Evergarden

'I guess one of them was stronger than a normal husk, something called an adept', Luke thought as he moved through the room.

Luke's best guess was that it was the husk in the old leather armor, though there was a chance he was wrong. It seemed that these creatures went by ranks, or they had been certain ranks before they died. Or maybe the system was informing them of the stage they had been at before they died. Either way Luke couldn't tell, but from what he could put together it seemed that the rank elite was above adept based on the number of points he had been given. Which of course made sense in the context of the words themselves.

The room he found himself in looked to be some sort of council room. With a long rectangular table with multiple chairs, a few side tables filled with rusted silverware, and multiple tapestries that lay in ruins on the stone ground. Other than the door Luke had entered the room from, the only other door lay in the opposite corner of the room.

As Luke took all this in, already moving for the door he couldn't help but feel his thirst raging in his throat. Already he had done a lot of moving around, from walking to fighting, and had done it all without a single sip of water. A dehydration headache was beginning to form from the overexertion.

'Great a headache is all I need right now', he thought bitterly as he reached forwards to touch open the door.

At he pushed the door nothing happened, so he grabbed the old, rusted hook and gave it a pull. Instantly the hook snapped off with a low clang, the metal too frail to hold up against any pressure.

Exhaling, Luke tried to claw the door open from the crack but was unable to move it at all. In annoyance he thought about kicking the door open, but then decided against it as he didn't want to make any noise.

Then he remembered the old sword and dagger the husk he had kill outside the room had been wearing. Grunting, Luke back tracked through the room until he reached the leather clad corpse. Without a single pause he looted the corpse, not feeling any guilt for doing so.

'He's dead, I doubt he'll need it', the grim thought came to him unbidden.

Through his omniscience he could already tell the sword would be useless, as the blade had practically fallen apart. Whether it had done so from the metal being so thin, or maybe of a worse quality than his chains had been, Luke didn't know. Though he was surprised to find the dagger in good condition, the edge was heavily dulled but the blade itself seemed to in decent shape. Pulling both the dagger and sheath off the corpse, Luke turned his back and walked back to the door.

Unsheathing the rusty blade, He carefully jammed it into the crack of the door and began to try leveraging it open. By the time the door cracked slightly the dagger was bent beyond use, though that was fine as the door was opened enough for him to slip his fingernails into the crack. Discarding the blade, Luke reached his finger into the door and pulled it open. The hinges squealed for a moment but soon the door opened easily enough.

Stepping inside, Luke took in the interior calmly. He already knew the room was empty, and it seemed to serve simply as a small waiting room of sorts. With a few chairs against one of the walls, most of which were in ruins, and a couple of torch posts hanging from the walls.

On a table that rested on the wall to the right of the door lay a few broken silverware plates, and to Luke's curiosity and old ruined book. It was the first book he had seen outside of his earlier vision, and he couldn't help but want to inspect it.

Stepping towards it, he could feel how the paper was falling to dust while the cover was extremely frail. The title had long ago faded leaving it with a simple black cover, its pages taking on a deep brown color. Carefully so as to not destroy it further, Luke reached out a hand to open the cover.

As soon as he touched it, the world around him changed and he was thrust into another vision.

***

Like before Luke found himself standing in the same place he had been in when he first entered the vision. Though the changes to the room around him were vastly different. It seemed he had been correct in his assumption that the small room was a waiting room of sorts.

On the now firm chairs, three men sat with cups of tea in their hand. They were dressed richly, clad in jackets and vests and with fine pants and undershirts. Their clothing was embroidened with different colors, and jeweled rings hung rested on their fingers. They appeared to be related, each with blonde hair and golden beards. Along with deep brown eyes that seemed to convey no emotion.

The door he had struggled to open was closed once more, and there were a few tapestries on the walls behind and in front of the chairs the men waited at. One of which depicted a man with red eyes and gold armor flying above the ground and battling a black dragon. The dragon was breathing flame, while the man was covered in a circle of flame. While the other depicted a woman with similar eyes standing atop a cliff looking out at what appeared to be a massive turtle. Both figures were depicted with long red hair that flowed through the wind, much like the princess he had seen previously.

