Death comes swiftly for him.
Rejection follows within moments.
Aeons pass.
The universe ends.
A new one begins.
Aeons pass.
A being reaches out. Exploring, searching for knowledge.
Aeons pass.
It brushes against his essence. Retracting with haste.
A millennium passes.
It's search has started again. More wary, but trembling with excitement.
A Century passes.
Time has dulled its caution and its attention turns to him.
Gently it caresses, carefully testing for a reaction. Nothing happens.
Now less careful it starts prodding. Nothing. It is surprised.
It did not think him rigid. Curiosity flares. More tests devised.
Its testing begins with a blistering pace.
Century's pass.
Over time options are exhausted.
No matter, more tests are devised and as the being grows, knowledge and power is amassed and refined, there is ever more to be learned.
But time becomes scarce. More and more matters require its attention.
Eventually its responsibilities become too much. It needs a break. But leaving this riddle unsolved is unacceptable. Where it will go its more common methods of experimentation will be unavailable.
A new test is devised. Perhaps it will allow for a whole new perspective.
A year passes.
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The room is bare. White walled with only a bed. A tall woman sits on its edge, in her hands is a ball. It is colorful, with swirls shifting through the visible spectrum, dominated by Black and white. The other colors intermingle, fusing at the edges and shifting from shade to shade. But where black and white meet they do not, remaining distinct with clear borders .
On the bed lies a body. No distinct features, shaped more like a mannequin. The face is completely flat, no hair, even the feet are a solid mass.
Leaning forward over the thing the woman places the orb on its chest and with a violent motion slams it in.
The formless body shifts and writhes, forming a Human body. It is tall and thin, if not for its penis it could have been the body of a flat chested woman.
Light black hair grows on its scalp. A minute passes before the body lies still.
She turns him over, taking care so he cannot suffocate when breathing becomes a necessity.
Straddling his back she takes a deep breath to fortify herself.
Drawing out the Falna of this man is exhausting. Like inscribing a series of books where the average person would only have a few pages, at most a chapter.
But she manages, with the Falna's ability to connect the 'story' of a person to their body it can also bind a spirit.
His back arches, pushing the woman from the bed. A shuddering breath marks the end of her work.
Brushing nonexistent dirt from her clothes the woman stands and observes her handiwork.
The male, probably human, sleeps. Perhaps the body is still adapting? No matter.
On his back is her grace.
Lelouch vi Britannia
Lv. 1
Strength: I 0
Endurance: I 0
Perception: I 0
Agility: I 0
Magic: I 0
Skills:
The Demon: I "To defeat evil, I must become a greater evil."
The Emperor: I "No world beyond my rule; no enemy beyond my wrath."
Perk:
Magic:
Geass of Absolute Obedience
Fascinating, already leaving heaven had paid dividends. Magic, Skills and a Perk from the start. What was different about this specimen to cause such an unusual reaction? Finding out would be a joy, she was sure.
Well, no point leaving him exposed like that. He might get cold and having her only Familia members stats bare for all to see was bad practice in general.
Adjusting things so he was comfortable she covered him with the beds blanket. She then left the room to wash her hands. Returning a few minutes later she climbed onto the bed. Making herself comfortable where it touched one of the rooms corners. Well settled she planned out the next few days. Hopefully he would wake up soon.
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Waking up to a beautiful woman in my bed was always a plus. Not that it was unusual, CC could be quite liberal when she felt like it.
This woman was rather obviously not CC, she had shoulder length black hair and grey eyes. What I could see of her build indicated strength, like the female ground troops of my former armies. For a moment her face seemed defined by a strong round chin but blinking my eyes showed a sharper more angular face.
Her clothes reminded me of the Greek togas, it was made of high quality material and trimmed with gold. Sat where the bed connected to the wall she looked squished. But neither her posture or expression indicated anything but a detached, evaluating interest.
This was more than a little uncomfortable, there was something inherently ineffable about her.
All in all I had more important things to worry about than a beautiful, if Eldritch, woman sizing me up.
I dropped my head back down onto my pillow and closed my eyes.
