RD 4 Epilogue

I staggered to my feet in an empty void, unsure where I was given everything around me was nearly pitch black. But when I held my hands up in front of me and wiggled my fingers, I could see them clearly despite the lack of light.

Suddenly, a speck of green off in the distance began to swirl and spin, growing closer and closer.

The last thing I could recall was being thrown into the Trial of Kings by Winnie when she’d used an explosive to push us through the door. I was starting to really regret recruiting her. I’d known her anger towards the Demon Lord would align our interests together, and her power would make for a valuable asset, but I hadn’t considered how much that anger would become a liability.

The green light spun closer and closer until it turned into a figure that began to swirl and grow into a beautiful young woman with startling green hair and flowers growing in between her locks. She came to a stop in front of me. She looked friendly, a giant smile spreading across her face.

"My Wandering King!" she screamed and threw herself onto me.

I blinked and tried to use Soul Gaze, but my ability didn't work. Wherever I was, there was not even the flit of a system. I stared at the young woman in front of me, baffled.

"You know, you're my favorite, Wandering King. There were the others. Shadow King. She was really nice and broody. The Tyrant King? Well, as you can expect, that didn't go off very well in the end. But you, the Wandering King? The best. So when you tried to go back and start again..." She shook her head back and forth. "I may have fudged the numbers. It's not going to work again, though. My mother caught onto what I had done, and she's pissed. Father, too, but he's just so busy he has no time to be angry with me."

I blinked, staring at the young woman, a thought starting to bubble up but seeming nearly impossible. "Are you the system?"

She grinned up at me. "Oh, come on. That's not what you call me." She wagged a finger.

I raised an eyebrow but decided to appease this woman. "Sissy, is that you?"

"Ta-da!" she said, spinning around and throwing her hands in the air. The black space dissolved into what could only be described as paradise. It was a floating island with ripe fruit trees all around, a waterfall cascading into a pond with a permanent rainbow coming out of the mist.

"Don't worry. I'll give you your title as the Wandering King again. You just have to sit here for a couple of months and make it look like it took some effort." She did a little dance and gave a nod like she had solved a puzzle.

"Not a chance. I'll need to be back as soon as possible," I told her.

Sissy's smile dropped. "But then you'll have to go through the trial again. It'll be a real trial, Bran. And the trial depends on the person. When you did it the first time, you were a very different person than you are now."

"So I'll just have to pass it again," I said, crossing my arms. "I simply don't have time to spend here while the rest of the people are in danger. Have you been paying attention at all to what's been happening in the outside world?"

Sissy cocked her head to the side. "Of course, I have been. There's nothing that passes on Planet 00496 without me seeing. And I'm well aware that the demons are trying to corrupt me. And if that happens, well, poof." She threw her hands out to the side. "Poof. Yes, your dear Sissy will be destroyed. I mean, I might have had some personal interest as to why I sent you back last time."

She hesitated and ground a foot into the mossy floor beneath us. "And I may have also been punished quite heavily for sending you back. Not to mention that small little gift I managed to squeeze through for you on your bloodline, only for you to give it away. By the way, don't try to make a different one, just regain it. I don't want to have to go to my mother for authorization again. I'm already in deep shit."

"Your mother?" I asked, wondering who could give birth to the system.

"Oh, yeah. If you pay attention to those messages, she's 003. I can't say her actual name." Sissy glanced around, looking as if the sky might come down and assault her. "She's a little bitter about being number three. Dad's number one. But he doesn't use his authority very much." She shrugged.

I was not even trying to understand everything she was saying. I just needed to get her to send me into the trial so I could get back to my women. "Well, regardless, I will just have to take the trials again," I said, staring down the system, Sissy, who I now had confirmation was a real living being. And that living being was looking very nervous at the moment.

Her smile cracked, and she snapped her fingers. A large number of attractive women who looked vaguely like her appeared all over the paradise as a waterfall turned into whiskey and soaked through all of their clothes. "How about you stay here, and we just give you the Wandering King title? Really, I just hid it anyway." She snapped her fingers again.

