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NINE YEARS (IV)

Long-winded years had passed since either Daniel or Shane had last seen the vestiges of the world outside the Valley . Both had nigh-forgotten the sensation of the ever-speedy life, the brushing against shoulders that didn’t care, the lack of screams and cries and roars forming an everlasting symphony with which one fell asleep .

Q’sar was by no means a large city – if it could even be qualified as a city over a town . It had dusted, clayed walls rising in uneven form around, forming an oddly wobbly shape as they followed the cadence of the natural formations, namely the dips and rises of the stone cliff atop which it rested . Most of the buildings inside the walls were cast out of sandstone, some taller than others, though none larger than three stories; it was considered heretical since the native Q’sarians believed in Three Mortalities and One Divinity – the latter existing beyond the realm of the former three .

The streets remained unpaved throughout, though that hardly tampered with hundreds of people lining their sides, selling, begging, bantering, singing, performing .

The two men had long since taken off the cloaks, as invisibility hardly mattered now; here, they were just two strangers, two new faces . They took in the sights meekly, following behind Ty closely and carefully . Neither have ever been to the city, though through no fault of their own; Q’sar was a temporary haven for the lost souls who encroached upon its lands before they moved elsewhere, likely to their original destination . Its economy was entirely dependent on the overprized inns, taverns and selling of cheaply made trinkets . It had no local-grown grain or fruit, and the fishing was terribly underdeveloped largely due to the fact that the city lay flat on a high cliff .

The native Q’sarians had a reddish hue to their copper-colored skins, nearly all sporting identical, muddy-blonde hair with faint traces of brown . Most sported a pair of hazelnut-colored eyes, the few exceptions giving way to a rather beautiful green, sticking out like a sore thumb against their darker skin tones . They were deeply religious folk, at least as far as Shane and Daniel could recall of them; pagans through and through, irreverent of the ’Gods’ imposed upon them by the Holy Grounds, even of Gaia herself . To most, they were merely loose heretics but were largely left alone as their numbers weren’t huge .

Ty led them to a small, corner shop near the center of the city; it was a flat building with just a base floor, squared and simple in make, built out of sandstone like all the ones surrounding it . Insides were surprisingly spacious and well-lit, mostly due to the stacked shelf of gems to the left . The brownish hue of the floor and walls, as though they had entered innards of a desert, were somewhat depressing, but they hardly had a moment to complain .

The room they walked into sported a counter built directly out of the left-end wall, the remainder of the room filled with tables and chairs . Two men quickly concluded it was a makeshift tavern that also sold cheap trinkets, though they didn’t ask much and instead sat down with Ty . Shortly after, a native Q’sarian on a taller end, with green eyes, came and took their order . Since Ty remained silent, the two of them did as well, awkwardly glancing around, trying to figure out whether the remaining six figures in the shop were random independents or Ty’s companions .

"—don’t look too deeply into it," Ty said with a chuckle, seemingly having realized their thoughts . He slowly took out a thin book from his inside-pocket, handing it over to the two men . "This is merely a resting stop . I like this place . Quaint . Clean . Great booze . That," he pointed at the thin book . "Is a local cultural guide . We’ll be staying here for two days, and I can’t exactly babysit you since, well, you two are grown men . So, study up a bit on the local customs and make sure you don’t stir anything unnecessary . "

"A-ah, yes . " Shane and Daniel nodded, quickly taking the book and opening it .

"You should also start sorting out your thoughts," Ty said as the tavern keeper brought three sets of Chilled Mead, since two men simply ordered what Ty did . "I imagine my Master will wish to see you and talk with you . Most of the questions I asked you were simply my personal inquiries; she’s the one who deals with the intelligence, and she can be... well, quite detailed in that regard . "

"..." Shane and Daniel nodded meekly, wondering what person could have someone like the man in front of them calling them ’Master’ .

"... sheesh, you should really relax," Ty rolled his eyes at them, chuckling and taking a sip of mead . "However little or much you know is irrelevant . We won’t send you back . We don’t make a business out of killing people . Well, unnecessarily, I suppose . Alright, I’ll leave you two to studying . "

Though the book Ty gave them was thin, it still had roughly forty pages which were by no means easy to get through . The two of them became quite shocked by the depth of the Q’sarian culture and tradition that went well beyond what little they were taught in the Histories back in the Crypt . As it turned out, Q’sarians were direct descendants of the first Humans to ever settle the Eastern Coastline of the Holy Continent and were themselves some of the oldest peoples of the continent . Their pagan traditions were deeply rooted in the so-called Old Tales, limericks and epics that survived the scorch of time .

