Published at 21st of February 2024 11:04 pm

Chapter 39 The Beginning Of Ascenders

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Elmer’s brows had furrowed so much he’d grown afraid his forehead might have wrinkles a bit sooner than was to be expected of it.

He had been hoping something in this journal would give him the answers to his questions, but at this rate it was only going to fill him to the brim with even more.

If—as he tried to believe—that the words of this journal were true, and these kingdoms unknown to him were somehow also filled with people bearing powers of some sort, then did they worship the same Gods as the people of Fitzroy did? Were these people with powers also Ascenders?

The ability to control the waves of the seas sounded a lot like an ability that would be characteristic to the God of Storms. But Elmer had seen a pirate from Wyndham and she had been anything but fishlike. Unless the pirates were not Ascenders as he had thought them to be. Or was it that the fishlike body was as a result of failing to become an Ascender, just like the Losts?

Was that it? Was that form local to the inhabitants of Wyndham if they failed to become Ascenders?

Elmer shook his head. It wasn’t.

The Losts were beings who had lost their sanity, and from the journal it did not seem like that had been the case for these fishlike people. They’d had enough of their senses to spare a person and give him a message to relay.

Obviously they weren’t—

Wait…! Elmer had a thought nick at him.

The way Col had been writing the journal suddenly struck him as weird so much that he quickly read through all the five pages once again, and when he was done it solidified his sudden suspicion.

Col’s reaction, as Elmer had thought, was how he would have reacted if the world of Ascenders was something unknown to him. But the empire of Fitzroy had the mark of the supernatural on it, and it was not something that was being kept a secret, so why had Col been reacting as though it had been his first time hearing about the supernatural? If anything he should have been more curious than incredulous. His behavior was not justified to Elmer.

And it wasn’t only Col. While rereading, Elmer had caught on to something else as well. Humans had been referred to as ‘mere’. That struck him as weird too.

The people of Fitzroy weren’t mere—at least the Ascenders. He had watched his sister’s soul being ripped out of her body, mere humans could never do such. Or was it… Was it that Ascenders didn’t exist in Fitzroy in the year 507?

Elmer’s breath hitched.

It felt impossible. There were other kingdoms with powers, and Ascenders used to not exist in Fitzroy? Neither of those two deductions made any sense, especially the latter. Something this important should have been taught in schools. Everything about the other kingdoms and the Ascenders as well—everything. It was a relevant part of history—

Elmer blinked his thoughts to a brief halt.

History? He tsked. Maybe the knowledge of those kingdoms had actually been recorded and he did not know about it all because he was the one who had not taken his studies of history seriously.

Mistress Eleanor had always warned him then about the importance of history, but how could she have been expecting him to read a fat lot of words and years? Math was far better. Although, he was sure that the nonexistence of Ascenders a thousand years ago had not been documented in the history books Mistress Eleanor had given him for his studies.

More than anything, even math, he had sought to learn about the Ascenders, but all he had been able to get on them were surface value levels of contents which did not involve what he was seeing in this journal now. And even those contents had been proven utterly wrong ever since he’d stepped into this city.

Nothing about the supernatural was straightforward.

Elmer’s headache returned and he immediately knew that this was where these thoughts he was having had to come to a pause. His eyes were growing heavier as well, he had only a little time left to finish the journal before he would unwillingly fall asleep.

He let out a deep breath and took his eyes to the next page.

6th page

He’s gone mad. Raph’s gone mad as well. Everyone has. How dare he believe in the absurdity that is magic and try to convince me to do the same? I love my sanity, there was no way I was going to let that happen so I ran from his chambers before he had the chance to corrupt me.

Heavens, I can’t write any more today. Raph’s delusion has gotten on my nerves. He’s just like father. I’m sure mother would never have believed such nonsense.

Ah, my head is aching.

Where’s Alicent?

…

It seemed like everyone else believed in the powers of the supernatural, all except Col. Was it that Ascenders did exist during that period, but maybe they had been known by some other term, or they hadn’t been very recognized as now? The latter conjecture would explain why Col had been acting the way he did, but none of them would solve the term ‘mere’ which humans had been referred to. Nothing was adding up.

Elmer flipped to the next page.

7th page

Just putting this here since I’ve not entered anything in a week now.

Nothing good today. Father worked me until I became exhausted by making me arrange paperworks. That’s all. I’m going to sleep.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

And… oh, Creator of the heavens, I hate politics.

…

Elmer could feel his own exhaustion tugging at him fiercely now. He poured out a long yawn, dipped his fingers beneath the lenses of his glasses and wiped the trace of tears that had come upon his eyes before setting himself onto the next page.

8th page

Raph invited Egner over and they locked themselves in the basement. Why is my brother with Egner? Why is the baron’s son even in this castle at all? I don’t like this. I’ve never liked Raph associating with him.

It’s already gone dark and they’re still in there. What are they even doing? Wait. Did Raph invite Egner to join him in his weird experiments? I should have known. There was no way Raph could ever be obsessed with those weird things he was researching on without Egner being involved.