Without even needing to check my system, I could feel the power that had been given to me with the title swell back in me.

"See? All yours. You just need to wait here for a little bit. I'll be here to keep you company. Well, from time to time. I'm decently busy. Especially with all of the spatial anomalies and those parasites pushing for all sorts of strange oddities in the system." She rolled her eyes. "That's what you get for injecting literal embodiments of chaos into the system of order." She tsked. "Now, just sit here and relax."

During her babbling, I noticed a door that was carefully hidden behind the waterfall. I began marching towards it, ignoring the gaggle of women swimming in the lake at the base of the waterfall, beckoning for me to join them.

"No, no, no, where do you think you're going? These ladies, they're lovely!" Sissy tried to cling on to me and stop me from entering. Strangely, despite all of the power she had with the system, she couldn't seem to do more than be dragged along with each of my strides.

"That door looks like the ones in the trial," I said, continuing my march.

"But you don't understand, Bran, it's not the same trial. You can't simply charge in there and expect it to go like last time. It's going to be much, much harder." Her smile strained.

"My apologies, Sissy, but I will go. And I will go with the knowledge that my success not only determines my life but so many others. I now understand yours included. If the demons take over and terraform this world, you'll die." I pushed.

She shook her head. "Worse than death. My family will likely come down here and put me out of my misery. So, I guess death isn't inaccurate. You’re my hope, though. I brought you back because you were the best."

I winced. "Then I understand. And I'm still going. Trust me to be the best again."

She finally relented, looking lost and forlorn.

There wasn’t time for that. I walked around the edge of the waterfall, using my arm to shield my face as I pushed through and stepped into the Trial of Kings proper.

*****

The explosion blasted everybody near the doors to the trial back. Circe got up quickly, about to use her wind to charge her towards Bran, only to find that he was gone, and Winnie was nowhere to be seen.

The princess had been caught up in the blast but quickly snapped back to her feet, even with one arm dangling uselessly to her side. Not even hesitating, she activated an ability, becoming a surge of water. She crashed forward and through the last line of golden statues to make her way to the doorway. The second she crossed it, she vanished.

In that moment, Circe realized she had a decision to make, an important one, one that she would desperately like more time to consider, but there was no more time.

She bit her lip, only to spot Simone rushing forward to the doorway. "What are you doing?" Circe shouted, calling on her wind to push her forward as she raced after Simone to stop the saintess.

However, the second Circe caught up to Simone, she knew the decision was made. She had never seen such calm determination on Simone’s face.

"Bran is in there, and I'm going in with him," Simone stated, staring into Circe's eyes as if daring her to argue.

"Bran was hesitant to enter,” Circe reminded her. “We can come back and attempt it again.” Circe was going through the same arguments in her head.

Simone shook her head back and forth, her hair cascading all around her. "Where Bran goes, I go. If he went in there"—she pointed at the gate, even as golden statues collapsed on them—"then I'm going in there as well."

"You're crazy," Circe said, finally feeling a touch of fear as they stood far too close to the Trial of Kings, one that Bran had made sure she understood could break her.

Simone smiled a touch too wide, "Of course I am. I'm crazy for Bran." Simone turned and ran straight into the trial without hesitation.

Circe didn't even know if she should stop Simone or not. In fact, Circe admired the woman. So much determination, so much willpower to go after exactly what she wanted.

Circe still couldn't make up her mind, only to turn back and realize it had been made up for her. Though their forces had rushed forward and speared through the golden statues, it seemed that after the princess went through, her entourage had pulled back.

Merlin, Nyx, and Gloria were unable to keep the path back open and had been forced to retreat.

That left a wall of golden spears pressing in around her. Circe had nowhere to go but into the trials.

Before she stepped inside, she pulled out a piece of paper. She backed away from the golden statues, scribbling a note on the paper. She then stuffed it into the collar of her toga before retreating from the statues and into the trial itself.

"I hope I don't regret this," she said as everything vanished around her.