Chapter Text
Chapter 1
After helping Taylor and Cage get into the Capital, all Cale wanted to do was relax inside his room. Choi Han should have met Lock and Rosalyn by now, yet what was this uneasy feeling that Cale was feeling rising in his chest?
Taking a sip of the lemonade that Ron had brought him earlier, Cale couldn't help but tap his fingers on the desk. The uneasy feeling was making him restless, especially since he didn't know why it was happening.
After a few minutes of restlessly tapping on the desk, Cale released a sigh. Slouching back into the surprisingly soft chair, he stared up at the ceiling in dismay.
Yet the moment Cale had decided that he was probably overthinking was when something happened. It looked like his body was shattering. Cale didn't know how else to describe it. Cracks were appearing on his skin like he was breaking like glass.
"Human!?!" The little black dragon shouted in a panicked tone, causing Cale to look up and realize that the same thing was happening to the dragon.
Just before Cale could reach out to the panicking dragon, they both shattered.
--
Cale awoke to the sight of an empty cinema. Well, empty except for him and the dragon that was currently clutching his lap. Looking down at the distressed dragon, Cale couldn't help but run his hand over the dragon's smooth head. Petting the dragon's head to try to keep himself calm, Cale took stock of his situation.
Just when Cale was about to speak, more people started to appear on the seats of the once empty cinema. Most Cale didn't know but could recognize some based on their appearance. Surprisingly "Birth of a Hero" was accurate when describing the characters.
As if to mock him, Choi Han appeared on his right side, while Ron appeared on his left side. He was trapped. Getting up now would only draw attention to himself, plus with the dragon clutching his pants, he didn't know how he would get up in the first place.
"A cinema?" A soft murmur came from Choi Han as he stared around in shock. Turning to Choi Han, who had yet to notice him, Cale asked if he knew what was happening.
But Choi Han merely shook his head. "I'm sorry, Cale-nim. I was on the way to the Capital because there was something wrong with Lock, when all of a sudden, everyone started shattering."
Choi Han looked down. "I couldn't do anything..."
"I don't think anyone could have done anything."
"Huh?" Choi Han looked up, confused by Cale's words.
"Considering all the people present, and how we appeared here. There wasn't much that could've been done, so don't force the blame on your shoulders alone."
"Oh." Choi Han felt enlightened by Cale's response.
"Well said, Young Master." A seemingly warm voice said from Cale's left, reminding him that the scary old man was right next to him.
"Ron... Any ideas on where we are?" Cale asked the butler. A slight frown appeared on the old man's face; Ron shook his head. "No, Young master. This Ron is afraid that he doesn't know our current location."
So even Ron had no idea what was happening. Hearing grunts of struggles, Cale turned to see people attempting to get up from the seats, yet failing.
It was as if an invisible force was pushing them back down every time, they had even the idea of standing up.
Just as people were going to begin rioting, the large cinema screen began to flicker. The high-quality moving image of a humanoid woman with gold slit eyes appeared on the screen.
"Hello! Welcome to my viewing room!" She starts with a cheery tone, a wide smile on her face.
"OI! WHO ARE YOU, AND ARE YOU STRONG?!" Ah. So that burly man shouting at the screen was Toonka.
"I go by many names, but you can call me Chaos." She says with a sweet smile. "I've brought you here because the God of Death has lost a bet with me! So Chronos said that I could do what I wanted with his chosen so, I thought I show you guys the Wikipedia pages on you!"
What? Wikipedia? Also, did she say her name was Chaos? and did she mean Chronos the God?
"This is the God's of Death fault?! Is that why he was so quiet earlier?!" Cage shouts angrily.
"What's Wikipedia?" A red-haired woman who seems to be Rosalyn asks the deity.
"Hehe. Wikipedia is like an encyclopedia that is constantly rewriting itself! And well, there are pages dedicated to just you! It shows basic information as well as more in-depth information about people. Like their backstory, personality, etc." Golden eyes gleamed mischievously, her eyes meeting Cale's briefly.
"So, does anyone want to volunteer to go first? Because I can assure you, everyone here will have a turn whether you want to or not," she ended with a sing-song tone.
