Chapter 10 Burial and Unknown
At the Antares Cemetery, Capital Antares
The priest began reciting some farewell words.
"Leon was a young man with an ambition to be a hero. Leon's sacrifice now lay here…"
Thud. Thud. Thud.
I stood there silently listening and watching as some men started to engrave words in the stone.
The three teenagers next to me cried as hard as they could.
The atmosphere around the cemetery felt heavy and sad.
Walking away from Leon's grave, countless soldiers from the Empire layed across the cemetery.
These were real people who had died from my war.
I felt sad and guilty for them knowing I also caused their deaths with Leon.
I continued to walk around every grave for the people who had died from war–praying for them silently.
Hours passed…
The teenagers were still around Leon's grave, mourning for him.
I headed to the direction the teenagers were in.
Sebastian was standing next to them, patting their shoulders.
"It's time to go" I said to them directly.
We all got into the military SUV–I entered first, then Sebastian, followed by the teenagers.
Once we were all inside, I instructed Sebastian "Head back to my residence"
"As you wish Your Majesty" Sebastian replied.
Hours later…
At the Emperor's Residence, Capital Antares
The SUV passed through the gates and came to a stop at my residence.
We all stepped out.
"You three, head back to the Emperor's Guest Building" I instructed them.
Now, only Sebastian and I remained.
"Sebastian, come with me" I said.
"As you wish, Majesty" Sebastian replied.
We walked together until we reached the garden.
I broke the silence "Sebastian, what was I?–back before the war started?"
Before Sebastian could answer back to me.
Time stopped, everything including the air molecules stopped.
The sky around me slowly began cracking when suddenly, something came out.
My panic rose to the limits, wondering if I'm dreaming.
A being with no clear form–only glitchy, pixelated and a constant changing appearance came out.
"##$&%#!@@$)&^%$@#" the being continued mumbling something while above in the sky.
I froze on the spot thinking that if I moved, I'd die.
The being slowly landed in front of me.
Now face to face to me "!$&$^##@$@" the being continued to speak in front of me–a language I didnt even know.
"###@#!%$Y*#TYW($%Y%" the being continued to speak in that language again.
I stood there and watched, not daring to move a single bit.
The being stood in front me with something stretching out of his body, it looked like an arm.
His glitchy pixelated arm touched my body–enveloping it whole.
My vision turned black when suddenly–I found myself facing back at Sebastian.
"Your Majesty?" Sebastian said to me.
Everything had started moving again.
The leaves falling in the garden, the constant noise echoing the residence.
They were all back.
"About the question Your Majesty, I don't think anything have changed except you became smarter?" Sebastian added, curious about my sudden question.
Before I could even move my lips, a rising drowsiness feeling quickly rose through my body.
"Aghh!" I screamed, my head falling against the hard concrete surface.
"Majesty?!" Sebastian responded, his eyes full of worry.
My body laid on the cold hard concrete surface pressing my body.
My vision slowly started to fade as I faced my head watching the sky.
The next day…
I found myself laying in my bed, wondering what just happened.
Knock Knock Knock… "Your Majesty, can I come in?"
Just as the door was about to open, I felt a sudden jolt of pain through my head.
Trying to calm myself down, I put my hand around my head trying to massage it.
"Aaaaaa!" I yelled, the pain was too intense for me.
Bang! The door was forcibly opened.
"Your Majesty!" Sebastian came rushing to me.
Suddenly the pain around my head diminished.
Slowly countless pixels started to wrap around in Sebastian forming a game like interface.
It was hovering around Sebastian.
To my surprise, it wasn't harming Sebastian in any way.
But I could see his information slowly forming.
————————————————
|Name: Sebastian|
|Class: Strategist|
|Rating: ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩|
|Potential: ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩|
————————————————
It seemed like my eyes had acquired power but how?
Trying to recall the events that happened the previous day.
I remembered that I met an unknown being talking to a language I didn't even knew.
Was that it? Why was the power given to me?
My mind was full of questions, questioning why I had gained this power.
The information panel only appeared when you played the game [Nations Rise] by clicking characters to see their status.
If the being I met gave me this power, it could only mean something.
"Your Majesty?"
"You've been staring at me, is there anything wrong?" Sebastian said to me.
"No" I replied, I must have been staring at him intensely.
I got out of my bed and walked out to my wardrobe to change my clothes.
After changing clothes, I headed to my door to go outside of my room.
Sebastian followed next to me closely.
"Sebastian can you leave me for a bit?" I asked Sebastian, I wanted to try this newfound ability I gained.
"As you wish, Majesty" Sebastian replied.
Finally alone, I began making my way onto the Emperors Guest Room Building.
While on the way, I looked at some of the people working at my residence.
————————————————
|Name: Fred|
|Class: Gardener|
|Rating: ✩ ✩|
|Potential: ✩ ✩|
————————————————
|Name: Verna|
|Class: Maid|
|Rating: ✩ ✩|
|Potential: ✩ ✩|
————————————————
"Just like in the game huh?" I smiled.
This ability was unbelievably worth it.
I could differentiate the people and instantly know their name.
This meant that I didn't need to verify the identity of a hero when hiring if I'd meet them directly.
It also meant I could adopt random people at the Antares Children Foundation by just going there.
The possibilities were endless.
"HAHAHAHA!" I laughed full of energy.
The people working around at my residence looked at me like I was a crazy man.
But I had no time for that.
I hurriedly rushed my way to the 3rd floor of the Emperors Guest Room Building.
Finally I could see the names embedded onto the doors on each room.
Room 2 Jan – Room 6 Nikolas – Room 9 Anna.
I opened the door on Room 2 first, Jan wasn't there so I tried Nikolas room–he wasn't there too so I tried the last room Anna.
They weren't there in their own rooms, so where were they?
"The training room" I whispered to myself.
That was the answer, I forgot that I hired private tutors to train them.
Next to the garden was the training room, it was bigger than the garden.
Knowing they were there, I headed directly there as fast as I could.
"Hahh..hah" I gasped, needing more air.
Arriving on my way there, I could see their information panel appearing to my eyes.
————————————————
|Name: Jan|
|Class: Support Hero|
|Rating: N/A|
|Potential: ✩ ✩✩|
————————————————
|Name: Nikolas|
|Class: Support Hero|
|Rating: N/A|
|Potential: ✩ ✩✩|
————————————————
|Name: Anna|
|Class: Support Hero|
|Rating: N/A|
|Potential: ✩ ✩✩|
————————————————
"Hahhh..haaa" I continued grasping for more air.
"We greet Your Majesty" the private tutors greeted, bowing down respectfully to me.