OtH 1.13 - A Little History

Blah blah blah, writing. Blah blah blah, story. Blah blah blah appeal to pathos... etc...  :P

Having a good day, and hope you are too. And, to make our rhyme, the chapter without further ado:

Regardless of what the experience was, Reodan didn’t seem to notice anything.

It probably looked like I just zoned out again. God, he probably thinks I’m such a ditz. I’ve been blowing my mind over and over again. Likely over things that seem completely ordinary to him, too.

Oh well, not much I can do about it now.

No way I am going to be able to get my medication here. Oddly, I’m not feeling over-sensitized though. Not getting that stretched feeling, where my emotions feel like they have been scratched raw. Maybe feeding my soul helped with that?

Hmm…

I mean… it would make sense, maybe. I still don’t know what the soul actually even does. Just know that soul cultivation is supposed to be deeply personal. Something to do with the sense of self, maybe? Just more questions, like always.

And yep, there I go again, got lost in my thoughts.

Aarick returned to the surface of his mind, focusing on his surroundings once again. Nothing appeared to have changed, though he felt like something was different about himself.

Definitely going to need to learn more about enlightenments.

There was time yet, before the lightning and thunder would fade away to nothing. The spark of meditation would no longer connect the heavens and the earth, igniting in a flash actinic glory and the fury of air returning to its rightful place.

“I want to read something until the meditation stops,” he said.

“Very good, sir.” Reodan replied, reminding him of a butler once again. “What topic should I fetch for you?”

He paused a moment. Originally he had intended to peruse the books in the library, but if he wanted to understand his situation, there was probably one topic he should focus on for the moment.

“Get me something about the history of The Empire,” he said.

Reodan acknowledged his request, bowed, and vanished from sight. A few moments later he reappeared, bearing a thick book bound yellow leather. The shade was about the same as Reodan’s and the other functionaries robes.

Before he began reading, he asked a quick question.

“Does this color have a special significance?” he asked.

“Yes, sir,” Reodan replied. “It is the official color of The Empire. Gold is sometimes used in its place as well. Only imperial representatives may wear it as the dominant color of their outfit.”

He nodded absently as he started to open the book.

Sort of a badge of office, I suppose. The color of the trim probably means something too. I’ll worry about that later.

“In case I get too distracted,” he said, “let me know when the meditation is finished.”

Reodan’s acknowledgment faded into the background as he began to read.

The book was… incredibly dry, and it started as with something that felt closer to a religious or mythological text than a proper history. Lots of approbations of The Empire, The God-Emperor, and such.

Eventually it provided some actual information, though its account of the demon wars contained little more than Reodan had already told him. Less, actually, since it didn’t mention the other emperors and empires at all, except obliquely. It referenced some companions, but nothing more than that.

Well I knew that information on the other empires wasn’t common. Didn’t think it extended to just ignoring their existence, though.

I mattered little to him, however, so he just kept reading.

The first twenty million years or so of The Empire were glossed over. Not a terrible surprise, since even an abbreviated history of The Empire that tried to cover the entire span of its existence would be massive.

Numerous disasters were noted, however. Demon attacks, beast waves, angered spirits, demon worshiping cultists, and another oblique reference to strange and maddening entities that he assumed was a reference to The Eldritch, among others. Even with the assistance of The Emperor, large portions of The Empire had been destroyed on various occasions. Some of them were so bad that the disasters had reached all the way to the capital, Ravira.

Attacks of incredible severity were not common, usually only happening only every few million years, but they did happen.

Feels like The Empire is lucky to still be around, honestly. It’s probably only still standing because The Emperor keeps intervening. Honestly, he should probably have intervened in all these disasters much earlier. Might be a cost to that though. I’m not really sure what they even do. Or maybe they were dealing with the worst of it, and all of these disasters was just spillover from a larger conflict.

The last disaster recorded was an especially bad one. Nothing was said about exactly what happened, other than it was caused by a banned, and by now completely unknown, technology. The entire empire had been reduced to less than a billion people. Only The Emperor’s direct intervention was sufficient to shield a portion of the capital from the disaster. Afterward the majority of the cites were lost to beasts.

So… what? They created some kind of cultivation based mega-nuke? Or maybe something more like a neutron bomb, something that would kill all the people but leave the cities intact. Not sure why they mentioned the beasts moving into the cities, except perhaps to talk a little about what the weapon actually did. Assuming it was even meant to be a weapon. Could have been more like a nuclear reactor failure.

God, why did I want to even try to stay in this world again?

Oh yeah… magic.

Funny how much the possibility of personal magic, even if they don’t call it that, entices me. An empire that gets largely destroyed every few million years, no problem! After all, those are great odds. To be fair, if I lived only another hundred years here, I would probably get more time here than I would have had on Earth.

He was lying to himself. He knew that. Even if there was a decent chance it might kill him, magic would have been enough to tempt him.

He got back to reading after that.

The rebuilding of The Empire was actually very interesting. For a time The Emperor himself was involved in clearing away sections of land, and helping the survivors to rebuild. As society began to rebuild they very slowly explored and began to expand again on their own, and The Emperor receded into the background. He created laws, but did little else, allowing society to flourish on its own.

