Awakening

Ash woke up but refused to open his eyes. He felt too comfortable. The past few days had to be a dream, he felt darkness around him, weightlessness, and especially the breeze blowing on his face. Speaking of which…. 

How did that breeze get there? 

He opened his eyes, realizing that that could be a problem. 

He was right. 

He looked below him, and saw a bustling metropolis, unscathed, at night, with lights that looked like fallen stars. He took a second to admire the sight, some light was moving, some were coming from buildings… He had to take a good look when he reached the ground- 

"How am I going to reach the ground" he continued falling, way calmer than he should have been-

"OH SHIT! HOW AM I GOING TO REACH THE GROUND!" 

There it is. 

Alright, He started to think if I used spiral to hit the ground, the real-world effects would lessen. But it'll hurt. Fuck. 

He looked around, as if that would help him, then awkwardly twisted himself to fall into an alleyway instead of the middle of the street. 

Anita, He didn't realise his current inability to reach her She shut off my body by applying pressure to my neck. That will prevent me from feeling the effects. He saw his sword about to fly away, and he grabbed it, holding on to it. Here goes nothing. He took a deep breath and chanted. 

…Spiral. 

He slowed, as if he fell into a pool, the world turned white, with black threads forming up buildings, their density more than anything he had seen the other times he used the move. He slowly got closer to the ground and raised his threaded hands to his neck, his rapidly beating heart now silent, or maybe it was beating so fast it was in a flat line now. 

When he got about half an inch, he took a massive gulp of air and undid the spell. 

The emperor leaned back, staring at his plush office, a place he commanded to not be touched, yet had clearly been used whilst he was away. He stared at the man standing in front of him, his nervousness visible. The man was middle-aged, pale, and had a bit of a beer belly, he had chosen to shave his hair bald due to the fact bald patches started appearing earlier. The emperor, on the other hand, looked no older than 27, with slightly long platinum blond hair, piercing bright amber eyes, and a lean frame. He opened his mouth to say something when he heard a bit of a disturbance outside. 

"Ignore that boss-" the middle-aged man, Leonardo said nervously. 

"No," he got up, his tall frame overshadowing him as he picked his suit jacket. "It's a nice distraction to prevent me from killing you." 

The middle-aged man looked down in fear. 

"Let's go," he said, opening the door, everyone outside snapped to attention when they heard his Low, deliberate voice. 

"Get whatever that was." 

Every personnel in the building was out in the alley searching as the Emperor stood at its entrance, looking calm but trying to relax internally. 

"Was this needed?" Laura, his assistant, started one of the only few people able to notice his anger. 

"That pig touched my office." he said calmly "I would have killed him right then and there if that 'Queen' bitch wasn't already on my tail-" 

"But pulling close to 100 people into an alley would calm you down." She tilted her head "Really" 

He was about to say something when the middle-aged man walked towards him, two lower-level employees dragging an unconscious boy with silver hair, one of his arms seemingly holding something, but there was nothing there, at least to normal people. The Emperor saw a silver and blue hilt and a black scabbard, he then looked at the kid, remembered the tip-off he had received about 'The Queen', and looked at the man as he rubbed his hair and watched his face to see if it was authentic. 

"Put him in my office, tie him up." The Emperor walked onto the street as the man he had so eloquently called a pig, made a disgusted face at his back. 

"Leo" The Emperor stopped to turn to him, his face blank as usual "Your performance today has bought you and your family another day alive. I expect you to use it wisely and leave the country before" He checked his watch. 

"10:27 pm tomorrow." he thought "10:26, because i don't like the face you gave me, I know it's a bit unfair-" 

"What kind of monster are you!" Edward shouted, face red. "I've been with you since your grandfather started this…" 

10:25 for shouting about us in public. 

"You think because you're some big shot, you can just fire a legacy like me!" he continued "And your elder at that!" 

10:24 for playing the elder card. 

"All your shady practices go against the structure they have built from the ground up The structure I built from the ground up!" 

The onlookers around started to slow down, listening to the exchange. One in particular, The Emperor looked at her and smiled a killer smile. 

10:00 for letting her hear this.

"You better leave her out of this else I'll-" he faltered, turning around. 

She was wearing female armor from the neck down and had part of her black hair covering one of her eyes, she looked to be in her mid-thirties. 

"Oh don't mind me, Edward, feel free to continue," she said to the Emperor, her voice light

His smile became warmer, a practiced move "Yes, Let's continue inside." 

They were back on the 50th floor of his building, Royale Arcana, in his office. He removed his jacket and sat down in the meeting area of his office. He gestured for her to sit down on the couch opposite. 

"Silly me, I forgot refreshments!" Edward clapped his hands, his voice now chipper "Is there anything you'd like." 

She stared, "What would you recommend?" 

A man in his early 50s opened the door on a cue, pushing a trolley with a blank face. He removed a pitcher and two glasses. 

"Pineapple and mint, it was the only recognizable thing I saw when I was checking in on our mining operation in Congo. I got hooked after that-" 

"Enough with the act Edward, I'm just letting you know that I'll be arresting you after this," she interjected as he poured himself a drink. 

"For what," Edward asked, his cipher voice gone as he took a sip. "I really recommend this drink though, we were having a game night in honor of my visit and one of my middle-tier men got erratic. But who knows, maybe I cheated a little bit." He took another sip, a much more greedy one. 

"I'm thankful to have caught you before you left the country-" she pulled out her warrant, and he took it and examined it as he interrupted. 

