me. It read:

~

CONTRACT
Between Contractor: Pink Head Blazebane (I)
And Contracted: Oliver Sean (You)
…
You will complete the quest you’ve been given.
Special Quest: Escort Marion to FuzzyCoats Academy (details)
…
I will supply you with the resources you need to be able to do so. (details)
…
And most importantly, you will not harm Marion. (details)
…
As always breaking a CONTRACT will cause the one who broke it to contract LIAR’S DISEASE (details)
Signature of Contractor__________x
Signature of Contracted__________x
As always you can sign simply by shaking hands (details)

~

“Uh, there’s a little problem,” I said.

“With what,” the king responded, although I wouldn’t say he was asking a question.

“That last one is too vague,” I said. “What if I’m fighting an assassin and use my Miracle power but the shockwave hits her. Then I’d contract Liar’s Disease, which would in turn leave her unguarded.”

“You do have a point,” Pink Head said. “In that case we shall add an Unintentional/Accidental Damage Clause.”

“Also,” I said. “While we’re on the subject, what if something happens and I need to fight her because she’s mind controlled or I have to intentionally do something I know would damage her in order to protect her from something else.”

“Then we’ll also add a For The Greater Good Clause, but killing or mortally/severely wounding is off the table.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t dream of that.”

“Is there anything else you want to add?” Pink Head asked.

I looked at the contract in front of me again and expanded on the details for the last section.

~

And most importantly, you will not harm Marion.
Unintentional/Accidental Damage Clause:
If you unintentionally or accidentally cause damage to Marion, it will not count towards breaking the CONTRACT.
For The Greater Good Clause:
If you are in a situation where you have to intentionally cause Marion harm in order to protect her, it will not count towards breaking the CONTRACT. NOTE: Killing and/or Mortally/Severely Wounding Marion will always count as breaking the CONTRACT, whether unintentional, accidental, or for the greater good.

~

So it updated as we were talking. I guess that’s magic for ya. Although this kinda feels more like futuristic technology than anything else.

“So, do we have a deal?” the king said while holding out his hand.

“Deal,” I said as I grabbed his hand and shook.

As we shook hands I felt a strange energy flow through me. The contract was complete.

“Now that we’ve made the contract, let’s get you ready,” Pink Head said.

“Actually, before anything else, do you guys have somewhere I could go to research things?” I asked. “Like a library or something?”

…

“Library quest complete!” I said to myself.

I was now in the royal library, it was pretty extensive and I was told I’d be able to find any kind of book imaginable here. Luckily for me, there was also a computer to search through the archive.

I first typed in magic and was bombarded with results. Since this is a world with magic it just makes sense that there’s a lot of books with research and studies on it.

What I need to do is find out how to undo my otherworldly summoning and get back home.

So to begin, I’ll start by typing in “Otherworld Summoning”.

That’s… a lot of results.

Wait, I should filter this.

I then found the filter button and applied “Nonfiction”.

Barely any results, about thirteen in total.

This may be harder than I had anticipated.

I looked through the titles until one caught my eye:

~Earth: The History of the Great Decay and the End of the Other World~

Great Decay? The end of the world? What’s this talking about?

Using Accelerate I quickly found the book and brought it back to the table. I opened the book and looked through the table of contents.

~

Introduction: Earth, the first home of humanity
Chapter One: The Apocalypse Begins
                Theories on the causes of the Great Decay
                Effects of the Great Decay
Chapter Two: Humanity Divided
                Factions
                The Crusader Corps
Chapter Three: Kaiju Types
                Man Kaiju Types
                Beast Kaiju Types
                Recorded Hybrid Kaiju
Chapter Four: Kaiju Shifters
                Kaiju Shifters vs Regular Kaiju
                The Three Musketeers
                The Apocabeasts
                Other Prominent Kaiju Shifters
Chapter Five: The Journey to a New Hope
                Crusaders vs Kaiju
                Crusaders vs Human Factions
                Crusaders vs Apocabeasts
Chapter Six: The End of the Apocalypse
                The LifeSeed
                Tragic Liftoff
                List of Survivors
                The Journey through Space
Closing: Legacys
               Landing on Thloria
               Lessons Learned from Earth’s End
               Crusaders: The Beginning of Modern Day Adventurers

~

What?

