NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 105: Old Ones, Brienne Stormborn, and Life Halt! (I)
Evening, June 18
Wavebreaker
Kai woke up ready to kill.
There was scarcely any night when he didn't dream. Nightmares, that's the word one should use in his case. Incompressible and incoherent scenes of killing, killing, and killing. A shout of power now and then, and that's it. These were his dreams.
Kai had made his deal with it.
He stood up, yawned, and stretched himself. He was lying on the bed, he suddenly realized.
"Master, freshen up," a honeyed voice entered his ringing ears. "I have ordered dinner."
Kai grunted a reply and threw himself off the bed with a flick of his tail.
With Parseltongue making him incapable of normal speech, Kai had opted to keep the Golduck’s transformation in an activated mode permanently for now. Not only did it let him communicate swiftly and discreetly, but it also let him work on his Telepathy Proficiency, which had no other way to increase.
The newly gained Elementary Telepathy had risen to 5% already.
After some 15 minutes, by the grace of a cold shower, Kai's eyes flashed brightly in the spacious room.
All tiredness of the continuous hunting, fighting with three 4th-floor Contestants, and talking non-stop for three days using Telepathy seemed to have left him alone. When Kai came out of the shower, wearing a pair of blue t-shirt and black jeans, his stomach grumbled at the sight of the sumptuous meal.
Meg must have sent the waiter away, for now, she was serving the food on the table from the food trolley.
Kai took a seat at the table and nodded at her.
-/Sit down. Join me for the dinner./-
It must be said about Kai that though he now dwelt in filth and the heinous ways of killing, in his previous life, he was a noble of House Stormborn. The traces of this nobility were weak and blurry in his veins, but they were there, nonetheless. So, when Kai sat down and commanded, it left little choice for any listener.
"But who will serve the dinner…"
Kai raised his hand and cut off Meg's excuse.
When his hand fell back, there was a Book in his hand. Runes flashed over the cover like scores of twisted organic lives.
Cersei walked out from the smoky veil, a red gown of unmatched beauty gracing her youthful figure.
Two little earrings on her glowed golden under the well-lit lamps of the room. Her golden hair was falling low to her waist and would have felt silky if one were to run their hands across them. When she saw Kai, with his wet, white hair, smooth, blue skin, and his reptilian, hazel eyes examining her, Cersei’s face reddened, her green eyes looking away in search of something.
-/You look good/- Kai complemented, smiling. -/Now serve us dinner. I am so hungry I can eat a horse. Haha!/-
"Serve dinner?!" Cersei asked, confusingly.
Then her eyes went to the food trolley and Meg, sitting at the table opposite Kai in her usual black overcoat and black trousers. Anger flashed across Cersei's face, and she snapped. "You want me to serve a servant?!"
I should have called Petyr, Kai thought. I should have known from her last speech that she would take offense to doing something like this. Sigh!
-/If she is a servant, then what are you?/- Kai asked, not unkindly. But his words had a stony bluntness to them. -/Cersei, remember that you are an Item too. By definition, that makes you Meg's sister. Now serve the dinner, as befit the time, or disappear. I have no use and need for Items that can't do my bidding./-
Cersei audibly gulped.
Meg's head was down as if she had heard nothing, and other than Kai's naked feet under the table, nothing could interest her more.
The Character said nothing and lined the table with the appetizers first.
Fresh fruit medley, grilled mushrooms, escargot, chilled strawberry bisque soup, Magikarp medallions, sushi, and grilled tomatoes.
Saliva flooded Kai's mouth, and he helped himself to a portion of each. Soon, the strikes of spoons and forks filled the room as Cersei poured them wine.
-/Have you recalled anything?/- Kai asked Meg, but he didn't keep the spiritual currents from reaching Cersei, either. -/About that Luck epithet of Hastur./-
Meg was eating the lightest portion of everything.
When Kai's question rang in her mind, she frowned, her eyes narrowing.
"No, master," Meg said, shaking her head. "I was a priestess of Hastur for some 75 years before I got your blessing and was reborn as Meg. I have never heard of this epithet before. The Priest you mentioned, of House Sanderson, I am afraid I don't know about him too. It must have been a matter when I was on the 1st floor. After sending me down to the 1st Set, the Temple didn't keep me in the circle of their innermost hidden workings. I am sorry."
The feelings of apology in her words were genuine.
Kai had told her about his encounter with Little Hao and Selena and how he knew about the Temples. But when he told her about the epithet, the Devourer of all Luck, Meg refused to believe that there was such a chant regarding Hastur. She was a priestess on the 13th-fucking-floor, and if she said that there were only three known epithets of Hastur, then there must be some reason behind it.
Kai thought about all this and decided to give a visit to the mother-son duo one last time.
"I never heard Hastur has any relation to Luck," the Ex-Priestess added. "Not only Hastur but there is no Old One who is known to manipulate a Contestant's Stats."
Kai paused a little upon hearing that but resumed the dinner instantly. By now, he had a pretty good idea of who or what these Old Ones were.
These were the Cosmic Beings, as told to him by Meg, that had always been in the Primordial Tower since the beginning of time if there was a beginning to all this. Not much was known about them, as prying their secrets and mysteries could bring unimaginable horrors and disasters.
Kai remembered the repulsive patterned door from his Blood Prophecy and completely agreed with the statement.
Their influences on the material world, inside and outside the Primordial Towers, were known as their Authorities. Even about that, only prominent figures within the Temple knew a little, let alone ordinary priests and priestesses.
The only open knowledge was that you could sacrifice Items to these Old Ones, to get answers.
But there was no guarantee to it, and if THEY didn't like the sacrifice, or found one betraying the faith, then Contestants were known to face a fate worse than death.
A double-edged sword, Kai had called it.
Meg lingered in between these two edges. She had failed her mission and was about to be discarded by Chaos when she sacrificed everything to get another chance. Fortunately, or unfortunately, her sacrifice was accepted.
That’s how a 13th-floor monster fell to become a rat on the 1st floor.
…
When the appetizers were finished, Cersei served them a plate of Classic Green Salad.
He heard the barest whisper coming out of Cersei's mouth. "Useless servant!” Kai amused himself with the look on her face and ignored it.
-/Tell me about this Stormborn Empire/- Kai asked casually. -/I am interested in the Empress' sudden rise in power/-
Meg lifted her head to look at Kai. "There is nothing sudden about Her, master," she said, with plain fear and awe. "Brienne Stormborn is an over 1000-years-old monster."
Food almost fell out of Kai's mouth.
