Ethereal Paradigm

-Caligula

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"Welcome to NÆthervale!"

Such has been the turn of events. From expecting a high school life of nothing new to now being welcomed by some weird deity in a surreal world, currently partic.i.p.ating in a gamble where my life is laid as major collateral. Surely, it does not sound quintessential from this point of view, yet moral facts state that I surely can"t blame this on someone else. It was my rashness that led me to this sphere of the mystics. More likely, this thick mud of predicaments is an aftermath of my strong aspiration to go against cliches. Now, because of that, I"m confronted with everything that is a subject for common sense.

If only, I read that contract from the start, there should have been no need for me to struggle in getting answers for the most "should-have-been-obvious-queries". Unfortunately, that statement is nothing but tagged under the section of "If only"s", prior proven to be devoid of action and authentic reasoning.

For now though, to collect the most basic Intel should be of utmost priority and listening to this peculiar announcement should give me some integral info and whatnot.

I was at the top of the school building that time together with s.h.i.+ro when the welcoming voice suddenly echoed through the whole city that has been just transported to a new realm. Lacrimosa told us to wait here as this Hermes will soon present himself together with the rules of the game. Yet, after that large "Welcome to Naethetvale" p.r.o.nouncement was made, silence engulfed the whole island, leaving everyone curious and somehow baffled of the quota.

"Most of the herrschers are here on this island," said Lacrimosa a while back. Yet, for sure, from the looks of the populace alone as seen from higher grounds, the visage spell that not everyone here knows of the situation, and that, not everyone is a delegate of that game. Presumably, they just got mixed up with us in the plan of that End guy to transport the whole island out of the world we knew. Imagine, the fear they are feeling as they are now in a world we know nothing about. Imagine the sadness as they got separated from their loved ones back there. Imagine, the despair, they should be feeling as they lost several special someones in the transmigration process alone. Well, I could only do so much as to imagine as there is certainly no way for me to feel those rundowns now.

s.h.i.+ro, being tired of our sight-seeing, has gone back to sleep again, but in my arms this time. Seeing her a.s.sured face while reminiscing the expressions she gave me that same night where she witnessed the death of her parents, gave me an impression that I should not underestimate the naivete yet the courageous capability of men to move on no matter how opaque a future may seem. Men, the only known existence that is advantageously juvenile, if they find themselves in a predicament where hope is no subst.i.tuent, they will make themselves as the hope, no matter how fragile that little light may be. At any rate, I"m sure that they"ll be able to recover by any means soon. At least, that is what I think.

Moreover, thinking about them now would only prove unfruitful at the end. It"s out of anyone"s control anyway. It"s also quite unlikely if someone here would possess the power to teleport someone back home. If that was the case, all of that horrendous display of that viscount figure would have been all for naught. I know and it"s a hundred percent plausible that those with a cameo of transporting us here had already planned ahead to never give s.p.a.ce for implications that would ruin their efforts mid-way.

Yet, what are they planning to do with these humans? Maybe they"ll be sent back with no recollection? It"s wildly possible. In my current data, it would be impossible to derive the most viable conclusion. The furthest I can do in this situation is hypothesizing hunches. First, I need inferential. What happened with that unseen announcer anyway? Technical problems?

The whole city was silent. You could only hear the gracious sways of the wind as we antic.i.p.ate the next scene. And then not yonder, at the highest building of the island situated at its epicenter, at the peak of the known City Hall. Someone with charisma, the same as that of a deity appeared. I believe that this could be the one Lacrimosa talked about. The persona tasked to explain everything from the get-go.

"Any idea who that is? " A familiar voice sounded at my side. It was Celes.

"Who knows. I have no idea" I replied, which was kind of a lie.

"Yeah?"

"Yes. By the way, where is Deus?"

"Same as what your G.o.ddess is doing. Resting in his realm."

"Hmm. How predictable"

There were several minutes of silence between us and in that time frame, I tried to distract myself from her, s.h.i.+fting my attention to the little girl sleeping soundly in my arms with her head in my shoulder. "Why are we always confronted by awkward meet-ups anyway?", was my main thought at that situation. But it was to be expected though, given that we bought lived most of our lives in the depravity of socialization.

"Hey, Jaiden."

"Yes?"

"What do you think will happen to those that were just unfortunately dragged alongside us?" I then looked at her and it was apparent in her face that she is concerned for their sake.

"Honestly, I don"t know myself. I tried to think of it earlier, but I came up with nothing but irrational maybes. For now, it"s best for us to listen to that announcer."

"Yeah. You"re right. It would be without merit to worry about them now. " Celes replied, which was an interesting point of view. Merit eh?

Well, setting that aside, the announcer is really taking his time preparing. It"s hard to wait in this kind of situation, especially for them. While each of us bares different motives to listen to this announcement, may it be to know the rules that govern, to know what will happen to these bunch who got dragged here, or to know what and where we were transported into, I can highly relate to them. To have answers for the questions that boggles us to no end is the very highest fulfillment as of now, and while the truth is a little delayed, there is very limited choice, and to wait is probably the best.

