Chapter 12 : Imperator

Emma wasn't sure what she was expecting on the other side of the door; a Roman banquet hall perhaps, or maybe a recreation of their family home? She certainly hadn't anticipated finding herself in a lifeless black desert, stretching beyond the horizon as far as the eye could see. The sole source of illumination was a massive pillar of light, extending from the center of a ritual circle that burned Emma's eyes to look at, stretching all the way to the distant stars adorning the midnight sky. So much power, Emma marveled, spellbound by the magical display as the arcanivore within her urged her onward, to devour the pillar in its entirety and wield that power to reshape the world in her image, never mind the dangers of consuming an energy field larger than her head. "Wonderful, isn't it?" Felix's voice snapped Emma out of her daydreaming. "A single spark of humanity's True Will; a fathomless force for change in a world left stagnant for far too long, now repurposed to power the Dungeon as its Core. You're the first living human to see this in centuries; for a given value of living, at least." "Where are you?" Emma asked, looking around in vain to try and spot Felix; his voice offered no hints, appearing seemingly equidistant from every direction. "I'm all around you, big sis. In the sand beneath your feet and the stars on high; in the crowds of the arena and the theater alike. There's no divisibility once the contract is signed between Dungeon and Master. I simply am." "Yeah, about that, mind filling in the gaps for me?" Emma requested, gesturing to her armor-clad form. "As you can see, I've had some experience with unusual powers too, but nothing at all like what you're describing." "Hmm. Ah, I had so many ways to explain lined up in my head, but now that you're actually here I find myself tongue-tied. Just like blanking after studying so hard for a test, how frustrating..." Emma kept quiet, used to her brother's idiosyncrasies and knowing he gathered his thoughts fastest in silence. "So, you know how you're pretty bad at languages?" "English is the only language I need." Emma responded automatically, annoyed that Felix had chosen to begin by poking at an old sore spot. "Not the point, sis," Felix chuckled. "Remember how you used to complain about my grades? How did I always get top scores in Spanish without ever seeming to try, even if my grades in math and science left a lot to be desired?" "That does sound somewhat familiar," Emma admitted. "But I grew out of it right? People are good at different things; you had sports, languages and history, while I was better at anything involving numbers or chemicals." "Yeah, but that's the thing, I wasn't better at languages. I'm not better at picking things up, pronunciation or grammar or any of that. Whenever I read a book, it just looks like plain English to me, and whenever I speak there's a toggle in my head where I can choose which language to use, and it's been like that for my entire life." "What," Emma deadpanned. "You never mentioned any of this before." "Of course I didn't. I might not have been the smartest kid on the block, but even I knew showing that off meant a one-way trip to some government lab. Anyway, we're getting off track here. The point is, I can read anything put in front of me, and that includes documents written in languages that supposedly died out around the time George Washington was born. Strangely, both our parents had plenty of such documents in their file cabinets." You broke into our parents' rooms? Emma almost blurted out, before she processed the rest of what Felix said. Emma was back in her bedroom before she could reply, a newfound weight nestled in her hand. [When in Rome - Bonus Objective: Deal with Imperator Felix Knight complete! Reward: First Hint (The Apocalypse) obtained. Main Quest has updated! When In Rome Objective: Defeat Academia Mortalis -Clear the First Trial [X] -Clear the Second Trial [X] -Clear the Third Trial -Clear the Fourth Trial [X] Reward: Key to the Dungeon Side Quest complete! High School Musical Objective: Find a working digital music player [X] Reward: Built-in song library Integrating library please stand by...] Emma lay down on her bed as she stared at the battered iPod Classic in her hand, already starting to dissolve as the System devoured its contents (literally and metaphorically). All the while, the contents of the previous conversation played in her head, contextualizing an entire lifetime as many events from her childhood took on a strange new light. Despite her brother's words, Emma didn't end up getting much sleep at all that night.