9 Emmariel

A chain of steep rocky cliffs which looked devoid of any life or vegetation.

A towering figure was gazing down from one such cliff upon the narrow valley which ran through the ridge, looking just as lifeless.

His wrinkly face didn't sit well with his robust body and his sunken eyes lacked any and all vigour. The grey of his pupils was similar to the spiritless rock he stood upon. His long dark brown hair fluttered along with the strong winds.

His dull eyes were fixated upon the tens of thousands of horseback archers who stood upon the valley with anxious expressions on their faces.

They stood in a bizarre circular formation reminiscent of a huge magic circle.

Hundreds of staff-wielding magicians were hovering a hundred meters above the ground in a similar circular formation as though resonating with the horseback archers.

The magicians who were high up in the sky were synchronously chanting spells in an unknown language.

An enormous- almost transparent dome-shaped barrier was shrouding the horseback archers as well as the magicians.

Standing at the very crown of the formation was a stubby middle-aged man with an impatient expression on his rugged face who was uncharacteristically even, holding a staff much like the magicians floating in the sky.

As opposed to the horseback archers, he was standing on his feet and had been petulantly bellowing orders to the soldiers in a voice which reverberated throughout the narrow valley.

As the stubby man issued another incomprehensible command, the horseback archers speedily began to make amends to their formation.

Full-throated yells in the same odd speech resounded from various fronts of the formation one after another. Before long the formation had been reorganised into a semi-circular arc.

Unannounced, thousands of aura imbued arrows were shot from the bows of the mounted archers, tinting the air with a faint purple hue.

The sheer density of the disbursed aura scented the air with a sugary aroma.

The old man stood seemingly unfazed upon the cliff-top, with the same dull inanimate eyes.

He very slightly lifted his right hand up and just so very slightly tugged at the air. It was a small sluggish motion- but the implications of these lazy movements of his hands and fingers were on the contrary, huge.

An impossibly tall wall of rock and earth erected itself before the rocky cliff, partly enclosing the old man under its protection.

None of the arrows passed by the wall.

The stubby man who had been leading the attack had a nervous grimace form on his face as he irritably gave orders once more.

The horseback archers looked like they had lost ten years of their life as they stared up at the wall of earth which appeared to be reaching into the sky.

As the orders had been conveyed to them, without much delay, they ceaselessly barraged the wall with arrows fuming with a burning aura.

Nevertheless, the arrows were unable to penetrate through the thick wall but the collective heat from the hot aura little by little accumulated over the wall and began to melt it down to molten rock and mana.

However, as if ridiculing the combined efforts of the horseback archers, when the wall had melted down enough to grant them a view to the other side, all they saw was another wall which had been raised before them and seemed to be spitting on their faces.

And so, the dance of endless arrows continued for hours until two more such walls had been taken down.

A total of four walls. Four incredibly tall and increasing tough walls were dragged down before they were once again allowed the sight of the other side.

Alas, they couldn't see the cliff where the old man had stood upon.

No, it wasn't another wall but something much more hellish, something of such impossible monstrosity that it could make even Gods despondent.

Hundreds- no, thousands of huge flaming boulders were perfectly filling up the sky beyond the walls. It was as if a huge shadow had been cast over the army which stood agape- trembling at this insanity-inducing scene.

Much like meteors, they fell one by one.

One by one. First in tens, then in dozens, in hundreds and in thousands, they shot out of the sky, one after another, spelling doom for all who stood there.

The landscape drifted further and further away as the apocalypse ensued. The barrier which had been protecting the army melted down from the sheer heat of the approaching doom.

The horseback archers broke down on their knees, their commander tore at his hair, the magicians- assured of their demise, fell down from the sky.

And so it came, thousands of meteors impacted the surface vaporising not just the army but the entire landscape in a radius of hundreds of kilometres. A huge mushroom cloud of soot, dust and blazing fire formed over what used to be hills and valleys.

Turbulent shockwaves spread due to the apocalyptic explosion. The amazing shockwaves, travelled far, reaching where I stood waiting for it, crushing me along with everything else that dared to stand in its way and steadily was I engulfed into darkness.

"...nus..."

"... rinus..."

"AURINUS!"

"GAAAAAH!?!"

As if I had been splashed with ice-cold water, I jolted awake at once.

"Aurinus! Are you alright? You were sweating all over and whimpering in pain! Is everything okay? Did you have a nightmare?"

The voice which worriedly interrogated me was that of my mother.

Even though I'm completely dry as of now, I certainly felt as though I was doused with freezing water. My mother is really...

"... ah... yes, but please calm down first, mother."

"I can't calm down! Just what was happening to you?! What kind of nightmare had you making such a pained face?"

She hollered in a panic-stricken voice.

"Mother, I'm fine! Just calm yourself down. It was just a nightmare where I was engulfed by a storm, that's all."

I said honestly. After all, it wasn't exactly a lie...

"A storm? Just what...? Aurinus, why would a storm fluster y-"

"It was a huge storm, mother! One of such awesome proportions that it would make even Gods tremble! Besides that, I'm not as masterful in Dream Magic as mother or I wouldn't have nightmares. I wish I was as proficient in it as you..."