Why am I alive? Code? Someone brought me back with Geass? I'm not alive and this is C's world/Hell/the Matrix?
Too many unknowns to make a hypothesis, checking for a Code should be simple though so when I have a plan that will be step 2.
Next question, who is the woman? C? Some amalgamation of souls in the collective unconscious? A normal woman and the ineffable vibe is the result of a psychosis?
Asking her would probably give me something to work with there. Step 1.
Anything else? Yes, too much. Working out the potential implications without the facts wouldn't go well.
I shored up the crumbling supports of my composure, weakness was of no help here.
"I am sorry Ma'am, but I don't know how to address you?"
" I prefer to be addressed Lady Athena by mortals. Though as you are a member of my Familia less formal methods of address could suffice." Her answer was cool and calm. She was likely evaluating my responses.
Her answer removed many questions, now they were more precise.
Perhaps she was a goddess, perhaps she suffered from psychosis. Either way playing along was in my best interest.
"Lady Athena, my name is Lelouch Lamperouge and I prefer to be addressed by my last name. I don't know if I should be honored to meet you? I lack knowledge of my situation. Either way I am glad to have made your company, you are fair beyond compare."
Her reaction would be telling, would she react to my allusion to Paris and the golden apple? Be insulted? Notice in the first place?
Amusement colored the response. " Mr... Lamperouge, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Then settled back into its more removed default. " We both would benefit by exchanging information. Though I think this room is not a fitting venue. If there are any problems with your body we should deal with them now, but after, moving to the dining table will be necessary."
So something in my response had amused her, generally a positive sign. Leaving the room also worked well for me and allayed some of my fears that I might be a prisoner. Not all of them of course life was rarely predictable. Much to my chagrin.
" If you have a method by which I could see my reflection I could make good use of it. Otherwise I feel no problems." Imitating her amused inflection I continued. " Unless you wish to supervise I will wait for you to leave."
"I do wish to supervise."
The delivery was neither deadpan nor suggestive of anything. That made it no more comfortable though.
All hypotheticals in which she was a pervert immediately gained more relevance, scientist as well.
"Very well, Lady Athena." There weren't any better ways to move that conversation along.
Carefully testing my movements I sat and then stood up from the bed.
Nothing seemed amiss.
"You are weaker than is healthy, you will need to exercise more. Also increase food intake. Now, stretch to test your flexibility. "
Having also risen from the bed she stood close behind me.
This was going beyond uncomfortable and into very worrying territories. Usually only reached by the craziest girls of Ashford academy.
Perhaps noticing my discomfort she continued.
" Worry not Mr Lamperouge, I have knowledge in medicine, biology, and physical education. I also placed you into the bed so there is little of your body I have not seen. As I am not drooling any fears of me taking you in a fit of passion are misplaced." The last bit was definitely deadpan. And while that didn't remove my worry it diminished it a fair bit.
It took ten minutes of being led through ever more difficult stretches before Athena deemed her understanding of my body enough. After a bit her professionalism allowed me to relax.
When we finished I informed her that until I could check my reflection opening my eyes might pose a health risk. So she took me by the arm and led me to the dining area. I managed to snag the blanket on the way out and so wasn't paraded naked through the house where anyone might see me.
From the walk i could deduce that the house was at least two stories. The stairs had a handrail and it was unlikely to be larger than an unusually roomy apartment as I could hear the outside quite well.
On the way to the dining area she opened a drawer, which I presumed to be where she stored a mirror. My supposition proved correct when a round hand mirror was pressed into my free hand.
Multitasking I turned my head away from Athena and opened my eyes. All the while following her.
My eyes were their natural violet but a push of my mind brought Geass blazing into my right eye.
This was both reassuring and worrying. The ability to enforce compliance was a powerful trump card and made me feel much safer.
But my Geass seemed to have regressed to its beginning stage and I had no idea why. My survival was becoming more and more mysterious.
Now sure that accidentally Geass-ing someone was less likely I let the mark fade from my eye and turned back to facing the woman who had watched me wake.
The small hallway we walked through was empty like the room I had woken up in. Perhaps she had only recently moved in or maybe she was just very spartan?
