Numbers of his Life
Story by: VeNgEaNcEoFrAiN
Disclaimer: Hidekaz Himaruya owns every personified country as well as this Cardverse AU ideas, I merely exploit his ideas for my own personal uses muahahah! Everything else is purely fictional, any resemblance to other stories is purely coincidental – I don't really know if there's a similar story around but this idea just popped up in my head so I decided to write it (all I can say is great minds think alike). Some fundamental ideas like how the pocket watch chooses the royalty in Spades is kept in this story. I would like to credit the person coming up with the idea but I think it'd probably be hard to track who started it. If you think I violated copyright laws, erm, I can take it down if you send me a mail or review.
Author's note: Hello, after what seemed like half a year (I think it's around 4 months.) I'm finally back or rather I finally produced something. Well things happened and I'm sorry this was on hiatus for nearly half a year. If you'd like to hear about it, drop me a pm or something. I apologise again for putting it on hiatus with no warning. I didn't want to. For those who were worried if I died or met with an accident, I sincerely apologise and hope this chapter is good enough to compensate you guys. As usual, enjoy!
Thank you for that review, Randomstrike. I agree it's short. I'm so sorry ;( This is a little longer. I'll try and get the next chapter up by next month. Thank you for your (all of you) continual support with NohL.
Chapter 6: Battle of Six
Part I: Vast Oceans
All was well and good in the Land of Water. The Queen set off with his heirloom albeit miraculously on a short ship ride to Wolvesmarsh. The King stayed behind, waiting for his turn to Pax, the capital city of Diamonds. The glorious city started out as a small fishing town hundreds of years ago, gradually becoming a bustling port. Alfred had been to Pax on a few occasions, namely once every four years during the Annual Trump Conference/Meetings. Being there for personal reasons like sneaking out for cure of ultimate boredom or stress relief for a few days made up the other part of the few occasions. It happened rarely though. But when they happen, Matthew and Yao had to find reasons to cover his ass for him.
He loved how the buildings there looked futuristic. Buildings made of brass pipes, running along the sides of buildings, connecting different sectors together. These pipes tunneled air through them releasing gas at different pressures in different areas. All those were to create the right pressures and temperature for wind to sweep across the region in a controlled manner. Geothermal activity was rather high in certain regions where gases rise up from beneath, seemingly limitless in supply. Due to this special property of the Land of Air, most of the transportation in Diamonds are by kite-like vehicles called Ailerons, courtesy of the long line of Jacks' researches.
He remembered Diamond's palace was – in Alfred's words – a freaking floating island prevented from floating off by huge gold-plated chains made from god-knows-what. Their Kingdom was so ridiculous at times that Alfred wouldn't even doubt it if someone told him the chains were made from diamonds just to match the name of the Kingdom. Gold and silver statues littered the place and the shear grandeur of the place is enough to blow you away, be it literally or not. Pax was never too hot or too cold in the naturally air-conditioned environment and Alfred adored the city for that. He loved the feeling of flying ever since Francis invited him once and since summoning a flying beast is nearly impossible for him, Ailerons are the closest he could get to the skies. Navigation in Pax was a pain in the ass for many newcomers and Alfred was always up to the challenge. He really wished this part of Diamonds remained unharmed during the war so that Arthur had a chance of exploring that fantastic place with him.
Veritas of Spades wasn't easy to navigate around either. Most of the buildings are average in height and looked similar to the way Pax was built, however, many were connected underwater. Water ran through most of the streets instead of air, similar to the waterways of Venice. Some smaller cities are partially submerged in water, while others entirely underwater. Both the countryside where the palace is and the city are connected by such waterways. Some waterways follows the contours of different hilltops and plains others seemed to defy gravity. It was a common sight to see waterways vertically up or at the very least diagonal. It was not uncommon to see specialised boats, Agro Navis or so they were called, sailing upside down before flipping the right-way-up at a 3-dimentional turn. Roads where no water flowed were generally used to link up different dimensions and for an alternative route of transport and connectivity.