I said with a sigh and a truly, truly troubled smile on my face. The concerned expression which was casted over my mother's face was swapped by an embarrassed smile in a split second.

" Ohh...! Is that so? Hahaha, don't look so downcast, sweetheart. Even if you are such a genius in magic, you are still inexperienced compared to your mother. Ah! Should I give you lessons on Dre-"

"No! I mean- You have already been preoccupied with court duties, I couldn't possibly burden you with such a thing. Besides, I want to learn more about mother's craft by my own means."

I cut in on her before she could burden me- Err, before I would be burdening her with my own selfishness.

"Are you sure? I could make time for you anytime, little angel..."

"No, mother. I'm absolutely sure. Ah! That's right, did something happen, mother? What brings you here?"

I had already been living in separate quarters from my parent's since three months ago, which was my first birthday.

"Ah... That's, your father had asked of me to check up on you since according to him, he had felt an odd energy emanating from you."

"Father...? But, isn't he in the Imperial Capital right now?"

Father has always had a strange connection with me ever since birth. I had deemed it to be a peculiar skill of sort. I believe it's necessary for me to be more watchful of father.

"That's right. I couldn't sense anything wrong so how could that idiot do so from a thousand miles away? He had made me so worried. I will make sure to give him a good beating once he returns."

"Haha... don't be so severe on him, mother."

"You don't have to worry about anything, sweetheart. I will take my leave for now. Definitely call for me if anything strange happens, alright?"

"Certainly, mother."

She finally left the room but not before gracing me with a dozen truly lovely pecks on my cheeks. Thank you, mother. I did not ask that of you but thank you anyway.

At any rate, I anyhow fooled her to an extent. Although from what I have observed of my mother's personality over the last year, she would definitely hold some suspicions over this. I hadn't expected her to barge in while I had been having one of those 'dreams'.

It had been a year following my birth and as if keeping up with my expectations, I was met with the most obscure occurrences one after another.

Ah! It had been a roller coaster.

Even though not the most curious, these dreams had been one of them.

After I had attained the level 100 milestone, I gained a class ability called 'Sovereign's Wisdom'. At a glance, it was not unlike the other class abilities. It had seemed to be not much more than a groundwork for me to establish my skills as distinguished from the racial abilities which were already complete and as such already happened to comprise a plethora of skills.

Nevertheless, on the surface, this ability had the unpretentious role of registering all the knowledge that I had ever amassed or will amass in my life.

B u t, immediately after I began to actively make use of this ability, I seemed to have triggered these strange dreams which appeared no less than twice every month.

I, of course, linked these dreams with the ability and- being as brilliant as I am, inferred that these dreams are like incomplete memories of sorts. Obviously not my own, though.

Though accumulating knowledge from the Royal Library for about a year, I had verified that I am undoubtedly not the only 'Sovereign' around.

By summing up to this point, I could only deduce that these memories belong to other Sovereigns just like me. Fairly obvious, I am yet uncertain about why I have access to these memories though.

Ah! To tell the truth, I will be meeting with such a Sovereign soon. That is the 'Sovereign of War', The Emperor himself.

About ten days remain until I gain an audience with him though. Why I am meeting with him? Why, of course, by the virtue of my dear father who had absentmindedly assembled a formal get-together with the Imperial family.

Notwithstanding, over a year had passed since my birth to this so-called fantasy world which is just as wonderfully named after the Great Mother herself 'Emmariel'.

Right after my birth, I had been obviously incapable of talking as my vocal tracts were yet undeveloped.

Fortunately for me, I held the Telepathy skill- much thanks to my father, thereby, I had been able to communicate with my parents.

When I had experimented with it initially, I had half-expected them to express shock but as if to mock my naivety, they had behaved like it was the most natural course of action for a baby to take.

Strangely enough, I couldn't blame them since they were beings who stood at the peak. They themselves must have had been capable of using such advanced skills since their very birth.

Among other things, I have been born as a prince of a human kingdom. Am I surprised? Not.

I had already presumed my parents to have an extraordinary social status if they were to possess quite so freakish strength.

In fact, I had anticipated something on a much more grander scale like a floating kingdom of sorts...

Well, avarice can spell a man's doom.

I should rather be far more concerned about whether or not I have been superfluously expending generations worth of luck.

If I ended up dying once more, I'm cent per cent sure that this once I would be reborn as a talking trash can fixed in place next to a talking vending machine.

All in all, I should be sufficiently content with this unmerited life of luxury which fate had gifted me with.

Well, putting that aside. I'm just over a year old as of yet, specifically a year and three months old. Surprising?

Infants and smaller children alike grow incredibly quickly in this world. A year-old child is already comparable to a three-year-old.

Therefore, I'm, in a sense, already a three year old physically.

Lastly, over the past year, I had tried my absolute best to seek out all the suspicions I had held about this world ever since I was still no more than a foetus.

Consequently, I diligently conducted all the experiments which were thus possible within the constraints of this Royal Palace.

In addition, I readout and analysed a paramount of books about the cultures, religions, languages and societal structures of this world from the Royal Library.

Guess what I discovered?

This world retains so many similarities with Earth and its culture that it's almost preposterous.

Fantasy world my ass.