Jace

“...What?” I asked Navarax. That was out of the blue, more so than normal.

“An alliance, a treaty between two nations.” Navarax said. I was still a little confused as to why the sudden question. “In this case, it'd be a treaty of peace between Boreal Valley and The Parathian Empire.”

I stared at Navarax in… well, I don’t know but at that moment I don’t know what to think.

“My lord is this… wise?” Twilight asked. I looked at her with a frowned.

“Hey now, I take offense to that.” I looked back at Navarax. “But she does bring up a good question, where did this come from?”

“On the way back I had noticed the conditions of this world and saw countless unopened rifts across the skies, ground and the buildings. Each of these rifts will prove to be a threat not only to you but everyone on this planet as well.” He said, placing his hands behind his back as he did.

“But how?” I asked him, seeing Twilight taking a glance at the two sleeping girls.

“A question even I don't know the answer of, but I have the solution to stop them from ever opening and for that I need a group of my men to set foot here. Not only that but with this treaty I am able to oversee your progress in controlling your new found chaos.” He finished explaining after stopping beside Twilight. I thought about his words but another thought filled my mind.

'Is there more to this? If I go through with this what would happen if things go sideways. Plus sure the rifts are a threat to the world but they are also interesting. The information from what we got so far is fascinating.’ I frowned a bit. ‘But they are also dangerous with the creatures that came through, there already reports of them settling into this world already.’ I went back and forth with the idea in my head. I have done this sort of thing in the past with the other kingdoms but those are kingdoms and this is an Empire. Sure there's the Crystal Empire but I seen it, not so much an Empire. I sighed and looked at the fire.

‘Yorshka, I ask for your council.’ I said. The thought sounded it was in a tunnel that echoed down it.

‘What troubles you my lord?’ she asked. I began to explain what transpired and what Navarax what has told me.

‘What are your thoughts on it?’ I asked her. She didn't say anything at first as she thought about it.

‘It's true that the rifts are most interesting to research but they also pose a threat. If I have to ask, what does Navarax want? Having a treaty with him does mean of trade and we may or may not have whatever he wants, just know this whatever you decide on what to do I'll stand by you.’

I nodded and looked back at the two. “I thought about it and I do have some questions.”

“Ask away.” He said, taking a seat. I took a seat a cross from him.

“This treaty, you said it will both help with the rising rift problem and to keep an eye on me with the Chaos but that what you are giving me, now the question is what can I give back?” I said.

“It is quite simple, all I ask of you in return is a favor.” He answered, leaning back onto his seat.

“A favor? I thought it was more of trading or something.” For the first time, I think, he raised an eyebrow. “Hey, its how I think. I'm one of those people that knows nothing in the world is free.”

“If you haven't figured it out, I'm not from this world but what I ask of you isn't a simple favor.” He said. For a brief second, his eyes showed sadness. I narrowed my eyes a bit as it became clear. I leaned forward a bit.

“Look, this treaty has to have something from both sides, mostly so my head would think right, but what you are… maybe asking for I won’t do as a Lord.” I crack my fingers and took a glance over at the two sleeping on the couch. “I will do it as a friend.”

“The favor revolves around Solaris and Lunar Eclipse, I do hope you remember them.” He said. I nodded as I remembered the two. I grinned a bit.

“How can I not, you got eaten by a iron dragon and killed it from the inside.” I said as I tilted my head a bit. “Fun times.” This got me an odd look from Twilight.

“Yes and those were good times but… they're... gone.” He said, his sadness showing through his facial expression. “When I forced the Universe to reset, I didn't count on one thing. Anything and everything with pure chaos be it tamed or untamed will move on just as I did after the reset. I've spent countless years searching for them but never found a single clue that would lead me to them. My favor is simple, if you ever see them, please contact me immediately.” He finished, looking onto the floor.

“If I find anything that is related to them I’ll send a message over to you.” I told him. I saw him look up at me, his expression changed to hopeful.

“Thank you, it good to know that I could still rely on you after all this time.” He said with a sad smile. “We'll need to head to the Valley for the signing and to establish an embassy.” He said afterward.

“Right!” I shot up and turned to the hallway. “The door is this way.”

“What?” Twilight said.