Perhaps most-interestingly, their tradition completely rejected the concept of marriage; rather, a union between two persons was always temporary, as they didn’t believe perfection could be achieved in any part of one’s life .

The more they read through the book, the more they realized how misinformed they were over a rather important group of people that had inhabited these lands longer than their own, former Sect has . Sighing inwardly at their own ignorance, they carefully memorized the most important parts before closing the book and handing it over to Ty who took it back with a smile, putting it away into the same pocket .

"Do you lads still have any questions?" Ty asked them casually . "Don’t be afraid . I’ve yet to bite anyone but a very willing recipient . "

"... uh, if, if you don’t mind," Daniel said, coughing awkwardly . "Could... could you tell us what the Empyrean is like? Really like, I mean . "

"... what have you heard about him?" Ty asked back instead of replying .

"... mostly that he’s beastly," Shane replied . "Unforgiving... savage... bloodthirsty . "

"Rules through fear and terror," Daniel jumped on . "And ’our’ job was to liberate everyone under his reign . "

"... do I look fearful or terrified?" Ty asked, cracking a smile .

"Uh...--"

"Don’t get me wrong," Ty continued . "That bastard’s a lot of things, and can definitely be beastly and unforgiving and savage, but, for the most part, he’s just a lazy jackoff passing off all his fucking responsibilities on others . Do you know he hasn’t made a public appearance in almost six months? He’s been ’researching crafts’, the liar, just lazing about like a twinkling princess . However horrid it may sound, I’m almost glad the build-up is slowly coming to a close, just so he’ll get off his lazy ass and start working again . "

"..." both Daniel and Shane were stunned into silence, wondering whether the two of them and Ty were still talking about the same man – the Empyrean, the Emperor of Empyrion, the Head of Chaos, the World’s Rapture . Perhaps of all the possible nicknames, neither of the two expected ’lazy’ to be the most frequent .

"... on both ends of things, he’s mostly a figurehead," Ty elaborated, tone of his voice turning serious . "In reality, he’s... just a man . Hardly the terror, and hardly the savior juxtaposed between the world’s two extremes . If I’m being honest," Ty said . "There are far more terrifying people than him . My Master, Lady Hannah, Lord Eggor, Titus... if he’s your greatest fear, you’ll do just fine . "

"Thank you, for your honesty . " Daniel said, smiling lightly as the table turned silent once more .

It was hard to truly understand the currents of the world from his position; even back in the Crypt, before the Origin War, the Empyrean was the unifying element – the ghastly counterpart to their goodness . It wasn’t a debatable stance, but the universal truth that was only doubled down upon with the declaration of the Origin War . Since then, even the faintest inclination toward the Empyrean was dealt with rapidly and violently . Rather than Chaos, Daniel noted, he was visualized more as a symbol of pure evil .

He could still vividly remember, barely a week after the declaration of the Origin War and the Battle of the Isles, when the Martial Law was imposed throughout the Crypt . Within a week, over a thousand disciples were publicly executed, including practically the entire family of Lord Vyrove . Their skeletal corpses remained hanging all the way until he left the Sect and joined the Valley as a grim reminder and an open warning .

There was a certain paranoia attached to even the concept of the Empyrean; whether warranted or not, he could not say . He was never exposed to much, and he never desired much . In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter to him much who won; after all, those were the sort of battles and complications that lived outside the average reality . Though the war was everyone’s burden, the resolution was the reward for the few . He was not among those few . He was among the rest, who would sit still and fearful, brooding over the next time their leaders lose their minds and charge off into the war .

He hasn’t been privy to the true sight of war till today; one way or another, he had always been sheltered to a certain degree . Though he’d seen his fair share of ghastly sights, never so much so that he’d decry war upon its very mention . Even the situation in the Valley didn’t entirely disillusion him . Would traveling to the Empyrion do so? He doubted it . Something, after all, had to be starkly recognizable if the tales of it could travel world-over, reaching even the most sheltered ears . Deep inside, he began looking forward to landing on the shores of the Forgotten Continent, visiting the bastion forgotten and reborn and soaking in the youngest yet most powerful Empire in the entire world .