After that, the history turned more toward politics.

With society stable the nobility began to scheme more and various factions played against each other. Alliances, betrayals, feuds, new noble houses who would eventually join and create new factions or influence the others, history progressed and The Empire expanded.

Reodan eventually interrupted him; he had just finished reading about a particularly brazen noble house.

They had proceeded to make secret deals with almost all of the other houses and then betrayed each of them in turn, without letting them know that they had been betrayed at all. It probably would have been considered a master stroke of political maneuvering, if one of their betrayals hadn’t had an accidental witness.

The witness, unaligned with either house had preceded to air the news and it became public knowledge. This led to another house admitting their own similar experience with the house, which had apparently been kept secret for the sake of appearances. When it became obvious that almost everyone had been betrayed at some point, they had formed a larger alliance and utterly destroyed the overly ambitious noble house.

He shook his head and put the book aside.

Damn, this is some Game of Thrones level backstabbing.

Hopefully I can remain a student and stay away from that as long as possible.

“Where would you like to go, sir?” Reodan asked.

There were a number of answered to that question. He wanted to go and see everything, the nearest city, the grounds outside this building, the train, the inside of one of the creche towers…

Probably best he started small.

“I am quite interested in everything,” he admitted with a shrug. “It is all new to me, at this point. However, the grounds of this building, whatever it is, would be a good start.”

Reodan gave a small smile, his lips together.

“Of course, sir,” he said, his voice switching to a lecturing tone as he held his hands behind his back. “Best that you know exactly what this building is, sir. This structure acts primarily as a seat of government, military, and also acts as Imperial Representative Lurona’s personal residence. Calling it the Imperial Seat is appropriate. Despite its outer appearances, it is the most heavily fortified building in the creche.

“As is common practice, Lurona had it built for her before she arrived-”

“Wait,” Aarick interrupted. “she had the seat built for her? Do you mean she designed it, or just that there is a standard design that is built so it would be ready before she arrived?”

“She designed it, sir,” he replied.

“What happened to the old seat?”

“There wasn’t one, sir,” Reodan said. “This is one of the newer creches, as I mentioned earlier, so Lurona is the first Imperial Representative to serve here.”

Reodan waited patently for a moment, seeing if he had more questions.

Guess that makes sense.

“Is that considered a perk to being the first representative?” Aarick asked. “You get to design your own residence and other representatives just have to put up with your style?”

“No, sir,” Reodan replied. “Either this building will be destroyed after Lurona is assigned elsewhere, or the new Imperial Representative will choose a new location to build their Imperial Seat. If the building remains, it will likely be rented out to wealthy families to use for their children.”

I mean… that seems a little excessive. Building an entirely new seat each time someone new is assigned? A little crazy. On the other hand… Lurona has already been living here for a thousand years. She will be living here for another four thousand years. Most modern buildings have a lifespan of decades, at most.

And this building is in amazing shape. Do they need to replace parts regularly, or do they have some form of magic maintaining it?

Hard to believe that I am in a thousand year old building. I’ve only seen older things out in Europe. This building will be as old as the pyramids when Lenora is finally done. Well… as old as the pyramids are now, anyway.

Unless time passes differently between our two universes? God, now I’m worried about that. If time passes faster here, then that is awesome. I might get a message out to my parents before they even know I am gone. If it is the reverse, though…

Aarick felt sick to his stomach.

They could already be dead.

No. NO!

I CANNOT think that way. I have to assume that things will be fine. Time could be the same, or it could fun faster in either direction. Just going to call it two thirds odds that things are neutral or in my favor. Those odds are pretty good.

Thankfully, he was drawn out of his thoughts by a light cough.

“Would you like me to continue, sir?” Reodan asked.

“Uh, yeah.” Aarick said as his brain started to return to the surface. “Yes, please.”

“Very good, sir,” he said, before continuing.

“There are three levels to the Imperial Seat:

“The lower floor has housing, kitchens, laundries, barracks, as so on for the various servants, soldiers, functionaries and others necessary to keep the building and government functions running. It also contains the main entrance to citadel. That main entrance extends all the way into the middle of the building where it meets the grand stairway.

“The second level contains the government offices in the center, and that is where the grand staircase emerges. From there, hallways extend out to Lenora’s office, which you have already seen, as well as the other wings of the palace. Those are the medical wing, higher officials’ quarters (this is where I would normally reside), a large dining area, the grand ballroom, and lastly, the guest quarters.

“The third level is the Spire. The Spire is Lurona’s personal residence.

“The entire building is beautiful and decorated in Lurona’s personal taste, sir. I will happily direct you to any part you wish to see. Since you indicated a desire to go outside, we can also take a tour of the gardens.”

Aarick perked up. He had always loved gardens. Growing up in Oregon had predisposed him to a love of rain and the verdant bounty it brought with it. Paths through lightly tangled woods where the air smelled of damp earth and the freshness of a thousand plants transpiring.

“I would love that,” he said. “That is something I remember. I love plants. I love gardens and mostly tame woodlands.”

Hopefully it will take my mind off of everything else, too.