“Sure you have a cool dropship but it’s too slow, my way is faster.” I said with a smile as I headed to the door.

“It is best not to question it, my dear.” Navarax said as they followed behind.

We stepped out of the doorway into the Valley. I took a deep breath of the air, the fresh crisp air filled my lungs which drew a smile. I looked over and saw Yorshka waiting for me with two guards that wore much different armor.

“That’s new.” I said to her.

“Indeed, I guess there’s is an upside to the rifts other then the creatures. The past few months the Valley has seen a boom in technology yet the people are still learning how to use them.” she explained. Her focus shifted to Navarax and Twilight and bowed. “I welcome you both to the Boreal Valley.”

“It is good to see you again, Lady Yorshka.” Navarax said with a bow of his own.

“The same goes to you, lord Navarax.” her gaze shifted towards Twilight. “As to you Lady Twilight.” Twilight bowed in respect but I could tell she was confused.

“Let’s get this show on the way, shall we.” I said with a clap.

“Of course, I have a room ready just a short walk away.” Yorshka said. We all headed down towards the room. On the way I looked out of the windows that showed the training yard, it showed knights training with the new equipment and gear. At least they are adapting to the new stuff nicely.

“In case you wonder what you will benefit in trading with my Empire, we can send exotic fruits and spices, medicine, weapons more advanced than the ones you have, armor that could withstand even the fires of hell and if requested, I can make an arrangement of a highly trained military officer. Anything that is in my power, I will be willing to share.” Navarax said as we walked.

“That’s interesting, now for us to be trading back, hmm.” I said and I thought about it.

“I have already took the liberty to gather what we have from the Valley.” Yorshka said as we got to the door. It opened to a large room with a dark wood table. Around were servants holding items. As we sat down one of them holding a glass jar walked over and set it down.

“This crystal has been found some time ago and is used for many uses to it as far as we seen.” Yorshka began. The crystal in question was about three inches in size and two across. “This one is one of my favorite in its use.”

With a nod the servant lifted the jar and music, a simple flute sounding music began. I smiled as I listened. After a few minutes of listening it was cut off by the jar being put back on. The servant stepped back as another came up behind Twilight and offered a large book.

“I have sent messages to the kingdom of Lothric who has established trade with sometime ago and they have sent one of their tomes of the Arcane to offer of interest.” Yorshka said to me. She looked back at Twilight as she started to read. “The book in question has been hand written by one of the mages about twenty thousand years ago and yet they are still making copies.”

Twilight had a goofy grin as she read but stopped after five minutes and looked up from the book only to blush in embarrassment as me, Yorshka and Navarax stared at her. She closed the book and handed it back to the servant with awkward laugh. The third servant walked up with an orb and place it down.

“We have been working on some trials to mold magic into technology and so far…” I began as I tap the orb with lit up with blue light. It flouted a bit as runes started to flouted around it. “We came up with this, though you might have something like it already.” I said with a sheepish smile to Navarax.

“I appreciate the offers but there is only one thing the Empire is looking for. If you recall earlier today that I had told you, Jace, how I've forced my universe to reset.” Navarax said.

Yorshka looked over at me with an arched eyebrow. I raised a hand to leave it at is. She nodded and looked back.

“I see, at least we do hope these items and any other are worthy for trade.” she said with a smile.

“They are priceless but deadly. This…” He said, projecting an image from his hand.

“Is a Chaos shard. Only seven of them exist across the multiverse. These shards are or were a part of me, a part of my power but I was shattered and wish to regain my power. Be warned, a single touch of the shard will break anyones mentality as it adapts to the person who touches it.” He finished before shutting off the projection.

“I’ll… keep that in mind…” I said to him. Yorshka nodded.

“As any case, these are but few we have to offer.” she explained.

“We will accept.” Navarax said with a nod. Yorshka smiled and with a twist of her wrist a piece of paper appeared.

“As much as friendships goes, it’s best if the four of us have it signed, just to make sure.” She said. Navarax took the paper and read it over. He then signed it before giving it to Twilight.

“If I may ask, is there a building that could be used as an embassy?” Navarax asked with a raised brow

“We do.” Yorshka said as again she gestures her hand. An image of a building appeared on the table. “This is one of the few empty buildings that are waiting to be used, or if you want we can build you one.”