Such a phenomenon was possible because of the twist in the fabric of time and space across most of Spades. Many believed it was caused by the magic supporting the three royal heirlooms. The twist was rather stable and spanned over 10 different 'dimensions' or rather districts to the common man. There are a total of 10 time zones in Spades alone, independent of that across Trump and that, coupled with the unusual undercurrents in the surrounding ocean, was why other Kingdoms dreaded fighting Spades near or on their mainland. The high humidity and occasional fog were amongst other factors for deterrence.
Alfred was pleased that his ship was docking at Pax, the torturous wait was finally over. If anyone claimed he wasn't excited about getting onto the Ailerons, they'd be lying. Of course, work would have to come first. He called for the messenger wyvern and contacted his Queen to report on his arrival at Pax. Arthur on the other side of the panel looked slightly sickly and green, half-suppressing a vomit and half-conversing with Alfred. Alfred reckoned the motion sickness pills didn't work well and Arthur assured him it was worse than dying. Arthur told him they were heading out to the rendezvous point with the Diamond Navy near Silverock and the waves weren't doing him any justice. In fact, he swore that heaven forbid him to have a single smooth trip and that someone up there was playing a cruel joke on him.
Apparently, Arthur's ship met with a storm just a few hours from departure from Veritas. It threw the crew into choppy waters. They succeeded in braving through the storm but failed to save their Queen from emptying his stomach contents nearly everywhere. They eventually reached Wolvesmarsh where the other ships are stocking supply. Ultimately, they decided to get Arthur on solid ground for a good rest before heading on – much to the dismay of the unwilling party.
At Wolvesmarsh, Arthur met a wolf-man, a wolven shape-shifter who had acquired enough knowledge to shape-shift into a human, and his pack whom welcomed the navy warmly. The wolf-man explained that he was formerly a refugee from Clubs years ago before King Alfred saved him from the wrath of the Queen of Clubs. The gentleman – Arthur was delighted to find him with such great hospitality and manners he called him that – was clad in a fine maroon leather coat made from a Minotaur's rawhide. Maroon-haired Minotaurs are those of a higher class: warriors of their species and having a piece of clothing crafted from such Minotaurs represented his authority and power, at least in the beasts' world. The man introduced himself as Vladimir Constantin and preferred to be addressed as Vlad as the human tongues did not pronounce his full name properly most of the time. Vlad had strawberry blonde hair with a tinge of brown and carmine red eyes. Arthur recalled his encounter vividly.
Wolvesmarsh was a place living to its name, Arthur thought, as packs of wolves surrounded the Queen and part of his knights when they first arrived. There was a long stare-off as either side was waiting for movement. The humans remained tense even after the wolves bowed their heads humbly at the Queen. Their acknowledgement of the reigning human came more as a shock. The packs made way for an alpha-male to come through. Arthur watched intently as the animal morphed into a human.
"Your dearest Majesty, we've been waiting for your arrival." He spoke, bowing respectfully before Arthur.
The Queen stared, unable to respond. Green eyes remained wide as clatter of his knights' armor broke the awkward silence. The man had rusty red eyes and shaggy strawberry blonde hair with a hint of brown, skin to his wolf coat. He looked like a noble of his clan, with a mild maroon trenchcoat. Small portions of his canine fang poked out, making him look just a bit boyish. "Your Majesty?" The wolfman questioned. Arthur regained his composure but his mind was going in all directions. Animals which turn into humans?! "Ahh, we were… Looking forward to meeting you as well." He managed to cook up a politically correct sentence, hoping the other would buy it. "We mean no harm, Queen Arthur. This form is merely to let your people feel at ease with us. Please call me Vlad, and allow me to escort you to where your people are." Clearly, Vladmir sensed the unease in his reply. "We sincerely hope you defeat your enemies. Especially the Queen of Clubs."