Do pardon me for the excessive vents of opinions just now.

"Mic test. Mic test. Eheem Eheem" The city"s public address system suddenly sounded, and in it is a whimsical melody that sounded alike to that voice that ecstatically welcomed us earlier.

What"s more trivial is that he intend to make use of the multimedia resources of the main city hall? He could have just made use of his supernatural abilities or whatnot. It"s too unconventional at this point. Hayst. There are no judging preferences now. The same could also be said with Lacrimosa in designing her realm and that Phantom Deus, who knows that we are already in an era where soap operas are almost none-existent chose to dress up like the main actors.

"Good afternoon everyone! I am a messenger sent by the magistrates for a very special task!" He added with this voice of natural antic.i.p.ation. What"s good about this anyway? You have us right here waiting or answers!

As I was thinking like that, it is apparent that I was not the only one generating the idea, as the crowd also got a little vicious ranting all of their anger and confusion of a sudden.

"I lost my child and you"re gonna greet me good morning?"

"You freak!"

"Where"s the mayor?"

"Bring back what we lost now!"

"He"s one of them! He"s gonna kill us all"

You could hear screams like that from afar. the whole population was in an uproar and you could see on their faces how baffling there scenario had become. It""s apparent that they were cowering in fear and is in an insatiable situation to know how and why this happened to them. Well, I can sort of understand them as I also had to go through the same. Now, how will that game master gain control over this?

"I know. And I humbly apologize for the loss you all were h.e.l.l-bent to go through. Truly, I humbly apologize", the game master proclaimed with his head bowing downwards s.h.i.+fting his expression from being ecstatic, to now, gloomy.

"Sorry? Just like that? There"s no way we can accept that!"

"Yeahhh!!"

"THAT"S IT?SORRY?"

"Bring back my mom!"

"Pay for the damage off of my property!"

"BRING THEM BACK! BRING THEM BACK! BRING THEM BACK!"

As though the person apologized with a purity of heart, the populace reacted the other way around, with violence and in a rebellious manner as if the entire place was in martial law in the pursuit to evict its echelon. They kept on shouting their hearts out as if the person standing higher front was to be blamed for the situation. Wait, is he?

In my mind, the official main theme of the anime "Compulsive gambler" was playing in the highest ba.s.s and tenacity there is as it"s melodies matched perfectly the scenario at hand. The insatiable hunger to know. The feeling of loss is far too great to be overwhelmed by a humble apology. And the compulsive atmosphere of intensity as the uproar goes wilder as time pa.s.ses. Now, how will this said-game master handle the quo?

The scenery was beginning to be tainted by the color of the dawning sun. Well, we were quite here for a while now.

And then not yonder, as the extravagance continued, I sensed this faint dark charisma coming out of the announcer himself. I can sense he is irritated.

Then suddenly, without even a clue of what he is about to display, the deity lifts his left arm pointing his fingers to visible ma.s.sive mountainous terrain miles from the island. From a state of utter chaos, everyone felt compelled to look into the direction where his hand is pointing...I held to sleeping s.h.i.+ro more tightly as I know that something is about to occur again. And Celes who was at my right side is calm and undaunted.

"You sure are calm"

"Oh, there"s no point of being afraid now."

"Yeah. You"re probably right. Being scared now that we are here is but an act of a coward who signed up for war but is unable to go to the front lines. Surely-"

"No. That"s not what I"m saying,"

"Huh?"

"Imagine this. For instance, you are by far the greatest nation that ever existed. Yet, a rival endeavors to bring you down throwing different accusations to you. What would you do?"

"So you mean?"

As we were still talking, suddenly you could hear sounds of trumpets blown by someone who got a D in music cla.s.s. It was loud and it seemed to engulf the entire sky. Rolling from different directions. And I am rather sure of who is causing it as there"s only one candid figure. Everyone, from an ecstatic tantrum of venting their feelings to a deity who was only tasked to explain the rules to us herrschers, turned out speechless with sweats running down their exhausted faces, scared and traumatized if they will perhaps once again endure an even more avid loss. They"re thinking, that if this were to be an attack it would even be more devastating as the perpetrator is standing in the midst of the island at point-blank range from definitely everyone here. But this time, unlike that with the summoning of that Atlas, they are now expecting it, still standing in their feet, paralyzed and stunned.

And then, the sounding trumpets ended. The sun was beginning to be ashamed as it sinks to the horizon every millisecond that pa.s.ses. Lacrimosa is surely taking her time resting there in her grand and relaxing realm while something is still expected to occur here on the outside.

"Sever"

Through the PA system, that word loudly echoed through the whole island. And then occurred the expected...

At approximately a hundred miles in distance, at the mountainous terrain where the hand of the announcer is pointed, unknown and peculiar-shaped creatures hastily began flying and creeping away for their safety as they sensed the danger that is fast approaching. Yet, that same danger was a little delayed.