“That one will do. Now the representative of the Empire is a man I trust in regards to politics.” He said just as the door opened. The first to enter were three guards, all of which looked identical to each other.

They scanned the room before nodding at the last person to enter. With just a single look, the man's identity was revealed to me.

“Blueblood?” I said with a tilt of my head. He looked towards me and shook his head.

“I don't go by that name anymore. It's Wilhelm Nordman LeBleu and I do hope you remember it.” He said in a polite manner before walking up to us but stopped and turned towards Navarax.

“My lord.” Blue-Wilhelm said, placing a fist above the center of his chest and bowing. Navarax only nodded.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Wilhelm.” Yorshka said with a smile. Turning towards Yorshka, Wilhelm then bowed.

“A pleasure to meet you both.” he said. I got to admit, I like the more polite version of Blue. The name is better as well. As I looked at him I saw something different about him as well. He looks a bit older than his counterpart.

“So, unless we have other business here I’ll go and get Sir Wilhelm known with the embassy.” Yorshka said as she stands up. She and Wilhelm, with the two set of guards, head out leaving the three of us alone.

“Well… that went well.” I said as I sighed. I pinch the bridge of my nose as I thought back on everything.

“Were you expecting anything else to occur?” Twilight asked, crossing her arms. I opened one of my eyes and looked at her.

“I’m a man with a lot of patience when needed, but when it comes to this sort of thing it’s not as good.” I closed my eyes and thought back to the past. “I've been in a time where hope was thin and dry, everything to the monsters to the very land was trying to kill you, no one thought on politics only survival.”

“Now that everything is done, have the people notified of the Empire's new friend.” Navarax said to Twilight and without a second to waste, she began furiously typing onto her wrist before nodding.

“Done. They should be notified via news broadcast.” She said in a serious tone. Navarax gave her a genuine smile, causing the stone cold woman to blush. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Now, do you wish for a brief glimpse over what I rule?” Navarax asked, leaning a little forwards from his seat. Shrugging my response, I didn't think anything bad could happen by just looking.

“Sure, I'm actually curious.” I answered him, earning a nod from the chaotic being. He stood up before lightly tapping his wrist and placing something onto the table. Soon enough the small object then projected a hologram of Space.

“Most of the planets you see here are united under one banner.” As he said this, each projection of planets were then marked with a symbol. I let out a whistle at this.

“That's something.” I said. I watched as one of the planets move around with the symbol on it.

There were hundreds- no, thousands upon thousands of planets marked with the same symbol. There were some being marked, signifying that what I saw was but a portion of the United worlds.

“Each planet holds their own division of soldiers. All of them trained under their respected ranks. Engineers, Scientists, Doctors, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and more.” He said, the projector now showed row upon row of soldiers.

“Each have their own reason for enlisting, some do it because it pays well while others enlist to prove their worth. Each soldier is different in every aspect except for one thing, their undying loyalty to the Empire and its people.” Navarax said, now showing a close up of those soldiers.

Navarax Parath

“As sinister as may look, the soldiers are trained to defend the innocent even if it sacrificing themselves.” I told the man that sat in front of me. It had seemed that the servants that crowded the room were stunned to see and hear of The Empire.

“But why have an army if everything in the map you showed was under your rule?” Jace asked, curious to know.

“There those who accept my rule for an era of peace while others chose to follow their pride, forming a rebellion that not only places my soldiers into conflict but the citizens as well as the rebellion will use them as leverage.” I answered him, making my disgust towards those who rebel. Twilight shifted uncomfortably, knowing how I felt.

“I see,” Jace said. He stared at the images, as he did I saw something in his eyes, doubt and pain.

“Is something wrong?” I asked him. His eyes flicked over to me for a moment.

“I was never meant to be a ruler.” he points at the images. “Something this big or just the Valley, I'm not fit to be one.”

“No one is ever truly fit to rule, even me. To put it simply, we rulers set things in motion and allow others to keep it in motion via any means.” I told him.

“Set things in motion…” he looked at the servants and waved his hand for them to leave. When the last one closed the door Jace looked at his gauntlet. “That meaning, it holds more weight here than you think.”