A curious tilt of the head signaled a question directed to the last part of his sentence. "The Queen and I, we're not on friendly terms. She probably wants me dead as much as I do for her. Her clan tried wiped mine clean but I managed to escape." He continued, "I owed my life to King Alfred. He allowed me to settle into this island. It's only right of me to treat his Queen with the utmost respect."
A light chat with the wolfman and the wood fairies by his side gave Arthur the creatures' perspective of the war. They were rather enraged by the thought of it. Breaking the delicate harmony between Kingdoms was akin to a devil's act. They cautioned the young man about Jokers in the Land of Voids and how they enjoyed the feeling of despair people had on their faces. They were an odd bunch who used to be humans, hand-picked by the Devil with the sole purpose of entertainment. Glittery butterfly wings flapped rather vigorously as the fairies surrounded the Queen. They were drawn to his magic signature – something which identified his magic from another. From what the fairies exclaimed, Arthur's magic felt like an ever-crashing waterfall flowing through a serene forest. He was flattered by that description and at the same time he couldn't help but agree. He knew he was a lot better in water and earthly wood spells than any other he'd tried. He did nearly burn the study room down when a fire spell went amok or that time he tried to materialize a metallic sword like Alfred in close-combat practice, it went soft and limp like paper. He had his ass kicked by Yao so badly he couldn't move for days.
They covered quite a distance across the marsh and eventually reached the other side of the marsh where the other half of his crew was waiting. It was made into a temporary Spades naval base with the strength of a dozen ships and their crew. Smaller warships docked at every possible spot just off the coast in semi-deep waters. Some larger ones were spotted out at sea. Almost all the men and women in the navy were busy with the loading, checking and repairing duties. A trio came rushing towards Arthur and greeted him. "Your Majesty, we're utmost apologe-"
"It's fine. Better late than never." He dismissed the matter. "How are the preparations? Has Diamonds contacted us?"
"Yes, your Majesty. Admiral Carriedo and Diamond's Jack Zwingli have sent their messages over. Admiral Annan and Commodore Karpusi have gone to meet up with them off of Fairbay." The individual had his hair tied into a neat ponytail with a blue ribbon and tucked right next to his neck. He also had a rather long scar running down one of his deep green eyes. When Arthur first met the Captain, they met on the decks of one of the royal galleons. The latter bowed respectfully with his dark auburn hair falling neatly in motion. "I'm Rafael Eduardo Silva Santos, Captain of this beloved vessel and her crew." The sails flicked open with loud flaps, seemingly adding an effect to the Captain's introduction. His name sounded Portuguese and he did have a slight Portuguese accent which reminded him of his brother's friends who visited over the summer. Arthur swore their names were a lot longer than his Captain's. A freak accident on a practice mission made Arthur's inability to swim known to the Captain. Luckily, no one was hurt and the Portuguese vowed to keep the secret. The two had grown to become great friends as Rafael taught Arthur the basics to swimming and the spells for survival on and in water. Arthur felt relief to gain a confidant and an edge over the fearsome waters.
"Hmm, are we ready to join them, then?"
"Yes, we're ever ready, Your Majesty." The slightly taller figure had a quick reply with no hesitation. "If you please." He gestured. Arthur followed the man and before boarding the ship, he thanked the wolfman of his assistance. Vladmir and his pack bade their farewell before disappearing into the marsh along with the fairies.