Another few steps brought us to a kitchen dining room composite, following the rest of the house this room too only contained the essentials. A table, two chairs, Some cooking implements, a stove fridge and so on. Nothing at all personal could be found anywhere, no flowers or tablecloths nor anything else hinting at a personal touch.
She gestured to a seat and I made myself comfortable. Once she sat down another few moments went by where I was visually dissected.
My calm was starting to return in earnest now so instead of being unnerving it reminded me more of how Loyd would look at people.
"Mr. Lamperouge" Athena began " obfuscating truths will do us no good here. So in the interest of honesty and cooperation I shall begin with my side of this situation. Then I expect you to tell me yours, including why you go by the name Lamperouge when you are Britannia."
Well shit, getting caught in a lie within the first hour wasn't my favorite way to begin a relationship. Either way best to deal with this professionally. " I am willing to reciprocate honesty with honesty, and I apologize for any slight caused by my deception."
A regal nod settled that.
" I am the Goddess Athena, goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, mathematics, strength, war strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. While pursuing my duties I searched for new knowledge. Researching classified matters I came across you. As an unbound spirit in areas in which you should not be, and behaving in ways spirits should not, you were, after much careful thought and even more time examined."
After wiggling to become more comfortable on her hard chair she continued.
"When I moved from Above down to Earth I decided to take you with me. Here on earth I placed you in a material vessel, believing that it would enable you to interact with the world around you. To make this happen I used the properties of the falna to forge a connection between your spirit and its new vessel. This makes you part of my Family or as people here call it, Familia."
While this torrent of information was without a doubt useful, it was also out of context. Athena didn't sound much less crazy after it all either.
But Honesty should be reciprocated when reasonable. There was also the chance she was right.
"My name is Lelouch vi Britannia, 99th emperor of Britannia and I have little idea what you might be talking about. Before waking up in that room upstairs I was murdered in public."
While Athena's expressions were tightly controlled a slight creasing of her eyebrows made me believe she might be similarly confused as I.
"While it is completely possible I never noticed that Gods exist, I have dealt with a number of unusual phenomena and would like to believe this would not have passed me by."
After sifting through the knowledge she had gained Athena tried to find some common ground to start from.
" I have not heard of the empire of Britannia. Where is it?"
"When I died it was every where, I ruled the world."
That stumped her. Squinting at me she seemed to be trying to pull answers from my mind with will alone.
"There has never been an Empire that spanned this planet. I would have been aware of its existence." Returning her face to its usual emptiness she continued. " But you believe this to be true, I don't think you're suffering from a head wound either. The Falna would have noted mental instability so that isn't likely to be the cause either. Hmm..."
Shifting my blanket into a more comfortable position I mentioned some of my thoughts. " I don't know what could have happened to bring about this situation. But unless you have an idea trying to puzzle this out without more knowledge isn't going to be particularly effective. As you know much about this world and I do not maybe it would be best if you give me the lay of the land first?"
With a firm nod Athena consented.
"For now you need to know the basics of this city, It is called Orario and built on top of the Dungeon."
'The Dungeon? Sounds like an rpg.' I ruminated.
"We, the Gods, create Familia by drawing out the story or experience of our members using the Falna. This allows them to increase in the basic attributes of Strength, Endurance, Perception, Agility and Magic far faster and beyond the limits of their race."
'Yeah this is sounding more and more like an rpg, attributes, races and next she'll probably talk about skills.'
"Then there are the skills which are abilities that increase in rank. Often starting weaker and then becoming more powerful later on. You already have two, even though usually only one can be chosen per level up. There are also Perks, which are rarer than skills, don't increase in rank and usually break the balance of the game."
'So I have a Falna and she can show me its effects, one point towards her sanity. The way she said game though...'
Gesturing for her to pause I asked my question.
"When you say balance breaking you make it sound like the Gods, or at least the Familia view using the dungeon as a form of harmless entertainment. Is it not dangerous?"
A dazzling smile greeted me and I made a point to remember that Athena seemed to greatly enjoy teaching an attentive student.