“And why is that?” Twilight asked. Jace looked at her for a moment before speaking.

“This doesn’t leave this room.” before either of us could say anything he puts his hand down on the table and smoke begin to fill the room. After a few minutes it cleared and I saw that we were in a different place. The land was barend with nothing but weapons littered the ground. I looked up and saw a solar eclipse of some kind. I looked down from it and saw someone sitting in front of a fire with their head down.

“Where are we?” Twilight asked. I looked at her then started to walk a bit closer to the man. As we walked I heard a gasp from behind me, I turned as saw Twilight’s hand on one of the weapons, her eyes were glazed over as they dart around. I grabbed her and pull her away, she started to breath heavy. “What… what happened? I-I saw-”

“It is better if you don't touch anything, my dear.” I told her, worried about her safety. We walked closer to the figure, as we did I saw that the man was Jace. We came up to him but he didn’t turn to greet us.

“Is he… alright?” Twilight asked. I didn’t say anything as I got closer. I reached out to try to get his attention; but when my hand came to contact my vision blurred as images filled it’s space. What was a second felt like an eternity. I blinked and saw that we were back in the room, only much darker. Jace was holding a small flame in his hand as he watched us. I noticed that small embers were coming off of him, his eyes shone with a fire like glow.

“Now do you understand?” he asked me. His voice sounded worn and ageless.

My response was in the form of a frown before a snap of a finger caused the room to brighten. I could see the look of confusion from him as this happened.

“What I understand is that you wear a mask, one that you hope and pray that will never break but what allowed me to see not only made me realize that, I could had caught a glimpse into your future.” I told him. He stared at me for a minute before speaking.

“A mask huh, yeah you can call it that. I live my first life through that all those years ago, I don't even know how long it was but… well, I just put it in the 'ages’ group.” he puts his hand over his face. “I sat there, if front of that bonfire for so long and do you know what I did in that time?”

I didn't say anything to him. He lowered his hand and looked up at the ceiling, smiling. “I listened to every soul that did what I did, I listened to every cry, rant, yell, and whisper of every soul that I could hear. Oh~ the stories they told, it was… oddly wonderful.”

“I don't understand.” Twilight said. “You're saying that it's wonderful but I'm getting the feeling that it's not.”

“That's right, it may sound great how I'm saying it but straight up it's awful. What I did was resetting the cycle so that after so many years someone else would take my place and reset it again.” Jace explained. I let out a sigh.

“Let us just pretend this never happened. We have company.” I said just as the door opened behind me. I saw that it was one of the guards from here.

“Err, sorry to interrupt but we have a problem.” the guard said. Jace stood up at this.

“What's wrong?” he asked.

“It's Captain Light, my lord, she found out that there's a Blueblood look-a-like and now she's on the warpath.”

No one said anything, we just stared at him. The silence was broken when Jace stood up.

“Well, let's go stop her before she breaks the treaty that only lasted twelve minutes.”

Jace

“If I can ask, who’s this Captain Light?” Twilight asked with her helmet on.

“Sarah light, captain of the Darkmoon knights who used to follow Yorshka when she was captain.” I tilted my head a bit. “Well they still do but she’s not the captain anymore.”

We headed towards the building Yorshka and Wilhelm were looking at. I speeded walk as they ether had to walk as fast or jog to keep up, Navarax was easily keeping up with me as I continued talking.

“I met her a few times but by the way Yorshka talk about her she’s probably one of a few best knights here. But she’s known to be a bit… temperamental. Quick to anger and what not.” I told them. Navarax tilted his head a bit and hummed to himself.

“I’m getting the feeling that I have met her before.” he said as we turned a corner.

“That’s… not that surprising, that last time you been here you saw her yelling at someone. Though she won’t go by her old name Moonlight.” I told him. He looked over at me.

“She changed her name?” he asked. I just shrugged.

“Nothing wrong with changing one's name, it took a bit to get used to it but hey it kinda suits her.” I told him. As we walked I thought back on what Navarax said in the room, about he could have seen a bit into my future. I walked a bit faster to get away from Twilight and the guard that was following us. Navarax matched my pace until we were a bit away. “What do you mean by seeing my future?”

