A Guide to Kingdom Building

132-X could hear the commotion of the outside world. He could hear it all. He could hear how the dwarf prayed for him to wake up. He could hear the conversations of the knights while they were caring for him. From what he could tell, it was about his recuperation—it wasn't going well for him at all.

Lord Prestonheim also came by and asked for his condition. He could feel in his voice how the Commander pitied him at such state. A man broken to the extent of no repair. What happened inside that cave was truly a horrifying end to those who came brushing along the monsters inside.

It was a terrible experience for him. But he managed his way through it. He couldn't recall most of what happened. He was afraid to. After those Obscuros attacked him, he really wanted them out of his memory.

132-X wanted to open up his eyes and prove to them that he's still alive. He wanted them to know that he was a tough one to kill. He wanted to prove to them that he was indeed someone they can call as a hero, like the lifetimes he had prior.

He still got it in him, even without Oyue's help, he knew he could find a way out of it. But there he was, leaning on to a god. The same gods who managed to screw with him lifetimes ago. At the back of his mind, Oyue was just a steppingstone for him and his freedom.

It's only for this one-time thing out of from his desperation. He promised himself never to listen nor call for her help ever again. This would be the last time he'll ever ask for help from a deity.

"Failure!" The sound echoed rang Servus 132-X's ear. "You're a failure!"

132-X tried to look in the darkness. He was alone and cold. Flashes of still images began to appear from the darkness. He caught a glimpse of the many hardships and deaths he had went through all his lifetimes. A nostalgia he never wished to see.

The still images began to move as it sequenced to the events it occurred in. He saw in vivid detail how his body was torn during that time he got eaten by a ravenous monster on his 4th reincarnation. He also saw his death on the hands of the cruel king during his 26th incarnation, drawn and quartered.

The moment sickened him. It got a lot worse when the images consecutively appeared replaying how he suffered his death, many times along the way. It was a painful and harsh reality for him to see himself torn and killed many times in over a hundred lifetimes. But it was real, it was the truth, and his body remembered every sense of it as it happened.

He felt a sickening feeling in his stomach. The nauseating flashbacks was unwelcomed in his party. It poked at everything he did during all his lifetimes and it mocked his very essence as a hero. His mistakes, his failures, the gods never let him forget those. Every time he died, the gods awaited his return in the Greater Heavens where he either gets celebrated or cursed by his actions.

"Arellin!" A familiar voice echoed in the darkness. "Arellin! Come here!" 132-X looked around and saw a fickle of light shining beyond the void. He followed the voice as the light became bigger and bigger until an image appeared in the darkness.

"R-Rheanel?!" 132-X's voice broke as feelings of nostalgia quickly swept him away from his logic. "I-is that—"

132-X knees gave in to the rushing emotions inside of him. His eyes began to water and suddenly, it became harder for him to speak. He couldn't believe his eyes! It's her, the woman he loved throughout his lifetimes. Now in front of him alive through the memories he thought he had lost after the High Chancellor's punishment.

"Rheanel…" He stood up and came close to the image while reaching out his hand trying to touch the face of the lover he loved across his many lifetimes.

"Do you want her back?" A low growling voice asked. "Do you—"

"Who's there?" 132-X looked around and saw nothing but darkness. "I am not afraid of you!"

"Perhaps." The voice replied.

The silence broke with a sound of footsteps approaching 132-X. The footsteps were human-like. 132-X readied himself for the stranger. He could hear his erratic heartbeat as he waited for the intruder to finally show himself.

"Perhaps, you won't be afraid of me." The voice echoed.

The stranger slowly emerged from the darkness. It wore similar clothing to the gods of the Greater Heavens. The black toga embroidered with swirling lines of gold glittered like stars in the darkness, a beautiful contrast to the one wearing it.

As it slowly showed himself it became apparent what it really was—an Obscuros. But he looked different from the ones he saw before. The stranger had an otherworldly allure. Its facial features were close to that of an elf.

Its almond-shaped eyes had an eerie tinge of blue. It had a beautiful curve at the bridge of its nose. Its lips are red and supple. A perfect fit for its elongated face. However, its beauty stopped there. Everything else were grotesque features. From its ash-colored skin with drawn patterns foreign and incomprehensible to 132-X. It had a horn sticking out of its left forehead adorned with gold and encrusted with jewels.

It was close to 7 footlings tall and had a body of a well-built man. The monster had muscular arms that had some sort of black chitin covering it like an armor and were long beyond the knee. Its lower appendages were that of a muscular man but still covered with the same hard chitin it had on its arms.

The monster grinned at him, "You must be Arellin. Nice to meet you!" The monster reached out its oddly shaped had hand.

132-X refused to clasp with it, "Who are you?" He asked.

"Me, you asked?" The stranger went closer to him. "I am a god! My name is Zados although, you humans call me Lunos. You can call me which ever works for you."