"Welcome back on Relíquias, Your Majesty." Honestly, it was still a breath-taking experience for the Englishman. Just how many people get to be on a 15-16th century battleship and be one of the commanders of it, let alone command an entire fleet? The cursive carving of the ship's name right next to its Griffon figurehead spelt out caution to any ship passing by. Relíquias was an ordinary, battle-scarred galleon and was well-maintained for battles. Arthur remembered as he first boarded the decades-old ship, a wave of collective memories of the ship rushed against the Queen. Spirit-like figures ran across the deck in preparation for close-combat, some descended quickly to the gun-decks to help with the cannon loading. Those were the previous crew who sailed with the ship. There were unanimous beliefs that ships had personalities and personified spirits across the four kingdoms. Ships weren't haunted but they chose to show different histories of itself to different people. It was believed that if one was shown such history, he or she would experience something similar and that the ship was trying to warn the person or offer a pinch of the future. Arthur was shown a battle scene of the past voyage. Arthur took it in a way that it meant the ship survived despite the odds and was hopeful that it'd continue to do so in this trip. It was a good omen of some sort he reckoned.
"Captain, we're ready to sail." A sailor shouted from off the sides.
"Aye, heave-away, sails abeam, me be catchin' yer scurvy dogs slackin', yer be sent to Davy Jones' locker by the next dawn." The Captain fanned out his orders in a quick holler off the pirate tongue while Arthur who was still not used to the language, struggled to understand what was going on. He was into pirates and their language but having it right in front of you and hearing it is rather different.
"Aye Cap'n!" A concerted response echoed around the Queen. The Relíquias crew was, one would say, a ghost crew. They never set foot on land until they needed to. They were rarely seen in court or in naval bases which makes contacting them extremely difficult. Though with that said, the late Ace of Spades had his unique way of contacting them. After Spades lost their Ace, they lost the only way of contacting the crew. Many thought they had perished in the wrath of the seas or eaten by the monstrosities out there. Their coincidental return to Veritas had Arthur thanking whatever brought them back.
"Rafael, how long more till we reach our destination?"
"Meeting up with the main forces at Fairbay isles will take at most a day, Your Majesty." His voice seemed to roll off his tongue smoothly. "Assuming nothing bad happens, we'll reach rendezvous point in four days. We tend to meet giants after we reach open waters, they will attack any ships once they're hungry. It doesn't matter which side." Giants were a common collective term used by sailors which refers to anything monstrous of gigantic sizes found in the high seas. Amongst them, the more common ones were multi-headed Hydra and the Kraken. At times, ships would encounter Serpendra – a giant sea serpent with a long narrow snout lined with numerous razor-sharp teeth – and not many lived to tell the tale.
"Good, everything's in order then." Arthur reassured himself.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"I'll be contacting them in my cabin. I'll join you in yours for planning some time later." Rafael bowed as Arthur retreated into the lower deck. The lower deck contrary to popular belief was clean, brightly-lit and rather pleasant to be in. Fungus and mold did grow everywhere but they were luminous. The entire place was lit by them. It was a blessing though since they need not use kerosene lamps and reduced the risk of starting a fire on a ship. Another advantage of using these organisms was that they would only give off light when given enough seawater. Many of the sailors thought that it was probably something used by the merpeople as well. The abyss was a place of eerie darkness and many believed it was there where you could cross over to the realm of the dead, akin to the belief involving the Lands of the Void. Tales of creatures like Giants as gatekeepers, guarding the one place the living had to go one day were much in unuttered consensus amongst the world's sailors.
"Welcome back, Arthur." A feminine voice sounded from beside the door as it flung open.
"By god, I swear it's more likely that I die of shock than of a fierce battle, Alice." Arthur thanked god he didn't let out a yelp. It would have drawn unnecessary attention from the crew – half the time thinking they had a stowaway who was an assassin after their Queen. This 'Alice' was a spiritual representation of something Arthur stumbled across at the back of his room. That something was a huge crystalline block akin to a mirror but if one looked close enough, he or she could see a faint outline of a human shape. Arthur's first response was to attempt to break the crystal. After failing a few times, he wheeled his heels, making quick steps out of the room. He didn't manage to get far from the block when he was held back by a hand over his mouth. He was kneed from behind and made to kneel on his right knee. The gloved hand felt smooth and small yet strong enough to subdue the Queen. "You sure are a lot calmer than the ones I've met before." A low pitched whisper seemed to pierce through the silence, though one could hear it was clearly a female. "Aren't you afraid, Your Majesty?" Concerted creeks and crackles from the sailing ship accompanied her words. Perspiration rolled down the sides of Arthur's head as his mind raced through ways to escape. Then, all of a sudden, the grip was gone.