A second later the door opened, revealing that very same girl. Now she appeared older than before, like fourteen or fifteen years in age. Like before she wore a dress, only this one was black with red roses embroidered on her long sleeves. She still wore the same red blindfold, but this time her crimson hair was tied back in a tight ponytail.

"House Laris, the council is ready for you now", she said with a kind smile.

The three men rose to their feet, and each gave a bow to the little girl.

"Thank you, princess,", they said as one.

As they spoke the little girl once again seemed to notice Luke was there and turned her head slightly in surprise. Then a second later she turned back to the nobles as if nothing had happened.

"Will you be joining us for our audience your grace?", one of the nobles asked.

"Not this time", the princess said kindly, "my duties for the day are finished you see", she added.

"I see, well then it was a pleasure seeing you again your grace", another said with a kindly smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"The pleasure was mine", she replied, though Luke noticed she didn't bow.

Only once the three men were through the door, and it was closed behind them did pay any attention to Luke.

"Lucian, your back already. Why aren't you wearing your blindfold, did you fail to get it?", she said happily.

"How do you know my name?", Luke immediately asked in confusion, "and what blindfold?"

The little girl cocked head in confusion, "you told me your name remember, and then I left you a gift. Down in the evergarden", she said.

"Evergarden? I don't know what that is", Luke said with a frown.

'Is she talking about me from a different time, is that even possible', he wondered.

"Huh, I guess you must be a different Lucian then. Time can be confusing after all", she said casually, as if making a statement about the weather.

"I- uh", Luke mumbled, not sure what to say about the bizarre situation. Finally, he gave up and asked a question he had been wondering.

"What's your name?"

"Hmm", the girl said, as if shaken out of her thoughts. "Aerin Infernus, princess of the infernal empire", she said.

Then as if something had just occurred to her, she added, "so that's how you knew my name", she said with a giggle.

"You mean we met before? Like different versions of us?", Luke asked.

"Yep, though for me I met you just a few hours ago. For you it seems that hasn't happened yet, interesting is it not?", she asked.

Luke's brain hurt, if what she said was true then her past-self had met his future-self just a few hours earlier. Or rather I will meet her again sometime in the future, the whole thing was so confusing.

'At least there is a future version of me, I guess that means I survive to meet her again', Luke thought, his head spinning.

It was hard to think with how thirsty he was, though this matter would be hard to understand no matter how tired he was.

"Could you maybe show me where I could find a source of water, one that wouldn't go back after like a thousand years", Luke asked suddenly, knowing that the question sounded ridiculous.

"What?", Aerin said in surprise. "Why don't you have any water", she asked.

Luke was about to open his mouth to explain, but then decided against it. After all he didn't know if what he did here had any effect on the past, which may then affect the future. So, telling the girl what would happen to her home would only serve to cause her anxiety, maybe even have a panic attack. Since he didn't know how long the vision would last, he needed her sane enough to show him a location where he could get food and water. If there even was such a place.

"It's a long story, is there any source of water like that around here?", he asked.

"I guess, but couldn't you just have your servants bring you something to drink if you're thirsty?", she asked.

Luke frowned, 'does she think I'm some kind of noble, dressed like this.'

Indeed, his appearance spoke of anything but nobility, already his shirt was sported multiple holes from rolling on the ground, and was caked in blood. More than that he was also caked in blood from head to toe, while his too-long hair was in a mess. All in all, Luke looked closer to a homeless man than a noble.

"Do I look like I have servants? I don't mean to be rude, but I am very thirsty and would really appreciate you showing me the way", Luke said, fighting down his frustration at her questions.

The girl frowned; her blindfold not turned in his direction before she seemingly decided to show him the way.