Crusader Corps? Kaiju? What is all this? When did this happen?

I went to the section titled “The Apocalypse Begins” and began reading.

~On August, 12, 2027, a day that started like any other, earth was struck with a sickness. The Great Decay.~

August? When I was last on earth it was still spring 2027. So this great decay happened mere months after when I disappeared.

After I left, an apocalypse happened.

I wonder-

Did-?

Did-?

Did Lucy-?

Did Mom-?

Did Dad-?

Did my family-

-die?

Did my family die without me even getting the chance to try and help them? Will I never be able to see them again? Why did I have to leave them?

Wait- I just remembered, it said there was a list of survivors somewhere in the book.

I turned back to the table of contents and found out that the list was in chapter six. I quickly went to the page the list started on and went through the names.

For some reason, it feels like I’ve at least heard of every person whose name is on the list. I don’t know why but there’s a strange sense of familiarity. But that doesn’t matter right now.

“Sean. Sean. Sean. Sean. Sean. Sean. Sean,” I mumbled while searching through the list of names.

There were multiple lists for the different groups of survivors. I searched through each one, coming up empty until the last list.

~Sean, Lucy~

Lucy had survived.

Although I never found the names of my parents, and I didn’t see Masahiro, Tyler, or Destiny either.

Both my parents and the idiots from the orphanage died.

“…”

“…”

“…”

I wonder… If I had been there… would they have survived? Would it have made any difference?

Probably not.

“So I’m in the future now?” I asked myself.

I checked the date on the computer. It was Wednesday, Raytide the 16th, 1462 N.T.

So it’s over a thousand years after the end of earth. But why was I sent forward in time to a new world? And why is there magic and stuff now?

And more importantly, doesn’t this all mean that I’ll never get to go back?

I stared at Lucy’s name on the page for a moment before realizing I never read which list this was.

I looked at the header of the list. It read: ~Crusaders~

Wait… what?

If this happened in summer then Lucy would’ve been eight at the most. Why is she on the list of crusaders?

Maybe instead of jumping around I should read this book the old fashioned way.

I turned to the beginning of the book and began reading.

The introduction just gave a brief summary about earth, nothing too special, especially since I grew up there. But as soon as I reached the first chapter.

“What?”

The letters on the page had transformed back into the strange characters from before. I turned the page back and was able to read the words again.

What was happening?

I flipped back to chapter one and watched the words become unreadable while using Accelerate, but it didn’t seem to slow down the rate at which the page became unreadable.

I attempted to flip the page again but my hand wouldn’t move. I tried to move my body, but for some reason I wouldn’t budge. I then realized I wasn’t breathing either.

Damn it! Why can’t I move anymore?! What the hell happened!?

Always so quick to use harsh language aren’t you?

Where’d that come from? It sounded like a woman’s voice.

Everywhere and nowhere, the voice responded.

It didn’t sound like I actually heard it, it sounded like it was coming from my own head.

Surprised?

Of course I’m surprised, I responded. First I can’t read part of that book, then I can’t move, and now someone’s in my head. What do you want?

Always so quick to get to the point, the voice sighed in my head.

It seemed vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place it.

That’s because I’ve enchanted my voice so that you don’t start remembering who I am automatically.

And why would you need to do something like that? I asked. Who are you? And how do I know you?

So many questions, but I believe you’d rather me answer them after I’ve pulled you out of stopped time, correct?

So you stopped time? Why?

I did it to help someone else’s adventure, but let’s focus on you right now, she said. Would you mind if I pulled your soul into a different dimension so we could continue our chat more leisurely?

I kinda do actually. Why can’t we just have it here like this instead?

Fortunately, I do not need your permission.

…

Instantly, I was standing in an open field of white. In front of me sat a woman at a table. She had a long white dress and hair of the same color that seemed to skim the ground.

On the left side of her head there were laces of different colors tied into her hair. Her purple eyes seemed to especially catch my attention, although I don’t know why. It’s like my eyes just keep subconsciously looking into hers.

“Well my eyes are pretty aren’t they?” she asked.

“Sure,” I said. “Who are you?”

“I am Canvas,” she said. “And I’ve been wondering when I’d get to see you again, Oliver. Please, take a seat won’t you?”