"You are mostly correct, we Gods created the Familia system as a form of entertainment. For mortals on the other hand Monsters were, are, and likely will be serious business. Death and suffering ran rampant before we gave people the ability to fight back against them on similar footing. And even now Adventurers who over reach in or out of the dungeon find death. But for you in particular it will be important to remember that we Gods are not treating this as a serious matter. So our priorities will be different from your own."
Slipping on the attentive student mask that allowed me to deal with teachers I requested she continue.
" Thank you for clearing that up for me my Lady, I can see this will be important to my future. Please continue to enlighten me with your wisdom." On someone else this might have been laying it on too thick but Athena had already implied she could judge truthfulness. So my statement, effusive though it sounded, was truthful. Making the flattery much more palatable.
"You are welcome." she returned smiling softly. "Continuing on the Falna also has an area in which it lists magics. While the amount of magic you know isn't limited the amount of magic saved by the Falna is. So while you may know and be able to use ten or twenty spells, the three saved in your Falna will never be forgotten, flubbing them will thus be more difficult and so on. All great advantages in combat. Which is why adventurers don't learn much magic outside of what is in their Falna.
To give you a concrete example I will list your Falna for you and explain the statistics .
Lelouch vi Britannia; This is, rather obviously, your name.
Lv. 1 This is your level, the highest known level in Orario is 7, reaching level two is already an accomplishment.
Strength: I 0
Endurance: I 0
Perception: I 0
Agility: I 0
Magic: I 0
Each Attribute is rather self explanatory, the higher the value the better. Ranks are only important on level up. At each new level attributes begin with a base of I 0. No matter what that means in concrete terms. On level up the attributes rank determines how much that attribute will increase with the level up multiplier. (ie. I= *1.1 A= *1.8 as an example, these are not definite numbers.)
Skills:
The Demon: I "To defeat evil, I must become a greater evil."
The Emperor: I "No world beyond my rule; no enemy beyond my wrath."
These are your skills, at the moment what they do is unknown. Usually their 'descriptions very loosely reference what they can be used for
Perk:
Here go perks
Magic:
Geass of Absolute Obedience
Here goes Magic.
That should give you a good overview of the Falna.
Now that you know a good bit about the benefits of a Familia I'll list the costs. The costs are rather simple. Entertain your God (how varies between god's), provide for your God, protect your God. That's it. Now this can expand in complexity, for instance as a member of my Familia growing the Familia is important to me. I do not need a massive Familia but you alone will not be enough. I desire to shape this city and make use of all the aspects of my Godly purview. That means there will be work ahead of you. I am not the type to sit idle though, so I too will be doing my part to provide for our Family."
Thankfully I had more than enough experience dealing with massive workloads. Running the Black Knights from my Bedroom had hardly been a walk in the park. So while another might have reeled from the workload. I was already planning. Ideas for income flitting through my mind, plans created and discarded at a feverish pace. Not that it showed on my face.
" From there we broaden the scope to Orario, the city we are in right now." Athena continued to lecture. "Orario sits on top of the dungeon. Serving as a Gate and funnel to the Dungeon. From which the monsters would otherwise make their way into the world.
As such the Guild, who serve as neutral arbiter and organizer keep the Familia in line. Levying taxes and doing the high level administration, when it comes to this city. Their main headquarters is the tower of Babel in the center of the city. It is visible from anywhere within city limits. In case you get lost it is a good place to rendezvous. Like spokes on a wheel it divides the rest of the city into 8 major districts. Our house is in Daedalus street, which is aptly named the second labyrinth. To make sure you don't get lost I will show you around the first few times you try to find your way home.
For today that should be enough, I'll have to give you lessons to bring you up to speed later." She released a deep sigh after all that lecturing.
"Now the important thing you need to know has to do with our living conditions. It cost me all my favors but the house we are in now is payed for, so long as we pay the utility bills. The problem, is that neither of us have a job and thus no income. I should have enough to last us about a week more but by then we will need to start bringing in money. That's how the situation is. Any comments?"
Fortifying myself I took a deep breath. "Well I'll tell you my plan, then tell me what you think."
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