Forget what he said about magic existing, I think he’s going to really lose his senses if he keeps this up. It’s up to me to save my brother now. It is only I who can.

…

What exactly was Raph researching…? Elmer thought to himself.

9th page

I slept in Alicent’s room yesterday, there was no way I could have slept in mine after what I heard. My brother finally lost it last night. What was that laughter? What was that shout? He probably has the red eyes of those fictional monsters now. I’m going to his chambers to check on him… and put him down if need be.

I’m back. Heh, Raph’s eyes are normal and it seems I am the crazy one. He told me he was just happy because his research had borne fruit.

Wait. I should have asked what his research had been about. I’ll have to do that later since he’s gone ahead to lock himself in his basement once again.

…

Elmer wondered how paranoid Col would have been in person if he was being this excessive in his own journal.

His curiosity also tickled for what exactly Raph had been researching on, but he did not stress his head for that. He couldn’t even do such lest he would simply fall asleep; so he did what he could do, which was flipping to a new page, hoping that the answer to his latter question would be present there.

10th page

I finally got to meet Raph and I asked him about what his research and findings entailed, but my wretched little brother said he wasn’t going to tell me. Can you believe that young man? He told me to wait until he talked to father about it at the parliament meeting.

He should be telling me things before he told father. I’m his elder brother and the next emperor. And to worsen the situation, he caressed my curiosity more by saying his findings were going to help Fitzroy win against Lemur.

You should have told me while you had the chance, Raphael. I’m going to hold this against you.

Ah, before I forget. It’s taken two months, but I’ve finally studied Enochian to perfection. Another language added to my vast mental library. I doubt this one would be very useful aside from keeping my journal entries a secret. I wonder where the language originated from? If I remember to, I’ll put my anger aside and ask Raph. He’s the one who owns the book so he should know.

…

The origins of Enochian, huh…? I never really thought about it before… Elmer sighed. I just keep having more unanswered questions… He scratched his head while he flipped open another page, and it was the last one translated into his paperback book.

Elmer weakly dragged the journal closer and examined it. He was truly on the last one. The rest of the pages were missing, some having signs of being ripped, while others leaving only traces of dried soot to remain in the places where they’d used to be.

He had not been surprised before and he was still not surprised now, if anything, it was a miracle that the rest of the pages had even managed to survive. It had been a thousand years since its birth.

He pushed the journal away and swiped his eyes toward his paperback.

11th page

I have never been more astounded in my life. It really was no jape. Father and Raph truly believe that these fishlike people and magic are real, and I can’t help but start to believe as well.

Do these sorts of things actually exist? Really?

But that was not even close to being the highlight of the parliament meeting. Heavens, it was so heated.

Raph told father, and me, and all the lords of the parliament that his research had been to understand the nature of the people of Lemur and how they had come to be in such a way, and that he could grant the same powers as them to us.

I have always known my brother to be someone well grounded in science and all that, but was it even possible to turn humans into people with fins and gills, and grant them the abilities to control the waves of seas through science? I was not sure about that, and for the first time, so was father.

He disapproved of Raph’s research and said humans shall fight against monsters as humans, not by becoming the same as them.

But Raph had not liked that statement. He had snapped at father, claiming that we would all die, starting from Wyndham, if we went against the people of Lemur as mere humans with swords and spears and arrows.

I was of the mind to support my little brother then. I did not want to die. If his research would really grant us the powers to win the incoming war, then shouldn’t we take it? If magic was actually as real as they claimed and believed, shouldn’t we grasp it?

But father had spoken first.

He asked Raph if he knew the consequences of tampering with the unknown, and instead of giving the man who bore us an answer, my little brother instead asked him if he knew the consequences of losing a war.

…

Elmer gulped down a lump of spit.

Was this how Ascenders had come to be? Then, what about the Gods and their pathways and all that? Was it not the Gods who granted humans their powers? Why was the journal leaning toward science?

He wanted to read more to confirm his thoughts, but that was where it had all ended. And as he had hoped against at the start, this journal only left him with more unanswered questions.

There was little surety for what he could believe now.

Were the Gods even real? If powers did not come from them as it had been said they did, then was their existence even of any truth?

Elmer weakly turned his eyes to the candle flame which was almost upon its end, and his eyelids grew warmer than usual while his vision narrowed with every passing second.

His strength tapered off, and he suddenly fell side-faced onto the table, his visage turned to the lit, but dimming flame of the candle stand.

Questions not answers, that was all the journal had given him. He might have lashed out if he’d had the strength, but he could not even feel a tiny bit of annoyance in this state.

Elmer let out a low, long breath as his eyes gave into closing. But just as he was about to finally drift off into the sleep his body had been craving the whole day, his mind had one more thought come into it.

The information in the journal, as confusing as it had been, seemed like something that would definitely be termed as very important. It had a lot of things he had never heard of before, and contradicted all of the things he knew about the world of Ascenders. Should he really be returning something of such back to the bookstore keeper… for free?

What if… What if he offered its knowledge to those who were classified as the higher-ups? How much money would he make from selling the information this journal possessed?

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