“Time is an oddity, so is the way it moves. Think of time as a tree and each decision you make is a branch. For example, you chose to sign the treaty and with that decision a branch was made, this branch represents another timeline.” He said in an informative tone. “I've seen the path you take and with that, your next fork on the road.”

“Right, if you can see my future can ya keep it to yourself, no spoilers.” I told him.

“I wasn't going to tell you anyway, doing so will force me to wipe your memory.” He said in a tone that suggested that he had done it before. I just smiled.

“That's… somewhat creepy, again don't tell me. There's no fun knowing what's going to happen.” I told him. We continued on until we got to the street where the embassy is on. Nothing is destroyed so that's good.

“Does this captain have anything against Wilhelm?” Navarax asked.

“With Wilhelm, no not really. The person Wilhelm looks like yes.” I frowned a bit. “I don't want to get into details but let's just say Blueblood is a giant asshole.”

“Though the similarities between the two are on par, their age is not. Wilhelm is, in human years, in his late thirties and not only that, his military training could very well place him as one of my spies or assassins.” Navarax said, speaking highly of Wilhelm.

“I now have an assassin in the kingdom, great.” I thought. Sure Navarax is a friend, but my paranoia thinks ahead. I looked over and saw that we were here. The two were talking to each other before looking at us.

“Greetings, I hope this building suit your needs?” I asked Wilhelm.

“It is better than anticipated, though an internal remodeling could be done but I will discuss that later.” Wilhelm said.

“Internal remodeling huh, well I might know someone that can do something about that. I’ll send a message and-”

“THERE YOU ARE!!!” someone yelled. I looked over and saw Sarah marching over to us. I sighed and moved in front.

“Captain Light, if you would allow me to explain-”

“Yeah yeah, can it lordy.” she hastily said as she walks passed. Lordy? “You have some nerve coming back here you pig face son of a-” I turned to see her standing in front of Wilhelm. She looked over at me with an confused look. “Who’s this guy and why does he look like that asshole?”

I facepalmed. “Captain Light, allow me to introduce you to Wilhelm Nordman LeBleu,” I paused to look at him. “Which I believe that I said it right, he’s going to be here to keep the treaty between the Boreal Valley and the Parathian Empire.”

She raised an eyebrow at me and I pointed at Navarax. She looked at him then at the rest of them. “Alright, so I came all the way down here for nothing, great.” With that she turned and started to walk away. I saw that she was wearing a training outfit.

“Hey, aren’t you going to apologize?!” Twilight called out.

“I will when hell freeze over princess,” she called back. I saw Navarax looked over at me with his own raised eyebrow.

“She doesn’t trust others that well, so something like that is normal.” I said.

“I have no concern over her trust but disrespecting a soldier, ambassador or leader of a nation could lead to war. Don't let this ruin the newly formed friendship between our nations.” He said to me, warning what could happen. I nodded, unsure if it was just a warning or a threat. I turned to look at Wilhelm.

“I've taken the liberty to see one of the many unopened rifts located in Boreal Valley. It'll take some time but rest assured, the threat the rifts bring will be eradicated along with the rifts themselves.” Wilhelm said in an informative tone as he handed me a nap of the valley. There were circles drawn in specific areas of the map. “I suggest you post guards around the red marked areas. The red marked ones are the rifts expected to open at anytime.”

“Right, I'll also send someone over to work on the inside of the embassy.” I told him.

With a nod, he turned around and walked towards one of his guards. I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote on it. I passed it off to one of the knights.

“If you wish to request a specific item or person, Wilhelm here will make the arrangements. Our deliveries will be brought via cargo ships.” Navarax said, informing me as he did.

I nodded at him. At that moment I felt a chill run up my spine. I frowned as I looked around.

“My lord…” one of the knights spoke.

“How many and where?” I asked. The knight was somewhat surprised at that.

“Two rifts, one a couple clicks to the north and the other to the east.” he told me. I frowned at this, they were far apart and hitting one and going for the other will take to long.

“Split up into two groups, try to contain whatever comes out of them.” The guards saluted to me and headed off. I sighed and looked at Yorshka. “I want you and Wilhelm to get into the embassy, it probably the safest place to be.”