"Are you sure, because I had something for you." The door opened, and she saw a swivel chair being dragged in, a boy was tied to it. 

And her heart stopped. 

He had grey hair and a bit of dirt on him. 

Her hand shook as she reached out to him, "H-How." Her voice shook as well, as she stared at The Emperor. 

"He fell from the sky." he poured himself another glass. 

The Queen placed her hand back at her side and ripped up the warrant he returned to her. 

"I apologize for my rude intrusion," she got up, grabbed the boy's chair, and walked to the door. "Do try to cheat less- in your games and otherwise." 

"Oh, don't forget this." he threw a black, black box. 

"His sword, can't have you losing that."

 She walked out and he smiled and called over a cleaning service to scrub the room clean. 

Ash woke up but refused to open his eyes, he felt too comfortable, the first few days had to have been a dream. Though he should probably get up and look for Anita and his friends, after all, there was no way that he was actually on earth. Probably just some unidentified area, he would find his way back, they had gotten lost before. But for now, he was going to enjoy the darkness surrounding him, the soft plush feeling, and the cool air. 

Though he should probably check on that, he knew from experience that the only comfortable cool places are the most dangerous. 

He opened his eyes and saw a female knight sitting beside him. 

In a split second, he grabbed the knife that was with the sliced fruit on his nightstand and was about to stab her in the eye… 

Then he felt his hand stop completely. A force even greater than when the screen controlled him.

The knight looked up, about to fall asleep. 

"How annoying, put that hand away before I take it." 

Ash withdrew his hand, nearly paralyzed with fear. 

"Now, let's talk." 

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Ash said, leaning back in the nearest recliner in the living room, regaining his composure quite quickly. 

 "Your rank hasn't been calculated yet," Queen Korin said, leaning forward on the couch across from him.

"What even is that?" 

Her eyes narrowed in intrigue. "That's not important, I just said that to test you." staring at him "Where were you for the past 15 years" 

"You're not in a place to ask questions, especially if you need my help." Ash said, wondering for some food "Why did you call me" 

Korin looked amused He's an interesting kid "I need you to do one thing for me" 

Ash cocked his head "What do I get in return" 

"This hotel," she said, gesturing around "Will be yours. Oh as well as a suitable monthly allowance" 

He sat up slowly after some thinking. Nothing wrong with that "So what do you need?" 

She smiled, leaning back "You see... you look a lot like someone I know..." 

In a place both far and close to Earth, where all things began, Anita had woken up after crying herself to exhaustion-who was she kidding, she wasn't able to sleep at all. Now that the day had broken, she had an excuse to get out of bed. She sat up slowly, groggily about to get off, but stopped as she looked at all the broken items strewn across her floor. She sighed and pulled some slippers out of her screen's inventory and walked through. 

Looking around the living room, she noticed its emptiness. She got to the table and saw various notes, from those going to Vulcan to Neil going out for a few days. She went to make some hot chocolate to relax, when she saw him. 

He had pure white hair, wearing a pristine white suit with a pure white sword taller than she was beside him, and was pouring some of Neil's whiskey into a glass. Anita didn't want to bother-She knew who he was. 

"Sword saint, I'm assuming Neil called you." 

He turned around and took a sip, showing that he was older than he looked. "No" his voice was hoarse, "I wanted to check on you all, but got… interrupted" he gestured to the whiskey. 

She started breaking chocolate bars "We'll they're not here. Bye" 

He passed her a bowl. "I know, I'm here to explain a few things about what Malakar did before you move on with your little endeavor with the sigils." 

She paused "Go on…" 

"Your current level is gold." 

She turned "But-" 

"Yeah, the gate doesn't allow golds to enter, but Malakar can manipulate that specific gate in real time. He wanted you to believe that you were stronger than you are, making you reckless later down the line." 

"How do you know." She lit a match to light the stove. 

He got up and walked up to her, putting his finger on her chest. 

"What are you-" she felt her heartbeat stronger than it had before, knocking her off balance, the sword saint grabbed her to prevent her from falling and moved her away from the stove. 

"Now look," he said. 

She raised her arm to her face, and she saw it. 

Golden runes floated above her hand in different layers, as if they were part of a clock. Surrounding a single rune just above her arm. 

"Malakar doesn't intend on fighting you, that would be like a dragon stomping on a sunflower," 

Offensive. She thought

 "But you being complacent could be useful later down the line. I don't know his plan. And quite frankly, I don't care." he shrugged, going to his stolen whiskey. "And side note, what's up with Neil. He's recently downed most of the alcohol here." 

She felt her heart twinge as she looked down, then clenched her fist 

"So you can't help us get a gold sigil until we get stronger." 

"I'm not going to help you guys get a gold sigil until you get stronger" he corrected, moving back to pour another glass. "Getting a gold sigil without being strong enough opens you to a side of divine politics you won't like. And I won't open a gate for you myself, that's beneath me," he said, moving to the living room. "Right now, the only person I have faith in reaching a black Sigil is Neil, who is training as we speak. Though, his drinking habits will probably force him a couple of steps back…" he got lost in thought when Anita decided to finish her hot chocolate and go to the living room. 

"Well I'll start the training tomorrow-" she sat down, feeling heavy

"I wonder what's happening to the Ash kid right now-" he thought out loud

"Honestly, I'm not that busy today." 

He smiled, an icy smile "Then let's begin"