132-X slowly backed away from the so-called god. "What do you want from me?"

"Straight to the point, I like that!" The god teleported behind him. "I need you to worship me and become my envoy to the world!"

The god's sudden appearance behind him startled him. He backed away in fear. He shook his head.

"I AM NOT GOING TO BE A PAWN FOR YOUR SILLY GAMES! I DON'T NEED THE LIKES OF YOU!" 132-X said as he readied himself to fight him.

"Ooohh? Brave are we?" the god snickered. "You said you don't need us and yet, your powers came from the gods!"

"I acquired those powers myself!" He retorted. "They did nothing for me after I got the mark."

"You really over-estimate yourself, do you?" The god said. "Truth be told, the only reason you have succeeded those many lifetimes was because of gods. You are nothing more than a tool."

The comment infuriated 132-X. With all his might he went to punch the god, but he fell short. The god caught his punch by his hand and squeezed it.

"So bold of you to lift a hand on a god, Arelin!" The god squeezed it even more sinking his claws into 132-X's skin. "You jest, do you?"

The god flicked him away. 132-X tumbled across the darkness. The horned god took a deep breath.

"If you become my envoy, I will give you your powers back. You like that don't you?" the god smiled.

132-X spat, "I WILL NEVER BE A PAWN OF ANY OF YOU EV—"

"Or how about, getting her back?" the god snapped his fingers and revealed Rheanel's image.

132-X's eyes widened, his mouth ajar. "Y-you can bring her back?"

"Yes…along with your powers," the god approached 132-X sitting in the dark. "But I know that's not important! What's important is her."

The god blew on the image and suddenly it materialized into a living, breathing Rheanel.

"Arellin?" Rheanel reached out her hand.

132-X stood up and walked towards her when suddenly the god's grotesque looking arm blocked in between them.

"You stay where you are." The god said. "You can't get her unless you agree to my terms." He smiled.

132-X looked longingly at his lost love. This was the woman whom he truly loved across his lifetimes. He remembered her dying in his arms every single time. No matter what world it was, no matter what lifetime it was, she always wound-up dead.

He took it with the Council before. He begged them to spare her or make her like what he was, but the Council of the gods outright refused him. They explained to him that her soul was something out of their reach. It was an anomaly that even the most powerful gods couldn't reach, and mold like him.

It was a lame excuse that he later learned to be a lie. It was indeed possible to make her be like him. He tried to do it himself, as he was powerful enough to do so. He tried but ended up destroying the world, all because of love. A love he never sought to find no matter how many lifetimes went by.

"Be my envoy, and I'll even make her the same as you." The god smiled at him.

"W-what makes you think I should believe you?" 132-X hesitantly asked.

"Well, why should you not? After you wake up, I will help you resurrect her." The god smiled wider. "I tell you what? As a sign of good faith, let me give you back the mark you have."

The god reached out his fingers to 132-X's chest. He was ready to scribe the mark on his chest once more when a hand grabbed the god's hand out of nowhere.

"I will not allow it!" Oyue's voice echoed in anger.

"Y-You?!" exclaimed 132-X.

"O-Oyue? I thought you were…that's impossible! My—" The god frantically reacted.

"You cannot have him, Zaduriel!" She tightened her grip until the sound of cracking bones were audible.

The horned god gnashed his teeth in pain, "L-lady O-oyue…I…I…"

"Don't think for a moment that I didn't see your deeds!" She glared at him, "You are no god, and I won't let you corrupt him, you filthy Yldar!"

132-X interrupted them, "What are doing, Oyue? Release him!" He held her hand.

The god quickly released her grip and the self- proclaimed god cowered away into the darkness.

"NOOOO!!!" 132-X exclaimed as he tried to reach for Zados' hand. "I want—"

Oyue slapped him across the face. The sound of the slap echoed all through out and shattered the darkness, revealing the place that 132-X had known and missed.

"Would you stop your childish wiles, Adlaw-on?!" The deity chastised him. "And don't believe in everything he just told you! Those were lies!"

"Y-you?!" 132-X still holding his throbbing cheek. "W-why did you have to interfere?! He was going to get her back!"

The goddess sighed seeing how the former hero behaved, "You are but a child, Adlaw-on. Do you think, we can bring back the dead?"

132-X pointed at her, "You're a goddess! Why can't you?!"

"We cannot. No god can meddle with that." She answered.

"Then of what use of a god are you?!" He said. "You are the sa—"

Oyue slapped him again, this time on the other cheek.

"I am a god whose telling you the truth." Oyue explained. "I called you by your real name, Adlaw-on! Tell me this, were you ever called by your real name in your previous lifetimes by the gods who summoned you?"

132-X shook his head silently.

"Exactly proves my point!" Oyue said.