"Your reflexes are a little slow, Your Majesty. I'd train harder if I were you."
Arthur whipped around to face his assailant. The lady had brilliant blue eyes and auburn hair tied into two long ponytails. Her ears were long and pointy at the end. She was rather fair and wore clothes Arthur would refer to old-age pirates wear. A white long-sleeved top was held in place by an external leather corset-like piece that hugged her curvatures. She had a pair of black gloves and shorts on with a pair of old leather boots. A red scarf topped off the whole look. "Name's Alice, Your Majesty. Now quit gawking before I dig your eyes out."
"Wh-o, How-Wait… You…" Arthur struggled to put the right words in a sentence.
"I'm the person you're trying to save. Though you can't really save me." She continued. "I'm the sacrifice for this ship. As years passed, I've become the ship's spirit. My powers protect this ship and I do my best to keep its crew safe. And no I'm not human, I'm an elf. The race who decided that for peace we would do anything. Although I'm a little behind on the current news, I know you humans have decided to wage war again havn't you?" Arthur nodded quietly, currently listening to the slight English accent. The memory he'd seen when he first boarded was her memory after all. "You lot never listen, do you? The peace of Trump cannot be broken! If not the parallel world will crumble with it!"
The Englishman looked at Alice in shock as she trailed off in her one-sided verbal battle. "P-parallel world?" He uttered with his voice a little shaky. "Yes, the parallel world. The world where magic is just tricks for entertainment, where science triumphs over nearly everything. The two worlds take turns to be in chaos and peace, it's like a cycle. Trump has to remain peaceful for that world to be in chaos. If both worlds were to be in chaos at the same time, it'll result in the collapse of both worlds." There was a moment of dead silence. Arthur swallowed audibly, knowing that his world right then might have already slipped into chaos. Right before he left, he heard news about the Asian conflict over islands in the South China Sea. He didn't know what to expect from it and if what the girl said was right, then he should stop this war before it starts. The elven girl broke into a hysterical laughter while staring at his serious face.
"Pwahahaha did you honestly believe that? You're the first person who didn't already call me crazy for saying something like that." She wrapped her arms around her aching stomach from all the laughter.
"You're not crazy! It's real!" Arthur grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her slightly. Immediately, he let go of her, it wasn't a comfortable distance for either of them. "O-oh I'm sorry about that… But that world you just talked about, exists! I-…!" He held back his statement just in time before he blurt out something he wasn't supposed to. Curses for being overly excited about someone who knows the place he was from.
"I..?"
"I… I need that bucket! I'm about to puke!" A brilliant excuse though it was indeed a real one. He was at his upper limit for motion tolerance. He hurled his stomach contents into the bucket Alice gave him. "Urgh, nasty. I'm quite a stable ship, you know? I don't get how you're always seasick." Alice gave a few smoothing pats on Arthur's back. Arthur thought it'd have been nice if he had an elder sister like her. Oh wait, if she ganged up with his three devilish brothers, it'd be disastrous. "I can hear Rafael looking for you."
He heard a distant cry which sounded like his usual address. Arthur thanked Alice for her help and proceeded to exiting his room. "I'll be here, feel free to talk to me." A tiny smile made its way onto her face. To Arthur, it felt eerily scary.
From then on, Alice had made it her personal goal to scare Arthur at least once every day, though she also made it a point to wake Arthur up at the exact same time every day. Arthur was more than thankful for the latter. He had a tendency of oversleeping which resulted in him arriving later than his students would for class usually. Other than that, he was quite a boring lecturer anyway, not many turned up for such an early class.
