Wes opened his eyes slowly, his head throbbing. Looking up at the ceiling, he reached up to the chair he had been sitting in. Looking around, he found the room empty. Finding it hard to settle the world's rocking in his vision, he looked around searching for clues as to what had happened.
Gingerly, he sat back into the seat he had been in and began to recall the chain of events before he had passed out.
Saying aloud, “Leave it to her to leave me on a cliff hanger.”
Not knowing how much time had passed, he called over Party Chat. But found nothing happening, bringing up his status, he clicked his tongue and activated Party Chat again.
Name: Wesley of 29744C
Race: Human
Age: 27
Unique Abilities: Imperial Over Metric, Back In My Day
Abilities: Deposit, Eternal Spark, Cleanse, Stopwatch,
Vigilant, Deviant, Symbiosis, H20,
Party Chat, Topographer, Superscription
Skills: N/A
Achievement(s): Bloody Soul, Pragmatic Savant,
Pacifists Envy
Trait(s): 3
Current Status: Healthy
Level 144
Savings: 4,157,153
Next Level: 4,299,816.96
Level 10 Exp Per Sec: .3456
Current Exp: 31,269.37
wager(+5)
There goes another five thousand experience. Sighing to himself, Wes closed his status and reached for his shoes under his chair. After putting on his left shoe with nothing out of the ordinary, when he went to put his right shoe on, he felt something. Reaching in, he pulled out a small folded paper that read.
BE A GOOD BOY AND STICK TO THE PLAN
Chuckling to himself, he nodded in agreement. The paper in his hand began to warm up before eventually smoking and combusting into flames. Wes instinctively let the paper go, but the fire had burned the paper completely before it hit the ground. Leaving only a few wisps of smoke.
Wes activated Cleanse and checked his status once more. Happy that he was still improving on his use of the ability. Using only 50 experience this time, thanks to keeping its radius focused around his body.
After finishing getting dressed, Wes looked around the empty room with chairs lining the walls. Sadness overtook him for a moment before he hardened himself and said to himself, Won’t be a family of one for much longer. Buck up!
Walking over to the door, he opened it and was greeted by Raegar and Mordune. They held their positions on either side like guards. Surprised, Wes asked, “Have you both been here the whole time?”
Mordune turned and bowed in one motion, “We have Master Wesley.”
Raegar followed Mordune with a bow of his own, “We are to accompany you to the Hall.”
“Who put you up to this?” Wes inquired.
“Ms. Dozel and Ms. Phony asked us to accompany you today.” Mordune answered.
Smiling to himself, Wes nodded and said, “By all means, lead the way. You guys are looking sharper than me.” Looking at Raegar, Wes added, “Bet everyone who hasn’t seen me before is going to think you are me. You handsome devil.”
Wes did not say those words to just offer flattery. Raegar looked to be chiseled out of gold. His solid build made it so he look both hardy and endearing. Patting both of their shoulders to force them up from their bows, Wes said, “Let’s go, you two. Best not keep the ladies waiting.”
Both Raegar and Mordune stood tall and began to lead Wes down the hall. Which Wes found to be a good thing, considering he had never been in his current location. With Rocen teleporting him in, Wes had hoped that someone would come and get him when he was ready.
The walk only took a few minutes; the bustling of staff in the halls let Wes know that the wedding was in full swing. He could see more servants running around than all of the people in his home village. They all held various things in their hands and would all stop and bow when they noticed him in the large hallway.
Not wanting to stop hundreds of times to tell them, “It’s okay, you can be on your way.” He instead chose to ignore them as best as he could, offering only a nod and throwing out a complimentary word every few paces. Such as good work or thank you for your hard work.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
The three men came to a stop in front of the largest doors he had ever seen. Wes estimated them to be at least fifty feet tall and twenty feet wide. Large golden lines were engraved all over the door, with him being so close that he could not make out the story they told, but all that gold, in conjunction with all the shiny gems dotting here and there on the door, let Wes know that they tried to say something. The other fact that it had escaped his noticed as the hall’s ceiling beginning to raise made him wonder what else he had missed.
Looking straight up, he could only faintly make out the corner of the ceiling from the small slice of wall above the doorway. The powder white stone reflected the light along the walls in such a way as not to make it seem that the height had increased.
Raegar asked, “Are you ready, Master Wesley?”
Looking to his left, he could see Raegar's hand resting on the shiny black handle of the large double doors. Nodding yes as he turned and adjusted his position to align with the crease of the doors.
Raegar pushed against both handles. The door stayed in his hand for a few inches before floating away smoothly, as light started to peek through the line between the doors, a chime, followed by three loud, hollow bangs rang out from behind the doors.
Raegar and Mordune shuffled over to the edges of the doors and bowed to him. Blinding light, followed by the assault of shuffling and hushed tones, assaulted two of Wes’s senses.
The first thing that his brain made sense of was the ungodly size of the hall he was supposed to be married in. Thousands of feet away was a raised platform at the same height as where he was standing. Just a few feet beyond that was an unfathomably large pane of what Wes assumed to be glass. The hall overlooked a mountain range of billions of glistening Gems. All sparkling in their own shade of hue. That would have been magnificent enough, but what lay on top of the upper portion of the landscape was a sea of colorful stars and a few nebulae. Clouds of gas intersected with the few galaxies in frame. At the very center of it all was a patch of utter blackness that appeared to be out of place with the sheer volume of light all fighting for attention.