"Very well, follow me", she said with a smile, then she started walking to the door on the far end of the room.

Luke followed her, crossing the room and entered into another hallway. She then proceeded to lead him down three separate hallways, one being a right turn, followed by another right and finally a left turn. They passed multiple doors along the way and several rooms too tall for Luke to see the ceiling. Then finally they entered the largest room yet, one like the room he had killed the adept husk in. It was too large for him to see the walls or ceilings, but Aerin didn't seem bothered by that at all. She continued through the room with Luke following closely behind her. As they reached the far end of the room, Luke froze as he saw a structure enter the range of his Omniscience.

It was a massive stone statue clad in robes that dropped into pools of hard fabric on the ground. The height of the statue was too high up for Luke to make out the head, but from the shape of the statue he knew it to be in the depiction of a woman.

In front of the statue was a much smaller benchlike structure that came up to his knees, behind it a podium sat with a mazer resting on it. Inside the bowl-like cup a bright orange flame burned without any kindling, the base of the flame seeming to float just above the base of the bowl.

Aerin spoke without turning around to face him, Luke supposed doing so made sense as they were both blind, but the gesture still felt weird.

"Surprised? That statue depicts the lady Evernight, the first of the Infernus line. In that chalice is the ever-dying flame, which she created in her last days", Aerin said, her tone sounding as if she were used to speaking on this matter.

"Over here", she said, stepping up to the flame and then reaching her hand inside.

"What are you?", Luke said in surprise as he stepped forwards to pull her hand out of the fire, of course his hand slipped right through her skin.

In alarm she pulled her hand free, the skin on her hand unblemished, in fact it wasn't even red.

"What's wrong?", she asked in surprise.

"What's wrong?", Luke repeated in surprise, "you just put your hand in fire", he said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, that's how you open the passageway", she said, then she blinked.

"Doesn't it hurt?", Luke asked in bewilderment.

"Of- ", she stopped herself and looked at him in confusion, then a second later she spoke again. "This flame doesn't hurt, it may look like fire but it's different", she said calmly.

"Oh- I see", Luke said feeling a sudden wave of embarrassment, he believed her of course, he had already seen stranger things in this world.

"Sorry", he added.

"It's fine, just give me a moment to open the doorway", she said, then stuck her hand back into the flame.

Now that he knew she wasn't in pain or in danger, Luke relaxed and focused on any changes that formed within the room. A second later the right hand corner of the room began to quake like magic. The stone that made up the ground began to pull back, as if the individual stone were flowing into each other. Two stones merged into one which merged with another stone without ever growing in size. The result was a dark stairway leading deep into the ground.

Luke felt a sense of awe as Aerin finally withdrew her hand from the flame and began to walk over to the opening on the floor. As she stepped in front of the hole she wasted no time in plunging down into the darkness. Luke hesitated only a moment before he followed, keeping up with her as they descended the stairway.

After maybe five minutes into their descent, they came across a heavy metal door. Unlike other doors he noticed his omniscience would not see past the metal at all. Luke expected there to be some issue with opening it but was surprised to it slide into the ceiling as soon as they grew close. On the other side of the door lay something completely unexpected.

It was a room, not made of stone but rather made of a smooth white material that glowed softly illuminating the space in white. Where a stone floor should have been lay thick green grass, and the smell of fresh air wafted into the stairwell.

"The door won't open for you in your time until it recognizes you, all you have to do is make a small cut on your hand and rub it on the door. Once the blood disappears the door will open whenever you get near", Aerin explained, matter of fact.

"Weird", Luke muttered to himself, as he stepped through the entry into the bizarre room.

As he stepped in and omniscience's range enveloped the room, he could make out several small trees of light-colored bark and white leaves. Handing from the trees were small red berries, each in pristine condition, lacking the normal marks a normal fruit often bore.

Most wondrous of all was the small pool of water in the center of the room, which lay ever still as if it had never once been disturbed. The depth of the pond seemed endless, stretching far past the range of his senses.

