Vroooom─
The familiar sound of an engine whirring. The wheels of the vehicle moved busily, and the murky city air tickled the throat as always.
People could be seen bending their heads to look at something. Each one holding a square plate.
Smartphone.
Orthes moved along the now unfamiliar but still familiar path. It was the way home.
After entering the password and opening the door.
“Are you late?”
The figure of someone familiar, yet someone who shouldn’t be there, appeared.
*
A sigh escaped. From the moment I saw the car and the people holding smartphones, I sensed something was off.
Still, isn’t this a bit lackluster?
“What kind of dream is this supposed to be?”
I casually dragged a chair over and sat down. I instinctively felt that Carisia, or rather, the ‘someone’ resembling Carisia, was showing me the dream of Earth.
“Oh dear. What could have gone wrong? It was supposed to be composed of scenery that was most familiar and comforting to you.”
“You’ve got that all wrong. If my boss pops out when I come home after work, that’s not a good dream; that’s a nightmare!”
Carisia, tilting her head, looked puzzled. It sent chills down my spine since she looked too much like her.
In fact, the most definite indication that this was a dream was something else.
My eyes were light.
There was no suffocating feeling as if I was tightly bound in shackles. The pain that felt like thorny vines entangling and bursting in my brain when I forcibly released the limitations of my eyes was absent too.
My daily life couldn’t possibly feel this refreshing.
Realizing that my eyes weren’t blurry made me realize it was a dream; it’s a ridiculous thought when I think about it.
“So, who are you? The soul possessed in the Relic?”
The one resembling Carisia nodded serenely.
“That is correct. I am an ancient Priest of Estia.”
Estia. One of the twelve gods before Bacchus. The god of hearth. While her title means ‘hearth’, it also symbolizes home and the peace that comes with it.
Would there have been a Relic of Estia among the ones taken from Pluton Great Temple?
After arriving at Hydra Corporation, I collapsed before I could gather my thoughts. With so many Relics that looked like junk, it was hard to guess which one had a ghost attached to it.
However, knowing the divine being allowed me to roughly imagine the form of the Relic. I recalled a few items associated with flames.
“There was a lamp that looked like a mood lamp that I set aside for indirect lighting…”
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing. Just talking to myself.”
I organized my thoughts. The soul of Phoibos had said I was ‘qualified’ while looking at the Relic.
“Have you come to evaluate my qualifications too?”
The Priest of Estia shook her head.
“To be precise, you are not the subject of evaluation. You were awaited by the old priests because you possess the qualifications.”
A soft and gentle voice. The resemblance to Carisia bothered me.
“Can you change your appearance? Seeing my boss’s face in a dream is rather nauseating.”
“That depends on your will, not mine.”
Such enigmatic words. I sighed.
“Last time, the priest from the Phoibos cult said something about not being able to acknowledge Carisia. You don’t seem to have a problem with that, do you?”
“The twelve Relics are prepared for you. You are the rightful and only successor. I have no intention of contesting that right.”
“Then why bother to come into my dream instead of just leaving it to me without a word?”
Carisia. No, the Priest of Estia resembling Carisia turned to look out the window. The scenery of Earth. The lights of buildings blossoming like a city illuminating the settled night.
A red dot circling in the star-covered night sky. Watching the blinking lights, it seemed to be a plane or a satellite.
I heard a clattering noise from somewhere. The echo of a train’s wheels racing on the tracks.
“I wanted to see your world. The other world beyond the extra-dimensional. And there is something to relay—”
My whole world. The conviction was growing stronger.
Did the ancient priests summon me to this world? Well, the priest who guarded the stone of Phoibos did say, ‘We summoned you.’
The mythological age in which the ancient priests operated must be at least thousands of years ago, yet I was awake only a few years before the original start. It raised many questions.
“Though the appearance of your world differs from the landscape of my era, it resembles the world of our time that you are living in. It may be due to the Mage King’s influence or an inevitable architectural pattern arising from population-concentrated cities.”
The Mage King here?
“Since it seems your curiosity has been resolved, may I ask a question as well?”
The Priest of Estia stared silently out of the window. Watching the moving people, she softly murmured.
“A world without magic…”
“Why did you call me? What is it that you want?”
Upon hearing my question, the Priest of Estia finally turned to look at me. The chair I sat on and the desk beyond it. The desolate scene of the sparsely furnished room where I lived alone.
Mumbling something, the Priest of Estia finally closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, not sorry. Shouldn’t you at least hand me a manual if you called me like a human?”
If someone is called, shouldn’t there be a manual explaining what needs to be done to return? The Priest of Estia tilted her head in question.
“It should clearly be in your memory…?”
“All I remember is the story of the Mage King rampaging.”
Thinking about it, this was also puzzling. If the ancient priests were the ones who drew me into this world, what about the novel I read? What’s the connection between this magical world and the novel?
“What on earth does that novel have to do with this world?”
“A novel…?”
She looked genuinely confused.
“Damn it. Don’t you guys know all the facts?”
“We each remember different aspects according to our roles. The priest of Phoibos likely knew the most facts.”
Ah, damn. That guy left after saying something strange.
Noticing my distorted expression, the Priest of Estia whispered.
“You are the soul of a world where magic and any powers no longer remain. Such a soul was necessary for our plan. That is all I know.”
There was a worrying part in her words. ‘No longer remains’?
So there was originally magic on Earth?
If I had known this would be the case, I should have properly opened my eyes when I first met that ghost priest. What on earth was he drawing?
I pressed my forehead. Keeping someone who doesn’t know anything bound and tortured wasn’t likely to yield constructive discussion.
I recalled what I told the priest of Phoibos.
“You have fulfilled your mission. Take your rest as you see fit.”
The Priest of Estia nodded, leaving one last message.
“Someone other than you is gathering the Relics. I can feel the screams of the five souls. One among them seems to be in danger of vanishing soon.”
“Wait, hold on a second.”
“The guardians of the hearth have completed their tasks. May peace be with your future.”
“Please explain that last part in detail!”
*
Damn. I got up feeling the unnecessarily warm morning sunlight.
Instead of telling me to rest, they should have spilled everything like Carisia!
I saw the lamp placed near my head. My lightly opened eyes confirmed that this lamp was Estia’s Relic.
Its function is…
‘Brings peaceful sleep to those who sleep in the warmth? Not very suitable for combat use.’
Now I understand why that Mage King had no interest in anything but the Relic of Phoibos. At its best, it’s just a sleep aid; it wouldn’t mean anything to the Mage King.
Well, Estia was never a god worshipped for her combat prowess to begin with. Expecting battle-oriented powers from a goddess of home and hearth is a fool’s errand.
‘Five souls, huh…’
It seemed mixed in among the artifacts the Divine Cult excavated from the Pluton Great Temple. Perhaps the Pope merely agreed with my excavation plans to retrieve that artifact.
I should find out when I get the chance. Manipulating the gauntlet to connect to the Ether Network. I check all the emails I received during my unconscious state.
Waking up in the morning to check work emails as the first thing feels somewhat dismal.
Among the emails from L13, two caught my attention. One was a message from Niobe about an emergency meeting for all of Panoptes; the other was a notification from Demus about the successful return of the warrior. And then the Great Temple…
Wait, how did the Great Temple end up over there completely?
I felt a mix of fury and disbelief. After all that hassle, the only artifacts I could bring back were limited, and the Divine Cult just swallowed the Great Temple whole?
Ignoring my jealousy, I checked the email signed by the head of the Divine Investigation Office from Hydra Corporation. Most were advertisements.
But one encouraging name stood out.
Lampades. A short message saying he will visit soon.
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