“Hehumm, Master Wesley, if you will?”
Thankfully, Mordune snapped him out of daze. Nodding over to Mordune, Wes took a few steps forward while looking over the incalculable number of people who were all standing on their feet waiting for Wes to come down the steps into the bowl they were currently in. Looking down the dozen steps, Wes could see that it was all made of some material that was shinier than gold and silver combined. Standing with all the eyes on him, he felt his knees start to shake from just now realizing the magnitude of what he was about to do.
All these people are probably here for Phony. And she is going to be the second wife. Just what the hell did I get myself into?
Wes did his best to continue to the bottom of the steps. Looking over both shoulders as he scanned the hall. Finding that Mordune and Raegar followed behind a few paces. As he got closer to the ground, he started to look around at the curved walls and how they bled into the ceiling seamlessly. Not one inch did not tell a story. From battles to what looked like performances. Everything was especially curated to hold attention just long enough to get you to want to look at the next one.
With Wes looking over the hall, he misjudged where he was on the stairs and tried to step down again, even though he was already on the ground level. Letting out an embarrassed chuckle as his body shifted oddly, he felt the embarrassment wash over him.
The path leading up to the stage was no more than ten feet wide. The people along the aisle all stared directly into Wes’s eyes as their eyes met. Some offered a nod of encouragement, others offered their own version of disinterest.
The walk over to the stage would end up taking a lot longer than he could have hoped.
At the five-minute mark of walking to the stage, Wes found himself about halfway, so he picked up his pace for the last half. Reaching the platform in a little over ten minutes. Taking a big breath, Wes began to climb up the black staircase. As he got halfway up, he looked back quickly and saw that Mordune and Raegar were bowing at the outer edge of the stairs and not following him up.
Taking another big breath, Wes continued forward. When he reached the top stair, he felt a familiar mana saturate the area closest to him. Argyros pulled himself through the space to his direct left. He was looking behind Wes, out at the audience, and said, “You all have my thanks for performing your duties admirably. I’m sorry that you all will not be sticking with us, but please know that you have my thanks for sticking it out these past few of days. If your Master’s, Husbands, Wives, or servants are to attend. Now would be the time to get them.”
Confused, Wes turned around as over two-thirds of the audience began to teleport out. Nearly every single person in the first two hundred feet closest to the stage disappeared. Only to be replaced over the next thirty seconds by another person, or more accurately, another humanoid-shaped individual.
The humans who teleported in all wore extravagant attire. No two wore the same outfit. Even all the males had their own flavor of suit or piercing. Some had colored hair like a Coeus, and others sat on levitating discs. Old, young, and even a few of the scarcely seen cybernetic race were in the audience. Their glowing eyes and metal limbs, a dead giveaway.
Argyros waited another thirty seconds after Wes noticed the last person teleport in. “Good, our family will be closing off the local space now. All who do not wish to be closed in should leave immediately.”
Argyros held a smile as he scanned over the audience and waited twenty more seconds. “Good, Good. Know that any who try to extricate themselves before the conclusion of this lovely service will be met with swift consequences. Followed by a declaration of war with your family. Any medical emergencies or urgent matters shall be handled by your closest representative or by our wonderful healers.”
As Argyros held up his hand, hundreds of people, all wearing the same suit resembling Rocen and Coren, teleported into the aisles. Slapping his hands together, Argyros’s voice boomed out, “Now, if by chance anyone tries to intrude on today's festivities, I will ask that you do not do anything but defend yourself. And I must warn you, those defenses must be confined to yourself. You will be held accountable for the damage you do to our family's great hall. If you happen to take a life in your defense, your life shall follow soon after. This I do swear on the honor of my family.”
The crescendo of mana that had been building as Argyros spoke washed away as swiftly as it came. Argyros turned to Wes, put his hand on Wes’s shoulder, pulling him close. “Now, boy, you sure you don’t wish to make my daughter number one?”
Rolling his eyes, Wes answered, “If you had shown me this hall before, I may have, but we are all in agreement. Unless my two brides have changed their minds, then the answer is no.”
Laughing to himself, Argyos followed, “Can’t blame a father for trying. Good luck.” Argryos stuck out his hand.
Wes stuck out his hand and let Argyros shake his whole body violently. Before letting go, Argyros pulled Wes in and whispered, “Now the fun begins.”
Pulling away, Wes said, “No, that doesn’t happen until tonight.”
Argyros' grin shifted into a grimace, “I will make you pay for those words.”
Argyros turned and walked over to a seat that started to rise from directly in the middle of the stage, toward the intersection where the stage met the glass. He sat and held out his hand. As if carefully choreographed, Nia pulled herself out of the air and clasped her hand around Argyros' own. Her seat began to rise next to Argyros, and she took her seat.
Nia met his eyes with a fierce gaze, one that made Wes feel small and alone. She allowed her Mana to leak out for only a moment before she dispelled it.
Argyros snapped his fingers. The Loud hollow drums rang out into the hall. They built louder and louder, their pace quickened over and over. Until they more than doubled Wes’s rapid heart rate before they all stopped at once. And a door that Wes had not taken the time to notice, to the left of the door he had entered through, began to open.
With the door being a couple of hundred feet from the one he entered through, he didn’t notice the silver path that led from that door to its own steps leading up to the stage. Wes held his breath as he wondered who was supposed to come out first.
As the door opened, an announcement rang out in an unfamiliar voice. “All rise for Brugunnardozel of ChiShiKi Empire.”