"Welcome to the evergarden", Aerin said, her voice displaying pride.

Luke stepped forwards in awe and gestured at the fruit hanging from the nearest tree.

"Are those safe to eat?", he asked in hope.

Aerin gave him a weird look, "they are, but I wouldn't recommend it. Do you really not know this place?", she asked.

"No of course not, why would I?", he asked, as he approached the pool of water and stuck hand it.

Of course, his hand passed right through the liquid, coming out completely dry when he pulled his hand back. It seemed that his inability to interact with the world around him in the vision also included water, which made sense, but he couldn't help but try.

"Well, I just thought- most children of the Infernus clan are brought here when they are babes, to have their blood spread on the seal", she explained.

"You guys spread the blood of babies on that metal door? Dark", Luke said with frown.

At that statement Aerin cocked her head as if something Luke had said confused her.

"I had thought before you were just asking all those questions out of curiosity regarding the past. Yet now that doesn't seem to be the case. Who are you, Lucian?", she asked in a tumble of words.

"Lucian", Luke replied instantly, then he coughed when she only frowned at him and hesitated for a second deciding whether to tell her he was from another world.

In the end he decided that doing so would likely be fine, and if anything might mean she knew something about his arrival in this world. After all she was clearly more familiar with magic than he was.

"It sounds crazy, but I'm not exactly from this world. I woke up a little while ago in these chains, and have been wandering around since", he finally said with a sigh.

"You're a chosen one?", she asked in complete surprise.

"Chosen?", he asked immediately.

"Someone from a world outside the planes, who is chosen by eternity and brought into the one of the planes. It's very rare but it happens, though I've never met a chosen", she said in wonder.

"Hold on", Luke said as a million questions appeared in his head. "Your saying eternity like it's a person, isn't eternity just forever?", he asked.

"Kind of, its more like everything. It's a force that exists everywhere and in everything", she explained as if that made sense.

'What does that even mean?', Luke asked internally, but was already voicing his next question.

"You said this eternity brought me here, why, how?", he asked.

"I don't know, I haven't met any chosen. All that I know about them is that they are rare, though they were more frequent in ancient times, during the great shifts", she said.

"What's a great shift?"

"It's when eternity chooses multiple beings from another world to be brought into the planes", she explained.

"Okay, so would they- I go back. To my own world I mean", Luke asked.

Aerin shrugged, "I don't know, I've never met a chosen", she repeated as if it were obvious.

"Clearly", Luke said, his head spinning.

"Sorry, maybe you can ask a priest of eternity. They know a lot more about the chosen than anyone else", she said with a shrug.

"Maybe", Luke greed with a sigh. "What can you tell me about the screen system thing?", he asked.

"The eternity system? It's just something everyone with magic has, it tells you about your magic and your strengths. That's kind of obvious, isn't it?"

"I guess so", Luke agreed, her answer matching his already existing ideas. Another question occurred to him, one he realized should have been the second he asked after finding food and water.

"How does the who soul tempering thing work? I know you kill things and gain points, but what happens when you fill the bar?", Luke asked.

"Fill the bar, you mean your points reach the threshold?", she asked with a frown.

"Sure", Luke said plainly, not really caring about the system's diction all that much.

"Well, you get a little stronger with each point you get, and when you reach the max number of points per threshold you rank up and get a lot stronger", Aerin explained.

Luke nodded at that; he had guessed something like her explanation would be the case, but it was good to hear it confirmed.

"How many ranks are there?", Luke asked.

"Seven, well technically there are nine but the first two don't really count", Aerin said, Luke didn't have to ask before she continued.

"The first is the awakened rank, then comes novice, adept, elite, mage, knight, lord, king, and finally emperor."

Luke nodded, trying to memorize the information as best he could.

'That explains why I got more points for the elite and adept husk's I killed. I wonder how much stronger each rank is compared to the last one', Luke wondered, yet just as he opened his mouth to ask the question the world began to fade away.