“Of course, this way lord Wilhelm.” Yorshka led him into the building. I looked up to the sky and saw that the weather was turning for the worse.

“If I can ask, how can this place be the safest place? Wouldn't a bunker be better?” Twilight asked.

“That's true, which is why the buildings, counting this one, that Your show picked are bunkers.” I turned around looking at the sky. “A couple hundred thousand years ago I pick a few hundred buildings in the city to be fortified to be bunkers, other than the castle they are the safest places to be. Hell, even if the wrath of God came down they have a high chance to survive.”

I looked back at the two and saw Twilight looking at me. Her helmet hid her emotion but I felt she's raising an eyebrow at me. “Hey, if there's one thing to know about me is that I'm paranoid about everything. Ask Navarax, he knows how paranoid I can get.”

Twilight stared at me before slowly looking a Navarax. The latter only blinked, looking towards the end of the road. Navarax mumbled something under his breath.

I followed his gaze, seeing nothing. Opening my mouth to say something, I stopped as the actual air itself rippled like a droplet of water on a puddle.

“You see it too, I presume.” I heard the man say. Nodding, I turned to look at him.

“It looks bad.” I told him only to get a disapproving shake of the head.

“Another rift but unlike any other, this one is forcing itself to stay closed. A ripple means that it grows weak and will create a tear, an unstable version of a rift that can spew something or someone at random before closing itself again.” He said before looking towards me. “When I said I saw a glimpse of your future, it was related to this rift and saw what comes out.”

I looked over at the rift, I walked forward slowly as I cracked a few knuckles. I was about six feet away. I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and I saw that it was Navarax.

“Something up? Or is the thing coming out something bad?” I asked him.

“Move to the left.” he said. I looked at him and then the rift. I took a few steps to the left as something shot out of the rift like a freight train, missing me by a foot. Out of instinct I thrust my hand out and made a net of magic to catch the being.

“Thanks for the heads up.” I said. I set the magic net down and saw someone in it. I raised an eyebrow at this and looked at Navarax, who was also staring at the person. “So, what you have in mind?”

“This being…” He said, narrowing his eyes at the unconscious being. “It is best to treat his wounds, a few cuts and bruises and check if he has a concussion.” He told me.

“You sound like you’re going somewhere.” I said in a joking matter. He looked at me and, of course, he had a serious expression.

“I cannot stay any longer, I have other matters to attend to.” He said with a deadpan tone.

“Right, well I had to admit it’s nice to see you again and I have a feeling that we’re going to see each other in the days to come.” I said to him.

“It has been a pleasure seeing you as well, old friend.” He said before walking away with Twilight in tow. He stopped and glanced back at me. “Remember, your tests will come at random and you will be judged by your every move.” With that, both he and Twilight seemingly vanished in a blue light. I chuckled a bit.

“Things never stop getting interesting.” I went over to the unconscious being on the ground. Other than a few cuts and bruises and broken bones he seemed alright. Putting my hand over him small embers begin to fall onto him, I watched as his body begin to heal. After that I checked his pulse, if he had one.

“Well, at least you’re alive so that’s good.” I muttered as I felt a buzz in my back pocket. I pulled out a headset and clip it to my ear. “Yes?”

“My lord, the rift in the east is under control and the devices to close it are in place.” a voice said.

“I see, what about the one in the north?” Another buzz and I could hear gunfire.

“Creatures are coming threw the rift at the north side and we’re having troubles.” a voice said as another set of gunfire and other noises. “And Captain Light is having a blast by the way.”

I chuckled. “Right, I want those two rifts under control and I want two groups of knights at the places that are said to hold unopened ones.” I looked down at the man. “Also I want some medical personnel up to the castle right away.”

“Yes my lord!” both voices said. I pulled the headset out and picked up the body.

“Well, today is interesting.” I said as I remembered something. I waved my hand to cancel a spell before moving forward. Ash and embers started to swirl around me before teleporting to the castle.

Author's Notes:

For those are wondering what's with the futuristic armored knight and stuff, allow me to explain simply: There are more stuff other than monsters that comes out from the Rifts. :)

See you all in the next chapter :)