Obviously, no one volunteered. Cale could see Harol and some other people holding Toonka's mouth close so, he couldn't volunteer. Which was a smart idea in retrospect. Who other than Toonka would be stupid enough to reveal their weakness in front of so many people?
"Hmm. I should have expected this. Well, no worries then! Let's leave this up to chance!" Her figure moves to the side of the screen. A wheel with the names of everyone in the room slides up next to her.
"Since no one wants to volunteer, I'll just use this wheel to randomly select people!" With a quiet giggle, the woman reaches for the wheel, giving it a harsh pull-down.
The wheel spins the names a blur until it starts slowing down. Everyone was tense, no one wanted their secrets bared to others without their consent, but it seems like this deity didn't care.
A tense atmosphere had overtaken the room, as the wheel finally pauses on a name.
Cage.
"Fucking he-" The deity cuts the anger priestess off. "Oops! Guess the God of Death's bad luck is really affecting you, Miss Priestess! Yay! Let's finally begin!"
With a snap of her finger, she disappears from the monitor, replacing her is a screen showing a profile of Cage.
[Name: Cage
Aliases: The Crazy Priestess
Occupation: Priestess (Former)]
"W-wait! Former?! Do you mean I finally get excommunicated from that stupid church?!" Cage cheers in glee.
Taylor laughs at his best friend's enthusiasm.
While others don't know how to treat the Priestess glee.
[Affiliations: Church of Death (Former), Taylor Stan, Cale Henituse, God of Death.]
A couple of people raised their eyebrows when they saw that she was affiliated with Cale.
Only those involved knew the truth for now.
[Biographical Information
Marital Status: Single
Place of birth: Western Continent, Roan Kingdom.
Physical Description
Species: Human
Gender: Female
Hair Colour: Brown]
So far, no surprising pieces of information have appeared yet. No weakness like the woman had suggested. But these thoughts had come too soon.
[Cage is the priestess of the God of Death and Taylor Stan's close friend. She eventually becomes an ally of Cale Henituse. She is favoured by the God of Death much to her displeasure and is often talked directly to by him. She is also a master of mental torture and specializes in curses]
Beacrox eyed Cage with new interest. Perhaps he wants to trade tips in torture with her.
Others though wondered how she became affiliated with Cale Henituse, the trash of the count's family. Only those that had been travelling to the Capital with them would know for now though.
Others were curious about the fact that the God of Death favoured her even though it seemed that she hated him.
"You don't enjoy being beloved by a God?" A curious blonde boy asked Cage, causing her to scoff at the boy. "It has brought me nothing but bad luck being his favourite."
[Appearance: She has short brown hair, a floral tattoo on her right arm.
Abilities: Although she was not as sensitive as real mages, using divine powers allowed Cage to be pretty sensitive and perceptive toward her surroundings. She would be able to feel if any curses or negative energy were surrounding an item or a place. She was, after all, a servant of the God of Death.
Her curses are said to be really scary. Some people even said her curses were at the level of a necromancer, the cursed profession.]
"But I don't curse people." A hooded figure said quietly to a dark skin woman next to her. The woman was quick to reassure the girl that it was just a generalization.
It seems that the girl is Mary. The Necromancer. Then the dark-skinned woman next to her must be a dark elf.
"YOU SEEM STRONG! WE SHOULD FIGHT!" Toonka shouted as he attempted to force himself off of the seat. His struggles were of course, futile.
Cale didn't have much to say as he already knew about her skills. But it seems that the scary old man next to him was interested which was enough to make him want to shiver.
It seemed that not many people wanted to speak, the fear of attracting attention too much, he guessed.
[History
Original Plot: In the novel The Birth of a Hero, she was excommunicated due to going on a rampage after her best friend, Taylor Stan's death.]
"What?!" Cage couldn't help shouting in disbelief. Taylor who was also shaking, tried to calm her down, while others looked at them in pity but also confusion.
"H-hey! Chaos! What is the meaning of this?!" Cage yelled into the air, hoping that the wayward deity could hear her.
"I agree. What do you mean by original plot?" Cale needed to confirm something.
A cracking sound came from above as the deity appeared in the flesh. Starry hair seemed to defy gravity as she floated above them.