"We're approaching Fairbay in a day with my current speed and the current wind directions. By then you'll have to work out a plan for sea battle with possibly no way to find out your opponent's army size and strength. Well of course, Rafael can do that for you but you don't want to look useless do you?" An exchange of looks made Alice understand his unease. "Right then. Let's-"
"Let's assume the worst scenario. Hearts has their entire naval force including part of Clubs' against the Allied navy, thus making us severely outnumbered. What we should do is to quickly gain control of the situation. The gryffins have reported a storm coming in around 6 hours. That's the time where the waters are too choppy for our opponents to move. Air raids wouldn't be possible either. That's the time where they'll think we'll attack regardless of the waters. We will give them our attack. But instead of launching a real one, we launch a false attack with our ships while our divers and their Piscesa launch an underwater attack. The waters should be more stable at 200 metres depth. Make sure the divers have their charms with them. It'll protect them from the pressures and allow them to breathe." Arthur caught his breath and continued. "The fishes should be able to recognize the magic signature of individual ships and head towards that direction with our divers. This attack is to cripple their ships in the storm and let mother nature help us. They'd be too occupied with sail-handling, mending holes and returning fire on us."
"If we attack in the storm, what about Antonio, his specialty is fire; fighting in such a terrain will put him in great disadvantage!" Arthur flinched a little at the sudden heighted voice. It was rare to see Rafael get all worked up. His use of Captain Carriedo's first name gave their friendship away. Rafael and Antonio were said to go way back. When they were kids, their fathers were naval officers and had met regularly during friendship balls between the two Kingdoms. They brought their families along and that's where they met. Arthur did hear a little of Rafael's story – he told Arthur the night before they set off. It was a masquerade ball and they were both 10. It was rather boring for kids and hence they sneaked out into the gardens to play. They laughed and joked all night long ignoring constant cries of servants looking for the two young masters. Of course, they were severely punished, but neither thought it wasn't worth it. "Calm down Rafael, if I can't use fire, I can still use my combat skills. Besides igniting something wet wouldn't be a problem for me. It wouldn't last long but it'll still do some damage." Antonio replied with a gentle smile. He gave Rafael's shoulder a firm grip, acknowledging his dear friend's worries and reassuring him that it'd be fine. "What'd you think, Your Majesty?"
"Hmmm." Francis hummed as he subconsciously stroked his beard. "That sounds like a good plan, at least for now. They'd definitely be on guard since Spades is well-known for naval operations. We've got to be careful of their spell-casters. They're capable of taking out entire fleets on their own."
"They've got ours to look out for." Arthur frowned. "I'm just worried that if any Giants were to appear during the storm, it'd be disastrous." The rest present at the meeting exchanged looks. "Let's hope it stays as just a worry." Francis patted Spades' Queen on his back. "Well, I'd say you've done a great job so far. Alfred must be proud. We'll be heading back to our ships. We'll go according to your plan. Stay in touch, through the wyvern. See you and good luck, mon ami."
Footnote: No footnote actually. Or maybe I should just clarify on what Piscesa is. It's actually a pair of fish just like in the horoscope Pisces. They have to be together always, if one dies, the other will too. Piscesa have long flowing tails akin to swaying translucent kelp forests. They come in various colours and are born as twins (two separate fishes). Their scales can change colours according to their will. These intelligent fishes have learnt to camouflage very well and are very friendly, thus making them good candidates for training in combat. In trainings, they're paired with a 'diver' who is a highly trained naval soldier able to adapt to underwater conditions well. They must be highly skilled in physical combat. Having magic knowledge is a plus. Charms are little pieces of bamboo with protection spells cast on them to prevent pressure from crushing 'divers' and to allow them to breath underwater. Some charms also allow the same camouflaging abilities so that divers can be in stealth mode in shallow-water operations or for quick escape. Hope that clears up a little. I think you know who Alice is. See you guys in August hopefully :)