"It means what it means silly! Think of the Original plot as an alternative dimension or what could have been! And the current plot means your world. Okie? Bye Bye!"
She disappears with another crack, similar to the way Cale shattered. It must be her version of teleportation.
[Current Plot
In the current world, she was excommunicated from the church following Taylor Stan's deal with Crown Prince Alberu.]
This causes Alberu to tilt his head. They made a deal with him? For what, he wondered with a calculating gaze.
[The God of Death spoke to Cage from time to time. This had suddenly happened one day and would sporadically appear like this. Cage had hidden this fact from the church, and only Taylor and his three subordinates knew about it.]
"Why'd you hide the fact that the God of Death himself spoke to you?"
"Because being a priestess is the worst thing of course."
[Before the beginning of the current plot, the God of Death usually spoke to her about once a year but it started to happen more often before Taylor and Cage's arrival to the Puzzle City where they received a letter from Cale Henituse under a stone tower.]
"Ha! I knew it!" Cage exclaims smugly. Taylor though was shocked. Both turned towards Cale.
"Young Master. It was you who left the note?" Taylor asked the disgruntled redhead.
Others watched the interaction with curious gazes wondering the significance of the note.
Cale sighed knowing he couldn't get out of this and any lies could be disproven by the Wiki. "Yes."
But that didn't mean he had to tell them anything else.
[In the past, the God of Death only came to Cage when she was sleeping. Sleep was similar to death. That was why sleep was a path of sorts for the God of Death. However, at the Puzzle City for the first time, she had heard her lord while she was drinking.]
"So, the person's fate who he couldn't read was yours, Cale" Cage spoke thoughtfully, cutting her thoughts as Taylor elbowed her in the side.
"What?" One's who fate couldn't be read by a God? Was that possible? What made Cale Henituse so special?
[Trivia
- She finds the God of Death annoying and would always swear at him. She wanted him to stop paying attention to her.
- Cage likes to drink. She also carries shot glasses in the wide sleeves of her priestess outfit.]
Was this the reason that she allied herself with Cale, the trash of the Henituse territory?
Some turned to look discreetly at him while said 'Trash' was busy matching the information with the things he already knew.
- [Cage is good at acting.]
"Why are you good at acting?" Someone in the back couldn't help but ask.
"That's because I have to act nice as a priestess of the Church of Death. Which is horrible." Was the response the voice received.
- [Cage rarely engaged with people other than people from the temple or her close friends.
- She was someone who frequently cursed the temple of the God of Death but was still loved by the lord.]
"If he loved me so much, he'd leave me alone."
One did not have to guess to see who released that grumble.
- [She was someone who had experienced death many more times than anybody else because she was a priestess of the God of Death, thus causing her to be very clear about the value of life.]
Now that was something that Cale could relate to. Thinking back to his life in Korea. Surrounded by death, watching as the people he cared about disappeared, leaving him behind.
Without knowing, a forlorn look had unconsciously appeared on his face causing concern from the people around him. The little dragon on his lap nudges its head on his stomach, allowing Cale to push away the thoughts.
- [As a priestess, she needed to act all nice and innocent, even though she found that to be very annoying. That was the number one reason she wanted to be excommunicated.]
"Heh" This caused some amusement among the crowd. But some could understand. Forcing yourself to play nice wasn't fun.
- [The God of Death has asked Cage many times if she would like to become a Holy Maiden.]
"Before anyone asks! Being a holy maiden would be way worse! I'd have to act more nice and more people would seek me out wanting things from me so, no way!"
Many could tell that Cage was probably sick and tired of people wanting things from the God of Death but her being one of the only ways of him hearing their wants made them seek her out.
Which would of course get worse if she became a Holy Maiden. It would be a guarantee that the God of Death would hear their wishes.
The screen started to flicker once again. Chaos appears back on the screen. "Hello again!" She giggles.
"Did you all like the first profile? So, anyone wants to volunteer or do I need to spin the wheel again?"
Taylor being the loyal friend he was and due to the fact, his information would be shared sooner or later decided to volunteer.
At least it would be on his own terms.
"Okie! So, our beloved Taylor Stan is next!"